[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1387 - March 12, 2004

Fri Mar 12 18:03:58 EST 2004

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1387 - March 12,  2004

The following is a Q-S-T.  The FCC says that automatic stations have to 
avoid willful interference to other hams.  Also, a magazine editor 
speaks out on restructuring.  Hear the details on Amateur Radio Newsline 
report number 1387 coming your way right now.

**

RADIO LAW:  AUTOMATIC RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL HAMS

The FCC says no Amateur Radio stations are exempt from the requirement 
to avoid unnecessarily interference with ongoing communications.   This 
includes automated operations.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Rick Johnson, 
KA9VZD, is in Antioch Illinois with rest of the story:

--

According to the ARRL Letter, FCC rules enforcer Riley Hollingsworth 
says that it is important for all stations, including automated ones, to 
realize that they are responsible for any interference caused when they 
come on top of existing communications  Hollingswoth told the ARRL 
Letter that an amateur had written to him alleging that what appeared to 
be automated PACTOR stations that were routinely starting to transmit 
atop PSK31 QSO's on 40 and 30 meters.

In response, Hollingsworth noted that there are no exemptions for 
automated stations.  Rather that the Amateur Service rules address 
interference with other communications.  The rules say that no amateur 
operator shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause 
interference to any other radio communication or signal.

The amateur who filed the complaint reportedly also contacted one of the 
PACTOR stations in an effort to develop a dialogue to solve the problem.   
Hollingsworth expressed the hope that all involved in the PACTOR versus 
P-S-K 31 problem can work things out.  He also points out that stations 
responding to automated interrogations are equally responsible for not 
causing interference to existing communications.  

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Rick Johnson, KA9VZD, near Chicago. 

--

Hollingsworth also issued advisory letters to three hams who operate 
automated stations to remind them of the rules.  (FCC, ARRL Letter)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  HAM WHO ALLEGEDLY HARASSED POLICE ASKED TO EXPLAIN OR TURN 
IN HIS LICENSE

The FCC Enforcement Bureau is once again naming names and it has asked 
one ham to explain why he allegedly transmitted on a public service 
frequency to harass law enforcement.  Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ, has the 
rest of the story:

--

In a February 18th letter to Russel A. Brown, N1KHV, of Palmer, 
Massachusetts the FCC says that it is considering action based on a 
February 3rd Incident Report from the Monson Police Department and a 
February 15th Investigatory Report and a Statement.  The latter 
reportedly was signed by Brown and documents his deliberate operation on 
Police frequencies without a license.  This, the FCC alleges was an 
attempt by Brown to interfere with police communications and harass 
police personnel. 

The FCC inquiry makes it clear that the information he submits will be 
used by the Commission in determining Brown's qualifications to remain a 
Commission licensee.  The FCC also has given Brown the option of 
voluntarily submitting his license for cancellation in order to avoid a 
hearing on the issue. Brown was told to indicate his preference in his 
response which was due within 20 days of the FCC letter of inquiry being 
issued.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ, in New 
Jersey.

--

The FCC also warned Brown that providing a willfully false or misleading 
reply would be the subject of a separate enforcement action and could 
subject him to additional sanctions.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  CHANGING CALL SIGNS BRINGS FCC INQUIRY

The FCC wants to know why a Tennessee radio amateur keeps changing his 
call sign.  And, in a February 18th letter it is asking Donald H. 
Binkley the regulatory agency is asking the Nashville ham to explain why 
he has been jumping between two calls for the past six years.   

According to its letter of inquiry, Binkley currently holds the call 
K4WX.  The FCC says that license grant was originally made on September 
23, 1998.  On June 19, 2000 the FCC says that Binkley filed an 
application to change his call sign from K4WX to N4ZZ.  That application 
was granted on July 7, 2000.  Then, on May 15, 2002 Binkley applied to 
change your his sign from N4ZZ back to K4WX.  That application was 
granted on June 4, 2002.  Now, Binkley has applied for the N4ZZ call 
once again and this time his request appears to have raised a proverbial 
red flag with the FCC.  As a result, the Wireless Telecommunications 
Bureau has forwarded the latest application to the enforcement folks for 
follow-up and review.

In his letter to Binkley,  FCC rules enforcer Riley Hollingsworth says 
that these ongoing applications raise questions about apparent abuse of 
the licensing system.   He notes that the Communications Act gives the 
Commission the authority to request information from licensees and 
applicants regarding their applications and operation of their radio 
stations.   And that's just what he is doing with Binkley,

He has told K4WX to respond stating his intentions regarding the filing 
of these applications.  He also told Binkley to let his office know 
which of the two call signs he wants to keep.  Binkley was given the 
usual 20 days from the date of the FCC's letter to respond.  (FCC)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  AN EDITOR SPEAKS OUT

The editor of a popular ham radio magazine says that his readers have 
strong opinions on restructuring, and he wants them shared.  In an 
interview with Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, CQ's  
Rich Moseson, W2VU, talked on a general level about the various 
restructuring proposals and about his upcoming C-Q reader survey:

--

CQ's Rich Moseson says there's been an active dialogue going among 
readers of the magazine since the latest round of amateur radio 
licensing restructuring proposals landed at the FCC's door: 

-- 

"We have a whole raft of petitions that have been filed with the FCC 
over the past several months all proposing various things from radical 
changes to little tweaks from eliminating the code requirements 
completely to adding new ones," Moseson says. "It's a great opportunity 
for discussion and for a forum on what the ham community thinks our 
hobby should look like going into the future." 

--

Moseson says despite the diversity of those proposals, he says there 
seemed to be some consensus emerging among those who submitted comments 
to the FCC and other forums: 

--

"It looked like the majority of those people would agree on a 
restructuring where the code requirement was kept in place at 5 wpm for 
Extra," he says. 

--

And now that the American Radio Relay League has weighed in with its own 
proposal - a no-code entry license called the Novice - complete with HF 
privileges, Moseson says CQ wants to know what readers think. 

-- 

"W5YI's 'Washington Readout' colum is all about the League's proposal in 
detail and our reader survey for April is also about the League's 
proposal," Moseson explains. "It's going to be asking our readers what 
they think of each of the major points of the proposal, whether they 
agree or disagree or have no opinion. And we'll, of course, be reporting 
the results of that survey in probably the June issue." 

--

Even if you're not a CQ subscriber, you can find a copy at a newstand or 
bookstore. 

 Moseson says amateur radio must and has kept in step with the times: 

--

"I'm not sure what we're going to come out of this with or what 
direction it's going to go to, " Moseson says. "But one of the points 
that I've always made is that if we are going to keep ham radio as a 
healthy, vital hobby and service then it has to adapt to changing times 
and the licensing structure has been doing that over the course of many, 
many years." 

-- 

As to how soon, we might expect action from Washington. Moseson says 
it's difficult to predict:

-- 

"My guess would be the earliest that you'd see any kind of a decision 
from the FCC would be the end of this year, probably more likely about a 
year from now in the spring of 2005," Moseson says. 
--

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

--

Moseson also offered his opinion that even if Morse testing was not 
included as a requirement for any of the license classes that it 
wouldn't go away.  He says CW contest entries have grown in recent 
years.  Thats good news for those advocating long term preservation of 
the historic mode.  (ARNewsline(tm))

**

CONVENTIONS:  THE NAB HAM RADIO RECEPTION IN LAS VEGAS NV.

Its only a few weeks until the National Association of Broadcasters 
holds its 2004 gathering.  One of the major social events that occurs at 
the NAB convention each year is the `Amateur Radio Reception'. This year 
will be no exception but for the first time ever this years `Ham Radio 
Reception' will be hosted by Heil Sound, Limited and its well known 
owners Bob, K9EID, and Sarah Heil.  They would like to invite any and 
all amateur radio operators who will be in attendance at the NAB show to 
join them for this annual fun event. 

---
Audio Only:  Hear it at http://www.arnewsline.org
--

Bob and Sarah are promising a fun time.  They are also planning 
appearances by some of their special friends as well as dozens of 
attendance prizes that will be given during the two hour reception.  
This includes several of the new Heil Poline performance microphones 
autographed by legendary Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, WB6ACU.

This years NAB Ham Radio Reception takes place Wednesday April 21st, 
from 6 to 9 P.M. local time.  The venue is the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, 
Ballrom B.  Of coarse, thats in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Bob says all that is 
required to join in the festivities is to bring a smile and your NAB 
attendance badge for complimentary food and drink. 

For more information please feel to contact Bob or Sarah at 618-257-3000 
or by e-mail to bob at heilsound.com.  The Heil's say that they hope to see 
you there.  (ARNewsline(tm))

**

CONVENTIONS AND HAMFEST TRAVEL TIPS:  TRY FLYING OR TAKE THE BUS

Talking of ham radio social events, its no secret that  gasoline prices 
here in the United States at historically high levels, and the 
Department of Energy saying to expect prices to go a lot higher.  As a 
result, many hams are asking the rhetorical question:  Can I afford to 
go to a major hamfest or convention this year?  Especially one of the 
big ones like Dayton or NAB.  The answer for the most part is yes, but a 
lot depends on where you live and how far you have to travel to that 
show.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, explores some 
alternatives to driving your own car:

--

If your QTH is several hundred miles away from your favorite hamfest and 
you drive a gas guzzling vehicle like an S-U-V then you may think twice 
about going this year.  That is, unless you can find an alternative to 
$3 or more for each gallon of gasoline.  Well, there are currently two 
very good transportation buys available if you are willing to give up 
the luxury of a personal vehicle.

Lets take a centrally located city like Dallas, Texas.  There's a big 
convention every year in the suburb of Arlington that draws exhibitors 
and attendees from all across the country.  If you live in Houston and 
plan to attend, its about a 275 mile drive each way.  In an S-U-V that 
gets 10 to 12 miles to a gallon at the projected $3 a gallon the drive 
one way will cost about $81 each way or $162 round trip.  Compare that 
to the $89 round trip currently being offered between the two cities on 
Delta and Continental airlines.   Want cheaper?  Go greyhound, buy your 
ticket 7 days in advance and it will only cost you $58 round trip.

And what about Hamvention in Dayton Ohio?  That's coming up in May.  
Well, its the same thing here.  Using Chicago as your home, the trip is 
also about 275 miles each way.  To drive will cost about the same but 
make your reservations now and fly out of Chicago's Midway airport and 
ATA will take you full circle for about $120.  Go Greyhound and you can 
go full circle for only $82

Live further way.  Say Los Angeles or San Francisco?  Well, you can 
really get a bargain.  Fly United Airlines out of Santa Ana California 
early in the morning with a connection in Chicago and you can go round 
trip for $255.  By way of comparison, that same ticket a year ago went 
for about $100 more.  And for you Northern California folks, you can do 
the trip for $283 out of San Jose on American Trans Air.

And the usual disclaimer here,.  The prices we quoted we those showing 
on Sunday March 8th on several travel websites including greyhound.com 
and orbitz.com.  Since the airlines are notorious for  changing prices 
at a moments notice, these could be gone by the time this newscast goes 
to air.

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

--

Two final tips that most frequent flyers already know.  First, book 
early.  The best prices for flights are usually sold on-line months in 
advance.  Also, keep an eye on all of the Internet based travel 
discounters and check their prices daily.  You never know when a flight 
or a bus ride to your favorite hamfest may be a lot less expensive than 
what it costs to drive your vehicle.  And you won't have to hunt for a 
place to park, either.  (ARNewsline(tm))

**

INTERNET SCAMS:  ARRL AND RAC E-MAIL BEING SPOOFED

The ARRL and Radio Amateurs of Canada are warning their members and 
others about bogus or spoofed messages carrying ARRL.net or rac.ca 
suffixes.  Both organizations say that they have been notifoed by people 
who have received e-mail messages alleging to be from the ARRL E-Mail 
Forwarding Service or directly from Radio Amateurs of Canada.  

The senders of the e-mail encourage you to open the file or an 
attachment to the e-mail. Don't do it.  These messages are false and are 
the result of one of the variants on a number of viruses now permeating 
the Internet.  The attached file contains variations of worm viruses, 
MyDoom, Bagle and Netsky.  Opening the file could result in your 
computer being infected.  The bottom line:  Delete the message and 
forget you ever got it.  Your computer will be a lot safer that way.  
(ARRL, RAC)

**

HAM RADIO ADVENTURE:  COMMUNICATORS NEEDED FOR CAVEING EXPEDITION

Gulf Coast United States, along with Caribbean, or South America base 
station operators are needed for communication on the ham bands with a 
scientific expedition.  This,  in July through August time frame.  

The 60 day expedition will explore deep caves in the high Andes 
mountains and jungle in the western Amazon area of South America.  
Expedition access to the remote areas is via trekking on foot and pack 
animal.  The expedition will use a solar and battery powered 20 Watt 
backpack transceiver.  Antennas will be a wire dipole or vertical.  A 
miniature notebook computer will be along for digital operations. 

Communications will consist of position reports, some short messages 
with families of expedition members, and any possible emergency or 
medical messages.   All operation will be non-commercial.

Operators with good base stations, efficient antennas and low noise 
locations are needed on the 40 through 15 meter amateur bands.  The 
operations will use SSB, CW and a variety of digital modes. If you are 
interested, e-mail Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA, at radioadventure at aol.com.  
(KC5FM, KQ6XA)

**

PUBLIC SERVICE:  BAKER TO VEGAS FOOTRACE  NEEDS YOUR HELP

Also in need of ham radio communicators is the famed Baker to Vegas 
Challenge Cup Relay race.  Baker is Baker California and of coarse Vegas 
refers to Las Vegas, Nevada.

This year's foot race for teams from Law Enforcement Agencies takes 
place on April 24 th and 25, starting near Baker, traveling along State 
Route 127.  The race then continues through radio show host Art Bell, 
W6OBB's hometown of Pahrump, Nevada and finishes up in  Las Vegas. 

For years, Amateur Radio has played an important role in the annual 
event.  If you or your group is interested in helping with 
communications, please visit www.bakertovegas.com on the world-wide-web, 
to sign up.  (Via e-mail)

**

RADIO LAW:  CONGRESS ON ITS WAY TO INCVREASING INDECENCY PENALTIES 
AGAINST BROADCASTERS

Federal legislators are inching closer to increasing the penalties 
against broadcasters who permit indecent or obscene material to hit the 
public airwaves.  This, as the House and Senate Commerce committees pass 
bills that would sharply boost fines of television and radio 
broadcasters who violate indecency regulations.

The U.S. House of Representatives measure increases fines to as much as 
$500,000 per violation from the current $27,500 per violation level.  
That version also contains a so-called three strikes provision that 
would require the FCC to hold a hearing to determine whether a broadcast 
license should be revoked after three violations take place.  It also  
permits the FCC to weigh heftier penalties against the person who 
actually utters indecent material on the air as well as the ability to 
go after the network that broadcast the material in addition to the 
individual stations.   Right now, the FCC can only fine the licensed 
station that aired the material and has limited ability to penalize the 
person who said it.  

Current FCC rules limit indecent material presented in a patently 
offensive manner to late night hours, when children are less likely to 
be a part of the listening or viewing audience.  In some past instances 
the broadcast standard has been applied to obsenity and indecency issues 
in private radio including the Amateur service.  Newsline attempted to 
find out if new and higher penalties directed by Congress might be 
applied to ham radio.  We were told that at this point, the FCC's and 
Congressional actions are directed at the "broadcasters" and not at 
Amateur Radio.  (Published news reports)

**

HAM RADIO BUSINESS:  QRZ.COM HAS T1 TROUBLE

If you tried to access the QRZ.com website late on Thursday March 4th 
you probably found it down.  The sites owner, Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, reports 
that around 1800 UTC both of the dual T1 lines that supply the sites 3 
Megabit feed to the Internet went down. 

According to Lloyd, the sites network is supplier is Cable & Wireless 
and his location is served by two leased high-speed lines by the local 
phone company, Qwest. The Qwest lines connect the Arizona based QRZ.com 
servers to the Cable & Wireless location in downtown Phoenix.

About 2 hours after the outage was reported on Thursday, one of the 
lines was repaired and brought back up.  For reasons unknown to Lloyd, 
the second T1 line has not been brought back up.  Now, however, instead 
of a Qwest problem, it appears that the second line was intentionally 
disconnected by Cable & Wireless.  Lloyd says that Cable & Wireless is 
currently pulling out of some of the less profitable market areas.  
Apparently, QRZ was mistakenly disconnected from the grid even though 
Lloyd had previously been assured that Cable & Wireless is not pulling 
out of his market.  This put Q-R-Zeds back at 1.5 Megabits.  That's the 
same speed that they were for years before the upgrade last December.  
(QRZ.com)

**

WORLDBEAT:  MOTOROLA DONATES RADIOS TO VK EMERGENCY CORPS

Communication is set to improve for one of Australia's most remote  
indigenous Army Cadet Units following the donation of 24 state-of-the-
art two way radio's by Motorola Australia. The company presented the 
radios destined for the Bamaga Cadet Unit in Far North Queensland to the 
Australian  Parliamentary Secretary for the  Minister of Defence , Fran 
Bailey , at a recent ceremony in Melbourne.  Bailey said that she was 
delighted with the generous support shown by  Motorola and acknowledged 
the contribution the company has made to the nations Indigenous 
Participation Project.  The Bamaga Cadet Unit comprises Two Adult 
Officers and about 15  cadets.  Bamaga is located the tip of Northern 
Queensland and is one of the most remote parts of Australia.  (Q-News)

**

WORLDBEAT:  TOWARD RESOLVING THE MEXICO - US 560, 780 & 920 KHZ BORDER 
SITUATIONS

An update on the radio border war developing between Mexico and the 
United States as we reported a few weeks ago.  According to Joseph 
Berring in a letter to the CGC Communicator, the alleged problems caused 
by the Mexican broadcasters on 560, 780 and 920 kHz has become a top 
priority for both the U.S. FCC and the State Dept. as well as for the 
Mexican Administration.  

According to Berring, top U.S. officials recently met with their Mexican 
counterparts in Mexico City.  Berring observes that despite the 
controversy and problems that have arisen, Mexico's position has been 
very clear and unwavering.  That being existing bilateral agreements are 
valid and they have not been violated.  Additionally, Mexico seems to 
have some complaints of its own regarding U.S. stations.

The United States position is obviously a bit different.  Not only does 
the US administration feel that there are clear violations, but that 
there are specific sidebar agreements dating as far back as 1996 that 
address the issues at hand.

Berring, who is a consultant on United States and Mexico border issues 
says to stay tuned.  It should prove interesting.  (CGC)

**

WORLDBEAT:  AN ECUADOR DIPLOMA FOR YOU

A new Republic of Ecuador "Equatorial Line Diploma" for contacting 
stations at a latitude of zero degrees is being issued by the DX-TA-SEA 
DX CLUB,  This multicolored certificate is awarded to Amateur Radio 
Operators and Short Wave Listeners for confirming contacts with the 20 
different Ecuadorean HC  and  HD prefix areas.  This award was developed 
to recognize past Amateur Radio activities from Ecuador.  More 
information is available from Dr. Rick Dorsch, NE8Z,  P.O. BOX 616, 
Hamburg Michigan.  The zipcode is 48139.  (NE8Z)

**

WORLDBEAT:  SOTA EXPANDS TO GERMANY

According to the RSGB, the 'Summits on the Air' - or 'SOTA' - awards 
program has announced that the Alpine region of Germany is the latest 
geographic area embrace this awards project.  

The Alpine SOTA program began operation on March 1st and is already 
being heralded as a success.  The parent 'Summits on the Air' program 
began in 2002 .  Since then there have been over 2000 hilltop 
activations and 15,000 contacts made.  (GB2RS)

**

DX

In D-X, word that GM4YXI, is active portable 9M2 from Kuala Lumpur 
through the 29th of March.  He also plans to operate from one or two 
Islands On The Air island groups.  Look for him on 20, 17 and 15 metres 
and maybe 12 and 10 metres CW and SSB.  (GB2RS)

And PA3GIO will be active slash HI9 from the Dominican Republic through 
March 18th.  Look for his signal on 80 through 10 meter SSB.  (GB2RS)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: TRANSMITTING DATA FROM MARS - AND CONSERVING ENERGY

And finally this week, were you aware that the pair of Mars Rovers now 
exploring the red planet actually have two ways to send data back to 
Earth?  They can send it direct or indirect.  Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, 
has more:

--

As you might expect, direct entails using the rovers own high-powered 
microwave systems and using up a lot of very precious power reserves.  
Kind of like making a long distance contact on 2 meter FM simplex.  You 
can do it but you need high power and a very directional antenna.

The indirect method uses low-powered UHF links to relay the data to 
orbiting satellites.  These satellites then use their high-powered 
transmitters to beam the data back to scientists.  Thats not much 
diferent than working a long distance on 2 meters, but doing it with an 
H-T through your favorite repeater.  

To save energy on the solar powered rovers, the UHF relay method is 
preferred.  As of February 18th, the two rovers had sent 10 billion bits 
of data from Mars to Earth.  Of this, only 18% of that data was 
transmitted directly.  The rest was relayed through the Mars Odyssey and 
Mars Global Surveyor satellites.

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

--

The rest of the story can be found on the web at 
www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,62409,00.html  (CGC)

**

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 
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support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), P.O. Box 660937, Arcadia, 
California 91066. 