Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2403 for Friday November 17th, 2023 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2403 with a release date of Friday November 17th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. A plan to grow commercial use of the radio spectrum in the US. The FCC removes outdated restrictions on the digital modes - and a YL in India has a ham radio movie-star moment. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2403 comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** US STRATEGY TARGETS 5 BANDS FOR EXPANDED SPECTRUM USE JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week with word of an official plan to expand commercial use of the radio spectrum. A US agency is taking on an ambitious study of how to accomplish it. Sel Embee KB3TZD brings us up to date. SEL: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the US agency that advises the president on spectrum use, has released a report focusing on the possible repurposing of five bands for commercial use: the lower 3 GHz band, along with parts of the 5 GHz band, 7 GHz band, 18 GHz band and the 37 GHz band, according to several published accounts. In all, 2,786 MHz of spectrum were identified by the agency at a time when the nation's wireless industry is pressing for the same kind of expanded spectrum access available to commercial interests in other countries. Commercial uses include satellite operations, navigation, wireless broadband, internet-connected vehicles and drone management. The NTIA expects to conduct a study to identify the bands further and to develop a strategy within18 months for the FCC's allocation of users on the bands. According to Reuters, most of the frequencies being studied are reserved for various parts of the US government. I'm Sel Embee KB3TZD. (REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS) ** FCC REMOVES OUTDATED RESTRICTIONS ON DIGITAL MODES JIM/ANCHOR: Meanwhile, in an action that was long-awaited by many, the FCC has removed what many considered to be outdated restrictions on digital transmissions. The agency announced on Wednesday, November 13th that it was establishing a 2.8-kHz bandwidth limitation on amateur radio HF radio bands to replace the baud rate limitation. The move was much-sought-after particularly by amateurs involved in emergency communications. It will also encourage experimentation - a core principle of ham radio. The FCC is still seeking comment on the proposed removal of limitations on the baud rate - or symbol rate - in the VHF and UHF bands as well as in the 2200-metre and 630-metre bands and would like input on what the appropriate bandwidth limitation might be. (FCC) ** FCC EXTENDS WINDOW FOR COMMENTS ON 60M PROPOSAL JIM/ANCHOR: In other action, the FCC has extended the window to receive comments on its proposed changes to the 60-metre band. The new deadline is November 28th. The FCC would like to make changes to the band that would allocate 15 kHz of contiguous bandwidth between 5351.5 and 5366.5 kHz for amateur radio on a secondary basis. The proposed new band would have a limit of 15 watts EIRP. US General, Advanced and Extra Hams presently have five channels available to them between 5332 and 5405 kHz - also on a secondary basis. They are permitted an effective radiated power limit of 100 W PEP. (FCC, ARRL) ** VETERANS HONOR VETERANS VIA AMATEUR RADIO JIM/ANCHOR: When more than 70 percent of your ham radio club's members are either military veterans or on active duty, the US holiday known as Veterans Day is no small matter. Kevin Trotman N5PRE introduces us to just such a club. KEVIN: Fayetteville, North Carolina marked Veterans Day a few days early on November 4th with its annual parade but not all the public attention was focused on those representing the US military in the annual march. The Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society was on active duty at the parade too and when the hams called QRZ, people took notice. Hector Gonzalez, KB4LOA, the society vice president, said visitors had lots of questions as they heard the hams' QSOs with others who, like them, were veterans of the armed forces or still in active service. Almost three-quarters of the North Carolina club's members have connections to the US military. Hector told Newsline that the annual event in Fayetteville was designed to honor those who served but the presence of the hams sparked extra interest for those who were looking to get involved in radio. Hector said the hams were especially grateful for the organizing efforts of Don Talbot, WO4SFA, a retired chief warrant officer from the Special Forces. Hector said the day's activation showed everyone that hams who are also veterans still remain in the country's service. He said: [quote] "This holds a special meaning to all of us as an organization because not only did most of us serve the grateful nation but [in] one way or the other we continue to do so by way of serving our community by rehearsing emergency communications every time we get on the air." [endquote] This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE. (HECTOR GONZALEZ, KB4LOA) ** "ROGUE SATELLITE" IS BAG OF TOOLS DROPPED BY ISS ASTRONAUT JIM/ANCHOR: The newest NASA satellite in orbit some 200 miles above the Earth isn't one you can contact by radio. In fact, it's not an official satellite at all but a bag of tools missing from the International Space Station. Kent Peterson KCØDGY tells us how it got lost in space. KENT: NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli, KI5WSL, and Loral O'Hara, KI5TOM, were conducting a spacewalk on November 1st. They were tending to a solar alpha rotary joint that helps the ISS track the sun and they were conducting maintenance work on a communications antenna. That's when it happened: the suitcase-size tool bag they were using slipped free of Moghbeli's grasp and went off into space on a mission of its own. According to various media accounts, the bag, which has an exterior that reflects the sun, is now hurtling along at a few thousand miles an hour on a journey that is expected to end when, just as with another toolbox lost in 2009, it enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up. So no, you can't make radio contact with this particular rogue satellite but a number of people, including Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, have been able to see it -- and at one point it was directly over Mount Fuji. It is apparently not difficult to find if you have a telescope or high-power binoculars. If you've seen this free-floating toolbox and captured its image, the website EarthSky is hoping you'll share it with them. All images can be uploaded using the link that appears in this week's text version of the newscast at arnewsline.org [DO NOT READ: https://earthsky.org/community-submissions/ ] This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY. (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, EARTHSKY.ORG) ** SPECIAL CALLSIGN CELEBRATES WIA'S 90TH YEAR IN PRINT JIM/ANCHOR: For many of us, if we aren't on the air, we're either talking about it or reading about it. Hams in Australia are celebrating a magazine that has helped them do all three - for 90 years. Graham Kemp VK4BB has the details. GRAHAM: Amateur Radio Magazine, the Journal of the Wireless Institute of Australia, has had real staying power - in fact, it is marking its 90th year in 2023 - but the special callsign honouring the magazine won't be around for too much longer. You have until the 31st of December to contact special event station VK90AR (VK-ninety-AR), which is being operated on a roster basis by hams in Australia. You never know who you're going to work when you answer the call. One of the operators is Sergio, VK3SO, who designs and lays out each 68-page issue. The magazine has come a long way from its earliest 24-page issue, conceived of by the WIA's then-president, George Thompson VK3TH. It cost six pence - the price of two ice cream cones in 1933. That is a fraction of the US dollar. Hams who make a successful contact can count on getting something else to read courtesy of Amateur Radio Magazine: A commemorative QSL card from Down Under. This is Graham Kemp VK4BB. ** ARRL ANNOUNCES 1ST 'WAS' WINNER ON 33cm BAND JIM/ANCHOR: The ARRL announces the first Worked All States winner on the 33 cm band. Here's Patrick Clark, K8TAC. PATRICK: Congratulations to Al Ward, W5LUA, who is the recipient of the ARRL's first Worked All States certificate for the 33-Centimeter Band. The FCC opened the frequencies between 902 MHz and 928 MHz to amateurs in 1985 and Al immediately began working toward the award. According to the ARRL website, Al completed his 38-year challenge on the 21st of October with a QSO with Peter Van Horne, KA6U, in Wisconsin, in an Earth-Moon-Earth contact. The FCC has permitted secondary use of the band to amateurs on the condition that they accept interference from such primary users as medical, scientific and industrial equipment and agree to create no interference of their own. The ARRL described Al's station as a 5-metre dish with 400 watts of power from a pair of 300 W Motorola amplifiers in parallel. He is using a dual polarity patch feed. This is Patrick Clark K8TAC. ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world including the WM3PEN repeater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. local time ** HER RADIO, HER LIFE - AND HER MOVIE JIM/ANCHOR: The story of an influential YL, happy among her family of hams and inspiring others around the world, would make a great subject for a feature film -- and now it has. John Williams VK4JJW tells us about her and the new documentary. JOHN: Even if she doesn't feel like a movie star, Bharati Devapullavi is generating a lot of excitement on the film screen in a new one-hour documentary, "My Radio, My Life," that premiered on Friday the 10th of November at the Africa International Film Festival. The team of filmmakers from Pune [Poo-Nay] India take a sweeping yet very personal view of the medium in all its varied forms, from shortwave enthusiast to commercial broadcaster to amateur radio operator, focusing on a handful of its most ardent practitioners. As someone who has been a radio amateur for more than half of her life, Bharati VU2RBI, plays a central role in the film, giving the camera crew access to her shack in Hyderabad (Hydra-BOD) earlier this year and introducing the many members of her very large ham radio family, including her husband, VU2DBP; her daughter, VU2DTR; and her son, VU3DVS. The veteran DXpeditioner, who has assisted widely in disaster management communications and received many awards worldwide, is an advocate and educator for amateur radio education, particularly for YLs. The documentary, which is expected to arrive in India sometime in 2024, is scheduled to appear at other festivals around the world, where it will be among many films vying for awards. For Bharathi, the title couldn't be more perfect: "My Radio, My Life" is her story. This is John Williams VK4JJW. JIM/ANCHOR: A short trailer for the documentary can be seen on Vimeo at the link in the text version of this week's newscast. If you live in the Washington, D.C., area or plan to visit, you can see the film on December 1st through the 3rd at the 12th annual DC South Asian Film Festival. [DO NOT READ: https://vimeo.com/840719183 ] ** TIMEKEEPER PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE TO ELIMINATING "LEAP SECONDS" JIM/ANCHOR: Fans of keeping Universal Coordinated Time, or UTC, intact, take note: The International Telecommunications Union is discussing one prominent timekeeper's proposal for global standard-setters to institute something called the "leap minute" - and whether it should be introduced in light of the recent decision to eliminate the "leap second." Jeremy Boot G4NJH explains. JEREMY: The ITU's World Radiocommunications Conference opens on November 20th in Dubai with an ambitious agenda that includes discussion of a US timekeeper's proposal to address the planned elimination of "leap seconds" starting in 2035. Leap seconds were originally implemented to synchronise the Earth's irregular rotation with the ultra precise method of atomic timekeeping. It is this form of timekeeping that is reflected in UTC, the very time standard that radio amateurs, scientists and many others depend upon worldwide. The leap second was marked for elimination in a vote last year by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures to address its complex impact on technology and other fields. An alternate timekeeping method to be discussed in Dubai suggests that "leap minutes" be used instead, every 50 years or so, as needed, to align clocks more closely with the variable movement of the Earth. This alternative form of time adjustment is a concept from Judah Levine of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States. It is unclear what kind of reception this new controversial remedy may ultimately receive by from the International Bureau of Weights and Measures itself. We will know, of course, in due time. This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH. (ARS TECHNICA) ** WORLD OF DX In the World of DX, be listening for Datta, VU2DSI, operating again this year with the special event callsign AU2JCB to pay homage to the noted Indian scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose, a pioneer in wireless communication. He will be on the air from the 23rd of November to the 11th of December, operating on 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 metres on SSB and on 6 and 10 metres in FM mode. This year he will be joined by VU2EVU and VU2XPN who will be calling QRZ with the callsigns AU3JCB and AU5JCB respectively. See QRZ.com for QSL details. On the Chatham Islands, ZL7A will be on the air until the 22nd of November. Listen for them on 160 to 6 meters where they will be using SSB, CW, FT8, and FT4 with three stations. QSL via LoTW. Listen for Kazu, MØCFW/JK3GAD, operating from Rodrigues Island as 3B9KW during the CQWW CW contest taking place November 25th and 26th. You may also hear him before and after the contest, starting on November 19th, as 3B9/MØCFW. QSL via LoTW. (EHAM, DXWORLD) ** KICKER: FOR ONE HAM, A QSL CARD FOR LIFE JIM/ANCHOR: Almost everyone can tell a story about a favorite - or memorable - QSL card they have hanging in their shack. But what if it's an 87-year-old card that holds a piece of your personal ham radio history? Paul Braun WD9GCO tells us about it. PAUL: On November 1st, Eric Peterson, N1IVC, received a birthday card from his uncle, who had wrapped another kind of card inside before sealing the envelope: It was a QSL card that had, in bright red printing, W1JUE - the callsign that was held by Eric's late great-uncle Jean (pronounced; GENE). Jean, who lived in Rhode Island, had mailed the card in 1936 to a ham in New Jersey as confirmation of a CW contact on May 31st of that year. Eric first saw the card earlier this year while browsing eBay and casually mentioned his surprising discovery in a post to some family members on Facebook. The second time he saw the card, it was in his hands. Eric hadn't thought to buy the card off eBay for himself when he saw it but his uncle David - realizing this was a piece of family history - did. The card is a tangible reminder of how this much-older relative helped fire up the imagination of a young boy who had become enchanted by electronics at an early age. Jean, who eventually helped him prepare for the Novice license exam, died in his 70s, just as Eric was entering his teens. Some time ago, after reviving his license which had lapsed over the years, Eric applied successfully to the FCC to get a vanity callsign: He asked for N1IVC. It's the Novice callsign he received so long ago, thanks to W1JUE, the Silent Key whose QSL card now hangs framed in his home. This is Paul Braun WD9GCO. ** 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, if you're feeling even a little bit poetic, 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 writing your three-line haiku -- and be sure to check out our previous winners! NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily; ARRL; Ars Technica; CQ Magazine; David Behar K7DB; DXWorld; EarthSky.org; eHAM; Eric Peterson, N1IVC; FCC; 425DXNews; Hector Gonzalez, KB4LOA; Indianapolis Star; NTIA; QRZ.com; shortwaveradio.de; the Statesman; Times of India; Wireless Institute of Australia; YouTube; 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 Jim Damron N8TMW in Charleston West Virginia saying 73. As always we thank you for listening. 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