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Re: SBARC-list Digest, Vol 117, Issue 5
by mst56 28 Apr '13

28 Apr '13

Great publicity! Michael On 4/28/2013 12:00 PM, sbarc-list-request(a)lists.netlojix.com wrote: > Send SBARC-list mailing list submissions to > sbarc-list(a)lists.netlojix.com > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.netlojix.com/mailman/listinfo/sbarc-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > sbarc-list-request(a)lists.netlojix.com > > You can reach the person managing the list at > sbarc-list-owner(a)lists.netlojix.com > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of SBARC-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. AIS Santa Barbara (Bill Talanian) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:53:22 -0700 > From: Bill Talanian <w1uuq(a)cox.net> > Subject: [Sbarc-list] AIS Santa Barbara > To: sbarc list <sbarc-list(a)lists.netlojix.com> > Message-ID: > <20130428045311.BYQL29932.fed1rmfepo102.cox.net@fed1rmimpo305> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > <http://www.noozhawk.com/> > Noozhawk.com Santa Barbara & Goleta Local News > > > [] > PRINT THIS PAGE > > > Andrew Seybold: Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club > Helps Chart Ships in Local Waters > > http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amate… > > By Andrew Seybold for the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club > > This screen shot was taken from the website tracking Automatic > > This screen shot was taken from the > <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amateur…>website > tracking Automatic Identification System-equipped > vessels in and around the Santa Barbara Channel on a recent Sunday afternoon. > > [] > > > At any given time there are hundreds of boats and > ships in and around Santa Barbara passenger, > cargo, tankers, yachts, U.S. government, > including the <http://www.uscg.mil>Coast Guard, > and many other vessels. Did you know there are > two ways of tracking them on > <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amateur…>a > map? The first is run by the government and this > data is not available to the average boating > enthusiast, but the second is an open-source > system that tracks all of these vessels around the world. > > Each tracked vessel has an Automatic > Identification System (AIS) device onboard. The > larger commercial and government ships have a > type-A device that sends out data every few > seconds while the smaller vessels are equipped > with type-B devices that send out information > less frequently. In the Santa Barbara area there > are two stations that track this data. The first > is located at <http://www.ucsb.edu>UC Santa > Barbara and the second, which was just installed, > is operated by the <http://sbarc.org>Santa > Barbara Amateur Radio Club (SBARC). The nonprofit > SBARC also has plans to install two more of these > receivers, one on a mountain site north of Santa > Barbara and one on > <http://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/santa-cruz-island.htm>Santa Cruz Island. > > The data that is collected from each of these > receivers is sent via the Internet to a central > processing center located in Greece and then > distributed on the web. > <http://www.marinetraffic.com>Click here to view > the data or > <http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?level0=100>click > here to view the local data. You can click on > each ship and see exactly what it is. If there > are pictures available they are included, and you > can track where it came from and where it is heading. > > Any vessel that is equipped with an AIS device is > tracked as long at the device is on. Depending on > the ship, the device might be shut off; for > example, a police boat or Coast Guard vessel, > and, of course, panga boats won’t have > operational AIS devices either! Many > <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amateur…>marine > radios offer built-in AIS and they are very > inexpensive. They are not only used to track the > vessels but also for collision avoidance since > boat owners or captains can see other vessels > around them even if they do not have radar onboard. > > These sites are also viewed by the Coast Guard > and others and are used to track the vessels, > including their speed and if there is a problem > with pollution from the ship. Speed is important > because there are limits in this area to protect > whales and other sea animals. Now with a click of > a mouse, the exact speed of all of the ships in > the area can be tracked and any exceeding the > recommended speeds can be contacted by radio and > warned to slow down. The last part of the system > enables a ship to send out a distress signal that > is then received by the ships around it, and > therefore are close enough to offer assistance. > > MarineTraffic.com data is interactive, so users can see exact d > > MarineTraffic.com data is interactive, so users > can see exact details of a vessel’s journey. > > Although the government’s system is for its use > only, the open-source system is available to all > on the Internet. However, many times government > vessels in these waters will run with their AIS > system on to help prevent collisions, and > recently we tracked several > <http://www.navy.mil>Navy ships and one submarine > that had surfaced and was heading into port. If > more boats in this area opt into AIS (pleasure > craft only need type-B AIS equipment), the waters > around Santa Barbara will be even safer for all. > > This is only the newest in a series of services > being offered by the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio > Club. We already host > <http://diablo.voneicken.com/imageview.cgi>a > camera on Diablo Peak on Santa Cruz Island that > is used by many pilots and ships that are heading > for the islands. Another camera location is > provided to homeowners in the > <http://www.missioncanyon.org/>Mission Canyon > Association; it looks toward the mountains from the SBARC location in the city. > > We also run numerous weather stations that are > all connected via the Internet and are used by > the <http://www.weather.gov>National Weather > Service, paragliders and others. We provide an > emergency communication link between homeowners > associations and the > <http://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/oes.aspx?id=376>Santa > Barbara County Emergency Operations Center, as > well as assist public safety, the > <http://www.redcross.org/ca/santa-barbara>American > Red Cross, Santa Barbara County Chapter and > others during major incidents, parades, marathons > and the <http://www.oldspanishdays-fiesta.org>Old > Spanish Days Fiesta Parade. And we monitor the > local emergency beacon channel that is used by > airplanes as well as boats, and provide direction > finding assistance when an alarm is received at one of our sites. > > <http://sbarc.org>Click here for more information > on the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. > <http://sbarc.org/donations.html>Click here to > make an online donation to the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. > > Andrew Seybold is vice president of external > affairs for the <http://sbarc.org>Santa Barbara > Amateur Radio Club. The opinions expressed are his own. > > http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amate… >

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AIS Santa Barbara
by Bill Talanian 27 Apr '13

27 Apr '13

<http://www.noozhawk.com/> Noozhawk.com Santa Barbara & Goleta Local News [] PRINT THIS PAGE Andrew Seybold: Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club Helps Chart Ships in Local Waters http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amate… By Andrew Seybold for the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club This screen shot was taken from the website tracking Automatic This screen shot was taken from the <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amateur…>website tracking Automatic Identification System-equipped vessels in and around the Santa Barbara Channel on a recent Sunday afternoon. [] At any given time there are hundreds of boats and ships in and around Santa Barbara passenger, cargo, tankers, yachts, U.S. government, including the <http://www.uscg.mil>Coast Guard, and many other vessels. Did you know there are two ways of tracking them on <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amateur…>a map? The first is run by the government and this data is not available to the average boating enthusiast, but the second is an open-source system that tracks all of these vessels around the world. Each tracked vessel has an Automatic Identification System (AIS) device onboard. The larger commercial and government ships have a type-A device that sends out data every few seconds while the smaller vessels are equipped with type-B devices that send out information less frequently. In the Santa Barbara area there are two stations that track this data. The first is located at <http://www.ucsb.edu>UC Santa Barbara and the second, which was just installed, is operated by the <http://sbarc.org>Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club (SBARC). The nonprofit SBARC also has plans to install two more of these receivers, one on a mountain site north of Santa Barbara and one on <http://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/santa-cruz-island.htm>Santa Cruz Island. The data that is collected from each of these receivers is sent via the Internet to a central processing center located in Greece and then distributed on the web. <http://www.marinetraffic.com>Click here to view the data or <http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?level0=100>click here to view the local data. You can click on each ship and see exactly what it is. If there are pictures available they are included, and you can track where it came from and where it is heading. Any vessel that is equipped with an AIS device is tracked as long at the device is on. Depending on the ship, the device might be shut off; for example, a police boat or Coast Guard vessel, and, of course, panga boats wont have operational AIS devices either! Many <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amateur…>marine radios offer built-in AIS and they are very inexpensive. They are not only used to track the vessels but also for collision avoidance since boat owners or captains can see other vessels around them even if they do not have radar onboard. These sites are also viewed by the Coast Guard and others and are used to track the vessels, including their speed and if there is a problem with pollution from the ship. Speed is important because there are limits in this area to protect whales and other sea animals. Now with a click of a mouse, the exact speed of all of the ships in the area can be tracked and any exceeding the recommended speeds can be contacted by radio and warned to slow down. The last part of the system enables a ship to send out a distress signal that is then received by the ships around it, and therefore are close enough to offer assistance. MarineTraffic.com data is interactive, so users can see exact d MarineTraffic.com data is interactive, so users can see exact details of a vessels journey. Although the governments system is for its use only, the open-source system is available to all on the Internet. However, many times government vessels in these waters will run with their AIS system on to help prevent collisions, and recently we tracked several <http://www.navy.mil>Navy ships and one submarine that had surfaced and was heading into port. If more boats in this area opt into AIS (pleasure craft only need type-B AIS equipment), the waters around Santa Barbara will be even safer for all. This is only the newest in a series of services being offered by the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. We already host <http://diablo.voneicken.com/imageview.cgi>a camera on Diablo Peak on Santa Cruz Island that is used by many pilots and ships that are heading for the islands. Another camera location is provided to homeowners in the <http://www.missioncanyon.org/>Mission Canyon Association; it looks toward the mountains from the SBARC location in the city. We also run numerous weather stations that are all connected via the Internet and are used by the <http://www.weather.gov>National Weather Service, paragliders and others. We provide an emergency communication link between homeowners associations and the <http://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/oes.aspx?id=376>Santa Barbara County Emergency Operations Center, as well as assist public safety, the <http://www.redcross.org/ca/santa-barbara>American Red Cross, Santa Barbara County Chapter and others during major incidents, parades, marathons and the <http://www.oldspanishdays-fiesta.org>Old Spanish Days Fiesta Parade. And we monitor the local emergency beacon channel that is used by airplanes as well as boats, and provide direction finding assistance when an alarm is received at one of our sites. <http://sbarc.org>Click here for more information on the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. <http://sbarc.org/donations.html>Click here to make an online donation to the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. Andrew Seybold is vice president of external affairs for the <http://sbarc.org>Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. The opinions expressed are his own. http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/andrew_seybold_santa_barbara_amate…

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AIS Antenna
by Bill Talanian 24 Apr '13

24 Apr '13

Adam Houser, KK6AXY, tie wraps coax hardline after installation of SBARC's AIS antenna. AIS (Automatic Identification System) is a required location device on every large vessel. SBARC is pleased to provide location information to local boating enthusiasts with Class B encoders as well as the shipping and commercial entities. The two parabolic reflectors are part of SBARC's wide bandwidth linking system.

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FirstNet and Boston IED's
by Bill Talanian 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

Andrew Seybold, W6AMS, is a frequent contributor to Urgent Communications. He is on the Board of SBARC and serves as VP External Affairs. Urgent Communications ---------- Boston bombings raise sharing questions for FirstNet Mon, 2013-04-22 16:28 Network-congestion issues during the aftermath of the Boston bombings should spur FirstNet members to ask some hard questions before agreeing to potential sharing arrangements with commercial operators. By Andrew Seybold The bombings during the Boston Marathon were a terrible tragedy, and the news media got a lot of things wrong in the first few hours after the blasts. One report, later retracted by the Boston Globe, was that the federal government had ordered all commercial networks to be shut down. No one knew if the bombs had been set off via <http://urgentcomm.com/blog/boston-bombings-raise-sharing-questions-firstnet#>cell phones, which is one of many ways they could have been detonated. The idea was that the networks were shut down was based on a fear that there could be more bombs, and the networks could be used to detonate them. The real story was that the networks were not ordered to shut down, but they were so overcrowded that many call requests could not be put through. So many people being denied access to the networks led to the assumption that they had been shut down. Even so, the fact that the networks were overloadedas they are in times of major incidentsshould be of concern to <http://urgentcomm.com/organizations/ntia-firstnet?intlink=autlink>FirstNet. Because FirstNet is exploring the possibility of sharing the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) with commercial operators, which will in turn make use of excess capacity on the network, the following questions need to be considered in the final network design. These questions are applicable during commercial-network overload, as well as whenand ifcommercial networks are ever ordered to shut down. 1) If the commercial networks were to be shut down or become overcrowded, and the network operators had a sharing agreement to use the FirstNet network, would all of the users on the commercial networks be shifted over to FirstNet, causing increased traffic and congestion on the NPSBN when it is needed most by the first responders? 2) If commercial users had access to FirstNet and the commercial networks were shut down, does this also mean that the NPSBN would have to shut down, because a commercial device on this network would also be capable of detonating a bomb by remote control? 3) Whatif anysafeguards will be built into the sharing agreements between FirstNet and the commercial network operators, and how will the load between FirstNet first responders and commercial users be monitored and managed? Will it be possible to shut down access to the NPSBN for secondary users (commercial users) when the commercial networks are shut down or are overloaded? The FirstNet system design is based on public safety having pre-emptive access to the network. In theory, pre-emption would occur in two phases. The first would be to limit the bandwidth and capacity available to non-first-responder users during incidents. The second would be ruthless pre-emption, in which a first responder who accesses the NPSBN would be granted that access instantly, even if it meant terminating a commercial (secondary) users connection. This sounds great in theory, but in todays real world, any type of true pre-emption might not be possible. One of the committees I serve on is made up of some of the brightest <http://urgentcomm.com/technology/long-term-evolution?intlink=autlink>LTE engineers in the business. They have participated in the standards body work for LTE, designed LTE systems, worked with LTE systems, and have more knowledge and hands-on LTE experience than any other group I have worked with or talked with. When I raised the following issues, they dug into them, and their top-line answers are shown after the statements. Assertion 1:If the signaling channel is overloaded, then a User (UE) with maximum priority and pre-emptive rights may not be able to access the network. Top-Line Answer:This is essentially a true statement, especially in <http://urgentcomm.com/blog/boston-bombings-raise-sharing-questions-firstnet#>a network that is shared with commercial users. Assertion 2: LTE provides a way around this problem (as stated in Assertion #1) that can be implemented to ensure full priority access when needed. Top-Line Answer: Mitigation tools exist in the <http://urgentcomm.com/governance/standards/3gpp?intlink=autlink>3GPP standards, but due to a wide range of potential scenarios and causes, to characterize this as solved would be an oversimplification. There is much more to the response from this group that I will publish soon in my Public Safety Advocate e-newsletter, but the reason for the response is based on the following overlying characteristics of LTE (or any cellular-like network): 1) In order to make a call (or get onto the network), the device must send a request for access to the network. The network then verifies that this unit is permitted access and attaches the device to the network. 2) The signaling channel input is located at each cell site, and it sends the request to the network. If the number of requests for service exceeds the capacity on the signaling channel, some of the requests will not be processed. If the request for service or pre-emptive service is not delivered to the cell site and transmitted to the network, the network has no way of knowing the request was even made. Further, if the requests overload a number of cell sites, they may not travel from the cell site to the network for processing. In other words, if the LTE signaling channel (RACH) is congested, the level of priority makes no difference. If the cell site does not receive the request for service, it cannot be processed. So in reality, there is no true pre-emption in LTE today. Note: One of the arguments we used with Congress to have the D Block allocated to Public Safety was the fact that pre-emptive access on commercial networks was neither practical nor feasible to accomplish. The earthquake centered in Virginia and the following hurricane proved our point, becausewhile the commercial networks remained operationalthere were many instances when access was totally blocked because the signaling channels were overloaded. The bottom line is that implementing the public-safety LTE system will be a real challenge. I am sure the FirstNet is up to it, but the solution will need to be carefully focused on the needs of public safety during incidents when access to the NPSBN will be critical for the public-safety community. serves as your VP Wireless communications consultant Andrew Seybold is a communications advisor to both the National Sheriffs Association, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. ---------- Source URL: <http://urgentcomm.com/blog/boston-bombings-raise-sharing-questions-firstnet>http://urgentcomm.com/blog/boston-bombings-raise-sharing-questions-firstnet

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Vessel Tracking
by Bill Talanian 18 Apr '13

18 Apr '13

UCSB and SBARC provide vessel tracking system to monitor ships position, speed and heading. Newly installed system at our Mesa site helps provide vital data. For a view go to: <www.marinetraffic.com> <http://www.noozhawk.com/> Noozhawk.com Santa Barbara & Goleta Local News Whales, Air Quality Targets of Plan to Slow Ships in Santa Barbara Channel http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/santa_barbara_whales_air_quality_t… By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Staff Writer | <http://twitter.com/magnoli>@magnoli Protecting gray whales in the Santa Barbara Channel is among th Protecting gray whales in the Santa Barbara Channel is among the aims of an incentive program proposed by the Santa Barbara County <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/santa_barbara_whales_air_quality_tar…>Air Pollution Control District. (Condor Express photo) The county Air Pollution Control District is working to implement an incentive program for ocean-going vessels Large ships traveling through the Santa Barbara Channel produce more than half of the entire countys nitrogen oxide emissions and are a threat to the whales that frequent the area, so the <http://www.sbcapcd.org/>Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District is working with other agencies to implement a <http://www.sbcapcd.org/itg/shipemissions.htm>marine vessel speed-reduction program like the one used by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Representatives from the county, the <http://www.noaa.gov/>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the <http://www.edcnet.org/>Environmental Defense Center gave a presentation to the <http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/Government/Council/Meet_Us/>Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday with an update on <http://www.sbcapcd.org/itg/shipstudies.htm>the initiative and efforts to get funding from the state. The partnership is looking at the vexing problem of heavy shipping traffic in the channel and along the California coast, which has <http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/conservation/pdfs/ship_strikes.pdf>big impacts to local air quality, climate control implications and a threat to whales, said Brian Shafritz, Air Pollution Control <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/santa_barbara_whales_air_quality_tar…>District manager. The channels shipping lanes are about 12 miles off the coast and span 110 miles in the county, which makes the channel a congregation point for trans-Pacific ships from Asia that come to deliver cargo at the ports. Large container ships have engines like mini power plants; they spew out tons of pollutants, he said. Over the 110-mile span, one ship crossing from north to south there on the one lane is equivalent to 40,000 cars of ozone-forming pollutants, just one transit. The City Council and many other agencies have <http://www.sbcapcd.org/itg/VSR-support-SBCAPCD.pdf>already sent letters of support for the project. Assembly Bill 32 funds could pay for an incentive program to get ships to slow down to 12 knots, which could reduce greenhouse gas, other pollutants and the lethality of ship strikes on whales, the Air Pollution Control District says. The district submitted a vessel speed-reduction incentive initiative to the <http://www.arb.ca.gov/>California Air Resources Board last March. The Long Beach and LA ports speed-reduction <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/santa_barbara_whales_air_quality_tar…>incentive programs have participation rates over 90 percent, and the county wants to develop its own incentive structure over a pilot program period. Slowing ships to 12 knots will reduce shipping greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent and nitrogen oxides air pollution by 56 percent, the initiative states. The ports spend about $2 million per year on their programs, and this partnership estimates that it would cost $5 million to expand it to the Santa Barbara Channel. Ship trips through the channel peaked at more than 7,000 annually in 2006 and 2007, dipping ever since with the recession and the states lower-sulfur fuel rule for the area mandated in 2009. The rule was meant to reduce emissions of diesel particulate, but the majority of ships started going around the islands to avoid the regulation, according to NOAA. The channel has the largest seasonal population of blue whales in the world, and having shipping lanes is like having a highway running through your kitchen, said Kristi Birney, a marine conservation analyst with EDC. Incentivizing ships to slow down to 12 knots through the channel as the ports have would reduce the probability of fatal collisions, and the benefits will be easily tracked through air pollution and the marine sanctuarys existing system of tracking cargo ship speeds and routes. The groups want a <http://www.sbcapcd.org/itg/SBCAPCD-toCARB-030713.pdf>voluntary incentive program, not regulations, said Sean Hastings, the resource protection coordinator for the <http://channelislands.noaa.gov/>Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. He reminded the City Council that NOAA is within the <http://www.commerce.gov/>Department of Commerce, so it definitely doesnt want to stop shipping. They believe theres a way to work with the shipping industry to achieve a cleaner climate, public health benefits and smaller likelihood of whale fatalities, he said. According to the Air Pollution Control District, marine shipping makes up 54 percent of the countys nitrogen oxides sources, and by 2030, it expects that to increase to 72 percent. Every ship emits radio signals so NOAA antennae can track who they are, what theyre carrying, where theyre going, and how fast, Hastings said. He tried to work with the shipping industry to slow down for the sake of whales alone, but they had zero cooperation in the past. An incentive program would be between a friendly ask and a regulation, he said. Moving the ships entirely isnt a viable option, but slowing them down is, he said. Cruise ships, which are visiting Santa Barbara with more frequency now, also have been known to hit whales. An unusual mortality event was declared in 2007 for blue whales after five carcasses were discovered between Santa Cruz Island and San Diego, all with injuries consistent with ship strikes, according to a 2011 paper, Reducing the Threat of Ship Strikes on Large Cetaceans in the Santa Barbara Channel Region and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Historically, three was the most blue whale fatalities in this region for a single year. Scientists arent sure why the whales arent getting out of the way of ships, even though there are dozens of us working on this issue, Hastings said. Its something we simply dont understand. This initiatives partnership includes the Air Pollution Control District, NOAA, the county and city of Santa Barbara, the EDC, Community Environmental Council, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, and shipping representatives Marine Exchange and PMSA. The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are also partners in the effort. <http://www.noozhawk.com>Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at <mailto:gmagnoli@noozhawk.com>gmagnoli(a)noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: <http://twitter.com/noozhawk>@noozhawk, <http://twitter.com/noozhawkNews>@NoozhawkNews and <http://twitter.com/noozhawkBiz>@NoozhawkBiz. Connect with <http://www.facebook.com/noozhawk>Noozhawk on Facebook.

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AIS Vessel Tracking System in service
by Bill Talanian 06 Apr '13

06 Apr '13

SBARC NOW SUPPORTS VESSEL TRACKING SYSTEM A donation of equipment was received from the estate of Robert Block, K6LX, through the personal efforts of Mike Wapner, K6QD. This equipment is an Automatic Identification System (AIS). The AIS system is now 100% operational from our Mesa site and is Station 533 signing SBARC. The AIS system is now seeing ocean "targets" more than 100 nm from Santa Barbara. There are only two stations in our local SouthCoast area. A second AIS system is located at UCSB as Station 1325, signing UCSB. A full tutorial of AIS is available on the internet which explains how this system is used in identifying Class A and Class B vessel traffic. Start here: <http://www.marinetraffic.com> Have fun ! Bill Talanian

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ARDF Transmitter Hunt, 4/20/13 at Schabarum Regional Park
by Marvin Johnston 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

The next southern California on-foot hidden transmitter hunting event will be Saturday, April 20, 2013 at Schabarum Regional Park. If you are a beginner, there will be entry-level two-meter fox transmitters just for you, set by Joe Moell K0OV. For more experienced radio-orienteers, there will be a 5-fox two-meter international-rules course of moderate difficulty, set by Marvin Johnston KE6HTS. An optional 80-meter fox transmitter or two may also be on the air. A ham radio license and knowledge of radio equipment are not required. Experts will be on hand to teach you the basic techniques of on-foot radio direction-finding (RDF). Also expect to see some folks training to compete in the 2013 USA ARDF Championships that will be in North Carolina this October. If you don't have the antenna/attenuator system for on-foot foxhunting on two meters with your ham radio handi-talkie or scanner, you can easily make one during this session. If there is sufficient interest, Marvin Johnston KE6HTS will conduct a clinic for building his kits for measuring-tape yagis and for 90 dB offset-type attenuators. An assembled/tested attenuator in a special housing that goes inside the boom of the yagi is also available. If you wish to build kits at this workshop, you must register in advance by sending e-mail to marvin(a)west.net, so he will have the kits reserved in your name waiting for you. It takes about an hour to put the kits together with tools and soldering irons that will be provided. If you're not an electronic technician, don't worry because there will be plenty of experts to help you. We want you to succeed! Then with your HT and the kitbuilt equipment, you will be all set to hunt. All transmitter hunting begins at 10 AM. The starting point for the advanced course will be a different part of the park, so if you plan to take on that course, please arrive at the gathering area before 10 AM so we can transport that group to the starting point and do starts at five-minute intervals. Beginners will start from the gathering area and will not need to be transported. If there is an antenna/attenuator clinic, it will start at 11 AM and there will still be time to hunt the beginner transmitters after that. Courses will close at 3 PM. For the advanced 2-meter course, orienteering flags and electronic scoring will be used at each transmitter. If you have an "e-stick," be sure to bring it. Please donate $5 for the advanced course to cover expenses related to the use of Los Angeles Orienteering Club's e-punch equipment and maps. No donation is requested for the beginner course and the 80-meter transmitter hunt. If you have them, bring a handi-talkie, receiver, or scanner covering the two-meter band for each person who will be going ARDFing. If you have directional antennas, attenuators, or other on-foot RDF equipment, be sure to bring that too. Make sure that all batteries are fresh. For those with no radio gear, some extra ARDF receiver/antenna sets will be available. Be sure to bring anything you'll need while going after those radio foxes, such as munchies, bottled water and sunscreen. For map plotting, bring your own compass, protractor and pencil. Trails are primitive in some areas of the park, so wear sturdy shoes. All ages are welcome, but young children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Schabarum Regional Park is on the south side of Colima Road, just east of Azusa Avenue in Hacienda Heights. (Thomas Guide 678-G4) A map to the site is in www.homingin.com. There is a vehicular entry fee for the park, so carpooling would be a good idea. Upon passing through the entry gate, drive south (straight ahead, don't turn right) and continue to the end of the road (about 0.7 mile). Park in the last parking lot near the restrooms. Look for the orange and white orienteering flags and signs. Call K0OV on 146.52 simplex if you have trouble finding the gathering area within the park. 73, Joe Moell K0OV

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Heard sparks lately?
by Darryl Widman 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

>From EDN Magazine Sparks John Dunn - March 11, 2013 An antenna for the 40-meter ham radio band is a pretty large thing. A half-wave dipole antenna is around 66 feet long from end to end. Mine was center fed with RG-11/U coaxial cable terminated with a PL-259 type of UHF connector at the transmitter end of the coaxial cable feed line. One day, I had disconnected that cable from my transmitter for some reason or other and just left the open PL-259 sitting there. Thunderstorms started rolling through. Suddenly I noticed a sound. It was "snap..........snap...........snap........................snap....snap.." and so on at a varying rate. I couldn't imagine what it was until I saw the open PL-259. There were quite energetic sparks jumping across the gap between the connector's center pin and its outer shell. It wasn't even raining at that moment, but there was enough charge buildup via that dipole antenna for electrostatic discharge (ESD) activity to be going on and to make me very nervous. I just left the cable totally alone and let it spark to its heart's content until the thunderstorms had gone. Lessons learned: ESD events don't require direct hits from lightning Never design anything that's going to be connected to an antenna without providing an intentional discharge path as protection from electrostatic charge build-ups. 4 Comment(s) Flagstaff Rich This is one of those things that every generation rediscovers. Lightning protectors were used back in the early days of radio, too, and they evolved into quite a clever design. The ones I refer to were cast from clear glass and had a pair of neon bulbs within - one from each side of the ladder line to ground. The casting was in the shape of a battleship and when the bulbs lit she appeared to be firing a broadside! I hook mine up for grins when conditions are right for some naval action. 3.12.2013 4:05 PM EDT Reply EIMEWORRY I first saw the antenna build-up effect while fishing as a kid off a lake Michigan pier. The static in the air accumulated on my fishing pole and discharged with static hisses. 3.12.2013 3:25 PM EDT Reply G Man Neat story! Nothing like a lesson learned eh! Kinda bummed it didn't involve the connector being in the "lap" vicinity and causing mayhem that can only be laughed at later. After all, what is life without some good hair raising stories? But I am not one to laugh at others pain, glad it all turned out well. :-) Living in the radar world was a never ending source of "surprises". Interesting that those old radios tolerated so much. 3.12.2013 1:33 PM EDT Reply AC0QG When I was a boy, I liked to do shortwave listening and installed a dipole antenna on the roof. I had read that to protect my receiver, I should add a Neon lamp from the antenna to ground and a knife switch to ground the antenna. After doing so, I noticed that if the knife switch was not closed, the lamp would be continuously lit. The antenna was picking up enough induced voltage from the nearby overhead power lines to energize the 50V lamp. 3.12.2013 1:14 PM EDT

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Public Safety communications and cellular
by Bill Talanian 02 Mar '13

02 Mar '13

<http://www.noozhawk.com/> Noozhawk.com Santa Barbara & Goleta Local News Andrew Seybold: New Reason to Approve More Cell Sites http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_m… By Andrew Seybold [] [Writers disclaimer: I am a consultant, educator and writer in the area of wireless communications. I consult to commercial <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>wireless networks, device vendors, the public safety community and others. But I have never been hired by any company, organization or person to support new cell sites. I am a believer in wireless and understand, because of my work, that without cell sites wireless will not be the pervasive technology that many want it to be.] Soon the commercial cell sites will have some new tenants: public safety, fire, EMS, sheriffs and police. In February 2012, <http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama>President Barack Obama signed the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Class_Tax_Relief_and_Job_Creation_Act_o…>Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 that contained provisions for the establishment of a new public safety network for data and video services and $7 billion to build out this network nationwide (not enough funding but a good start). This new network is needed because commercial networks are not capable of meeting public safetys needs. The public safety community and commercial broadband operators will work together to build out this Nationwide Public Safety <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>Broadband Network (NPSBN). This new network will provide interoperability, enabling first responders and various agencies across the United States and locally to be able to communicate via text, data and video. This will help our first responders serve all of us better and more safely. Even in Santa Barbara County, while the <http://www.sbsheriff.org/>Sheriffs Department and police can communicate with each other, they cannot communicate directly with fire services, <http://www.police.ucsb.edu/>UCSB police, or other city and county agencies. The NPSBN is a cellular-type network that will require many more cell sites than we currently have allocated for public safety. In Santa Barbara County, we have six mountaintop sites for the Sheriffs Department and <http://www.sbcfire.com/>County Fire to provide <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>voice communications, but we will need 60 to 70 sites to provide data and video for our public safety community. That means that public safety will need to share sites with the commercial operators to build its network. On the commercial side, the additional cell sites will benefit the 32 percent of <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>wireless customers who no longer maintain a wired phone in their homes and provide more capacity for the rest of us. The county and the city will need to take this into consideration when evaluating new cell sites moving forward. Most network operators plan to add many more sites each year than the citys and countys capacity to approve them because of the way in which each site must be handled one at a time. If the county and city had a long-term policy to approve cell site expansion, this process could be fast-tracked to the advantage of the citizens of the area, the city or county, and the wireless operator, resulting in less cost for each of these entities. The commercial operator must prove that the site it has selected is the best to add coverage or capacity where it is needed. Counties and cities, by law, are not permitted to use health concerns to deny these <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>applications, but they are permitted to consider aesthetics and other issues to make sure that the cell sites that are approved meet the requirements of the county or city. Because of the increased demand for wireless <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>broadband services, which is growing at a rate of more than 100 percent a year, over the next five years cities and counties will have to deal with at least a 50 percent increase in cell site permit requests. Now is the time to standardize the procedure for site approval to facilitate network expansion. Now when the county, city and residents of this area oppose a new cell site, they might also be opposing this new public safety communications network that could end up saving their lives in the future. I know that most people want cell sites but not near their own homes or <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>schools because of <http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_mor…>aesthetics and health concerns. However, if a cell site is located on a tower, a pole or a faux tree and is higher, rather than lower, any possible radio frequency exposure is reduced. So the smart thing to do is to approve cell sites that are higher rather than lower, and to remember that these sites will, in the near future, also be used for public safety communications services that might be critical to you someday. Andrew Seybold is a Santa Barbara resident and head of <http://www.andrewseybold.com>Andrew Seybold Inc., which provides consulting, educational and publishing services. <http://www.andrewseybold.com>Click here for more information. The opinions expressed are his own. http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/030113_andrew_seybold_new_reason_m…

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Another Silent Key- Lee Ruzicka KG6KKT
by Rick Whitaker 22 Feb '13

22 Feb '13

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of Lee Ruzicka (KG6KKT). Lee battled with many strokes and became a silent key on February 7, 2013. If anyone out there has a story to share please send it to me at rickwhtr(a)cox.net Thank you Rick Whitaker

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