News for Amateur Radio Operators In and Around Hillsdale County

 

The next club meeting will be Thursday, September 19 at 7pm at a location to be announced.  The board is investigating moving the meetings to a different location.  A meeting notice will be sent out via email and updated information will be posted on the club website.

 

 

Club membership currently stands at 18 as of September 1.  Membership application is available here (print 2-sided).

 

 

Volunteers are always needed to run the Monday Night Ragchew Net.  Check the Calendar page on the club website for the schedule and results.  And don’t forget to check in at 7pm every Monday on the 147.06 MHz repeater.

 

 

This month the Ham Breakfast will be held on Saturday, September 14 at 8am at the Sidekick Cafe, 4682 Hudson Road in Osseo (map).  Please come join us.

 

 

The Tastes of Life restaurant in Hillsdale got a nice review on Mlive.com, which was published soon after we visited there for breakfast on August 10.  The proceeds from the nonprofit establishment benefit Life Challenge of Michigan, a Christian-based organization that works to help adults overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol.

 

 

The Club Potluck Picnic that was originally scheduled for August 15 was canceled due to a low number of RSVPs.  There were 9 respondents total and the committee felt that this was not enough to justify the effort of putting on the event.

 

 

Hillsdale County ham John Sanger W8QGP, of Litchfield, became a Silent Key on August 9.  Click here to view the obituary.

 

 

ARRL membership certificates commemorating the League’s 100th anniversary in 2014 now are available.  Members logged onto the League’s website can generate their own certificates or cards online for printing.  (ARRL story)

 

 

A ham avoided serious injury or worse in Edmonton, Alberta, after falling from a ham radio tower he was disassembling.  The man was wearing a harness and fell backward from the tower and became trapped about 35 feet in the air.  (ARRL story)

 

 

President Obama has nominated Republican Mike O’Rielly to fill a vacant seat on the Federal Communications Commission.  O’Rielly would fill the remainder of the term expiring June 30, 2014, that had been held by Robert McDowell, who resigned.  (ARRL story)

 

 

Scientists predict that the sun’s magnetic field is about to flip, according to a NASA Science article.  The celestial event may mark the midpoint of the current solar cycle 24.  “It looks like we’re no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal,” the article quotes solar physicist Todd Hoeksema, the director of Stanford University’s Wilcox Solar Observatory.  “This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system.”   As the article explains, the sun’s magnetic field switches polarity approximately every 11 years at the peak of each solar cycle.  The pending reversal means we’re halfway through the current cycle.  (ARRL story)

 

 

The fee for an Amateur Radio vanity call sign rose from $15 to $16.10 effective August 23.  The FCC had previously proposed to raise the fee to $15.20, but when the final Report and Order in MD Docket 13-140 was released on August 12, the Commission offered no explanation for the higher fee.  (ARRL story)  Earlier, the FCC had said that the fee would go into effect in Mid-September.  (ARRL story)

 

 

The Vanity HQ website has been shut down after serving the US Amateur Radio community for 14 years.  Vanity HQ often was the first stop for radio amateurs seeking a vanity call sign.  (ARRL story)

 

 

The Michiana ARC Hamfest, originally scheduled for September 7 in South Bend, has been canceled according to a posting on the ARRL hamfest search webpage.  (Posting)

 

 

Ham Radio in Space

A Japanese cargo spacecraft delivered an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) digital TV transmitter to the ISS on August 9.  Installation will be done by US astronaut Michael Hopkins KF5LJG.  The gear will be commissioned this fall, possibly at the end of October.  (ARRL story)

 

 

Two CubeSats, carrying SSB/CW and FM voice transponders are scheduled to be launched into a 600 km orbit during the first half of 2014.  The QB50 project team has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-Francophone and AMSAT-NL to enable two Amateur Radio payloads to fly on two yet-to-be-named CubeSats.  (ARRL story)

 

 

FCC License Database Activity in Hillsdale County

None in August.

 

 

FCC Enforcement News

The FCC cited DNJ Radio of Fremont, California, for violating its rules by marketing non-certified amplifiers and kits via its Internet website.  The FCC’s San Francisco office investigated complaints and confirmed that DNJ Radio was offering for sale non-certified RM Italy linear amplifiers and amplifier kits capable of operation with both 10 & 11 meter transceivers.  (ARRL story)  The FCC also cited Radio Master, a Texas CB shop catering to truckers, for illegally marketing unauthorized RF devices.  (ARRL story)

 

 

Upcoming Events

September 5 – Board Meeting

September 7 – Grand Rapids Area Hamfest

September 7 – Michiana ARC Hamfest ***CANCELED***

September 8 – Findlay Hamfest

September 14 – Ham Breakfast at Sidekick Cafe (map)

September 15 – Adrian Hamfest

September 19 – Club Meeting

October 20 – Kalamazoo Hamfest