News Articles

Amateur Radio Group Puts Focus On Emergency Communication:
by newlenoxpatriot.com on February 9, 2010
A world without cell phones is difficult to imagine. The BlackBerry, the iPhone and now the Droid are I-can't-live-without-you devices for millions. But in the wake of a natural disaster or devastating emergency, cell phones and other infrastructure-dependent systems are the first to go. Enter amateur -- or ham -- radio, a method of using wireless-radio communication devices to talk with other radio operators using frequencies set aside by the Federal Communications Commission. Hams, as they're called, can talk to people across the county, across the country or even on the other side of the world without the use of towers, large antennas or relying on a power source. And while the technology is often thought of as out-dated, New Lenox resident Bill Byerley III knows it could be invaluable should disaster strike. That's why Byerley, along with parents Bill Jr. and Joan, have started the Illinois Radio League, a nonprofit group committed to advancing amateur radio.

Lester, Daniel C. 'Danny' KE9SE, (SK):
by postcrescent.com on February 9, 2010
Dan Lester, an awesome husband, dad and grandpa, passed away at home on Saturday morning, Feb. 6, 2010. His loving family was at his side to take his final steps with him. Dan was born in Rochester, N.Y., on Nov. 5, 1958, son of the late William Lester and Marcia (Montford) Lester, who currently lives in Oregon. Following his graduation from high school, Dan enlisted in the United States Navy and served from 1968 until 1972. He was trained in instrument repair and technical repair of A-6 Aircraft and spent time aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. Following his discharge, he married the former Mary Kay Jackels in Illinois, on Feb. 15, 1972. At that time, Dan began work at a TV repair shop in the area. Later, he also worked at Rich's Products in Appleton as an electrician. However, his most recent work was as an electrical engineer at Kimberly-Clark. For many years, Dan was an amateur radio enthusiast and even in his final days, when he was too tired to broadcast, he often spent time listening to his countless friends converse. Dan also loved absolutely anything to do with computers and electronics and he was a whiz with that kind of thing. In recent years, he also became a bicycling enthusiast, riding hundreds and hundreds of miles on Wisconsin roads. Just last summer, he organized a ride to help raise cancer awareness and give others the strength to fight cancer. He himself rode the 63 miles from Waupun to his doctor's appointment in Madison. Dan didn't have a single ounce of quit in him.

World War II-Era Navigation System Shut Down:
by CNN on February 8, 2010
In a series of small ceremonies, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday shut down Loran-C, a navigation and timing system that has guided mariners and aviators since World War II.

CU Space Project to Study How a Violent Sun Can Affect Earth:
by denverpost.com on February 8, 2010
Set for launch Tuesday, a $32 million instrument package devised by the University of Colorado at Boulder should yield a better understanding of how the sun can violently affect Earth. When the sun acts up, it can affect satellites, power grids, astronauts, aircraft routing and crews, GPS, ground communications, cellphones and BlackBerrys. Called the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the spacecraft will pry into how solar activity occurs and the resulting space weather. "Data returned from this mission will have a huge impact on our ability to create better space weather models and to mitigate the potentially damaging effects of space weather," said Dan Baker, director of CU's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The craft's instruments will take measurements every 10 seconds and at 10 times the previous resolution. "We can look at the data every minute, 24 hours a day, to help us forecast what the sun is doing," said CU senior research associate Tom Woods, who is the instrument package's principal investigator. About 80 LASP engineers and 40 undergraduate and graduate students have been involved with the effort. Over eight years, they have researched, designed and built two spectrographs that will measure fluctuations in the sun's extreme ultraviolet.

ARNewsline #1695 -- February 5 2010:
by Bill Pasternak (WA6ITF) on February 7, 2010
The following is a Q-S-T. CQ Magazine files a rule making request to give hams more leeway under section 97.113 for rescue radio training, a Texas ham asks the FCC to create a United States 4 meter band and the National Conference of Volunteer Examination Coordinators again revises the recently revised Technician Class question pool. Find out more on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1695 coming your way right now.

Men Itching To Get a 'Classic Rig' Crackling Again:
by kearneyhub.com on February 7, 2010
OXFORD -- Through the dedication of two amateur radio operators, an old ham’s memory will live on, and his radio will continue to serve. Myron Bennett, 72, of Oxford and Gary Jezbera, 57, of Wilcox both are amateur radio operators, also known as hams. They have tinkered with an antique Swan 350-C radio for almost three years to get it back in working order. The last time this Swan 350-C radio crackled over the airwaves was in the face of tragedy, but now Bennett wants to use it to reconnect with other ham operators and to bring help in times of disaster. Bennett stumbled across the radio while visiting a bed and breakfast in New York in 2007. As he told the owners about his amateur radio hobby, the owner, Ron Young, became very emotional. “He got tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘My dad was a ham, and he died on the radio,’” Bennett recalls.

Army's New 'Smart Radio' May Revolutionize Communications:
by science.dodlive.mil on February 7, 2010
Everybody loves their smartphone because they can get GPS, the Internets, and all of its fun surprises. They can even make a phone call once in a while. But what if there were a computer program that would allow your device to not only receive phone calls, but also to automatically adjust to receive WiFi signals and television broadcasts, track GPS, access HAM radio or walkie-talkie frequencies? Engineers with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy are working to build a so-called “universal radio” test-bed this year in Fort Monmouth, N.J. They hope to open the gates of “cognitive radio” development to academia, private industry and other Defense Department organizations. The Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center is creating a Software-Defined Radio lab that will work with the Navy Research Lab to transfer work done previously on the Joint Tactical Radio System to the GNU Radio’s open-source, free software environment. Tim Leising, director of the Software-Defined Radio lab at CERDEC, said his group is focusing on developing and testing future software defined radios with the GNU platform to promote collaboration and information-sharing via network connections.

A Role For Ham Radio:
by mailtribune.com on February 6, 2010
Local low-frequency operators are given a spot in Jackson County's Emergency Dispatch Center: MEDFORD -- After an earthquake rocked Haiti to its foundation in January, only amateur radio operators were left to relay vital messages in the immediate aftermath to emergency service centers throughout the country. While local emergency officials are certain Southern Oregon would fare better in a major natural disaster, they were happy to give ham radio operators a spot in the county's new Emergency Operations Dispatch Center near the Medford airport. The Jackson County Amateur Radio Services is offering a free 10-week technician license class starting March 1. Classes are from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Rogue Valley Manor, 1200 Mira Mar Avenue, Medford. "In times of disaster, we can use all the help we can get," Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said. "The ham radio folks can help assist us in communications if our radios are shut down." The space provided to ham radio is nearly complete, with operators ready to fire up their old-school equipment in the coming weeks, said Bill Anderson, the assistant emergency coordinator for the Jackson County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (JCARES). "We hope we're not needed, but we will be ready when the time comes," Anderson said. Anderson is one of 25 members of JCARES who take time out of their personal schedules to train in emergency radio procedures in the case of a natural disaster. Though Southern Oregon is relatively safe from such large-scale events such as tornadoes, hurricanes and tsunamis, the threats of massive forest fires and an earthquake spur the need for JCARES, said the group's emergency coordinator Don Montgomery. "We are among the most successful in the state when it comes to training scenarios," Montgomery said JCARES participated in an earthquake drill in the fall in which emergency service personnel from across the state reacted to a simulated disaster that knocked down communication between fire departments and hospitals, and knocked out bridges and overpasses. Volunteers with JCARES responded to designated spots throughout the county, making calls to care providers for important materials such as blood and medical equipment that are so important in a disaster. In an evaluation of the drill, JCARES scored in the top 5 percent in the state, Montgomery said. What can give ham radio an advantage in today's highly technical, gadget-oriented society is its simplicity. If cell phone towers and Internet servers were knocked out of commission, it would fall to ham radios and their low-frequency transmissions to reach repeaters across the world. "An emergency without communication quickly becomes a disaster," Montgomery said.

Propagation Forecast Bulletin #5 de K7RA:
by W1AW Bulletin via the ARRL on February 5, 2010
As soon as sunspot 1041 went over the horizon at the end of January, sunspot 1043 emerged, high in our Sun's northern hemisphere. Average daily sunspot number this week fell over 13 points to 14.6, and average daily solar flux declined nearly 7 points to 75. Geomagnetic activity was up, and the average daily planetary A index rose 2 points to 5.1.

Amateur Radio Operators Play Important Role:
by portclintonnewsherald.com on February 5, 2010
Those of you who are amateur radio operators may laugh a bit as you read this column. I am attempting to write about a highly technical operation without having a good understanding of the process. However, it is an extremely interesting field with operators more in demand than I realized before meeting some of the members of the Ottawa County Amateur Radio Club. This club has been around since the 1950s. It hasn't always been terribly active, but it is on the upswing right now. The club is member ARRL K8VXH. The letters stand for Amateur Radio Relay League. The FCC assigned the call letters to the club upon formation. I attended the January meeting at the Oak Harbor Public Library. I listened to a very interesting talk on the usage of satellites. I now know how these satellites are able to maintain their orbits and that LEOs (low earth orbit satellites) are the ones used by ham operators. I learned a repeater amplifies or strengthens a signal. I also learned not many kids are becoming ham operators. The computer seems responsible for dampening the interest. However, in emergencies, when nothing else is working, the amateur radio operators can and do communicate. They are a very important part of this counties emergency preparedness plan. In fact, February's meeting is at the county's Emergency Operating Center in the basement of the courthouse.

Ham Radio: A Fading Hobby ... Until Emergencies Hit:
by orlandosentinel.com on February 5, 2010
At the National Weather Service, meteorologists are surrounded by some of the most up-to-date technology, which they use to track weather systems and dangerous storms. But when the computers go down, forecasters may have to depend on hundreds of Central Florida hobbyists who use a method widely perceived to be decidedly less technologically advanced: amateur radio. "Each individual county has one or more individual ham groups that can provide backup communications," said Scott Spratt, warning-coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Melbourne. "We have about 20 groups we interact with." Amateur, or ham, radio is a method of using wireless-radio communications devices to talk with other radio operators using frequencies set aside by the Federal Communications Commission. The technology became popular in the early part of the past century as radio technology was developing. As early as 1914, hams were communicating nationwide, according to the American Radio Relay League, a national ham-radio group. Hams are required to take tests and are licensed by the FCC. In the Orlando area, hundreds of hobbyists speak to other hams near and far for fun, while others, such as law-enforcement and emergency-services personnel, use the technology as part of their jobs. About 17 groups of ham-radio enthusiasts are in the region, including chapters in The Villages and Daytona Beach. Contrary to popular belief, they're not socially awkward shut-ins without access to cell phones and more current technology. Hams are police officers, engineers, city officials, teachers and even young students who just enjoy radio. They're also able to help during natural disasters in other parts of the world.

Solar Activity Intensifies After Long Period of Calm:
by bbc.co.uk on February 5, 2010
New photographs taken by space telescopes show activity on the surface of the sun has intensified in recent weeks. Scientists say solar flares and regions of powerful magnetic fields known as sun-spots have increased markedly after a period of the lowest activity for almost a century. Intense solar activity can overpower Earth's own protective magnetic field, causing serious disruption to communications systems and power grids -- and the scientists say the current surge could peak about the time of the Olympic Games in 2012.

DX News -- ARRL DX Bulletin #5:
by W1AW Bulletin via the ARRL on February 4, 2010
This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by NC1L, QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all.

Amateur Radio Enthusiast Spins Old Time Country:
by ganderbeacon.ca on February 4, 2010
In Noggin Cove, Cyril Gillingham said there are many older folks who love to hear old time country music – the sort of sounds they used to hear growing up in the community. It’s a style largely ignored by most commercial stations, who now have playlists dominated by the likes of Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, and Taylor Swift. Now, Mr. Gillingham is trying to fill that old school country void through a hobby he’s put a lot of passion into. With a modest amount of equipment, Mr. Gillingham is operating an amateur radio station out of his attic in Noggin Cove. “I was always into old country music,” said the retired fishermen, sitting in an attic filled with CDs and musical instruments. “I got myself a little transmitter, and I had the other equipment from DJing dances, so I got a little five-watt transmitter and went from there.” Radio was a big part of his youth growing up in Noggin Cove. His father owned the second battery-operated radio in town when Mr. Gillingham was a young boy. “We didn’t have television in Noggin Cove until 1962, and so all the baby boomers and older folks grew up with radio,” he said. As a family, they would listen intently to the Gerald S. Doyle News, Saturday night hockey games, and broadcasts of country music, sometimes coming live from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. “From the time I was a very small boy, I was fascinated with radio. Television doesn’t do anything for me.” His operation is a shortwave one, not wanting to become a station in need of a license from the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission. “I want to stay inside the rules and regulations of ham radio,” said Mr. Gillingham.

Chair Clarifies Tower Proposal:
by yourdailyjournal.com on February 4, 2010
Richmond County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kenneth Robinette tried to set the record straight Monday on the proposed tower code amendments. The tower code wasn’t actually up for discussion Monday night, the board was simply to set a public hearing for it’s next meeting March 1, which it did, but Robinette wanted to clarify things for some of the members in the audience who are against the amendments to the ordinance. “AM/FM radios that already exist are grandfathered into this ordinance,” Robinette said. “The only time the fee will apply is if you increase the height of the tower or construct a brand new tower. “When we were asked to look at this ordinance we were just trying to protect the property values of adjacent property owners,” he added. “For HAM radio towers, the $150 fine is only for towers that are 50 feet or higher.” Robinette asked County Planner James Armstrong if there were any HAM radio towers over that 50 feet in Richmond County, and said if anyone is aware of them, to let the board know. “Again, all towers existing are grandfathered in,” he said referring to the HAM radio towers already in Richmond County. “We’re just looking out for the health and safety of the citizens in Richmond County. And I just wanted to clarify some things because there’s been a lot of misunderstanding.”