[digitalradio] Emergency Frequencies Declared for Italian Earthquake (Apr 6; 2009)
Emergency Frequencies Declared for Italian Earthquake (Apr 6, 2009) -- An earthquake that registered between 5.8 and 6.3 magnitude struck L'Aquila, the capital of Italy's Abruzzo region, about 65 miles northeast of Rome, early Monday morning. News reports say the quake has killed more than 90 people, with at least 50,000 left homeless. According to cluster spots, 7045 and 3640 kHz are being used as emergency frequencies, so please keep these frequencies clear. James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com
[digitalradio] BREAKING NEWS FROM AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE
BREAKING NEWS FROM AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE FCC RULES THAT DIGITAL VOICE REPEATERS ARE REPEATERS The FCC has ruled that the claim by some owners of digital repeaters and some frequency coordinators that digital voice repeaters are not actually repeaters due to the time delay inherent in digital to analog and analog to digital conversions is erroneous. In response to a request for a Declaratory Ruling on this issue from the Northern California Packet Association the FCC says that when a receiver and transmitter are tied together as a repeater it is a repeater. The full text of the FCC response to Gary R. Mitchell, President of the Northern California Packet Association is reprinted below. ARNewsline will have more on this issue in our next newscast to be released on Friday, March 27th. ARNewsline ** Text of FCC Digital Voice Repeater Decision Mr. Gary R. Mitchell President, Northern California Packet Association P.O. Box K Sunnyvale, CA 94087 Re: Petition for Declaratory Ruling filed December 5, 2007 Dear Mr. Mitchell: This is in response to the petition for declaratory ruling that you filed on December 5, 2007, requesting that the Commission clarify the definition of a repeater in the amateur service rules. A repeater in the amateur service is defined as [a]n amateur station that simultaneously retransmits the transmission of another amateur station on a different channel or channels. You seek clarification of whether the word simultaneously in the definition refers to the signal information being retransmitted, or to the fact that the receiver and transmitter must both be active at the same time while acting on the same signal information. Section 97.205(b) of the Commission's Rules specifies the bands on which amateur repeater stations may operate. You state that some amateur radio operators are operating on bands other than those set forth in Section 97.205(b) with systems that are essentially voice repeater stations, but that digitize and retransmit the user's voice, on the theory that because there is a small delay in retransmitting the signal of another amateur station, the signal is not simultaneously retransmitted and, therefore, the system is not a repeater. Prior to 1994, a repeater was defined as [a]n amateur station that automatically retransmits the signals of other stations. The Commission revised the definition in order to clarify that certain accommodations for message forwarding systems do not apply to other operating activities such as repeaters and auxiliary stations. The Commission proposed to define a repeater as [a]n amateur station that instantaneously retransmits the transmission of another amateur station on a different channel or channels, but ultimately replaced instantaneously with simultaneously because commenters noted that there is always a small propagation delay through a repeater. As one commenter explained, The word `simultaneously' in this case means that the repeater is receiving and transmitting concurrently, whereas each signal might be slightly displaced in time between receive and transmit. To be able to repeat another station's transmission, a repeater must be able to receive a transmission from another station and retransmit it. Because the word simultaneously in the definition is used to modify retransmit, we believe it refers to a repeater station's transmitter being active when retransmitting the signal received by the repeater station's receiver from another amateur station. We conclude, therefore, that simultaneously as used in the definition of a repeater refers to the receiver and transmitter both being active at the same time. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 4(i) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), and Section 1.2 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.2, the Petition for Declaratory Ruling filed on December 5, 2007 by Gary R. Mitchell IS GRANTED to the extent indicated above. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.131 and 0.331 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131 and 0.331. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Scot Stone Deputy Chief, Mobility Division Wireless Telecommunications Bureau James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com
[digitalradio] Road Trip
As some of you know I am going to be making a road trip starting Thursday mid morning sometime. I am heading up the east coast. I will have my APRS tracking system running, it is a TinyTrak 2 so messaging is not an option. For the hams with APRS you can find me under kb7tbt-9. For those non hams or ham folks that don't have APRS I have my old faithful webpage still at: http://www.kb7tbt.com/aprs/kb7tbt-9.htm My webpage has all the weather maps, bread crum trails maps and all sorts of other goodies to play with. The webpage will automagicly refresh itself so no need to keep clicking it. I will be traveling from NE Georgia to NE New Jersey. I will be on the 145.190 machine as long as I can hold it, the 6600 machine and has a gigantic footprint. After I am out of its range I will just be on 146.52. APRS is set to WIDE1-1, WIDE2-2 @ 3min James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio]
For those of you that may be contest junkies or for those that may just be interested there are a ton of activities going on this weekend on the air. To get a list of the events go to: http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/weeklycont.php James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio] There is a new sheriff in town.
There is a new sheriff in town. The FCC has appointed Laura Smith to take Riley Hollingsworth's former position in enforcement. The FCC's Special Counsel for Amateur Radio slot has gone unfilled for 6 months thus she has a backlog of work ahead of her. Fortunately she is up to the task. Laura is a seasoned FCC veteran with a broad communications background at both the FCC and in the private sector. The FCC has been slow to fill the position and for a while we wondered if Riley's successor would ever be named. It looks like they were waiting for the right person. Now that Laura is on the job, let's give her our full support. If you have an enforcement issue, she may be reached by e-mail at: laura.sm...@fcc.gov Amateur radio has always been somewhat self policed but when peer pressure is not enough to maintain civility, then a stronger hand is needed. The FCC has the muscle to demand compliance of the few wayward operators. We can help also. Our bands are not perfect, newer licensee's need guidance on how to properly share the many bands, frequencies and modes of operation that we radio amateurs are privileged to use. Reach out and guide (elmer) someone so that they do not become an enforcement issue. That is part of elmering also; it is not just about technical items. I know that some of you are wondering, Is Laura a ham? No, not yet, but she does have the study guides. If you attend the Dayton Hamvention 2009 - May 15-17, you will have a chance to visit with her. We welcome Laura to this position and wish her success. 73, Terry Graves, K7FE Editor QRZ.COM James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio] Winter Field Day
Winter Field Day is upon us. This weekend I will be running mostly Digital. The mode I will be running is PSK 31 but other modes may be tinkered with as well. I will be sticking to the standard frequency's for PSK 31 on all bands. What band I will be on is the question, The one that I hear folks on is the answer..hi hi Of course there will be 4 or 5 other operators on all modes. (CW, SSB, FM, AM, 10-180m) The Club call is NE4GA. I do plan on running some 80 SSB at night, I have nets to check into..:} I will be located in Commerce, GA Hope to see you on the waterfall! If not just pick your mode and check in with one of the other guys! James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio] Resolving HF Noise Issues
Many folks have run into the same issue that I have in the past. The cheep commercial networking routers and cable modems will create tons of noise on the HF bands. We simply created a Faraday Cage and placed all the gear inside and mounted it under the house. The network gear consists of 1 Cable Modem, 1 Netgear router and 1 Airlink wireless router configured as a glorified gateway. http://www.kb7tbt.com/pix/faradaycage These photos are of my friend Sean KE7CDE working on the Faraday Cage and Ground. James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio] My New Coffee Cup!
As many of you know I am the winner of the engraved coffee cup on the Ham Radio Help Group. Jim worked with my logo and made the cup look excellent, I can not say how happy I am to have this. I received the cup yesterday afternoon and early this morning I had a hot cup of coco to warm me up on a cold morning. I have posted a photo on my blog, you can view the blog at http://tinyurl.com/7fxtch Please visit http://www.jimsengraving.com/ The man is an EXPERT!! James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio] ---Special Event Station--
---Special Event Station-- ---W4T--- In operation at GARS TechFest Saturday January 10th from 10:00 am until 2:00pm Eastern or 03:00 UTC. Look for us on 7.280 and 14.280. You'll be working stations provided by North Fulton Amateur Radio League NFARL One a Software Defined Radio and the other a Legacy Collins. QSL to Norm, wa4zxv 480 N Peachtree Street Norcross, GA 30071 Or email your info to wa4...@wa4zxv.com More TechFest info at www.gars.org James KB7TBT www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio] Santa Claus Is Coming to 3.916 on CHRISTMAS EVE!!!
Fellow Freewheelers and to all Ham's, On Christmas Eve, December 24th, Santa Claus will be making a special appearance on The Freewheeler's Tailgater's Party from 8:30 PM to 10:00 PM Central on 3.916. This is an excellent opportunity for any of your kids, grandkids or neighbor kids to talk '3rd party' to Santa through your station. If you would like to participate in this historic Christmas Eve net, please do a pre-net check in on our Database page. (See special Christmas Eve Prenet Checkin) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freewheelersnet/ If you have any questions, you can reach me via email (p...@peterthomsongroup.com) or on 3.916 every night around 8:30 PM for the Tailgaters. Special thanks to Jimmy/KC0MQS (Freewheeler's Admnistrator) for arranging for Ol' St. Nick to be on the net. Jimmy, because he's been such a good boy this year, will be net control for this exclusive net. It's GREAT to be a FREEWHEELER! 73 Watch Out Pete KE5GGY Stone Mountain, Texas James KB7TBT NEGARC Activities Manager www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
[digitalradio] A Hams Winter Tail - By KB7TBT
Old man winter is slowly creeping around , you can hear him off scuffling by the sound. All the little hams will be snuggled in there shacks, playing with gadgets and eating there snacks. All of a sudden the radios will come to a roar, across the room we will all soar. We will make contacts, we will all pile in, grabbing at the qso's that are very slim. When we finish the logs and make it all right, then we will say 73's to all and to all a good night James KB7TBT NEGARC Activities Manager www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt
Re: [digitalradio] Re: SignaLinkUSB freq response and S/N
If you use a big shovel you will eventually dig up something bad. So ask yourself this, does the product work? Does the product do what it is intended to do? Does the product stay within parameters that are expectable within rules? I was making my decision between Tigertronics or Rigblaster. I looked at all the comments that are out there. I then made my decision of the lesser concern. The wait time is a drawback and I have heard it is not rugged, I tend to be a little harder on my equipment then others, but I still went with the TigerTronics. I will be happy to provide my opinion when the unit actually shows up.. James KB7TBT NEGARC Activities Manager www.kb7tbt.com www.ne4ga.org www.myspace.com/kb7tbt - Original My questions are still valid (even if my data are bogus, in which case I need to learn why), and I hope to get to the bottom of this. The fact still remains that my particular combination of Radio, Interface and computer, put together as recommended by the manufacturer, does exhibit a data transfer which does, on the evidence of my data, have some disturbing characteristics. Whether this is even significant, due to my errors or faulty equipment remains to be determined. I will report back to the groups, when I'm in the clear with this. --
