The latest news from the ARRL can be found at the following link:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/?issue=2010-03-24
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Power Line Telecommunications EMC
The following RSGB letter to OFCOM which highlights OFCOM's lack of action and protection of the radio spectrum may be of interest to members.
http://www.rsgb.org.uk/plt/docs/ofcom_letter.pdf
http://www.rsgb.org.uk/plt/docs/ofcom_letter.pdf
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Isle of Man Amateur gets special award
Dayton Hamvention announces 2010 award winners
Three amateur radio (ham) operators who have made significant contributions to the Amateur Radio Service, will be honored guests when Hamvention® 2010 opens in Hara Arena on May 14.
In addition, a club of the year will be honored in keeping with the 2010 Hamvention theme, Amateur Radio Clubs Worldwide: The Lifeline.
Recipients of this year's Hamvention® awards are:
Special Achievement - Dick Ross, K2MGA for his excellent work over the past number of years on CQ magazine.
Technical Excellence - Simon Brown, HB9DRV for the invention and development of Ham Radio Deluxe.
Amateur of the Year - Jim Stafford, W4QO for 50 years of service to Amateur Radio and his support for public service and unending efforts to recruit and develop hams of all ages.
Club of the Year - North Fulton Amateur Radio League, NFARL, North Fulton, GA - Serving the greater Atlanta Area, the State of Georgia and the US with emergency services, training and the preparation of Amateur Radio in general.
" Choosing the finalists was a difficult process due to the number of fine nominations" said Frank Beafore, Chairman of the Awards Committee. This year, an additional award category was added - Club of the Year. This award honors a ham radio organization that contributes to the good of Amateur Radio.
"Although we narrowed our club choice to North Fulton, GA, we had a number of deserving candidates" stated Beafore. "The winner of this year's award is certainly a great example of the thousands of clubs and organizations around the world perpetuating our avocation".
An intimate dinner on May 15 will be held in downtown Dayton honoring the 2010 Hamvention Award winners.
Three amateur radio (ham) operators who have made significant contributions to the Amateur Radio Service, will be honored guests when Hamvention® 2010 opens in Hara Arena on May 14.
In addition, a club of the year will be honored in keeping with the 2010 Hamvention theme, Amateur Radio Clubs Worldwide: The Lifeline.
Recipients of this year's Hamvention® awards are:
Special Achievement - Dick Ross, K2MGA for his excellent work over the past number of years on CQ magazine.
Technical Excellence - Simon Brown, HB9DRV for the invention and development of Ham Radio Deluxe.
Amateur of the Year - Jim Stafford, W4QO for 50 years of service to Amateur Radio and his support for public service and unending efforts to recruit and develop hams of all ages.
Club of the Year - North Fulton Amateur Radio League, NFARL, North Fulton, GA - Serving the greater Atlanta Area, the State of Georgia and the US with emergency services, training and the preparation of Amateur Radio in general.
" Choosing the finalists was a difficult process due to the number of fine nominations" said Frank Beafore, Chairman of the Awards Committee. This year, an additional award category was added - Club of the Year. This award honors a ham radio organization that contributes to the good of Amateur Radio.
"Although we narrowed our club choice to North Fulton, GA, we had a number of deserving candidates" stated Beafore. "The winner of this year's award is certainly a great example of the thousands of clubs and organizations around the world perpetuating our avocation".
An intimate dinner on May 15 will be held in downtown Dayton honoring the 2010 Hamvention Award winners.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
News from the RSGB Tutors letter
Connecting Transceivers in Vehicles
Change of Recommended Practice
Guidance for vehicle installation was originally contained in MPT1362 issued by the Radiocommunications Agency after consultation with industry. That role has now passed to the Federation of Communication Services and re-issued as the UK Code of Practice FCS1362.
www.fcs.org.uk/my%20files/fcs_pdfs/codesofpractice/08-05-12%20fcs%201362%20final.pdf.
There is a significant change in the guidance, section which will affect the Advanced examination and the Advanced course book.
The advice in MPT1362 and all copies of Advance! up to and including the 2009 reprint was to connect the transceiver directly to the vehicle battery with appropriate fuses in both the positive and negative leads. Often there is an incidental DC route from the vehicle chassis via the antenna mount, coaxial cable outer, rig and negative power lead to the battery terminal. Some vehicle load current will take that route and if the battery negative to chassis strap fails then all vehicle loads including starting current (100A plus) could. Clearly a fire risk especially for the super thin coax intended to fit round a door or boot seal.
New advice.
The new guidance is to connect the transceiver negative directly to the vehicle chassis and no fuse in the negative. (Assumes negative earth.) The positive lead should still be fused and connected to the battery or in accordance with the vehicle manufactures specific recommendation.
Remember that transceivers should be specified for vehicle use and the manufacturer’s guidance on RF power limits, antenna placement and DC supplies must be followed. Failure to do so might affect your insurance cover and questions on this point must be directed to your insurance provider.
Effect on Examinations
Vehicle installations are covered in the Advanced specification, syllabus item 9c1. It is proposed to edit relevant questions shortly. Candidates may be asked questions to the new guidance from 1 September 2010 onwards. The old practice of a fused negative to the battery will not be used as a distracter, but from 1 September an unfused negative to the battery will be a legitimate wrong answer since that has always been wrong.
Change of Recommended Practice
Guidance for vehicle installation was originally contained in MPT1362 issued by the Radiocommunications Agency after consultation with industry. That role has now passed to the Federation of Communication Services and re-issued as the UK Code of Practice FCS1362.
www.fcs.org.uk/my%20files/fcs_pdfs/codesofpractice/08-05-12%20fcs%201362%20final.pdf.
There is a significant change in the guidance, section which will affect the Advanced examination and the Advanced course book.
The advice in MPT1362 and all copies of Advance! up to and including the 2009 reprint was to connect the transceiver directly to the vehicle battery with appropriate fuses in both the positive and negative leads. Often there is an incidental DC route from the vehicle chassis via the antenna mount, coaxial cable outer, rig and negative power lead to the battery terminal. Some vehicle load current will take that route and if the battery negative to chassis strap fails then all vehicle loads including starting current (100A plus) could. Clearly a fire risk especially for the super thin coax intended to fit round a door or boot seal.
New advice.
The new guidance is to connect the transceiver negative directly to the vehicle chassis and no fuse in the negative. (Assumes negative earth.) The positive lead should still be fused and connected to the battery or in accordance with the vehicle manufactures specific recommendation.
Remember that transceivers should be specified for vehicle use and the manufacturer’s guidance on RF power limits, antenna placement and DC supplies must be followed. Failure to do so might affect your insurance cover and questions on this point must be directed to your insurance provider.
Effect on Examinations
Vehicle installations are covered in the Advanced specification, syllabus item 9c1. It is proposed to edit relevant questions shortly. Candidates may be asked questions to the new guidance from 1 September 2010 onwards. The old practice of a fused negative to the battery will not be used as a distracter, but from 1 September an unfused negative to the battery will be a legitimate wrong answer since that has always been wrong.
RNLI SOS Radio Week report
EVENT CALLSIGN : GD0MAN
Over £1,500 declared so far, over £2,750 expected
A month after the event and everyone's working hard to collect in the money and a great job you're doing too - thank you so much.
To-date we have cheques, cash and receipts totalling £1,526.98 and we've reports from others that will hopefully bring that total up to over £2,750 when their money/receipts are received. That's a superb achievment and one which you can be justly proud of.
We'd be really grateful if we could receive all outstanding money/receipts by the 26th March as we are now planning the 'grand' presentation and to do this we need a final total so that we can ready the presentation cheque.
In order to be able to draw a line under this year's activites we do need to hear from those of you who are yet to contact us following the conclusion of the event. Even if you did no operating during the week would would like to hear from you so that we know we're not waiting for your money.
Over £1,500 declared so far, over £2,750 expected
A month after the event and everyone's working hard to collect in the money and a great job you're doing too - thank you so much.
To-date we have cheques, cash and receipts totalling £1,526.98 and we've reports from others that will hopefully bring that total up to over £2,750 when their money/receipts are received. That's a superb achievment and one which you can be justly proud of.
We'd be really grateful if we could receive all outstanding money/receipts by the 26th March as we are now planning the 'grand' presentation and to do this we need a final total so that we can ready the presentation cheque.
In order to be able to draw a line under this year's activites we do need to hear from those of you who are yet to contact us following the conclusion of the event. Even if you did no operating during the week would would like to hear from you so that we know we're not waiting for your money.
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