Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1947 - December 5 2014 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1947 with a release date of December 5th 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. CEPT recommends new testing procedures for people with disabilities; the mysteries of NVIS propagation being studied down-under; the Japan asteroid recovery mission carrying two ham radio satellites is launched and graphene is in our future. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1947 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESTRUCTURING: NEW CEPT EXAM RECOMMENDATION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES A new recommendation adopted by the Electronic Communications Committee of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommuncations Administrations or CEPT seeks to ease the access of persons with disabilities to license examinations for the Amateur Radio Service. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD has the details: -- Electronic Communications Committee Recommendation 1405 was drafted by the IARU Region 1 Regulatory Affairs Coordinator and was adopted by the committee back on October 10th. This was followed a consultation process with several administrations providing comments. The recommendation notes that for persons with disabilities, participating in the amateur service it is not only an important means of technical self-qualification by setting and achieving goals, but is also a way of integration into society by communicating with other persons of like interests. However, license examinations designed for non- disabled candidates can prove to be a significant impediment in obtaining the necessary qualifications to operate a station. Several administrations of CEPT member countries have already adopted practices to adapt amateur radio license examinations to the specific needs of candidates with disabilities. For other administrations E-C-C Recommendation 1405 provides a framework for action. The document states that the examination syllabus should be identical for all candidates but that testing procedures take into account the individual disability of candidates as confirmed by an official document. Such procedures can include individual testing where appropriate and/or providing reasonable additional examination time. Tests with diagram-free questions for the visually impaired could be replaced questions provided in Braille. Lastly, Examinations conducted in the home of candidates with severely limited mobility would be instituted. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, reporting. -- How this procedure might be phased in not explained in the press announcement. A link to this new recommendation in the CEPT database in PDF format is at tinyurl.com/new-cept- testing-proposal. (IARU Region 1) ** RADIO RESEARCH: RESEARCHING THE MYSTERIES OF NVIS Near Vertical Incidence Skywave propagation, better known as NVIS, is turning in some rather interesting mysteries as well as solving others as we hear in this special report from VK2LAW of the Wireless Institute of Australia: -- One of the most interesting findings in the results of Near Vertical Incidence Skywave propagation, comparing a communications path between two amateur stations ZS6KN and ZS6KTS over a distance of 51 kilometers it is interesting to note that on June 20 2014 there was a good communications path from approximately 05:00 to 16:30 after which the signals disappeared. The pattern was the same for July but the signals were considerably stronger than August or September. Suring September a strong dip in signal strength can be seen. The other interesting observation from the graph is that propagation opens earlier and closes later as we go into summer which indicates variations in the D layer of the Ionosphere as the Sun rises earlier and sets later. Not enough data has been collected to make any meaningful conclusions. If the path was pure groundwave the signals would have been more or less constant throughout the day or night. -- Obviously its going to take a few more seasons of research to truly find the limitations of NVIS propagation as well as to fully understand its characteristics. (WIA News) ** HRIS: SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF ASTEROID RETURN MISSION Japan has successfully launched its round trip Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample-return mission with a pair of amateur radio payloads along for part of the ride as we hear from Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF: -- The mission was carried into space on board a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launch vehicle on December 3rd. The primary payload is the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft on the first leg of its exploration and recovery journey to Asteroid 1999 JU3. Along for the ride into the final frontier are two amateur radio satellites named Shin'en 2 and ARTSAT 2 Despatch. The Shin'en 2 carries a one tenth of a watt CW beacon downlinking on 437.505 MHz and a telemetry downlink on 437.385 MHz. Also on board is a digital store-and-forward transponder with an uplink of 145.942 MHz and a micro power downlink at 435.270 MHz. ARTSAT2:DESPATCH carries a 7 watt Morse transmitter on 437.325 MHz. Its controllers say that they are seeking the assistance from hams here on Earth as part of a global monitoring system that it calls a cooperative diversity communication experiment. This effort will attempt to intercept signals from the spacecraft by properly equipped radio amateurs around the world in addition to those heard and recorded at the mission control center in Tokyo. This in the hope of reconstructing the original data transmitted from the spacecraft. Each payload has its own website with tracking and other technical details. Shin'en 2 is at tinyurl.com/sinen-2- online. ARTSAT2:DESPATCH can be found at inyurl.com/artsat- 2-in-space. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles. -- We will have more ham radio space related news later on in this weeks report. (AMSAT-UK, others) ** DX UP FRONT: COCOS ISLAND IN FEBRUARY 2015 In DX up front, 3Z9DX, K7CO and TI2HMJ will be active as TI9A from Cocos Island between February 16th and the 23rd of 2015. It has been 6 years since the last TI9 operation, and because of this Cocos is ranked 26th on the most wanted list. The boat trip to the island will begin on February 14th 2015, and it takes 30 hours from Costa Rica. Their Radio Permit is issued for 7 days only. That means they can operate for only about 6 days but are also in possession of the second permit, which allows them to stay on the island overnight and there-by 24 hour a day operation. They will be using two radios on 80 through 10 meter CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via 3Z9DX as directed at www.nielsen.net/ti9a (OPDX) ** DX UP FRONT: BEAR ISLAND THROUGH MAY 2015 Also, LA9JKA will be on Bear Island for a work assignment until May 2015. In his free time he plans to operate on all HF bands and 6 meters. QSL via LA9JKA direct only. (Facebook DX) ** BREAK 1 Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the Radio Society of Okinawa Emergency Services Net. (5 sec pause here) ** ENFORCEMENT: RADIO STATION EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH ALLEGED ARSON OF STATION A Stafford, Arizona radio station is back on the air after an employee of KJIK-FM allegedly set the station in early November and then stuck around to watch it burn. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Damron, N8TMW, has more: -- Shortly after 1 a.m. local time, Graham County Dispatch received an anonymous call about a structure fire at the radio station. When officers arrived, they noticed smoke pouring out of the building and a man, later identified as Scott Louis Welbaum, standing in the parking lot watching. Welbaum was told to leave the area but informed officers he was an employee of the station and there was a significant amount of expensive equipment inside. The Safford Fire Department then responded to the scene and extinguished the fire. According to reports, Safford Fire Chief Clark Bingham advised the fire was possibly arson. Officers then learned the anonymous phone call had been placed at a pay phone at Walmart across the highway. A Thatcher officer responded to review surveillance footage from the store and saw a man he believed to be Welbaum approach and use a pay phone at the time of the tip. The subject was also wearing the same clothes as Welbaum. The suspect and two other employees who also have keys to the building were then taken to the Safford Police Department to be interviewed. During his interview, Welbaum allegedly became hostile toward the officers. When presented with a warrant to search his vehicle which was also parked at the scene, police say that Welbaum acted as though he was going to throw a computer and had to be talked down by an officer pointing his TASER at him. After a short struggle, Welbaum was handcuffed and transported to the jail, where a search revealed he was in possession of five green-tipped wood matches. He was then booked on a charge of alleged arson. KJIK-FM was back on the air by noon the same day. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW, reporting. -- More is on the web at tinyurl.com/radio-station-arson-ch (Eastern Arizona Courier, Inside Radio, other published reports) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: EXPLORE 30 METER DIGITAL PARTY The European Radio Amateurs' Organization, together with the 30 Meter Digital Group, announce a new QSO party with the motto: 'Be digital, explore 30 meters." The party will be held the weekend December 20th and 21st from 00:00 to 24:00 UTC. This is not a contest but rather a radio meeting with a few simple recommendations to follow. You can find them at tinyurl.com/explore-30-meters. (ERAO) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: NEW FT4TA TROMELIN SLIDESHOW ON LINE F5CWU reports that a slide show covering the 2014 Tromelin Island FT4TA operation is now available for viewing on the World Wide Web. The show is made up from the selected photos out of the thousands that were taken beginning with the approach by air to the island. You can see them with either French or English captioning at tinyurl.com/tromelin- 2014-photos. A video of the expedition is being edited and will hopefully be available in early 2015. (Press Release) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: DECEMBER IS YOTA MONTH During the entire month of December, Youth on the Air or YOTA is growing quickly with it being reported that every week more youngsters are asking to participate. YOTA stations will be trying to make many contacts, so take this opportunity to connect young amateurs in their teens and 20s with their peers on the air. To quote the Radio Society of Great Britain, by making YOTA popular, we can all help to get more youngsters active in amateur radio. (GB2RS) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: M0PHI NEW CHAIR OF RSGB TRAINING AND EDUCATION COMMITTEE The Radio Society of Great Britain has announced the appointment of Philip Willis, M0PHI as the new Chairman of its Training and Education Committee Willis succeeds Steve Hartley, G0FUW. (GB2RS) ** SWL CORNER: GERMAN LONGWAVE TO CEASE BY YEARS END The German national public broadcasters Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur will disappear from longwave at the end of this year. According to Bulgarian DX Blog, the money saved will be invested in digital terrestrial radio such as DAB+. At the end of 2015 the mediumwave transmitters of Deutschlandfunk will also close. Deutschlandfunk still broadcasts on longwave at 153 and 207 kHz. It also maintains seven medium wave frequencies including 1269 and 549 kHz. Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcasts by means of the longwave frequency 177 kHz. Their mediumwave frequency 990 kHz went off last year. (Bulgarian DX Blog) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: QRZ.COM INSTITUTES SUBSCRIBER REWARDS PROGRAM The QRZ.com callsign lookup and general ham radio discussion website has announced its new Subscriber Rewards program. According to the websites managers, Subscriber Rewards is their way of saying thanks their subscribers upon whose support they depend to keep the site running. Every Wednesday QRZ will choose a subscriber to win a free prize. All current QRZ subscribers are eligible, regardless of their subscription plan. If your callsign page has a QRZ Subscriber badge, then you're eligible to win. QRZ.com will announce each week's new winner on its home page, in the Ham Radio News forum. They will also keep you posted on Facebook and Twitter. (QRZ) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: DECEMBER 31 CUTOFF DATE FOR ARRL INTERNATIONAL AWARD The ARRL says that the deadline to accept nominations for its 2014 International Humanitarian Award is December 31. This award is conferred on an amateur or amateurs who demonstrate devotion to human welfare, peace, and international understanding through Amateur Radio. Nominations should include a summary of the nominee's qualifying actions and statements from at least two people having first-hand knowledge of the events warranting the nomination. These verifying statements may be from an official of a group such as an emergency management agency that benefited from the nominee's particular Amateur Radio contribution. Nominations should include the names and addresses of all references. All nominations and supporting materials must be submitted in English to the ARRL International Humanitarian Award, 225 Main St, Newington, Connecticut 06111. The League says that it established this annual prize to recognize individuals who have used Amateur Radio to provide extraordinary service to others in times of crisis or disaster. (ARRL) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. 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) ** RADIO IN SPACE: SPINSAT SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYED FROM ISS SpinSat was successfully deployed from the International Space Station on the afternoon of Friday, November 28th. Developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, SpinSat is a 56 cm sphere weighing 57 kg that has 12 Electronically- controlled Solid Propellant thrusters spread in pairs throughout the surface of the satellite. They will be fired in pairs to spin the spacecraft. SpinSat's primary mission will be to calibrate the Space Surveillance Network. Lasers will be fired at SpinSat from the ground. The light reflected back will be measured to determine where in time and space the satellite is passing overhead. SpinSat will also model the density of the atmosphere. The IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel report that SpinSat carries a 2 watt RF output 9600 bit per second AX.25 packet radio store and forward system on 437.230 MHz. The Cyclops deployment system was used to release the satellite from the airlock of the Japanese Experiment Module. With just primary batteries for power and only 4.8 grams of fuel the spin-up phase may last between three to six months. (Published news reports) ** HRIS: DHRUVA SPACE SIGNS DEAL WITH AMSAT INDIA TO DEVELOP HAMSAT II Dhruva Space, a two-year-old startup co-founded by technologist Sanjay Nekkanti, VU3ISS, has sealed a deal with AMSAT India to develop HAMSAT II. This as a successor to HAMSAT VO-52 which went silent on July 11th most likely due to the failure of it's on-board lithium ion batteries. Dhruva's satellites are expected to be launched on Indian Space Research Organisation Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Nekkanti said his team are working closely with the space organization for design approvals and testing of the planned new satellite. (AMSAT India, Southgate) ** HRIS: SURREY SPACE CENTRE TO DEVELOP SME-SAT The United Kingdom's Surrey Space Centre is developing a 3 unit sized CubeSat called SME-SAT that it expected to launch into a 550-620 km orbit in the not to distant future. The primary objective of this project is to involve small to medium size enterprises from the terrestrial sector on a space project and allow them to space qualify their technology. SME-SAT brings together one of the largest small to medium based consortiums ever to develop advanced space technologies based on terrestrial applications. This will enable them to fully space qualify their technologies within 3 years of the mission start date. This project represents a unique, unprecedented space mission, fostering a new alliance between smaller companies, universities and a large scale space integrator in which high risk technologies will be developed and fully tested in space using cubesats. The satellite will provide beacons for amateur radio satellite users worldwide to be able to receive. More is on the web at tinyurl.com/sme-sat-uk (SME-SAT - University of Surrey) ** RADIO FROM SPACE: GALILEO SATELLITE RECOVERED AND TRANSMITTING NAVIGATION SIGNALS Europe's fifth Galileo satellite, one of two delivered into a wrong orbit by a Soyuz-Fregat launcher last August, has transmitted its first navigation signal in space on Saturday 29 November 2014. It has reached its new target orbit and its navigation payload has been successfully switched on. A detailed test operation is under way now the satellite has reached a more suitable orbit for navigation purposes. (Southgate) ** DX In DX, YB4IR will be active stroke 8 from Bandaneira Island between December 22nd and the 27th. Operations will be on 80 through10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign direct or via the bureau. For electronic QSL use Logbook of the World or Clublogs Oh QRS. DG1SGW will be active stroke PJ4 from Bonaire between March 1st to the 12th. Activity will be holiday style on the 160 through 6 meters using SSB and the digital modes. QSL via his home callsign, direct, by the bureau or Logbook of the World. N7XR will be active as VQ9XR for his operations in 2014 and 2015. These were to have started on or about December 3rd for approximately 3 weeks on 160 through 10 meters with a focus on CW, SSB and RTTY. He may use the callsign V92XR instead, which gives the prefix hunters a new one to go after. Either way, please QSL via his home callsign direct only. 3W3B who lives in Da Nang has announced that he will be active during the ARRL International DX CW Contest February 21st and 22nd as a Single-Op/All- band/High-Power entry. QSL via E21EIC or Logbook of the world. Lastly, DL2GAN will be visiting Nepal for a short term operation as 9N7CB from Kathmandu scheduled for end of December. His plan is to be operational on Christmas Eve which would be 8 am to 12 noon UTC on December 24th. Depending on propagation, bands of operation will be 14 and / or 21 MHz SSB or CW if propagation is poor. QSL via his home callsign, direct or via the bureau. (This weeks DX report courtesy of OPDX) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: SIMPLY GRAPHENE And finally this week, while only a few nanometers thick, Graphine is being touted by some in the scientific world as the new steel of the 21st century. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephen Kinford, N9WB, reports: -- Introduced to the world about a decade ago, graphene is a multi-layered material that is somewhere between 10 and 100 nanometers thick. This makes the material more like a very thin sheet of carbon. As a matter of fact, the material is so thin that it appears to be more like a sheet of paper but thinner. But even at that extreme thinness, graphene can hold weights that are 100 times heavier than steel. And graphene is an extremely good conductor of both heat and electricity. But the most important aspect found so far is that graphene can dissipate huge amounts of energy. Jae-Hwang Lee, of the University of Massachusetts Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering is a graphene researcher. He and his team say that the ability of graphene to dissipate energy is due to a high degree of stiffness combined with low density. This means that energy can move through it very quickly. What might this mean to those involved in emergency response work? Many things including something as simple dropping a hand held radio onto concrete and it not even being scratched. More important is that it continues to work as if nothing at all had happened. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB. -- More about this latest scientific advance is on the web at wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene (University of Manchester; Electronics Weekly, New Scientist, others) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Rain, the RSGB, the South African Radio League, the Southgate News, TwiT-TV, Australia's WIA News and you our listeners, 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's only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350.. 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 Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.