Welcome to Ham Radio's only R-Rated Daily Newsletter

The day after the big blow last week....Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA

THURSDAY EDITION: Yet another nice day here in NE....

Administrative Law Judge Says Washington State Perv Can Keep Ham License (Mar 10, 2010) -- In January 2007, the FCC issued an Order to Show Cause to David L. Titus, KB7ILD, of Seattle, Washington, to justify why his General class Amateur Radio license should not be revoked and initiated a hearing process to determine whether Titus “is qualified to remain a Commission licensee” in light of a 1993 felony conviction at the age of 18 for “communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.” According to the FCC order, Titus received a 25-month prison sentence for this act, and the Seattle Police Department has identified him as a registered sex offender. On March 9, Administrative Law Judge Richard L. Sippel issued his Initial Decision -- saying that Titus “has been a law-abiding member of his community for many years” and ordered that Titus’ license should not be revoked based on the evidence presented by the defendant and witnesses on his behalf, as well as the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau failure to meet the burden of proof necessary for revocation. The FCC has said that The Communications Act of 1934, as amended provides that the Commission may revoke any license if conditions come to its attention that would warrant a denial of the licensee’s original application. In the past, the Commission has said that felony convictions, “especially those involving sexual offenses involving children,” raise questions regarding a licensee’s character qualifications. Sippel’s Initial Decision shall become effective and this proceeding shall be terminated 50 days after its release if exceptions are not filed within 30 days thereafter, unless the Commission elects to review the case on its own motion.

Ambassador
The Ten-Tec Ambassador program is a way for Ten-Tec to reward our loyal customers for recommending the purchase of Ten-Tec HF transceivers to other hams. Refer a customer to us (or back to us, read on) who purchases an Orion II or Omni-VII transceiver and you get the reward!

Anyone in the United States or Canada who has purchased an HF transceiver from us factory-direct since January 1, 1995 can be an Ambassador. We have listings of all purchases from that date and can easily verify eligibility for you.

Click here to register . Type in your name, callsign, current mailing address, email address, phone number, the model of the last Ten-Tec transceiver you bought directly from us and whether you would like to have prospective customers referred to you by us.

We often are contacted by prospective Ten-Tec owners who will ask us: Do you know anyone around here that owns one of (Orion, Orion II, Omni-VII) that I can talk to? If you elect to have us refer customers to you, we will send them your email address. If they later purchase one of the eligible rigs from us, have them pass along your name as their Ambassador. You can elect to not have us refer potential customers to you as well, of course.

Who can be referred by an Ambassador? Anyone who has not previously purchased any of the Orion, Orion II, or Omni-VII transceivers from us previously.

Our new customer must tell us you are their Ambassador at the time they make their purchase. We will send you a check payable in U.S. dollars for the amount listed for each eligible transceiver purchased. You may also elect to have this amount credited to you against a future Ten-Tec purchase in lieu of a check.

The purchaser of the transceiver will also receive free UPS ground shipping for their transceiver order to the continental USA. Alaska, Hawaii and Canada orders will have a dollar amount comparable to continental USA ground shipping deducted from actual shipping costs.

There is no limit on the number of people an Ambassador can refer for a purchase, the only limitation is that you cannot refer yourself.

We will reward Ambassadors with $50 for the purchase of a new, used, or demo original Orion or Orion II transceiver by a new customer or $40 for the purchase of a new, used, or demo Omni-VII by a new customer. Please have the purchaser indicate to us the name of the Ambassador that referred them so you will be credited (or mailed) your reward, and they will be able to get a credit for free shipping. Payment time 4-6 weeks after order. Applicable in the USA and Canada only.

Offer subject to change or expiration without notice. Does not apply retroactively to equipment invoiced before January 21, 2008.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) must close at the end of 2011 for up to a year to address design issues, according to an LHC director.
Dr Steve Myers told BBC News the faults will delay the machine reaching its full potential for two years.
The atom smasher will reach world record collision energies later this month at 7 trillion electron volts.
But joints between the machine's magnets must be strengthened before higher-energy collisions can commence.

The Geneva-based machine only recently restarted after being out of action for 14 months following an accident in September 2008.
Dr Myers said: "It's something that, with a lot more resources and with a lot more manpower and quality control, possibly could have been avoided but I have difficulty in thinking that this is something that was a design error."
He said: "The standard phrase is that the LHC is its own prototype. We are pushing technologies towards their limits."
"You don't hear about the thousands or hundreds of thousands of other areas that have gone incredibly well.
"With a machine like the LHC, you only build one and you only build it once."
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) must close at the end of 2011 for up to a year to address design issues, according to an LHC director.
Dr Steve Myers told BBC News the faults will delay the machine reaching its full potential for two years.
The atom smasher will reach world record collision energies later this month at 7 trillion electron volts.
But joints between the machine's magnets must be strengthened before higher-energy collisions can commence.
He said the second problem is not with the most complex technology but involves the copper sheaths around the superconducting joints in the tunnel.
The copper sheaths are a failsafe mechanism designed to take up the current if one of the magnets in the Large Hadron Collider warms up - an incident known as a "quench".
The 2008 accident caused one tonne of helium to leak into the tunnel and resulted in a series of "quenches" and a 40m Swiss franc (£24m) repair bill.
Engineers believe the machine is now safe to run at 7 trillion electron volts (TeV) but are anxious to avoid another breakdown.
So they have taken the decision to run the machine for 18 to 24 months at half-maximum power before switching it off for a year to carry out improvements to the 27km tunnel.
Dr Myers said the decision was taken jointly with the physicists working on the four giant particle detectors on the LHC.
He said they appreciate the chance to test their own equipment while the machine is running at half its maximum power.
Collisions at enormous energy

The Large Hadron Collider sends beams of protons in opposite directions around the tunnel at close to the speed of light. These cross and collide, smashing into each other with enormous energy.
The ultimate aim is to collide particles head on at 14TeV to recreate the conditions in the moments after the Big Bang.
Scientists hope they will see new subatomic particles in the debris and gain insights into how the universe came into being, billions of years ago.
The machine is buried 100m below the French-Swiss border.
Cern officials say running the LHC at 7TeV will enable physicists to explore another secret of the universe, namely the nature of the "dark matter" that accounts for most of the mass in the observable universe.

WEDNESDAY EDITION: Another nice day here in NE....

FOR SALE A LIKE NEW IC-7000,NO SMOKE,MODS,ORIGINAL BOX,MANUAL MINT. ORIGINAL POWER CORD.AND ALSO AN LDG -AT-7000. $1100.00 SHIPPED IN CONUS ONLY,NO TRADES OR INTERNATIONAL SALES.POSTAL MONEY ORDER OR BANK CASHIER CHECK . THANKS AND 73S.
Listing #802116 by NP3ST..................all I can focus on is the picture by the telephone...

New version of SDR-Radio.com
A new version of SDR-Radio.com, a Windows console for Software Defined Radios (SDR), is now available.

SDR-RADIO.com is a Windows console for SDR receivers and transceivers developed by Simon Brown HB9DRV (formerly GD8IQM and GD4ELI) of Ham Radio Deluxe fame.

Designed specifically for the Amateur Radio and short-wave listener community, the console provides a powerful interface for the rapidly growing SDR enthusiasts.

This free software can be downloaded from
http://www.sdr-radio.com/
 

TUESDAY EDITION: Tax time with the accountant today...jeez....No wonder I am losing my hair..Anyone have a crytal calibrator for a Drake 2B they would like to sell me?...I picked up a box of about 200 tubes from a friends father's estate. I found some 6v6GT's,  6x5's and other tubes for my homebrew transmitter and Drake 2B. Great find....

 Sometimes multitasking has its limits.

Such is the case in the Florida Keys, where police say a 37-year-old woman crashed her 1995 Ford Thunderbird into another car as she attempted to shave her bikini area.

According to the arrest report, on March 2, Megan Mariah Barnes told Florida State Trooper Gary Dunick that she was on her way to Key West to meet her boyfriend, and that she "wanted to be ready for the visit." So, police say she had her ex-husband, Charles Judy, who was riding in the passenger seat, take the wheel while she attended to her pubic hair.
The results weren't pretty. Going 45 mph, Barnes and Judy are said to have rear-ended a car that had slowed to make a left turn.

A day earlier, Barnes had been convicted of numerous driving infractions, including DUI with a prior arrest and driving with a suspended license. She had been ordered to impound her car, her license was revoked for five years, and she had been placed on probation for nine months.

Dunick told The Citizen newspaper that after the crash, in which two passengers in the other car were treated for minor injuries at an area hospital, Barnes drove for another half-mile before switching seats with Judy in an attempt to make it seem to police as though she had not been driving.

"It is unbelievable," Dunick said. "I'm really starting to believe this stuff only happens in the Keys."

You can't make thgis stuff up: OWENSBORO, Ky. -- A woman in jail for public intoxication was accused of assaulting a jailer by squirting breast milk at her. WYMT-TV reported that a 31-year-old woman was arrested Thursday on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. But as she was changing into an inmate uniform, she squirted breast milk into the face of a female deputy who was with her.

The woman now faces a felony charge of third degree assault on a police officer. Her bond was set at $10,000.

Trapping sunlight with silicon nanowires
Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are developing a new approach that could substantially reduce the cost of solar power.

"Through the fabrication of thin films from ordered arrays of vertical silicon nanowires, we've been able to increase the light-trapping in our solar cells by a factor of 73," says chemist Peidong Yang, who led this research.

"Since the fabrication technique behind this extraordinary light-trapping enhancement is a relatively simple and scalable aqueous chemistry process, we believe our approach represents an economically viable path toward high-efficiency, low-cost thin-film solar cells."

Read the full Science Daily article at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304121550.htm

MONDAY EDITION: SSB contest over the weekend was interesting. I worked quite a bit of dx on 15 meters  for entertainment...

Amateur Radio heads for Venus
Mineo Wakita JE9PEL provides an update on the launch of an Amateur Radio satellite that will head towards Venus on May 17 carrying a beacon on 5840.0 MHz.

On the AMSAT Bulletin Board he writes:

Four CubeSats in Japan are planning to launch on 17 May 2010 together with PLANET-C which belongs to JAXA by
H-IIA rocket.

Launch date, 17 May 2010
Launch time, 21:44:14UTC
Launch site, Tanegashima Space Center in Japan

Three of the CubeSats, Negai*", WASEDA-SAT2, KSAT, being launched by the H-IIA rocket on May 17 will be dropped off into a low earth orbit but UNITEC-1 will continue following the JAXA's Venus Climate Orbiter PLANET-C / AKATSUKI on its journey to Venus.

Radio Amateur receives Mars Express
It is reported on the European Space Agency (ESA) website that a Radio Amateur was able to receive Mars Express on its recent flyby of Phobos.

The posting at http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1058 says:

On Wednesday night, we had some of the biggest ground stations in the world listening in on Mars Express, along with collaborative stations from the JIVE network.

The professionals weren't the only people listening to our signal though - amateur radio operator Bertrand Pinel F5PL from near Castelnaudary, France, used his 3.5m dish throughout the flyby to listen to the signal from Mars Express.

Phobos Flyby Success
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMIPX6K56G_index_0.html

WEEKEND EDITION: Boy this week went by fast and I didn't get on the air once except for repeater use in the truck....Lot's of trees to cut up and haul to the transfer station on Saturday. Remnants of the storm last week that wreaked havoc here in coastal MA....Who was the dipshit qrming 145.190 this morning at 7am or so????....

NEIGHBOR SUES NEIGHBOR OVER ELECTROMAGNETIC ALLERGY

And finally this week the story of a Santa Fe, New Mexico, man who is
suing his neighbor because he claims that her cellular telephone, her
WiFi and even her lamp dimmers are making him ill.
The Santa Fe Reporter and Huffington Post newspapers says that a New
Mexico resident who alleges he suffers from electromagnetic allergies
is has filed a tort action against neighbor because she refuses to turn
off her home electronic equipment. According to the news stories,
Arthur Firstenberg of Santa Fe, has been sleeping at friends' homes or
in his car to avoid what he claims are the electromagnetic waves
created by his neighbor's cell phone, wireless network, computer,
compact fluorescent light bulbs and lamp dimmer switches.

Firstenberg claims that the low-level electromagnetic radiation emitted
by cell phones and other modern gadgets makes him, and others sensitive
to radio waves suffer terribly. He believes that the side-effects of
exposure, include nausea, vertigo, ringing in the ears, severe
headaches and body aches. He also credits crippling joint pains,
insomnia, impaired vision, impaired muscular control and other ailments
to electromagnetic sources.

The suit claims that when Raphaela Monribot moved in next door, she
refused to keep her phone, computer and wireless network turned off
when not in use. When asked if she could use a landline instead of her
iPhone, Firstenberg claims the neighbor flatly refused.

Firstenberg suit demands that a judge to stop his neighbor from using
her iPhone, her wireless internet and her laptop charger, saying the
radiation has forced him from his home. He also wants $530,000 in
damages, including $100,000 for pain and suffering.

The lawsuit was filed January 4th in First Judicial District Court in
Santa Fe. Firstenberg's attorney is Lindsay Lovejoy, Jr, who is a
graduate of Harvard and Yale, as well as a former Assistant New Mexico
Assistant Attorney General who has argued cases alongside now US
Senator Tom Udall. With such a high power attorney, its doubtful that
this case will disappear anytime soon.
 

CHILE QUAKE MAY HAVE SHORTENED THE DAYS

Scientists at NASA say that the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck
Chile on Saturday, February 27th may have shifted Earth's axis and
created shorter days. If their preliminary calculations are correct
each day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter/

According to Science OnLine, large earthquakes cause massive amounts of
rock to shift and alters the distribution of mass on the planet. That
distribution change causes the rate at which the planet rotates to
alter and it is the rate of rotation rate determines the length of a
day.

Richard Gross is a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California. He used computer modeling to determine how the
magnitude 8.8 quake that struck Chile may have affected Earth. He
found that the quake should have moved Earth's figure axis about 8
centimeters. That shift in axis is what may have lead to the minutely
shortened days. (Science Daily)
 

CHANGING TECHNOLOGY: SONY TO CLOSE ALABAMA MAGNETIC TAPE PLANT

Call it a true sign of the times. This with word that Sony Corporation
plans to close its tape-manufacturing plant in Dothan, Alabama. This
as the need for magnetic tape products dwindles to a trickle world-
wide.

As recently as five years ago most recording of video and audio was
done to tape. But as magnetic disc drives, flash memory and electro-
optical recording technology made rapid advances, the need for magnetic
tape products quickly declined.

Now it has finally reached a low where the demand for magnetic tape
products like those produced at the Sony Dolthan, Alabama, plant has
reached the point where keeping it open is no longer economical.
According to Sony, operations at the plant will be phased out starting
in April with the closure planned to be completed by September.

The facility was opened in 1977. Termination of its operation will
lead to the loss of 300 jobs. (Birmingham News, RW, others)
 

FCC REFUSES TO ISSUE DECLARATORY RULING TO PROTECT HAMS FROM
NEW JERSEY AND FLORIDA ANTI PIRATE RADIO LAWS

The FCC has turned down a request filed in 2005 by the American Radio
Relay League for a declaratory ruling. One that would have indemnified
ham radio operators from prosecution under anti pirate radio laws in
two states.

In a letter dated February 25th, the FCC responded to a Request for
Declaratory Ruling Request filed by attorney Christopher D. Imlay,
W3KD, on February 25, 2005 on behalf of ARRL. In it the ARRL asked the
FCC for a declaratory ruling that Section 877.27 of the Florida
Criminal Statutes and Section C.2C:33-23.1 of the New Jersey Statutes
be preempted by federal law. Both of these statutes make it a felony
to make a radio transmission without Commission authorization or to
interfere with a licensed public or commercial radio station.

In its filing, the ARRL acknowledged that the statutes were enacted to
address unlicensed pirate broadcasting facilities. But the League was
concerned that these laws could be applied to Commission-licensed
amateur radio stations.

In declining the ARRL request the FCC noted that the Florida
legislation has now been in effect for over five years and the New
Jersey law has been in effect for over four years. It says that in
that time the agency has not received any reports of any amateur
operators being prosecuted or threatened with prosecution under either
statute.

The FCC decision did leave the door open in case a ham somewhere winds
up under the gun of one of these two state laws. It said that the ARRL
may file a new petition for declaratory ruling in the event of changed
circumstances. Read that to mean its going to take a test case in New
Jersey or Florida before the FCC gives any consideration to preempting
either state law. (FCC)


RADIO SAFETY: FLORIDA MAN ELECTRICUTED INSTALLING ABNTENNA TO TALK TO
HAITI

A Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, man who was electrocuted on February 28th.
This, while trying to install an antenna that authorities said would
have been used to communicate with Haiti.

Police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sousa said Mackenson Mareus died when he
touched a live power line at a home in the 1100 block of Northwest 18th
Court. Police said the antenna Mareus was helping install was intended
to set up communication with Haiti.

According to experts in South Florida that is something ham radio
operators would be able to do with relative ease. But Mareus was not a
radio amateur and according to his cousin Louikenson Arne he did not
know what the antenna was for.

Arne said that the 27 year old Mareus, was from Haiti and had lived in
South Florida for less than three years. He ran an Internet-based radio
station called Radio Tendresse, and the Web site boasted the frequency
of 97.7 FM but was not on the air anywhere in the United States.

According to the police report on the accident ham radio operators are
supposed to be licensed with the Federal Communications Commission.
However it was unclear who, if anyone, held a license to use the
antenna and any radio gear connected to it at the time of the accident
that took Mackenson Mareus life. (Published news reports)


RADIO BUSINESS: GRE TO ASSUME ALINCO SALES AND SERVICE

GRE, Inc, best known as an original electronics manufacturer and
Alinco, Inc. have announced an new marketing agreement. One under which
G-R-E America, Inc. will distribute, offer customer support, and
provide warranty and non-warranty repair for radios and amplification
equipment under the Alinco brand for all of North America.

Under the agreement, GRE, Inc. will be the exclusive distributor of
Alinco products in Canada, USA, and Mexico and will handle all warranty
service and parts orders. GRE will also provide out-of warranty service
as will other currently authorized Alinco service centers. (GRE)
 

Amateur Radio CubeSat to raise its orbit
Low cost launches into an orbit above 1200km can be hard to find so a new Amateur Radio satellite aims to try a different approach, using gas propulsion to raise the apogee from 450km to 1500km.

From the IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination pages at http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/
formal_detail.asp?serial=168

POPACS-RR a 2U cubesat will use self-contained, warm gas, propulsion system to adjust satellite’s initial circular orbit of 450 km to eccentric orbit with apogee of 1500 km and perigee of 450 km.

Demonstrate use of 3D printing (a.k.a. rapid prototyping) for manufacturing small satellites. Measure flux of energetic particles in lower Van Allen Belt. Test radiation-hardened electronic components and high performance solar cells in high radiation environment over a period of five years. Test radiation hardened components for a Plug and Play satellite.

Proposing a UHF downlink of 9k6 GMSK AX25 packet and also an S Band downlink of BPSK at 9k6 or 38k4.

Planning a launch on the first flight of SpaceX Falcon 1E not earlier than May 2011 with a 45 deg inclination. Will apply for a FCC part 5 Experimental license for this project.

 

 

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

W1GWU-Bob....one of the Hosstrader's original organizers, 75 meter 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!
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...
WB1AAZ- Mike, Antrim, NH, truck driver, off to bed at 8pm up at 3am,...
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 (silent key)- 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
Silent Key: W4NTI-Vietnam Dan....far from easy going cw and ssb op on 14275/313
Silent Key:K1FUB-Bill- Loved ham radio........Ham Radio Ambassador!
Silent Key: K1GAR- John- Very colorful character!......claims to an appointed "hambassador" by Gordon West.....
Silent Key: N1GXW-Frank-Mellow Mainer..........
Silent Key:W1JSH-Mort- Nice fellow to talk to on 3936 on the early afternoon session
Silent Key: K4WHO-Kerry-Mellow ham, professional musician, one of the nice guys on 20 meters..........