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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2399 for Friday October 20th, 2023
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2399 with a release date of Friday
October 20th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. A global Solar Eclipse QSO Party offers a world of
insights. A record fine from the FCC -- and Amateur Radio Digital
Communications is looking for volunteers for four committees. All this and
more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2399 comes your way right now.
**
BILLBOARD CART
**
THE WORLD CALLS CQ FOR SOLAR ECLIPSE QSO PARTY
NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story looks at the recent annular solar eclipse known
as the "Ring of Fire." It was visible in some parts of the Americas, but
amateur radio operators and other citizen scientists proved that its impact
on the ionosphere was felt around the world. Jack Parker W8ISH brings us
that report.
JACK: The world was invited on October 14th to the Solar Eclipse QSO Party,
part of the HamSCI Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science projects -- and
hams, shortwave listeners and university-based researchers accepted the
challenge. In the Western United States and parts of South America where the
eclipse was most visible, eclipse-watching was combined with making QSOs on
all bands using all modes to help generate data about the eclipse's changing
impact on propagation. The QSO Party was the largest of a number of
experiments and few participants took the research -- and the party theme --
more to heart than Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, HamSCI's founder. His own QTH
became a party with a purpose, filled with food as well as operators and
assistants. His wife, Rachel, W2RUF, his mother, Ann Marie, KC2KRQ, one of
his students, Thomas KE2BAC, and scientist Bob McGwier, N4HY, were on the
team. They called CQ, monitored Doppler shift changes throughout the
eclipse, watched the Reverse Beacon Network and received PSK Reporter
updates from Phil Gladstone, N1DQ, the website owner.
Nathaniel told Newsline that results gathered from QSOs made worldwide will
be released over time, and will ultimately appear in a peer-review journal.
If you were late to the party - or missed it entirely - more experiments are
planned for the total eclipse in April of 2024. Hams looking to get involved
can join the Google group by visiting the HamSCI website at hamsci dot org
(hamsci.org). Noting that hams in places like West Bengal, India, eagerly
participated this month, amateur radio community coordinator Gary Mikitin,
AF8A, said he encouraged hams there to set up a similar study when Asia
experiences its next solar eclipse. Meanwhile, Ed Efchak, WX2R, public
information officer, told Newsline that HamSCI is continuing its outreach to
clubs whose members want to learn more -- just in time for the QSO party in
April.
This is Jack Parker, W8ISH.
(NATHANIEL FRISSEL, W2NAF; ED EFCHAK, WX2R; GARY MIKITIN, AF8A)
**
SILENT KEY: CONTESTER, HAM RADIO LEADER WILLIAM SMITH K4WMS
NEIL/ANCHOR: The ham radio community in Virginia and beyond has lost a good
friend and longtime leader. We hear about him from Jim Damron N8TMW.
JIM: An active and enthusiastic contester and DXer, William Smith, K4WMS, is
being remembered by friends who shared time with him at Dayton or worked
hard as a team with him operating in DX contests from his shack. Bill became
a Silent Key on October 6th after a brief illness. The former US Army
captain extended his friendly competitiveness into other areas, such as race
boat driving and bowling. He was also a local leader in amateur radio in his
Virginia community and had served as president of the Mount Airy VHF Club
and the Frankford Radio Club. Bill was also remembered as a frequent visitor
to Hamvention in Ohio. According to his QRZ.com page, he first got his
license in 1976 when he lived in New Jersey and moved in 1999 to Virginia.
In an online tribute, friends remembered him as a radio operator who kept
the door to his shack always open, leaving everyone with great memories of
days and nights spent contesting together.
Bill was 86.
This is Jim Damron N8TMW.
(QRZ, HAMGALLERY.COM)
**
AUSTRALIA MARKS 100 YEARS OF PUBLIC RADIO BROADCASTS
NEIL/ANCHOR: There's a new postage stamp in Australia and it's being issued
as a tribute to radio. John Williams VK4JJW has those details.
JOHN: November of 1923 marked a big moment in public radio in Australia as
the station 2BL - which was first licensed as 2SB - went on the air with its
first public radio broadcast.
To mark the occasion, Australia Post have issued a stamp with an
illustration that Catriona Noble, executive general manager of retail,
called an "iconic scene." The artist shows a woman listening to a radio
console set to the "Music Lovers Hour" on that early station.
This was the station that eventually became ABC Radio Sydney.
The stamp's first day of issue was Tuesday the 17th of October. It costs
0.20 in Australian currency.
This is John Williams VK4JJW.
(RADIOINFO AUSTRALIA, AUSPOST.COM, WIA)
**
ARDC COMMITTEES SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
NEIL/ANCHOR: Amateur Radio Digital Communications is looking for volunteers
who can serve on one of its four committees in 2024. The ARDC committees
handle grant application evaluation; technical advising for 44Net; and
conduct review. The ARDC is also looking for volunteers to serve on its
newest committee which will evaluate and analyze grant reports.
To apply or to get details about each of these committees, visit the link
that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org
[DO NOT READ: https://www.ardc.net/ardc-committee-recruitment-2024/ ]
The application deadline is October 31st.
(REBECCA KEY, KO4KVG)
**
FCC LEVIES RECORD FINE UNDER PIRATE ACT
NEIL/ANCHOR: Charging a New York City broadcaster with radio piracy, the US
regulator is fining them an unprecedented amount, as we hear from Andy
Morrison K9AWM.
ANDY: In the US, the Federal Communications Commission has levied a record
pirate radio fine of .3 million against an unlicensed New York City
broadcaster. This is one of the earliest actions the agency has taken under
legislation passed in January of 2020 to toughen the FCC's enforcement.
The law, known as the PIRATE ACT, gives the FCC increased ability to act
against pirate broadcasters, authorizing fines of as much as 000,000 per
violation up to a total of million. The acronym stands for Preventing
Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement.
According to a report in Radio World, the operators of Radio Impacto 2
received notices of apparent liability in March for their unlicensed
operations on 105.5 MHz from a station located in the city's borough of
Queens. According to media accounts, Radio Impacto 2 never responded to the
FCC, as is required. Radio World's attempts to reach the station operators
were unsuccessful.
The FCC said that collection of the record forfeiture payment may be
referred to the US Department of Justice, which enforces such fines. In
taking its further action, the FCC said that the station operators continued
to be on the air, even now, and have promoted their programming to a
prospective radio audience. According to the Radio World report, one of the
station operators, Luis Angel Ayora, had also been issued a 0,000
forfeiture in 2015 which was never paid, resulting in a seizure of broadcast
equipment.
This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.
(RADIO WORLD, FCC)
**
CANADIAN BROADCASTER HALTS TIME-KEEPING BROADCASTS
NEIL/ANCHOR: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has stopped giving
listeners the time of day. Shortwave radio, however, is still at it. Dave
Parks WB8ODF explains.
DAVE: CBC radio has stopped broadcasting the official time signal of the
National Research Council. The broadcasts began in 1939, providing a
national time synchronization signal for anyone relying on the accuracy of
their clocks. CBC Radio halted the broadcasts on October 9th, noting that
any of its transmissions over HD Radio or the web causes a delay of several
seconds, invalidating the accuracy of what was being sent.
Shortwave radio comes to the rescue, however: The NRC's official time
station, CHU, operated by the council's Institute for National Measurement
Standards, broadcasts on 3.33, 7.85 and 14.67 MHz, to deliver the time as
always, in English and French. Three atomic clocks are located at the
transmitter site in Ottawa, Canada. The station began broadcasting the time
on an experimental basis in 1929 using the callsign VE9OB. It became known
as CHU in 1938.
This is Dave Parks WB8ODF.
(RADIO WORLD)
**
BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world including the K2ADA 2
meter repeater in Ocala Florida on Friday and Saturday nights at 7.
**
DARC SEEKS HELP WITH CQGMA PROJECT
NEIL/ANCHOR: Hams active in awards programs such as WWFF, Global Mountains
Award and Islands on the Air, to name a few, are watching for changes to be
made to the cqGMA Project which was taken over by the DARC in Germany during
this past summer. IT volunteers have been handling the transfer of the
source code and the move to the DARC's servers. Ron Jerke [PRONOUNCED: Yer-
Ker], DG2RON, a member of the DARC board, said that additional IT volunteers
are needed in related areas, such as handling requests for support. The
cqGMA Project is a portal to many outdoor operating award groups including
IOTA, WWFF and GMA.
Interested parties can contact DARC directly by email to receive further
information or to volunteer.
The email address is DG2RON@darc.de
(DARC)
**
SCOUTING'S BIG WEEKEND ON AIR AND ONLINE
NEIL/ANCHOR: October 20th marks the start of a special weekend that Scouts
everywhere have been waiting for. Bill Stearns NE4RD tells us about their
agenda.
BILL: This is the big weekend for scouting, Jamboree on the Air and Jamboree
on the Internet is this weekend, October 20th through the 22nd. This is the
world's largest scouting event taking place on the air and online, to
connect scouts from around the world with each other to share in their
culture and experiences.
The K2BSA has several portable stations on the air for this event including:
K2BSA/1 in Milton, MA, K2BSA/4 in Prattville, AL, K2BSA/5 in Hernando, MS,
K2BSA/6 in Bakersfield, CA, K2BSA/7 in Cloverdale, OR, K2BSA/8 in Wheeling,
WV, and finally K2BSA/KL7 in Chugiak, AK.
Many other clubs and scouting units will be on the air with various
callsigns calling CQ JOTA. This is not a contest, and sharing the
experience of amateur radio will occur on all bands and all modes in this
travel free jamboree. Registration for the event to get your JamPuzID is on
JOTAJOTI.INFO. Additional JOTA information can be obtained on our website
at K2BSA.NET.
For Amateur Radio Newsline and the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association this is
Bill Stearns, NE4RD
**
HAM RADIO UNIVERSITY RETURNS IN PERSON
NEIL/ANCHOR: Ham Radio University is back! The day-long program on Long
Island, New York, devoted to all things amateur radio will be an in-person
event again in January. Sel Embee KB3TZD has the details.
SEL: The educational conference known as Ham Radio University is marking its
25th anniversary by returning to its pre-pandemic venue: the campus of Long
Island University in Brookville New York. On Saturday, January 6th, experts
will lead discussions on more than two dozen topics. HRU has provided its
programming without interruption throughout the pandemic, but this is the
first time in three years it is returning to real classroom settings. Topics
will include software defined radio, how to build an HF station, Morse Code,
and Parks on the Air. A testing session will also be offered for those who
would like to upgrade their ham radio license or become a ham for the first
time. Admission is free but there is a suggested donation of 00.
For those unable to attend, videos from the January HRU will be posted on
HRU's YouTube channel. The channel also offers videos of previous years'
sessions.
For additional details or a schedule of presentations visit
hamradiouniversity dot org. That's hamradiouniversity - all one word - dot
org. (hamradiouniversity.org)
This is Sel Embee, KB3TZD.
(HRU)
**
WORLD OF DX
In the World of DX, Volker, DL1WH will be active holiday style as DL1WH/p
from Fehmarn Island, IOTA number EU-128, until the 29th of October. He will
operate mainly CW, with some SSB. QSL via home call, direct or bureau.
Listen for special event station IIØMKFR [PRONOUNCED eye eye zero Emm Kay
Eff Arr] being used by members of ARI Roma, IQØRM. They will be operating
from the Maker Faire Rome from the 20th to the 22nd of October. For details
see QRZ.com
In France, the Radio Club de Wingles, F4KLR, will be active with the special
callsign TM125ED between the 4th of November through to the 31st of
December. The club is marking the 125th anniversary of the public
demonstration by radio pioneer Eugene Ducretet of wireless communication
between the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon. All CW and SSB QSOs will be
confirmed automatically via the bureau and eQSL. For other details see
QRZ.com
Listen for John, W2GD, operating as P4ØW from Aruba, IOTA number SA-036,
from the 24th to the 30th of October. He will be mostly active during the CQ
WW DX SSB Contest. Outside the contest, listen for him using CW on 160, 30,
17 and 12m. Find QSL details on QRZ.com
(425 DX BULLETIN)
**
CHANNEL ISLAND RADIO OPS ARE CHANNELING FRIENDSHIP
NEIL/ANCHOR: For our final story, we go to the islands of Jersey and
Guernsey in the English channel and discover that thanks to radio -- in this
case, citizens band radio -- these aren't islands when it comes to social
geography. Jeremy Boot G4NJH brings us that story.
JEREMY: The magic of shortwave radio first enchanted Robert Clancy and Peter
Le Page when they were teenagers working together in a small local bakery on
Guernsey Island. The words that were carried over the airwaves gave the
youngsters' world its shape as they listened to the voices of countries
beyond their lives in the English Channel. In 1979, the friends turned the
dial one day and discovered voices closer to home: citizens band on Guernsey
and on the neighbouring island of Jersey. The frequencies came alive with
local voices they found familiar and friendly. Those same voices only grew
quieter in the years that followed as mobile phones gained popularity and CB
fell out of favour. Now in an era where mobile phones have a stronghold and
social media has emerged as a communications giant, the voices of CB
operators on Guernsey and Jersey are returning in a loud chorus. CB's
resurgence was recently documented in a feature story on ITV Channel Island
News.
Robert, who uses the handle Deejay, and Peter, whose handle Mebo 2, are
still on the air, keeping busy as new friends arrive on many of the 80 CB
channels using AM, FM and SSB. Robert told Newsline that the regular voices
on Guernsey belong to radio operators with handles like Mermaid, Rubber
Lobster, The Bear and Meterman -- and the familiar voices heard on Jersey
include Road Sweeper, Little Genie and Catweasle. The islands' CB'ers have
different breaking channels but online they share a Facebook group whose
membership is growing. Robert told Newsline that the Facebook group has
members worldwide, joined by lots of ex-pats and CB'ers from around the
world. Peter told the ITV that radio has been [quote] "the best part of my
life."
Four decades later, Robert and Peter are neighbours as well as friends and
finding the connections woven by the unseen thread of radio waves to be
growing even stronger.
This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
(ITV NEWS, ROBERT CLANCY)
**
DO YOU HAVE NEWS?
If you have a piece of Amateur Radio News that you think Newsline would be
interested in, send it on! We are not talking about advertising your club's
upcoming hamfest or field day participation, but something that is out of
the ordinary. If so, send us a brief overview via the contact page at
arnewsline.org. If it's newsworthy and we would like to cover it, we'll get
back to you for more details.
Meanwhile, give some thought to the true poetry of amateur radio and let
your literary self shine through. Visit our website to learn more about the
Amateur Radio Newsline haiku challenge. Use the entry form on our website
and please follow the rules for the number of syllables you must use to
write your three-line haiku. We cannot accept entries that do not follow
traditional haiku form.
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily; Amateur Radio Digital
Communications; AusPost.com; CQ Magazine; the DARC; David Behar K7DB; Ed
Efchak, WX2R; 425DXNews; Facebook; FCC; Gary Mikitin, AF8A; HamGallery.com;
ITV News; Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF; QRZ.com; Radioinfo Australia; Rebecca
Key, KO4KVG; Robert Clancy; Ron DG2RON; shortwaveradio.de; Wireless
Institute of Australia; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur
Radio Newsline. We remind our listeners that Amateur Radio Newsline is an
all-volunteer non-profit organization that incurs expenses for its continued
operation. If you wish to support us, please visit our website at
arnewsline.org and know that we appreciate you all. We also remind our
listeners that if you like our newscast, please leave us a 5-star rating
wherever you subscribe to us. For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the
news desk in New York, and our news team worldwide, I'm Neil Rapp WB9VPG in
Union Kentucky saying 73. As always we thank you for listening. Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.
73 de Bill, PY2BIL
PY2BIL@PY2BIL.SP.BRA.SOAM
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BBS: PY2BIL - Timed 20-out-2023 08:22 E. South America Standard Time
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