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Stolen Kenwood TM-D700A
The ham radio was stolen out of my van last night (30 May)! If you happen across a really great deal in a pawn shop on a used Kenwood TM-D700A, let me know, we’ve already filed a police report. The radio has my callsign programmed in it (KB3LJM).
73, Laura, KB3LJM kb3ljm@gmail.com
Firedrake Jammer on the Loose Again in Asia:
Amateur Radio operators
throughout the United States have reported hearing an intruder signal --
dubbed Firedrake -- on 20 meters. ARRL Field and Regulatory
Correspondent Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, said he has received reports from
Intruder Watch monitors in Texas, Montana, West Virginia, Massachusetts,
Colorado, Washington, Nevada and Pennsylvania hearing the jammer on
14.010 and 14.070 MHz. Hams in IARU Region 1 have heard the jammer on
14.000, 14.005, 14.010, 14.030, 14.050, 14.050 and 14.090; Uli
Bihlmayer, DJ9KR, Assistant Monitoring Coordinator for Region 1 (IARUMS)
http://www.iarums-r1.org/ said he has had reports of hearing the
jammer on three frequencies at the same time. Skolaut said he heard it
on 14.070 at 1500 EDT on June 6 from ARRL HQ, but has not confirmed
Firedrake on any other frequencies. "We have reported the jammer to the
FCC's High Frequency Direction Finding (HFDF) facility in Columbia,
Maryland. They have also heard the jammer and have sent a harmful
interference report to the Chinese government," Skolaut said. The FCC
has no authority to make intruder stations outside the US stop
transmitting on Amateur Radio frequencies; such situations typically are
dealt with through diplomatic channels. "All three IARU regions are
coordinating efforts to collect observations and forward them to the
proper authorities to follow up on this," Skolaut said. "As you probably
remember, this jamming occurred almost two years ago
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/08/17/2/ and was primarily heard
on 14.260 and 18.160 MHz." According to Bihlmayer, the jammer (whom
Region 1 monitors have dubbed Firedrake) plays oriental-type music
(click here to hear what Firedrake sounds like -
http://www.arrl.org/news/files/firedrake.mp3) and originates from the
Chinese government in an attempt to block out the Sound of Hope short
wave broadcasts
http://sohnews.com/shortwave-broadcasts/. The Sound of
Hope refers to itself as "a Chinese language media network providing an
alternative to China's state controlled media with news and cultural
programming. Radio Free China (RFC) is Sound of Hope's project to reach
listeners in Mainland China with programming beyond the control of
China's omnipresent blockade of free information." Information on the
Intruder Watch program can be found in the June 2007 issue of QST.
Kenwood and JVC say that their proposed merger will be completed by this fall. Will this lead to a new high frequency radio from the labs at Kenwood Communications? Jeff Clark, K8JAC tries to provide an answer: While nobody will say for sure, at least one reason that Kenwood has= not introduced a new, high end high frequency transceiver to rival offerings from Icom, Yeasu and newcomer Heiberling could have to do with aspects of the companies business that have nothing directly to do with ham radio. Rather some are speculating that it might have been the merger of Kenwood with the Victor Corporation of Japan that may have at least temporarily sidelined any major high frequency Kenwood product introductions this year. According to a joint news release the two Japanese electronics giants will combine to form JVC Kenwood Holdings. The new corporation will have its headquarters in the city of Yokohama. The new model business will focus on car electronics, home electronics, and professional wireless systems, and will also explore new product segments. In an earlier statement by Kenwood it was stated that the merger would have no impact on the company's continuing support of the amateur radio marketplace. The two companies appear to be combining to reduce operating costs while scaling distribution in the already crowded world-wide consumer electronics market. (News.com, Southgate via ARNS0)
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