Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1809 - April 13 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1809 with a release date of April 13th, 2012 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QSTT. Carole Perry, WB2MGP, celebrates a quarter of a century leading educators and youth forums at the Dayton Hamvention, an FCC enforcement in California action may not be what it seems, entry level hams in Belgium to get a power increase on the High Frequency bands and a United States broadcaster pays homage to its oldest and longest listener. Find out who she is on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1809 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RADIO CELEBRATION: CAROLE PERRY, WB2MGP TO CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF SERVING YOUTH AT HAMVENTION 2012 A true milestone for educator Carole Perry, WB2MGP. This as she celebrates her 25th consecutive year moderating both the Youth Forum and Instructors' Forum at the Dayton Hamvention. Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, has the rest of the story: -- It all started back in 1987. That's when Carole Perry, WB2MGP, was at the Dayton Hamvention to accept the Radio Amateur of the Year Award. Hamvention planners offered her the opportunity to moderate a forum on "Using Ham Radio in the Classroom." And as Carole tells us, it all grew from there: -- WB2MGP: "Its impossible for me to speak about anything with amateur radio without talking about the fun and the educational validity of including it as a part of a school program. "And so we did a forum and then we thought it would be a good idea to teach other people who were interested and who were ham radio operators to include it in the curriculum at their schools or to start it as a club, or if they were lucky enough to do it the way I did it where it became part of the schools regular course and curriculum." -- Prior to WB2MGP bringing ham radio into the classroom and educating teachers on how to work with the hobby, there was little in the way of direction or leadership for young hams. In only a few short years, WB2MGP managed to make the concept of youth in amateur radio a modern day cornerstone in the hobby. This she says is all thanks to the support that emerged over the past quarter century that has as its core the two yearly forums at Hamvention: -- WB2MGP: "It (Ed. youth in amateur radio) really started taking on a life of its own where people got ideas and the sharing of ideas among other educators and people who ran youth groups to incorporate this and expose young people to it. "As you know, we've had them as young as 8 years old coming in and just blowing the audience away with their stories of participation in amateur radio." -- 2012 is that quarter century point and according to WB2MGP, she intends to mark the occasion in a very special way. And she has a very special invitation for each of you: -- WB2MGP: "If you have never been to the Youth Forum or the Instructors Forum please make it a point to stop by. And I guarantee that if you sit there long enough you are going to be smiling. And knowing who I have speaking this time and this year, it'`s going to be really fabulous." -- For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK in Zion, Illinois. -- Carole Perry's Instructors Forum takes place on Friday, May 18th from 10:30 to 12 noon and her Youth in Amateur Radio Forum is on Saturday May 19th from 9:15 a.m to 12:15 p.m. - both Eastern Daylight Time. Even if you can't stay for an entire session please take a moment to drop by and congratulate Carole Perry, WB2MGP, on this quarter century milestone in service to ham radio and her opening the new world of amateur radio to those who will be its next generation and many generations to follow. (ARNewslineT) ** ENFORCEMENT: FCC ISSUES NOTICE OF VIOLATION TO ATV REPEATER OPERATOR The FCC has issued a Notice of Violation to a California ham for interfering with FAA radiolocation operations. It also claims he was broadcasting television signals in the 23 centimeter band. But it now appears as if these charges are not what the regulatory agency might want us to believe. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with more: -- Gary Dent, AF6HP, has operated 1 point 2 GHz fast scan amateur television repeaters and beacons for about the past 10 years. One of these was located at the Sunset Ridge radio site 40 miles North East of the city of Los Angeles, California. Dent tells Newsline that in February he received a phone call from a person identifying himself as an agent of the FCC's Cerritos California office. The agent told Dent that his AF6HP system on Sunset Ridge was interfering with some newly installed radar system. Dent tells Newsline that he immediately functioned the system off the air and told the agent he would remove the hardware from the hill as soon as road access made it accessible. According to Dent a few weeks later he received another call from the same agent informing him that he was again transmitting from the Sunset Ridge location and was to cease these transmissions immediately. Dent says that he can only assume that one of the power failures that took place during a severe weather outbreak reset the controller putting the system back on the air in beacon mode. Beacon operation is legal under Section 97.203 of the Amateur Part 97 Rules. Wanting to comply with the FCC's request he immediately verified the situation; again remotely turned off the system and has since removed the gear from the site. Case closed you would assume? Well if you do you are wrong. On March 30th the FCC's District Director of the Los Angeles Office Western Region Enforcement Bureau issued a two prong Notice of Violation to AF6HP. It charges that on February 29, March 2nd, and March 22nd that, in response to an interference complaint from Federal Aviation Administration, an agent of the Enforcement Bureau's Los Angeles Office used direction finding and other investigative techniques to identify transmissions in the 23 cm band. He found them coming from Station AF6HP. The Notice of Violation says that the agent observed violations of 97.303(b) which is the interference issue. He also charged Dent with broadcasting under Section 97.113(b). The latter is curious in that AF6HP says that when the system came back on that it was in its default beacon mode. As already noted, beacon operation is legally authorized under FCC Rule 97.203(b). However Section F of the same rule states that a beacon must cease transmissions upon notification by a District Director that the station is operating improperly or causing undue interference to other operations. The beacon may not resume transmitting without prior approval of the District Director. But nowhere in Section 97.203 is the term broadcasting applied to beacon operation. Where this matter goes in relation to AF6HP is now up to the FCC. The offending equipment was removed and Dent tells Newsline that it will eventually be re-installed at another site that hopefully will not interfere with FAA or any other radio systems serving the Los Angeles or Riverside areas. For the Amateur radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the newsroom in Los Angeles. -- We will definitely keep you posted on this one. (FCC, ARNewslineT) ** RESTRUCTURING: BELGIUM ENTRY LEVEL HAMS MAY GET POWER INCREASE The UBA which is Belgium's national society reports on plans to allow Belgian Foundation license holders to run 50 watts on the High Frequency bands instead of the cureent 10 watts. Belgian Foundation holders are currently permitted 50 watts only on 144 and 430 MHz. On bands between 3.5 to 52 MHz the limit is currently 10. The new proposal means these entries level hams would be able to run 50 watts on the H-F and 6 meters as well. The U-B-A says via its website that taking into account the so called 3 dB rule this would permit the use of a standard 100 Watt transceiver. The full proposal in electronically translated English is on line at tinyurl.com/Belgium50wFoundation. (UBA) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KJ0A repeater serving Maryland Heights Missouri. (5 sec pause here) ** ENFORCEMENT: NO JAIL TIME FOR FLORIDA UNLICENSED STATION The former operator of a Florida-based unlicensed radio station has been spared doing time in whats often called the Grey Bar Hotel. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Damron, N8TMW, reports: -- The operator of an unlicensed radio station in the town of Dunbar in Lee County, Florida has agreed to perform 20 hours of community service in lieu of jail time. Florida has what it calls an anti pirate radio law and under it Al Knighten had faced up to five years of jail time. However media reports say that the State Attorney charged with prosecuting the case changed course and decided to drop the radio piracy charges. Knighten had previously admitted that he had operated "Dunbar Community Radio" illegally out of his Fort Myers home. The FCC accompanied by local police raided Knighten's home last December and took the station off the air. Earlier on Knighten told the local press that the licensing process had been too expensive. But in a more recent interview Knighten now says that he and his associates will try to license the station legally now that they have more monetary support. From Charleston, West Virginia, I'm Jim Damron, N8tMW, reporting. -- Knighten's obtaining a license for his station might not be as easy as it sounds. This is because the FCC has a policy in place not granting station licenses to anyone who previously ran an unlicensed radio transmitter for broadcast purposes. (RBI) ** RADIO LAW: TWO SENATORS ASK FCC TO SAVE LIGHTSQUARED The story that never seems to want to die just took a step toward the weirder. This with word that two well known United States senators are asking the FCC to save Lightsquared from oblivion by moving the proposed broadband network to alternative spectrum in an effort to save the troubled company from going under.. As previously reported, LightSquared has invested billions of dollars in plans for a nationwide 4G network in spectrum directly adjacent to that used by the Global Positioning System or G-P-S. But in February the FCC moved to block the network over concerns that it would interfere with G-P-S devices. Now in a letter obtained by the on-line blog The Hill, Democratic senator John Kerry and Republican senator Lindsey Graham have stated their view to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski that they understand his agency's decision to prevent LightSquared from interfering with GPS devices. But the senators said that instead of putting the company out of business, the FCC should allocate a different block wireless spectrum to LightSquared. The two senators did not suggest which block of spectrum the government should set aside for LightSquared to use. The company had previously stated that its needs can only be fulfilled in bandspace in or close to where its infrastructure is right now. (Various news reports) ** RESCUE RADIO: NEW MARS STATION TO BE INSTALLED IN CUMBERLAND FALLS KY A new Military Auxiliary Radio System or MARS radio system designed to help emergency communications is to be installed in Kentucky's Cumberland Falls State Park. News reports say that the repeater station will be placed atop the park's water tower, to assure a good signal links to the state Emergency Management headquarters in Frankfort. However, on-site testing by local radio amateurs showed that the proposed repeater could likely receive the signal as far south as Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to MARS communications Park official Pam Gibson says the repeater can also be used for weather spotting and to alert the park in the event of emergencies. Gibson noted that the new system will be equipped with an emergency power source to keep it in operation in case of failure of the normal power mains. The system should be in operation by this summer. No band or callsign was given in the news press release. Nor was there any explanation of the sharing agreement by MARS and the rest of the ham radio emergency communications community. More is on-line at tinyurl.com/mars-park- repeater (eHam.net, other reports) ** RADIO LOCATION: UNITED STATES TV COVERAGE MAPPING FROM NPR LABS National Public Radio Labs has introduced its new interactive online mapping system that they say can accurately predict digital versus analog service coverage for both radio and television transmissions. NPR says that this software should help engineers and managers of approximately 3,000 public radio and television broadcast stations and translators to get a better idea as to how their predicted analog and digital coverage on automotive, mobile handheld and indoor receivers. The online system is available for viewing at secure.nprlabs.org/radiotvmapping. (NPR) ** RADIO RULES: NZART CHANGES ITS REPEATER LICENSE FEE METHODS A decision from the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters will have an impact on several of its branches. Those where repeater and beacon licenses currently held in the name of NZART will be handed back to them. The current system of invoicing and renewals means a heavy administrative workload for society's resources at a time when subscription renewals are also being processed. This will mean that this coming November when the individual licenses are up for renewal, each branch will receive the license renewal invoice direct from the government telecommunications regulatory authority. This in turn means that branch secretaries will need to be aware of this and ensure that payment is made by the date due. Failure to do so may result in the license being cancelled. Unlike the United States where individual hams own and hold license to repeaters, in many nations it is the national society that is the repeater and beacon licensee. Those hams involved merely build and maintain repeaters. In fact, in some nations these hams are known as repeater keepers rather than as owner operators of such devices. (NZART, ARNewsline) ** HAMVENTION 2012: FORUMS LIST POSTED If you have been waiting to find out who will be holding forums at this years Dayton Hamvention, the wait is over. A complete list of this years sessions along with the day, time and room that each will be held in is now available at hamvention.org/forums.php. It again appears to be a loaded schedule so if you will be headed to Hamvention this May be sure to check this list out well in advance. (KE4WLE) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: 6 YEAR OLD BELIEVED TO BE YOUNGEST EVER UK HAM Some names in the news. First up is Kayleigh Huntley, who at age 6 is believed to be the youngest person ever to hold a United Kingdom amateur radio license. According to the Humber Fortress DX Amateur Radio, Kayleigh passed her Foundation exam at age 5 years and eleven months. The news release from the Humber Fortress club did not however mention Kayleigh's callsign. Kayleigh Huntley is the granddaughter of Andy Neilsen G7LRR who is credited with introducing her to the magic world off amateur radio some three years ago. (Southgate) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: VE2NHK NAMED NEW QUEBEC SEC Radio Amateurs of Canada has announced that Normand Pitre VE2NHK has been named the new Section Emergency Coordinator for the Quebec Section effective immediately. Pitre recently earned his Radio Amateurs of Canada Certified Emergency Coordinator designation, and resides in the city of Saint Zotique. (RAC, VA2SGL) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: NEW 50 MHz EME DIGITAL SARL DX RECORD Derek Gravette, ZS5Y, in Scottburgh, South Africa and established a new 50 MHz South Africa Radio League Earth- Moon-Earth record. This, by making contact with Mike Staal, K6MYC, in northern California here in the United States. On April 4th, the two completed a QSO on E-M-E using the JT65a digital mode. JT65 was developed by Joe Taylor, K1JT and released in late 2003. It is intended for extremely weak but slowly-varying signals, such as those found on tropo-scatter or of coarse E-M-E paths. (SARL) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: N0BYH GIVEN AWARD FOR AIDING HAM RADIO SCOUTING Here in the United States, Tim Arimond, N0BYH, has awarded the Boy Scouts' District Award of Merit. This for his work in promoting amateur radio with the Boy Scouts in the Minneapolis and St Paul area. The award recognizes Airmond's extraordinary service to youth that has included instruction to help prepare scouts to take the amateur radio exam as well as his service as a merit badge councilor for Electricity, Electronics, and Radio. It was also noted that he was also one of the adult leaders behind the local K0BSA. (KD0NYS) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the world from our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio amateur: (5 sec pause here) ** WORLDBEAT: FRENCH PREPARE FOR DIGITAL RADIO LAUNCH Radio in France is going all digital. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Butera-Howell, KB3TZD, has the details: -- The French audiovisual regulatory authority known as the CSA has announced that it will launch terrestrial digital radio or DAB this year. It will also deliver authorization to the stations that were pre-selected in 2008. The French CSA had issued a call in 2008 for stations that would like to be on the leading edge of the analog to digital conversion. It then chord 55 radio stations in Paris and Marseille, as well as around 40 in Nice, but the process then stalled. At that time the CSA said that its goal is to reach 50 percent of the French population based on a 2007 law on the modernization of audiovisual broadcasting. But over the years the launch of digital radio in that nation has been constantly postponed due to opposition from larger private broadcasters who complained that the distribution costs were too high. Now, the CSA is pulling the plug on lobbying from the broadcast giants and proceeding with the conversion process. At the same time, the CSA would like France to adopt the DAB+ broadcast platform as currently used in Germany, saying it would complement the selected but more expensive T-DMB standard to replace analog radio. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Butera-Howell, KB3TZD, in Berwyck, Pennsylvania. -- There is one downside to France's digital radio switchover. As happened when that nation made the switch to digital television last November, the analog to digital radio change will again mean that French households will be forced to replace all of their in-home and portable radio receivers. (Media Network) ** WORLDBEAT: SWEDEN SDR HAM-BAND RECEIVER ON THE WEB A new online Software Defined Radio located in Sweden and set for reception of the amateur radio 75, 60, 40 and 20 meter bands is now available via the World Wide Web. Located in the city of Mora and is maintained by SM4JLX, the system is made up of three Soft66lite receivers and a band- pass filter. You need both Java and JavaScript enabled for the WebSDR to work properly. You can hear it on-line at tinyurl.com/sweden-sdr. (Southgate) ** WORLDBEAT: NEW IRISH BROADCASTING CHARGE MAY REPLACE TV LICENSE Changes appear to be coming to the way televiewers in Ireland get charged for watching T.V. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeff Clark, K8JAC, has the details: -- Ireland's Minister for Communications has confirmed that he is considering a new household broadcasting charge to replace the television licensee fee. Pat Rabbitte told the Dail newspaper that this would not be an additional charge, and would not affect anyone who was already paying their television license. Rabbitte agreed that the current funding model was not sustainable in the long run. This was partly because of technological change which meant fewer people were watching on traditional television sets, and partly because of evasion. Minister Rabbitte said a working group in his department had concluded that a household broadcasting charge "is a viable model", and those discussions had taken place with the Department of the Environment about accessing a database of households. He said it was mainly younger people who were using devices other than traditional television receivers to access programming. I'm Jeff Clark, K8JAC. -- Just how long it might be before Irelands televiewing public sees this change in the way fees are collected is at this time, unknown. (Media Network) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ISS CONTACT TO HISTORIC FLABOB AIRPORT A group of students are preparing to talk to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, but not from a traditional classroom setting. According to ARISS Technical Support Volunteer Clint Bradford, K6LCS, the 10 minute live question-and-answer session will take place in hangar 16A at the historic Flabob Airport which is the seventh oldest surviving airport in California. The Flabob Airport to the I-S-S contact opportunity is being coordinated by The Tom Wathen Center's Kathy Rohm with technical support provided by K6LCS. The contact is slated to begin at at 10:03 AM Pacific Daylight time on the morning of April 19th and should last for about the usual 10 minutes. More is on-line at www.iss-flabob.com (ARISS, K6LCS) ** RADIO AND SPACE: HAM ASTRONOMER NEEDED DOWN UNDER According to APRS pioneer Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, there is need for a Amateur Astronomer who is also a radio amateur in Canberra Australian on June 4th to the 6th. His or her assistance is needed to support a science team of students from the United States to observe the last transit of Venus this century. The Australian ham will essentially provide real-time communications to a second team in Japan to share observations of this historic event. Interested individuals for this historic event, contact WB4APR (at) amsat (dot) org. (Southgate) ** DX In DX, EA3OW is now active through May 12th stroke HH8 from Southern Haiti. His operation is limited to only his free time. When he is on listen out for him on 40 through 10 meters using SSB, RTTY and digital modes. QSL via his home callsign, by the Bureau or direct. OM3CGN is now active from the Cameroon as TJ6RM until mid- April. His operation is on 40 through 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via OM3CGN. Members of the Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitter Society and the 9M4SDX Team will be active 9M0L from Sabah, East Malaysia through April 24th. QSL direct to 9M2TO: 9M0L TEAM PENANG, PO BOX 125 GPO 10710, Penang Island, Malaysia or via the bureau to Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters Society DJ9RR will be on the air as S79RR from Mahe Island between May 15th and the 23rd. Activity will be holiday style on 40 through 10 meters using CW and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign, direct, via the bureau or using Logbook of the World. Members of the Jersey Contest Group will be active as GJ2A from the Isle of Jersey during the Radio Society of Great Britaians' Islands on the Air Contest. This event taking place on July 28th and 29th. QSL direct to GJ3DVC or electronically using Logbook of the World. G3ZAY and M0VFC are planning to be active as ZD9UW from Tristan da Cunha possibly in September but nothing yet is confirmed. More details should soon be forthcoming at www.zd9uw.org.uk. ON4LO will be active as 5P4LO from Romo Island between April 15th and the 20th. His operation will be on 10 to 80 meters using SSB, RTTY and PSK. QSL via ON4LO, direct or via the bureau. Lastly, JH4VUC will once again be operational from Saipan using the callsign WH0VU through April 21st. Activity will be on all H-F bands using all modes. QSL direct to his home callsign. ** THAT FINAL ITEM: KDKA HONORS ITS LONGEST LISTENER And finally this week, a famed radio station has honored its lifelong listener. Representatives from Pittsburgh's KDKA broadcasting did so when they recently visited 106 year old Lucy Treccase. Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation KDKA AM is often called the first commercial station in the United States. Treccase claims that she remembers hearing KDKA's inaugural broadcast of the presidential election results on November 2nd, 1920 between Warren Harding and James Cox. At the gathering Ms. Trecasse was interviewed by KDKA radio's Larry Richert and KDKA-TV's Dennis Bowman. Richert and Bowman also presented her with a specially engraved plaque. It reads to: "Lucy Treccase - In Honor of Decades of Listenership; November 2, 1920 to the present." More on this rather heart-warming story is on-line at tinyurl.com/kdka-oldest-listener. And you have to admit that this is a nice way to end this weeks newscast. (RW) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE With thanks to AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, TWIT.TV, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB, the Southgate News and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all from the Amateur Radio NewslineT. Our e-mail address is newsline(at) arnewsline (dot) org. More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline'sT only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio NewslineT, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350 A reminder that the nominating period for the 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award is now open. Full details and a downloadable nominating form are on our website at arnewsline.org/yhoty. Also, please do not forget that Wednesday, April 18th is World Amateur Radio Day 2012. That's when the world of amateur radio will celebrate the 87th anniversary of the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union. The theme this year is Amateur Radio Satellites: Celebrating 50 Years in Space. Specifically noted are the launch of ham radios first satellite, OSCAR 1 on December 12, 1961 and the launch of OSCAR 2 on June 2, 1962. For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim Davis, W2JKD, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.