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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2457 for Friday November 29th, 2024
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2457 with a release date of
Friday, November 29th, 2024 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. An air leak on the ISS mystifies space
agencies. New rules are being considered for the 5.9 GHz band -- and
Santa Claus believes in amateur radio, do you believe in him? All this
and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2457 comes your way
right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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ONGOING ISS AIR LEAK MYSTIFIES SPACE AGENCIES

DON/ANCHOR: Our top story takes us into outer space where there's a
mystery aboard the ISS: Part of the spacecraft continues to be leaking
air. John Williams VK4JJW tells us how the US and Russian space
agencies are dealing with it.

JOHN: An air leak in the Russian section of the International Space
Station has apparently worsened since it was first discovered five
years ago, according to SpaceNews.com

The leak is in the vestibule that connects the Russian module with a
docking port. Bob Cabana, who chairs the ISS Advisory Committee, said
that even as the Russian team looks for - and hopes to remedy - the
cause, Roscosmos believes that there is no immediate danger to the crew
or the spacecraft. NASA, on the other hand, maintains that the leak
compromises the safety of the Russian service module, saying that a
little more than 2 pounds of air has been escaping daily.

AMSAT News Service reports that, according to NASA's Office of the
Inspector General, Roscosmos believes it can take sufficient safety
precautions on behalf of the service module if the risk from the leak
grows too great. Both space agencies agree that the hatch to the
service module should be shut permanently at that point. AMSAT News
Service said that this would mean one fewer docking port available to
receive cargo from spacecraft arriving to make a delivery to the ISS.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE)

**
FCC EYES NEW RULES FOR VEHICLE SAFETY ALERTS ON 5.9 GHz BAND

DON/ANCHOR: The FCC has intensified its focus on the 5.9 GHz band where
new rules are being finalized for the use of cellular delivery of communications to and from cars and trucks on the road. Kent Peterson
KC0DGY brings us the details.

KENT: Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, scored a big gain in
late November as the FCC voted on a proposal enabling the use of
"cellular vehicle-to-everything" or C-V2X, on the 5.9 GHz band. This
would establish new rules for the use of ITS within 30 MHz of that
spectrum. The system is already in use by many automakers, sending and receiving messages over existing 5G cellular networks with alerts about
traffic issues, weather conditions, road hazards or speeding cars. The
FCC measure also sets out the technical parameters for the use of
C-V2X, including power and emission limits. The system permits vehicles
to communicate with roadside infrastructure and the cellphones of
pedestrians, cyclists and road workers, enabling safety communications
even when there are no line-of-sight warnings.

The FCC said in a press release that the new spectrum rules would
[quote] "accelerate the automotive industry and state and federal
government plans for transitioning from dated technology to the more
advanced C-V2X automobile safety technology." [endquote]

This is Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(FCC, THE VERGE)

**
SOTA ACTIVATORS IN UK PREPARE FOR GAULFEST

DON/ANCHOR: Portable operators who have lofty goals - in this case,
goals to scale the heights of regional SOTA summits - are getting ready
for Gaulfest 2024, which is set to take place in late December in the
UK. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has the details.

JEREMY: Organisers will be watching the weather forecast in the days
between Christmas and the New Year to see what day is most suitable for
the return of Gaulfest, a SOTA tradition first held in 2003. Over the
years, the event's purpose has become one-half SOTA and one-half
social. Since the beginning, activators have set up operations on
summits in the Shropshire area or on summits near the border of England
and Wales, staying close enough to one another for a convenient meet-up afterward in Church Stretton for coffee and cake.

Organisers Tom, M1EYP, and Jimmy, M0HGY, are hoping for a turnout that
even attracts SOTA first-timers. They expect lots of opportunities for summit-to-summit contacts. If you wish to participate, Tom advises
following the discussion thread on the SOTA Reflector to coordinate
with other activators as to which summits everyone is going to be on.

By the way, Tom explains that the name for the event actually
originates from the ancient name for Wales: "Pay de Galles" - but
someone misspelled it when the first SOTA event was launched. Gaul
-spelled "G A U L" was actually the name for a region of western
Europe. Tom said no one ever bothered to correct the mistake and so the
name Gaulfest simply became permanent. He and Jimmy hope the event
itself becomes permanent too.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(SOTA REFLECTOR, TOM, M1EYP; JIMMY, M0HGY)

**
SHORTWAVE IN ENGLAND STEPS IN AS AUSTRIAN SHORTWAVE FADES OUT

DON/ANCHOR: One of Europe's few remaining shortwave broadcasters is not
going QRT quietly. Austria's ORS Shortwave radio station in Moosbrun is
poised to go off the air on the 31st of December, as Newsline reported
in October -- but before it does it wil have its final 100 kW marathon
on 6070 kHz on the 26th of December.

The marathon on the AM station will begin with Radio D. A. R. C.
programming at 0900 UTC and continue through other programs until Radio
Power Mobile concludes at 1459 UTC. Meanwhile, Radio D. A. R. C. has
announced that starting Sunday, January 5th, its broadcasts will
continue to be carried on shortwave thanks to an agreement signed with
the station in the BBC broadcast complex in Woofferton, England.
Listeners across Europe and the Middle East will be able to hear the programming on 9670 kHz. The high-gain antenna system at the complex is expected to give the 125 kW transmission an effective radiated power of
nearly 4 megawatts. Meanwhile, the radio amateur-owned and -run
'Channel-292' 10kW transmitter near Ingolstadt in Germany will continue
to use the 6070 kHz frequency for more local reception of Radio
D.A.R.C. 's program.

The ORS station was formerly the Radio Austria International broadcast
station and is well-known for having had Europe's largest directional
antenna system for shortwave broadcasts.

(RADIO D. A. R. C.)

**
"OPERATION TOY TRAIN" GETS HELP FROM HAMS IN PENNSYLVANIA

DON/ANCHOR: A group of hams from eastern Pennsylvania boarded a special
train to join Santa in collecting toys for the needy during a nearly
five-mile ride through Amish (Ahhh-mish) and Mennonite (Men-no-Night)
farm country. At the same time, they operated a special event station
to promote their charitable mission. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark
Abramowicz NT3V has the story.

MARK: Members of the Alburtis Amateur Radio Club and East Penn Amateur
Radio club joined forces to organize the Operation Toy Train event in northeastern Berks County, PA in cooperation with the U.S. Marine
Corp's Toys for Tots program on Sunday, Nov. 24th - the last Sunday of November.

The team, led by Nicholas Hoffke KC3SGN and Walt Skavinsky KB3SBC,
activated W3A aboard a Conrail caboose pulled by a train operating
along the Allentown and Auburn Railroad.

The duo set up a homemade inverted-L antenna stretched over the roof of
a flat rail car to make HF contacts on 20 and 40 meters. They also
employed a 2-meter radio and antenna to make VHF contacts with local
hams along the route.

During the five-hour period, the group collected more than 160 toys at
three stops along the rail line and made more than 75 contacts using
the W3A call, including QSOs with stations across the continental U.S.,
Puerto Rico and even Great Britain..

Skavinsky said one guest operator - whose handle is Sierra Alpha
November Tango Alpha - was particularly thrilled to learn that all
those who made contacts with W3A were on his "nice list."

Skavinsky says Santa was happy with the donations of so many toys
brought by those who came out to greet the train and check out the
activities of his ham friends. Santa thanked them all and promised he
would make sure the toys find homes this Christmas.

I'm Mark Abramowicz NT3V in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.

**

SILENT KEY: MICHAEL McNAMARA EI2CL, DXER, ISLAND ACTIVATOR

DON/ANCHOR: Ireland's national ham radio society recently lost a friend
and a longtime advocate. We hear about him from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: Working behind the scenes for the Irish Radio Transmitters
Society, Michael McNamara, EI2CL, left his imprint. Having joined the
society in 1965 - first as a shortwave listener - he later took up the responsibility for collecting and sorting the incoming QSL cards and
other items of correspondence. Michael got his ham licence in May of
1973 and became a society committee member. One of his accomplishments
was to draw up the rules for the Worked EI Counties Award in the
mid-80s.

Outside of his society responsibilities, Michael became well-known as a high-scoring chaser of DXCC, IOTA and Summits on the Air awards, and,
before the 1991 collapse of the USSR, he actively chased contacts with
all the Russian oblasts.

An enthusiastic activator himself, he would also travel with teams to
Irish offshore islands. In the 1970s, he was a contest station operator
for EI1AA, which was widely known as the Irish Leprechaun ContestGroup.

Michael was 83.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(PETER BALL, EI7CC)

**
BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including
the 9Z4RG repeater in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and on
Echolink Node 3384, on Saturdays at 1200 UTC.

**
ARDC STAFFER TO OVERSEE GRANT AWARDS

DON/ANCHOR: Ham radio clubs and others seeking grants from Amateur
Radio Digital Communications will be able to turn to someone new on
staff there to assist them in processing their paperwork. We have those
details from Andy Morrison K9AWM.

ANDY: Adam Zimmel, W0ZML, has joined Amateur Radio Digital
Communications as its grants and administrative associate. The ARDC
made the announcement on its website, saying that Adam will work to
help them handle the grant process and also provide support for some of
the other internal operations at the ARDC. He has been on board since
late October. Adam has a strong background in cybersecurity and IT
policy. ARDC awards grants to qualifying applicants whose projects fit
into one of three main categories: research and development; education;
and the support and development of amateur radio.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(ARDC)

**
RADIO TELESCOPE IN NETHERLANDS CONTACTS 3 MARS ORBITERS

DON/ANCHOR: Contacts made by a very sensitive radio telescope in The Netherlands are showing scientists tremendous promise, as we hear from
Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

JIM: Radio amateurs made successful contacts with three Mars orbiters
during a recent test of a single dish radio telescope in The
Netherlands. In early November, the C.A. Muller Radio Astronomy
Station, PI9CAM, conducted its first tests on X-band with an 8.4 GHz
feed created by Dutch amateur Bert Modderman, PE1RKI. This is the band researchers typically use for communications with satellites doing deep
space explorations.

The radio telescope at Dwingeloo successfully detected the carrier
signal of the orbiters Tianwen-1 from China's space agency as well as
NASA's MAVEN and MRO. A post on the observatory's blog reported that
signals were also copied from the European Space Agency's HERA
spacecraft and the NASA probe Europa Clipper. The scientists were also
able to decode data from signals received from Stereo-A, NASA's
space-based observatory.

The telescope's sensitivity played a key role here, as it did this past
fall when the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope functioned as an online
Γ-ÿEarth Moon Earth' relay station during the Scouting organisation's
Jamboree On The Air. The telescope successfully received the otherwise
weak EME signals, which it fed to its webSDR for online listening.

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(CAMRAS.NL)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, be listening for Ralf, DB4REB, operating as CN2REB
while on holiday in Morocco from the 30th of November until the 30th of January. He will be using CW, SSB and FT 8 on a variety of HF bands and
plans to activate some POTA sites. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Listen for a team of eight operators using the call T46W will be on the
air from Cayo Santa Maria, IOTA number NA-204, from the 1st through to
the 10th of December. Find them operating on a variety of modes from
160 through to 6 metres. QSL via LoTW.

As the 43rd edition of the Italian Naval Old Rhythmers [RITH-MURRS]
Club contest gets under way on the 7th and 8th of December, listen for
the club's own station using the callsign IQ1NM. The operators will be
using CW. The club is dedicating this year's contest to the memory of
one of its members, Serafino De Filippi, IT9CKA. Be listening in 80,
40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. See QRZ.com for more details.

From the 28th of November through to the 3rd of December, listen for a

team of operators active from Saipan, IOTA number OC-086. The operators
include KH0/JA8VE, KH0/JO1ABS, KH0/W1VX, KH0/WB6Z, KH0D and NH0E. They
will be using CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4 on 160-6 metres. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: SANTA NETS GIVE KIDS A CLAUS FOR CELEBRATION

DON/ANCHOR: When a DX begins with the word "Santa," you can expect
pileups and more than just a little excitement. Think of Santa Maria in
the Azores or Santa Isabel in the Solomon Islands. This time of year,
however, the real prize is a contact with another entity named "Santa,"
and the chase begins on November 29th. Ralph Squillace KK6ITB is a true believer and he shares the details with us in our final story for this
week. RALPH: In the US, where the Thanksgiving holiday ushers in the
most festive season of the year, hams in clubs around the world get
into the spirit by sharing the magic of amateur radio with children -
and maybe a few adults? - who still believe in Santa Claus. There are
three Santa Nets starting this week in the US.

The bearded character will be on the air from the north of Colorado
where he'll be making use of the repeaters used by the Longmont Amateur
Radio Club, the Alford Memorial Radio Club and the Northern Colorado
Amateur Radio Club. Santa will be using the callsign N0P. Youngsters
who aren't in Colorado - or even in the US - can still reach Santa
through Echolink node W0ENO-R 8305, W4BOC-R or 330246.

In Kansas, the Cowley County Amateur Radio Club will be hosting Santa
on the Sunflower Net. Listen for the callsign KF0MRO on the air
November 30th and again on December 14th and 21st.

Meanwhile, Santa will also begin delivering the gift of a radio contact
on 80 metres with the help of the 3916 Nets. The QSOs start every night
on that frequency at 7 p.m. Central Time from the 29th of November.
They end on the 24th of December because, as we know, Santa has other
business to tend to that night.

As with all third-party contacts over the amateur bands, rules and
regulations apply. Visit www.3916nets.com for HF contacts and visit the
QRZ.com page of N0P for details about contacts over the repeaters or
Echolink. The Sunflower Net's details are at www.SunflowerNet.us

Here's ho-ho-hoping for a 5 9 all around. That would be....a Claus for celebration.

This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

**
HAMS AND HAIKU, A WINNING COMBINATION

Expressing yourself on the air is one thing. How about expressing
yourself in a haiku? Pick up a pencil and join the Amateur Radio
Newsline haiku challenge. Share your experience by sending an original
haiku to us here at Newsline. Use the entry form on our website,
arnewsline.org and please follow the rules for writing your three-line
haiku. Sorry but we cannot accept any entries that aren't written in traditional haiku form with the correct number of syllables for each of
the three lines. Share with fellow listeners the poetry that is
inspired by your ham radio experience!

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily; AMSAT News Service;
ARDC; CAMRAS, Netherlands; David Behar K7DB; FCC; 425DXNews; Peter
Ball, EI7CC; QRZ Forums; Radio D. A. R. C.; shortwaveradio.de; SOTA
Reflector; The Verge; Wireless Institute of Australia; 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
Don Wilbanks AE5DW in Picayune Mississippi saying 73. As always we
thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2024.
All rights reserved.

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