Saturday, August 9, 2014

GAREC 2014 to be Held in Conjunction with 2014 HUNTSVILLE HAMFEST

The 2014 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference will be held this year just prior to the Huntsville Hamfest, in Huntsville Alabama. The conference will take place August 14th and 15th at the Embassy Suites Hotel which is adjacent to the convention venue at the Von Braun Convention Center. The hamfest will immediately follow on the weekend of August 16th and 17th.

Planners of the 2014 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference say that all emergency communication minded radio amateurs and professionals planners from around the world are invited to attend. They add that the conference agenda, full information and a website are currently being developed. More on the Huntsville Hamfest is on line at hamfest.org.

Source (VK3PC)

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

"The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014"

The just-concluded ARRL National Centennial Convention in Hartford, Connecticut, helped to impart added energy into efforts to line up co-sponsors for "The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014" also known as House of Representatives measure H R 4969.

H R 4969 was introduced in the US House of Representatives with bipartisan support in late June. It asks Congress to direct the FCC to apply the "reasonable accommodation" three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to private land-use restrictions regarding antennas. 

The measures primary sponsor is Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. It received initial co-sponsorship from Democrat Joe Courtney of Connecticut. Four additional members of the House had since signed aboard to co-sponsor the bill by July 24th. On July 29th, ARRL Hudson Division Director Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, posted to Facebook that two more House law makers had thrown their support to H R 4969. . 

By way of background, right now present PRB-1 only applies to state and municipal land-use ordinances. The FCC has indicated that it will not act to provide the same legal protections from private land-use agreements -- often called covenants, conditions, and restrictions without direction from Congress. As such, the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014 is an attempt by the League to muster the needed push to get the FCC to act on this matter.

Speaking at the convention, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, says that there already is precedent for the FCC to act. He explains that the Commission's so-called Over-the-Air Receiving Device rules currently preempt private land-use agreements to permit the installation of television antennas and satellite dishes. Based on this, Imlay suggests that making the leap to reasonably accommodating outdoor amateur radio antennas is within the FCC's regulatory scope. This, given the established strong federal interest in effective amateur radio communication.

On the other side, Imlay said the bill faces opposition from the Community Associations Institute and an organization called Associa. The latter has already suggested to Representative Kinzinger that he "re-think" the bill. As such, Imlay says that a lot more co-sponsors are needed for this bill.

While the ARRL has been very successful in getting HR 4969 before the House of Representatives it appears as if not every ham is in favor of its being passed into law. In an interview on the video podcast HamRadioNow, viewer Mike Alexander, N8MSA takes what he calls a principled stand against the measure.

N8MSA spends about 40 minutes explaining his point of view and answering questions from moderator Gary Pearce, KN4AQ. You can see the interview in episode 158 of the video podcast HamRadioNow at hamradionow.tv. (HamRadioNow)


Source Gary Bernstein, N9VU

My Stamp Collecting Blog

Counter Added January 1, 2011

free counters

HOW TO READ PROPAGATION NUMBERS

The A index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 1 to 6 is BEST
  • 7 to 9 is OK
  • 11 or more is BAD

Represents the overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Ap" if averaged from the Kp-Index) (an average of the eight 3-hour K-Indices) ('A' referring to amplitude) over a given 24 hour period, ranging (linearly) typically from 1-100 but theoretically up to 400.

A lower A-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Ap-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

SFI index [ HIGH is GOOD ]

  • 70 NOT GOOD
  • 80 GOOD
  • 90 BETTER
  • 100+ BEST

The measure of total radio emissions from the sun at 10.7cm (2800 MHz), on a scale of 60 (no sunspots) to 300, generally corresponding to the sunspot level, but being too low in energy to cause ionization, not related to the ionization level of the Ionosphere.

Higher Solar Flux generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; Solar Flux rarely affects the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

K index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 0 or 1 is BEST
  • 2 is OK
  • 3 or more is BAD
  • 5 is VERY VERY BAD

The overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Kp" if averaged over the planet) over the past 3 hours, measured by 13 magnetometers between 46 & 63 degrees of latitude, and ranging quasi-logarithmically from 0-9. Designed to detect solar particle radiation by its magnetic effect. A higher K-index generally means worse HF conditions.

A lower K-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Kp-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

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