RAC Bulletin 2015-02-21

RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for February 14, 2015

This is V_3___, Offical Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada,
with this week's bulletin.

NATIONAL NEWS
1. Government of Canada helping amateur radio in Saint Lucia.

The Government of Canada will provide a grant of more than $25,000 (CDN)
to the Saint Lucia Amateur Radio Club to improve Amateur Radio coverage
and communication in the small Caribbean island nation in the event of a
disaster. The project will install two repeater systems including solar
back-up power, train 90 radio operators, and increase coverage for all
of Saint Lucia’s 18 districts.
The nearly year-old Saint Lucia Amateur Radio Club secured support for
this project through the Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund
(CCDRM), part of Canada’s $600 million Caribbean Regional Program. The
fund is designed to support Caribbean-based non-governmental
organizations working at the community level to reduce risks from
natural hazards and climate change.
— Thanks to the Canadian High Commission, Bridgetown

PROVINCIAL NEWS

OTHER NEWS

2. ARRL warns experimental licensee to avoid interference to HF ham activity

The ARRL has asked a Massachusetts company that plans to conduct
experimental transmissions over wide portions of the HF spectrum either
to avoid Amateur Radio allocations or to announce the times and
frequencies of their transmissions in advance.
As reported a couple weeks ago, The U.S. FCC last fall granted MITRE
Corporation of Bedford, Massachusetts, a 2-year license to operate 21
transmitters at 10 fixed New York and Massachusetts sites.
MITRE plans to test wideband HF communication techniques on a variety of
bands between 2.5 MHz and 16 MHz.

The full article is available on the arrl.org website

3. Baofeng handhelds on BBC News

A BBC News report on insurgents in Ukraine show them to be using what
appears to be Baofeng UV-5R handheld radios.
The Baofeng UV-5R is a popular 5W dual band FM amateur radio which costs
about $32 US.

The extract of the news report on the BBC website which has a clip of
the radio at the 01:40 mark can be seen at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31491767

The radios are also showing up in several popular TV shows that have
aired recently.

---Southgate News

4. NEW RASPBERRY PI 2 CAN REBOOT IF EPOSED TO XENON CAMERA FLASH

The latest version of Raspberry Pi's mini computer appears to be camera
shy.
At least the Raspberry Pi 2 does not like the spurt of high intensity
light from Xenon camera flashes and may reboot itself when exposed to it.
Raspberry Pi creator Eben Upton termed it an unintentional educational
bonus and an interesting demonstration of the photoelectric effect. The
reason seems to be that a chip on the board is not light-resistant and
the fix appears to be to cover the offending integrated circuit.
The company that created the Raspberry Pi2 says that it has received in
excess of 300,000 orders for the new $35US device since its launch two
weeks ago. More about this story is on the web at
tinyurl.com/raspberry-pi-reboot

-- Southgate News

This concludes this week's bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or
clarifications?