FCC Seeks Public Suggestions On Possible Deregulation

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The FCC is looking for public input on what rules, regulations or other forms of guidance should be eliminated as part of the commission's efforts at deregulation. A public notice has set a deadline of Friday 11th April 2025 for initial comments. Reply comments are due by Monday, 28th April 2025. The commission is hoping to hear recommendations based on changes in technology and the market, cost-benefit considerations and regulations that are a barrier to entry in the communications marketplace. All filings must reference Docket Number 25-133. On its website, the FCC refers to the document as the "Delete, Delete, Delete" docket.

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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