[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1335 - March 14, 2003
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Amateur Radio Newsline 1335 - March 14, 2003
The following is a Q-S-T. The FCC has a new tool to keep people honest and
the ARRL tries again in Congress. These stories are first on Amateur Radio
Newsline report number 1335 coming your way right now.
**
RADIO RULES: FCC SAYS YOU HAVE TO TELL THE TRUTH
If you have to contact the FCC, be sure to tell the truth. This is because
the Commission has revised its own rules to strengthen the requirements for
the submission of truthful statements to the agency. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, tells you who is affected and what it all
means:
--
As amended, section 1.17 of the Commission's Rules prohibits written and
oral statements of fact that are intentionally incorrect or misleading. It
also prohibits written statements of fact that are made without a
reasonable basis for believing that the statement is correct and not
misleading.
In requiring that submitters of written statements in fact-based
adjudications and investigations have a reasonable basis to believe that
what they say is correct and not misleading, the Commission is imposing on
the submitters a duty of due diligence. This includes the obligation to
take appropriate affirmative steps to determine the truthfulness of what is
being submitted.
The now revised section 1.17 broadens the category of persons subject to
its requirements to include any applicant for, or holder of, any Commission
authorization. Also subject is any person performing without Commission
authorization an activity that requires Commission authorization; any
recipient of a Commission citation or letter of inquiry, or any person
subject to a Commission or staff investigation
Others covered include those in a proceeding to amend the FM or Television
Table of Allotments, any person filing an expression of interest, and, to
the extent not already covered, any cable operator or common carrier.
Perhaps the most interesting of these is any person performing without
Commission authorization an activity that requires Commission
authorization. That's a fancy, legalese way of saying bootleggers. And
its telling bootleggers that lying to the Commission can bring with it some
pretty hefty penalties. Consequences far more severe than just the act
of unlicensed operation, itself.
The amended rule applies to all investigatory and adjudicatory matters. It
does not apply to declaratory ruling or to rulemaking proceedings except
for expressions of interest in proceedings to amend the FM or Television
Table of Allotments, and tariff proceedings. Attorneys and engineers
acting in their representational capacities are not covered by the amended
rule.
Simply stated, almost everyone is now subject to the revised and enhanced
section 1.17 FCC rule. This includes all of us with Amateur Radio Service
callsaigns attached to our names.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reporting.
--
The FCC claims that this new rule is a clearer, more comprehensive, and
more focused articulation of the standards for truthful statements than the
old rule. The Commission also said that it will enhance the effectiveness
of its enforcement efforts. You can read it all at:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-231908A1.doc and
at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-45A1.doc
(FCC)
**
RADIO RULES: FCC TO CONSIDER RECEIVER STANDARDS
The FCC has decided to consider on an item that it has been extremely
reluctant to act on in the past. That being the setting of interference
immunity performance specifications for receivers.
Specifically, the FCC says that it will consider a Notice of Inquiry
concerning the possibility of incorporating receiver interference immunity
performance specifications into its spectrum policy on a broader basis.
It all falls under MM Docket No. 00-39. Its titled Interference Immunity
Performance Specifications for Radio Receivers; Review of the Commission's
Rules and Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Television. You can
read more on the web at the U-R-L appearing in the print edition of this
weeks Amateur Radio Newsline report. Its all in cyberspace
at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-
231820A1.doc (CGC)
**
RADIO POLITICS: AR SPECTRUM PROTECTION ACT IN BOTH HOUSES
The ARRL Letter reports that the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of
2003 now has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. Idaho Senator
Michael Crapo introduced the Senate version of the bill, S 537, on March
6. Its original cosponsors were Senators Daniel Akaka and Larry
Craig. Florida Representative Michael Bilirakis put the latest House
version of the bill, HR 713, into the legislative hopper on February 12th.
HR 713 and S 537 are twin ARRL initiatives aimed at ensuring the
availability of spectrum to Amateur Radio operators. The legislation would
protect existing Amateur Radio spectrum against reallocations to - - or
sharing with -- other services unless the FCC provides equivalent
replacement spectrum elsewhere.
The Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act legislation has already been
introduced twice before Congress. League President Jim Haynie, W5JBP,
believes this third time could be the proverbial charm. (ARRL)
**
HIGH TECH SHOWDOWN: IRAQ MAY TRY TO JAM SATS
I'm Blair Alper, KA9SEQ, with this late breaking story.
If Iraq could tries to jam U.S. military satellites during a possible
invasion, it will be in for quite a surprise. This, according to a
Pentagon official who hints that the United States already has
countermeasures in place.
News reports say that Iraq is reportedly seeking ways to jam the Global
Positioning Satellites that would be used to help guide so-called smart
bombs. But Brigadier General Franklin Blaisdell who is the Air Force's
space operations director says it really can't be done these days. He says
that any enemy that would depend on G-P-S jammers for their livelihood is
in grave trouble.
Blaisdell says that, as it did during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the
Defense Department is buying access to commercial communications
satellites. This, to help provide the massive bandwidth needed to connect
all the high-tech gear a modern army uses. He adds that the military also
successfully launched a broadband communications satellite on Monday the
10th.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Im Blair Alper, KA9SEQ, reporting.
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO ASSISTANCE REQUESTED IN MA. PLANE CRASH
Ham radio was called out on March 3rd to help locate a missing
aircracft. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has the rest of
the story:
--
John Spencer, WA1NTI, was listening to his radio club's 146.91 MHz repeater
in the Pittsfiels Massachusetts area early on Monday morning March
3rd. That's when John Lindley, WA1ZHM , put out a call looking for hams
who could assist in locating a downed aircraft.
According to information provided by Arthur Rowe, N1ORC, Lindley said it
was the Massachusetts State Police who requested radio amateurs assist in
the search. In fact it was about 4 a.m. when a Lieutenant from the State
Police Task Force came knocking on WA1ZHM's door. At the time the location
of the aircraft was unknown and there was a wide search area to cover. The
police told Lindley that the agency needed people with radio knowledge and
equipment who could help triangulate the location.
Spencer says that the operators who could help out were told to report to
the Sheffield Massachusetts Police Department. There they were briefed and
shown an area of Beartown State Forest where the crash site was believed to
be. The hams were tasked with listening for the airplanes 121.5
MHz Emergency Locator Transmitter and trying to T-hunt its exact location.
Gary Kleinerman, K1SXA, was put in charge of the group of seven hams. The
downed aircraft was located by a Search and Rescue helicopter about 3 miles
in from where Kleinerman and Spencer had been assigned to search. The
chopper pilot also saw that there was at least one survivor.
Due to terrain, another heavy-duty rescue helicopter was called in from
Albany New York to help rescue three boys who survived the crash.
Unfortunately rescuers found the boys parents and two of their siblings
were dead at the scene.
And even though the ham radio operators were not the first to find the
downed aircraft, those involved in organizing the search and rescue effort
thought enough of the skill of radio amateurs to have them take
part. That's why they knocked on WA1ZHM's door in the middle of the night.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP.
--
The three hour rescue involved police, fire and E-M-S from Massachusetts
and New York. Volunteer manpower for the search came from Massachustts and
Connecticut. (N1ORC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: NO AUTOMATIC CONTROL FOR YOU
On the enforcement scene, the FCC told David Price, WA6FUL, that he may not
operate his repeaters under automatic control. This, while the enforcement
Bureau reviews allegations of rules violations.
In a letter to Price from the FCC's Riley Hollingsworth, the Redwood City
California ham was informed that these include charges of failure to
identify and transmitting false call signs. Price was also warned that
continued violations could lead to a fine or license revocation proceedings
filed against him. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: DOJ SEIZES WEB SITE DOMAIN USED FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY
Sellers of allegedly illegal FM transmitters might want to take heed. Bob
Gonsett's CGC Communicator reports that the government has seized a web
site used to sell chips designed to circumvent electronic copyright
protection. And now a Washington Post news story quotes government
officials as indicatinfg that this move could be a harbinger of other such
enforcement actions. Its all on-line in cyberspace at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7996-2003Feb26.html (CGC)
**
RADIO RULES: FCC ADJUSTS ALLOCATIONS BELOW 28 MHZ
Also from the CGC Communicator comes word that the FCC has amended various
parts of its rules. This, to implement the decisions from the World
Radiocommunication Conferences regarding various frequency bands below 28
MHz.
Affected spectrum and users include the expand A M Broadcast Band,
International Broadcast Stations, the Amateur Service, and continued use of
26.110, 26.130, 26.150 and 26.170 MHz by Broadcast Auxiliary Remote Pickup
stations. There appeared to be no earthshaking items affecting the Amateur
Radio Service. Its too is in cyberspace at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-39A1.doc (CGC)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: N1WRY BIKES THE SOUTH-EAST
Jason Baack, N1WRY, says that he will be looking for a few good
contacts. This, as he bikes across the South-Eastern United States over
the next few months.
The SERA Repeater Journal says that Baack will be riding through Georgia
and Florida during March as part of his 400 mile trek. His bicycle is
equipped with VHF FM and High Frequency SSB gear. For more information
please drop by Jason's website at www.n1rwy.com (Repeater Journal)
**
HAMVENTION 2003: N8IGS REPLACES KB8OUO AS GENERAL CHAIRMAN
With only 10 weeks till the doors open on Hamvention 2003, Pat Neff, N8IGS,
has swapped places with Jim Trangenstein, KB8OUO, and become the event's
General Chairman. According to sources close to Hamvention, Trangenstein
stepped down because he had changed jobs. This left him little time to
full-fill the obligations of the Hamvention's General Chairman's
post. Neff says that plans for Hamvention are on-target:
--
Pat Neff, N8IGS: "We are planning on having a great 52nd show and see
interest picking up as we get closer to Hamvention 2003. And, we continue
to look at ways to inprove the show and make it the Amateur Radio event
that every ham should experience at least once in their lifetime."
--
Hamvention 2003 is slated for May 16th through the 18th at its longtime
home at the Hara Arena in Dayton Ohio. More information is on the web at
www. hamvention.org (ARNewsline)
**
HAMVENTION 2003: 11TH ANNUAL CONTEST DINNER
Tickets are now on sale for the 11th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner.
According to this years Master of Ceremonies is Tim Duffy, K3LR, this years
gathnering will be held on Saturday night, May 17th, at 6:30 PM at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel on 5th and Jefferson Streets in downtown Dayton. Rich
Strand, KL7RA, is scheduled to be the after dinner speaker and the 2003
Contest Hall of Fame inductees will be formally announced by the CQ
WorldWide Contest Director Bob Cox, K3EST.
All dinner ticket orders are handled exclusively by Craig Clark, K1QX at
the Radio Bookstore up in Ringe New Hampshire. You can place your order
Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM eastern by calling 1-800-457-
7373. International orders must use the comopany's 603-899-6957 direct dial
line. For more information please visit www.radio-ware.com on the World
Wide Web (K3LR)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: NASA ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR OSP
In his report last week on the future of ham radio in space Roy Neal,
K6DUE, mentioned the possibility of a new vehicle to augment the space
shuttle fleet. Roy is back this week with more on that part of the story:
--
Audio report only. Hear it at www.arnewsline.org
--
According to Space Daily, the Orbital Space Plane will be launched using a
rocket booster and will land much like an airplane. (ARNewsline from news
reports)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AO-11
The OSCAR-11 ham radio satellite celebrated its 19th birthday on March
9th. Almost two decades old, this amazing bird continues to output
consistent signals on its 145.826 and 2401.5 MHz. beacons. It also
achieved a remarkable 100,000 orbits on October 31st, 2002. (ANS)
**
NEW FRONTIERS: THE DCC WANTS YOUR PAPERS
Technical papers are being solicited for presentation at the 22nd Annual
ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference. The gathering is slated
for Hartford, Connecticut, from September 19th to the 21st.
These papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings published
by the ARRL. Presentation by the author at the conference is not required
for publication. Information on paper submission guidelines are available
on-line at www.tapr.org/dcc.
Submission of papers is due by August 5th, 2003 and should be sent to Maty
Weinberg, ARRL Headquarters, 225 Main Street, Newington, Connecticut 06111
or by e-mail to maty at arrl.org (WB8IMY, VHF Reflector)
**
INTERNATIONAL - AUSTRALIA: THE MORSECODIANS RADIO SHOW
Mark Titterington, W1EOF, says over the web that ABC Australia has a radio
program available about the early history of the telegraph called "The
MoreseCodians." The program traces the electric telegraph from its
invention in 1832 by Samuel Morse until it became obsolete in V-K land in
the early 1960s when the last line ceased to function in Australia.
The show's full summary can be found by taking your web browser to
www.abc.net.au/rn/history/hindsight, click on more summeries and then
scrolling down to the link "MorseCodians." W1EOF says that he is making
arrangements to make the program audio available on the hamnutz.com
website. He also plans to distribute it on CD for those that don't have a
fast enough internet connection. His e-mail is w1eof at hamnutz.com. (W1EOF)
**
INTERNATIONAL - WORLDWIDE: RADIOMINISTRIES.ORG
Radioministries.org is a new website dedicated to assisting missionaries in
remote regions with the communications through Amateur Radio. According to
the groups Director, Scott Thile, K4SET, many missionary and relief groups
are working in areas without access to land based phones, cell phones, or
the Internet. These groups must find alternative ways to communicate within
the group, and with family, friends and supporters back home.
Thile says that only a small number can afford satellite telephone
service. Others must rely on alternate channels including ham radio.
K4SET hopes the new website will be of assistance to those in the
missionary field. For more information visit http://
radioministries.org. You can contact Thile by e-mail to
k4set at radioministries.org (K4SET)
**
DX
In D-X, Peter McKay, G3WQU, who has been active for a couple of years as
CN2PM and S07PM from Morocco and the Western Sahara, will be moving to East
Timor at the end of March. He operates almost exclusively CW. Look for him
operating with a 4 W prefix from his next Q-T-H. (GB2RS)
Also, DL2GAC, who has been active from several Papua New Guinea island
groups as P29VMS, has moved on to the Solomon Islands. He plans to be
active as H44MS until mid-April. (GB2RS)
And the Balkan Contest Club LZ1KZA will operate with the special event
callsign LZ125O through the 31st of March. This to commemorate the 125th
anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria. Activity is on CW, SSB and RTTY
on all the HF bands. (Via e-mail)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: A MILESTONE FOR SETI at HOME
And finally this week a story about a screen saver that is close to the
hearts of many radio amateurs. Amateur Radio Newline's Henry Feinberg,
K2SSQ, is here with the latest on a project called seti at home:
--
After what adds up to more than a million years of computation by well over
4 million computers networked worldwide, the SETI at home screensaver that
crunches data in search of intelligent signals from space has produced a
list of candidate radio sources that deserve a second look. And in a few
days the scientists behind the project will use a giant radio telescope to
take a second look based on this data.
SETI at home is a more than the usual screen saver. Its actually a very high
tech data processing program disguised as a screen saver. It springs into
action after a computer is idle for a given length of time. Its purpose is
to analyze radio telescope data downloaded to the machine over the
Internet, search for strong or unusual signals from space and file a report
back.
Many hams world-wide have embraced SETI at home and have it running around the
clock on their P-C's. They are the first to tell you that that the project
is in keeping with the spirit of Amateur Radio itself.
Now, three members of the SETI at home team will head to Puerto Rico to use
the giant radio telescope at Arecibo to revisit up to 150 places in the
cosmos. These places in space have been identified as the source of
possible signals from intelligent civilizations based on data already
processed.
The candidates for that second look are particularly strong signals or ones
that have been observed in the same spot more than once. Some of them five
or six times. SETI at home project coordinators say that limited analysis of
the signals will be done while the team collects the new data. This will
permit the observations to be halted and repeated if -- by chance -- a very
strong signal reappears.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ
--
SETI at home users could find out the results of the re-observations within
two to three months. More on SETI at home in next weeks Amateur Radio
Newsline report. (W6RCL, Published Reports)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
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Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio
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