The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 1156.1
BID: $OPDX.1156.1
March 28, 2014
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio)

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network W2VU, W8GEX & 60m News, DL1THM and G3XTT for the following DX information.

60M NEWS (For immediate release: 27 March 2014)
US Ham Operators and Government Test HF Radio Communications -- Disaster Communications Compatibility Exercise Uses Automatic Link Establishment -- Washington, DC, and San Francisco, CA ­ 27 March 2014:
US Amateur Radio operators (ham operators) and Federal Government radio stations are engaged in a nationwide test of their capability to communicate with each other by shortwave radio, in case of an emergency or disaster. They are partici- pating in a 12-day joint readiness exercise running from 27 March through 7 April, covering all areas of USA, using a digital High Frequency (HF) radio system known as Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). This High Frequency Interoperability Exercise 2014 (HFIE-2014) runs concurrent with the federal National Exercise Program (NEP) 2014.

ALE is a standardized digital signaling protocol used by each radio service, ham and government, to establish HF communications between their own stations. For the first time, the government regulatory agencies (FCC and NTIA) have authorized these stations to communicate with each other using ALE. HF radio enables long distance communication independent of terrestrial communications infrastructure, internet, or satellites.

To facilitate the communication testing, the Federal Emergency Manage- ment Agency (FEMA) secured temporary authority from the National Tele- communications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Federal Government radio stations and hams are allowed to communicate with each other using ALE during the exercise. Under existing rules, hams have secondary access to 5 HF radio channels on which Government stations are the primary users.

HF radios used by Federal Government stations have the ALE capability built into the hardware. Amateur Radio operators have implemented the same ALE protocols using their personal computers with ham radio equip- ment and software. The Special Temporary Authority allows for on-the-air testing of interoperability between the hardware and software-generated ALE implementations.

Participation in the interoperability exercise is open to all ALE- capable Federal Government radio stations and to all ALE-capable US Amateur Radio stations. While five channels are available if needed, the test plan calls for using only two of the channels in order to minimize impact on other stations not participating in the exercise. Specifics of the STA are as follows:

(1) Temporary modification of the authority granted at NTIA Manual section 7.3.8(4), which authorizes Federal Government stations to communicate with stations in the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, to allow communications with any Amateur Radio station utilizing Automatic Link Establishment, limited to the five channels in the 5 MHz band which are available to the Amateur Radio Service on a secondary basis, for the period March 27th through April 7th 2014.

(2) Concurrent waiver by the FCC of that part of FCC rule 97.111(a)(4) which limits communications with US Government stations to trans- missions necessary to providing communications in RACES, limited to the five channels in the 5 MHz band which are available to the Amateur Radio Service on a secondary basis, for the period March 27th through April 7th 2014.

National Exercise Program (NEP) 2014 is a complex emergency preparedness exercise with activities sponsored by government departments and agencies, designed to educate and prepare the whole community for complex, large- scale disasters and emergencies. As part of the National Preparedness Goal (NPG), it enables a collaborative, whole community approach to national preparedness that engages individuals, families, communities, the private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based organizations and all levels of government.

CQ NEW (Press Release)
Katie Allen, WY7KRA, Named CQ Sales & Marketing Manager (Hicksville, NY -- March 28, 2014)
Katie Allen, WY7KRA, has been appointed Sales and Marketing Manager for CQ Communications, Inc., effective immediately, it was announced today by company President and Publisher Richard Ross, K2MGA. Katie will be responsible for advertising sales for CQ Amateur Radio magazine (including the CQ Plus digital supple- ment), as well as marketing efforts for all CQ Communications products.

An active DXer and contester who recently earned her Extra Class license, Katie entered the world of amateur radio as the ARRL's Membership Manager in the 2000s, earning her first ham license under the guidance of other League staff members. She then sparked an effort to revitalize the ARRL staff radio club and station, W1HQ, both of which had fallen into inactiv- ity, and helped move ham radio into the world of multimedia by producing and posting various operating videos on You Tube. She currently lives in Sundance, Wyoming with her husband, Dwayne, WY7FD.

"I love ham radio and the ham industry and I'm beyond thrilled to be back in it," says Katie. "I know there are challenges ahead, but my successes over the years have been with new projects or revitalizations ... so perhaps I've come home again to my area of specialty."

"Katie's enthusiasm for amateur radio and everything relating to it, along with her track record marketing our hobby to newcomers and her experience in multimedia and social networking, put her in an ideal position to help manufacturers and retailers best match up their products with our readers," notes CQ Publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA. Ross adds that "the introduction of CQ Plus has expanded CQ's audience beyond its tra- ditional base of active hams to the broader hobby radio community. Katie's ability to connect with both groups, and to reach out via new media, will help add to our advertisers' ability to do the same."

PJ2, CURACAO ISLAND (Correction)
The German team of Anja/DH2AK and Torsten DL1THM (not Wilf/DL1HTM) will be active as PJ2/homecall from Curacao Island (SA-099) between March 31st and April 18th. Activity will be on the high bands, SSB and maybe some Digital modes. They will announce activities on Twitter:

TX6, AUSTRAL ISLANDS (Update/Press Release)
The following was posted by Don, G3XTT, at 1800z, March 28th:
"We now have over 2500 RTTY QSOs in the log. We have focused our RTTY efforts on 15m, so that everyone gets a chance of a contact ­ that’s over 2,500 unique calls on RTTY. We tried 160 again last night but with very poor results. Given that we have limited stations and operators, we feel further 160m operation cannot be justified. In contrast, 80m CW has gone well for us and we will certainly be doing more.

By far the majority of emails we are getting via the form on this website are about log queries. Again, let me say there simply isn’t time to check them all out while we are here ­ please QRX until we return home, or work us again.

We will be QRT for a few hours in the middle of today our time (roughly 2100 to 2400 UTC) for a tour of the island and an opportunity to relax a little. With over 50,000 QSOs in the log we are very happy with the way things are going although, from the size of the pile-ups, especially when the bands are open to Europe, you could be excused thinking we had only just started!

For QSLing, a reminder that the preferred method is OQRS via the Clublog site or, for “traditional” direct and bureau QSLs, it’s via G3TXF (the team are very grateful to Nigel for volunteering to take on this major task ­ we couldn’t ask for anyone better).

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