MT Express Sample Low Resolution Issue ... - Monitoring Times
MT Express Sample Low Resolution Issue ... - Monitoring Times MT Express Sample Low Resolution Issue ... - Monitoring Times
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S BROADCASTING FCC Auctions 288 radio licenses In the first auction of FM broadcast licenses since 1999, the Federal Communications Commission made 288 licenses available for auction in November. Even more surprising than the number of offerings is the unprecedented number of bidders for the licenses – 465 applicants qualified to bid, ranging from radio conglomerates to individuals. “I have been in this business a long time, and I was shocked at the number of applications for licenses,” said George Reed, managing director of Media Services Group, a media brokerage firm in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The auction was initiated by the FCC in response to a demand for new radio stations by towns and small cities with no home broadcaster. Towns throughout the Midwest, West and South are getting most of the new commercial FM radio stations. There are 28 licenses available for stations in Texas, 20 in Colorado, 18 in Montana and 17 in Wyoming. The signal strength of the stations will vary from 3,000 watts to 100,000 watts. The lively competition is expected to make the stations more costly. The 1999 auction raised $57.8 million; this year’s auction had already reached $185 million in mid-November before the close of the auction. Student Station Grab Some networks seem to think they have discovered a way to acquire a station without going through an auction, by petitioning the FCC to impose a seldom-invoked rule which can require educational stations to share airtime unless they broadcast at least 12 hours a day. Marty Hensley, director of Hoosier Public Radio Corp., submitted petitions to share airtime with seven noncommercial stations in Indiana and Kentucky when their licenses came up for renewal; all but one are high school or college stations. Several of them already broadcast 24 hrs per day thanks to automated programming, but the petitions were filed anyway. A Texas company by the name of R B Schools petitioned the FCC to share the airwaves of five Michigan high school radio stations, five Illinois high school stations, and three in Ohio. The company’s president, Linda de Romanett, is also head of several companies which operate religious stations. But again, the company didn’t do its homework. Several of these stations also operate 24 hours per day. ON THE TECHNICAL SIDE Design Your Own SDR The Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group (MPRG) at Virginia Tech has developed fundamental software for use in designing software radios and has made the tool available for free download to other wireless communications researchers throughout the world. Originally designed for a software radio research project 6 MONITORING TIMES January 2005 sponsored by the Office of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, OSSIE (Open-Source Software Communication Architecture Implementation: Embedded) is an operating environment, or software framework, that is compatible with the Joint Tactical Radio System military hardware and is written in C++. “Software radio technology is today where personal computer technology was in the 1970s,” said Max Robert, the MPRG post-doctoral Fellow who led development of the new tool. http://www.mprg.org/research/ossie. A Short Solar Cycle? Even during the lowest ebb of solar activity, you can usually find one or two spots on the sun. But on Jan. 28, 2004, there were none, then again on Oct. 11th and 12th the sun was utterly blank. “This is a sign,” says Solar physicist David Hathaway Hathaway, “that the solar minimum is coming, and it’s coming sooner than we expected.” Hathaway points out that solar cycles aren’t not precisely 11 years long, but can vary from 9 to 14 years. What makes a cycle long or short? Researchers aren’t sure. “We won’t even know if the current cycle is long or short – until it’s over,” he says. But Hathaway and colleague Bob Wilson, both working at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, believe they’ve found a simple way to predict the date of the next solar minimum. “We examined data from the last 8 solar cycles and discovered that Solar Min follows the first spotless day after Solar Max by 34 months,” explains Hathaway. The most recent solar maximum was in late 2000. The first spotless day after that was Jan 28, 2004. So, using Hathaway and Wilson’s simple rule, solar minimum should arrive in late 2006. That’s about a year earlier than previously thought. The next solar maximum might come early, too, says Hathaway. “Solar activity intensifies rapidly after solar minimum. In recent cycles, Solar Max has followed Solar Min by just 4 years.” Do the math: 2006 + 4 years = 2010. Capricious TV Last month we reported the story in which the television of Corvallis, Oregon, resident Chris van Rossman apparently began to malfunction, emitting a signal that was picked up by the Search and Rescue Satellites and relayed to Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, who sent a team of local sheriff’s deputies and Civil Air Patrol volunteers to the door of his apartment. The Toshiba television in question has now been tested by the company’s tech wizards and by the Federal Communications Commission. Toshiba spokeswoman Maria Repole said the FCC lab results were inconclusive, showing that any 121.5 MHz emissions the TV was putting off were within FCC limits for home electronics. But those who visited van Rossmann’s apartment the day the TV freaked out, have no doubt about what they heard. Malfunctioning appliances (even the scoreboard at the Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas) cause false reports often enough that the international search-and-rescue community is planning to move away from the 121.5 frequency. Officials say that by 2009, when search-and-rescue agencies plan to stop monitoring the old frequency, the aim is to have all emergency beacons emit a digital signal on a new frequency of 406 megahertz. TV-B-Gone A new key chain gadget that lets people turn off most TVs – anywhere from airports to restaurants – is selling faster than Mitch Altman can make them. Hundreds of orders for Altman’s $14.99 TV-B-Gone gadget poured in after the tiny remote control was announced in Wired magazine and other online media outlets. The key chain fob works like a universal remote control that only turns TVs on or off. “I didn’t know there were so many people who were into turning TV off,” said the inventor, who hasn’t owned a television in 24 years. FCC The Wireless Highway The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has opened up the 5.9 GHz frequency band allocated for Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) systems along US roads and highways to the private sector. According to ABI Research, any organization can now buy a non-exclusive license to erect towers in a defined geographical area. The transmitter towers must be registered with the FCC, and in cases of interference, law enforcement and public safety will receive priority. But within these constraints, businesses can make use of the frequency for their own purposes. Prior to this FCC action, it was assumed that most of the infrastructure for any future DSRC networks would be constructed under the US federal Department of Transportation. Now, however, it appears that private industry will be able to build its own. New wireless network applications could include real-time traffic updates beamed into vehicle navigation systems, universal automatic toll collection, streaming entertainment, intelligent safety systems, and even interactive commerce. ABI Research analyst Dan Benjamin said, “Right now there are no vehicles that can actually use the 5.9 GHz signals. Transmitters will, however, be added to vehicles later this decade, and companies should start planning their infrastructure deployment strategy soon.” Move over, here comes AWS In order to make room for advanced wireless services (AWS), including so-called “third-generation” (3G) wireless systems, the FCC is shifting several federal users, such as aeronautical test telemetry into the 2360 to 2395 MHz band. In so do-
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S ing, they will make amateur radio co-primary on the first five 5 megahertz of the 2390-2417 MHz Amateur Radio Service primary allocation. The ARRL told the FCC it could support Amateur Radio sharing of 2390 to 2395 MHz on a co-primary basis with flight test telemetry operations. But it has insisted that 2395 to 2400 MHz remain an exclusive amateur primary allocation. Nextel and Verizon Call a Truce Nextel Communications Inc. and Verizon Wireless are settling all legal disputes between them, removing the primary challenge to the FCC decision to clear up interference between cell phones and emergency response radios in the 800 MHz band by moving Nextel to 1.9 GHz. In the surprise settlement, Verizon will drop its opposition to the swap and Nextel will drop its claim of trademark and ownership rights for the phrase “Push To Talk” and other uses of the word “push” to describe the popular walkietalkie service which Verizon and other rivals now offer. HOBBY NEWS WUN Celebrates Ten Years “It’s hard to believe ten years have gone by since WUN was formed,” says president Ary Boender. “Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s utility station monitoring was mostly a solitary hobby. However, in the mid ‘90s, several radio hobby clubs, such as the old Speedx Club, the Benelux DX-Club and others worldwide, began to have regular utility related columns.” With access to the internet growing, and the continued loss of clubs such as Speedx, the idea was hatched that a “paperless” internet club dedicated to HF utility stations in all modes would promote the rapid exchange of information. The Worldwide UTE News Club “WUN” was born in January 1995 and issued its first newsletter in February 1995. Originally WUN also produced a paper edition newsletter. WUN was the world’s first in many cases. WUN was the first “electronic” club. It was also the first club devoted to utility monitoring. It was also the first to set up a list server where members could post logs and questions. Today, with over 1300 members in 35+ countries and well over 3000 people who are reading the newsletter each month, WUN is very much alive and kicking. Congratulations, WUN! To join WUN, fill in the form at: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/wun AWR Wavescan Shifts Adventist World Radio’s English language service will be converted from a centralized global service to a local regionalized service beginning January 2005. Wavescan, the English program produced for shortwave radio hobbyists, will be shifted to a studio location in the Asia/Pacific region, where the largest DX communities are found. The international DX program will continue with the participation of AWR’s DX editor, Dr. Adrian Peterson. The final edition of Wavescan produced in England will be aired at all usual times and frequencies on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The first program produced in Asia will be broadcast on Sunday, January 2, 2005, from AWR’s station KSDA on the island of Guam. Wavescan recently broadcast two very interesting programs: one featured a 60 year old broadcast from an American Forces Radio Station in New Zealand, and the other featured what is believed to be the world’s first off-air recording. The 90-year-old Morse Code broadcast from July 4, 1910, was recorded by station TG in San Francisco on a cylinder covered with tin foil! “Communications” is compiled by editor Rachel Baughn KE4OPD from newsclippings submitted by our readers. Thanks to this month’s fine reporters: Anonymous, John Hackett, Alan Henney, Norman Hill, Sterling Marcher, Jerry None, Ira Paul, Ken Reitz, Clive Ridpath, Doug Robertson, Brian Rogers, Matthew Stanley, Robert Thomas, Gayle Van Horn, Larry Van Horn, Ed Yeary. S C A N N E R U S E R S • C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P R O F E S S I O N A L S Buy Police Call 2005 and get a CD at no extra cost! POLICE CALL 2 0 0 5 E D I T I O N COMPLETELY REVISED THROUGH JULY, 2004 • With Fully Searchable Nationwide CD. • 20,000 Codes and Signals. • Trunking Talkgroup IDs. • Includes U.S. Government, Rail & Air. • Illustrated 10-Page Listener’s Guide. GOT A SCANNER? GET POLICE CALL At your scanner dealer and all Radio Shack stores. Visit our web site at www.policecall.com CD-ROM Version 6.0 2005 More People Buy POLICE CALL Than All Other Frequency Guides (VHF/UHF) Combined. January 2005 MONITORING TIMES 7
- Page 2 and 3: AR5000A+3 Wide Coverage Desktop Com
- Page 4 and 5: C O N T E N T S Vol. 24, No. 1 Janu
- Page 6 and 7: LETTERS to the Editor Change and Gr
- Page 10 and 11: Beginner’s Guide to Shortwave Lis
- Page 12 and 13: MFJ’S 784B Programmable Digital S
- Page 14 and 15: Scanning the First State By John Ma
- Page 16 and 17: Motorola Type I trunked radio syste
- Page 18 and 19: Baudwalking New Modes of Communicat
- Page 20 and 21: Firefox browser users have an exten
- Page 22 and 23: Beginner’s Corner Ken Reitz, KS4Z
- Page 24 and 25: Ask Bob Bob Grove, W8JHD bobgrove@m
- Page 26 and 27: The World Above 30 MHz Dan Veeneman
- Page 28 and 29: 3085 Police Tactical 6 3090 Police
- Page 30 and 31: HF Communications Hugh Stegman hugh
- Page 32 and 33: Utility Logs Continued 3-shift Cyri
- Page 34 and 35: ABKHAZIA R. Republic Abkhazia [form
- Page 36 and 37: (Brian Alexander, PA, DXLD) QSLing
- Page 38 and 39: Programming Spotlight John Figliozz
- Page 40 and 41: Because photo scanners are an exten
- Page 42 and 43: Frequencies Frequencies 0000 UTC -
- Page 44 and 45: 0330 0400 USA, Voice of America 603
- Page 46 and 47: 11940af 15400af 17885af 0730 0800 B
- Page 48 and 49: 1200 1300 Canada, CBC Northern Serv
- Page 50 and 51: 9704af 11800af 1600 1700 France, Ra
- Page 52 and 53: 2000 2030 Mongolia, Voice of 9720eu
- Page 54 and 55: M ILCOM MONITORING MILITARY COMMUNI
- Page 56 and 57: FED FILES Chris Parris chrisparris@
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S<br />
ing, they will make amateur radio co-primary on<br />
the first five 5 megahertz of the 2390-2417 MHz<br />
Amateur Radio Service primary allocation.<br />
The ARRL told the FCC it could support<br />
Amateur Radio sharing of 2390 to 2395 MHz on<br />
a co-primary basis with flight test telemetry operations.<br />
But it has insisted that 2395 to 2400 MHz<br />
remain an exclusive amateur primary allocation.<br />
Nextel and Verizon Call a Truce<br />
Nextel Communications Inc. and Verizon<br />
Wireless are settling all legal disputes between<br />
them, removing the primary challenge to the<br />
FCC decision to clear up interference between<br />
cell phones and emergency response radios in the<br />
800 MHz band by moving Nextel to 1.9 GHz.<br />
In the surprise settlement, Verizon will drop<br />
its opposition to the swap and Nextel will drop<br />
its claim of trademark and ownership rights for<br />
the phrase “Push To Talk” and other uses of the<br />
word “push” to describe the popular walkietalkie<br />
service which Verizon and other rivals<br />
now offer.<br />
HOBBY NEWS<br />
WUN Celebrates Ten Years<br />
“It’s hard to believe ten years have gone<br />
by since WUN was formed,” says president Ary<br />
Boender. “Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s utility<br />
station monitoring was mostly a solitary hobby.<br />
However, in the mid ‘90s, several radio hobby<br />
clubs, such as the old Speedx Club, the Benelux<br />
DX-Club and others worldwide, began to have<br />
regular utility related columns.”<br />
With access to the internet growing, and<br />
the continued loss of clubs such as Speedx, the<br />
idea was hatched that a “paperless” internet club<br />
dedicated to HF utility stations in all modes would<br />
promote the rapid exchange of information. The<br />
Worldwide UTE News Club “WUN” was born<br />
in January 1995 and issued its first newsletter in<br />
February 1995. Originally WUN also produced a<br />
paper edition newsletter.<br />
WUN was the world’s first in many cases.<br />
WUN was the first “electronic” club. It was also<br />
the first club devoted to utility monitoring. It was<br />
also the first to set up a list server where members<br />
could post logs and questions.<br />
Today, with over 1300 members in 35+ countries<br />
and well over 3000 people who are reading<br />
the newsletter each month, WUN is very much<br />
alive and kicking. Congratulations, WUN!<br />
To join WUN, fill in the form at: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/wun<br />
AWR Wavescan Shifts<br />
Adventist World Radio’s English language<br />
service will be converted from a centralized global<br />
service to a local regionalized service beginning<br />
January 2005.<br />
Wavescan, the English program produced<br />
for shortwave radio hobbyists, will be shifted<br />
to a studio location in the Asia/Pacific region,<br />
where the largest DX communities are found.<br />
The international DX program will continue with<br />
the participation of AWR’s DX editor, Dr. Adrian<br />
Peterson.<br />
The final edition of Wavescan produced<br />
in England will be aired at all usual times and<br />
frequencies on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The<br />
first program produced in Asia will be broadcast<br />
on Sunday, January 2, 2005, from AWR’s station<br />
KSDA on the island of Guam.<br />
Wavescan recently broadcast two very<br />
interesting programs: one featured a 60 year old<br />
broadcast from an American Forces Radio Station<br />
in New Zealand, and the other featured what is<br />
believed to be the world’s first off-air recording.<br />
The 90-year-old Morse Code broadcast from<br />
July 4, 1910, was recorded by station TG in San<br />
Francisco on a cylinder covered with tin foil!<br />
“Communications” is compiled by editor<br />
Rachel Baughn KE4OPD from newsclippings<br />
submitted by our readers. Thanks to<br />
this month’s fine reporters: Anonymous,<br />
John Hackett, Alan Henney, Norman Hill,<br />
Sterling Marcher, Jerry None, Ira Paul,<br />
Ken Reitz, Clive Ridpath, Doug Robertson,<br />
Brian Rogers, Matthew Stanley, Robert<br />
Thomas, Gayle Van Horn, Larry Van Horn,<br />
Ed Yeary.<br />
S C A N N E R U S E R S • C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P R O F E S S I O N A L S<br />
Buy Police Call 2005 and<br />
get a CD at no extra cost!<br />
POLICE CALL<br />
2 0 0 5 E D I T I O N<br />
COMPLETELY REVISED THROUGH JULY, 2004<br />
• With Fully Searchable Nationwide CD.<br />
• 20,000 Codes and Signals.<br />
• Trunking Talkgroup IDs.<br />
• Includes U.S. Government, Rail & Air.<br />
• Illustrated 10-Page Listener’s Guide.<br />
GOT A SCANNER? GET POLICE CALL<br />
At your scanner dealer and all Radio Shack stores.<br />
Visit our web site at www.policecall.com<br />
CD-ROM<br />
Version 6.0<br />
2005<br />
More People Buy POLICE CALL Than All Other Frequency Guides (VHF/UHF) Combined.<br />
January 2005 MONITORING TIMES 7
Change language