[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1318 - November 15, 2002

[ham-news-admin at mailman.qth.net]

The following is a Q-S-T. Ham radio is a lifeline after tornadoes hit on 
Sunday November 10th.  Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline 
report number 1318 coming your way right now.

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAM RADIO AND THE NOVEMBER 10th TORNADOES

Ham radio is called out after a series of tornadoes hit in several 
states east of the Continental divide.  Thirty-five are confirmed dead.  
Damage is in the tens of millions.  And ham radio becomes a life-line 
when all other communications fail.  We start our coverage with Amateur 
Radio Newsline's David Black, KB4KCH, in our South-East bureau not far 
from one of the areas hardest hit:
--
	
For Alabama, the night of November 10th is one for the record books. The 
small town of Carbon Hill was devastated.  Ten people were killed there, 
and damage was extensive following two tornadoes--one of them, an F3 
that cut a path of destruction measuring 46 miles.  In all, 12 people 
died in Alabama.

Two counties away from Carbon Hill, amateur radio operators were on duty 
at the Weather Service's Birmingham Forecast Office, where forecasters 
were issuing a total of 46 Tornado Warnings.  The ham radio group that 
works with the Weather Service is called the Alabama Emergency Response 
Team, or ALERT.  Chuck Arthur, KF4SSX, is ALERT's President:

--
Arthur:  "It was very busy.  We had four of our members down there from 
4 p.m. until after 2 a.m. and we were busy the entire time we were down 
there"
--

At one point, more than half a dozen Alabama counties--stretching from 
eastern Tennessee to eastern Mississippi--were all under Tornado 
Warnings at the same time.

--
Arthur: "We are able to talk to all of the different storm-spotter nets 
across North Alabama and of coarse the National Weather Service coverage 
area and receive reports of damage, tornado touch-downs, hail and all of 
the important pertinent things that the Weather Service is interested 
in"
--

Arthur says emergency communications were conducted on VHF and UHF 
frequencies:

--
Arthur:  "The storms came in from the South-West and moved all the way 
up through the North-East corner of the state three or four times in a 
row.  We had multiple counties under tornado warnings at the same time  
so it makes it very busy"
--

To the north, Tennessee was slammed hard by killer twisters, too.  17 
deaths were reported statewide, making the outbreak one of Tennessee's 
deadliest.  President Bush declared 16 Tennessee counties disaster 
areas.  From Louisiana to Pennsylvania, 88 tornadoes were reported.  

Another community hit hard was Van Wert, a town in western Ohio.  Fred 
Vobbe, W8HDU, of the DX Audio Service is in nearby Lima Ohio has that 
part of the story.

--
NOTE:  DAVE BLACK TOSSES TO FRED VOBBE IN OHIO
--

Sunday was cool and quiet, but when storms racing across Indiana quickly 
it heated up the amateur community in Van Wert, Ohio.  The call for 
amateur assistance came as Van Wert Ohio E.M.A. Director Rick McCoy, 
operating the Van Wert Amateur Radio Club's W8FY, alerted hams to an 
approaching storm. 

The storm spawned one tornado in the community of Berne, Indiana, but by 
the time the storm arrived in Van Wert there were reports of as many as 
four separate funnels. 

Listening to ham traffic on the 146.850 repeater and public service 
channels was like listening to an attack from enemy.  Call after call 
relayed the fact that there were tornadoes on the ground.  Homes, 
businesses, and even a large power feeder tower buckled and fell to the 
ground as the winds from the F4 tornadoes tore up the once pristine 
countryside. 

The initial storm spotters tracked the storm system as it entered Van 
Wert county, and then exited into Putnam County where it then hit 
Continental, Ohio.  Later the storm touched down again in Huron and 
Sandusky Counties on the south shore of Lake Erie. 

At one point a ham radio operator solemnly reported assistance as he 
came across a fatal.  Hams assisted in pulling people out of homes that 
were flattened.  Four people died, two in Putnam, and two in Van Wert 
County.   The death toll in west central Ohio could have been higher had 
spotters, and the Van Wert County E.M.A., not worked cooperatively 
together.  Hams reported to the Van Wert E.M.A. and an alert system used 
by the county which warned a group of school kids who escaped from a 
theater just seconds before it was reduced to rubble, leaving a small 
Toyota in row one.   Citizens had as much as 28 minutes to prepare for 
the storm due to the efforts of hams 

Ham involvement did not stop with spotting.  Again, working with the Van 
Wert County E.M.A., hams assisted in damage assessment, helped in local 
shelters, located downed power lines, kept traffic and the curious out 
of devastated areas, and assisted police, fire, and EMTS operators with 
communications.   Some hams stayed through the night manning 
communication centers, which helped authorities concentrate on the task 
of finding the missing, and assessing the damage. 

The storm was compared to the April 3rd, 1974, tornado in Xenia, Ohio, 
where 33 lost their lives.  Had it not been for ham radio operators 
working closely with authorities the death toll in Van Wert and Putnam 
would have been much higher. 

In west central Ohio, I'm Fred Vobbe, W8HDU, reporting for Newsline
--

You can see some of the damage from the storm at Fred's web site, 
www.vobbe.net/weather.

And one last thought:  The tornadoes of November 11th are another 
reminder of the way a disaster can occur at any place and at any time.  
And when there is no other way to communicate ham radio is always ready 
to step in.  (ARNewsline)


**

RADIO HORROR:  AMATEUR OPERATOR MURDERED IN GAMBIA

A United Kingdom ham has been killed while on vacation.  And as Jeramy 
Boot, G4NJH, tells us, it appears as if he was the victim of a rather 
violent crime.

--
Ron Ford, G3NKO, has been murdered while visiting the Gambia. Ron, from 
Waterlooville in Hampshire, had built his own holiday accommodation in 
the Gambia, from where he operated as C56RF. 

His body was found at the end of October and has been brought home for 
burial. It is thought that Ron was the victim of a robbery and the 
circumstances of the murder are now being investigated by officers of 
the Metropolitan Police.

Ron was an active member of the Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society, and 
was a regular check-in on the RSARS international net on 20-meters SSB 
from the Gambia. He had also held a number of other DX calls, including 
MP4BFH in Bahrain, MP4TBV from theTrucial States, VS2FN in Malaya and 
VS9AFR from Aden.

Jeramy Boot, G4NJH.
--

As we go to air there has been no word from Gambian officials on where 
its investigation of this crime is leading.  (GB2RS)

**

RADIO SECURITY:  BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY ON THE AIR

Use discretion an the air and help defeat the terrorists.  That's the 
sub title of Bill Sexton's MARS column appearing in the December issue 
of Worldradio Magazine.  And in it, Sexton, who holds the call N1IN says 
that American's now face a new concern over the indiscreet transmission 
of material that my seem harmless but which could be used against us by 
a terrorist enemy.  

By way of example, Sexton cites the well published airline schedules 
that were used by al-Queda terrorists to coordinate their September 11th 
attacks on New York and Washington.  This is material still available on 
every airlines website.

Sexton says that we all must all be concerned with what the military 
calls Operational Security or OPSEC.  And he indicates that it is very 
important for hams to consider what they are saying on the air because 
you can never tell who listening in.  And he says that even the most 
seemingly innocuous tidbits of information, monitored by hostile ears 
are probably being handed on to the enemy's intelligence analysts in the 
hope it will reveal some weakness or secret that can be used against us.

Sexton covers quite a bit about domestic security and how you can do 
your part.  You will find it beginning on page 50 of the December issue 
of Worldradio Magazine.  More information is on the web at 
www.wr6wr.com.  (Worldradio)

**

SPECTRUM POLICY:  FCC CHAIRMAN WANTS TO REVAMP THE NATIONS RF AIRWAVES

The government's top communications regulator wants to revamp the 
nation's current policy on use of the public the airwaves.  Bill 
Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the details:

--
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell says that he 
rejects the notion that there is not enough spectrum to go around for 
those who want it.  And the FCC leader is proposing an almost total 
overhaul of the nations telecommunications policy involving radio 
frequencies used for everything from television broadcasts to wireless 
Internet devices and everything in-between. 

Powell says he hopes technology and new FCC policies will take advantage 
of all empty and underused spectrum, possibly by using time sharing 
techniques.  He says that recent tests conducted by his agency in five 
major U-S cities show that there are many under utilized spectral 
parcels available for sharing.  This is especially true when some 
frequencies are used only at certain times of the day and are otherwise 
left empty.  

What is evident is that the FCC is looking at ways to better utilize 
every hertz from D-C to light and beyond.  And if a mandatory sharing of 
most spectrum is put in place there's a good chance that all hobby and 
personal radio -- including ham radio -- will be sharing in some future 
yet to be established all-digital domain. 

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF.

--

The frequency bands referred to by Chairman Powell were not  detailed in 
the news release.  (Various FCC and other news releases)

**

SPECTRUM POLICY:  AUSTRALIA ISSUES PAPER ON SPECTRUM USE

The United States is not the only place where spectrum use and bandspace 
is an issue.  It's also under study in Australia where Q-News Trevor 
Tague, VK4BAT, tells us what the Australian Communications Agency is 
doing:

--
The ACA has prepared a Discussion Paper outlining a range of issues 
relating to the operation of spectrum licensing and posing some 
questions for discussion.

The paper does not attempt to present the ACA's assessment of these  
issues but rather aims to provide a starting point for industry debate  
about the effectiveness of the spectrum licensing concept in the light  
of experience since its implementation in Australia some five years ago.

Trevor Tague, VK4BAT, reporting for Q-News.
--

The Australian Communications Agency is soliciting input on this matter 
from the citizens of V-K.  (Q-News)

**

HAM RADIO EDUCATION:  THE BIG PROJECT KEEPS GETTING BIGGER

Back here in the United States, the December issue of QST will feature 
an article on the American Radio Relay League's  Education and 
Technology program better known as "The Big Project".  And, according to 
an Internet posting to QRZed dot com by League President Jim Haynie, 
W5JBP, the program which got off the ground late last year grew to 26 
schools in 2002.

When President Haynie proposed this project to the League's Board of 
Directors, he said that it should be funded by donations, not dues.  
That's exactly what has happened and he now says that he is gratified at 
the results to date. 

W5JBP says that the Amateur Radio community has sent a loud and strong 
message that this is something that they want.  He adds -- and we quote:  
"I, and the entire ARRL organization want to thank you for that 
support." 

At least 14 more schools are lined up to join the Big Project in 2003.  
The full text of Jim Hayne's posting is at www.qrz.com. (Adapted from 
QRZ.COM)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  WASHINGTON LAW NAILS SPAMMER

An Oregon man was ordered to pay nearly $100,000 in the first case 
brought under Washington state's tough law against "spam" e-mails.  
Attorney General Christine Gregoire's office estimates that 28 year old 
Jason Heckel of Salem, sent as many as 20,000 unsolicited e-mails to 
Washington residents in 1998, trying to sell a $39.95 booklet called 
"How to Profit from the Internet." 
   
The case was the first brought after the Legislature banned commercial 
e-mail with misleading information in the subject line, invalid reply 
addresses or disguised paths of transmission. Judge Douglass North 
ordered Heckel to pay a $2,000 fine and more than $94,000 in legal fees. 
   
Heckel didn't appear in court. His lawyer Dale Crandall said he plans to 
appeal,  Crandall says that state anti-spam laws violate the U.S. 
Constitution's protection of interstate commerce.   (Published news 
reports)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  OHIO HAM AGREES TO VOLUNTARY SUSPENSION

An Ohio ham has agreed to a voluntary one year suspension of his 
operating privileges.  This after the FCC accused him of interfering 
with a Cincinnati area repeater system.  The FCC's Daryl Duckworth, 
NN0W, explains:

--
Duckworth: "The Enfocement Bureau, by agreement, imposed a one year 
suspension on Gary R. Weiler, KI8DI, for interference to the K8CLA 
repeater system in Cincinnatti.  The interference occurred in March."
--

Back in September the FCC sent Weiler a Warning Notice that  alleged on 
several occasions he had deliberately interfered with the K8CLA 
repeater.  That system is operated by the Cincinnati Amateur Radio Club 
which the FCC says assisted in tracing the interference to Weiler.  By 
agreeing to the one year suspension Weiler avoided harsher enforcement 
action that could have included a hefty fine and the possible revocation 
of his amateur license.  (FCC)

**

REPEATER COORDINATION:  METROCOR SAYS COORDINATION IS BACK IN NNJ-NYC-LI

Repeater coordination appears to have returned in and around the New 
York City area appears.  This with word that MetroCor has issued its 
first coordination documents on October 24th to repeater systems that 
have had no changes from their prior coordination.  

This marks the first time for any organization to issue any coordination 
documents within the area since the collapse of the Tri-State Amateur 
Repeater Council several years ago. All repeaters in the New York City, 
Northern New Jersey and Long Island New York areas are being asked  to 
file with MetroCor by December 1st so that it can meet the submission 
date deadlines of the various repeater directories.  

More information and necessary documents are in cyberspace at 
www.qsl.net/metrocor.  (MetroCor)

**

RADIO LAW:  COURT STRIKES DOWN DESCRIPTIVE VIDEO FOR THE BLIND

Bad news for the visually impaired.  A Federal appeals court says that 
the FCC overstepped its authority in ordering broadcaster to provide 
descriptive video to accommodate the blind.  Amateur Radio Newsline's 
Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reports:

--
On Friday, November 8th the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia Circuit threw out Federal Communications Commission rules 
requiring television programs to include these oral descriptions of the 
action on the screen.  In rendering its decision, the court said that 
Congress did not give the FCC the power to order the creation of this 
service.   

The court maintained that Congress only authorized and ordered the 
commission to produce a report on how best to accommodate the needs of 
the visually impaired.  Nothing more and nothing less.  And that it 
definitely did not direct the agency to create a federal mandate that a 
descriptive audio service be made mandatory.

Under video description, a narrator describes the action during natural 
pauses between dialogue. The description is available on the secondary 
or SAP audio channel which is usually used for second language 
broadcasting.

The Motion Picture Association of America had challenged the rules in 
court.  It claimed that the FCC was not authorized to issue them. Now, 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit  says 
that it agrees.  

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm, Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los 
Angeles.
--

Blind advocacy groups are criticizing the court decision.  They say its 
a setback for those who are visually impaired.  (Published reports)

**

HAM RADIO BUSINESS:  KENWOOD TO RESTRUCTURE


Some big changes at a company considered one of ham radios "big three.  
Ken Butler, W1NNR, tells about the news coming from  Kenwood:

--
Kenwood Corporation is merging five U.S. based subsidiaries.  As part of 
the  restructuring, Kenwood will combine home and car audio marketer 
Kenwood U-S-A, its repair company Kenwood Service, Kenwood 
Communications and Kenwood Systems with their parent Kenwood Americas. 
The merged entity will simply be called Kenwood.  

As part of the merger, Kenwood will expand its U.S. based home and car 
audio engineering team.  The communications business which includes 
Amateur Radio products will continue to maintain its own sales and 
marketing staff.  The consolidation won't shut down any offices or 
warehouses and the company plans to add people in an engineering 
capacity.  

Ken Butler, W1NNR.
--

The changes here in the United States are a are part of a total Kenwood 
corporate restructuring announced earlier this year.  (ARNewsline™ from 
press release)

**

OUR HERITAGE:  KFBK AT AGE 80 

Former Amateur Radio Newsline reporter Ross Du Clair, WA6VWY, passes 
along word that Sacramento California radio station has made history.  
This, as KFBK-AM 1530 celebrates its 80th birthday this month. 

Ross is the Chief Engineer for several stations including KFBK.  He says 
that his station began as the broadcast arm of McClatchy Newspapers in 
February of 1922.  McClatchy is best known as the publisher of the 
Sacramento Bee.

Today KFBK is owned by Clear Channel Communications, of Austin, Texas.  
Over the years, KFBK engineers contributed many innovations to the radio 
broadcast industry.  This includes the creation of the Ampliphase 
Modulation system adopted by RCA.

The station officially celebrated its "birthday" Friday 8 November 2002 
at the Sacramento Hyatt Regency. The legendary Rush Limbaugh was to be 
the guest of honor.  Limbaugh began his meteoric rise in talk radio from 
the studios of KFBK.  (WA6VWY)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  ISS EXPEDITION 6 ARE ALL HAMS

The new ISS Expedition 6 crew are all of licensed radio amateurs.  They 
are U-S Astronauts Ken Bowersox KD5JBP and Don Pettit KD5MDT.  Leading 
the team is Russian Cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin R-V3FB.  

The launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour was planned for November 11th.  It 
was halted only minutes before liftoff when a small oxygen leak was 
detected.  A new launch date is tentatively set for Monday November 
18th.  

The STS-113 flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled as an 11-day 
mission. During the seven days the shuttle will be docked to the 
Station, three spacewalks will be performed in addition to delivering 
the new crew.  (AMSAT)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  THE LEONID METEORS ARE COMING

Sky & Telescope magazine reports the Leonid meteor shower is due to 
sweep across Earth during the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 
19th.  If the weather is clear, we could be in for a grand celestial 
show.  And many meteor scatter enthusiasts are expected to be on the air 
attempting to make contact by bounding signals off the ionized meteor 
tails as they burn up in the planets atmosphere.  (Various sources)

**

INTERNATIONAL - CANADA:  RAC VP RESIGNS

Radio Amateurs of Canada has announced the resignation of is First Vice 
President Joe MacPherson.  MacPherson cited irreconcilable  
interpersonal differences with some members of the Board of Directors as 
the reason for his reason to stand down from the RAC Executive.  A 
replacement for MacPherson will be named within next few weeks.  (RAC)

**

CONTESTS

Turning to the contest calendar, word that the Bulgarian L Z DX contest 
begins at 12:00 U-T-C on Saturday November 16th and runs for 24 hours.   
This is a C-W only event taking place on 80 through 10 meters.  The 
approved contest exchange is an R-S-T report and your I-T-U Zone.  
(GB2RS)

**

DX

In D-X, word that OH0Z on Aland Island will be active during the 
November 23rd to the 24th CQ WW CW Contest.  He will be operating in the 
single operator, all band category. QSLs via Ari Korhonen, OH5DX, at his 
callbook address.  (GB2RS)

And KX7YT is active on 10, 15 and 20 meters SSB and PSK31 as S-21-Y-V 
from Bangladesh.  He will be there through the 4th of December.  Q-S-L 
this one as directed on the air.  (Modern DX)

Higher in frequency, the GB3VHF 144 MHz propagation beacon was removed 
from service on November 2nd for maintenance and was expected to be for 
one week.  (RSGB)

And the GB3BUX 50 MHz beacon has suffered antenna damage due to storms a 
couple of weekends ago.  It is currently running at reduced capability 
as a result. Its sponsor says that repairs will be made as time and 
weather conditions permit.  (RSGB)


**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  FCC HONORS WORLD WAR II COMANCHE CODE TALKERS

About a year ago Amateur Radio Newsline told you about a very special 
group of Native Americans who's linguistic ability made battlefield 
communications secure during World War II.  Now, the Federal 
Communications Commission has taken the time to honor this group for id 
dedication to our nation.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, 
has the rest of the story:

--
The Comanche Code Talkers were members of a specialized communications 
unit of the U.S. Army 4th Signal Corps.  And using their ancestral 
Comanche language they created an unbreakable code used by Allied Forces 
on the battlefields of Europe.  Now, decades later our own Federal 
Communications Commission has paused to honor this group of Native 
Americans for their meritorious service to our nation.

Charles Chibitty of Tulsa, Oklahoma was the FCC's guest of honor at the 
recent ceremony.  He told how he and 16 other young men, who had grown 
up together and were all members of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma, used 
the Comanche language and their Army communications skills to create a 
military intelligence code that was never broken by the enemy.  

Even more interesting, Chibitty also shared anecdotes from their 
enlistment and training.  He explained that they even had to create  
Comanche code words for "bomber" and "tank."  These are words that did 
not exist in the Comanche language.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP.
--

Chibitty is a decorated veteran and the last surviving member of the 16 
Comanche Code Talkers. You can read more at 
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-228074A1.doc  
(CGC Communicator, FCC)

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, Amateur News Weekly, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC 
Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio 
Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB and Australia's Q-News, that's all from the 
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm).  Our e-mail address is newsline 
@arnewsline.org.  More information is available at Amateur Radio 
Newsline's(tm) only official website located at www.arnewsline.org.  You 
can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), P.O. 
Box 660937, Arcadia, California 91066. 

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim 
Damron, N8TMW and I'm Jeff Clark, K8JAC, saying 73 and we thank you for 
listening."  Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright  2002.  All rights 
reserved.