Morse No Longer Required for Jamaican Radio Operators

Amateur radio operators and technicians in Jamaica will no longer be required to be proficient in Morse code, as a result of changes to the regulations for the two pieces of legislation which govern radio and telegraph control services.
 
Director of Legal Affairs at the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) Ida-Gaye Warburton explained to the Regulations Committee of Parliament that morse code is no longer the primary means of transmitting information to critical agencies such as the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) during national emergencies and disasters.
 
The amendments will effect changes to the Radio and Telegraph Control (Amateur Radio Service) Regulations of 1974, and the Radio and Telegraph Control (Radio Operations and Technicians) Regulations of 1974.
 
Warburton explained to reporters after the sitting that “they have more sophisticated equipment now, so the dots and tones that they used to use in 1974 to ensure that they weren't interfering with, for example, the marine operators or airline users, that restriction is no longer necessary... so they can talk to each other without using the coding messages”.
 
The legal director said this is significant for the Jamaica Radio Amateur Association (JRAA), because of its alliance with ODPEM.
 
“The hope is that they will be able to increase their membership and give Jamaica and, in particular ODPEM, the support it needs in times of disasters,” she said, noting that the changes are timely given the start of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season.
 
Media Story - http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/no-more-morse-code-for-radio-operators-technicians_101229?profile=1373
 

UK Based Real-time Propagation Tool

Jim Bacon G3YLA has developed an online tool to show near real-time critical frequency over the UK and the predicted maximum usable frequency over different paths

The plots are designed to show the near real-time evolution of the critical frequency ( foF2 ) of the F2 layer as measured by the international network of ionosondes. The display system is setup to process data from the USAF ionosonde at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on the Cotswolds.

These data are automatically decoded from ionograms and where conditions do not allow a value to be determined automatically, a gap appears in the graph. The displays depend upon the data being uploaded from the measurement station and therefore depends upon many operational factors outside our control. Outages are usually of short duration, so keep checking periodically if data is missing.

The purpose of these graphs is to allow radio amateurs to use this professional ionosonde data to improve their understanding of radio propagation conditions heard on the air in relation to actual measured conditions on the ionosphere, as they happen.

Propagation tool - http://www.convectiveweather.co.uk/ionosphere/

FCC Part 97 Ham Radio Changes

FCC WRC–12 Implementation Report and Order has recently been published in the US Federal Register
 
The Federal Communications Commission has implemented allocation changes from the World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2012) (WRC–12) and updated its service rules. The Commission took this action to conform its rules, to the extent practical, to the decisions that the international community made at WRC–12. 
 
Among the changes are: 

• Part 97 - Allocation of 472–479 kHz and 135.7–137.8 kHz bands to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis.
• Part 15 - § 15.113 Power line carrier systems - An electric power utility entity shall not operate a new or modified power line carrier (PLC) system in the 135.7–137.8 kHz and/or 472–479 kHz bands if a previously coordinated amateur station pursuant to § 97.301(g)(2) of this chapter is located within one kilometer of the transmission lines conducting the PLC signal.
• Part 80 to authorise radio buoy operations in the 1900–2000 kHz band under a ship station license.

Regarding the implementation date the Report and Order states: 

Effective July 14, 2017, except for amendments to §§ 97.3, 97.15(c), 97.301(b) through (d), 97.303(g), 97.305(c), and 97.313(k) and (l), which contain new or modified information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104–13, that are not effective until approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date once OMB approves. 

FCC Part 97 Ham Radio Changes - https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-06-14/pdf/2017-09887.pdf