[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1416 - October 1, 2004

Sat Oct 2 11:53:57 EDT 2004

Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1416 -  October 1, 2004

The following is a Q-S-T.  Ham radio is ready as Hurricane Jeanne hit 
Florida.  Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 
1416 coming your way right now.

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAM RADIO MEETS HURRICANE JEANNE

Making landfall near Stuart, Florida, early on Sunday, September 26th, 
Hurricane Jeanne blew across that state with 120 mph wind and drenching 
rain.  News reports say that the storm hurled debris into the air, tore 
rooftops off buildings and sent monster waves onto the shoreline.  And 
as Jeanne's wrath played out on television screens across the nation, it 
was the calm voices of ham radio operators of the Voice Over I-P 
Hurricane Watch Net that signaled it was about to arrive:

--

"At 11 PM, the center of Hurricane Jeanne was located near Latitude 27.2 
North and Longitude 80 West, or about 15 miles East of Stuart Florida.  
Jeanne is moving slightly North of West near 13 Miles Per Hour."

--

Hams also relayed a stark warning from the National Hurricane Center.  
One that said -- stay out of Jeanne's way:

--

"...with maximum sustained winds of 115 MPH with higher gusts, Hurricane 
Jeanne is a is a dangerous Catagory 3 hurricane on the Saffer-Simpson 
Hurricane Scale."

--
Over two million residents had been urged to evacuate.  State officials 
said more than 42,500 stayed at shelters.  Many of these were staffed by 
ham radio operators associated with A-R-E-S and RACES groups.

As Jeanne made her way across Florida, many residents were without 
telephone service and more than a million people lost power.  But ham 
radio operators using all kinds of emergency power sources were on the 
air.  In fact they were the ones who relayed word of some of the major 
outages:

--

"KA4EPS in Deerfield Beach passing on some information you might be 
interested in.  Have some numbers passed along by the local utility 
company.  Dade County has 2900 without power.  Broward County 71,000 and 
Palm Beach County 487,000 without power."   

"QSL Lou, Thanks."

--

The Category 3 storm became the fourth hurricane to pummel Florida in a 
single season.  The three other hurricanes - Charley, Frances and Ivan - 
have all hit within the last six weeks.  And hams like Paul Goodell, 
KG4GOQ, in the town of Lake Worth might not have sounded that great 
through all of the radio links, but he did get  the word out:

--

"Estimated winds in excess of 100 miles per hour.  Trees bent and laying 
over."

--

Then for a while there was a period of calm.  This as the eye of the 
storm came ashore.  It gave first responders a chance to assess the 
damage done so far:

--

"KG4YQK at the Port St. Lucie E-O-C W4SLC.  We are in the eye of the 
storm presently.  We had sustained winds of well over 110 miles an hour.  
We received substantial damage here locally.  Trees down.  Powerlines 
down.  Flooding as well."

-- 

In Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, several people were rescued from 
homes during the relative calm of Jeanne's eye. No one was injured.  

The 400-mile diameter storm then swirled north toward central Florida.  
This is  an area saturated by rain from previous hurricanes.  As it did, 
even public service communications took a hit:

--

"Net control is listening.  Go ahead Paul:

"I just heard second han that the communications tower for Riviera Beach 
has collapsed.  Probably not something for the national hurricane 
Center, but just as a note to anyone else out there listening to hear 
how bad these winds are going."

--

By late morning, Jeanne had weakened to a Category 1 storm with 75-mph 
top sustained winds, but its 400-mile diameter covered most of the 
central part of the state including Tampa and Orlando. As Jeanne 
proceeded to fall apart while heading North-East over Georgia and the 
Carolina's she dumped torrential rain and spawned close to a dozen 
twisters.  More on the aftermath of Hurricane Jean in future Amateur 
Radio Newsline reports.  (ARNewsline(tm) with audio from the VoIP 
Hurricane Watch Net)

**

THE BPL FIGHT:  PERTH INTERFERENCE NOT BPL RELATED

A widespread interference problem in Perth, Australia, that sounds like 
B-P-L has to be something else.  This, after the city's Power Authority 
tells Dennis Muldownie, VK6KAD,  that it is not using Broadband Over 
Powerline technology to monitor its electrical  network. 

There is now some supposition that noise that wiping out free to air TV 
channels 2, 7, 9 and 10 may be coming from some home network gear which 
uses the power mains to connect the various pieces in a home Local Area 
Network.  But the noise is so widespread that it has to be more than one 
installation causing the problem.  This, by radiating back out over the 
local Perth power grid.  (WIA News)

**

THE BPL FIGHT:  FCC TO RELEASE R&O ON BPL ROLLOUT

Meanwhile, back at home the ARRL says that an initial Report and Order 
on the rollout of B-P-L could be on its way out of the FCC this month.  
Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has been following the 
story and has more:

--

The ARRL says that an initial Report and Order on the rollout of B-P-L 
could be on its way out of the FCC this month. Amateur Radio Newsline's 
Mark Abramowicz, NT3V has been following the story and has more_

As predicted almost on cue, the Federal Communications Commission 
appears ready to render its decision on Broadband Over Powerline 
Internet access. 

And despite thousands of comments on the subject, many of them raising 
concerns about the interference potential of the technology, the ARRL 
says it has learned the panel is ready to act.

As one high-ranking ARRL official has told Amateur Radio Newsline, it's 
not a question of whether there will be BPL. There will. The question is 
in what form will it be rolled out and how effective will the safeguards 
be to protect other services.

In its recent bulletin, the ARRL advised it had learned the FCC's Office 
of Engineering and Technology would have its draft order on BPL ready 
for the commission's Oct. 14 meeting.

The ARRL has mounted a vigorous information campaign to raise awareness 
about the threat BPL poses. And, it has also tried to lobby at various 
levels to change some minds about the benefits the BPL industry says the 
technology will bring.

But it appears, based on the ARRL's BPL bulletin, that the organization 
is pessimistic about what will be coming out of the FCC's technology 
arm.

In fact, the ARRL's Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, in a 
letter sent as a follow-up to a recent meeting with FCC commissioner 
Jonathan Adelstein sums up what the League is expecting.

"_the ARRL has no confidence that the draft report and order will be 
based on sound engineering and believes the rush to adoption is 
unwarranted and premature. " That excerpt of Sumner's letter from the 
ARRL's Bulletin.
In interviews with Amateur Radio Newsline, ARRL President Jim Haynie 
W5JBP says there was little doubt in his mind the issue would be decided 
BEFORE the presidential election. Haynie contends the issue is being 
driven by business interests who have the ear of the president and his 
technology advisors.

Haynie has told Amateur Radio Newsline of his concerns about the FCC's 
apparent lack of interest in following up on the many pending  BPL 
complaints - filed as a result of system tests. He has told us he fears 
when the commission finally acts, it may bow to BPL interests that are 
seeking to weaken the impact of any interference complaints.

So the question many amateurs may be asking themselves as we await the 
FCC's order is where will this leave me? Is it time to put my radios up 
on Ebay and turn my focus to my computer and EchoLink?

The answer: Not so fast!

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration still has 
a card or two to play. Its technical people have raised interference 
issues and are continuing studies and plan to release more results in 
the next several months.

Will the FCC wait for the NTIA? Will the FCC table BPL? Not likely to 
both. Is there room for an appeal of any FCC BPL decision? If so, it 
would likely wind up tied up in the federal courts.

With the planned rollout out of Wireless Internet access here in 
Philadelphia and other cities across the nation, do the economics 
dictate a utility recovering its investment in BPL technology at a pace 
investors are willing to wait?

The questions are many and the debate is likely to continue for the next 
several days.

>From our perspective, it seems unlikely the FCC decision - if it goes 
against amateur radio interests - will stand without a challenge. Too 
much time and talent has been invested in preparing the data showing 
what BPL can do to the amateur frequencies and our ability to operate.

We'll stay on top of it for you. And, once the FCC order arrives, we'll 
have the first reaction and what it will mean to you.

Stay tuned!

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

--

More on the B-P-L issue in future Amateur Radio Newsline reports.  
(ARNewsline(tm), ARRL)

**

THE BPL FIGHT:  BPL COMES TO CENTRAL VIRGINIA

Still with news on the B-P-L front, Charles Rivelle, K3FT, has some news 
about one electric company's future.  He says over QRZ.com that the 
Central Virginia Electric Cooperative has completed testing of its B-P-L 
system in Nelson County and the company is now serving customers on 40 
miles of operational lines. 

The K3FT posting provides a link to a two-page advertisement that has 
been sent to thousands of customers throughout central Virginia.  The ad 
alerts them to look forward to B-P-L service in the area noting that 
line crews are now installing the equipment needed to deliver Broadband 
over Powerline services. Up to 4000 homes and businesses will be 
eligible to participate in the first phase of this program.  Central 
Virginia Electric Cooperative says its "always on" 256 kilobaud per 
second broadband connection is priced at a very competitive $29.95 a 
month.

Check this web site for details:  http://www.forcvec.com/bplcoop/  (K3FT 
via QRZ.COM) 

**

THE INTERNET:  US FALLING BEHIND IN BROADBAND ROLLOUT

Meantime, the FCC insists that the United States is making progress in 
rolling out high-speed Internet service.  This, despite facts showing 
that the nation is falling further behind other countries. 

A new Federal Communications Commission report found that U.S. high-
speed Internet lines had tripled to 28.2 million by the end of 2003 from 
June 2001, but the country at best was 10th place in international 
rankings down from fourth, lagging nations like Canada and South Korea.  

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps criticized his own agency over the 
disappointing news.  He says that the agency had failed to establish a 
coherent policy for broadband, sacrificing the nation's rank.  Copps 
also noted that service was as cheap as $10 a month in Japan for 8 
megabits a second versus $30-$50 for 1-3 megabits in the United States.  
(Published news reports)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD: STAN BURGHARDT, W0IT - S.K.

The changing of the guard in ham radio continues with word of the 
passing of two well known radio amateurs.  The ARRL Letter reports that 
Stan Burghardt, W0IT of Watertown, South Dakota, died on August 22nd at 
age 93.  Burghardt was the founder of Burghardt Radio Supply Inc. which 
is now known as the Burghardt Amateur Center.   He was first licensed in 
1931 as W9BJV and became W0BJV in 1946.  Burghardt remained active on 
the air -- especially on 6 meters -- until his death.  (ARRL)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD:  ROGER BAKER, G4IDE - S.K.

And ham radio software writer Roger Barker, G4IDE, has passed away.  
Baker  died on September 9th following a long bout with cancer.  Baker 
was the author of UI View, PSK31SRV and a host of other digital mode 
software and was recently named as the first recipient of the  'Lifetime 
Achievement Award' by the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio for his services 
to digital communications.

Baker's packet radio program Winpack is currently in use by tens of 
thousands of radio amateurs around the world, while his UI View program 
is now considered to be the benchmark by which all other APRS Raster 
Mapping software is compared. (KB7TBT, G3ZHI, others) 

**

ENFORCEMENT:  KEEP OFF 10 METERS

The FCC has written to five trucking and transport companies warning 
them to keep their drivers from operating radio gear on 10 meters.  

The letters went to Con Way CWX Trucking of Long Beach, California; 
Dowell Express, Inc. of Lavonia, Georgia; K & K Cartage, Inc. in 
Sunbury, Pennsylvania; Teeberry Trucking LLC whose home base is 
Charlotte, North Carolina and United Van Lines of Fenton, Missouri.  
Divers for these companies were heard operating radio gear without 
licenses on 28.085, 28.115 and 28.215 MHz

Each letter carries a stern warning that continued operation could lead 
to confiscation of the radio gear as well as a prison term and a hefty 
fine and for the unlicensed radio operator.  These monetary forfeitures 
normally range from $7,500 to $10,000.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  A DEAL A PIRATE COULD'T REFUSE

And there appears to be two ways to get someone to stop rebroacasting 
your radio station.  You can complain to the FCC or you can take another 
and apparently much quicker route that one station has.  Norm Seeley, 
KI7UP, explains the unique and effective approach:

--

An unlicensed broadcaster is off the air in San Diegio, California.  
This, after a licensed broadcaster in San Clemente kind of took matters 
into its own hands and made the pirate a deal he could not refuse.  
Legally speaking that is.

When KWVE was recently advised that its signal was being rebroadcast by 
apparently unauthorized translator station in Lakeside, California, the 
station dcided to act.  Rather than wait for the FCC to investigate and 
politely ask the pirate to cease and desist, representatives of KWVE 
paid the party a visit. The station also threatened in writing to seek 
legal injunction if the unauthorized rebroadcasts continued.

And you can call this approach as being very effective.  The translator 
fell silent in short order and has not been heard  since.

--

While this system is seemingly a lot faster it also means having to hire 
a lawyer and pay his fee.  (CGC)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  FCC PARTICIPATES IN COUNCIL ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

The FCC has participated in the first meeting of the Interagency 
Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with 
Disabilities.  This, at the Department of Homeland Security in 
Washington D.C..

The FCC was represented by K. Dane Snowden, the chief of the FCC's 
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.  At the meeting, Snowden 
announced that the FCC has issued policies and will launch outreach 
efforts.  This, to ensure that facilities that provide 
telecommunications relay services for persons with hearing and speech 
disabilities are designated priority for restoration of service in cases 
of emergency.  Snowden also described a rulemaking by the FCC to improve 
the emergency alert system to make it more accessible for people with 
disabilities. 

The Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and 
Individuals with Disabilities was established by Executive Order on July 
22nd.  Its purpose is to address the safety and security needs of people 
with disabilities.  (FCC)

**

HAM RADIO ON THE INTERNET: BIG DATABASE UPGRADE AT QRZ.COM

The QRZ.com website call sign system is running a lot faster these.  
This as the result of a major an upgrade to a new and more powerful 
server. 

The new database engine is a Sun E280R.  This is a 64-bit industrial 
strength machine with dual 900 MHz processors, 4 GB of RAM, and a pair 
of 36 gigabyte 10,000 R-P-M Fibre channel disk drives.  

Fred Lloyd who runs QRZ.com says that these new disks are really 
impressive.  Fred says that he has clocked them at speeds of up to 64 
megabytes per second.  That equates to an entire C D ROM's worth of data 
being moved internally in only 10 seconds. 

Lloyd adds that this new server only handles the call sign database.  
The main QRZ.com web server remains a 450 MHz Sun E420R with 2 gigabytes 
of RAM.  (QRZ.com)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE:  THE WSWSS VHF/UHF CONFERENCE IN CA IN OCT

Turning to the ham radio social scene, a reminder that the Western 
States Weak Signal Society's annual VHF  UHF Conference takes place on 
Saturday, October 9th.  The venue is the M2 Antenna Systems facility in 
Fresno, California and features prizes, technical programs and a great 
BBQ Dinner.  More info at www dot wswss dot org.  (WSWSS)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE:  OPRC HAMFEST IN AZ. IN OCTOBER

Just to the East in Arizona the Old Pueblo Radio Club will hold its 
hamfest on October 16th  at the Kinko Sports Complex in Tucson. For more 
information on this one please contact John Kalmes, KC7LIB, by e-mail to 
kc7lib at aol.com  (SW Communicator)

**

RADIO HERITAGE:  NAVY TO CLOSE SUB COMM CENTERS

The United States Navy says that it will dismantle two extremely low 
frequency radio transmission centers used to communicate with submerged 
submarines.  The Navy says that the 400-million submarine-communications 
system, which has been in use since 1989, is outdated and no longer 
needed.

Two transmitter sites are involved.  One is  in northern Wisconsin and 
the other in Michigan.  They will go out of service on September 30th 
but could take up to three years to disassemble and close down 
permanently.

Each system consists of a transmitter and an antenna strung on 600 12 
meter high poles.  The navy has used these extremely low frequency 
transmitters to maintain secure communications with submarines at sea 
but now will use 12 smaller transmitters, sited worldwide.  (Pulished 
reports)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  ISS REPEATER ON AGAIN

The FM Repeater and BBS on board the International Space Station was 
again open for general ham radio contacts on September 27th and 28th.  
During that time voice contacts were available on by transmitting up to 
the I-S-S on 145.920 MHz with a 67 Hz CTCSS tone while listening for 
replies on 435.300 MHz.  The Bulletin Board used an uplink of 145.860 F-
M and a downlink at 435.150 MHz.  This operation was followed by a PSK-
31 Experimenters Wednesday Test on September 29th.  

The system will be on periodically and ARISS will announce the dates and 
times in advance.  Check with the I-S-S Fan Club web page at 
www.issfanclub.comto see what the latest status is.

Also, keep in mind that the radios on board the space station are not 
able to correct for Doppler as the frequencies are  channelized.  It is 
up to the ground station to do the Doppler correction.  For 2 meters, 
the Doppler shift is about +3kHz at the beginning and goes to about -
3kHz at the end.  For 70 cm, the Doppler is about +10kHz at the 
beginning and goes to about -10kHz at the end.  

The 70cm Doppler is roughly 3 times the 2m Doppler.  Many of the 
tracking programs have the ability to calculate the frequency shift.  
(ARISS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  MIKE FINCKE ON THE AIR

And as his time on board the I-S-S begins to wind down ham astronaut 
Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, has been on the air quite a bit.  Not only to talk 
to school students in pre-scheduled contacts, but also to any ham who 
wants to chat a bit.  One of those who had the opportunity to talk 
recently with the intrepid space traveler is Scott Avery, WA6LIE, in 
Salinas, California, who had had his recorder running:

--

Contact audio here.  Hear it at www.arnewsline.org

--

Scott says that his QSO with KE5AIT space mobile took place at about 
O2:15 on September 28th.  Needless to say that signals were 5 by 9 and 
full quieting both ways. 

Fincke and Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT will be finishing their tour 
of duty on the ISS in the middle of October.  They will be replaced by 
Expedition 10 Astronaut Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, and Cosmonaut Salizhan 
Sharipov.  WA6LIE's full contact with the I-S-S can be heard on line at 
www.qsl.net/wa6lie (WA6LIE)
**

DX

In D-X word that Crete will be coming on the air in October.  This as 
SV9FBM and SV9FBZ become active as active as SY9Y in the CQ World Wide 
DX SSB Contest on the 30th and 31st as a Multi- Single entry.  QSL to 
Stelios Aggelakis, P.O.Box 113, GR 72200 Ierapetra, Crete Island, 
Greece.  (OPDX)

And  EA1QF and EB1AA will be on the air from Cuba from October 12th to 
the 25th. The pair will be working on a "Radiosolidarity" project, but 
will also be operational on the H-F bands from several station locations 
as T42R. QSL to EA4URE at his callbook address.  (GB2RS)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: THE ARDF REPORT

What do Burrowing Owls and 80-meter transmitters have in common?  They 
are both targets of hams who like to do radio direction finding.  
Newsline's Joe Moell K0OV tells us more:

--

There's lots happening in the world of radio direction finding this 
summer.  More young Burrowing Owls are leaving their nests in western 
Florida, so hams in that state who aren't busy with hurricane 
communications are by their receivers, listening for the radio tag 
signals to see where these critters will go.  If you can help, please 
join them -- I'll tell you how in a moment.

Also, a 21-member delegation of ARDF Team USA competitors, trainers, 
jurors, and family members went to the Czech Republic and the World 
Championships of radio foxhunting, September 7th through the 12th.  
These World ARDF Championships take place every two years.  USA's 2004 
team members were OMs and YLs ranging in age from 19 to 62.  Among them 
was Jay Thompson W6JAY, Newsline's Young Ham of the Year for 2003 and 
recent winner of the ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Award.  Each competed once 
on 80 meters and once on two meters, looking for three, four or five 
transmitters, depending on age and gender category.

USA began attending the World Championships in 1998, but European and 
former Soviet countries have been holding ARDF events for over 30 years.  
So it's no surprise that they dominated in the final standings.  Nine of 
these nations garnered all of the individual and team medals.  The total 
medal count was led by Czech, Russia, and Ukraine with 34, 28 and 26 
respectively.

USA, Australia, and Great Britain were among the 19 nations that won no 
medals.  But we're getting better every year.  Two Team USA members had 
top-ten individual finishes in their categories.  Nadia Scharlau of 
Cary, NC took 6th place out of 22 on two meters.  She might have won a 
medal on 80 meters, but the battery fell out of her receiver and she had 
to find the last fox transmitter with just the bearings that she already 
had on her map, losing about ten minutes.  Bob Cooley KF6VSE, age 62, of 
Pleasanton, CA placed 9th out of 34 on his two-meter run.

All of our team members earned their spots by taking medals in the USA 
National Championships.  This year's were in California in June, and a 
site is already being sought for the national championships in 2005, 
2006 and beyond.  As USA's ARDF Coordinator, I would like to hear from 
you if your club is interested in putting on the championships.

You can read all about the ARDF championships, Team USA, and volunteer 
wildlife tracking -- and find out how to get involved -- at the usual 
place, www.homingin.com.  That's homingin, as one word, homingin.com.

>From southern California, this is Joe Moell K-zero-Oscar-Victor, for 
Amateur Radio Newsline.

--

Again, that website Joe mentioned is www.homingin.com.  And homingin is 
one word.  (K0OV, 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 W-I-A 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. 