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Owatonna Steele County Amateur Radio 11-Apr-2017

OSCAR News - November, 2004

Around Town

  • Kris KCØREO raised his tower for the building inspector. The lifting device is a 6"x6" square tube with 1/4" thick walls. He'll use the tube to raise/lower the tower and then use the tower as a gin pole to raise/lower the lift 300+ pound lift pole.
  • The MN Repeater Council is targeting the 147.105 (Meriden) repeater for removing from coordination. It could be removed at the Spring meeting of the MRC.
  • Willis KAØKEL completed the Level II Emergency Communications Course.
  • Erv WB0LSG has a MFJ-1796 multi-band vertical antenna FOR SALE. He will have more equipment in the near future for sale because he is moving into smaller housing. (Austin ARC Newsletter)

MN Section Appointments
The new ARRL MN Section Manager, Skip Jackson KSØJ announced new appoints and special assignments to assist him:

  • Assistant Section Manager (recruitment and youth activities): Joseph D. Kadlec, WØCRT.
  • Assistant Section Manager (Northern Minnesota Membership Development and Assistant Affiliated Club Coordinator): Orcena E. Lyle, WØQT.
  • Assistant Section Manager (Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator): Richard L Roberts, NØUC
  • Assistant Section Manager (digital modes development, integration and education):Erik R. Westgard, NY9D.
  • Affiliated Club Coordinator: David A. Glas, WØOXB
  • Technical Coordinator (RFI Committee and the BPLTeam): John H. Thomas III, W3FAF.
  • Section Emergency Coordinator: Donald R. Franck, ADØF
  • Section State Government Liaison: William D. Dean, WØOR
  • Section Traffic Manager:Robert C. Meyer Jr, WØLAW

Sputnik Anniversary From CGC Communicator
History changed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I, the world's first artificial satellite. It was about the size of a basketball, weighed 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. Sputnik started the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. More history and a WAV File of Sputnik I telemetry is available at: NASA

Soldering In Zero Gravity From Newsline
Meantime, the ham astronauts on the International Space Station have been trying to solder in zero gravity, and the results are intriguing. The NASA website says that the solder, heated, became a molten blob with a droplet of rosin clinging tight to the outside. As the temperature increased, the droplet began to spin, round and round, faster and faster, like a miniature carnival ride. You can see and enjoy the video of this experiment at NASA

Spacesuit Amateur Satellite? From ARRL Letter
If plans come together in time, an outdated Russian spacesuit could become the most unusual Amateur Radio satellite ever put into orbit. With diminishing stowage space aboard the ISS, several Orlan spacesuits used for space walks have been declared surplus. Russia's Sergei Samburov,RV3DR notion is to have an ISS crew equip one of them as an Amateur Radio satellite--possibly including a camera in the helmet area--and launch it during a space walk.

Radio Health From Newsline
Korean scientists say that they have found that regions near some (> 100KW) A-M radio broadcasting towers show 70 percent more leukemia deaths than those without. The substantially higher cancer mortality for those who lived within two kilometers of the towers led researchers to conclude that more investigation was needed. They also said their study did not prove a direct link between cancer and the transmitters.

Cell Phone Tumors From PC World
The Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm found that the risk of developing tumors known as acoustic neuromas, almost doubled for persons who started using their mobile phone at least 10 years before diagnosis. The risk increase was confined to the side of the head where the phone was usually held. The preliminary results found that the risk was almost four times higher on the side where the cell phone was normally used. The researchers indicated that acoustic neuromas usually grow over a period of years before being diagnosed and occur in less than one adult per 100,000, per year.

RTV Sealer From ARRL Contest Rate Sheet
A suggestion was made to check the chemical make-up of RTV. Some Compositions cure and outgasses acetic acid, which is very bad for wiring, metal etc. Be sure to check the Manufacturer's data sheets rather than the sales propoganda. GE RTV 162 is an electronic grade compound. Another suggestion is to use aquarium sealer, which doesn't use toxic or corrosive chemicals during curing (for obvious reasons).

UK Internet Linking From Newsline
Here in the U-S-A we take Voice over I P interconnects for granted. In most other nations hams are required to get special permission to connect their stations to the Internet. In the UK, Notice of Variation (NoV) applications must be filed to provide an Internet link. New procedures in the UK take effect 31-Dec, when all current Internet linking NoVs expire. Those wishing to continue providing an Internet gateway beyond 31st December need to apply for a new NoV.

Additional UK 40m Spectrum From Multiple Sources
Starting at 0100 UTC October 31, the 40 meter band in the British Isles will effectively double in size when radio amateurs there gain access to 7100 to 7200 kHz. Early access is granted on a Secondary (non-interference) basis using a maximum of 26dBW (400 watts) PEP. It is recommended that for the time being only voice and Morse code modes are used. The change is a result of actions taken during WARC 2003, where conferees agreed to move broadcasters out of 7100 to 7200 kHz in Regions 1 and 3 to make room for the Amateur Service.

Early Solar Minimum? From Newsline
American physicist David Hathaway believes that the next solar minimum could arrive in late 2006. That's about a year earlier than previously thought. The prediction based on the last eight solar cycles, which show that solar minimum follows the first sunspot-free day on the sun by 34 months. In this solar cycle, the first spotless day was on 28th January this year. On the other hand, Hathaway states that the next solar maximum might also come early. In recent cycles, the Solar Max has followed Solar Minimum by just four years.

VANITY HQ Website QRT From Multiple Sources
Michael Carroll, N4MC, announced that he is no longer supporting the Vanity HQ website. Over the past several years, the Vanity HQ site often has been the first stop for those researching availability of United States vanity call signs. At some point in the near future the www.vanityhq.com domain will itself become inactive.

Flat Screen TV Triggers Rescue Satellite From Newsline
A Corvallis, Oregon resident received a surprise visit by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel. Unknown to him, his new flat screen television set was radiating a high power spur on the International Distress Channel of 121.5 MHz. The signal was strong enough to be heard by the orbiting Sarsat - Cospas search and rescue satellite. From there it was relayed the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in Virginia which activated a search. Toshiba offered to provide a free replacement set.

On the BPL Front From Multiple Sources
Ed Hare W1RFI, the ARRL Laboratory Manager, visited the Rochester BPL trial site on Friday, October 22. Ed reviewed the BPL trial interference measurements taken during the past few months by Mel KCØP and Niel WØVLZ and also met with RARC officers Fred K4IU and Chuck N2DUP. Some BPL interference measurements were taken using W1RFI's BPL monitoring equipment. (RARC)

A BPL field trial in Menlo Park, California has been aborted before getting very far off the ground. AT&T decided to direct its business energies elsewhere and pole-mounted BPL equipment has been dismantled. (ARRL)

The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, CENELEC, is developing a standard that would set limits for the conducted energy and radiated energy of B-P-L The radiation limit is specified, for example, as a field strength in dBuA/m in a measurement bandwidth at a specified distance on particular frequency.

Do you know what the impact of +4dBuA/m in 9KHz at 3m is on your receiver? The B-P-L Interference Evaluation Tool allows evaluation of the impact of B-P-L interference under the proposed CENELEC standard given a set of location / application specific parameters. Go to the BPL Interference Evaluation Tool and enter the details for your site and discover the impact. (Amateur Radio Newsline)

The FCC adopted changes to Part 15 of its rules to encourage the development and deployment of Access Broadband over Power Line ("Access BPL") technology. The Commission stated that its intention in adopting the Part 15 rule changes was to ensure that Access BPL operations do not become a source of harmful interference to licensed radio services. In the public meeting, several commissioners expressed concern about BPL's interference potential, including to amateur radio.

The rules supposedly include provisions to protect hams and other HF spectrum users from interference and to set up processes for quick resolution of any problems that do occur. Notches would have to be at least 20 dB below applicable Part 15 limits on HF and at least 10 dB below on VHF. The FCC called the ability to alter a system's operation to notch out transmissions on specific frequencies where interference is occurring "a necessary feature for resolving interference without disrupting service to BPL subscribers." Shutting down a BPL system in response to a valid interference complaint "would be a last resort when all other efforts to satisfactorily reduce interference have failed”.

The FCC rules establish so-called "excluded frequency bands" where BPL cannot operate because of potential interference with aircraft receivers. The rules also establish "exclusion zones" in locations close to sensitive operations such as Coast Guard or radio astronomy stations. BPL providers must also consult with public safety agencies, aeronautical stations, and other potentially affected government groups before rolling out BPL. The FCC R&O makes clear, however, that similar rules will not apply to the Amateur Service.

The FCC's new rules mandate certification of BPL equipment instead of the less-stringent verification, a public BPL database--something the BPL industry did not want--and mechanisms to deal swiftly with interference complaints. BPL systems will have to incorporate the ability to modify operation and performance "to mitigate or avoid potential harmful interference" and to deactivate problematic units, the R&O says.

A summary of the Access BPL action is available at: FCC

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