Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Nov 04 2022 01:10:06 BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the K4LYL repeater in Bedford, Virginia, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time. ** GERMAN AMATEURS AWAIT NEW 'N' OPERATOR CLASS DON/ANCHOR: Hams in Germany are awaiting a decision by the nation's regulator to add a third class of amateur radio license by early next year. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, tells us what that could mean. ED: Germany's proposed new "N" class entry-level licence could be in place as early as January the 1st of 2023. The possible addition, announced earlier this year, is being reviewed by the German regulator, BNetZa, as a way to add a third licence class to the existing E, Novice and A, Full, licence classes. A change in the regulations would give the N class operators call signs with the prefix DN and the current DN callsigns, which are used for training purposes under supervision of a licensed ham, would be cancelled on December 31st of this year, to be replaced by the use of a DN/ prefix . The new entry level "N" class will grant privileges to use the 2 metre and 70 centimetre bands with up to 10 watts EIRP. The operator will be allowed to build and operate home made equipment as long as it conforms to the regulations. It is possible that usage of the 10 metre band may also be added to the class N licence at the end of 2023. The content of the licence exam syllabi will also be changed to make them "cumulative" with the ability, it is hoped, to allow the taking of the class N, class E and class A exams in sequence to get to a full licence in one day of testing. The class N exam will cover all legal regulations, operational rules and a limited amount of technical knowledge questions. The class E and A exams will then only cover additional, more technical theory questions, building on the knowledge of the previous level or levels. This is Ed Durrant, DD5LP. ** HAMS IN KOLKATA SOLVE RF ISSUE FOR POLICE RADIOS DON/ANCHOR: When you have a radio interference problem, who better to turn to than an amateur radio operator? That's just what police officials in one part of India thought when their handheld radios were knocked out of service by holiday lights. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, brings us the details. GRAHAM: A group of major Hindu festivals were coming up on the autumn calendar, starting on Sunday October 30th, and police officials in West Bengal, India, were once again struggling with their radios. Something was causing havoc with their handhelds during the autumn Hindu festivals and it appeared that VHF radio communication was again going to be nearly impossible for crowd control and security. This year, police took their radio dilemma to some local radio amateurs in the West Bengal Radio Club. According to a report by the Indo Asian News Service, the hams conducted a variety of tests on the officers' radios. Ultimately, they noticed the interference peaked when signals had to pass through areas where traditional holiday lights were being used to decorate Kolkata's parks and gardens during the festive season. With the help of physicist Pasupati (posso potty) Mandal (mon dall), VU3ODQ, a club member, the hams determined the interference came from the strings of LEDs manufactured in China, which used cheaper components. According to Dipak (dee pock) Chakraborty (chock rah boar tee), VU3OKT, when they were illuminated, the LEDs emitted a noise on a frequency very close to the one the police radios were using. The hams recommended replacing the Chinese LEDs with ones manufactured in India, which had different components that did not seem to cause the same issue. According to Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, that seemed to have solved the problem in time for the festivals. This is Graham Kemp, VK4BB. (INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE) ** INDIA LAUNCHES FIRST GROUP OF COMMERCIAL SATELLITES DON/ANCHOR: India has launched its first group of commercial satellites. Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, explains what comes next. JEREMY: The Indian Space Research Organisation is celebrating the launch into orbit of 36 internet satellites from the London-based company, OneWeb. The launch on Sunday, October 23rd coincided with the Indian Festival of Lights, known as Diwali. An Indian GSLV Mark III rocket was substituted for the Russian Soyuz originally planned for the operation before the Ukraine invasion earlier this year. This was the second flight for the Indian rocket but its first commercial multi-satellite mission. The flight was overseen by the ISRO's commercial division, New Space India Limited. According to a BBC report, the latest launches mean that OneWeb, which is partly owned by the British government, is almost three-quarters of the way to having its first-generation satellite constellation achieve global coverage. The rollout is expected to be completed by the middle of 2023. This is Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. (BBC, SPACE.COM) --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (954:895/7) .