RadarBox Station Activated

Posted on by VA3DBJ
AirNav-RadarBox

AirNav Systems RadarBox

I have been playing with the RadarBox software and decided to activate a full-time feed via a Raspberry Pi.

AirNav RadarBox is a Windows PC and Raspberry PI software and hardware package which allows appropriately equipped aircraft to be seen on a simulated radar screen. A small receiver connects to the PC or Raspberry PI via USB and aircraft are detected using a small 1090 MHz antenna. By decoding ADS-B transmissions from aircraft, those aircraft are displayed on a computer in a similar display to that used by Air Traffic Control. Flight number, aircraft type, altitude, heading, speed are visible and updated every second. The RadarBox system can be used at any location, either as a stand-alone system, or connected to the Internet which allows additional functions. An internal map database provides 3D multi-window maps with worldwide coverage and geographic points which include airports, runways, VOR, NDB, Fixes, cities, roads, airways and elevation data.

To view my RadarBox station, just click on the RadarBox Station link on the menu to the left, or to view the worldwide traffic, just click here.

Detecting Post-Compromise Threat Activity in Microsoft Cloud Environments

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Alert (AA21-008A) – This Alert is a companion alert to AA20-352A: Advanced Persistent Threat Compromise of Government Agencies, Critical Infrastructure, and Private Sector Organizations. AA20-352A primarily focuses on an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor’s compromise of SolarWinds Orion products as an initial access vector into networks of U.S. Government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private network organizations. As noted in AA20-352A, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has evidence of initial access vectors in addition to the compromised SolarWinds Orion products.

This Alert also addresses activity—irrespective of the initial access vector leveraged—that CISA attributes to an APT actor. Specifically, CISA has seen an APT actor using compromised applications in a victim’s Microsoft 365 (M365)/Azure environment. CISA has also seen this APT actor utilizing additional credentials and Application Programming Interface (API) access to cloud resources of private and public sector organizations. These tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) feature three key components:

  • Compromising or bypassing federated identity solutions;
  • Using forged authentication tokens to move laterally to Microsoft cloud environments; and
  • Using privileged access to a victim’s cloud environment to establish difficult-to-detect persistence mechanisms for Application Programming Interface (API)-based access.

This Alert describes these TTPs and offers an overview of, and guidance on, available open-source tools—including a CISA-developed tool, Sparrow—for network defenders to analyze their Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD), Office 365 (O365), and M365 environments to detect potentially malicious activity.

Note: this Alert describes artifacts—presented by these attacks—from which CISA has identified detectable evidence of the threat actor’s initial objectives. CISA continues to analyze the threat actor’s follow-on objectives.

For more information, please click here.

Former RAC President Farrell (Hoppy) Hopwood, VE7RD SK

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From RAC

Radio Amateurs of Canada has received the sad news that former RAC President, Farrell Hopwood, VE7RD, became a Silent Key on December 8, 2020 at age 91.

The following information was extracted from the online obituary notice which was published in North Shore News on December 30.

“Farrell worked for BC Tel for many years and was active in St. Stephen’s parish, North Vancouver as well as instrumental in the founding of the Radio Amateurs of Canada.

He is survived by his son David, brother Brendan, sisters Eileen and Deidra, sister-in-law Lee, their spouses and many nieces and nephews.

The family is grateful to the staff of Delta Hospital as well as Wexford Independent Living in Tsawwassen for their care and support. Due to the current Covid restrictions, a celebration of Farrell’s life will be limited to a private Mass with a graveside service to follow at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer’s Society would be appreciated.”

RAC would like to extend its sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Member of Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame 2015

Farrell (Hoppy) Hopwood, VE7RD, was inducted into the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame in 2015 and the information provided below was published in the January-February 2016 issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine in recognition of this significant achievement. We will be including a tribute article to Farrell in the March-April 2021 issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine.

Farrell Hopwood, VE7RD, better known as “Hoppy”, was born and raised in British Columbia. Hoppy’s parents were influential mentors in his early telecommunications career.

His father, Jack, was a telegrapher with Canadian Pacific (CP) Telegraphs; his mother, Mona, was a Teletype operator who worked alongside Jack. Hoppy learned the landline Morse code from his dad.

Hoppy started his telecoms career in Vancouver as a telegraph lineman for CP Telegraphs in 1948 and then transferred to BC Telephone, where he worked his way through maintaining telephone dial offices to long-distance carrier systems in Vancouver.

After the changeover to public distance dialing in 1959, Hoppy was involved with mechanical switching, TD2 microwave and large digital switching networks; and in 1971, formed a Systems Coordination Centre (SCC) to help BC Telephone and other large business users to install new telecom networks. He managed the SCC until he retired in 1992.

In 1955, Hoppy obtained his Amateur Radio licence and his first call sign, VE7AHB. He held a strong interest in all aspects of Amateur Radio, particularly DX, VHF/UHF linking and packet. He was an early member of the Canadian Radio Relay League (CRRL), the Canadian Amateur Radio Federation (CARF), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Telephone Pioneers and the North Shore Amateur Radio Club. He was also a member of the team that created an Amateur Radio station and exhibit at EXPO 86 in Vancouver.

These memberships introduced him to government regulations and the various threats to Amateur Radio bands. This led Hoppy to become an Assistant Director for the Canadian Amateur Radio Federation, followed by Director and Vice-President.

He sought the CARF Presidency on the condition that the CARF Board commit to meet with the CRRL Board to revisit prior discussions with the CRRL to create one national society. Thus began a series of meetings between CARF and CRRL.

Merging the two societies was a complex and delicate process for the whole merger team and when roadblocks occurred it was up to the two Presidents to find a way around.

Hoppy particularly appreciated working with CRRL President Dana Shtun, VE3DSS (now also VE3DS), who shared the vision for a strong national Canadian Amateur Radio society and served as RAC’s first Vice-President.

Hoppy was appointed RAC President and remained in this post for six years. During this period the new RAC team improved services to members and to the Amateur Radio community in Canada. Hoppy retired at the end of 1998 after serving three terms as President.

Hoppy was inducted into the Hall of Fame on December 10, 2015 at the annual banquet of the North Shore Amateur Radio Club in North Vancouver, BC.

WSJT-X 2.4.0 Introduces New Digital Protocol Q65

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From ARRL.org

WSJT-X version 2.4.0 has introduced a new digital protocol called Q65, which is designed for “minimal two-way QSOs over especially difficult propagation paths,” the Quick Start Guide says.

“On paths with Doppler spread more than a few hertz, the weak-signal performance of Q65 is the best among all WSJT-X modes. Q65 is particularly effective for tropospheric scatter, ionospheric scatter, and EME on VHF and higher bands, as well as other types of fast-fading signals.”

The new protocol uses 65-tone frequency-shift keying and builds on the demonstrated weak-signal strengths of QRA64, introduced in 2016. User messages and sequencing are identical to those in FT4, FT8, FST4, and MSK144. Q65 employs a “unique tone” to sync time and frequency. “As with JT65, this ‘sync tone’ is readily visible on the waterfall spectral display,” the Guide said. “Unlike JT65, synchronization and decoding are effective even when meteor pings or other short signal enhancements are present.

Transmit/receive sequence lengths of 15, 30, 60, 120, and 300 seconds are available. According to the Guide, “Q65 will enable stations with a modest Yagi and 100 W or more and to work one another on 6 meters at distances up to ~1600 kilometers at most times, in dead band conditions.”

FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35

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From: ARRL.org

The FCC has agreed with ARRL and other commenters that its proposed $50 fee for certain amateur radio applications was “too high to account for the minimal staff involvement in these applications.” In a Report and Order (R&O), released on December 29, the FCC scaled back to $35 the fee for a new license application, a special temporary authority (STA) request, a rule waiver request, a license renewal application, and a vanity call sign application. All fees are per application. There will be no fee for administrative updates, such as a change of mailing or email address.

This fall, ARRL filed comments in firm opposition to the FCC proposal to impose a $50 fee on amateur radio license and application fees and urged its members to follow suit.

As the FCC noted in its R&O, although some commenters supported the proposed $50 fee as reasonable and fair, “ARRL and many individual commenters argued that there was no cost-based justification for application fees in the Amateur Radio Service.” The fee proposal was contained in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in MD Docket 20-270, which was adopted to implement portions of the “Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act” of 2018 — the so-called “Ray Baum’s Act.”

“After reviewing the record, including the extensive comments filed by amateur radio licensees and based on our revised analysis of the cost of processing mostly automated processes discussed in our methodology section, we adopt a $35 application fee, a lower application fee than the Commission proposed in the NPRM for personal licenses, in recognition of the fact that the application process is mostly automated,” the FCC said in the R&O. “We adopt the proposal from the NPRM to assess no additional application fee for minor modifications or administrative updates, which also are highly automated.”

The FCC said it received more than 197,000 personal license applications in 2019, which includes not only ham radio license applications but commercial radio operator licenses and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) licenses.

The FCC turned away the arguments of some commenters that the FCC should exempt amateur radio licensees. The FCC stated that it has no authority to create an exemption “where none presently exists.”

The FCC also disagreed with those who argued that amateur radio licensees should be exempt from fees because of their public service contribution during emergencies and disasters.

“[W]e we are very much aware of these laudable and important services amateur radio licensees provide to the American public,” the FCC said, but noted that specific exemptions provided under Section 8 of the so-called “Ray Baum’s Act” requiring the FCC to assess the fees do not apply to amateur radio personal licenses. “Emergency communications, for example, are voluntary and are not required by our rules,” the FCC noted. “As we have noted previously, ‘[w]hile the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communications service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications, is one of the underlying principles of the amateur service, the amateur service is not an emergency radio service.’”

The Act requires that the FCC switch from a Congressionally-mandated fee structure to a cost-based system of assessment. The FCC proposed application fees for a broad range of services that use the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS), including the Amateur Radio Service, which had been excluded previously. The 2018 statute excludes the Amateur Service from annual regulatory fees, but not from application fees.

“While the Ray Baum’s Act amended Section 9 and retained the regulatory fee exemption for amateur radio station licensees, Congress did not include a comparable exemption among the amendments it made to Section 8 of the Act,” the FCC R&O explained.

The effective date of the fee schedule has not been established, but it will be announced at least 30 days in advance. The FCC has directed the Office of Managing Director, in consultation with relevant offices and bureaus, to draft a notice for publication in the Federal Register announcing when rule change(s) will become effective, “once the relevant databases, guides, and internal procedures have been updated.”

AMSAT CW Activity Day 2021 Takes Place On New Year’s Day

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AMSAT has announced that its CW Activity Day 2021 will take place all day on Friday, January 1, 2021, starting at 0000 UTC (New Year’s Eve in North American time zones). Operate CW through any amateur radio satellite. Straight keys and semi-automatic keys (bugs) are encouraged. No logs are necessary, but AMSAT asks participants to post brief activity reports on the AMSAT bulletin board (AMSAT membership is not required). During this and all other satellite activity, use only the minimum power needed to complete contacts.

Thanks to Ray Soifer, W2RS

Registration is now underway for RAC Basic Winter 2021 Course!

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For immediate release:

Radio Amateurs of Canada is once again offering an online Amateur Radio course so that individuals from all across Canada can obtain their Amateur Radio Operator Certificate with Basic Qualification while continuing to practise social/physical distancing.

The course will again be conducted with the assistance of the Annapolis Valley Amateur Radio Club (AVARC) of Nova Scotia.

This course prepares students for the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) Basic Qualification Level Operator Certificate exam to operate on allocated Amateur Radio frequencies.

Schedule and Cost:

Date: The course will start on Thursday, January 14 and will finish in late March.

Time: Classes will be held on Thursday evenings from 6 pm to 8:30 (1800 – 2030) Eastern Time (1900 – 2130 Atlantic Time) and Sunday afternoons 1 pm to 3:30 pm (1300 – 1530) Eastern Time (1400 – 1630 Atlantic Time).

Cost: The registration fee for the course is $50 plus GST/HST. The cost of the Basic Study Guide is extra and an order link will be provided upon completion of payment.

Instruction: 

The course will use the GoToMeeting web-based service. Students will receive instructions on how to log on to the online sessions once they have registered for the course. Classes will be recorded, so occasional absences are not a problem.

The course instructor is Al Penney, VO1NO. Al was first licensed in 1977 and has been active in many areas of Amateur Radio including contesting, DXing, VHF/UHF weak signal, satellites, emergency communications and DXpeditioning. He has served as the President of six different Amateur Radio clubs in both Canada and the United States and currently chairs the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 Band Planning Committee. Al has taught the Basic Qualification Amateur Radio Course since 1994.

Course material pertaining to all topics covered in the course syllabus will be provided to all registered students. It is also provided in PDF format below.

Students must have a copy of the Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Qualification Study Guide provided by Coax Publications. For more information please visit the RAC Study Guides webpage.

It is essential that all students have the necessary equipment and bandwidth capable of taking the course – at least a tablet or PC and a DSL broadband connection.

Download (PDF, 446KB)

Registration: 

If you would like to take part in this course please register now by completing the registration form provided on the RAC website at:

https://www.rac.ca/basic-course-registration-form-winter-2021/

Other Amateur Radio Courses:

Amateur Radio Basic and Advanced Qualification courses are also now being provided both online and in person by Canadian Amateur Radio Clubs and organizations. Please visit the Amateur Radio Courses webpage for more information at the link provided below.

Amateur Radio Courses

Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA
RAC President and Chair

ARISS SSTV Event Scheduled for December 24 to 31

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Celebrating 20 Years of Continuous Operations on ISS

For immediate release:

An ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event is scheduled from the International Space Station (ISS). This will be a special SSTV event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ARISS on board the International Space Station.

Twenty years ago, on November 13, 2000, the Expedition-1 crew turned on the ARISS Ericsson radio for the first time and completed several contacts with ARISS ground stations around the world to validate the radio communications system.

These inaugural contacts launched an incredible two-decade operations journey on the International Space Station (ISS), enabling ARISS to inspire, engage and educate our next generation of explorers and provide the Amateur Radio community a platform for lifelong learning and experimentation.

The ARISS SSTV event is scheduled to begin on December 24 at 16:40 UTC and continue through December 31 ending at 18:15 UTC.

Note: Dates are subject to change due to ISS operational adjustments.

Images will be downlinked at 145.8 MHz +/- 3 kHz for Doppler shift and the expected SSTV mode of operation is PD 120.

Radio enthusiasts participating in the event can post images they receive at the ARISS SSTV Gallery at https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/ .

After your image is posted at the gallery, you can acquire a special award by linking to https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ and follow directions for submitting a digital copy of your received image.

For more information on the SSTV event please visit:

http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/

For more information about the ARISS program please visit:

ARISS homepage: https://www.ariss.org/

ARISS Canada: https://www.rac.ca/ariss/

RAC Canada Winter Contest

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In December each year, Radio Amateurs of Canada sponsors the RAC Canada Winter Contest. Amateurs all over the world are invited to participate. 

Contest Period: 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC December 19, 2020. 

The global pandemic will most likely still be a fact of life on Saturday, December 19 when the RAC Canada Winter Contest takes place and we want to make sure that everyone participates safely. The RAC Contest Committee is therefore asking all participants to follow the guidelines provided by the government and health officials in your respective area for any of the multi-op categories enabled within the contest. If you do carry out an operation in any of the multi-op categories, please advise as part of your log submission that you have followed your locally applicable guidelines for group sizes and social (physical) distancing. 

Mode:CW, Phone
Bands:160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2m
Classes:Single Op All Band (QRP/Low/High)
Single Op CW
Single Op Phone
Single Op Single Band
Single Op Overlay: Rookie
Multi-Single (Low/High)
Multi-Multi
Max operating hours:24 hours
Max power:HP: >100 watts
LP: 100 watts
QRP: 5 watts
Exchange:VE: RS(T) + (province/territory)
non-VE and VE0: RS(T) + Serial No.
QSO Points:VE/VE0: 10 points
non-VE/VE0: 2 points
RAC official stations: 20 points
Multipliers:VE provinces and territories (13), once per mode per band
Score Calculation:Total score = total QSO points x total mults
Submit logs by:January 31, 2021
E-mail logs to:canadawinter[at]rac[dot]ca
Mail logs to:Radio Amateurs of Canada 
720 Belfast Road, Suite 217 
Ottawa, Ontario K1G 0Z5 
Canada
Find rules at:https://www.rac.ca/rac-canada-winter-contest-2020/

New “Rookie Plaque”

The new “Rookie Plaque” will be sponsored by RadioSport Manitoba and the Winnipeg Amateur Radio Club and will begin with this year’s RAC Canada Winter Contest which will be held on Saturday, December 19.

“Rookie” is defined as a single operator who was first licensed as a Radio Amateur less than 36 calendar months (three years) before the date of the contest being entered in this subcategory. Any level of Amateur Radio licence available from the licensing jurisdiction qualifies for the subcategory.

The participating licensed Amateur is required to self-declare their eligibility, but the RAC Contest Management Committee reserves the right to request proof of eligibility to assist in resolving any disputes.

Eligible Categories for the Rookie Plaque:

Participants are eligible for the new Rookie Plaque in the following categories. Note: only one plaque is available across the three categories designated below.

  • Single Operator All Band Low Power (SOABLP)
  • Single Operator All Band High Power (SOABHP)
  • Single Operator All Band QRP Power (SOABQRP)

Qualification for the Rookie Overlay Category:

Any Single Operator All Band entrant, in the categories noted above, who meets the Rookie requirements will need to select or enter the Rookie category by adding a new “Category-Overlay: Rookie line” in the Cabrillo log file header. You may need to manually enter this line if the logging software you use does not support this category overlay.

In addition, entrants will need to indicate the date they were first licensed by adding a comment with that information in a “Soapbox:” field in the Cabrillo header. An example would be: “Soapbox: First licensed in January of 2019.”

Rookie participants will still qualify for the plaques in the three eligible categories should they receive the highest score in one of those categories. Previous rookie winners are ineligible for an additional Rookie Plaque in future contests.

RAC Cabrillo Guidelines:

As indicated above, as part of the contest rules update around the new Rookie subcategory we have updated the RAC Contest Cabrillo Guidelines document to reflect these changes. Specifically there is now a Category-Overlay field in the specifications with the expected input to be “Rookie”.

We hope that contest software authors will be able to update their software to include these changes. Until that time, contesters will have to manually enter the following line in their Cabrillo log: “Category-Overlay: Rookie” if they qualify as a rookie and wish to compete for this new plaque.

We have also aligned our Cabrillo document to update to all the current Cabrillo specifications to the published standards that apply to our contests based on the 2020 publication of the V3 standards.

The updated document is available for download: