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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2287 for Friday August 27, 2021

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2287 with a release date of Friday
August 27, 2021 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A dispute over a medical device and suspected
RFI. NASA plans a radio telescope on the moon -- and in New York, a
special event station marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2287 comes
your way right now.

***
BILLBOARD CART

**
DISPUTE OVER SUSPECTED RFI AND INSULIN PUMP

PAUL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week involves suspected RF interference
that appears to be affecting a medical device. But does this point to
ham radio? Ralph Squillace KK6ITB explores that question.

RALPH: A ham radio operator in Florida is off the air following a
challenge by a neighbor in his retirement community that his amateur
radio station is causing life-threatening interference to the wireless communications in her insulin pump. According to a report by WFTV
Channel 9 Orlando, an independent consultant hired by the residential
community known as On Top of the World near Ocala, Florida, believes
that RF from the ham station "could have produced" interference with
the pump's delivery of measured insulin doses. WFTV reported that the
woman, Michelle Smith, is a Type 1 diabetic who claims that David Birge
WB9UYK, had put her health at risk by operating his station. David is
now off the air in compliance with the community board's order to him.
It remains unclear, however, whether the consultant's findings
definitively proved that RFI was a factor. In 2019, the US Food and
Drug Administration issued an alert that some models of insulin pumps
with unencrypted wireless connectivity had cybersecurity flaws that
left them vulnerable to hacking that could modify the settings. Eric
Koester, KA0YWN, an electrical design engineer in Minnesota, who is not involved in the Florida dispute, told Newsline in an email that he has
been familiar with RF emissions testing and RF immunity testing since
1995. He said that the more subtle kind of changes Michelle Smith
reported seeing in her insulin pump are inconsistent with the
larger-scale reactions he has seen documented in devices compromised by
RF interference.

Meanwhile, the WFTV report noted that the Florida community's board of directors has already modified its regulations on antennas in a way
that would permit operations by licensed radio amateurs living there.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

(WFTV, FDA, ERIC KOESTER KA0YWN)

**
NASA MAKING PLANS FOR A 'LUNAR ARECIBO' DISH

PAUL/ANCHOR: Radio astronomers' beloved Arecibo dish is no more â-" at
least not in Puerto Rico. But how about a replacement that's....not of
this earth? Kent Peterson KC0GDY explains.

KENT: How do you top Arecibo, the iconic radio telescope that collapsed
last December, leading to its dismantling?

You build one similar to itâ-"and you do it on the far side of themoon.

The Lunar Crater Radio Telescope is just a concept for now but in
theory its massive dish would be capable of detecting those radio waves
that eluded even the best of the telescopes here on earth. Better yet,
that reception wouldn't be competing against the atmospheric
interference that challenge earth-based telescopes. The lunar telescope
would be able to more clearly detect radio waves above 10 metres, which
were inaccessible to the Arecibo dish.

Joseph Lazio, one of the NASA radio astronomers on the lunar radio
telescope project, was quoted on the Business Insider website as saying
[quote] "With a sufficiently large radio telescope off Earth, we could
track the processes that would have led to the formation of the first
stars, maybe even find clues to the nature of dark matter." He made his
remarks in a press release about the project, which is still considered
very preliminary. This past spring, NASA awarded $500,000 for further
research and development on the telescope, which will be designed to
rest inside a lunar crater on the far side of the moon.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(BUSINESS INSIDER, EARTH SKY)

**
AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM ACCEPTING REGISTRATIONS

PAUL/ANCHOR: AMSAT's 39th space symposium and annual general meeting is
now accepting registrations for the event, which is taking place Friday
October 29th through Sunday October 31st in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Students are also invited to register. AMSAT is issuing a call for
papers by presenters. Last year's event was held virtually but this
year's symposium is to take place at the Crowne Plaza hotel at
Minneapolis International Airport.

See the link to the registration website in the printed version of this newscast at arnewsline.org

https://launch.amsat.org/Events

To submit a paper, see details that are in this week's newscast script.

https://www.amsat.org/2021-amsat-symposium-proceedings-call-for-papers

(AMSAT)

**
SPAIN PREPARES FOR TWIN SATELLITE LAUNCHES

PAUL/ANCHOR: Meanwhile, in Spain, hams await the scheduled launch next
month of two AMSAT-EA Genesis satellites. John Williams VK4JJW brings
us up to date.

JOHN: The satellites are called GENESIS-L and GENESIS-N and their
planned launch on September 2nd has been eagerly anticipated by Spain's national amateur radio society, the URE. The launch is to take place at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, where the two digital repeating satellites will take to the sky along with a number of other
satellites. The GENESIS satellites, built by students from the European University, wlil be using Amplitude Shift Keying and CW.

Additional details, and a list of the satellites' working frequencies,
can be found on the URE website which is listed in the script of this
week's newscast at arnewsline.org

https://www.ure.es/satelites-genesis-de-amsat-ea-2/

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm John Williams VK4JJW.

(URE, SOUTHGATE)

**
SWEEPING ANTENNA ARRAY DELIVERS GALAXIES IN HIGH-DEFINITION

PAUL/ANCHOR: Back here on earth, many of us know the benefits of high-definition, especially when it comes to video images. But now
scientists in the UK are making use of some benefits of high-definition
imagery thanks to a huge antenna array in Europe. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has
those details.

JEREMY: Scientists are crediting 70,000 one-metre-high antennas with
helping unveil new insights into how our solar system came into being
by providing as-yet unattainable visual details. The array is letting scientists gather ultra-high-definition imagery to get a clearer
picture of various galaxies as they give birth to planets and suns. The
radio imagery they are using is the result of a linked international
network of telescopes known as LOFAR, for Low Frequency Array. Although
most of the antennas are in nine nations throughout Europe, the
majority are in The Netherlands.

According to Neal Jackson of the University of Manchester, the imagery
is permitting researchers to see more clearly what happens inside
galaxies when planets and suns are being created. He told the BBC,
"These high-resolution images allow us to zoom in to see what's really
going on when supermassive black holes launch these jets of material."

The project leader Leah Morabito of Durham University in the UK, said scientists believe images such as these are giving greater insight into
the creation of our own solar system too. According to the BBC, for the
array to work, the team had to find a way to gather and digitise
signals received by each antenna. The signals were then sent to a
central processor for combination with all the other images being
gathered by the rest of the array.

Leah Morabito told the BBC that the team plans to scan numerous
galaxies in the years ahead, adding, "I think we're definitely in for
some surprises."

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.


(BBC)

**
SPECIAL NYC EVENT MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

PAUL/ANCHOR: Many of the hams who will be on the air on September 11th
calling QRZ from New York City were in a very different place 20 years
ago. Some of them hurried to the World Trade Center in Manhattan as first-responders to the terror strikes that day. They were answering a
call thenâ-"and this year they are the ones calling to mark the painful anniversary. â-¨ The first-responders and their friends and supporters
are hams in the Northeast Wireless Radio Club NW2C and the Great South
Bay Amateur Radio Club W2GSB. They will be on the air together from 10
a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time operating special event station W2T, using
CW, SSB and the digital modes. Hams may also contact them via
satellite. In the words of their station, Whiskey Two Tango, "We Will
Never Forget." Mark it on your calendar.

(MIKE SARTORETTI, KC2SYF)

**
IN NEW ZEALAND, BACKYARDS GO BACK ON THE AIR

PAUL/ANCHOR: What do SOTA activators do when the summits are off
limits? In New Zealand, the answer is right there in their backyards.
We hear more from Graham Kemp VK4BB.

GRAHAM: Nothing - not even a solar flare or even a pandemic - could
stop the Backyards on the Air activation from going ahead recently in
New Zealand. The pandemic, in fact, was actually the inspiration for
the event on Sunday, August 22nd. It was born in the spring of 2020 as
lockdown enveloped the nation. A group of SOTA activators looked for
new options because their beloved summits had been declared off limits.

Organiser Mark Sullivan ZL3AB said this recent activation found
participants once again in their backyards and after two hours of
calling QRZr, some boasted contacts with the US and VK, as well as
around New Zealand. Mark described his own activation as a bit less
successful, owing to a pole that collapsed and someone's child
next-door playing with an incredibly loud toy lawn mower.

Mark did encourage and reward experimentation, however. In his
invitation to participants, he wrote: "It should go without saying that
double points will be awarded to anyone who operates using.....a
Deltaloop."

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(MARK SULLIVAN ZL3AB)

**
BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the K4LYL repeater in Bedford, Virginia on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10
a.m. and 10 p.m. local time.

**
WEST BENGAL HAMS MARK 100 YEARS OF RADIO

PAUL/ANCHOR: This year has brought double the celebration for hams in
India. Jason Daniels VK2LAW tells us there's still time to attend some
of the programs â-" virtually.

JASON: Indian amateurs aren't just marking 100 years of ham radio;
they're also celebrating 75 years of their nation's independence. A
full weekend of celebration was hosted by the West Bengal Radio Club on
August 14th and 15th, highlighted by an online tech talk with noted
home brewer Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE, creator of the Bitx and micro BITX
open source transceivers. The programme, hosted by Saborni Nag Biswas,
VU2JFC, was followed by a webinar on the first century of Indian
amateur radio led by S. Ram Mohan, VU2MYH, and Sriramamurthy Suri
VU2MY, both of the National Institute of Amateur Radio and S. Satyapal
VU2FI, of the Indian Institute of Hams.

Both events were livestreamed. If you were unable to attend virtually
while the programmes were taking place, they are available for viewing
on YouTube. The links appear in the script of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQe98ccurM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQpy1t-xLoE

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(WEST BENGAL RADIO CLUB)

**
ACMA SEEKS INPUT ON 2x1 CALLSIGNS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Australian officials are looking for hams' input on their
review of 2x1 callsigns. Robert Broomhead VK3DN has more.

ROBERT: The Australian Communications and Media Authority is asking
hams to share their thoughts on allocation arrangements for 2x1
callsigns. The callsign allocations are to be handled by the Australian Maritime College, which already manages allocations for amateur
beacons, repeaters, special event callsigns and normal callsigns. The
ACMA have posted a survey and are interested in hearing hams' thoughts
on the issue and use of the two-by-one callsigns. The authority wants
to know, for instance, whether the callsigns should be made available
only to clubs and Advanced level amateurs or whether any level of
licence can have access.

Hams have until the 31st of August to complete the short five-question
survey. According to the authority, hams will be able to use the 2x1
callsigns without having to get a new licence or make changes to their
existing licence.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Robert Broomhead VK3DN.

(ACMA)

**
ACMA REVIEWS ARRANGEMENTS FOR AMATEUR REPEATERS, ASSIGNED BEACONS

PAUL/ANCHOR: The authority is also reviewing its plans for assigned
amateur beacon and repeater stations. More details on that from Graham
Kemp VK4BB.

GRAHAM: The Australian Communications and Media Authority is in the
middle of sorting through more than 800 responses to its consultation
on a review of non-assigned amateur and outpost licensing arrangements.
The ACMA's review is also taking a look at accreditation for repeater
and amateur beacon assignments.

The ACMA has been trying to implement a licensing procedure that will
minimise the burdens of regulation and allow benefits for hams to
continue at an affordable price.

According to the consultation paper outlining the proposed changes
earlier this year, three options are under consideration. In the first,
the ACMA would not change apparatus licensing arrangements and
conditions. In the second, the authority would simplify existing
licensing arrangements and licence conditions. In the third, which is
the preferred option for the AMCA, operation of non-assigned amateur
stations would be authorised for holders of Foundation, Standard and
Advanced level qualifications through a class licence rather than an
apparatus licence. This would involve creation of an amateur class
licence authorising amateur station operation by those holding
Foundation, Standard or Advanced level qualifications and would include individuals visiting Australia and having overseas equivalent
qualifications or licences.

Meanwhile, operation of assigned amateur beacon and repeater stations
would remain authorised under apparatus licensing arrangements.

In a recent advisory, the ACMA has indicated it will provide updates
via its e-bulletin.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(ACMA)

**'

WORLD OF DX

The Trinidad and Tobago Amateur Radio Society is marking the 59th
anniversary of the nation's independence with a special event station,
using callsign 9Y59IND through Spetember 12th. Listen on HF, the
digital modes, 2 meters, EME, DMR, D-STAR and Yaesu Fusion. QSLs will
be via Logbook of the World only.

Masa, JA0RQV, is operating as A35JP from Tonga, where he will be until
October 31st. Be listening on 80 through 6 meters where he is using CW,
SSB and FT8. QSL via LoTW and ClubLog, or direct with $2 in US currency
or by the bureau using his home callsign.

Members of the Emirates Amateur Radio Society are using the special
event callsign A60EXPO between September 1st and October 1st to promote
World Expo 2020 in Dubai. The expo itself runs from October 31st until
March 31st of next year. Send QSLs via EA7FTR.

Be listening for Pascual, EA5WO, who will be using the special event
callsign AN5WAR from Valencia, Spain, between September 1st and the
30th. Pascual is commemorating the 82nd anniversary of the start of the
Second World War. He will be operating on various HF bands. QSL via
LoTW or eQSL.

(OHIO PENN DX)

**
KICKER: A SPARK GLOWS BRIGHTLY AT MUSEUM IN FINLAND

PAUL/ANCHOR: In our final story we visit a museum in Finland where ham
radio operators are delivering their messages to hams and non-hams
alike, via a display of their homebrew equipment. Ed Durrant DD5LP
takes us there.

ED: The exhibit is called "It Started with a Spark," and it honours 100
years of innovation and home-brewing among amateur radio operators in
Finland. Housed at the Finnish Museum of Technology, the exhibit
features equipment created by amateur radio operators, many of whom are
members of SRAL, the Finnish Radio Amateur Association.

So it is no surprise that this summertime exhibit is actually the
result of some clever home-brewing itself.

It began as a concept for Heikki Lempola OH2BGX, a member of the radio association's anniversary committee. He envisioned it as a display of
self-made technology that would feature some of the equipment the radio association itself had put on display previously during smaller local
one-day exhibits.

Like a spark that gives energy to something greater than itself, his
idea grew and grew once Heikki had a conversation with Rina Linna, the exhibition producer at the museum in Helsinki. The museum and the radio association's centennial tribute made for natural pairing. The
home-brewing got under way and the collection grew from compact
antennas to transmitters to transceivers, just for starters. The
exhibit runs through to the 29th of August.

In an interview posted on the museum's blog, both Heikki and Rina
remark that the equipment is on display to showcase its aesthetics as
well as its functionality. Both agreed that visitors don't have to be
hams to appreciate the beauty and the brilliance of what they're
seeing.

It's the kind of amateur radio that gets its message across to
everyone, even to people who aren't hams.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP.

(SOUTHGATE, SRAL, FINNISH MUSEUM OF TECHNOLOGY)

**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur News Weekly; AMSAT; the ARRL;
the Australian Communications and Media Authority; the BBC; Business
Insider; CQ Magazine; David Behar K7DB; Daily DX; EarthSky; Eric
Koester KA0YWN; the Finnish Museum of Technology; the US Food and Drug Administration; Mark Sullivan ZL3AB; Mike Sartoretti KC2SYF; Ohio Penn
DX; QRZ.com; Southgate Amateur Radio News; shortwaveradio.de; SRAL; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; West Bengal Radio Club; WFTV Channel 9; WTWW Shortwave; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio
Newsline. You can write to us at newsline@arnewsline.org. For more
information or to support us visit our official website at
arnewsline.org.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and
our news team worldwide, I'm Paul Braun WD9GCO in Valparaiso Indiana
saying 73. As always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

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