[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report December 20, 2002

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

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1323 - December 20, 2002

The following is a Q-S-T. Newfoundland joins the 5 megs experiment and 
Guam's ham radio community is reported safe following a super typhoon.  
Find out more on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1323 coming your 
way right now.


**

HAM RADIO TECHNOLOGY:  NEWFOUNDLAND JOINS 5 MEGS EXPERIMENT

The 5 megs experiment is growing once again.  This, as hams in 
Newfoundland come on board to try their hand at propagation on what may 
wind up as a future ham radio band.  Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, reports from 
Nottingham in the U-K:

--
VO1MRC, the Marconi Radio Club of Newfoundland club station, has 
received experimental authorization to transmit CW and upper sideband on 
seven spot frequencies around 5.3MHz for three four-day periods. 

The next session is from the 20th to 23rd of December inclusive and the 
frequencies that VO1MRC can use are 5260, 5269, 5280, 5290, 5319, 5329 
and 5400kHz.  The experiment is to look at the differences in ground 
wave and sky wave propagation on 3.5, 5.3 and 7mhz.  

Jeramy Boot, G4NJH.
--

The original 5 megs experiment began several months ago in the UK.  It 
required British hams to get special temporary authority to use the 
band.  The experiment proved so popular and so many hams applied that 
British telecommunications regulators had to put further permits on hold 
until they could reassess the impact to the band.  (GB2RS)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  SUPER-TYPHOON HITS GUAM - HAMS AFE AND OPERATING

Reports over a popular ham radio website that the territory of Guam was 
hit by a "Super Typhoon" on Sunday December 8th.  And while no stations 
from Guam have been heard here in the United States, reports over the 
Internet say that everyone is O-K.  We have more in this report:

--
Duncan Campbell, KF6ILA portable KH2 lives on Guam.  He says over the 
QRZ website that the typhoon packed sustained winds of 160 miles per 
hour with gusts topping 190 miles per hour.  

News reports pick up from there.  They say that the storm damaged much 
of the island's infrastructure including electrical power and knocked 
out wired and cellular telephone service.  And Campbell's posting adds 
that along with the loss of electricity and water, the port of Guam was 
the scene of a major fire that destroyed the reserve tanks of fuel used 
across the island.  The blaze started during the storm and the island is 
now low on gasoline.  He says that the sale of the remaining fuel is 
restricted to emergency vehicles only.

With the clean up now underway the good news is that all the Amateur 
radio operators on Guam are believed to be safe.  Campbell says that 
several hams are known to have lost their antenna systems and the 
islands only repeater was also blown off the air.  This, the result of 
the collapse of a nearby cellular telephone tower striking it as it 
fell.  

KF6ILA says that some hams are already back on the air handling post 
storm related communications.  All operation is on the high frequency 
bands centered near  14.310, 21.375 and 28.520 MHz.  Another frequency -
- 7.085 MHz is supposed to be used for emergencies but so far no 
stations have been heard.

By Sunday December 15th, Andersen Air Force Base and part of hotel row 
in the town of Tumon had power restored.  But news reports say that 
other parts of Guam could remain blacked out for a fairly long time.  
And even though its almost two weeks since the storm hit, if you hear 
ongoing emergency or storm related communications please give it 
priority over any other use you might have for the frequency.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of Q-News 
Australia.

--

A little more information comes from the Guam Pacific Daily News.  It 
says that that the Red Cross and Salvation Army are on Guam providing 
post typhoon relief.  Also, that the Red Cross service center has 
already processed over 200 requests for disaster assistance.   

Meantime, another poster to QRZed says that he arrived in port at Guam 
on December 14th.  N6HPX says that the repeater is back up and operating 
on 146.91 MHz, but there is nobody on the air using it.   (QRZ, Q-News, 
others)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  NEW SALVATION ARMY STATION

Speaking about the Salvation Army, word that it and the Oklahoma City 
Autopatch Association hosted the grand opening of the Salvation Army 
Emergency Communication Center.  It took place in Oklahoma on Saturday, 
December 14th. The new center is located at the Salvation Army Citadel on 
SE 44th Street in Oklahoma City.  

Frank McCollum, N5FM, the station trustee, held the first net from the 
new facility at 9 am.  McCollum helped to establish the first station in 
1986, at The Salvation Army's Arkansas Oklahoma and Divisional 
Headquarters where it remained until two years ago.  

The new station features very modern gear.  It is designed to  allow 
multiple High Frequency, VHF and UHF stations to provide ongoing 
communications services at the same time.  (WA6LBU)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  FCC CLEARS CT TESTING

Turning to enforcement news, the FCC has closed the books on its audit 
of a Connecticut VE testing session.  The good news is that no 
violations of any rules were uncovered.  The FCC's Daryl Duckworth, 
NN0W, explains:

--
Duckworth:  "The Enforcement Bureau has informed the ARRL that it has 
concluded its audit of the Trumbull Connecticut test session of May 10 
2001 and found no wrong doing by the VE's.  The Bureau cautioned the 
ARRL however, that when the number of VE's exceeds the number of test 
candidates, control and supervision of a test session is more 
complicated."
--

The FCC says that all ten V-E's did follow proper procedures while 
administering the exam.  It also thanked them for their cooperation in 
resolving the matter.  (FCC, RAIN)

**

SPECTRUM ISSUES:  REVISED 6 METER BANDPLAN IN SERA TERRITORY

The South Eastern Repeater Association's Repeater Journal says that 
there is a revised 6 meter bandplan in place for repeater operation in 
states that it oversees.  Under the new plan the 15 repeater pairs using 
2.51 MHz offset have been eliminated.  This is because the outputs of 
the 2.51 MHz spaced repeater pairs fell on the 20 Kilohertz spaced 
channels from 53.71 to 53.99 MHz.  

The South East Repeater Association says its goal is to simplify the 
bandplan for 6 meters.  The revised plan calls for 15 repeater pairs 
using 500 kHz offset and 20 kHz spacing with outputs from 51.70 to 52.92 
MHz and 39 channel pairs using 1 MHz offsets and 20 kHz spacing 
outputting between 52.01 to 53.99 MHz.  The few repeaters originally 
coordinated using the 2.51 MHz offset are being grandfathered and 
allowed to continue operation under the old system.  

The South Eastern Repeater Association is one of the nations largest 
all-volunteer repeater councils.  It provides coordination services for 
repeaters in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.  (SERA Journal)

**

SPECTRUM ISSUES:  ADDITIONAL BANDS FOR UNLICENSED DEVICES

The FCC says that it is seeking  comments on the possibility of 
permitting unlicensed transmitters to operate in additional parts of the 
electromagnetic spectrum.  According to Bob Gonsett's CGC Communicator, 
the regulatory agency specifically wants  comments on the feasibility of 
allowing unlicensed devices to operate in the TV broadcast spectrum.  

But that's not all.  CGC says that the Commission is also looking for 
comments on the feasibility of permitting unlicensed devices to operate 
in other bands and at power levels higher than other unlicensed 
transmitters.  The FCC believes that advances in computer technology 
make it possible to design equipment that could monitor the spectrum to 
detect frequencies already in use.  This says the FCC would ensure that 
transmissions only occur on open frequencies.  So far, no Amateur Radio 
service frequencies have been specifically targeted by the proposal.

More on this issue is on the FCC website at  
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-229400A1.doc  (CGC 
Communicator)

**

SPECTRUM ISSUES:  NEW BANDS FOR EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Also from the CGC Communicator comes word that  the FCC has allocated 90 
MHz of spectrum for advanced wireless services.  The bands in question 
are from 1710 to 1755 MHz and from 2110 to 2155 MHz.  

The FCC indicates that this spectrum could be used by current cellular 
and PCS licensees to expand their capacity by offering wireless voice 
and data services such as 3 G.  Or it might be used by others to support 
the development of entirely new applications that are distinct from 
existing offerings.  Either way, the FCC is seeking comments on 
licensing, technical, and operational rules.

More is on the web at  
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-228237A1.doc  (CGC 
Communicator) 

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: ROCK STAR GIVES MAJOR DONATION TO ARRL BIG PROJECT

Some good news on the ham radio education front.  The ARRL Letter says 
that rock entertainer Joe Walsh, WB6ACU, has made a major contribution 
to ARRL's Education and Technology Fund.  

According to the Leagues Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH, 
the significant gift through the Joseph F. Walsh Foundation.  Hobart 
says that it will fund an additional eight pilot schools in the ARRL 
Education and Technology Program. 

Walsh is best-known as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter with The 
Eagles and The James Gang.  He has been an active Amateur Radio operator 
for more than 37 years, is an avid collector of vintage radio  gear and 
a longtime friend of Heil Sound's Bob Heil, K9EID.  

The amount of Walsh's donation was not made public.  An up-close and 
personal profile of WB6ACU appeared in the November issue of C-Q 
Magazine.  (ARRL)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  REPEATER COORDINATION PIONEER NAMED NEVADA SM 

A ham who helped to pioneer repeater frequency coordination in Southern 
California has been named as the new ARRL Nevada Section Manager.  
Amateur Radio Newsline has a look at Dick Flanagan, W6OLD.

--
Dick Flanagan, W6OLD, is replacing Jan Welsh, NK7N as Nevada Section 
Manager.  According to an ARRL release, Flanagan, a resident of Minden 
Nevada was the recipient of the ARRL 2000 Excellence in Recruiting Award 
and was active in the successful effort to secure an Amateur Radio 
antenna bill in Nevada.  But long before that -- back in the early 
1970's, W6OLD started his ham radio political career while still a 
resident of Los Angeles California.  

It was in 1971 that W6OLD helped to create the famed Southern California 
Repeater Association or SCRA.  He also served several terms of office 
with that group.  And it was during his tenure that SCRA pioneered many 
innovations in the area of repeater coordination and dealing with the 
FCC on repeater related issues.  And under Flanagan's leadership the 
SCRA worked out a frequency sharing scheme with Baja California Mexico 
that still  remains in force --  essentially as negotiated -- more than 
two decades later.

Since moving to Nevada W6OLD has held a number of positions in the ARRL 
Field Organization.  This includes ARRL Official Observer, Official 
Emergency Station and ARRL VEC volunteer examiner. Most recently he has 
also been serving as an assistant Section Manager. 

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

--

The ARRL says that Welsh is stepping down at the end of the year for 
personal reasons.  (ARRL, SCRA Archives)

**

RADIO PUBLICATIONS:  WRTH 2003 NOW AVAILABLE

The new 2003 edition of the World Radio and T-Handbook is now available.  
Better known as WRTH, the latest edition contains the details of most 
broadcast entities plus details of transmissions made in the English, 
French, German, Spanish and Portuguese languages.  To find out more, 
take your web browser to www.wrth.org   (WRTH)

**


RADIO REMEMBERS:  STAMP COLLECTING OPERATORS

The Radio Stamp Operators Group reminds us that a year ago, on November 
15, 2001, the Japanese Postal Service released an  80-yen postage stamp 
honoring the 50th anniversary of commercial  radio and TV in that 
country.  The stamps depict the images of the microphone used when 
commercial radio  broadcasting began, the first monochrome television 
camera used for  commercial television broadcasting, and at television 
set up for street  viewing.  More information on radio stamp collecting 
is on yahoogroups at radiostamps at yahoogroups.com  (RSG)

**

THE ARNEWSLINE SUPPORT FUND REPORT WITH N6TCQ

Ladies and gentlemen, the administrator of the Amateur Radio Newsline 
support fund, Andy Jarema, N6TCQ:

--
With the holiday season upon us, I need to ask you to add one more name 
to your gift list.  Of course I'm referring to Amateur Radio Newsline.

Without going into a bunch of numbers that will bore you, let's just say 
that we will end the year with a deficit and it will grow in months to 
come.  That is unless you, the Amateur Radio Newsline listener step up 
to  help.

What we need is immediate support so we can pay the back bills and 
ongoing
support to prevent any back bills.  And only you can make it so.

Remember, Amateur Radio Newsline is a federal 501 (C)(3) not for profit  
orporation and donations to it are tax deductable.  This is an excellent 
way to do some end-of-year "window dressing" on your personal or club's 
taxable income.  

The address is the Amateur Radio Newsline Support Fund, Post Office Box 
660937, Arcadia California.  The zipcode is 91066.

If you missed that address don't worry.  It will be repeated in the 
close of this weeks report.

Andy Jarema, N6TCQ

--

Thanks Andy.  (ARNewsline Support Fund)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  BOSTON TV STATION DISRUPTS POLICE SYSTEM

A Boston-area TV station's new 24-hour-a-day digital transmitter is 
disrupting Camden County New Jersey police communications over 100 miles 
away.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Ken Locke, N8PJN, fills us in:
--
The South Jersey Courier-Post newspaper says that twice last summer, the 
new digital transmitter used by WCVB in Boston Massachusettes interfered 
with field communications to Camden County's communications headquarters 
in the town of Lindenwold.  The town's leaders want the problem to go 
away.

By way of background, WCVB began broadcasting its Federally mandated 
digital television signal on Channel 20 in 1998.  But the problem in the 
currently shared  506 through 512 megahertz  band did not show up in 
Southern New Jersey until this year.  In January WCVB began full time, 
round-the-clock digital programming.  A summertime conditon hams call 
tropospheric ducting is being tabed as the cause of the interference.

A duct acts kind of like an R-F tunnel from one geographic area to 
another.  This one is putting South Jersey in Boston's back yard and 
vice versa during the warmer months of the year.  

Engineers seem to agree that the police or the television station will 
have to move frequency. The big question is which one will make the 
change.  New Jersey Congressman Rob Andrews met with county 
representatives and is now  working to arrange a meeting between them 
and the FCC in Washington.  They want the station to move.  

But some consultants and communications lawyers feel it will be the 
county thats told to change frequency.  They say that broadcasting is 
mandated the spectrum on a primay basis.  

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ken Locke, N8PJN.
--

The bottom line.  This one looks as if it could become a political 
football for the FCC.  (South Jersey Courier-Post , Portland SBE, 
KB4KCH, others)
**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  SPACE STATION ACTION PLAN APPROVED

The leaders of the five space agencies that are partners in the 
International Space Station have approved a new operating plan for the 
orbital outpost.  Meeting in  Tokyo Japan, the group has approved. Among 
the more important items to Amateur Radio is increasing the number of 
permanent crew members so that research projects can proceed more 
swiftly.  More people on-board the ISS means an increased chance or 
QSO's.  
Right now, with limited crew resources of three Astronauts research 
takes a back seat to construction aimed at completing the orbital 
station.  By 2006 that number is expected to at least double if a method 
of emergency evacuation can first be worked out.  The current escape 
vehicle which is mandatory to ISS crew deployment can carry only three.  
(Adapted from published news reports)

**
INTERNATIONAL - CANADA:  ONTARIO SM RE-ELECTED

On the International scene, Radio Amateurs of Canada reports that Robert 
McKenzie, V-E-3-S-J-Q has been re-elected Section Manage of the Canadian 
Province of Ontario.  His next two-year term begins on March 1st..  
McKenzie ran unopposed eliminating the need for a balloted election.  
(RAC)

**

INTERNATIONAL-CANADA:  LICENSING RECORD UPDATE

Records maintained by Industry Canada and Radio Amateurs of Canada show 
that the Canadian callsign database is becoming corrupted by inaccurate 
information.  Radio Amateurs of Canada says that one of the prime 
reasons for this is the failure of some Canadian Radio Amateurs to 
advise the licensing authority  of address changes.  

The rules in Canada that the holder of an Amateur Radio Operator 
Certificate shall notify the Department within thirty days with respect 
to a change of mailing address.  Unfortunately, this does not appear to 
be happening in all cases.  (RAC)

**

INTERNATIONAL - SOUTH KOREA:  INVESTING IN THE WWW 

South Korean telephone companies plan to invest the equivalent of $10.9 
billion in U-S dollars in broadband networks by 2005.  This, as a  
growing number of people in that nation demand access to high-speed 
Internet services.

In making the announcement South Korea's Ministry of Information and 
Communication did not provide breakdowns of the investment plans.  It 
did note that South Korea boasts having the world's highest Internet 
penetration with more than one fifth of the population having access to 
high-speed Internet services.  (News release)
 
**

HAM TESTING - SOUTH AFRICA:  ZS EXAM SUCCESS

And talk about high exam scores.   The South African Radio League has 
announced that during the October 2002 Radio Amateur Examinations that 
four candidates achieved the first place in the test.  SARL says that 
each of these applicants emerged with an average of 99% in the overall 
exam.  (SARL)

**

INTERNATIONAL - UK:  FOUNDATION LICENSE PARTY

The United Kingdom plans to celebrate the first year of its new 
Foundation Class license with a big on-the-air QSO Party.  The 
Foundation License for 'QSO Party' for M-3 prefix licensees and their 
friends on the 1st of January 2003 from 10:00 and 15:00UTC.  Operations 
will be on 40 meters around 7.070 MHz, plus or minus any QRM.  (RSGB)

**

DX

In DX, word of a new station on from the Sudan. His name is Marco.  His 
call sign is ST1MN, and he is reportedly will be active on all of the 
High Frequency bands through the end of June 2003.  (RSGB)

Also, VK8AN will be active as 4W6AN from Dili, East Timor.  This, from 
around the 19th of December through the end of the year.  Due to limited 
notice he will only be running about 15 watts to a dipole or groundplane 
antenna.  QSL only via VK4AAR.  (Via e-mail)
 

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: THAT FINAL ITEM:  STAR TREK -- HERE WE COME

And finally this week a story about the ultimate form of communication.  
About sending yourself electronically to anyplace you might want to go.  
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the far out story of science fiction on its 
way to becoming science fact:

--
As incredible as it may seem, a Star Trek like transporter may be a  
step closer to reality.  This, after physicists in Denmark make two 
samples of trillions of atoms interact at some distance.   

The experiment involved a science called quantum entanglement.  This is 
a mysterious theory of a controlled spiraling of two or more particles 
without any physical contact.  Scientists say that these entangled 
states are needed for quantum computing and for teleportation. 

Before the team at the University of Aarhus made its breakthrough other 
scientists had successfully developed entangled states of a few atoms.  
But the scientists in Denmark have now done it with very large numbers.    

At the moment nobody is about to teleport anyone, anywhere.  But the 
research, which was reported in the science magazine Nature makes the 
idea of instantly transporting an object from one place to another less 
far fetched.  

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF.
--

We know you are waiting for the obvious tag line, so we won't disappoint 
you.  If all goes well, maybe the term "Beam me up - Scotty" will be 
reality in our great, great, great  grandchildrens lifetime.  The only 
question is whether or not a 5 word per minute code test will be 
required to "communicate" using that rather exotic mode.  (Future 
Technology)

**

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 Keb 
Butler, W1NNR, saying Merry Christmas, 73 and we thank you for 
listening."  Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright  2002.  All rights 
reserved.