Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Jan 08 2021 00:44:40 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2254, for Friday, January 8th, 2021 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2254 with a release date of Friday, January 8th, 2021, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. The FCC looks to add coordinators for increased license-testing. Japan studies satellites made of wood - and a probe into the collapse of the Arecibo radiotelescope. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2254, comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** FCC EYES ADDING VOLUNTEER EXAMINER COORDINATORS STEPHEN: Our top story this week finds the Federal Communications Commission asking: Is 14 enough? That's the current number of Volunteer Examiner Coordinator organizations who oversee VEs, or volunteer examiners, hams who administer the US license exams. In a notice posted on January 5th on the FCC website, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announced it would like public input on whether it should authorize additional coordinators - as many as five - to support the volunteer examiners' ongoing work. Since 1983, VE coordinators have overseen the accreditation of the volunteer examiners, managing administrative tasks connected to the exams they give, and coordinating when the tests are given. The scene changed last year when new rules took effect in July permitting VE Coordinators to conduct remote exam sessions. They did so most recently this past December in Antarctica. The FCC notice said: [quote]: "The Commission has long maintained 14 VECs, and now seeks to consider whether they continue to serve the evolving needs of the amateur community, or whether there are unmet needs that warrant considering expanding the number of VECs." [endquote] Comments are due by the 4th of February. Details about filing electronically or on paper are available on the FCC website. (FCC.GOV) ** BREXIT DOESN'T CUT ALL UK TIES TO EU SATELLITES STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A late-December agreement has preserved the UK's involvement in some European satellite programs, post-Brexit. Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, picks up the story from here. JEREMY: An agreement between the UK and the EU has clarified the post- Brexit relationship between the two with regard to scientific research, permitting the UK's continued participation in Copernicus, the EU's Earth monitoring programme. The deal also ensures that the UK and a number of private satellite operators based there will also retain access to the Space Surveillance and Tracking Programme established by the EU for space situational awareness. The deal, however, does not provide the UK with access to encrypted or secure services on Galileo, Europe's Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Galileo was established to assist emergency response-services on Europe's roads making railways and roads safer. Although smartphone users may not notice any difference, the UK itself will no longer have access to the satellite services for defence or national infrastructure. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. (GOV.UK, AMSAT, SCIENCEBUSINESS.NET) ** WOODEN SATELLITES SEEN AS FIX TO 'SPACE JUNK' STEPHEN/ANCHOR: How do you build a satellite that is kinder to the environment? A partnership in Japan is exploring the answer - and Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has those details. GRAHAM: Solutions to the growing problem of "space junk" don't grow on trees - or do they? Perhaps yes: In Japan, a forestry company has partnered with Kyoto University to work on building a robust and resilient satellite out of wood - something that would be Earth-friendly as well as space-friendly. Their goal is to have one such satellite ready for launch by 2023. The experimental work includes exposing different varieties of wood to extreme temperature changes and sunlight, to see how a wooden satellite might behave in space. An added plus: Upon re-entry, wooden satellites could return to Earth without releasing harmful substances or debris on the way down. Kyoto University professor Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut, told the BBC: [quote] "We are very concerned with the fact that all the satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years." [endquote] He said the next step is to develop the engineering model of the satellite and after that, a flight model. The BBC reports that nearly 6,000 satellites are now orbiting the Earth, according to figures from the World Economic Forum. Some 60 percent of them are considered "space junk," meaning they are no longer in use. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB. (BBC) ** SEA-PAC ANNUAL CONVENTION CANCELLED STEPHEN/ANCHOR: COVID-19 precautions have led to the cancellation of yet another major amateur radio gathering. SEA-PAC, the 2021 ARRL Northwestern Division Convention, has been called off as an in-person event in Oregon where it was scheduled to be held in June. Chairman John Bucsek, KE7WNB, said alternative activities online, and on the air were being explored. (SEA-PAC) --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (618:250/33) .