Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2399 for Friday October 20th, 2023

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2399 with a release date of Friday
October 20th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A global Solar Eclipse QSO Party offers a world
of insights. A record fine from the FCC -- and Amateur Radio Digital
Communications is looking for volunteers for four committees. All this
and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2399 comes your way
right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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THE WORLD CALLS CQ FOR SOLAR ECLIPSE QSO PARTY

NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story looks at the recent annular solar eclipse
known as the "Ring of Fire." It was visible in some parts of the
Americas, but amateur radio operators and other citizen scientists
proved that its impact on the ionosphere was felt around the world.
Jack Parker W8ISH brings us that report.

JACK: The world was invited on October 14th to the Solar Eclipse QSO
Party, part of the HamSCI Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science
projects -- and hams, shortwave listeners and university-based
researchers accepted the challenge. In the Western United States and
parts of South America where the eclipse was most visible,
eclipse-watching was combined with making QSOs on all bands using all
modes to help generate data about the eclipse's changing impact on
propagation. The QSO Party was the largest of a number of experiments
and few participants took the research -- and the party theme -- more
to heart than Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, HamSCI's founder. His own QTH
became a party with a purpose, filled with food as well as operators
and assistants. His wife, Rachel, W2RUF, his mother, Ann Marie, KC2KRQ,
one of his students, Thomas KE2BAC, and scientist Bob McGwier, N4HY,
were on the team. They called CQ, monitored Doppler shift changes
throughout the eclipse, watched the Reverse Beacon Network and received
PSK Reporter updates from Phil Gladstone, N1DQ, the website owner.

Nathaniel told Newsline that results gathered from QSOs made worldwide
will be released over time, and will ultimately appear in a peer-review
journal. If you were late to the party - or missed it entirely - more
experiments are planned for the total eclipse in April of 2024. Hams
looking to get involved can join the Google group by visiting the
HamSCI website at hamsci dot org (hamsci.org). Noting that hams in
places like West Bengal, India, eagerly participated this month,
amateur radio community coordinator Gary Mikitin, AF8A, said he
encouraged hams there to set up a similar study when Asia experiences
its next solar eclipse. Meanwhile, Ed Efchak, WX2R, public information
officer, told Newsline that HamSCI is continuing its outreach to clubs
whose members want to learn more -- just in time for the QSO party
inApril.

This is Jack Parker, W8ISH.

(NATHANIEL FRISSEL, W2NAF; ED EFCHAK, WX2R; GARY MIKITIN, AF8A)

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SILENT KEY: CONTESTER, HAM RADIO LEADER WILLIAM SMITH K4WMS

NEIL/ANCHOR: The ham radio community in Virginia and beyond has lost a
good friend and longtime leader. We hear about him from Jim
DamronN8TMW.

JIM: An active and enthusiastic contester and DXer, William Smith,
K4WMS, is being remembered by friends who shared time with him at
Dayton or worked hard as a team with him operating in DX contests from
his shack. Bill became a Silent Key on October 6th after a brief
illness. The former US Army captain extended his friendly
competitiveness into other areas, such as race boat driving and
bowling. He was also a local leader in amateur radio in his Virginia
community and had served as president of the Mount Airy VHF Club and
the Frankford Radio Club. Bill was also remembered as a frequent
visitor to Hamvention in Ohio. According to his QRZ.com page, he first
got his license in 1976 when he lived in New Jersey and moved in 1999
to Virginia.

In an online tribute, friends remembered him as a radio operator who
kept the door to his shack always open, leaving everyone with great
memories of days and nights spent contesting together.

Bill was 86.

This is Jim Damron N8TMW.

(QRZ, HAMGALLERY.COM)

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AUSTRALIA MARKS 100 YEARS OF PUBLIC RADIO BROADCASTS

NEIL/ANCHOR: There's a new postage stamp in Australia and it's being
issued as a tribute to radio. John Williams VK4JJW has those details.

JOHN: November of 1923 marked a big moment in public radio in Australia
as the station 2BL - which was first licensed as 2SB - went on the air
with its first public radio broadcast.

To mark the occasion, Australia Post have issued a stamp with an
illustration that Catriona Noble, executive general manager of retail,
called an "iconic scene." The artist shows a woman listening to a radio
console set to the "Music Lovers Hour" on that early station.

This was the station that eventually became ABC Radio Sydney.

The stamp's first day of issue was Tuesday the 17th of October. It
costs $1.20 in Australian currency.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(RADIOINFO AUSTRALIA, AUSPOST.COM, WIA)

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ARDC COMMITTEES SEEKING VOLUNTEERS

NEIL/ANCHOR: Amateur Radio Digital Communications is looking for
volunteers who can serve on one of its four committees in 2024. The
ARDC committees handle grant application evaluation; technical advising
for 44Net; and conduct review. The ARDC is also looking for volunteers
to serve on its newest committee which will evaluate and analyze grant
reports.

To apply or to get details about each of these committees, visit the
link that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at
arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://www.ardc.net/ardc-committee-recruitment-2024/ ]

The application deadline is October 31st.

(REBECCA KEY, KO4KVG)

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FCC LEVIES RECORD FINE UNDER PIRATE ACT

NEIL/ANCHOR: Charging a New York City broadcaster with radio piracy,
the US regulator is fining them an unprecedented amount, as we hear
from Andy Morrison K9AWM.

ANDY: In the US, the Federal Communications Commission has levied a
record pirate radio fine of $2.3 million against an unlicensed New York
City broadcaster. This is one of the earliest actions the agency has
taken under legislation passed in January of 2020 to toughen the FCC's
enforcement.

The law, known as the PIRATE ACT, gives the FCC increased ability to
act against pirate broadcasters, authorizing fines of as much as
$100,000 per violation up to a total of $2 million. The acronym stands
for Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement.

According to a report in Radio World, the operators of Radio Impacto 2
received notices of apparent liability in March for their unlicensed
operations on 105.5 MHz from a station located in the city's borough of
Queens. According to media accounts, Radio Impacto 2 never responded to
the FCC, as is required. Radio World's attempts to reach the station
operators were unsuccessful.

The FCC said that collection of the record forfeiture payment may be
referred to the US Department of Justice, which enforces such fines. In
taking its further action, the FCC said that the station operators
continued to be on the air, even now, and have promoted their
programming to a prospective radio audience. According to the Radio
World report, one of the station operators, Luis Angel Ayora, had also
been issued a $20,000 forfeiture in 2015 which was never paid,
resulting in a seizure of broadcast equipment.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(RADIO WORLD, FCC)

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CANADIAN BROADCASTER HALTS TIME-KEEPING BROADCASTS

NEIL/ANCHOR: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has stopped giving
listeners the time of day. Shortwave radio, however, is still at it.
Dave Parks WB8ODF explains.

DAVE: CBC radio has stopped broadcasting the official time signal of
the National Research Council. The broadcasts began in 1939, providing
a national time synchronization signal for anyone relying on the
accuracy of their clocks. CBC Radio halted the broadcasts on October
9th, noting that any of its transmissions over HD Radio or the web
causes a delay of several seconds, invalidating the accuracy of what
was being sent.

Shortwave radio comes to the rescue, however: The NRC's official time
station, CHU, operated by the council's Institute for National
Measurement Standards, broadcasts on 3.33, 7.85 and 14.67 MHz, to
deliver the time as always, in English and French. Three atomic clocks
are located at the transmitter site in Ottawa, Canada. The station
began broadcasting the time on an experimental basis in 1929 using the
callsign VE9OB. It became known as CHU in 1938.

This is Dave Parks WB8ODF.

(RADIO WORLD)

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BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the K2ADA 2 meter repeater in Ocala Florida on Friday and Saturday
nights at 7.

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DARC SEEKS HELP WITH CQGMA PROJECT

NEIL/ANCHOR: Hams active in awards programs such as WWFF, Global
Mountains Award and Islands on the Air, to name a few, are watching for
changes to be made to the cqGMA Project which was taken over by the
DARC in Germany during this past summer. IT volunteers have been
handling the transfer of the source code and the move to the DARC's
servers. Ron Jerke [PRONOUNCED: Yer-Ker], DG2RON, a member of the DARC
board, said that additional IT volunteers are needed in related areas,
such as handling requests for support. The cqGMA Project is a portal to
many outdoor operating award groups including IOTA, WWFF and GMA.