Lifetime ham radio licenses?

lifetime-license

The ARRL reported today that the FCC is seeking comments on a Petition for Rule Making that asks the FCC to grant lifetime Amateur Radio licenses. Mark Krotz, N7MK, of Mesa, Arizona, submitted the petition in November, 2015.

The petition, RM 11760, notes that the FCC currently issues lifetime General Radiotelephone Operator License. The petition also notes that the Federal Aviation Administration issues permanent airmen certificates.

Here is an excerpt from the petition:

mark-krotz-n7mk

Amateur radio operators wishing to make a comment on the petition may do so here.


Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Newsline Headlines – February 24, 2016

wilbanks-ae5dw
From this week’s Amateur Radio Newsline Headlines:

  • We look back at this month’s Orlando Hamcation, the second largest gathering of amateurs after Dayton Hamvention. It wasn’t just the 70th such Hamcation; it was also the 2016 ARRL National Convention.
  • The amateur community is mourning the death of David Lefavour, W7GOX, of Los Lunas, New Mexico, who was a member of the Hurricane Watch Net for more than 20 years, and who served as its net manager between 2006 and 2009. He had also served as a net controller for the Maritime Mobile Service Network.
  • The only thing real about the earthquake in Utah earlier this month was the response it got from hams and other emergency team members. But that’s what made the mock drill such a success.


Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, is an anchor for Amateur Radio Newsline and co-host of TWiT's Ham Nation.

Portable Goals and NPOTA!

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I have posted here!  I have lots of interests and tend to bounce around between them.

But for 2016 I want to be more consistently in ham radio.  So I have set a goal…

There are about 45 weeks left in 2016, so my goal is to complete 45 portable activities this year and document them here on my blog!

Also, tomorrow, February 25th, 2016 I will be activating NPOTA TR07,TR11,TR14 (Oregon NHT + Santa Fe NHT + California NHT) from Lone Elm park in Olathe, KS.

I will be operating my KX3 5 watts CW (maybe SSB if time allows) into a vertical. 14.060+/- and 7.030 +/-. I plan to arrive about 19:00 UTC (1:00 pm local) and operate for a couple of hours.

If you hear me please spot me. This will be my first activation, and my CW is a bit rusty, so the sending speed will be slow! Be patient with me!

This park has historical significance because it was used as a major campground along these 3 trails. Originally it was about 80 acres, and so many trees were cut down by the campers it became known as “Lone Elm”.

That’s all for today, I will report back after the NPOTA activation tomorrow!


Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Portable Goals and NPOTA!

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I have posted here!  I have lots of interests and tend to bounce around between them.

But for 2016 I want to be more consistently in ham radio.  So I have set a goal…

There are about 45 weeks left in 2016, so my goal is to complete 45 portable activities this year and document them here on my blog!

Also, tomorrow, February 25th, 2016 I will be activating NPOTA TR07,TR11,TR14 (Oregon NHT + Santa Fe NHT + California NHT) from Lone Elm park in Olathe, KS.

I will be operating my KX3 5 watts CW (maybe SSB if time allows) into a vertical. 14.060+/- and 7.030 +/-. I plan to arrive about 19:00 UTC (1:00 pm local) and operate for a couple of hours.

If you hear me please spot me. This will be my first activation, and my CW is a bit rusty, so the sending speed will be slow! Be patient with me!

This park has historical significance because it was used as a major campground along these 3 trails. Originally it was about 80 acres, and so many trees were cut down by the campers it became known as “Lone Elm”.

That’s all for today, I will report back after the NPOTA activation tomorrow!


Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Hunting For NDBs In CLE 204

'AP - 378' - Mayne Island, BC


This coming weekend will see another CLE challenge, this time in the 15 kHz slice from 370.0 - 384.9 kHz.



'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the NDB spectrum.

This is a somewhat dreaded range for me since my local blowtorch NDB, 'AP' (378 kHz), sits right in the middle of the range. 'AP' is located at the entrance to Active Pass, the main ferry route to Vancouver Island, and the antenna is about 3/4 of a mile from my location. Needless to say, the beacon is about 40db over S9! With careful loop nulling, I can reduce this by about 25db but it's still an enormous signal to deal with.

Hopefully you can put 'AP' in your own log this weekend but its 25-watt signal will be much weaker for you. It's been logged as far east as Illinois and with your receiver in the CW mode, can be found on 378.399 kHz.

From CLE coordinator Brian Keyte (G3SIA), comes the following reminder:


Hi all,

Please join us in our 204th Co-ordinated Listening Event which starts
this Friday. All are very welcome.
CLEs are not contests - if you enjoy taking part you will be a winner!
51 of us from 31 radio countries joined in CLE188 back in Nov. 2014
when we listened on these same frequencies.

Days: Friday 26th - Monday 29th February
Times: Start and end at midday, your LOCAL TIME
Range: 370 - 384.9 kHz

Just log all the NDBs that you can identify with their nominal (listed)
frequencies in the range (it includes 370 kHz, but not 385 kHz)
plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

Please send your CLE log to the List in a plain text email if possible
(not in an attachment) with 'CLE204' at the start of its title.
Show on each log line:

# The date (e.g. 2016-02-26, etc., or just 26) and UTC.
(the date changes at 00:00 UTC)
# kHz (the nominal published frequency, if known)
# The Call Ident.

Show those main items FIRST - other optional details such as Location
and Distance go LATER in the same line.
If you send interim logs, please also send a 'Final' (complete) log.

As always, tell us your own location and brief details of the equipment
that you were using during the weekend.

I'll send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 18:00 UTC on
Tuesday - you can check from it that your log has been found OK.
All logs must arrive on the list by 09:00 UTC on Wednesday 2nd
March at the very latest.
I hope the combined results will be completed on that day.

To help your listening, seeklists are available via the CLE page
http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm

Good listening - enjoy the CLE
Brian
----------------------------------------------------------
From: Brian Keyte G3SIA ndbcle'at'gmail.com
Location: Surrey, SE England (CLE co-ordinator)
----------------------------------------------------------

(If you wish you could use any one remote receiver for your loggings,
stating the location and owner - with their permission if required.
A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, local or remote,
to make further loggings for the same CLE).

These listening events serve several purposes. They:
  • determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the online database can be kept up-to-date
  • determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range
  • will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations
  • will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working
  • give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed

Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event. If you are a member of the ndblist Group, results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

The very active Yahoo ndblist Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other listeners in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome.

If you are contemplating getting started on 630m, listening for NDBs  is an excellent way to test out your receive capabilities as there are several NDBs located near this part of the spectrum.

You need not be an ndblist member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers. 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the ndblist or e-mailed to either myself or CLE co- ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.


Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Mountain Goat Summit Revisited

A little less than a year ago I summited a mountain, known in SOTA terms as 9431 (it's elevation ASL) with a designator of W5N/PW-019, which put me over 1,000 Activator points and thus qualified me for the Mountain Goat award. This award is one of the most satisfying awards I've achieved in ham radio, including #1 Honor Roll. I did the summit that day with a couple of friends of mine, Fred KT5X (aka WS0TA) and John, K1JD. Both are also mentors to me as I learned the SOTA trade so to speak.

So, nearly a year later, the three of us returned to the same summit. Like the previous ascent we would need snowshoes to get to the top. The hike is a little more than 3 miles round trip and climbs 1,100 vertical feet. The hike starts in Black Canyon with a steady ascent to the shoulder, and then two different steep pitches to the top. The drifts on the summit were significant with our snowshoes sinking 1-2 feet into the snow. There were patches facing the south were the snow had completely melted, however most of the final ascent is on the north side of the mountain.

Below is a brief video of my set-up on the summit. I have configured my 3 band MTR (17m, 20m and 30m) so that I can hold it in my hand. As you will see in the video, the battery and paddle are attached to the radio and I use the back of the radio to hold my log. Very compact and very efficient. I certainly can't claim this as an original design since I coped it from Fred, KT5X. My antenna is a linked EFHW into an 81:1 transformer. The actual link connection design was inspired from Frank, K0JQZ.



Below is my log:


TimeCallBandModeNotes
17:31zW7RV10MHzCW
17:31zK0LAF10MHzCW
17:32zK6JMP10MHzCW
17:33zW7USA10MHzCW
17:34zK7JFD10MHzCW
17:34zAK5SD10MHzCW
17:35zNU7Y10MHzCW
17:35zNG6R10MHzCW
17:36zND7PA10MHzCW
17:36zN7LP10MHzCW
17:38zK1LB10MHzCW
17:41zW4AMW10MHzCW
17:41zK0HNC10MHzCW
17:42zKG3W10MHzCW
17:47zK6EL14MHzCW
17:48zAE9F14MHzCW
17:48zKG3W14MHzCW
17:49zNA4SO14MHzCW
17:51zN9KW14MHzCW
17:51zNK6A14MHzCW



Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Mountain Goat Summit Revisited

A little less than a year ago I summited a mountain, known in SOTA terms as 9431 (it's elevation ASL) with a designator of W5N/PW-019, which put me over 1,000 Activator points and thus qualified me for the Mountain Goat award. This award is one of the most satisfying awards I've achieved in ham radio, including #1 Honor Roll. I did the summit that day with a couple of friends of mine, Fred KT5X (aka WS0TA) and John, K1JD. Both are also mentors to me as I learned the SOTA trade so to speak.

So, nearly a year later, the three of us returned to the same summit. Like the previous ascent we would need snowshoes to get to the top. The hike is a little more than 3 miles round trip and climbs 1,100 vertical feet. The hike starts in Black Canyon with a steady ascent to the shoulder, and then two different steep pitches to the top. The drifts on the summit were significant with our snowshoes sinking 1-2 feet into the snow. There were patches facing the south were the snow had completely melted, however most of the final ascent is on the north side of the mountain.

Below is a brief video of my set-up on the summit. I have configured my 3 band MTR (17m, 20m and 30m) so that I can hold it in my hand. As you will see in the video, the battery and paddle are attached to the radio and I use the back of the radio to hold my log. Very compact and very efficient. I certainly can't claim this as an original design since I coped it from Fred, KT5X. My antenna is a linked EFHW into an 81:1 transformer. The actual link connection design was inspired from Frank, K0JQZ.



Below is my log:


TimeCallBandModeNotes
17:31zW7RV10MHzCW
17:31zK0LAF10MHzCW
17:32zK6JMP10MHzCW
17:33zW7USA10MHzCW
17:34zK7JFD10MHzCW
17:34zAK5SD10MHzCW
17:35zNU7Y10MHzCW
17:35zNG6R10MHzCW
17:36zND7PA10MHzCW
17:36zN7LP10MHzCW
17:38zK1LB10MHzCW
17:41zW4AMW10MHzCW
17:41zK0HNC10MHzCW
17:42zKG3W10MHzCW
17:47zK6EL14MHzCW
17:48zAE9F14MHzCW
17:48zKG3W14MHzCW
17:49zNA4SO14MHzCW
17:51zN9KW14MHzCW
17:51zNK6A14MHzCW



Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

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