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Subj: Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2457 for Friday November 29th,
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2457 for Friday November 29th, 2024
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2457 with a release date of Friday,
November 29th, 2024 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. An air leak on the ISS mystifies space agencies. New
rules are being considered for the 5.9 GHz band -- and Santa Claus believes
in amateur radio, do you believe in him? All this and more as Amateur Radio
Newsline Report Number 2457 comes your way right now.
**
BILLBOARD CART
**
ONGOING ISS AIR LEAK MYSTIFIES SPACE AGENCIES
DON/ANCHOR: Our top story takes us into outer space where there's a mystery
aboard the ISS: Part of the spacecraft continues to be leaking air. John
Williams VK4JJW tells us how the US and Russian space agencies are dealing
with it.
JOHN: An air leak in the Russian section of the International Space Station
has apparently worsened since it was first discovered five years ago,
according to SpaceNews.com
The leak is in the vestibule that connects the Russian module with a docking
port. Bob Cabana, who chairs the ISS Advisory Committee, said that even as
the Russian team looks for - and hopes to remedy - the cause, Roscosmos
believes that there is no immediate danger to the crew or the spacecraft.
NASA, on the other hand, maintains that the leak compromises the safety of
the Russian service module, saying that a little more than 2 pounds of air
has been escaping daily.
AMSAT News Service reports that, according to NASA's Office of the Inspector
General, Roscosmos believes it can take sufficient safety precautions on
behalf of the service module if the risk from the leak grows too great. Both
space agencies agree that the hatch to the service module should be shut
permanently at that point. AMSAT News Service said that this would mean one
fewer docking port available to receive cargo from spacecraft arriving to
make a delivery to the ISS.
This is John Williams VK4JJW.
(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE)
**
FCC EYES NEW RULES FOR VEHICLE SAFETY ALERTS ON 5.9 GHz BAND
DON/ANCHOR: The FCC has intensified its focus on the 5.9 GHz band where new
rules are being finalized for the use of cellular delivery of communications
to and from cars and trucks on the road. Kent Peterson KCØDGY brings us the
details.
KENT: Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, scored a big gain in late
November as the FCC voted on a proposal enabling the use of "cellular
vehicle-to-everything" or C-V2X, on the 5.9 GHz band.
This would establish new rules for the use of ITS within 30 MHz of that
spectrum. The system is already in use by many automakers, sending and
receiving messages over existing 5G cellular networks with alerts about
traffic issues, weather conditions, road hazards or speeding cars. The FCC
measure also sets out the technical parameters for the use of C-V2X,
including power and emission limits. The system permits vehicles to
communicate with roadside infrastructure and the cellphones of pedestrians,
cyclists and road workers, enabling safety communications even when there
are no line-of-sight warnings.
The FCC said in a press release that the new spectrum rules would [quote]
"accelerate the automotive industry and state and federal government plans
for transitioning from dated technology to the more advanced C-V2X
automobile safety technology." [endquote]
This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY.
(FCC, THE VERGE)
**
SOTA ACTIVATORS IN UK PREPARE FOR GAULFEST
DON/ANCHOR: Portable operators who have lofty goals - in this case, goals to
scale the heights of regional SOTA summits - are getting ready for Gaulfest
2024, which is set to take place in late December in the UK. Jeremy Boot
G4NJH has the details.
JEREMY: Organisers will be watching the weather forecast in the days between
Christmas and the New Year to see what day is most suitable for the return
of Gaulfest, a SOTA tradition first held in 2003. Over the years, the
event's purpose has become one-half SOTA and one-half social. Since the
beginning, activators have set up operations on summits in the Shropshire
area or on summits near the border of England and Wales, staying close
enough to one another for a convenient meet-up afterward in Church Stretton
for coffee and cake.
Organisers Tom, M1EYP, and Jimmy, MØHGY, are hoping for a turnout that even
attracts SOTA first-timers. They expect lots of opportunities for summit-to-
summit contacts. If you wish to participate, Tom advises following the
discussion thread on the SOTA Reflector to coordinate with other activators
as to which summits everyone is going to be on.
By the way, Tom explains that the name for the event actually originates
from the ancient name for Wales: "Pay de Galles" - but someone misspelled it
when the first SOTA event was launched. Gaul - spelled "G A U L" was
actually the name for a region of western Europe. Tom said no one ever
bothered to correct the mistake and so the name Gaulfest simply became
permanent. He and Jimmy hope the event itself becomes permanent too.
This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
(SOTA REFLECTOR, TOM, M1EYP; JIMMY, MØHGY)
**
SHORTWAVE IN ENGLAND STEPS IN AS AUSTRIAN SHORTWAVE FADES OUT
DON/ANCHOR: One of Europe's few remaining shortwave broadcasters is not
going QRT quietly. Austria's ORS Shortwave radio station in Moosbrun is
poised to go off the air on the 31st of December, as Newsline reported in
October -- but before it does it wil have its final 100 kW marathon on 6070
kHz on the 26th of December.
The marathon on the AM station will begin with Radio D. A. R. C. programming
at 0900 UTC and continue through other programs until Radio Power Mobile
concludes at 1459 UTC. Meanwhile, Radio D. A. R. C. has announced that
starting Sunday, January 5th, its broadcasts will continue to be carried on
shortwave thanks to an agreement signed with the station in the BBC
broadcast complex in Woofferton, England. Listeners across Europe and the
Middle East will be able to hear the programming on 9670 kHz. The high-gain
antenna system at the complex is expected to give the 125 kW transmission an
effective radiated power of nearly 4 megawatts. Meanwhile, the radio
amateur-owned and -run 'Channel-292' 10kW transmitter near Ingolstadt in
Germany will continue to use the 6070 kHz frequency for more local reception
of Radio D.A.R.C. 's program.
The ORS station was formerly the Radio Austria International broadcast
station and is well-known for having had Europe's largest directional
antenna system for shortwave broadcasts.
(RADIO D. A. R. C.)
**
"OPERATION TOY TRAIN" GETS HELP FROM HAMS IN PENNSYLVANIA
DON/ANCHOR: A group of hams from eastern Pennsylvania boarded a special
train to join Santa in collecting toys for the needy during a nearly five-
mile ride through Amish (Ahhh-mish) and Mennonite (Men-no-Night) farm
country. At the same time, they operated a special event station to promote
their charitable mission. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Mark Abramowicz NT3V has
the story.
MARK: Members of the Alburtis Amateur Radio Club and East Penn Amateur Radio
club joined forces to organize the Operation Toy Train event in northeastern
Berks County, PA in cooperation with the U.S. Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots
program on Sunday, Nov. 24th - the last Sunday of November.
The team, led by Nicholas Hoffke KC3SGN and Walt Skavinsky KB3SBC, activated
W3A aboard a Conrail caboose pulled by a train operating along the Allentown
and Auburn Railroad.
The duo set up a homemade inverted-L antenna stretched over the roof of a
flat rail car to make HF contacts on 20 and 40 meters. They also employed a
2-meter radio and antenna to make VHF contacts with local hams along the
route.
During the five-hour period, the group collected more than 160 toys at three
stops along the rail line and made more than 75 contacts using the W3A call,
including QSOs with stations across the continental U.S., Puerto Rico and
even Great Britain..
Skavinsky said one guest operator – whose handle is Sierra Alpha November
Tango Alpha – was particularly thrilled to learn that all those who made
contacts with W3A were on his “nice list.ö
Skavinsky says Santa was happy with the donations of so many toys brought by
those who came out to greet the train and check out the activities of his
ham friends. Santa thanked them all and promised he would make sure the toys
find homes this Christmas.
I’m Mark Abramowicz NT3V in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
**
SILENT KEY: MICHAEL McNAMARA EI2CL, DXER, ISLAND ACTIVATOR
DON/ANCHOR: Ireland's national ham radio society recently lost a friend and
a longtime advocate. We hear about him from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
JEREMY: Working behind the scenes for the Irish Radio Transmitters Society,
Michael McNamara, EI2CL, left his imprint. Having joined the society in 1965
- first as a shortwave listener - he later took up the responsibility for
collecting and sorting the incoming QSL cards and other items of
correspondence. Michael got his ham licence in May of 1973 and became a
society committee member. One of his accomplishments was to draw up the
rules for the Worked EI Counties Award in the mid-80s.
Outside of his society responsibilities, Michael became well-known as a
high-scoring chaser of DXCC, IOTA and Summits on the Air awards, and, before
the 1991 collapse of the USSR, he actively chased contacts with all the
Russian oblasts.
An enthusiastic activator himself, he would also travel with teams to Irish
offshore islands. In the 1970s, he was a contest station operator for EI1AA,
which was widely known as the Irish Leprechaun Contest Group.
Michael was 83.
This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
(PETER BALL, EI7CC)
**
BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the 9Z4RG
repeater in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and on Echolink Node 3384, on
Saturdays at 1200 UTC.
**
ARDC STAFFER TO OVERSEE GRANT AWARDS
DON/ANCHOR: Ham radio clubs and others seeking grants from Amateur Radio
Digital Communications will be able to turn to someone new on staff there to
assist them in processing their paperwork. We have those details from Andy
Morrison K9AWM.
ANDY: Adam Zimmel, WØZML, has joined Amateur Radio Digital Communications as
its grants and administrative associate. The ARDC made the announcement on
its website, saying that Adam will work to help them handle the grant
process and also provide support for some of the other internal operations
at the ARDC. He has been on board since late October. Adam has a strong
background in cybersecurity and IT policy. ARDC awards grants to qualifying
applicants whose projects fit into one of three main categories: research
and development; education; and the support and development of amateur
radio.
This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.
(ARDC)
**
RADIO TELESCOPE IN NETHERLANDS CONTACTS 3 MARS ORBITERS
DON/ANCHOR: Contacts made by a very sensitive radio telescope in The
Netherlands are showing scientists tremendous promise, as we hear from Jim
Meachen ZL2BHF.
JIM: Radio amateurs made successful contacts with three Mars orbiters during
a recent test of a single dish radio telescope in The Netherlands. In early
November, the C.A. Muller Radio Astronomy Station, PI9CAM, conducted its
first tests on X-band with an 8.4 GHz feed created by Dutch amateur Bert
Modderman, PE1RKI. This is the band researchers typically use for
communications with satellites doing deep space explorations.
The radio telescope at Dwingeloo successfully detected the carrier signal of
the orbiters Tianwen-1 from China's space agency as well as NASA's MAVEN and
MRO. A post on the observatory's blog reported that signals were also copied
from the European Space Agency's HERA spacecraft and the NASA probe Europa
Clipper. The scientists were also able to decode data from signals received
from Stereo-A, NASA's space-based observatory.
The telescope's sensitivity played a key role here, as it did this past fall
when the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope functioned as an online ‘Earth Moon
Earth’ relay station during the Scouting organisation's Jamboree On The Air.
The telescope successfully received the otherwise weak EME signals, which it
fed to its webSDR for online listening.
This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.
(CAMRAS.NL)
**
WORLD OF DX
In the World of DX, be listening for Ralf, DB4REB, operating as CN2REB while
on holiday in Morocco from the 30th of November until the 30th of January.
He will be using CW, SSB and FT 8 on a variety of HF bands and plans to
activate some POTA sites. See QRZ.com for QSL details.
Listen for a team of eight operators using the call T46W will be on the air
from Cayo Santa Maria, IOTA number NA-204, from the 1st through to the 10th
of December. Find them operating on a variety of modes from 160 through to 6
metres. QSL via LoTW.
As the 43rd edition of the Italian Naval Old Rhythmers [RITH-MURRS] Club
contest gets under way on the 7th and 8th of December, listen for the club’s
own station using the callsign IQ1NM. The operators will be using CW. The
club is dedicating this year’s contest to the memory of one of its members,
Serafino De Filippi, IT9CKA. Be listening in 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres.
See QRZ.com for more details.
From the 28th of November through to the 3rd of December, listen for a team
of operators active from Saipan, IOTA number OC-086. The operators include
KH0/JA8VE, KH0/JO1ABS, KH0/W1VX, KH0/WB6Z, KH0D and NH0E. They will be using
CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4 on 160-6 metres. See QRZ.com for QSL details.
(425 DX BULLETIN)
**
KICKER: SANTA NETS GIVE KIDS A CLAUS FOR CELEBRATION
DON/ANCHOR: When a DX begins with the word “Santa,ö you can expect pileups
and more than just a little excitement. Think of Santa Maria in the Azores
or Santa Isabel in the Solomon Islands. This time of year, however, the real
prize is a contact with another entity named “Santa,ö and the chase begins
on November 29th. Ralph Squillace KK6ITB is a true believer and he shares
the details with us in our final story for this week.
RALPH: In the US, where the Thanksgiving holiday ushers in the most festive
season of the year, hams in clubs around the world get into the spirit by
sharing the magic of amateur radio with children – and maybe a few adults? -
who still believe in Santa Claus. There are three Santa Nets starting this
week in the US.
The bearded character will be on the air from the north of Colorado where
he’ll be making use of the repeaters used by the Longmont Amateur Radio
Club, the Alford Memorial Radio Club and the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio
Club. Santa will be using the callsign NØP. Youngsters who aren’t in
Colorado - or even in the US - can still reach Santa through Echolink node
WØENO-R 8305, W4BOC-R or 330246.
In Kansas, the Cowley County Amateur Radio Club will be hosting Santa on the
Sunflower Net. Listen for the callsign KFØMRO on the air November 30th and
again on December 14th and 21st.
Meanwhile, Santa will also begin delivering the gift of a radio contact on
80 metres with the help of the 3916 Nets. The QSOs start every night on that
frequency at 7 p.m. Central Time from the 29th of November. They end on the
24th of December because, as we know, Santa has other business to tend to
that night.
As with all third-party contacts over the amateur bands, rules and
regulations apply. Visit www.3916nets.com for HF contacts and visit the
QRZ.com page of NØP for details about contacts over the repeaters or
Echolink. The Sunflower Net's details are at www.SunflowerNet.us
Here’s ho-ho-hoping for a 5 9 all around. That would be….a Claus for
celebration.
This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.
**
HAMS AND HAIKU, A WINNING COMBINATION
Expressing yourself on the air is one thing. How about expressing yourself
in a haiku? Pick up a pencil and join the Amateur Radio Newsline haiku
challenge. Share your experience by sending an original haiku to us here at
Newsline. Use the entry form on our website, arnewsline.org and please
follow the rules for writing your three-line haiku. Sorry but we cannot
accept any entries that aren't written in traditional haiku form with the
correct number of syllables for each of the three lines. Share with fellow
listeners the poetry that is inspired by your ham radio experience!
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily; AMSAT News Service;
ARDC; CAMRAS, Netherlands; David Behar K7DB; FCC; 425DXNews; Peter Ball,
EI7CC; QRZ Forums; Radio D. A. R. C.; shortwaveradio.de; SOTA Reflector; The
Verge; 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 Don Wilbanks
AE5DW in Picayune Mississippi saying 73. As always we thank you for
listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2024. All rights
reserved.
73 de Bill, PY2BIL
PY2BIL@PY2BIL.SP.BRA.SOAM
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BBS: PY2BIL - Timed 29-nov-2024 09:49 E. South America Standard Time
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