Radio Round-up
ANOTHER CANCELLED RALLY: Following the Government’s new guidelines for social distancing and events, the Rochdale and District Amateur Radio Society rally re-scheduled for Saturday November 28th 2020 will not now be able to take place.
FCC FEE PROPOSAL: The ARRL (American national society) is urging members to strongly oppose the proposal by the FCC (regulator) to introduce fees for amateur licences.
In a special edition of the ARRL Letter issued October 27th the League is urging its members to oppose the FCC proposal to charge a fee for licence applications, renewals and upgrades.
The ARRL says: “ARRL will file comments in firm opposition to an FCC proposal to impose a $50 fee on amateur radio licence and application fees. With the November 16th comment deadline fast approaching, ARRL urges members to add their voices to ARRL’s by filing opposition comments of their own”.
Under the proposal, amateur radio licensees would pay a $50 fee for each amateur radio application for new licences, licence renewals, upgrades to existing licences, and vanity callsign requests. The FCC has also proposed a $50 fee to obtain a printed copy of a licence. Excluded are applications for administrative updates, such as changes of address, and annual regulatory fees. Amateur Service licensees have been exempt from application fees for several years. www.arrl.org/arrlletter
AMSAT SYMPOSIUM SATELLITE TALKS ON YOUTUBE: The video of the 38th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting, held on October 17th 2020, is now available to view on YouTube. You can join the AMSAT News Service Mailing List at: www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans
NEW MODES IN WSJT: WSJT-X 2.3.0 is a program upgrade offering two new modes designed especially for use on the LF and MF bands. FST4 is for two-way QSOs, and FST4W is for WSPR-like transmissions.
Both modes offer a range of options for T/R sequence lengths and threshold decoding sensitivities extending well into the −40 dB range. Early tests have shown these modes frequently spanning intercontinental distances on the 2200m and 630m bands. Further details and operating hints can be found in the Quick-Start Guide to FST4 and FST4W, posted on the WSJT website: https://tinyurl.com/yyr8yaeb Download WSJT from: https://tinyurl.com/ozca2ss