| May, 2007 |  |
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Ham Radio Suspended in Irag
The government of Iraq has shut down amateur radio operations in the country until the security situation there improves. Diya Sayah, YI1DZ, President of the Iraq Amateur Radio Society, reported in an e-mail that "all activities of amateur radio in Iraq will be suspended for unknown date or time," and that the shutdown applies both to Iraqi citizens and to foreign hams who have been operating with YI9 callsigns. Sayah told the ARRL he had requested a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to try to clear up any "possible misunderstanding on the part of government officials as to the nature and purpose of Amateur Radio."
New Rules Bring New Hams
The FCC’s decision to drop Morse code tests from all classes of amateur licenses is
apparently prompting thousands of people to join the amateur service for the first time,
even though there has been no code test for the Technician license since 1991. The ARRL
reports a huge upsurge in the number of new Technician Class licensees — sometimes 60 or
70 from a single test session, according to the ARRL Letter, with large numbers of upgrades as well.
The number of exam session is way up as well. The ARRL VEC, which normally sponsors about 450 test sessions
a month around the U.S., reported nearly 800 sessions had been scheduled for March, with another 600 on tap
for April. And, according to VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, “it doesn’t look like test session activity will
be slowing down anytime soon.”
Apple delays release of ‘Leopard’
Apple said it won’t be shipping its next-generation operating system in June as planned,
saying it had to divert resources from the project so that it could launch its highly
anticipated iPhone on time. The new shipment date for Mac OS X “Leopard” will be in October,
the company said Thursday. The iPhone will make its debut in June as planned. The “iPhone contains
the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come
without a price — we had to borrow some key software engineering and (quality assurance) resources from
our Mac OS X team,” Apple said in a statement. Apple announced the iPhone — a smart phone that also serves
as an iPod music player — in January to much fanfare. The Cupertino-based company said Thursday the iPhone
is still on track to be shipped in late June and has passed several of the required certification tests.
Apple, which had previously said Leopard would be available in the spring, had hoped to release the Mac
operating system upgrade at its Worldwide Developers Conference, a five-day event in San Francisco that
starts June 11. Instead, a “near-final version” of Leopard will be ready for the developers at the conference,
Apple said. “We think it’ll be worth the wait,” Apple said.
BRATS MEETINGS SCHEDULED
The Pikesville Library is still under construction, and they are not accepting reservations for meeting rooms
at present. We were able to get the Randallstown Library for their next library year.- July, 2007 through June, 2008.
Reservations for meeting rooms must be made during April each year. We will retain
the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7:15 PM at The Randallstown Library, 8604 Liberty Road at Old Court
Road. Meetings are scheduled for the following dates: For 2007: July 17, August 21, September 18,
October 16, November 20 and December 18. For 2008: January 15, February 19, March 18, April 15, May 20, and June 17.
There is a possibility that we may be able to switch back to Pikesville, in which case we will let you know…
Contact Les, at: lesmcclure@comcast.net
| May, 2007 | |
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