Request for: Any Operators local interested in starting projects or joining one in progress?
From This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - KF5GOI

Sent in by N5EKF of the Ascension Amateur Radio Club K5ARC: The April 2019 Edition of Ascension Airwaves - "Please feel free to share it with your friends and club members. We will have our meeting this Wednesday at the Main Fire Station on Orice Roth Road in Gonzales, LA at 19:00 hrs."

==> Flaw Could Permit Hacking of Implanted Devices
Medtronic, the world's largest medical device company, has acknowledged that many of its implanted cardiac defibrillators use an unencrypted wireless protocol that could let an attacker change the device settings. The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has assigned the flaw a vulnerability score of 9.3 -- near the top of its 10-point scale. It said the flaw makes it possible for an unauthorized party to read and write any memory location of the implanted devices. At issue is the Conexus radio frequency telemetry protocol, which is used as part of its remote patient-management system for communicating between defibrillators, home monitoring devices, and clinician programming devices. According to CISA, affected devices include the MyCareLink Monitor, CareLink Monitor, CareLink 2090 Programmer, and other Medtronic implanted cardiac devices listed in its alert. The primary vulnerabilities are improper access control and transmission of sensitive information. ...

==> So Now What?
"The New Ham Radio Starter Pack" is the focus of the new (March 21) episode of the "So Now What?" podcast for Amateur Radio newcomers. If you're a newly licensed Amateur Radio operator, chances are you have lots of questions. This biweekly podcast has answers! "So Now What?" offers insights from those who've been just where you are now. New episodes will be posted every other Thursday, alternating new-episode weeks with the "ARRL The Doctor is In" podcast...

==> The Two "Entry-Level" Petitions Now Accepting Comments are Very Different
The FCC recently invited public comment on ARRL's 2018 Technician Enhancement Petition for Rule Making (RM-11828). It asks the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. It does not seek to create a new Amateur Radio license class....

The FCC has also invited public comment on an entirely unrelated Petition for Rule Making (RM-11829), filed in 2017 by ARRL member Gary A. Hampton, AD0WU, of Longmont, Colorado. Hampton has asked the FCC to create a new "Tyro" entry-level license class, which would require a minimal online examination as well as mentoring by an Amateur Radio licensee of Technician class or higher. Tyro licensees would have to be at least 11 years old and would earn operating privileges on 99 channels in a 70-centimeter segment that Hampton calls a "TyroSubBand." It would offer no HF privileges.

These are not competing petitions. Members of the Amateur Radio community should evaluate both proposals on their own merits and comment if they desire. ARRL has provided a summary of the Technician Enhancement proposals and explained their advantages.

Interested parties have 30 days to comment on both proposals. For information on how to file comments, visit "How to Comment on FCC Proceedings."

==> Colorado ARES Volunteers Muster for "Bomb Cyclone" Winter Storm
Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) volunteers in Colorado stepped up as a mid-month "bomb cyclone" winter storm struck the state, with heavy rain shifting to heavy snowfall. The storm affected several states and led to significant flooding in Nebraska. Parts of Colorado recorded winds of nearly 100 MPH and record-low barometric pressure readings. ARES teams in Colorado began preparations a day ahead of the so-called "bombogenesis" weather event. ...

==> 3Y0I Bouvet Island DXpedition "Postponed, Not Canceled"
The 3Y0I DXpedition to Bouvet Island (Bouvetøya) is off, at least for now. The skipper of the MV Atlantic Tuna determined it was not safe to continue its voyage to the remote Antarctic island after the vessel suffered some damage from severe storm conditions. The DXpedition had expected to arrive on the island on March 26 and be on the air by month's end...

==> Whither Digital Radio Mondiale?
In a recent issue of QST, Steve Ford, WB8IMY, took a look at the forgotten Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) system. Digital broadcasting was supposed to be the life preserver for international shortwave broadcasters facing the reality of rising costs and shrinking audiences. In 1998, broadcasters, equipment manufacturers, regulators, and others formed the DRM consortium to create a specification for digital shortwave broadcasting that might stem the growing shift to internet broadcasting and revive listener interest...

==> Smithsonian Institution's NN3SI Returning to the Air
The historic NN3SI call sign is being reactivated under the aegis of the Smithsonian Institution Amateur Radio Group. "We do not have a physical station location, and we are not open for guest operation as in the past, but this this is the start to Amateur Radio slowly coming back at the Smithsonian," the group's president, John Weise, N4NPG, told ARRL. "We expect to begin operating holiday-style starting in April."
NN3SI will operate mobile and portable from several District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland locations on most bands and modes. NN3SI hopes to be on the air for most contests this year ...

==> ARISS Seeks Hosts for Ham Radio Contacts with Space Station Crew Members
Starting on April 1, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) will accept applications from US schools, museums, science centers, and community youth organizations (working individually or together) interested in hosting contacts with orbiting crew members on the International Space Station (ISS). Contacts will be scheduled between January 1 and June 30, 2020. ...

==> FCC Adopts New Rules for Spectrum above 95 GHz
The FCC has adopted new rules to encourage development of new communication technologies and expedite the deployment of new services above 95 GHz. The action was the latest move in the Commission's "Spectrum Horizons" branded initiative.
"This spectrum has long been considered the outermost horizon of the usable spectrum range, but rapid advancements in radio technology have made these bands especially ripe for new development," the FCC said in announcing the March 15 move.
Prior to its "historic" decision last week, the FCC had no rules for authorizing communication above 95 GHz other than by radio amateurs or through experimental operations. Under current rules, specific Amateur Radio allocations exist at 122.25 - 123.00 GHz; 134 - 141 GHz; 241 - 250 GHz, and at frequencies above 300 GHz, and limited experimentation has taken place in this region of the radio spectrum.
Among radio amateurs active in that region of the spectrum is Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, in Virginia -- who has made at least one contact on every available Amateur Radio band. He earned the first-ever ARRL VUCC awards for 122 GHz, 134 GHz, and 241 GHz, and even went so far as to make the first contact on a less-than-1-millimeter band, 322 GHz...

--The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League