Subj : Newsline Part 1 To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Dec 23 2016 07:23 am Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2043, December 23, 2016 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2043, with a release date of Friday, December 23, 2016, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Hams regroup to revive Missouri's Amateur Radio Parity Act. A British rocker upgrades his license -- and Norway's going digital. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2043, comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** MISSOURI AMATEURS RENEW PARITY ACT PUSH JIM/ANCHOR: We lead this week's newscast with a story of perseverence: Hams in Missouri say they're anything but discouraged about the failure to pass the state's Amateur Radio Parity Act. We hear why from Amateur Radio Newsline's Paul Braun, WD9GCO. PAUL: We have covered the progress of two different Amateur Radio Parity Acts - the national version, and the more localized version in Missouri. Both followed similar trajectories, both suffered the same fate. Both efforts were passed by the House of Representatives, both were summarily dismissed by a single Senator before they could be added to the calendar. I spoke with Larry Scantlan, K-E-zero-K-Zed, the man spearheading the Missouri effort, about his strategy for regrouping and starting the process all over again. LARRY: We're very active in that process right now. Our original sponsor of the bill, who authored it with me, State Representative Bryan Spencer, has pre-filed our second attempt, and it is on the record of the House of Representatives of the State of Missouri, and it's named the House Bill 136. The text of that bill is identical to the previous bill because, well, it had gone through the discussion hearing committee the first time, and was amended and had actually passed through the House of Representatives without issue, so we felt that there was no need to change, or make issue with the content of the text of the bill, and after the first of the year when the session begins, they will be putting it on the calendar, and it will be assigned to a committee for its first initial hearing. PAUL: Scantlan went on to explain the change in strategy for working with the Senate this second time around: LARRY: The first issue right up front is to find a Senator that will sponsor a companion bill that will be working through their side simultaneously, rather than waiting until the House bill gets all the way through all of its parts, and then try to get it into the Senate - we just ran out of time. I've already been calling on Senator Bob Onder here in the St. Louis region, who was a proponent of the bill the first time, try to sit down with him to get him to sponsor a Senate version, so that will be moving through the Senate at the same time that the House bill will be moving through the House. We're hopeful then, that we won't run out of time, and the thing will be sitting in the Senate at the last minute. PAUL: Other new strategies include dividing the state up into regions with section leaders to help with the workload, and to facilitate better communications. Scantlan has created a Facebook page called "Missouri Amateur Radio Parity Act," as well as a website at triple-w dot M-A-R-P-A dot U-S. The key, he said, is to convince all Missouri hams, of which there are fifteen thousand, to get involved, and contact their congress member, whether the bill affects them today or not, because, as Scantlan said, you never know when life changes will land you under a restrictive H-O-A. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO. ** AUTHOR DECIPHERS SDR -- AGAIN JIM/ANCHOR: Interested in SDR? One New Zealand ham wrote the book, and he spoke with Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. NEIL: There's a new book written by a New Zealander about Software Defined Radios available. Andrew Barron, ZL3DW, has just released his second book that explains Software Defined Radios that is intended for Amateur Radio Operators, Short Wave Listeners, and anyone interested in radio as a hobby. Andrew explains some of the things included in this 308 page book. ANDREW: It tells you why you would want to buy a software defined radio, why they are in some ways better than a conventional radio, what makes them different, what makes them better, (and) how you test them, because some of testing is different. NEIL: So if you're interested in how software defined radios work, or maybe you're considering purchasing one, this book could have just the information you need. ANDREW: It's rounded out with a big section on just the basics. We explore about 65 radios that I found online, most of them receivers of course, but some transceivers, because it's a bit baffling as to which generations these radios are; what the capabilities are, what sort of frequencies they can cover, whether they're a transceiver or not, so just the basics specs on a whole pile of radios. NEIL: Andrew notes another reason why he decided to write the book. ANDREW: SDR is changing all the time. It's quite dynamic, and it's coming a long way. And, we see the big three manufacturers starting to get on board. And, I think that it will be the way of the future for these big three radio producers because it's cheaper. NEIL: The book is available on Amazon, and is both in print or in Kindle form for most e-Readers. You can find the link to it on Amazon in the text version of this newscast. https://www.amazon.com/Software-Defined-Radio-Operators-Listeners/dp/ 1534992421/ (above URL all on one line) For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Posted by VPost v1.7.081019 .