| QTH | Bergen County, NJ |
| LOC | FN21wb |
| Web | https://www.k2cr.com/ |
In March of 2024, I filed a #FOIA with the #FCC, trying to find the reason why the callsigns N6ER and N1GI were not being assigned. They seemed to be banned and the FCC helpdesk would merely say that these callsigns were "unavailable to any applicant."
A week ago I received a heavily redacted FOIA response including email records which indicate that these callsigns are not available due to similarity to obscenity. The full list of callsigns banned in this manner is currently still unknown.
The #FCC is affected by the government #shutdown. Although ULS accepted vanity applications this morning, it is now redirecting to a shutdown notice page.
As such, I cannot verify that the information on https://vanities.k2cr.com/ is still correct. I've added a notice at the top of every page stating so.
Good luck to all federal employees during this time.
I'm stoked that I was able to repair my car stereo today. I found cold solder joints on the press-fit SMT connector that interfaces the front panel of the head deck to the main controller board of the radio. Adding some solder and reflowing the pins on the connector was all it took.
Big thanks to repair guru @nq4t for helping me work the problem.
For reference, this is a Pioneer DEHM8047ZT, OEM in the 2005 Scion tC.
I have been getting some inquires about a new prediction on my vanities site, "Blacklisted by FCC".
I noticed that there have been dozens of applications for the callsigns N6ER and N1GI over the last year, but they have not been assigned. I concluded that something was odd in the FCC's vanity #callsign processing.
When I asked the #FCC Helpdesk, they responded stating that "These callsigns are not available to any applicant". So this appears to be a new state, with these callsigns blacklisted.
The #FCC #ULS is down, and so there are no updates for vanity callsigns at https://vanities.k2cr.com/. We cannot pull the ULS data exports via http, but they are still available via FTP: ftp://wirelessftp.fcc.gov/pub/uls/
#ARRL reports no expected return to service date: http://www.arrl.org/news/updated-fcc-uls-unavailable-filing-deadlines-extended
It is now reported that #adsbexchange is being #DDOS attacked. All community-contributed #ADSB feeds seem down, and only ADS-C feeds are displayed. These are mostly ocean-crossing aircraft operating away from land.
More on ADS-C here: https://www.skybrary.aero/articles/automatic-dependent-surveillance-contract-ads-c
Definition Automatic dependent surveillance — contract (ADS-C): means by which the terms of an ADS-C agreement will be exchanged between the ground system and the aircraft, via a data link, specifying under what conditions ADS-C reports would be initiated, and what data would be contained in the reports. (ICAO)
Site #2 is not recommended due to QRM and local cops.
Overall, the driving:QSO ratio was pretty high, but it was good fun scouting out some new locations.
I was operating 2m SSB and FM only. On Sunday it seems almost everyone had switched to FT8, so I missed out on a lot. Maybe next time.
This weekend I spent some time doing the #ARRL January #VHF #contest as a #rover station. For those unfamiliar, you drive to multiple gridsquares and get to work everyone again. I was able to operate from 3 grids and 4 sites:
â‘ Eagle Rock Reservation, NJ FN20vt
â‘¡ Stag Hill, Mahwah, NJ FN21vc
â‘¢ Minnewaska State Park, NY FN21vr
â‘£ Mohawk Mountain, CT FN31it
Highlight of the event was working a new grid square FN11, with KN3B beaming towards me.
