Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Dec 03 2021 02:19:53 FINDING POWER WITHOUT RELYING ON BATTERIES NEIL/ANCHOR: Imagine a world in which your various internet-linked devices didn't have to rely on batteries. Well, researchers in Spain can already see that day coming. Kent Peterson, KC0DGY, tells us more. KENT: They've been on the wish list for lots of us but now battery-free devices have made the leap to the list of possibilities for some researchers in Spain. Scientists at the IMDEA Networks Institute in Madrid are using LiFi and Radio Frequency backscatter technologies to make it happen. After three years of research, they've created a sustainable wireless communication system that they call PassiveLiFi and say it could be deployed for systems in smart agriculture, smart cities and even smart homes. A November 26th article on the Hackster website describes how LiFi happens. The article says: [quote] "IoT devices would transmit data by reflecting and modulating the incoming RF signals present in the environment, a passive transmission technique known as RF backscattering that consumes very little power." [endquote]. One of the researchers notes that when the scientists began their work, LiFi technology and RF backscattering were viewed as independent from one another. Will they now make a winning and workable combination? With an estimated 64 billion or more users of battery-powered IoT devices in the world, there'll be plenty of people watching to find out. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson, KC0DGY. (HACKSTER) ** SILENT KEY: QST COLUMNIST JOEL R. HALLAS, W1ZR NEIL/ANCHOR: A longtime contributor to the library of amateur radio knowledge and expertise has become a Silent Key. Joel R. Hallas (Hal luss), W1ZR, was the author of numerous books and a contributing editor to the ARRL's QST magazine, which he had formerly served as technical editor. His QST column "The Doctor is In" also inspired a popular podcast. An amateur radio operator since 1955, Joel died on November 25th at the age of 79. (ARRL) ** BELGIUM PLANS TO OFFER EXAMS IN EARLY 2022 NEIL/ANCHOR: Radio exams will be back in Belgium in just a few weeks. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, has the details. ED: Shortly after announcing that it was suspending all amateur radio licence exams through to the end of this year due to the pandemic, Belgium's regulator BIPT has scheduled its first examination in 2022 for Friday, the 7th of January. The test will not be given at BIPT facilities, which the regulator has deemed insufficient to comply with COVID precautions. The exam site will instead be the Euro Space Center, a science museum in Wallonia in the Belgian-Luxembourg Province in southern Belgium. The testing procedures will be the same that are followed at the regulator's site. The announcement was made public on the website of the UBA, the national amateur radio member society. Candidates may test for the basic ECC report-89 ON3 licence; the CEPT Novice ON2 licence; or the HAREC Full licence. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP. (SOUTHGATE, UBC) ** ARISS NAMED NEWSLINE'S INT'L NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR NEIL/ANCHOR: Following two great recipients in previous years - namely The West Bengal Radio Club in India and the Radio Society of Great Britain- National Health Service's Get-on-the-air-to-care project, both of whom continue to do great work, we are proud to announce the winner of the 2021 ARNewsline International Newsmaker of the Year Award. This year's honor goes to Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, an organization I've had the pleasure of working with myself. This group, based across fifteen countries around the world, has been supporting amateur radio from the space station and performing school links around the world to astronauts for over 20 years. As well as enthusing youngsters in the magic of space and radio, they have also generated publicity for Amateur Radio in the mainstream media channels of radio, TV and newspapers. Congratulations to a deserving award-winner from all of us at Newsline. ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the Metro Area Repeater Association's WD0HWT repeater in Oakdale, Minnesota, at 7 p.m. local time on Sundays. --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .