[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1414 - September 17, 2004

Sat Sep 18 08:05:40 EDT 2004

Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1414 -  September 17, 2004

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1414 with a release date of 
Friday, September 17th, 2004 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.   

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAM RADIO VS. HURRICANE IVAN - IN THE CARIBBEAN

Last week it was Frances.  This week it's Ivan.  Bother killer storms 
that took lives and destroyed property across the Caribbean before 
making landfall on U-S shores.  And as has been the case s many times 
this year, ham radio was ready.  Our team coverage starts here:

--

I'm Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ:

--

" The eye center of hurricane Ivan was located near latitude 17.9 North 
and longitude 78.7 West, or about three-zero, thirty miles or five-zero, 
fifty kilometers South-West of the Western tip of Jamaica and 190 - one 
hundred and ninety miles or 305 kilometers East-South-East of Grand 
Cayman"

--

That was a warning relayed over ham radio in the Voice over I P 
Hurricane Watch Net.  Hurricane Ivan had hit Jamaica with wind speeds 
near 155 mph. And as the storm approached, hams involved in the 
Hurricane Watch Net relayed up to the minutes reports to the National 
Hurricane Center in Miami:

--

"...wind speed sustained at 80 miles per hour.  Gusts to 100 miles. Is 
getting horizontal ran.  Skies are darkening rapidly..."

--

The killer storm had already been blamed for at least 64 deaths in the 
Caribbean, including 34 in Grenada.  It hit Jamaica on Saturday, 
September 11th packing winds close to 165 mph. In downtown Kingston, 20-
foot-tall trees were uprooted, some flung onto the roofs of cars, and 
twisted metal roof panels strew the streets. At least 11 people were 
killed as the storm blew across.

Now on Sunday the 12th, reports were coming in from Ivan's next stop.  
>From the few hams in the Cayman Islands who were riding out the storm on 
the air using whatever gear they had that would run on emergency power:

--

"Zed-F-one kilo oscar has come up a couple of times reporting flooding 
in areas that have never flooded before in a hurricane.  They have some 
intermittent cellular telephone service.  The land line phones are down 
and a lot of flooding.  VP5DB with the Hurricane Watch Net."

--

Then there was this dramatic report to the Hurricane Watch Net from a 
crew member of the British Royal Navy ship Richmond that was anchored 
not far off shore.  The Richmond had cut short her visit to 
Curacao to standby to assist islands devastated by Ivan:

--

Audio only. Hear it at http://www.arnewsline.org

--

Category 4 and 5 hurricanes can cause buildings to collapse, destroy 
mobile homes and flatten trees and road signs. Such storms are 
accompanied by a surge of sea water and require evacuation of low-lying 
areas within 5 miles to 10 miles of the shore.  Normal lines of 
communications are almost always cut and this was the case with Ivan.  
And broadcasters in the Caribbean who were able to stay on the air had 
their reports passed to the outside world using ham radio.  Stations 
like Wenty Bethune, 6Y5IC, who had survived Ivan' rampage on Jamaica and 
was on the air from Kingston using battery power:

--

"We cannot confirm it, but we understand that there are people in the 
Caymans standing on their roofs shouting for help.  Sounds like a 
traumatic situation in the Caymans.  This is coming off FM radio about 
an hour ago.  QSL?"

--

6Y5IC said that he was also handling traffic into and out of the storm 
ravaged area.  He added that he could probably operate for about to 
weeks using batteries.

Now Ivan was on a direct path toward Cuba.  This, as Florida residents 
braced for a third storm to hit the state in a month.  And on Monday the 
12th a strengthened Hurricane Ivan headed toward the tip of western Cuba 
with winds in excess of 160 miles per hour:  

Ivan bombarded western Cuba with the full fury of a category 5 
hurricane.  It damaged hundreds of homes and swamped at least two towns.  
The storm was so vast that its clouds simultaneously covered Cuba, the 
Florida Keys, the entire Florida peninsula and parts of the Bahamas, 
Mexico, Belize and Honduras.

Florida expected the worst.  But after passing Cuba Ivan kept traveling 
West into the Gulf of Mexico.  And even as Cuba was being hit hams on 
Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula like Juan Berndes, XE3AAF, were checking into 
the Hurricane Watch Net to report that Ivan was being felt:

--

"Roger, OK.  I can only tell you that we have been having squalls -- 
intermittent squalls all throughout the morning, and that's about it.  
That's the information I can give you at the present time.  Over"

-- 

Now, a hurricane watch was in effect the entire Florida panhandle and as 
far west as Louisiana, including New Orleans.  Ivan, still a category 4 
killer storm was on his way to the U-S mainland.  I'm Henry Feinberg, 
K2SSQ.  (ARNewsline(tm))

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAM RADIO VS. HURRICANE IVAN - LANDFALL

I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, continuing our coverage of Hurricane Ivan.

Packing gale force winds, Hurricane Ivan slammed ashore near Gulf 
Shores, Alabama in the wee hours of Thursday, September 16th. 
Anticipating the storms arrival, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and 
Mississippi had declared states of emergency a day earlier.  A last 
minute shift spared New Orleans a direct hit but some 360,000 homes and 
businesses were without telephone service or power in Alabama, Louisiana 
and Mississippi.  And throughout it all, ham radio operators did their 
part by passing health and welfare traffic, damage assessments and those 
very important storm position reports:

--

"Repeating the 4 a-m CDT position:  30.9 North, 87.7 West.  Movement 
toward the North near 214 miles per hour.  Maximum sustained winds near 
115 mph.  Minimum central pressure 947 millibars."
--

Notice something interesting about that audio?  The station reading that 
report is not in the continental United States.  In fact he's thousands 
of miles away in Australia.  But thanks the latest technology developed 
by hams -- a service called  The Internet Repeater Linking Project -- 
Amateur Radio operators anyplace in the world can pitch in to help when 
there is an emergency like hurricane Ivan. 

But long before the storm made landfall residents of the Gulf States and 
the nations ham radio community were preparing for the its arrival.  On 
Wednesday the 15th, some highways were converted into one-way evacuation 
routes.  This, after authorities from the Florida panhandle to Louisiana 
ordered wholesale evacuations of low lying areas.  Everyone from New 
Orleans east to Apalachicola, Florida was on alert because even the 
tiniest change in the storm track now could move the location of the 
storm's landfall by hundreds of miles.  And after taking a day off to 
regroup, the Hurricane Watch Net on 14.325 MHz again sprang to life.  
Some of those checking in were directly involved in storm relief 
efforts:

--

"Kilo Delta 5 Golf Golf Lima north of the Coast.  I'm operating the 
Operations Center at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.  Over."

--

Even though the storm was still well out to sea, it did not take long 
for reports from hams in Ivan's target area to begin flowing in.

--

"Kilo Charlie 5 Romeo Fox Uniform.  What is your traffic? Over"

"Thank you very much.  The name is Paul and I am in Ft. Walton Beach, 
Florida.  Ill give you the coordinates.  Latitude 30.44 North.  
Longitude 86.62 West.  And the Barometric Pressure is 29.79 and falling.  
The winds are estimated at coming from the East-South-East."

--

Now it would be a waiting game for residents along the gulf coast as 
they waited and watched as hurricane Ivan roared toward them with.  When 
Ivan did make landfall it lashed southern Alabama with 135 mph winds and 
threatened much of the Gulf Coast with surging flood waters.

--

"This is K5PSB with the Salvation Army Team Emergency Net looking for 
stations with traffic in the affected areas of the Caribbean or the Gulf 
Coast. Ill take anybody that I can hear.  K5PSB."

"W-A-0-Lima Sierra Bravo."

And the latest advisories from the National Hurricane Center show that 
Ivan still has a lot of destructive force left.  The latest storm track 
as of noon, Thursday September 16th shows Ivan heading North-North-East 
through parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio as it downgrades 
in intensity and begins to fall apart.  But falling apart may be a bit 
of a misnomer because even then a hurricane can continue to be a 
destructive force.

But even as Ivan is weakening, yet another storm is gaining strength. 
Hurricane Jeanne intensified as it made its way to the Dominican 
Republic after hitting Puerto Rico on Wednesday.  Jeanne is moving west 
at about 9 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and 
will likely be the big ham radio story, next week.  

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

--

The hurricane, one of the strongest on record to hit the region, has 
killed at least 65 people.  With the hurricane season not yet over these 
hams could be kept busy for some time to come.  (ARNewsline)

(Note:  Audio of Hurricane Ivan communications was recorded off-air and 
from Internet relay feeds.  Our sincere thanks to the may hams world-
wide who supplied them.)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  SOCAL SHADOW DRILL

Out on the U.S. West coast, twenty-five city of California's Huntington 
Beach Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service volunteers participated in a 
simulated city-wide Emergency 911 system crisis on Saturday, August 
28th.  Called the "Shadow Drill," radio volunteers received 9-1-1 calls 
and dispatched fire department equipment and personnel for an eight hour 
shift. 

The objective of the drill was to provide an alternative dispatch 
communications system to all Huntington Beach Fire Department resources, 
including hazardous materials, ambulance and fire response apparatus. 
This was the third year in a row that Huntington Beach RACES performed 
the Shadow Drill for the city.  (KH6WZ)

**

THE BPL FIGHT:  PHILLY MAY GO NON-BPL WIRELESS

Philadelphia says it's looking to have wide spread Internet access 
available over the next few years, but it likely will not be B-P-L.  
This, as the City of Brotherly Love looks to create a 135-square-mile 
wireless network instead.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, 
NT3V, has the rest of the story:

--

Philadelphia's Mayor John Street has a vision to turn this community of 
historic and diverse neighborhoods into a Digital City. And, he's not 
looking at Broadband Over Powerline Internet Access to do it.

Instead, Mayor Street, a big fan and user of technology - he carries his 
own Blackberry everywhere - sees the wireless world as the way to go. 
And, he's committed a task force to explore an estimated $10 million 
investment in the idea.

Mayor Street's chief information officer is Dianah Neff.

"Outdoor wireless has come on the scene and has presented an affordable 
entry point to create a dense, cellular mesh network that would act like 
an umbrella over the city," Neff explains. "And it's a transport, it's 
an outdoor transport that would allow wireless access that then goes to 
the Internet for all people in the city."

Neff says users of the system would have easy access. She notes one test 
site near City Hall is being getting great reviews.

"You can access it through a lap top, through a PC tablet through a 
hand-held device," Neff says. "You would log on, put in your code to the 
system. And in the case of Love Park - which is a hot spot now - it's 
free. 

"All you have to do is go on and register. And then you get a connection 
out to the Internet."

Neff says the plan proposes to attach transmitters/receivers atop light 
pots.

"The best place to mount these in the outdoors is on the light posts 
because you need a power source," Neff says. "You could mount the radio 
antennas actually on the light posts which reside in the public right-
of-way which is owned by the government.

"And that's why this has to be a public-private partnership and there's 
limited space on there you can't put a dozen  companies' wireless 
device.

"But if you had this infrastructure that anybody could either pay to 
connect in for profit or ride for free, based on criteria that will be 
established, you would be able to do it." 

Neff says the system would be "hot" for outdoor use. But there is 
equipment available to bring the signal indoors.

"There are devices that can be placed in your window to bring outdoor 
wireless," Neff says. "If your proximity is close to a fixed-wireless 
outdoor point, you may be able to get it in your house.

"And, so we see that there's a great opportunity to be able to go either 
out onto your front porch and log on into a wireless environment 
outdoors, or through a device, if you want to bring it into your home, 
to all rooms in your home.

"That may be one of the fee-services that would allow us to sustain the 
system."

Neff says the task force is looking at a couple options in terms of 
fees.

"The mayor is committed to providing some level of free access whether 
that's in public outdoor areas or as a low cost to everyone," Neff says. 
"There has been a committee that's been formed - the Wireless 
Philadelphia Executive Committee - they're looking at fees, roles and 
responsibilities in the investment and the sustainability of the 
system."

Neff says the committee will deliver a report to Mayor Street by 
December. After that, bids will be sought and Neff says she'd like to 
see several neighborhoods up and running a few months later.

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

--

Philadelphia hopes have the whole network in operation sometime in 2006. 
(ARNewsline(tm))

**

ENFORCEMENT:  LETS MAKE A DEAL - FCC STYLE

The FCC has accepted an offer from an Iowa ham to turn in his Amateur 
Radio license in order to avoid having to pay a $12,000 fine.  It did so 
in a September 7th Memorandum, Opinion and Order that partially granted 
a June 6, 2003 Petition for Reconsideration filed by Scott E. Kamm, 
N0UGN, of Sioux City.

Back on May 7, 2003 the FCC issued a $12,000 Forfeiture Order to Kamm 
for what the agency said were willful violations of several sections of 
its Amateur Service Part 97 rules.  The Commission said that the 
offenses involved intentional interference to communications on 146.31 
MHz, the transmission of music on an amateur station, and failure to 
identify an amateur station by call sign. 

The FCC says that in support of his Petition for Reconsideration that 
Kamm offered to immediately withdraw his pending application for renewal 
of his license.  He also offered to refrain from applying for any other 
license for a period of five years.  

The FCC says that it agrees to this offer.  As such it concludes that 
cancellation of the $12,000 forfeiture was warranted.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  $10000 PAGING FINE AFFIRMED

The FCC has affirmed a $10,000 monetary forfeiture to Jeffrey Amedro of 
Morgantown, West Virginia. Amedro does business as Cell Page and the FCC 
says he has racked up a number of violations.  Cathy Anno, KB0FDU, 
reports:

--

The FCC says that it issued the fine for what it calls willful and 
repeated violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act by Amedro's 
company Cell Page. This, by operating radio transmitting equipment on 
the frequency 157.740 MHz without FCC authorization to do so.    

On September 5th, 2003 the District Director of the Commission's 
Columbia, Maryland Office issued a monetary forfeiture in the amount of 
$10,000 to Cell Page.  Cell Page did not contest the violation.  Rather 
in its October 16, 2003 response, the company requested a reduction or 
cancellation of the proposed forfeiture. 

Presumably, intending to claim its inability to pay Cell Page stated that 
it had been in contact with a certified public accountant to complete its 
tax returns.  Once completed, Cell Page states that it would forward 
three years of tax returns to the Enforcement Bureau by approximately 
October 31, 2003.  

The FCC says that as of its decision to affirm the fine, neither Amedro 
nor Cell Page has submitted the company tax returns.  Without the 
appropriate financial documentation, the FCC says that it can not 
consider Cell Page's claim of inability to pay.  So it is now denying the 
request by Cell Page for reduction or cancellation of the fine.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cathy Anno, KB0FDU.

-- 

The fine against Cell Page was affirmed on September 7th.  Amedro was 
given the usual 30 days to pay or to file an appeal.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  CLEANING UP INTERFERENCE

The FCC has written to Andrews Cleaners in Andrews, Texas.  This to tell 
proprietor Andrew White that the regulatory agency has received 
complaints that equipment at the business may be causing harmful radio 
interference to a local ham radio operator.

In its letter, the FCC tells White that the agency has the 
responsibility to require that such problems be rectified within a 
reasonable time if the interference is caused by faulty consumer 
equipment.  It also suggests that he might want to contact the ARRL for 
guidance about radio interference that involves Amateur Radio operators.  
(FCC)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  SIGNALS BOUNCED OF THE GENESIS RE-ENTRY

A group of ham radio operators have successfully bounced signals off the 
ionized trail of the Genesis space probe.  This, as it re-entered the 
Earth's atmosphere on September 8th.   

According to Robert Brown, KR7O, several stations trying to be heard off 
the probes fiery trail were monitored at his QTH from 1552 to 1600 UTC.  
This is part of what Robert heard:

--

Backscatter audio

---

Robert says that all signals heard were on 144.200 MHz in the 2 Meter 
band.  Among them were KC6ZWT and WA6KLK who were using voice.  There 
were also others trying to make the path using CW.  K7RO adds that 
KC6ZWT reported hearing Robert's signal over the same backscatter 
ionized path.  All of the stations involved in this test were located in 
California.  (K7RO)

**

DX

In D-X, BB2RS reports that a group of Japanese amateurs are operating 
from Sri Lanka as 4S7DUG from September 18th to the 23rd. Activity is on 
160 to 6 meters with an emphasis on the lower bands. They plan to have 
four stations active simultaneously.  (GB2RS)

And F4DZY is active from Corsica stroke TK through the 22nd of 
September. Look for him on the High Frequency bands using SSB and QSL as 
directed on the air.  (GB2RS)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: HAM RADIO, HURRICANE FRANCES AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES

And finally this week, the story of hurricane Frances, some ham radio 
operators who helped to keep a local commercial station on the air after 
the storm and two who met with President Bush on his recent tour. Joseph 
Lenartiene, KD4BTD has the rest of the story:

--

Pres Bush: "I want to thank the Emergency Operations Centers all across 
the state of Florida,  the first responders,  Police and Firefighters,  
the people working long hours here,  I want to thank the Red Cross"

--

While President George Bush did not mention Amateur R radio Operators in 
his national Press Conference held on Wednesday, September the 8th,  He 
did the next best thing while visiting Florida's Treasure Coast that day 
when he shook hands with Bruce Reid, K9SHT and Lee Kaufmann KG4BYG at 
the St. Lucie County Emergency Operations Center in Ft. Pierce Florida. 

--

Kaufmann:  "Well we had two special visitors today, we had The President 
and the Governor both came in.  The one nice thing is that he greeted 
everyone here: He didn't just walk by.  He came in, said hello and saw 
the ham station in the shelter here and even was aware of what we were 
doing."

--

Other than the President stopping by, thing were pretty normal at the 
EOC Ham Station according to Lee.  

--

Lee:  "I was running communications between the EOC and the shelters and 
today was a little bit calm but yesterday was busy sending messages.  I 
think we had somewhere in the number of a hundred messages back and 
fourth between the shelters."

--

Not the most glamorous work but as expressed by St. Lucie County EC 
Ernie Marques, KF4IHX, very Satisfying.  

--

KF4IHX:  "We had a busy last 6 days.  We've handled over 350 pieces of 
traffic during this emergency and we're very pleased because for a brief 
period of hours, ham radio was the only link between our shelters and we 
proved a point that Amateur Radio can get through when nobody else can."

-- 

While Frances stayed awhile to visit St. Lucie County,  The Special 
Needs Shelter felt the wrath and when the need came to find a new QTH 
for the evacuees, (Sound of a Nextel) not Nextel but N9SRO answered the 
call.  

--

N9SRO:  "The Special Needs Shelter needed someplace to relocate because 
they had sustained some damage during the Hurricane.  Nextel's were a no 
go after the storm but I was able to facilitate communications via the 
ham radio to get that move started."   

--

Hurricane Frances officially made Landfall in a town called Sewall"s 
Point in Martin County Florida.  The next County south St. Lucie.  While 
Amateurs down there did much the same from their EOC, A few did more.  
Louie Delonoy, K4LOU, Helped put Martin Counties Radio Station, back on 
the air.  

--

K4LOU:  "Martin County had been telling people all day Friday on their 
Billboard to tune to WSTU for the latest news.  Now there comes Monday 
Morning and they're off.  I called Ben, N4BG and he tells me chances are 
they took a major hit.  I come up, he takes me around to the back, and 
here's their tower on top of the dish with the two STL feeds on them.  
You know, sitting on the roof.  So I go up there and inspect it moved 
everything around and Boom, they're on the air."  

--

And Port St. Lucie Broadcasters Vice President Greg Wyatt couldn't be 
happier.

--

Wyatt:  "We now have the Louie, Ben, and Jerry show here at WPSL, WJNX, 
and WSTU.  Between the three of em,  they managed to get two radio 
stations on the air in 5 hours and now the third one today.  I tell you, 
its mind boggling."

--

Although it was far from over for Florida thanks to Hurricane Ivan, 
Amateur radio on Florida's Treasure Coast has returned to what it was 
before the storm.  The major lesson learned here was the need for relief 
after the storm.  And that's what Treasure Coast Hams are ready to do 
for those affected by Ivan.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Joe Lenartiene, KD4BTD, in Ft. Pierce 
Florida.

--

Joseph Lenartiene, KD4BTD, is with WQCS FM in Ft. Pearce, Florida. 
(KD4BTD, ARNewsline(tm))

**

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. 