Work at Repeater Site Costs Ham His County Job In Washington State

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Repair work that a ham radio operator and fellow club members conducted on a shared repeater site in Washington State has cost the ham his government job.

Asotin County officials said that Russell Pelleberg KA7MPX was not authorized to give the other members of the Hells Gate Amateur Radio Club access to the secure site and that their work caused a communications outage and a power meter disturbance for other users of the site. County agencies operate two nearby radio repeaters and the local utility, Clearwater Power Co., also has facilities.

According to a report in the Lewiston Tribune, Pelleberg said he had discussed the work with county commissioners and they appeared to be supportive. He told investigators that he had even written a resolution for the county to vote on but there were delays producing the document. The newspaper report said he has apologized on behalf of the club for proceeding ahead of the necessary vote and that the hams meant no harm.

No criminal charges were filed or recommended. Pelleberg, who has worked in government for 35 years, was terminated from his job as the county’s public works director in late January.

Combined Technologies Help Astronomers Fight RFI

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Combined Technologies Help Astronomers Fight RFI

An unlikely source of RFI that was compromising signals received by a radio telescope in Western Australia has been identified as an airplane deflecting broadcast signals. Realising that the ever-growing presence of orbiting satellites may pose the same hazard, causing astronomers' data to become contaminated, scientists have devised what they hope is a solution.

The stray signals that were interfering with the sensitive telescopes in the Murchison Widefield Array were even more puzzling because the array is an area designated by the government as a radio quiet zone. Stranger still, the signal turned out to be a broadcast signal from Australian TV and appeared to move across the sky. Researchers at Brown University in the US who are involved with the Murchison project, determined that an airplane had been deflecting the signal, and had likely been doing so for nearly five years.

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Get Ready for Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio

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What amateur radio operating strategy combines a little bit of being mobile, a little bit of fixed and - if you so choose - a little bit of maritime? It’s spelled R a D A R, which is the acronym for Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio. Get ready, RaDAR Rally day is just weeks away.

Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE pioneered the operating concept more than a decade ago in South Africa with an event known as the RaDAR Challenge which was embraced worldwide by portable operators. This year the RaDAR Rally, which takes place on April 5th, keeps the spirit and the strategy of the original challenge. The four-hour rally is particularly appealing to hams who are accustomed to working portable outdoors and this is an activity that can be combined with Summits On The Air and Parks On The Air. Operators spend four hours setting up a station as quickly as possible, making five contacts, then dismantling the station and moving to another location to do the same thing again. According to the rules, the required distances vary depending on whether the radio operator is walking, cycling, driving or even canoeing. All bands and modes are acceptable but use of terrestrial repeaters is not.

More Information - http://www.radarrally.info