AMATEUR RADIO NEWS FROM THE NET

10676- 10710 of 10817 News Items

via the ARRL: December YOTA Month Activity Records More Than 80,000 Contacts More than 80,000 contacts went into logs at YOTA suffix stations and others participating in December Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Month, with most operations in International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1). The final tally included 46,989 on SSB, another 28,064 on CW, some 3,814 on FT8, and the rest on various other modes. "This year, as many as 44 participating stations made 82,938 QSOs in December, proving once again that neither the weather nor the holidays can keep a radio amateur away from the station," Gergana Ruseva, LZ1ZYL, said in the 2018 YOTA Month report. via the RSGB: Three new bands for Indonesians The Indonesian national society, ORARI, reports new amateur radio regulations have been issued with top class licensees gaining new WRC-15 Secondary allocations at 136kHz, 472kHz and 5MHz. via Radio Society of Great Britain via the RSGB: Slow-scan TV experiment on ISS The Inter-MAI amateur radio slow scan television experiment on the International Space Station is scheduled to be activated between Wednesday, 30 January and Friday, 1 February. It appears that the experiment will only be active during a couple of orbits that overfly Moscow, rather than a continuous operation. Expected periods of activation appear to be between 1300 and 1900UTC, and should occur on the traditional 145.800MHz downlink frequency. Third AM Rally is this Weekend The third annual AM Rally is just ahead. The event, which aims to encourage the use of AM on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, and 6 meters, gets under way at 0000 UTC on Saturday, February 2 (Friday, February 1, in US time zones) and continues until 0700 UTC on Monday, February 4. The AM Rally is open to any radio amateurs running full-carrier amplitude modulation using any type of radio equipment — modern, vintage, tube, solid-state, software-defined, military, boat anchor, broadcast, homebrew, or commercial. Numerous transceivers in use today offer AM capability. A lot of hams enjoy restoring and using vintage Amateur Radio equipment. The event website has complete AM Rally details, contact information, award categories, logging, and tips on how to get the most out of your station equipment in AM mode. Contact Clark Burgard, N1BCG, for more information. The event is sponsored by Radio Engineering Associates (REA), in cooperation with ARRL, which supports all modes of Amateur Radio operation. W1AW will play a leading role in the event, as it has for the past 2 years. National Weather Service Dropping High Seas and Storm Warnings on WWV/WWVH The National Weather Service (NWS) is discontinuing its high seas and storm warnings transmitted via National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) WWV/WWVH time and frequency-standard HF transmissions, starting January 31 at 1800 UTC. The NWS warnings are aimed at the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific. "This service is being terminated because weather information in the current broadcast format does not support frequent-enough updates for changes in marine weather and cannot provide enough detail in the allotted window required by mariners to avoid hazardous weather," NWS said in announcing the discontinuation. "Additionally, alternative technologies and numerous media outlets that provide weather information in various formats have overtaken the need for providing weather information through the NIST frequency signals." The NWS said other sources of marine weather information, high seas alerts, and detailed forecasts are available over satellite, telephone, the internet, marine fax, radio fax, and VHF radio. The NWS, US Coast Guard, and US Navy provide multiple dissemination methods for storm positioning, high sea areas, observations, forecasts, outlooks, and warnings for both coastal and oceanic marine zones near the US, all through a variety of technologies, including NAVTEX and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). Electronics Notes opens a Ham Radio store The website, Electronics Notes provides a huge amount of reference material for engineers, students and hobbyists. Within this there is a huge amount of material for radio amateurs on subjects like amateur radio itself as well as radio receiver technology, RF design, antennas, radio propagation and a whole lot more. To complement this, Electronics Notes has opened a ham radio store. In association with Amazon, this offers some really excellent bargains which do not appear with many other amateur radio stores. It is surprising what you can find - there is a much bigger choice than you might think, and the prices are often really good as well. Currently we are set up so that the links automatically link to the UK or USA, so you can enjoy local shopping within these countries. We are soon hoping to be available in Canada and possibly other countries as well. Check out the link and browse though our ham radio store: https://www.electronics-notes.com/hamstore Amendment Aims to Promote CITEL/CEPT Amateur Radio Operating Reciprocity Chile recently became the third country to sign the Amendment of the Inter-American Convention on the use of an International Amateur Radio Permit (IARP). Once the Amendment is in effect, Chile and other Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) signatories may offer reciprocal Amateur Radio privileges to Amateur Radio licensees from European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) member countries that have implemented CEPT Recommendation T/R 61-01 (CEPT Radio Amateur License). The Inter-American Convention says CEPT-country licensees shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges enjoyed by holders of the IARP, provided, however, that CEPT accords all holders of the IARP the same rights and privileges enjoyed by holders of the CEPT Amateur Radio license. The Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly approved the treaty last June; CITEL comes under the OAS umbrella. In addition to Chile, the Dominican Republic and Argentina have signed. IARPs are not be valid for operation in the territory of the issuing country and are valid for 1 year. A Class-1 IARP allows the use of all frequency bands allocated to the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services and specified by the country where the amateur station is to be operated, per Recommendation ITU-R M.1544. A Class-2 IARP permits utilization of all frequency bands allocated to the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services above 30 MHz and specified by the country where the amateur station is to be operated. US radio amateurs already enjoy both IARP and CEPT reciprocity. New Campaign Exploiting Linux Servers to Insert Backdoor "SpeakUp" Trojan A new backdoor Linux-based operating system trojan dubbed "SpeakUp" is on the loose, although so far it does not appear to have propagated to North America or Europe. Research team Check Point Research recently reported the discovery and said SpeakUp exploits known vulnerabilities in six separate Linux distributions and is able to evade all security vendors. A community of radio amateurs use various forms of Linux, including the popular Ubuntu software, which includes ham radio apps. Check Point Research said the attack is targeting worldwide servers. "The attack is gaining momentum and targeting servers in East Asia and Latin America, including AWS [Amazon Web Services]-hosted machines," the Check Point Research article said. "SpeakUp acts to propagate internally within the infected subnet, and beyond to new IP ranges, exploiting remote code execution vulnerabilities. In addition, SpeakUp presented ability to infect Mac devices with the undetected backdoor." The origin of the malware appears to be in East Asia, although its developer may be Russian. Check Point Research said the sample it analyzed had targeted a machine in China on January 14. Once the software successfully registers a victim, it receives commands to manipulate the machine to download and execute various files. Check Point Research said SpeakUp serves XMRig cryptocurrency miners listening to infected servers. via the RSGB: SOS Radio Week 2019 SOS Radio Week 2019 will take place between 0000UTC on 1 May 2019 to 2359UTC on 31 May 2019. Individual amateur radio operators and clubs are invited to register as official SOS Radio Week stations and operate during the month. Stations can be run under individual, club, or special event call signs, from home or other locations. There are few restrictions at to what can be done when, how, or where, other than to warn participants not to operate within the vicinity of a lifeboat or Coastwatch station without clearing it with them first. For more information, visit sosradioweek.org.uk. Ninth District Incoming QSL Bureau has New Manager and Address Erik Andersen, K9EU, of Naperville, Illinois, has assumed the role of manager for the Ninth District Incoming QSL Bureau. He is a long-time volunteer with the Bureau as well as a noted and accomplished DXer and contester. He succeeds John Meyers, K9QVB, who served as manager for 2 decades and will remain a sorter and letter dispatcher. The Ninth District Bureau handles more than 45,000 DX QSL cards each month. Effective immediately, send all Ninth District Incoming QSL Bureau correspondence to NIDXA, PO Box 125, Naperville, IL 60566. — Thanks to Central Division Director Kermit Carlson, W9XA via the RSGB: ITU emergency comms document update The ITU has updated a key recommendation for cross border usage of Emergency Communications Equipment. The new 2019 edition of ITU Recommendation M-1637 is clearer regarding countries facilitating the use of radio equipment that may be physically brought by visiting relief personnel into the territory where there is a disaster or emergency. The recommendation is intended to avoid delays due to customs procedures and type-approvals, etc and facilitate the use of both professional, as well as amateur, radio equipment in such situations. URL for M1637-1 is itu.int/rec/R-REC-M.1637-1-201901-I. FCC Announces Career Opportunities The FCC has announced job openings that may be of interest radio amateurs. The agency is seeking to fill two openings for the position of Electronics Engineer (Field Agent) — one in Boston, Massachusetts, and the other in Los Angeles, California The FCC also is looking to fill a position of Attorney Advisor (Field Counsel) in Washington, DC. NJ Pirate Enters FCC Consent Decree For three years, a member of the national association for amateur radio evaded the FCC with illicit broadcasts at 90.9 MHz in a Northern New Jersey city not far from midtown Manhattan, across the Hudson River. In April 2018, the Commission was finally able to act on the matter by issuing a hefty Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to the individual determined to be running the pirate radio stations, and followed up with a Forfeiture Order six months later. Now, the matter is officially resolved by way of a Consent Decree. On Wednesday (10/31), the Enforcement Bureau moved forward with a Forfeiture Order against Winston Tulloch (QRZ.com lists a callsign for a Winston Tulloch as KC2ALN). As reported by RBR+TVBR, Tulloch was fined $25,000 fine for his unlicensed radio broadcast activity. The Forfeiture Order from Enforcement Bureau Regional Director Dave Dombrowski was a simple conclusion: Tulloch failed to file a response to the April 2018 NAL. Russian "Sunflower" Coastal Radar Showing Up on 60, 40, and 75 Meters The January issue of the IARU Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) newsletter reports the Russian "Sunflower" coastal radar, located east of Vladivostok, is being heard at nights on 3,716 kHz and 6,860 – 7,005 kHz, as well as on several 60-meter frequencies. A Chinese wideband over-the-horizon (OTH) radar also appeared on 7.000 MHz in early January. While 60 meters and 80/75 meters are shared bands, the 7.000 – 7.200 MHz segment of 40 meters is currently allocated exclusively to the Amateur Radio Service worldwide. True intruders are those appearing on exclusive Amateur Radio frequency allocations. Some domestic Amateur Radio HF allocations outside Region 2 (the Americas), such as 7.200 to 7.300 MHz, are either shared with other services or not available to radio amateurs. On HF allocations such as 30 and 60 meters, Amateur Radio is secondary to other users. The 20-, 17-, 15-, 12-, and 10-meter bands are exclusively available to the Amateur Radio Service worldwide. via the ARRL: Amateur Radio Volunteers Activate Following California Flooding Amateur Radio volunteers with the Sonoma County, California, Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) rallied to assist in February after heavy rain led to flooding in the region. San Francisco Section Manager Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV, told ARRL that while no actual communication emergencies occurred during the weather event, Sonoma County ACS volunteers provided "needed eyes" and were available in case further assistance was needed. Sonoma County ACS Radio Officer Dan Ethen, WA6CRB, said heavy rainfall on fire-scarred areas resulted in flooding along the Russian River. "During February, the Sonoma County Auxiliary Communications Service activated, providing communication services to the Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services Department," Ethen reported. "On February 13 and 14, ACS volunteers staffed the Sonoma County Operational Area Emergency Operation Center. Mobile ACS Field Units were assigned to patrol the burn-scar areas that were a result of the Complex Fire Storm in October of 2017." Highest-Ever Summits on the Air Activation Reported Tom Rudzinski, SQ9FVE, made Summits on the Air (SOTA) history on February 16 by activating Aconcagua in Mendoza, Argentina. At 6,962 meters (22,841 feet) above sea level, the mountain is the highest peak in both the Southern and Western hemispheres. An experienced and skilled mountaineer, Rudzinski planned the expedition carefully, including all necessary support. He began his ascent to the summit nearly 2 weeks ahead of his activation, setting up camps and acclimatizing to the elevation en route. He managed five contacts on 2-meter FM, working Argentinian chasers some 90 kilometers (56 miles) away. Rudzinski worked with a group of friends from the Cuyo Radio Club (LU1MA) to activate Aconcagua. via the ARRL: The Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure Returning to Curacao The 2019 Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure (YDXA) will return to the PJ2T station in Curacao this summer, with Uli Thielke, DL8OBQ, hosting. The trip is set for July 14 – 19. The application for three youth and accompanying parent(s) is now open. Jim Storms, AB8YK, will serve as the team leader. "At this time there does not appear to be any issues with the situation in Venezuela," a statement on the YDXA website said. "Curacao is over 40 miles away over open ocean to the north and has been unaffected.  We will keep an eye on the situation. "Last summer, the YDXA team operated as PJ2Y from Curacao and logged nearly 6,300 contacts. FCC Seeks Electronics Engineer for Dallas, Texas, Area The FCC Enforcement Bureau has an opening for an electronics engineer (field agent) for the Dallas, Texas, area, that may be of interest to radio amateurs. This is a permanent, full-time job at the GS 11 – 13 level. The incumbent field agent "resolves interference, educates users and enforces regulations. An in-depth knowledge of electronic engineering is required. A full range of skills relating to inspections and monitoring is necessary," the announcement said. This individual "performs comprehensive investigations of unauthorized or unlawful radio operation and comprehensive inspections of all classes and types of installations employing RF energy," among other activities, and should have operational knowledge of technical equipment involved, such as spectrum analyzers and field strength meters. Some travel is required. The deadline to apply is April 19. See the position opening announcement for full details. General Class Element 3 Question Pool Errata Released The NCVEC Question Pool Committee has released the latest errata for the 2019 – 2023 General Element 3 question pool, which goes into effect on July 1, 2019. These changes are reflected in the new General Pool download file, dated March 15, 2019. 3Y0I DXpedition Team Reports It has Departed for Bouvet Island The 3Y0I Bouvet Island DXpedition website has announced that the team of operators — led by Polish DXpeditioner Dom Grzyb, 3Z9DX — set sail on March 19 from Cape Town, South Africa, for the remote Antarctic island on board the MV Atlantic Tuna. "The 3YØI Bouvet Island Expedition has officially begun," the announcement said. "If everything goes well, we should reach Bouvet in 7 days around March 26. Landing on the Island will be strictly dependent on weather conditions met upon arrival." According to the website, 3Y0I could be on the air by the end of March but notes that the information is subject to change, noting the vagaries of sea and weather conditions. "The team plans to stay at the island at least for 2 weeks, with an option to extend the stay to 3 – 4 weeks, if weather and other factors permit," the announcement said. "We will sign as E51DOM/mm on the way to and back from the island." The announcement invited anyone interested to track the vessel. "Stay tuned for further updates and cross fingers for us, the announcement concluded. "History has begun!" Effort Under Way to Revive Boston College Amateur Radio Club Some alumni, faculty, and staff of Boston College are in the process of trying to restart the Boston College Amateur Radio Club. They would appreciate hearing from current BC students and alumni who are interested in participating. Contact Jim Repetti, WJ1R. Norfolk Island Special Event DX Operation Set to Start on April 1 A four-operator team will activate special event station VI9NI on April 1 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Norfolk Island Act. The Act granted limited self-government to the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island. The Act formally established the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly and gave the Assembly powers to pass, amend, and repeal laws, and — subject to the assent of the Administrator of Norfolk Island — executive powers. The activation will run from April 1 until April 14. Two stations will be on the air from 160 – 17 meters, with a focus on FT8, CW, and SSB. VI9NI will use WSJT-Xversion 2.01 in Fox/Hound mode (call only above 1,000 Hz). — Thanks to David Burden VK3BDX/AC3CW via the RSGB: Australians set new microwave records The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) reports that new records have been set on the 47GHz and 122GHz bands. Operating 47GHz mobile, David, VK5KK and Wayne, VK5APN set a new record of 20.8km on 11 March 2019. At 122GHz, Matt, VK2DAG and David, VK2JDS set a new VK2 state record of 100m. Although this is some way short of the world record, the 122GHz band is fiendishly difficult and has serious attenuation challenges due to an atmospheric oxygen resonance. "Team Exuberance" to Take Over K3LR Superstation for CQ WW WPX This weekend, some new — and younger — voices will be on the air from the K3LR Superstation, an 11-acre antenna farm of 13 towers owned by Tim Duffy, K3LR. Duffy reports that "Team Exuberance" members will operate from the station in the two-transmitter, multioperator (M2) category for the CQ World Wide WPX Contest (phone), March 30 – 31 UTC. The operators will be NN1C, HA9T, VE7DZO, K6JO, KG5HVO, and KM4ATT, a team with an average age of about 16. Fourteen-year-old team member Kat, KM4ATT, and David, VE7DZO, sparked the idea, and soon a plan was put in motion to create an all-youth team to operate K3LR. Funds for transportation, hotels, and other logistical expenses were raised through a GoFundMe appeal. Kat and David had both participated in the 2018 Dave Kalter Memorial Youth DX Adventure to Curacao. While young, Team Exuberance members boast a combined record of more than 10 contest wins. Two WRTC 2018 competitors are on the list, and several have operated at other prominent stations around the world. "We believe we are the first all-youth serious contest operation in North America," said Marty Sullaway, NN1C. The Youth Amateurs Radio Club (YARC) Young Contesting Program (YCP) solicited team members for the CQ WW WPX operation and will continue the trend of recruiting young operators to contest from Big Gun stations. ARES Helps Iowa Water Utility to Resolve RFI Issue Des Moines (Iowa) Water Works (DMWW) uses secure radiotelemetry to monitor various remote-site parameters to alert staff to problems. Earlier this year, DMWW experienced periodic and sometimes total failure of the radio system. After no solution could be found, staff reached out to various resources, including the FCC. Polk County ARES also was brought in, and eight operators assembled to track down the interference, working the late shift. After a process of elimination, the ARES volunteers pinpointed the interfering signal to defunct equipment atop a downtown Des Moines building. The team contacted the owner of the license associated with the equipment and got permission to disable it, and DMWW confirmed that the signal interference was gone. Collectively, the Polk County ARES volunteer team spent approximately 70 hours to assist DMWW. Following the experience, DMWW installed a more robust radio system with encryption and established stronger relationships with several entities that can assist if similar problems arise. — Thanks to H2Oline and The ARES E-Letter Nellie Ohr: Ham radio not used for Russia contacts (Massachusetts) A transcript made public on Thursday by a GOP lawmaker in Congress shows that the wife of a top Justice Department official said she got a ham radio license as part of an effort to help with local community emergencies, not as part of any effort to communicate with anyone overseas, or to monitor broadcasts from Russia associated with the Steele Dossier. CY0C Sable Island DXpedition Some time ago, we had scheduled fall of 2019 for Sable Island DXpedition. Due to circumstances we had to reschedule to 2020. Hopefully this will be better for propagation. The permit process took over a year of emailing, phone calls, and furnishing documents. Sable at this point is no longer easily "permitted" for Ham Radio DXpeditions, as the policies have changed with the change in administration. In fact our permit finally was graciously authorized as a "one time special use permit". We believe that it is very probable that permits in the future may be essentially "nil" for a very long time. AMSAT Academy to be Held Prior to Hamvention AMSAT Academy will take place on Thursday, May 16, the day before Hamvention. AMSAT says this is a unique opportunity for both beginners and advanced satellite operators to learn about Amateur Radio in space and working the FM, linear transponder, and digital satellites now in orbit. AMSAT Academy will take place on Thursday, May 16, 9 AM until 5 PM, at the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) clubhouse, 6619 Bellefontaine Road, in Dayton. The $85 registration fee includes a full day of instruction taught by some of the most-accomplished AMSAT operators; a digital copy of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites (2019 ed.); 1 year of AMSAT Basic membership; pizza buffet lunch, and an invitation to the Thursday night AMSAT get together at Ticket Pub & Eatery in Fairborn. Hamvention Opening Gates to All on Final Day of 2019 Show Hamvention has announced that it will open the gates to all, without charge, on the final day of the annual gathering at Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio. Hamvention 2019 General Chair Jack Gerbs, WB8SCT, said the idea is to encourage the curious to see what attracts some 30,000 visitors to Hamvention each spring. "We have decided to open the doors to Hamvention to the public on Sunday, May 19, without buying a ticket," Gerbs said. "This will make it a little easier and cheaper for someone with just a little interest in Hamvention to see what all the excitement is about." IARU Argues for Protection from Wireless Power Transfer Spurious Emissions The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) was represented April 8 – 10, when CEPT Committee SE24 – Short Range Devices met in Ankara, Turkey, to undertake further work concerning wireless power transfer/transmission (WPT). SE24 is considering WPT for electric vehicles (WPT-EV) and also for generic applications. IARU already provided extensive input on the potential impact on radio communications resulting from spurious emissions from WPT devices, as detailed in CEPT ECC Report 289, published in January. According to that report, given the planned density of WPT systems for electric vehicles operating in the 79 – 90 kHz range, it is calculated that there will be a widespread and serious impact for the Amateur Service in the vicinity of WPT systems, should spurious emissions, measured at 10 meters, be at the current limits of ERC Recommendation 74-01. At the Ankara meeting, IARU and other interested parties provided further input. SE24 will meet again in early July to focus on WPT issues. Three BIRDS Constellation CubeSats Delivered to ISS for Orbital Deployment A Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 11 also delivered three CubeSats of the BIRDS-3 constellation and three other CubeSats. The BIRDS-3 constellation is a project of students at the Kyushu Institute of Technology. The additional CubeSats include Swiatowid, KrakSat, and EntrySat. All BIRDS-3 CubeSats are of the same design and have been coordinated to operate on a common downlink frequency of 435.375 MHz. Each will transmit a CW beacon and 9.6 k GMSK telemetry. The CubeSat deployer in the ISS Kibo module will deploy the BIRDS-3 CubeSats at a later date. Annual Armed Forces Day Crossband Test Set for May 11 The Army Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) will host the traditional military/Amateur Radio communication tests to mark the 68th annual Armed Forces Day (AFD) on Saturday, May 11. The event is open to all radio amateurs. Armed Forces Day is May 18, but the AFD Crossband Military-Amateur Radio event traditionally takes place 1 week earlier in order to avoid conflicting with Hamvention®. Complete information, including military stations, modes, and frequencies, is available on the US Army MARS website. "For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this event, which is only an exercise scenario, designed to include hobbyist and government radio operators alike," the event announcement said. "The AFD Crossband Test is a unique opportunity to test two-way communications between military communicators and radio stations in the Amateur Radio Service, as authorized in 47 CFR 97.111. These tests provide opportunities and challenges for radio operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a tightly-controlled exercise scenario that does not impact any public or private communications." Radio signals reach homes of missing persons (India) Kolkata: West Bengal Radio Club (WBRC), an organisation of ham radio enthusiasts in the state, helped to reunite two Bihar residents —a nonagenarian man and an elderly woman— with their families on Monday. These two elderly persons went missing after they got estranged from their respective groups at Gangasagar Mela. ARRL Field Day Site Locator is Live, Promotional Material Available ARRL Field Day is June 22 – 23. See the May issue of QST, page 85, for the Field Day announcement. The Field Day site locator is now up and running, and so far more than 430 sites already are in the database. To find a Field Day site near you, enter your town and state in the "Location or Call Sign" box at the upper left. Listings also are available by state or Canadian province.To add a site, visit the Add Field Day Station page. Information on promoting Field Day is available. Also, visit the Field Day social media page for information on promoting your Field Day operation via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting to Expand Hours during Hamvention The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting, located at the site of the former Voice of America Bethany Relay Station in West Chester, Ohio (between Dayton and Cincinnati, off the I-75 Tylersville Road exit), will expand its hours during Hamvention 2019 weekend. The WC8VOA station will be open. The museum includes a comprehensive collection of Drake Amateur Radio gear. Extended hours for Hamvention attendees will be Thursday and Friday, May 16 and 17, 4 – 9 PM; Saturday, May 18,1 – 9 PM, and Sunday, May 19, 1 – 5 PM. More information is on the VOA Museum website.