Washington ham nominated to National Inventors Hall of Fame
Congratulations to ARRL member Don Bateman, KK7UT, of Bellevue, Washington, who will be inducted
into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May. A Honeywell engineer, Bateman invented the Ground
Proximity Warning System (GPWS) in the 1970s and the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System
(EGPWS) in the 1990s. He is one of 13 nominees this year. The EGPWS is now required in all US
turbine aircraft with at least six passenger seats. Other countries have implemented similar requirements.
As a result of EGPWS, aircraft accident rates have declined dramatically. Should a pilot of an under-control
aircraft unknowingly fly into terrain--called a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), something that usually
happens as a result of poor visibility--a computerized voice in the cockpit repeats the warning, "Terrain
ahead. Pull up! Terrain ahead. Pull up!" For the last several years, the annual CFIT rate in the US has been
nearly zero. One of Bateman's most recent aircraft safety innovations comprises a real-time map display to
make pilots aware of surrounding terrain when visibility is bad. The National Inventors Hall of Fame honors
"men and women responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic
progress possible." Bateman's name will be among 221 inventors, including the inventor of the microphone,
the inventor of the calculator and the inventor of the steam engine.--Ben Schupack, NW7DX [ARRL]
RSGB Mounts Opposition to Possible UK Radio Deregulation
The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) wants to head off any initiatives by Ofcom, the UK's
radiotelecommunication regulatory agency, to deregulate Amateur Radio. RSGB President Jeff Smith,
MI0AEX, was scheduled to meet this week with Ofcom representatives for what the Society called
"high-level discussions" on the future direction of Amateur Radio licensing in Great Britain "and the
possible lead onto deregulation of Amateur Radio over the next five to ten years."
Hacker invades Anchorage airport Web site
ANCHORAGE (AP) A hacker broke into the Web site of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
and replaced arrival and departure times with a waving Turkish flag. Screens also displayed a steely eyed
man's face in the lower right corner. Beneath it was a message crediting a Turkish hacker who goes by the
handle "iSKORPiTX" for the cyber vandalism. The flight information page on the Web site of the state-owned
was defaced at about 1:40 p.m. Sunday, airport officials said. It remained that way until about 9 p.m., when
technicians disabled that part of the site until about 6 a.m. Monday, they said. The hacker gained access only
to the airport's Web server, not its internal network on which financial documents, e-mails and other data are
stored, airport director Mort Plumb said. The break-in occurred as federal law-enforcement officials are
completing an investigation of a broader rash of cyber attacks on state computers this winter. Stan Herrera,
the state's director of enterprise technology services, said Tuesday that a defacement of another agency's
Web site during winter spurred the investigations. The breadth of the attacks is still being analyzed, and
federal officials have not released details of their investigation, he said. Lawmakers recently set aside $5
million to pay for equipment and software to make the state's computer network more secure, Herrera said.
The Brats Answer Men
Question: Some parabolic dishes are solid, while others are mesh or grid. In either case, does
all of the signal get reflected, or does some "make it through" the holes or gaps in the mesh or
grids in the dish?
Response: (paraphrased): The holes or mesh does not matter; they are only there to make the
dish lighter, and do not affect what is reflected.
Listen to the BRATS Answer Men, Heru, W3WVV and Ed, N3GXH (and sometimes Scott,
KB3JQQ) every Saturday at about 1:20 PM, after the Weekly News Bulletin on the WB3DZO
Repeater.
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