February, 2007

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FCC Suspends Vanity Call Sign Processing
The FCC has put new Amateur Radio vanity call sign processing on hold while it modifies the software that handles vanity applications. The suspension is a result of a rule change that went into effect December 15 to discourage the filing of multiple applications by one individual for the same call sign. The FCC is still processing vanity call sign renewal applications.

Visalia International DX Convention 2007 set for April
The 2007 International DX Convention takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 27-29, at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Visalia, California. The Northern California DX Club (NCDXC) sponsors this ARRL-sanctioned convention, which annually draws visitors from around the world. The 2007 convention theme is "Elmering New DXers is Job Number One!" Other program offerings will include DX, Top Band and contest forums as well as technical talks. The banquet is Saturday. Complete information and registration forms are available on the convention Web page.

Scarborough Reef still heads Top 10 most-wanted DXCC entities list
The DX Magazine, published by Carl Smith, N4AA, has released the results of its 2006 most-wanted DXCC entities survey, The Daily DX reports. The newsletter notes that the survey list omitted Swains Island (KH8/S), which joined the DXCC List last July 22 and may otherwise have been number one. For 2006, Scarborough Reef (BS7) remains on top. The second most-wanted entity is Lakshadweep Islands (VU7), where a second DXpedition in as many months is now on the air with the call signs VU7RGand VU7MY. North Korea (P5) still holds the number-three slot, followed inorder by Yemen (7O), Navassa (KP1), Glorioso (FR/G), Bouvet (3Y/B), Desecheo (KP5), Marion Island (ZS8) and Heard Island (VK0/H). Displacedfrom the Top 10 in 2006 were Peter I (3Y/P) and Andaman Islands (VU4). The complete listing of the Top 100 most-wanted DXCC entities eventually will appear on the DX Publishing Web site.

Your New Pilot: H.A.L.
The European Commission (EC) is funding development of a 230-seat pilotless airliner, according to a report this week by Flight International. According to the magazine, the math behind the program forecasts a jet with 10 more seats than its piloted brethren plus design and technology improvements that would allow it to burn 1,500 fewer gallons while also requiring less maintenance. The report does not indicate if those advances would be for some reason unavailable to pilot-included aircraft. The EC's $691 million project aims to produce an aircraft "capable of seamless operations in the proposed Innovative Future Air Traffic System." Forecasters expect slightly higher acquisition and operating costs for the pilotless aircraft, with the latter consequence due in part to higher aircraft utilization. Early this month, the Ottowa Citizen reported that Boeing had a patent pending for an "uninterruptible" autopilot that would fly and land an airliner in the event that its pilots were killed, incapacitated or otherwise relocated by aspiring evildoers. Some might see the EC's latest move as a different approach to unwanted influence in the cockpit.

Here's one seatmate you'll be glad you avoided ...
A 51-year-old Delta passenger was sentenced Friday to one year of probation and ordered to pay $2,931 in restitution. The financial penalty assessed to Svetlana Yankovsky is equal what it cost Delta to divert a flight to Denver after Yankovsky "slapped a flight attendant and said she was putting a 'hex' on [the] flight earlier this year," the Rocky Mountain News writes. A complaint filed in U.S. District Court says Yankovsky was drinking from a wine bottle on her Las Vegas-to-New York flight and became angry when a flight attendant took the bottle from her. Yankovsky apparently then became agitated and yelled at the attendant to return her "red water." The Rocky Mountain News adds that "she also began singing and chanting and telling people on board they were going to die, their children were going to die and their grandchildren were going to die." According to the newspaper, Yankovsky "is a Russian entertainer who travels the country performing song and dance shows." She currently is free on bond, but has not been allowed to travel by air since her arrest.

February, 2007

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