From ARVic, original post here.

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) has found many intruders on exclusive Amateur Radio allocations causing harmful interference.

In plague proportions are emissions from over-the-horizon (OTH) radars in China and Russia that affect 40m, 30m, 20m, and 15m.  The IARU Region 1 IARUMS newsletter for April also records voice traffic on several bands from fishing operations in various parts of the world, telemetry from marine buoys, and persistent taxi dispatching traffic from Russia on 10m.

Other interference from broadcasters includes both harmonics, and jamming activities to block out other broadcasts.  Military traffic is also occurring on our bands, some in digital format on 40m and 20m.

IARUMS Region 1 Coordinator Wolf Hadel, DK2OM said a Chinese OTH radar occupied considerable swaths of spectrum on several bands.

From ARVic, original post here.

The Haulbowline Lighthouse in Northern Ireland built in 1824 is this year’s prestigious 200th registration in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.  The annual fun-event began in 1995 and is always held on the third weekend of August.

Members of the Hilltop Amateur Radio Club in County Down, mainly operate portable, and have chosen the Haulbowline Lighthouse.  The 34 metre high unpainted granite tower is on wave-washed rock, exposed only at low tide with a ‘half tide’ light for ships entering from the Irish Sea, showing that the tide was high enough for vessels to enter.

Listen for its callsign in clever phonetics – Mike November Zero Hilltop Never Quiet.  In the registrations leader board is Germany on 40, USA with 40, Australia 29, England 14, and Scotland 12 in a total of nearly 30 countries so far.  To see them all, to register a marine navigation structure under simple guidelines on August 20 and 21, visit the website here.

From Wired.co.uk, original post here.

There is no causal link between mobile phone use and brain cancer, a new epidemiological study by some of Australia’s leading cancer specialists says.

Led by Simon Chapman, emeritus professor public health at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, the study looked for an association between data on 19,858 men and 14,222 women diagnosed with brain cancer in Australia between 1982 and 2012 and national mobile phone usage between 1987, when cellular phones were introduced to the country, and 2012.  Australia is a particularly useful source for data of this kind, as all cancer diagnoses are formally registered by law, provided an extremely comprehensive data of nationwide cancer incidence.

Chapman and his colleagues Lamiae Azizi, Qingwei Luo and Freddy Sitas modelled the age- and gender-specific rates of brain cancer incidence over the period.  As mobile phone use grew, Chapman writes in The Conversation, “we found that age-adjusted brain cancer incidence rates (in those aged 20-84 years, per 100,000 people) had risen only slightly in males but were stable over 30 years in females.”

Further, the slight increase in male brain cancer incidence appears only in those aged 70 and above and is a trend that began in 1982 – several years before cellular phone technology reached Australia.  Chapman observes that the increase appears to be related to improved diagnostic techniques picking up previously overlooked incidents of cancer, rather than an increase in the condition itself.

The team also calculated the likely numbers of brain cancer patients that would present if mobile phones in fact did cause cancer, working from a presumed 50 per cent increase over background incidence: a highly conservative estimate based on studies that indicate a potential causal cancer risk.  However, the comparison turned up no evidence for an increase in cancer even after mobile phones had been widely used for decades.  Chapman writes that: “The expected number of cases in 2012 (had the phone hypothesis been true) was 1,866 cases, while the number recorded was 1,435.”

While repeated studies have looked at a potential causal relationship and found similar results: that there is no link between cellular phones and brain cancer, a vocal minority of alarmist health and lifestyle pundits continue to fan the flames, making this study’s sizable evidence-based contribution valuable for general health awareness.

From the ARRL, original post here.  04/26/2016

A co-leader of the recent VP8STI/VP8SGI “Intrepid DX Group” DXpedition, said this week that what he called “a surprising lack of support and lack of funding from some of the world’s paramount DX foundations” thwarted his group’s plans to mount a DXpedition to North Korea.  In “The P5DX Story” posted on April 25, Paul Ewing, N6PSE, said that years of negotiations had finally yielded a written invitation from the Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea (DPRK) — the most-needed DXCC entity — to operate there.

“We had hoped to be the first large DXpedition with clear and unambiguous proof that we were active within the country and with real evidence of permission,” Ewing said in announcing the DXpedition’s cancellation.

The Intrepid-DX Group announced its “P5 Project” in 2013.  After considerable expense and nine visits to North Korea, nothing had paid off until recently.  An “emissary” with strong ties to the DPRK and a regular visitor there took an interest, Ewing said.  “We renewed our proposal, and the talks continued,” he wrote.  “Finally, North Korea agreed to a 10-day Amateur Radio activity with three radios and up to 20 team members.  A venue was investigated and approved.”  Officials insisted on no advance publicity, and all involved were sworn to secrecy.

“Our last major hurdle was that the DPRK was asking for a very large fee to be paid for the permissions at various government levels and ministries to operate from within the DPRK,” Ewing recounted.  The size of the requested fee, Ewing said, prompted him to approach several large Amateur Radio foundations for financial help.  “All of our fees would be paid directly to a China-based tour company, and no direct exchange would take place with the North Koreans,” Ewing pointed out.  But the group was rebuffed.  “I am deeply disappointed that they could not find a way to support our plans,” he said.

Ewing said he and co-leader David Collingham, K3LP, decided they had no other choice but to “drain our own personal retirement savings to provide the bulk of our funding.”  Money for various fees as well as equipment and air fare ran into the thousands of dollars.  “We purchased roughly $16,000 in equipment, and we spent almost $4000 to ship it FedEx to Beijing to our staging area, where it still sits,” he said.

Then, word leaked out, igniting an Amateur Radio media firestorm. “We tried not to comment at all, but the rumors would not go away,” Ewing said. “Finally, we admitted we might be making progress but begged for discretion.” But, he continued, “Things began to spiral out of control.”

A week before the team’s planned departure, Ewing learned that officials had denied him and some other team members permission to enter North Korea, leading to his decision to cancel the entire enterprise. “I could not devote a sizable chunk of my life savings for a project that I could no longer participate in,” he explained. “The financial losses suffered by Intrepid DX and all of our team members are substantial.”

“We had permission.  We had a team.  We had all necessary equipment staged in Beijing.  We had a venue in North Korea.  We had flights and hotels to China and the DPRK confirmed,” Ewing summarized.  “What we did not have was the support of those we asked to remain quiet, nor the support of anyone we asked for help with funding.  This could have been a DXpedition for the record books.  But now we will never know.”

In addition to the late 2015 P5/3Z9DX operation and the 2001-2002 activity by P5/4L4FN, the only other approved ham radio operations from North Korea occurred in 1995, when Martti Laine, OH2BH, and two other Finnish radio amateurs demonstrated ham radio by making 20 contacts as P5/OH2AM.  In 1999, Laine operated briefly as P51BH, making just 263 contacts.

From ARVic, original post here.

The Islands on the Air (IOTA) program was begun by a shortwave listener in 1964, then transferred to the Radio Society of Great Britain in 1985, but now is under the not-for-profit group ‘Islands on the Air Ltd’.

It will not be greatly change from its original objective of encouraging contacts with island stations world. These have been identified with 1200 IOTA group. Among the criteria used is that an island must be a minimum distance from the mainland.

IOTA Ltd wants the program to fully move to a paperless system of QSLing that will allow electronic confirmation of contacts.

From rsgbiota.org:

Following agreement with the RSGB, management of the IOTA Programme has now moved to Islands on the Air (IOTA) Ltd, a new not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee in UK law.  This body now has full responsibility for all aspects of the programme, its day to day management, strategy, policy, finance, development, promotion and marketing.  The company has been registered in the names of Roger Balister, G3KMA and Stan Lee, G4XXI who are its current directors but a full Board of Directors will be formed shortly.  The new IOTA Directory, published by the RSGB this month, refers to the newly set-up company under a different name but this has now been changed in the way always intended.  It will take a little time to carry through all aspects of the changed governance but IOTA enthusiasts should be assured that the new company is fully committed to completing the paperless QSLing project that will allow electronic confirmation of contacts.  No significant change of policy is otherwise envisaged.  More information shortly.