Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1738 - December 3 2010 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1738 with a release date of Friday, December 3rd 2010 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. A jammer of ham radio communications is convicted in a United Kingdom court but nobody knows why he did it. We have the details. Also, a new broadband threat to ham radio on 75 and 80 meters in a tiny modem from France and its time to say goodbye to an old friend from Sony. Find out the details on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1738 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** ENFORCEMENT: UK REPEATER JAMMER CONVICTED AND SENTENCED It's taken the better part of four years, but a jammer of amateur radio of repeater operations in the United Kingdom has been brought to justice. Jeremy Boot G4NJH, is in Nottingham with the details: -- A Hull resident was sentenced at Hull Crown Court on 22 November for causing deliberate interference to amateur radio users in the Hull region of Humberside between June and November 2009. The defendant was also convicted of unlawfully using radio equipment without a license from Ofcom, which was installed in his van and driven around the region to interfere with legitimate users of the local amateur frequencies. He was sentenced to four months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, a curfew between 7pm and 7am for 3 months via a means of electronic tagging and forfeiture of his van and radio transmitters to Ofcom. Commenting on the sentence, Paul Mercer, Head of enforcement at Ofcom, said: "There are around 900 amateur radio users in and around the Hull area, who have been deliberately disrupted for more than four years. Ofcom is very pleased with this result, which will hopefully give these users some welcome relief, as well as sending a very strong signal to those that abuse the airwaves. This followed a dedicated investigation by Ofcom involving six enforcement officers working day and night to bring the culprit to court.'' Mr Sheldon, the Court Recorder commended Ofcom for the quality of the evidence that had been collated and the quality of file presented in court. RSGB General Manager Peter Kirby, G0TWW, said "RSGB volunteers co-operated closely with Ofcom in gathering evidence for this case. This conviction shows that deliberate interference will not be tolerated and can have serious consequences for the perpetrator." I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, and you are listening to the Amateur Radio Newsline. -- The British newspaper The Register identifies the perpetrator as 63 year old Clive McMurray. According to the newspaper he has so far not explained why he spent all this time harassing the ham radio community in the area. More on this case is on-line at tinyurl.com/2fwmnu7 and tinyurl.com/2a425df (GB2RS, various UK news reports) ** THE BPL WARS: NEW WPC MODEM OPERATES ON 2 - 4 MHZ A new threat to the 75 meter ham radio band. This as a French company called Watteco has developed a new powerline modem based on Watt Pulse Communication or W-P-C technology that the Wireless Institute of Australia says transmits across the 2 to 4 MHz segment of the High Frequency radio spectrum. Described as a small, low cost, low power consumption modem, the device can be used for any type of data communication applications such as Smart Power Meters, home lighting and appliance control and street lighting to name only a few. According to the WIA News, the unit reportedly transmits a wideband signal that completely covers the amateur radio 75 and 80 meter ham bands and effectively rendering them useless anywhere in the proximity of the device. For those interested, technical data on the modem can be found on-line at tinyurl.com/2u24lae. (WIA News) ** ENFORCEMENT: FCC GOES AFTER MAINLAND CHINA CELLULAR JAMMER SUPPLIER Back in the United States, the FCC has issued an Official Citation the mainland China based company Jammer World and its on-line subsidiary TheJammerStore dot com. This, for marketing unauthorized radio frequency devices in the United States in violation of the Communications Act and Section 2.803(a)(1) of the Commission's rules. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has the details: -- According to the FCC Citation, this past July 20th an agent from the Enforcement Bureau's Columbia Office viewed Jammer World's web site. There he observed an advertisement for a device listed as a "Handheld GPS and Cell Phone Jammer Mini GPJ." On July 21, 2010, the agent made an undercover buy on-line, and received the device through the mail from New Century Technology Limited. The agent conducted tests and confirmed that the device jams signals in the Cellular Telephone Band from 845 to 975 MHz, the PCS Band from 1800 to1996 MHz and G- P-S frequency of 1575.42 MHz. Based on this and other findings, the FCC Citation tells Jammer World that if it continues to violate the Communications Act or the Rules by engaging in sales to customers in nthe United States, the Commission may impose monetary forfeitures of up to $16,000 for each such violation or each day of a continuing violation and up to $112,500 for any single act or failure to act. In addition, violations of the Communications Act or the Rules can result in seizure of equipment through forfeiture actions, as well as criminal sanctions, including imprisonment. The only problem with this citation is that the company is located in Shenzhen China and the Chines government has a long record of not cooperating with the United States in matters involving on-line sales by mainland China based companies. Without the Chinese governments cooperation, collecting a fine or forcing the company to not sell mail order to customers in the United States may be an impossible task. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. -- As we go to air, TheJammerStore dot com was still offering cellphone and GPS jamming devices for sale, worldwide. (FCC) ** HAM RADIO NEAR SPACE: MEXICAN HAMS LAUNCH CROSSBAND BALLOON REPEATER EXPERIMENT A recently launched Mexican near space crossband repeater carried on a high altitude balloon has been deemed an overwhelming success. The SARSEM-ICARUS II Mexican Aerostatic Sub-Space Repeater System was launched on November 20th. According to flight controllers, the balloon reached an altitude of 94,301 feet during which time 103 contacts where made using the crossband repeater. Ground stations reported it having coverage of 551 miles across 13 States of Mexico. The balloon's payload consisted of a UHF to VHF repeater, temperature and voltage sensors, a flight computer, and a secondary backup system including another GPS and control system. Also on board was a video camera transmitting live video bacxk to the ground on 900Mhz. This is a second ham radio balloon flight success for the Amateur Radio Club of the State of Guanajuato. The group has already announced its planning a third flight in 2011. (ARCSJ) ** WORLDBEAT: BROADCAST TRANSMITTER SITE IN WALES IS VANDALIZED Vandalism to a transmitter temporarily forced a broadcaster in Wales off the air. What are described as hooligans attacked the radio transmitter site and caused BBC Radio Wales on 882 KHz to shut down for three hours. The exact nature of the vandalism was not revealed. The site in north Somerset broadcasts across much of Wales. The damage also hit services from other broadcasters who share the site. (Soiuthgate) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the W4DUX repeater serving Port Charlotte Forida. (5 sec pause here) ** RESCUE RADIO: HAMS REUNITE MISSING HORSE WITH OWNER An Alabama amateur radio operator's weekend trek into a national forest turns into an experience he and members of one family will never forget. Rex Free, KN4CI, had no idea he was in for a bloody scene that would lead to a storybook happy ending. As Amateur Radio Newsline's David Black, KB4KCH reports from our Southeastern Bureau, the entire episode depended on amateur radio: -- Thanksgiving weekend was the perfect time for Rex Free and two fellow hikers to set out exploring North Alabama's Bankhead National Forest. It's something Free and his friends have done many times before, but they ran across this time left them stunned: -- Free: We were in the middle of the wilderness area, probably about three miles from the vehicle, exploring bluffs and looking at tree carvings and all the sudden..wham..we come upon a full size horse with blood on it dragging a saddle. And we're like okay...(laugh)" -- There's no one around, and with no cell phone coverage, no one to call. -- (Free/bite 2) Free: "After we got the saddle off we started thinking that there could be a person around here or there could be a body around here. We didn't know how to handle it or what to think of it. So we had to scope the area out to try to find somebody but we didn't didn't see anybody, thank goodness." -- As a frequent visitor to the forest, Free always takes his amateur radio handy talkie with him. He uses the Bankhead Amateur Radio Club's repeater, and asks a monitoring ham to notify law enforcement. Free learns that the horse named Joe Dirt had been reported missing more than 3 weeks earlier by owner Pam Coan: -- Coan: "I was devastated. I was so worried that something had happened to hurt him. That he ewas out there hurt and that there was nothing I could do to help him." -- It will be the next day before the animal can be rescued; in the meantime, Free uses ham radio to communicate with the owners: -- Free: "At the campsite at night we were relaying traffic to the owners and what they needede to bring in to get the horse; what condition the horse was in. That the saddle was destroyed and details that they needed to know." -- The following morning, Pamela and the horse she named Joe Dirt--because he loves to roll in the dirt--are reunited. -- Coan: "I never thought that I'd see him again, and then there he was standing. I couldn't get to him fast enough just to touch him. You know, it was just such a high that you can't explain it. Its just to know that he was okay." -- Joe Dirt's rescue brings a happy end to Pam Coan's emotional roller coaster ride. And she's thankful, too, for the key role Free and his fellow hams played. -- Coan: "They're a blessing. They're heroes. I don't even know how to thank them for what they've done." -- As for Joe Dirt, he's home, happy and doing well...rolling in the dirt as he loves to do. From the South East Bureau in Birmingham, Alabama, Im David Black, KB4KCH, for the Amateur Radio Newsline. -- Joe Dirt appears to have followed the same advice hikers are given about what to do if they get lost which is to just stay put. Rescuers say by doing that, and the fact that he was found by ham radio operators with communications capability are the likely reasons he survived. (KB4KCH) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: EXPEDITION 24 ALL HAM CREW RETURNS HOME Members of the Expedition 24 and 25 crews that spent 160 days on-orbit on board the International Space Station has returned to soild ground. On Friday, November 26th Commander Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC along with Flight Engineers Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, and Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI landing in Kazakhstan on flying home in a Russian-built Soyuz space vehicle. While on-orbit, both Wheelock and Walker collectively made 22 ARISS contacts with schools around the world. In addition, Wheelock was on the air making one on one contacts as his time and work schedule allowed. Before leaving the ISS, Wheelock recorded a 20 minute video tour of part of the space station that included a live demonstration of his making contacts with hams on Earth. OIne seemed especially memorable for Commander Wheelock. Take a listen: -- Contact audio here. Hear it on the MP3 edition of this weeks newscast downloadable at www.arnewsline.org -- You can hear and see that entire video including the I-S-S tour on-line at tinyurl.com/3yep54f (ARISS, NASA) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: TWO HAMS IN NEW ISS CREW SOON TO LAUNCH Meantime, replacements for the now returned space adventurers will soon be on their way to orbit. On December 17th a new trio of flight engineers are expected to arrive at the I-S-S following a December 15th launch. They are identified U.S. astronaut Catherine Coleman, KC5ZTH, the European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli, whose call is IZ0JPA and Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev. And we will have more ham radio related space news later on in this weeks Amateur Radio Newsline report. (ARISS, NASA) ** RADIO LAW: FCC EXTENDS NEW EAS-CAP COMPLIANCE DEADLINE The FCC is giving broadcasters, cable operators, satellite radio and television operators and wireline video service providers more time to implement the next generation emergency alert system. The commission announced on November 18th that it will move the deadline for compliance from March 29, 2011, to September 30, 2011. In 2007, the FCC set a communications industry compliance deadline of 180 days after FEMA adopted the standard for the Common Alerting Protocol or C-A-P formatted emergency messages. Since then the agency has extended that date based on public comment and a specific recommendation by the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council. This latest extension is to give broadcasters, cable operators and others sufficient time for development, testing and potential certification of the new equipment. The FCC added that in making the decision that it took into account the cost of buying the new compliant equipment in extending the Common Alerting Protocol adoption deadline. While its been reported that a handful of amateur repeaters carry EAS alerts, there is no law or rule that requires them to do so. (FCC) ** RADIO CONFERENCES: ESA TO AWARD TEN SCHOLARSHIPS TO STUDENTS PRESENTING BAT SPACE CONFERENCE An Italian astronomic study group has announced that the European Space Agency Education Office has offered ten scholarships. These for students who present papers at the 1st International Academy of Astronautics Conference on University Satellites Missions and the Cubesat Conference to be held in Rome from January 24th to the 29th of 2011. Students selected by the ESA Education Office will also be reimbursed their conference registration fee and awarded a maximum stipend of 300 Euros to help cover travel and accommodation expenses. More information is on line at tinyurl.com/25wouy5. (ANS) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: N6GHZ APPOINTED AS AMSAT DIRECTOR OF LAUNCH OPPORTUNITIES Some names in the news. First up is Bill Ress, N6GHZ, of Camino, California. He has been appointed to the newly created post as AMSAT's Director of Launch Opportunities by the organizations President Barry Baines, WD4ASW. In his new capacity, Ress will serve as the central point for managing Fox Launch Opportunities, Ride Share Opportunities as well as coordinating AMSAT's presence at small satellite conferences. Supporting Ress efforts will be a volunteer task force to help coordinate and compile launch information. (ANS) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: MARK RODWELL TO RECEIVE IEEE-SARNOFF AWARD Mark J.W. Rodwell will receive the 2010 I-Triple-E David Sarnoff Award at a meeting in San Francisco in December. Rodwell is a research scientist who developed indium phosphide heterojunction bipolar transistors that are capable of operating at very high frequencies. According to an I-Triple-E release, in doing so Rodwell set the guidelines for further improvements enabling powerful radio, optical communications and imaging applications. The award specifically recognizes his development of millimeter- wave and sub-millimeter-wave indium phosphide heterojunction bipolar transistors and associated integrated circuits. (RW) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: VE5TRF NAMED RAC SASKATCHEWAN SM And Barry MacKenzie VE5TRF has been appointed Radio Amateurs of Canada's Section Manager for Saskatchewan effective immediately. MacKenzie has a military background, and is the current President of the Moose Jaw Amateur Radio Club, an accredited examiner as well as the clubs webmaster. MacKenzie's appointment was announced on November 20th by Radio Amateurs of Canada's Doug Mercer, VO1DTM, who is the organizations Vice President for Field Services. (RAC) ** 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) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: LONG DELAYED ECHOS CAPTURED ON 40M Another case of Long Delayed Echo's of a ham radio signal being heard by the originating station has been reported and this time the ham had enough time to capture the sound to a recording. Amateur Peter Brogl, DK6NP, reports hearing Long Delayed Echos on 7 MHz during a geomagnetic storm on November 27th. This is part of one of the recordings he made: -- Long Delayed Echo audio: Hear it on the MP3 edition of this weeks newscast downloadable at www.arnewsline.org -- What you just heard was what DK6NP heard forty-six seconds after he transmitted his call sign at 7 MHz, he received an echo of his own transmission. Brogl said that ast first he thought someone was playing on him so he changed frequency, re-keyed his call and got another echo. This went on for more than an hour, enough time for Brogl to make several recordings. Long Delayed Echo's are not a new phenomena. They were first reported in 1927 by Norwegian civil engineer Jorgen Hals but happen rarely and are not really understood. Most researchers believe that unusual propagation conditions linked to solar storms may be one of many possible explanations. Others can be seen on Shlionskiy's Long Delayed Echo page at tinyurl.com/355lvc6. Audio recordings made by DJ6NP of the 7MHz Long Delayed Echos can be heard at brogl.net/audio. (Space Weather, Southgate) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: UK SPACE AGENCY TO USE AMSAT-UK FUNCUBE BOARDS ON NEW BIRD. The United Kingdom's Space Agency is proposing to use the AMSAT-UK designed FUNcube boards. This, as part of its innovative new UKube-1 CubeSat satellite slated for launch in December 2011. The baseline design for this new bird includes a set of FUNcube boards to provide the educational outreach for the project. AMSAT-UK is presently discussing the precise details of an arrangement with the UKube-1 project team. If adopted, use of these boards will enable a much higher level service to be provided for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics outreach to schools than would be possible with other spacecraft designs. More on this project is on-line at tinyurl.com/27cotj6 (AMSAT-UK) ** WORLDBEAT: VK100WIA - THE FINAL SCORE Some interesting statistics from down-under. This, as the Wireless Institute of Australia closes the logbook on its centenary station VK100WIA. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, is here with some very interesting numbers: -- With the log book now finalized at 24,440 contacts David Park VK3JDA has carried out some further in-depth analysis of its 611 pages. The 40 meter band had 10,500 contacts, followed in popularity by 80 meters with 5,000, 20 meters 4,100 and 2 meters just over 3,000. In fact 12 bands were used by VK100WIA ranging from 160 meters through to 23 cm. Looking at the modes used, as would be expected SSB comes up triumphs with 19,000 contacts, and CW got a very good pounding with nearly 1400 QSO's logged. Others listed as modes in the log were AM, IRLP, D-STAR, PSK, JT65C, SSTV, ATV, APRS and one EME or moon bounce contact. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News in Australia. -- And less we forget a final word of congratulations to our friends at the Wireless Institute of Australia on this 100th anniversary achievement. (WIA News) ** WORLDBEAT: MAJOR SITE RENTAL INCREASE FORCES UK REPEATER TO GO QRT The GB3PF 70 centimeter voice repeater near Blackburn in the United Kingdom is be closing down. This, after its operator, North Western Repeater Group, was notified of a site rental cost increase that would have the club paying more than œ6000 a year for site space. That's over $9300 in U-S dollars and is beyond the means of the small ham radio group. Until now, the group was paying what was described as a small nominal site rental fee. ** DX In DX, ZS6SIG has relocated to Nairobi, Kenya is now signing 5Z4EE and will be doing so for the next four years. He will operational on 160 through 10 meters. Please QSL via NV7E or at the address shown for 5Z4EE on QRZ.com. By the way, this is the same call that he originally held back in the 1980s. Russian Robinson Club members NL8F and N3QQ are off to the Marshall Islands to activate three Islands On The Air including a new uninhabited island. Their operation will continue through December 16th. QSL V73RRC and V73QQ via N7RO and V73CF via K8NA. F1BCS, will be active as portable 3B8 from Mauritius through December 17th. His operation will be on 20, 17 and 15 meters using SSB, RTTY and PSK. QSL per the operator's instructions. VK8NSB, is currently in the planning stages at the moment for a DXpedition to Timor-Leste in July 2011. He is inviting any interested amateurs in joining the DXpedition teamto e- mail him at vk8nsb at hotmail dot com. VK4KHZ, is expected to be active as H44DA when he arrives on Guadalcanal Island January 6th. He will be there through January 16th operating holiday style primarily on 6 meters on a daily basis, subject to favorable conditions. He may also operate on the High Frequency bands as time permits. QSL via VK4KHZ. DJ2EH is on the air as ZD9T from Tristan da Cunha until December 8th. No operating schedule was made public. QSL via his home call. And lastly, listen out for VP8SCC to begin transmitting using various digital modes during December. His operation will be from the Falkland Islands Sea Cadet Corps unit. This is a young person's organization and is run with a nautical theme based on the traditions of the Royal Navy. The VP8SCC station is managed by VP8CWQ. QSL to the Falkland Islands Sea Cadet Corps, c/o PO Box 785, Stanley, FIQQ 1ZZ, the Falkland Islands. ** THAT FINAL ITEM: THE SONY WALKMAN - SK And finally this week, as the holiday gift giving season approaches we are kind of sad to report that the famed Sony Walkman will likely be on dealer shelves for the last time this year. This is because Sony has announced that the thirty-one year old cassette tape based unit is being phased out of production. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, is here with our final goodbye: -- The Sony Walkman -- the cassette tape player that forever changed music listening habits before becoming outdated by digital MP3 players -- has become a sort of silent key, this after Sony announced on October 25th that it has stopped production of the cassette tape player in Japan - effectively sounding the death knell of the now-obsolete portable audio device. If you're looking to put a date in the Walkman's tombstone, then October 25, 2010, is as good as any. Perhaps October 23, 2001, the day the Apple iPod was launched, is the better date. But none of the success of Apple's portable music players and those of other manufacturers would have ever happened without the Sony cassette tape Walkman. Some 220 million Walkman players were sold since the first model, the TPS-L2, debuted in July 1979. It was developed under the stewardship of Sony founders Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka. Morita insisted the device be focused on high quality mobile playback which was considered a relatively odd idea at the time. Originally called the "Soundabout" in the U.S., Sony quickly replaced the Soundabout name with the Walkman designation. It retailed for around $200 was an immediate sensation. In fact, it was quickly hailed by supporters as a total revolution in mobile music listening. But more than just portability, the Walkman fostered a personalization of one's music. In fact, the Walkman was also the father of the so-called mixtape. For the first time, music listening was something you could make very personal by arranging songs in the order you wanted to hear to them. It was also a way of courting a future spouse or love interest during the 1980's and 1990's. For those of you too young or simply unfamiliar with this process, making a mixtape typically entailed gathering songs, putting them all on a cassette in the order you wanted them played, labeling the tape with care and giving it to a love interest in school or elsewhere. The Walkman didn't disappear as much as it was improved upon by its creators and others. Sony continued to use it as a brand, but the company long ago surrendered style to Apple and the ubiquitous iPod. But one day the iPod will likely go the way of the 45 RPM record, the L.P. and the Walkman. When that happens in some far distant time, that generation will be waxing nostalgic about its passing just as we are today about the Walkman as it becomes a part of electronic history. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, looking for my earphones and cassette tapes in Los Angeles. -- The Walkman is survived by the CD-based Sony Discman and hundreds of Chinese-made knock-off tape based players. It's also revered by those music listeners who think using a Walkman in this day-and-age is charmingly out-of-touch. (Compiled from various published news reports) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB, the Southgate News and Australia's WIA News, that's all from the Amateur Radio NewslineT. Our e-mail address is [email protected]. 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 For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jeff Clark, K8JAC, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.