Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2422 for Friday March 29th, 2024

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2423 with a release date of Friday
March 29th, 2024 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Illegal sales of radio jamming equipment found
in the US. An Australian amateur is honored for discovering new comets
-- and our April Fool's correspondent, Pierre Pullinmyleg, is back with
a special report on antennas you can grow. All this and more as Amateur
Radio Newsline Report Number 2423 comes your way right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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NETWORK NEWS REPORT DISCLOSES RETAILERS' SALE OF ILLEGAL JAMMERS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Our top story comes from a US broadcast network, which
reported recently about illegal sales of radio jammers in the US. Kent
Peterson KC0DGY brings us up to date.

KENT: In the US, the Federal Communications Commission has revealed
that the agency has been investigating a number of online retailers and
other sellers over possible marketing of wireless radio frequency
jammers, which are illegal under federal law.

The disclosure by the FCC's Will Wiquist came following a report by NBC
News that wireless jammers that were being offered for sale were being
marketed as devices to interfere with the operation of drones. Federal
law prohibits both the sale and use of devices that deliberately
interfere with the signals of GPS units, mobile phones and other
consumer devices. Such jamming devices have the potential to interfere
as well with security cameras, Wi-Fi and emergency communications.

The FCC posts an explanation of its policy on its website, saying:
[quote]: "Unlike other radio transmitting equipment, jamming
equipment cannot be authorized by the FCC because the main purpose of
jamming equipment is to interfere with radio communications."
[endquote]

The FCC made its revelation about conducting probes only after the news
network released its own report about the sales of the jammers by more
than a dozen companies.

This is Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(NBC, CNN, FCC)

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POTA COMPLETES GLOBAL PARK RELABELING, CHINA RETURNS TO PROGRAM

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The Parks on the Air program had a welcome announcement
recently for fans of portable operation. Jim Meachen ZL2BHF shares this
development.

JIM: There's good news for POTA hunters: As POTA completes its
conversion of labels to conform to the ISO-3166-2 standard, China has
returned to participating in Parks on the Air. China's re-entry follows
a number of discussions to resolve what POTA describes as "simple
language barriers." According to documentation on the POTA website, the
misunderstanding over POTA's reorganisation of its code system resulted
in an unfortunate breakdown in communications because of these language
issues

On Monday, March 25th, POTA announced on its website: [quote] "We are
happy to be able to reactivate China so quickly!" [endquote]

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(POTA)

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SILENT KEY: HAMVENTION 2022 AWARD RECIPIENT, ADAM FARSON VA7OJ/AB7OJ

ANCHOR: An amateur who was a respected re for technical expertise on a
wide range of HF transceivers and amplifiers - and was honored at
Hamvention two years ago -- has become a Silent Key. We hear about him
from Jack Parker W8ISH.

JACK: Hams everywhere sought out the wisdom and expertise of Adam
Farson, VA7OJ/AB7OJ, whether they needed guidance on buying a
particular HF radio or an amplifier. Adam's website and his array of
published articles in different journals, contained years of his wisdom
and hard work. Adam died on the morning of March 12th. A friend, Matt
Erickson, KK5DR, wrote in a QRZ.com forum that Adam had been in failing
health since the 1st of January, complicated by a relapse of pneumonia.

Much of Adam's technical expertise is shared on his website, which he
created more than three decades ago. Matt said the site would continue
to be maintained online for a time by the North Shore Amateur Radio
Club where Adam was a longtime member. The retired telecomm engineer
was a senior life member of the IEEE and was first licensed in 1962
with the callsign ZS1ZG while studying at the University of Cape Town.

In 2022, Adam received the Technical Achievement Award at Hamvention
and was celebrated for his published work and for providing one of the
internet resource amateurs turn to most for high technical details
about a variety of radios.

This is Jack Parker W8ISH.

(QRZ.COM, ARRL)

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NASA SUNGRAZER PROGRAM HONORS HAM FOR COMET-HUNTING SUCCESS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: NASA's Sungrazer program is honoring an amateur radio
operator in Australia for having tracked down previously unknown comets
by studying spacecraft imagery. We hear about him from John Williams
VK4JJW.

JOHN: Congratulations to Peter Berrett, VK3PB, who has been recognised
by the NASA Sungrazer programme as one of the top successful volunteer
comet-hunters. Sungrazer is a NASA-funded citizen science programme
that encourages anyone to participate in the discovery and reporting of
previously unknown comets. According to Sungrazer, Peter was the first
to locate a comet in imagery from the Parker Solar probe launched by
NASA in 2018. Using a computer programme he wrote for this purpose, he
has also identified comets in archived images that were collected by
four spacecraft. NASA Sun & Space made the announcement about Peter
earlier this month on social media. Viewers of Amateur Logic TV may be
most familiar with Peter through his previous appearances there.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(STARGAZER PROJECT)

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SKYWARN TEAM TESTS RESILIENCE OF SIMPLEX OPERATION

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In western Pennsylvania, a team of SKYWARN operators
has been testing the resilience of simplex operation to prepare for
emergencies. Randy Sly, W4XJ, spoke to one of the organizers.

RANDY: What would you do if you wanted to check into the local SKYWARN
net with a severe storm report and the repeaters in your area suddenly
went down? The obvious answer is working simplex...but how and where?

The Southwest District Skywarn Team Of Western Pennsylvania has started
working on a more strategic answer by conducting a monthly series of
simplex drills to coordinate frequencies and best operating practices
in case of a scenario like this. Eddie Misiewicz (Mi-sh�(c)-vitz - short
e), KB3YRU, president of the group, told AR Newsline, <quote> "We are
working on and improving a communications plan one step at a time. In
addition to improving radios, mast height and antennas, we have also
learned to assign portable and mobile stations to strategic locations
and positions." <endquote> He said the hilly terrain and ridges in
the area are presenting some significant challenges for an effective
solution to ensure better simplex coverage.

The Southwest District SKYWARN team is also spreading the word at
hamfests and other events about using simplex in emergency situations.
They are inviting their fellow amateurs to prepare ahead of time for
severe weather events while developing the right equipment and skills
for successful simplex operations whether HF, VHF or UHF. The next
drill is scheduled to be held Saturday, April 13th at 10 a.m. Eastern
Time.

This is Randy Sly, W4XJ

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IOTA GRANT PROGRAM EXPANDS TO MORE LOCATIONS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Island on the Air has expanded a program that will help
fund activations of more rare locations. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us
what this means.

JEREMY: The Islands on the Air DXpedition Fund created last year to
support activations in rare locations with no activity for at least 15
years has expanded its qualifications to include additional islands and
island groups.

The fund's original announcement last September said it would provide
grants to assist operations from IOTA references confirmed by fewer
than one-quarter of IOTA members in the last decade. This has now been
broadened to include operations to those locations confirmed by fewer
than 30 percent of IOTA members on IOTA's Most Wanted List. Both
categories must have had no activations for at least 15 years.

IOTA Ltd. believes that having two categories will provide an advantage
for DXpeditions to an estimated 250 IOTA groups. Applicants should note
the rarity of the IOTA reference they plan to activate, how long they
will be there, how many operators they will have, the estimated number
of contacts they expect to log, the bands to be used and, of course,
the estimated cost of the DXpedition.

For an application and more details, visit the IOTA website using the
link in the text version of this week's Newsline script.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

[DO NOT READ: https://www.iota-world.org ]

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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 Utah Amateur Radio Club's W7SP repeater on Sundays as part of the
club's 9 p.m. net.

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FCC IMPLEMENTS TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION FOR REGISTRATION SYSTEM

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In an effort to make its online registration system
more secure, the Federal Communications Commission is introducing
two-factor authentication while signing on. As of the 29th of March,
those wishing to access to the Commission Registration System known as
CORES will need to request a six-digit secondary verification code to
be sent to their email address. They will be required to enter the code
into the system before they can go forward with logging in. This
requirement will affect anyone looking to reset a password, request a
new Federal Registration Number or to pay any application or regulatory
fees.