[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1383 - February 13, 2004

Sat Feb 14 08:49:41 EST 2004

Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1383 - February 13,  2004

Pennsylvania hams get ready to fight their own battle to stop B-P-L, AMSAT continues its struggle to save AO-40 and Finland gives its hams the 5 MHz band. Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1383 coming your way right now.

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THE BPL FIGHT:  PA HAMS ORGANIZE AGAINST ALANTOWN ROLLOUT

B-P-L is coming to an area near Alantown Pennsylvania and that regions ham radio community is doing all it can to stop it.  Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has the details:

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The ham behind the effort is Eric Olena, WB3FPL, the ARRL Section Manager for Eastern Pennsylvania. The company behind the campaign to expand Broadband Over Power Lines is PPL Telcom, a subsidiary of PPL - the Allentown-based electric utility company which serves northeastern and central Pennsylvania.

PPL has been testing BPL - high-speed internet over powerlines -  in Emmaus and Whitehall Township in Lehigh County for the past two years.

Recently, the Hanover Township supervisors in Northampton County, outside of Bethlehem, approved PPL's plan to offer BPL to some 2,000 residents.

But not before Mark Miller, AK3M, ARRL EPA District Emergency Coordinator in the Bethlehem area, got on the public record. Miller and Blair Bates, K3YD, learned about PPL's plans in a local newspaper article just one week before the supervisors were scheduled to vote.

Bates says they went to the supervisors meeting and nearly got bypassed.

"I had to kind of kind of jump up and request courtesy of the floor or they would have simply steamrolled the approval through without any discussion,'' Bates recalls.

After making their pitch about BPL interference, Bates says the supervisors politely turned to the PPL representative also at the meeting.

"He essentially discounted everthing that Mark and I had said," Bates recalls. "He said that there would be no impact and this was just the most wonderful thing that PP&L could do for the community."

Bates says the pair was stunned they were ignored and began mobilizing efforts to let people know what happened. Enter Olena, WB3FPL.

Olena sent out e-mail alerts and has been contacting clubs and individual hams throughout the region urging them to send e-mails and letters of protest to state regulatory agencies. He also is encouraging opening a dialogue with their own local representatives.

"Make some effort and contact some local officials and see that they get some input as to the negative side of BPL rather than being faced with a company that only gives them one side of the story," Olena says.

The reason: It may not be in your back yard now, but it could be there a lot sooner than you think.

"With all the other business that local officials have to concern themselves with, they are presented with a program and there aren't a whole lot of voices speaking up and telling the reverse side of that story," Olena says. "And, consequently, I feel it's up to the hams who have a lot of information on that score to present them with some of the negative side so that they don't jump too far in advance of making a proper decision."

Bates says one ham in PPL's Hanover Township project has across-the-board interference on 10 meters. While Bates says it's good to let local and state officials know what's up, he thinks the agency which has the teeth to address it is the Federal Communications Commission.

"The real letter of complaint should be going to the FCC," Bates says. "I mean here we have a case of an unlicensed service which is interfering to the point of jamming a licensed radio service."

Olena says it goes beyond the ham bands. Olena is a retired state trooper and a retired assistant communications director for Berks County, PA.

"I'm hoping to get into contact with the PEMA officials and issue a letter telling our side of the BPL issue and also contacting our representatives from the Association of Public Safety Communications officers - which is basically the 9-1-1 directors - and see that they know the negative side of BPL and their frequencies also might be in danger depending on what they use," Olena says.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz NT3V, in Philadelphia.

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The Eastern Pennsylvania hams say that they will do everything that they can to sway utility regulators away from permitting BPL to spread. Many are writing to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Public Utility Commission, and officials in their own communities to "educate" them about the danger BPL poses. (ARNewsline(tm))

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THE BPL FIGHT:  FCC TO READY ROLL-OUT NATIONWIDE

Meantime, the FCC has taken another look at BPL and its rollout nationwide.  We have more in this report:

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The FCC says that the rollout of Broadband over Powerline should continue, but certain safeguards are needed to prevent interference from the system causing destructive interference to existing spectrum users.  This, as the FCC announces rules changes on Thursday, February 12th that the agency claims will foster broadband deployment using the significantly untapped capabilities of the nation's power grid.

The Part 15 rule changes, proposed in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted by the Commission proposes rules requiring B-P-L devices to employ adaptive interference mitigation techniques to prevent harmful interference to existing users, such as public safety and amateur radio operators.  These techniques would enable B-P-L devices to cease operations altogether, dynamically reduce transmit power, and/or avoid operating on specific frequencies to prevent harmful interference.

But that's not all.  The N-P-R-M also proposes developing a public database that would include such information as location, operational frequencies, and modulation type of B-P-L devices.  This says the FCC, should facilitate the resolution of interference issues in a timely fashion.

As to the desire of the power industry to raise R-F limits, the FCC says - no - not now.  Instead, it seeks comment on specific R-F measurement guidelines for B-P-L devices and other carrier current systems.  The FCC says that these guidelines will ensure that emission measurements for these systems are made in a consistent manner.

Will these safeguards be enough to permit B-P-L and radio services to co-exist? Only in-depth study of the overall FCC Notice will reveal that answer.  We will try to have the experts assess it for next week.  Right now, it's just too soon to say.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, reporting.

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More on the fight by ham radio to stop the implementation of BPL in future Amateur Radio Newsline reports.  (ARNewsline(tm))

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HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  AO-40 RESCUE EFFORT CONTINUES

They don't intend to give up.  That's what the AO-40 command team has indicated as it works to bring the ailing satellite back to life.

A simple explanation of what's happening is this.  Controllers have established a routine of trying to cycle the main battery off and the auxiliary battery on during every orbit.   Following this, the sequence to disconnect all transmitters is sent, to protect them from low voltage.  The theory here is that with  approximately 10 volts on the main power buss, these commands should be making it through.  But the S2 transmitter was not designed to run below 20 volts and is not coming on.

Hopefully, the main battery will eventually fail open circuit instead of short circuited as it is now.  This will allow the auxiliary battery to be brought fully on-line and permit the satellite to resume normal operations.  (AMSAT)

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RESTRUCTURING:  FINLAND ON 5 MHZ

Finnish club stations have gain access to some 5 MHz frequencies.  R-S-G-B newsreader Jerany Boot, G4NJH, has the details:

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Finnish club stations can now apply for Notices of Variation to allow them to operate on 5 Mhz. The following eight frequencies are available for use on upper sideband at up to 50 watts power: 5278.6, 5288.6, 5298.6, 5330.6, 5346.6, 5366.6, 5371.6 and 5398.6 kHz.  The first contact was made on the 27th of January between OI3W and OI3AY.

Jeramy Boot, G4NJH.

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In other works, keep your ears open for some good 5 MHz DX from Finland in coming days.  (GB2RS)

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ENFORCEMENT: YOU CAN'T SELL THOSE RADIOS IN THE USA

The FCC's Dallas Field Office  has gone after yet another source of illegal C-B gear being marketed under the guise of it being Amateur Radio equipment.  This, as the agency issues a citation to John Edward Stone of Clayton Texas.  Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has more:

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The citation issued on January 7th identifies thirty transceivers on a website allegedly run by Stone's company as being non certified for 11 meter operation. We don't have room to list all the models here but the FCC says that this gear has the ability to be modified for operation in the 10 meter Amateur Radio band.

According to the FCC, Stone does cyberspace business as Omnitronics and Pacetronics through the www.pacetronics.com website.  The agency says that each of these products noted in its citation places Pacetronics in violation of Section 302(b) and Section 2.803(a)(1) of the Commission's Rules.

Stone was given 14 days from the date he received the citation to respond.  The FCC says that any stattement or information he provides may be used by to determine if further enforcement action is required.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles.

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In its instructions to Stone the FCC waned that knowingly or willfully making any false statement in reply to the citation is punishable by fine or imprisonment.   (FCC)

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ENFORCEMENT:  FCC FINES ISSUED  FOR INDECENT PROGRAMMING

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it had fined Clear Channel Communications $755,000 for airing off-color programming on several Florida radio stations.  In addition, the FCC said it had fined Young Broadcasting another $27,500 for material that appeared on KRON-TV in San Francisco's morning news show.

According to t v week dot com, the Clear Channel fines were assessed for a series of 26 sexual references on the "Bubba the Love Sponge" program.  The KRON penalty was imposed after an actor for a stage show briefly exposed his private parts during an interview segment on the station more than a year ago.

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RADIO LAW:  XE HAM TOLD HE MUST SIGN PORTABLE 6 IN USA

The FCC has told a Mexican ham operating in California that he must sign his call portable W-6 to comply with United States Amateur Service regulations.  In a letter of clarification issued to Dana Espinoza, X-E-1-H-D-D, who currently resides in Roseville California, the FCC also said that his operating privileges while in the United States are equivalent to those of his Mexican ticket, but do not exceed those of the United States Extra class license.  (FCC)

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RADIO LAW:  PROMOTIONS AT THE FCC'S ENFORCEMENT BUREAU William Davenport has been named Chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau's Investigations and Hearings Division, and Hillary De Nigro has been named Deputy Chief. By way of introduction, William Davenport received a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.  He previously served as Deputy Chief and Assistant Chief of the Investigations and Hearings Division. Prior to that, he was Legal Advisor to the Chief of the Enforcement Bureau. He joined the Commission in 1999. Hillary De Nigro received her B.A. from Emory University and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.   She previously served as served Assistant Chief of the Investigations and Hearings Division at the FCC and prior to that was an attorney advisor in that division.  Before joining the Commission in 2001, Ms. De Nigro practiced commercial litigation in the Washington D.C. area. (FCC)

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RADIO POLITICS:  BILLY TAUZEN TO RETIRE FROM CONGRESS

Turning to names in the news.  This week it's Republican legislator Billy Tauzin as the Louisiana Representative announces that he will step down as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and will not run for reelection in November.

The ARRL Letter credits Washington sources as saying that Tauzin originally was rumored to be in line for the lobbying position at the Motion Pictures Association of America.  It now appears that he may be headed to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association.

Texas Republican Joe Barton seems to be in line to replace Tauzin as full committee chairman.  Barton also serves on the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and he's said to have a strong interest in energy issues.

Tauzin's panel is the parent committee of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.  It has under consideration two Amateur Radio-related bills.  HR 713 is the Spectrum Protection Act of 2003, and HR 1478 is called the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Consistency Act of 2003.One of the two Amateur Radio licensees in the US House -- Rep Greg Walden, WB7OCE, an Oregon Republican, sits on the subcommittee.  (ARRL, published news reports)

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WITH THE HANDI HAMS:  WA6ITF TO SPEAK AT CAL RADIO CAMP

And word that Amateur Radio Newsline producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, will once again be the after dinner speaker for the annual Handi Hams California Radio Camp.  This years session is March 1st to the 7th with Saturday evening the 6th reserved for the closing ceremonies and feast.

According to Phil Temples, this years camp hopes to expand on the area of ham radio public service.  To that end, this years speakers include emergency communications experts Gordon West, WB6NOA of Radio School and Alinco representative Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR.

The Handi Ham California gathering takes place overlooking the blue Pacific at Camp Joan Mier in Malibu.  More information is on line at www.handiham.org (Handi Hams)

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MEETINGS:  AMSAT-DC IN MD IN MARCH

Turning to the ham radio conference scene, the annual AMSAT-DC meeting and Space Seminar takes place Sunday, March 21st at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center auditorium in Greenbelt, Md..  That's where you can get to hear talks and see demonstrations regarding amateur satellites as well as high altitude ham radio balloon experiments taking place in the mid-Atlantic area. Talk-in is on the 146.835 MHz WA3NAN repeater.  More information is on the web at www.patkilroy.com/amsat-dc  (Via e-mail)

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HAMFESTS:   CHARLESTON, WV AREA HAMFEST

The 20th Anniversary Charleston West Virginia Hamfest is slated to take place from 9 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, March 20th.  The venue is the Coonskin Armory in Charleston.  More information is in cyberspace at www.qsl.net/w8gk and click on the link to the Hamfest.  (Via e-mail)

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HAMFESTS:  AMEXPO URL CORRECTION

And a quick correction of the home page for the upcoming AmExpo in New Jersey we gave you last week.  Its www.p47millville.org and the dates are April 30th, May 1st and May 2nd.  Planners say that they hope to see you there.  (Via e-mail)

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WITH ARNEWSLINE(tm):  AJ WITH SOME THANK-YOU's

Over the past few weeks Amateur Radio Newsline has been sending out solicitations for assistance to stay on the air.  Many of you have responded. Here with a word of thanks is Amateur Radio Newsline's Treasurer and Support Fund administrator Andy Jarema, N6TCQ:

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We heard from: The Greensboro, NC ARC, W4GSO; Kenneth King, W4ARS of Columbia, SC;  John Frank Law of Montgomery, AL; Dennis Moriarty, K8AGB of Canton, OH; Regular Contributor Joseph Bartzi, Jr, KC8DKF of Wadsworth, OH; Ernest & Sara Clark of Greenwood, IN; Michael Meyer and the Jacksonville, IL ARC; The Peoria Area ARC; Bob Miller, K2RM of Fort Worth; The Utah ARC in Salt Lake, W7SP; William Foster, W6EIO of Las Vegas; Monthly contributor William Walters, WA2IBM, of San Jose; Monthly contributor Scott Hensley of the Area Communications Team, San Jose; Here in the Southland, our old friends at the Santa Clarita ARC, W6JW; Bob Paquette, W6ZPL of La Habra; The Fullerton Radio Club; Xerox ARC, WD6CZH in El Segundo.

Thank you to everyone, and we promise to do our best to continue to earn your care and support. A reminder that Newsline is a 501c 3 California non-profit corporation. FCC regulations prohibit us from telling you exactly how to support us, but that information is on our website at www.arnewsline.org  That address will be repeated at the end of the newscast.

I'm Andy Jarema, N6TC-Quack.

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More with Andy in future Amateur Radio Newsline reports.  (ARNewsline(tm))

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RADIO POLITICS:  THE FCC BUDGET FOR 2005

Speaking of finances, President Bush has submitted a budget to Congress that proposes fiscal year 2005 that includes a proposed allocation for the Federal Communications Commission of $292,958,000.

According to the agency, the requested funding level will cover mandatory increases for salaries and benefits and inflationary increases for office space rental, supplies, printing, postage and contractual services.   The budget proposal also includes funds for maintenance and modernization of technology systems that directly further all aspects of  FCC performance.  It also covers information technology equipment to support our multiyear lifecycle management program; replacement monitoring vehicles; technical monitoring and test equipment to ensure the Commission has up-to-date tools to achieve the agency's Spectrum and Homeland Security initiatives; and skills based training for critical FCC program areas.

The complete copy of the Commission's Fiscal Year 2005 budget submission is available for your inspection on the FCC's web site at  www.fcc.gov.  (Published news reports)

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INTERNATIONAL - UK:  RSGB  FORMS RCF

On the international scene, The Radio Communications Foundation, or 'RCF', is a new charity set up by the Radio Society of Great Britain.  This, to promote awareness of the importance of radio communications in our everyday life.

Although set up by the RSGB, , the Radio Communications Foundation is completely independent from the Society  and will provide a channel through which funds can be raised for educational projects such as the RSGB's GB4FUN mobile amateur radio demonstration vehicle.  Further details can be found on a new website at www.commsfoundation.org  (GB2RS)

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INTERNATIOBNAL-UK:  BIG CLUB CELEBRATION

Also in the U-K, members of Great Britain's Oxford and District Amateur Radio Society will be celebrating the club's 80th anniversary.  Throughout February, members will be activating the club callsign G-5-L-O slash P and will be active on all bands running CW, SSB, PSK 31 and SSTV.  The club's QSL manager is Peter Goodhall, M3PHP, who is good in most callbooks and directories.  (GB2RS)

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INTERNATIONAL - ISRAEL:  UNIVERSITY HAM STATION CLOSES DOWN

The amateur station at Israel's Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva has closed down and the equipment has been moved to the Eshel Ha Nassi high school club. This same high school is the home of "Radio Eshel" on 106 MHz FM, one of the few educational network broadcast stations authorized for the training of high- school students in broadcasting.  The Beer Sheva local repeater on 145.300 will have to relocate as the University was also its home.  No explanation was given as to why the university decided to close the station down.  (Hagal International)

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CONTESTS:  THE HOLYLAND CONTEST IN APRIL

Turning to the contest calander, and still in 4 X land, word that the 2004 Holyland Contest sponsored by the Israel Amateur Radio Club will be held on Saturday April 17th.  This one runs from 00.00 through 23.59 U-T-C.  Complete rules are in cyberspace at www dot iarc dot org.  (Hagal International)

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DX

In DX, G0JMU will be active again as 7Q7HB from Malawi.  He took to the air on the 8th of February and will be there for at least a couple of months. QSL direct only via G0IAS.  (RSGB)

And OZ8A is in Greenland and will be active using the special call OX2KAN for the rest of this year.  This, to celebrate the 175th anniversary of his town. He operates mainly on C-W on all the HF bands.  (Via e-mail)

Lastly, husband and wife team K1CN and N1EBL will be active again as C6AMM and C6AWW respectively.  This, from Harbor Island in the Bahamas through the 20th of February.  Look for them on 40, 20,15, 17, 12 and 10 meters SSB.  (GB2RS)

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THAT FINAL ITEM:  THE CATALINA MARATHON

And finally this week, in the realm of public service, here's a story about some local ham radio volunteers, who once a year go that extra mile to provide needed communications under some rather challenging circumstances.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has the story:

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Coordination for public service events such as city marathons is one of the many services amateur radio operators provide on a regular basis.  But for the volunteers from a  Southern California repeater group, those duties were augmented by some rather unusual conditions...including watching for buffalo!

The second weekend of January is the annual Lions Club 50 Mile Run on Santa Catalina Island, 26 miles off the Los Angeles shoreline. It's a grueling race, made more difficult by mountain terrain, uneven paths and, yes, the possible need to deal with one of the  wild buffalo that still roam   this little 76 square mile island.   Steve Giron, AD6GO, John & Arlene Kountz KE6GFF and KE6GFI, Ken Reilly N6CEE and Steve Harrison, N5YRJ gave up a weekend to help keep track of the over 100 runners.  Since the course is so rural, the only way race officials, and family members, could keep track of the runners was from the real time relays this amateur radio team provided.  All participants were ac- counted for from checkpoint to checkpoint for the many hours it took to finish the tough 50 mile course.

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There was no prize money: rather, all race funds went to Catalina charities. Over $12,000 was raised for local high school scholarships, health care funds and the Catalina Conservancy which insures that this sparsely inhabited island remains pristine and its wildlife protected, including those buffalo.

It was another successful island marathon, and you can bet that at next year's race, amateur radio will again be there to keep it safe.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW reporting

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Another job well done by ham radio with a watchful eye from some large, four- legged friends.  (ARNewsline(tm))

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NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, 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.

A reminder that the newly created Roy Neal, K6DUE, Amateur Radio Mentoring Project is up and operating.  We already have signed up over two dozen hams who are willing to assist others.  If you can help, or if you need assistance please drop a note with your name, address, hone number and area of expertise to mentor at arnewsline.org and we will get back to you as fast as we can.