09/30/2014 – Taken from ARRL website
Actor and comedian Tim Allen now not only plays an Amateur Radio operator on television, he is one! Allen got his Technician license on September 4, but did not release the news until this week. In his weekly ABC comedy TV show “Last Man Standing,” Allen’s character Mike Baxter, is supposed to be KA0XTT, and the show has featured ham radio in some episodes. Continue reading
As we head into the weekend, we wanted to reinforce that newly formed Tropical Storm Bertha is expected to remain offshore of the U.S. southeast coast this weekend through next week. There is high confidence in this forecast track, as evidence by the forecast model suite in the below graphic:
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This is of interest to those living in gated or HOA communities with restrictions concerning ham radio antennas and equipment.
06/26/2014
A bill with bipartisan support has been introduced in the US House of Representatives that calls on the FCC to apply the “reasonable accommodation” three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to private land-use restrictions. HR.4969, the “Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014” was introduced on June 25 at the request of the ARRL, which worked with House staffers to draft the proposed legislation. The bill’s sponsor is Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). It has initial co-sponsorship from Rep Joe Courtney (D-CT). If the measure passes the 113th Congress, it would require the FCC, within 120 days of the Bill’s passage, to amend the Part 97 Amateur Service rules to apply PRB-1 coverage to include homeowners’ association regulations and deed restrictions, often referred to as “covenants, conditions, and restrictions” (CC&Rs). Presently, PRB-1 only applies to state and local zoning laws and ordinances.
In an effort to make sure that people KNOW who the ARES Amateur Radio Operators are in an event or emergency, we have come up with these requirements and guidelines for apparel. Click here to real the whole article on the Crown District ARES Site
Submitted by Mark Field, N4QLC
When the power went down for more than 145,000 Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) customers in San Luis Obispo County, California, on June 23, members of the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club (W6BHZ) sprang into action to provide needed emergency communication. The response by student and alumni members consisted of collecting status information from remote stations and relaying information obtained by net control through official channels, the club said in a news release.
“CPARC demonstrated the importance of Amateur Radio Emergency Communications support in a professional and timely manner, providing the most current firsthand reports to the community,” the club said.
The situation was exacerbated by the absence of coverage on broadcast news outlets, in some cases due to the outage, and by a call overload on the PG&E information number. “Fortunately some residents have radio scanners and were listening to the radio net managed by CPARC on 146.67 MHz,” where the countywide SLOECC net had opened, CPARC said. Some of these listeners credited the net with providing timely and independent reports.
The outage, attributed to a power substation problem, lasted about 2 hours.