FM Satellite Launch in November

RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is scheduled for launch at 01:47 PST (09:47 UTC) on 10th November 2017. RadFxSat is one of four CubeSats making up the NASA ELaNa XIV mission, riding as secondary payloads aboard the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1 mission. JPSS-1 will launch on a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

RadFxSat is a partnership with Vanderbilt University ISDE and hosts four payloads for the study of radiation effects on commercial off the shelf components. RadFxSat features the Fox-1 style FM U/v repeater with a uplink on 435.250 MHz (67.0 Hz CTCSS) and a downlink on 145.960 MHz. Satellite and experiment telemetry will be downlinked via the “DUV” subaudible telemetry stream and can be decoded with the FoxTelem software.

More Information - https://www.amsat.org/countdown-to-launch-radfxsat-fox-1b/

FCC Scraps Telegraph Regulations

The FCC is continuing its drive to remove outmoded regulations and reduce the regulatory burden, has scrapped the regulations regarding Telegraph.

The last Western Union telegram in the United States was sent in 2006 and the FCC hasn’t enforced rules since 2013.

The FCC said in a notice it was removing “outmoded regulations” on telegraphs effective in November to “further our goals of reducing regulatory burdens, eliminating unnecessary rule provisions, and making the agency as efficient and effective as possible.”

FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in May he wanted to remove outdated rules, striking irrelevant regulations as “just a matter of good housekeeping” and others that stand “in the way of innovation and investment that would benefit consumers.”

FCC Document - https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/10/20/2017-22770/modernizing-common-carrier-rules

RadioShack Re-Opens with Local Ham Radio Club Partner

A previously closed RadioShack store in Tennessee has re-opened in Jefferson City in partnership with the Lakeway Amateur Radio Club (LARC) to offer licensing classes.

“These types of programs were dropped by RadioShack years ago. Now we have the opportunity to bring them back. We have to get to the next generation. RadioShack will die out if we don’t get to them”

— Reed Freers, Manager

This open area of the store will be home to classes in such subjects as soldering, using drones, setting up a Facebook page, and configuring and using a smartphone, harnessing the spirit of “Makers Space”.

When bankruptcy struck RadioShack, the store managed by Freers in Jefferson City was on of the last to close. Freers took the opportunity to open a franchise, purchasing stock from a RadioShack distribution center.