Via ARVic, original post here.

The new technology of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, which often carry cameras are coming down in price spurring their popularity, as administrations try to grapple with their use.

In the United States the portable or fixed DroneDefender has emerged claiming to attack the radio signals used by common drones.

Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio, a private non-profit applied science and technology development company, has a point-and-shoot device.  The device is like a shoulder-mounted shotgun, but instead of pellets it fires radio signals.

Battelle said in a news release that DroneDefender can emit radio control frequency disruption, to “safely stop drones in the air, before they can pose a threat to military or civilian safety.”

Battelle said it could help protect from drone attack – with likely scenarios being from the White House lawn, military bases, embassies, prisons, schools and historic sites.  In field trials it disrupted unmanned aerial vehicles over sensitive areas.

Cheap drones are expected to be high on some Christmas stocking lists and may be affected.  However, the disruption to more sophisticated models with frequency hopping and other anti-interference measures.

In a video Battelle describes its device as operating on standard Global Position System (GPS) and the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands, with such use interfering with drones.

DroneDefender could bring down drones 400 metres away.  Drones suffering radio interference can go into a ‘safety mode’ either hoovering, returning to its point of departure, or landing.

The legality of the DroneDefender is being looked at by administrations around the world, including the purported intention of being a radio jammer.  Of concern could be other ISM band users, and ubiquitous GPS that controls movement and location of law enforcement, emergency service vehicles, taxis and others.

Watch the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX4XXLb_Vuw

Via ARVic, original post here dated October 13 2015.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Administrative Council met last week in Bali, Indonesia, just ahead of the gathering of the IARU Region 3 Conference.

It sets overall policy and management for the IARU, and has urged all IARU Member Societies to encourage their governments to recognise the importance of the Amateur Radio Service and its radio antennas.

The broad resolution calls the IARU to advocate for planning and development regulations that properly recognise the importance of an amateur radio antenna, and do not place undue restrictions on antenna erection, and to discourage fees for the use of an amateur antenna.  It suggests advocating that the Amateur Radio Service has a non-pecuniary nature, and is popular in the student and senior communities.

The IARU has also completed its preparations for the World Radiocommunication Conference to be in Geneva next month.  The IARU positions and strategies for each of the WRC-15 agenda items that may impact amateur radio were reviewed, including proposals for a secondary amateur allocation near 5.3 MHz.

Possible future agenda items for the next WRC, anticipated in 2019, include an amateur allocation at 50 MHz in Region 1 and global harmonisation of the 1800 – 2000 kHz allocation.  It is anticipated that a significant IARU effort will be needed for WRC-19 to defend the amateur allocations between 137 and 960 MHz, in light of the pressure for spectrum for small non-amateur satellites. Close coordination of regional IARU efforts will be required.

The growing demand for satellite coordination in the amateur bands has led the adoption of revised Terms of Reference for the IARU Satellite Adviser, and to agree in principle, to new guidelines for satellite coordination.  A Deputy Satellite Adviser has been appointed to assist.

The IARU Administrative Council agrees that a more proactive approach is needed to international standards bodies to achieve IARU objectives to reduce radio spectrum pollution from unwanted radio frequency emissions.

It is further looking at the IARU Constitution and By-Laws to introduce some degree of flexibility in dealing with second societies – but a decision will mean further development and consultation.

It received the International Beacon Project, and will further consider the assessing HF propagation in real time, and relevant technological advances.

In a departure from recent IARU practice, it was decided to adopt a continuing theme for the annual World Amateur Day on April 18 each year of “Celebrating Amateur Radio’s Contribution to Society.”  A special appropriate theme may be adopted for any given year.

A plan to collect consistent licensing data from IARU Member Societies was formulated and agreed.  The environmental impact and burden on the international QSL Bureau system of unsolicited and unwanted QSL cards was discussed, and will be revisited at a future meeting.

Attending the meeting were IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA; Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR; Secretary Rod Stafford, W6ROD; regional representatives Don Beattie, G3BJ, Faisal Al-Ajmi, 9K2RR, Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AM, José Arturo Molina, YS1MS, Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN, Shizuo Endo, JE1MUI and recording secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ.  Also present as observers were Jay Bellows, K0QB, from Region 2 and Wisnu Widjaja, YB0AZ and Ken Yamamoto, JA1CJP, from Region 3.

A virtual meeting will be held early in 2016.  The next in-person meeting of the Administrative Council will be near Vina del Mar, Chile, in October 2016 in conjunction with the IARU Region 2 Conference.

Via ARVic, original post here.

The flight launched on Saturday October 10 by Andy VK3YT is the latest in his series of small balloons over the last two years to carry an Amateur Radio payload.  This solar powered party balloon with a 25mW transmitter on 20m and 30m used the weak-signal modes of WSPR and JT9.

It took a zig-zag course over Eastern Victoria, then headed north to Wallaga Lake in New South Wales leaving the Australian mainland, went near Lowe Howe Island, north of New Zealand and across the International Dateline.

It was tracked by stations in VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, ZL1 and ZL2, with stateside observations including John AK4AT Virginia, Jim K4COD Georgia and Jim W3BH Pennsylvania.  This US trio also tracked Andy’s pico balloons PS-53 and PS-54, both released while he was working recently at San Jose, California.

Then PS-55 put out a JT9 transmission, with Jim W3BH receiving it, confirming that the small balloon had descended, half way between Australia and South America, and after a 3-day flight was declared lost.

Via ARVic, original post here.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has found a gigantic hole in the sun’s atmosphere spewing solar wind toward Earth.

Coronal holes are where the magnetic field unfurls and allows solar wind to escape.  Normally those fields curve back on themselves, trapping solar wind inside their loops.

Inside a coronal hole, no such trapping occurs, with Solar wind plasma free to move away.  This should create some Arctic auroras, and forecasters are talking about geomagnetic storms as Earth moves deeper into the solar wind stream.

More information is at http://spaceweather.com