HAPPY JULY 4TH...

WEEKEND Edition: : I can't believe it is July 4th weekend already...still seems like spring here in New England....Enjoy your weekend and celebrate the holiday.

CHINESE MADE HT'S MAY BE ILLEGAL TO IMPORT TO THE USA

Some deals are too good to be true or legal. That’s the story with some rather inexpensive HT's being sold on-line.

Inexpensive VHF and UHF transceivers made in China that transmit and receive on the 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands appear to be illegal for hams to buy from overseas dealers and have shipped into the United States. This is because the radios have not passed the FCC certification procedure nor can they as they are designed to transmit on frequencies outside of the United States amateur radio allocations right out of the box.

The radios in question bear names like Puxing, FDC, Wouxon, and numerous others. They are being mainly sold on Bay and similar on-line auction sites world-wide at prices ranging from $30 to $80 plus shipping. Most of the ads originate from dealers in Taiwan or Hong Kong though some have come from other Pacific Rim nations as well.

According to postings on various chat websites, the radios themselves are not all that bad quality. Not great, but not to shabby. Almost all of them feature a back-lit LCD display, up to 100 memory channels, programmable repeater offsets, and even a built-in CTCSS tone encoder.

Output power on the VHF units approaches 5 watts while the UHF models average around 2 watts out.

Hams using them report that the transmit audio quality ranges from a bit muffled to good depending on the model and manufacturer of the set.

With retail prices far below that of similar radios from Alinco, Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu, hams on this side of the Pacific might find these Chinese built transceivers hard to resist. But as pointed out in on-line postings, the biggest problem aside from it being illegal to import is where to get one fixed if its dropped or stops operating? Also, replacement battery packs might be very hard to find if the one that comes with the radio goes flat and cannot be revived.

HUBBLE RADIOS BACK NEW PLANETS

Earth seems to have its first photos of planets outside our solar system. This, in images captured by two teams of astro researchers using the Hubble Space telescope which radioed the images back to Earth.

Astronomer Bruce Macintosh is with the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. He says that the photos show four likely planets that appear as specks of white that are all but invisible to all but the most eagle-eyed experts.

The tiny planets are trillions of miles away. Three of them are orbiting the same star, and the fourth circling a different star. None of the four giant gaseous planets are remotely but they do raise the possibility of others more hospitable planets do exist. (Space)


INTRUDER WATCH: NORTH KOREA EMBASSY ON 20 METERS

Another intruder into the ham bands. The IARU Region 1 monitoring service reports that the North Korean embassy in Tripoli is again using 14.328430MHz. This, for traffic with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pyongyang. Monitors report hearing an ARQ burst system at 600 Baud and 600Hz shift, operating on two different frequencies at about 16:30UTC daily. One frequency is in the amateur radio band, the other one out of it. (Southgate)

 FCC TO INVESTIGATE CELLPHONE EXCLUSIVITY DEALS

Federal telecommunications regulators are going to investigate whether exclusive cell phone deals, such as the one that locks the Apple iPhone to AT&T, are good for consumers. Michael Copps, the then acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission announced on June 16th he had instructed the agency's staff to open a review of exclusivity arrangements. (FCC)

SOLAR POWERED AIRPLANE UNVEILED

Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard has unveiled a prototype of the solar-powered airplane. One that he hopes eventually to fly around the world.

The aircraft has a wing span of 61 meters and weighs in at only 1,500kg. It will have four small battery powered engines driving propellers. A large solar array atop the high wing structure will be used as a solar collector to power the aircraft in daylight as well as to charge the batteries for nighttime flights.

Before any voyage is undertaken the craft will undergo trials to prove it can fly through the night. The final version of the plane will attempt its to cross the Atlantic on a test flight in 2012.

Dr. Piccard, who made history in 1999 by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon, says he wants to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies. (Southgate)


EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: 4 GHZ LED DEVELOPED

Researchers have constructed a light-emitting transistor that has set a new record with a signal-processing modulation speed of 4.3 Gigahertz. In a pair of papers published in the June 15th issue of Applied Physics Letters, researchers at the University of Illinois and Quantum Electro Opto Systems in Malaysia, report the development and successful testing of the new high-speed light-emitting transistor and new "tilted-charge" light-emitting diode.

The modulation speed of either a light-emitting diode or a light-emitting transistor is limited by the rate at which electrons and holes recombine. This recombination lifetime is important in determining device overall speed. These new devices break the previous record of 1.7 Gigahertz held by a light-emitting diode some time ago. (Science OnLine)
 

 PA SKI RESORT FINED $5000 FOR UNLICENSED RADIO OPERATIONS

A ski resort in Pennsylvania has been ordered to auntie up $5000 by the FCC. This after the regulatory agency found that the Bear Creek Mountain Resort has been using a variety of 460 MHz land-mobile frequencies without a license.

The story goes back to 2008 when the FCC's Philadelphia Field Office received a complaint that the Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Macungie was operating radio communications equipment on several frequencies without a license. An agent was dispatched who observed and recorded several transmissions on 461.3500 MHz, 462.5000 MHz, 464.4250 MHz, and 467.7625 MHz.. On 462.500 MHz, the agent heard an individual request assistance bringing a girl with a broken wrist down the mountain.

On June 10th of 2008 the FCC issued the resort a $10,000 Notice of Apparent Liability for its unlicensed radio operation. The resort countered that the fine should be cancelled because it did not knowingly violate the Commission’s Rules. But the FCC countered that it found the violations to be deliberate and that the resort must be penalized. However, it would take mitigating circumstances into account and reduce the fine to $5000.

The order affirming the $5000 fine was issued on June 24th. The Bear Creek Mountain Resort was given the customary 30 days to pay or to file a further appeal. (FCC)
 

 HAMS COMMEMORATE THE APOLLO 11 MOON LANDING

Ham radio operators around the world spent the weekend of June 27th and 28th bouncing radio conversations off the surface of the Moon. This to help commemorate Apollo 11 Moon landing 40 years ago.

Organized in Australia and the United States, the on-the-air event brought together hundreds of amateur radio operators from around the world, some armed with their own radio dishes. It was timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary next month of the Apollo 11 landing that took place on July 20, 1969.

The earlier date was chosen for two reasons. First is that the Moon does not orbit directly around the Earth's equator, this was the nearest weekend organizers could arrange for practical reasons. Secondly, the date chosen happened to coincide with the 2009 ARRL Field Day operating event. This meant that there would be lots of hams on the air on every mode including Moonbounce.

At airtime its not known how many Apollo anniversary contacts were made, but those hams trying had to be patient. It takes about 2.5 seconds for a radio signal to reach the Moon and bounce back to another part of the Earth. As such any two way contact meant waiting about 5 seconds to get a reply. (N6ZXJ, WB9QZB from published reports)


EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: MIT ANNOUNCES NEW COGNITIVE RADIO CHIP

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have built a fast, ultra-broadband, low-power radio integrated circuit chip. One modeled on the human inner ear that that could have applications in cognitive radios.

Researchers say that the new RF cochlea is embedded on a silicon chip measuring 1.5 mm by 3 mm and works as an analog spectrum analyzer by detecting the composition of any electromagnetic waves within its perception range. They say that the new chip could enable wireless devices capable of receiving cell phone, Internet, radio, television and other signals using a single device.

For those not aware, the term cognitive radio is a paradigm for wireless communication in which either a network or a wireless node that changes its transmission or reception parameters to communicate efficiently avoiding interference with other spectrum users. More about the new radio chip is on-line at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090603131441.htm (Science Daily, others)
 

Thursday Edition: Scary video...

Michigan Ham Dies in Tower Accident  -- A tower accident during Field Day preparations around 11 AM EDT on Saturday, June 27 claimed the life of Larry Prelog, KE4PM, of Niles, Michigan. Prelog, a member of the Blossomland Amateur Radio Association (BARA), was airlifted from Watervliet to a Kalamazoo hospital where he passed away early Sunday morning. He was 57. BARA Public Information Officer (PIO) Matt Severin, N8MS, told the ARRL that Prelog "…was very passionate about Amateur Radio and was very involved in club activities. He was the driving force behind the first high altitude balloon launch for our club. Larry was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back even if he didn't have another one for himself. He will be dearly missed."

2008 ARRL Annual Report Now Available -- The ARRL Annual Report for 2008, now available online and in print, reviews the major events of the year and documents the renewed growth of both the ARRL and the activities of the Amateur Radio Service. In 2008, the ARRL experienced a growth in membership, ending the year with 154,627 members, an increase of a little more than 1 percent from 2007. The growth was the greatest among International members and in the League's Northwestern, Rocky Mountain and Delta Divisions.



 

Ham radio is just a hobby..

Wednesday Edition: Wx is making it hard to finish this antenna project....Jacko still gets more tv coverage than the war, the economy, etc...Air New Zealand is getting down to the bare essentials with a new in-flight safety video that features flight attendants wearing just body paint....Top prostitution offenders in Knox County....8 amazing holes...Many computer users skip routine maintenance like changing the ram filter, waxing the modem, rotating the graphics cards and checking the hard drive pressure ...
 

Army MARS Launches Summer School  -- School won't be out this summer for Army MARS members as they begin the second round of an intensive retraining program -- MARS 101 -- that begins July 5. The 12 week course is designed to align MARS procedures with the newly-revised National Incident Management System (NIMS), as well as the Army's own updated role in civil support. It will be delivered to members via e-mail; Army MARS personnel will also be required to participate in on-the-air discussions with other members in their respective states.
Full Story

I put the hexbeam together today and you can see the white tower in the rear yard...I just need to
wire a new connector on the rotator and I can get this bad boy up in the air for some tests...You can see that
beautiful copper Flexweave wire I got from DavisRF....

HERE GOES ANOTHER AMATEUR ALLOCATION - 2300 to 2450.

Odds are that we will share 11 meters with CB when this new administration gets done grabbing spectrum to auction off. (If we are lucky)

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-291783A1.pdf
 

Tuesday Edition: It appears Dan-NTI has risen from the grave...

The ARRL has announced they will be closed on Friday, July 3, so they can observe July 4th...which is on Saturday. Do they need a head start?  I got my tower up yesterday and will make an attempt to get the Hexbeam together today- wx permitting.

It's not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we've adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or "digestion," is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin' and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right.
 

Monday Edition: Nice photos of the NH field day site from Port City...Wacko Jacko's legacy gets weirder according to the local Boston TV stations- he was 112 pounds, bald, and his stomach devoid of food, just pill casings in the autopsy report. His ex-wife says the children were not biologically his and she does not want custody........he was one strange cartoon character. Thank God that Rev. Jackson and Sharpton are right on the spot to investigate the death and get in the spotlight....Billy Mays spoof...

Original American Colonies will be active on satellite

During the period from July 1 through July 5, at least nine of the Original 13 American Colonies will be active on the amateur satellites as part of a special event organized by Ken, KU2US, in New York.

Here is the Web site announcing the event, and the certificate available:
http://home.comcast.net/~dzabawa/ThirteenColonies.htm
You’ll also find updates on Ken’s QRZ.com page.

As of Wednesday, 24 June, there are commitments from stations in nine of the original 13 colonies, and they will be using the call signs for each that are listed on the special events page. Tim, N3TL provided the following example,
"I’ll be operating as K2G daily during the special event. I intend to work at least one pass of every satellite as K2G, every day."

Listed alphabetically by Colony, here are the stations that have confirmed to date. The calls they will use are in parentheses:

Georgia – Tim, N3TL (K2G)
Massachusetts – Dave, KB1PVH (K2H)
New Hampshire – Rik, N1XED (K2K)
New Jersey – Marc, W4MPS (K2I)
New York – Peter, WB2OQQ (K2A)
North Carolina – Jim, ND9M (K2J)
Rhode Island – Fletch, N1RCN (K2C)
South Carolina – Art, K4YYL (K2L)
Virginia – Steve, NL7VX (K2B)

As of the 24th, there are four of the original 13 colonies not scheduled to be active on the satellites:

Connecticut
Delaware
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Can anyone help with any of them?

The process is simple:
1 – Please email n3tl@bellsouth.netto let him know of your interest.
2 – You can work as many or as few satellite passes as you like during the special event. It’s supposed to be fun, not work!
3 – After the event, email your log(s) to KU2US, who will handle the certificates.

Tim will provide more information after hearing from anyone who wants to activate one of the four remaining colonies.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to work one or
more of us on passes from July 1 through July 5. You only need to work one station to get the certificate, but the more the merrier!

Tim, N3TL

Astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA calls CQ Field Day

The Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA, called CQ Field Day from on-board the ISS while over South America. He is a member of Expediton 20

Expedition 20 is commanded by cosmonaut and Russian Air Force Col. Gennady Padalka, who along with the flight engineer Michael Barratt, took off on March 26, 2009, in Soyuz TMA-14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. They joined the astronaut Koichi Wakata, who was transferred from the Expedition 18. Padalka, Barratt and Koichi were before the Expedition 19 and were all transferred to Expedition 20, with the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-15 ISS, which engaged in May 29, 2009, with the astronauts Roman Romanenko, Frank De Winne and Robert Thirsk.

The Port City Radio Club guys modified the Stratham Hill fire tower to an antenna support - the beams were hoisted with trams and pulleys rigged to nearby trees.
The sky was a dizzying array of wire beams as well.
Four other beams were mounted on temporary towers around the site - the 6 meter station made 100 contacts - the 100th one was worth bonus points, it was the mother ship - W1AW !!

Is that 3910 on the dial???????

Main operating tent in Rockport, MA over the weekend

WEEKEND Edition: What a week and weekend...people dropping dead everywhere. That load mouthed, bearded, pain in the ass Billy Mays has passed away- probably from all the fumes he inhaled selling those shit cleaning products. Jacko is reunited with Peter Pan...Farrah Fawcett was a sad story....I still have my Farrah poster from college....damn she looked fine in that red bathing suit. Well 73 to them all....

Joe - K1JEK and Roger - K1PV (PCARC FD 2009 Chairman) are anxiously awaiting their spaceship to whisk them away....





Actually they were scoping out the PCARC Field Day site atop Stratham Hill, in Stratham, NH. PCARC will be once again the call of K1R operating as 5A. That's five transmitters (100 watts max) on emergency power, utilizing homemade multi-element monoband beams for 10, 15, and 20 Meters on 40' rohn towers. For 40 and 80 meters, three element wire vee-beams aiming  South West will be used. This year a 6' helium balloon will be used to hoist experimental antennas as well.

Using simple filters built inside old computer power supplies( for RF shielding), any band can be on the air with CW and SSB simultaneously with limited to no QRM. See this site for info on filters: http://www.n1nc.org/Filters/

 

New England Hams you might run across on 3936 or 3910.........

Silent Key: K4WHO-Kerry-Mellow ham, professional musician, one of the nice guys on 20 meters..........
W1GWU-Bob....one of the Hosstrader's original organizers, 3936 regular
K1PEK-Steve..Founder of Davis-RF....my best friend from high school 
NE1Z- Bill...3910, what can I say? Good cw op...
W1FSK-Steve....Navy Pilot, HRO Salesman, Has owned every radio ever built!
K9AEN-John...Easy going ham found at all the hamfests
WB1DVD- Gil....Gilly..Gilmore.....easy going, computer parts selling, New England Ham..
KB1GCK- Junkyard Jack- "Has the license...Further learning not required"..
W1OKQ- Jack....3936 Wheeling and Dealing......keeping the boys on there toes....
K1JEK-Joe.........easy going, can be found at every ham flea market in New England ...Cobra Antenna builder..
K1BXI- John.........Dr. Linux....fine amateur radio op ....wealth of experience...
KA1GJU- Kriss- Tower climbing pilot who cooks on the side at Hosstraders...
KB1CJG-"Cobby"- Low key gent can be found on many of the 75 meter nets.........a musician, woodworker, net control!
Silent Key:K1FUB-Bill- Loved ham radio........Ham Radio Ambassador!
N1XW.....Mike- claims to have been abducted by aliens......Temper!
W1XER...Scott....easy going guy
K1BQT.....Rick....very talented ham, loves his politics, has designed gear for MFJ...
W1KQ- Jim-  Retired Air Force Controller and on the HRO staff in NH...
N1OOL-Jeff- The 3936 master plumber and ragchewer...
K1BRS-Bruce- Computer Tech of 3936...multi talented kidney stone passing ham...
Silent Key: K1GAR- John- Very colorful character!......claims to an appointed "hambassador" by Gordon West.....
Silent Key: N1GXW-Frank-Mellow Mainer..........
W1JSH-Mort- Nice fellow to talk to on 3936 on the early afternoon session
WB1AAZ- Mike, Antrim, NH, truck driver, off to bed at 8pm up at 3am, doubling King of 3936....
K1BGH- Arthur, Cape Cod, construction company/ice cream shop, hard working man....
 W1VAK- Ed, Cape Cod, lots of experience in all areas, once was Jacques Cousteus body guard....
N1YSU- Bob,  easy going, kind of like Mr. Rogers until politics are brought up then watch out...loves Chinese food!
N1WBD- Big Bob- Tallest ham, at 6'10", of the 3936 group and owner of Peanut- 3936 mascot..................
K1BNH- Bill- Works for bottle gas company-we think he has been around nitrous oxide to long .
WA1ZVN- Scott...if you say it's black, Scott will say it's white.....
N1IOM-Paul............Vermont's King of  Test on 3910..how do I sound now?
KD1ZY-Warren....one of 3910's colorful and controversial characters....
W1LJW-Lee-Hauled Gas for a living...easy going ham from NH