eHam.net News for Friday 30 June 2017

[eHam.net via rec.radio.info Admin]

eHam.net News

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CSUN's CubeSat Launches from ISS and Contributes to NASA Research:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 05:07 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39548


Many CubeSats are like prodigal children when launched from the
International Space Station into Earth's orbit: The miniature satellites
leave home and are never heard from again. Not CSUNSat1. This mini
satellite has performed like a dutiful child this summer, calling home at
least twice a day to California State University, Northridge and doing all
of its homework. After months of preparation and waiting, on April 18,
electrical and computer engineering professors Sharlene Katz and James
Flynn and their students cheered with relief as NASA launched CSUNSat1, the
university's first stellar explorer, to the International Space Station
(ISS). The cube-shaped satellite is about the size of a shoebox and
launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the OA-7
Cygnus spacecraft SS John Glenn, propelled by an Atlas V rocket. It took
four days to reach the space station, where astronauts unloaded and
prepared the satellite and other payload for deployment. In mid-May, Katz
and Flynn got word that NASA was ready to launch CSUNSat1 into orbit to
start its mission. Then on May 18, the ISS crew deployed the mini satellite
into low Earth orbit. Once it had safely cleared the massive space station,
CSUNSat1 was allowed to power up and begin its mission operations and
experiments. Later that night, the satellite made its first pass over the
CSUN ground station, designed and built from scratch (like the CubeSat
itself) in the corner of an electrical engineering lab in Jacaranda Hall.
It was a tense and historic moment for CSUN. Katz and Flynn waited quietly
in the ground station with several of the more than 70 students who have
worked for four years to bring this project to life -- and to orbit. The
device was designed in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in Pasadena to test the effectiveness of JPL's energy storage system
to help explore deep space in extremely cold temperatures. At 11:21 p.m.,
CSUNSat1 came up over the horizon, within range of the large, custom-built
antenna on the roof of Jacaranda Hall. Katz, Flynn and their students and
alumni held their breath. Then, they heard it: the first contact from the
beacon, the long and short tones of International Morse Code. In addition
to programming it to send data back to CSUN, the engineering team had built
the satellite to broadcast its status every three minutes as it circles
Earth, using Morse Code. "It is unfortunate that many CubeSats go up there,
and they're never heard from. You can imagine how those students and
researchers must feel," Flynn said. "It's like sending your child into the
world, and it doesn't write home. You never know what happened to it. [When
I heard the beacon], I felt like eight tons was off my shoulders. I was
elated." "It [broadcasts] a letter B at the beginning of the beacon that
tells us the experiment is ready to be run," added Katz, who noted that she
and Flynn chose old-school Morse Code for the stellar traveler because it
works when computerized data fails -- and because both professors happen to
be fluent in Morse Code, thanks to a passion for ham radio in their teen
years.


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Rotary gives $5,000 for Better Lamorinda Emergency Communications:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 05:07 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39547


A $5,000 dollar Orinda Rotary Club donation will boost the effectiveness of
wireless communications throughout the Lamorinda area. The recipient is the
Lamorinda Area Radio Interest Group, an amateur radio club serving the
community's event and emergency communication needs. The gift paid for a
system of LARIG-built radio repeaters in Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda.
These hilltop repeaters boost incoming signals from walkie-talkies and
other radios and effectively overcome the losses caused by distance and
hilly terrain. Each site has two repeater systems (each one with a radio
receiver, transmitter, controller and antenna). One is for amateur radio
band frequencies, the other for Family Radio Service and General Mobile
Radio Service frequencies.


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Efforts of Amateur Radio Operators are Making a Difference:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 05:06 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39546


When a windstorm knocked out power to thousands of households in a
six-county region in March, the fragility of the modern communications most
of us have become accustomed to was obvious. "With the major windstorm
everyone lost power and a lot of people in the region were cut off," said
Joseph Gangi, Jr., of Albion. "But we were still able to communicate and
get information out there to truckers and people on the roads about road
conditions and hazards." Gangi was able to communicate via amateur radio
(also called ham radio). He's the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)
Coordinator for Orleans County and founder and president of the Community
Amateur Radio Club -- a group of about 12 members from Orleans County that
meets monthly at the Hoag Library in Albion, Orleans County. During the
windstorm, members disseminated information about accidents, downed power
lines and missing stop signs to the Orleans County Sheriff's Department and
other operators. Their equipment was run via emergency power (battery
backup and solar power) from their homes.


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The Sun is Set to 'Change Form' as NASA Says Solar Minimum is On the Way:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 05:06 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39545


The sun is heading into a period known as solar minimum, during which
activity at the surface will 'change form.' In this time, certain types of
activity, such as sunspots and solar flares will drop -- but, it's also
expected to bring the development of long-lived phenomena including coronal
holes.
According to NASA, solar minimum could also enhance the effects of space
weather, potentially disrupting communications and navigation systems, and
even causing space junk to 'hang around.' The sun follows roughly an
11-year cycle. While sunspots were relatively high back in 2014, they're
now heading toward a low point expected in 2019-2020, according to NASA.
This is called solar minimum,' said Dean Pesnell of NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. 'And it's a regular part of the sunspot
cycle.'


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Prepping for the Big One:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:56 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39544


Hundreds of participants from more than 40 agencies volunteered their
weekends to test the limits of their emergency service equipment and their
own training at the Cape Blanco Airport north of Port Orford, said Deb
Simon, the public information officer for the training. While the various
emergency service agencies train independently for disasters, it's rare
that they get to work together. The Triton32 exercise allowed them to do
just that. Pilots and flight nurses spent three days flying to outlying
airports in Curry County to pick up "patients" -- in this case, they
were "paper patients," not real people -- transport them to the Cape Blanco
Airport where their injuries were evaluated and, based on that triage, send
them inland for treatment. On the ground, local firefighters worked
alongside federal military agencies. Communications towers were erected.
Piles of paper in the Logistics tent were checked and double-checked for
correct data. Ham radio operators in Port Orford crammed into the backs of
pickups, in tents, in dens throughout the counties.


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Who's Listening? Hams Ask:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:56 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39543


COURT HOUSE -- "CK N2CMC. How copy KC5OLN? QSL." It's not a foreign
language, but text Bill "N2CSA" Cole saw on his digital ham radio's screen.
He joined nearly 40,000 other ham radio operators across the U.S. June 24
for a Field Day event demonstrating the science, skills, and service ham
radio operators might need in abnormal situations under less than optimal
conditions. Cole joined a dozen or so other Cape May County Amateur Radio
Club members as they participated in the most popular ham radio event since
it began in 1933 by the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). For 24 hours,
the operators reached out to contact colleagues, share logistical
information and track how many they spoke with in a language that can be
traced to the start of Morse Code. Cole, of Lower Township, and Art
Schaper, of Cape May, were set up in the 4-H Fairgrounds Lockwood Building,
testing their digital equipment as part of the event. Using their radios,
generators provided power, and antennae set up on the grounds, they could
text, send pictures or video files. Those would be important items that
could help agencies determine the breadth of disasters and what type of
emergency response is needed.


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DX News -- ARRL DX Bulletin #26:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:39 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39542


This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by
KV1J, QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL,
Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web
sites. Thanks to all.


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Just Ahead In Radiosport:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:39 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39541


Just Ahead In Radiosport:


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Ham Radio Poised to Retain 76-81 GHz Band, Sharing with Vehicular Radars:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:38 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39540


In a draft Report and Order (ET Docket No. 15-26) to be considered at
its July 13 open meeting, the FCC has proposed lifting a nearly
2-decade-old suspension of Amateur Radio access to 76-77 GHz, giving
the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite services access to the full 76-81 GHz
band on a secondary basis. The FCC also reduced Amateur Radio's status
from primary to secondary in the 77-77.5 GHz segment, to match the rest
of the 76-81 GHz band, and it imposed a uniform power-level limit for
users of the band. The draft Report and Order concluded that
Amateur Radio and vehicular radars will be able to successfully share
the millimeter-wave band with minor adjustments in the Amateur Service
rules. A goal of the proceeding has been to expand and consolidate the
spectrum available worldwide for 76-81 GHz radar operations. It would
bring the US Table of Allocations into line with decisions at the 2015
World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) and make the entire band
available internationally for vehicular radars operating in the
Radiolocation Service (RLS).


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'Germany Welcomes the World' to Friedrichshafen's Ham Radio 2017:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:38 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39539


"Germany Welcomes the World" is the theme of the 2017 edition of
Europe's major annual Amateur Radio gathering, known simply as "Ham
Radio" but more commonly called "Friedrichshafen," the city on the
shores of Lake Constance where it takes place each summer. ARRL
President Rick Roderick, K5UR, will head a League contingent to the
event, which this year runs from Friday, July 14, until Sunday, July
16. The show was rescheduled from June, due to a schedule conflict at
the Friedrichshafen Fairground (Messe Friedrichshafen), where Ham Radio
is staged.


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ARRL Foundation Announces Two New Scholarships:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:37 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39538


Starting in 2018, the ARRL Foundation will offer two new
scholarships for radio amateurs pursuing post-secondary education. They
have been established by the Medical Amateur Radio Council (MARCO) and by
the Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio
Club (SVARC).


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Region 1 Intruder Watch Reports the Usual Suspects:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:37 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39537


International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS)
volunteers continue to document many of the
same signals intruding on Amateur Radio bands -- some of them audible
in other parts of the world, according to the latest editions of the
IARUMS Region 1 newsletter.


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The Doctor Will See You Now!

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:36 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39536


"Generators" is the topic of the current (June 22) episode of the "ARRL
The Doctor is In" podcast. Listen...and
learn!


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ARRL to Sponsor 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Webinar:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:36 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39535


The ARRL will sponsor a 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Webinar on
Monday, July 17, at 8 PM ET (0000 UTC on Tuesday, July 18). The
approximately 90-minute session will address the role of Amateur Radio
during the 2017 Hurricane Season. Anyone interested in hurricane
preparedness and response is invited to take part in this online
presentation.


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Pikes Peak ARES at Right Place, Right Time:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:35 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39534


Members of Pikes Peak ARES (PPARES) -- Region
2, District 2 of Colorado ARES) were supporting the Mountain Top
Cycling Club's annual Experience Ride on June 17, when a motor vehicle
collision occurred at an intersection where a race rest stop was
located. Three PPARES members on site -- Dan Huber, KN0MAP; Matthew
Tuttle, KD0YBE, and Dean Buckhouse, KB0VVA -- were able to respond to
the accident, which involved a passenger car and a pick-up truck.


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W8CDX Takes Field Day Back to Its Roots:

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:35 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39533


Some younger radio amateurs may not realize that ARRL Field Day has been a
staple operating event for
more than 80 years. Former ARRL Communications Manager F. E. Handy,
W1BDI, is credited with conceiving "International Field Day" in 1933,
although it wasn't until the following year that he described it as the
"test of the emergency availability of portable stations and equipment"
we know today. For Field Day 2017, the crew at the Karns City Amateur
Radio Club, W8CDX, once again took Field Day equipment back to the
1930s -- a time when the notion of "portable" applied only loosely to
equipment of the era. Last year, W8CDX used a National HRO-5 receiver
and a style of transmitter similar to something that could have been
used at that first Field Day. This time, everything was home built.


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In Brief...

Posted: 29 Jun 2017 12:34 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39532


ARRL Seeking Additional Vintage DXpedition Logs for Archive: ARRL
continues to solicit paper logs of prominent DXpeditions that took
place predominantly in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, for inclusion in
The DX Log Archive Endowed by JA1BK.