[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1421 - November 5, 2004

Sat Nov 6 08:29:47 EST 2004

Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1421 -  November 5, 2004

The following is a Q-S-T.  AMSAT says that the U Oh 22 ham-sat is dying 
and Israel says it may do away with Morse testing.  Find out the details 
on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1421 coming your way right now.

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  UO-22 MAY SOON BE S.K.

AMSAT U-K says that the UO-22 ham radio satellite is not in good shape, 
and its looks as though its useful life may be over.   Bill Pasternak, 
WA6ITF, has more:

--

The AMSAT News Service which brought the first worked of the problem 
says that the cause if the satellite's demise is unknown.  Bit says A-N-
S, it may be related to problems with the satellites batteries which 
have been in space for more than 10 years.  

UO-22 was launched in July 1991 from Kourou, French Guiana.  It served 
for many years as the store and forward satellite for Amateur Radio 
packet and the world wide Sat Gate service.  The latter is a linked 
series of packet radio networks in many countries.

The Ground Station control center at the University of Surrey has 
attempted several times in recent weeks to reactivate the UO-22  After 
one attempt it did come back to life, but only briefly. Other attempts 
have failed completely. 

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

--

As time permits, the Control Station at the University of Surrey may 
make further attempts at reviving the ailing bird, but says AMSAT U-K it 
seems unlikely that they will be completely successful.  (ANS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  PC SAT RECOVERY SUCCESSFUL

Meantime, better news about another ham radio satellite.  The P-C Sat 
ham radio bird continues to work perfectly following it's recovery two 
weeks ago.  

To use P-C Sat, just QSY your APRS mobile station to 145.825 during a 
pass.  You should not have to change any parameters.  PCsat digipeats 
the aliases of RELAY and WIDE just like terrestrial digipeating.  (ANS)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  ISRAEL MAY DROP CW REQUIREMENT

Back on Earth, word that the state of Israel may be the next nation to 
do away with Morse testing.  At least the possibility has been raised in 
the latest issue of the Israel Amateur Radio Club's English language 
publication Hagal International.

In a brief statement in the latest on-line edition, the magazine says 
that a proposal to  abandon Morse testing has been raised by the nations 
Ministry of Communications.  The publication notes that many European 
countries have been dropping the Morse requirement and that it expects 
to see a rather heated discussion among Israeli hams once the Ministry 
opens the debate for public discussion.

At the moment Israel maintains a 5 word per minute Morse testing 
requirement for access to the High Frequency bands.  But it is also a 
signatory to the pan-European C-E-P-T licensing agreement and tends to 
abide by whatever regulations C-E-P-T adopts for its member nations.

More on what's happening in Israeli ham radio is on line at www.iarc.org  
(Hagal International)

**

REFARMING THE BANDS:  FCC RELOCATION OF FEDERAL USERS INCLUDES SOME 
AMATEUR 2.3 GHz SPECTRUM

Meantime, here in the United States, the FCC has acted to include the 
first five 5 megahertz of the 2390 to 2417 MHz Amateur Radio Service 
primary allocation that it has opened up to accommodate federal users 
shifted from other bands.  According to the ARRL Letter, the 
reallocations, which also involved non amateur spectrum at 2 GHz are 
aimed at making room for A-W-S or advanced wireless services including 
so-called third-generation wireless systems.  In making the announcement 
the FCC said it worked with the US Department of Defense and the 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration to allow for 
relocation of critical military and other operations into the 2360 to 
2395 MHz band.  (ARRL)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  DISASTER NUMBERS FOR 2003

If you are involved in emergency communications, these numbers will be 
of interest to you.  

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent 
Societies, natural disasters killed 76,806 people in 2003.  This is 
three times the number of victims than died in 2002 with the rise due in 
part to extremes in the global climate.  

The joint society report noted that an earthquake that killed 31,000 
people in the Iranian city of Bam and a heat wave in Europe that killed 
35,000.  They say that these were major contributing factors in the 
higher toll victim toll.

All of this is a good reason for hams to be prepared for any emergency 
situation.  Here in the United States the best way is by signing up for 
one of the many communications training courses offered by the American 
Radio Relay League.  Just visit their website at www.arrl.org to find 
out what's available to you right now.  (ARNewsline(tm)) from 
information from International Red Cross and ARRL)

**

TELECOMMUNICATIONS LAW:  RADIO DISTRACTED DRIVERS REDUX

Some good news for those of you who operate mobile.  The head of the 
National Transportation Safety Board says that education rather than 
legislation is the best approach to getting people to minimize 
distractions including cellular telephones when they get behind the 
wheel of a car.  

At a recent press conference National Transportation Safety Board 
Chairperson Ellen Engleman-Conners said there still are no definitive 
studies showing that talking on a cell phone is more dangerous than any 
number of other motorist activities.  This includes such activities as 
eating, reaching for a drink or adjusting the car radio.

Last summer, federal regulators announced new guidelines for states to 
follow when reporting crashes.  Investigating agencies are now asked to 
say whether the driver was distracted and if that distraction was caused 
by a cell phone, a two-way radio, or something else.  

Engleman-Conners says that having the ability to call is a safety issue 
and cited the example of a 16-year-old girl who's driving home from the 
library late at night and has a flat tire. Engleman-Conners said people 
are more likely to embrace safety measures if they're educated about why 
they are important.

New York, New Jersey, the District of Columbia and a growing number of 
cities and towns are prohibiting drivers from using cell phones without 
hands-free devices.  (NTSB reports)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  SOCAL HAMS CLAIM EX-KG6IRO JAMMED EMERGENCY COMMS

>From the some people never learn department comes the latest on Jack 
Gerritsen, the ex KG6IRO.  The same Jack Gerritsen whom the FCC has 
recently told to pay a $10,000 fine for operating without a license.  

And you would think that would be enough to catch anyone's attention.  
But hams on one Los Angeles area repeater say that even with this fine 
facing him that he,  or someone claiming to be him, recently jammed ham 
radio communications of an emergency at sea.  And this time the United 
States Coast Guard is involved.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, 
K6PZW, has the latest:

--

The story starts with Al Geiger, KG6FB, sailing solo to Guadalupe Island 
on his 36 ft. sloop, following another boat which was about 20 miles 
ahead of him.  On Tuesday night, October 26th they were caught in a bad 
storm.  Al turned back when he lost his Jib sail in the high winds.  

Both his VHF marine radio and his 2 meter ham radio amplifier had 
failed.  Without  his VHF marine radio, Al lost contact with the other 
boat.

The alleged jamming incident happened on the Catalina repeater on Friday 
morning, October 29th.  The Coast Guard group in Los Angeles was 
interested in obtaining any information that KG6FB had about the other 
boat.  So it had Bill Scholz, W1HIJ, who is the District Communications 
Officer for the Coast Guard Auxiliary, try to contact Al on the Catalina 
Repeater.

The QSO between KG6FB and W1HIJ  started at 10:02 AM and continued  off 
and on through about 11:40.  The person alleged to be Jack Gerritsen 
showed up after the traffic began and refused to clear the frequency.  
Luckily, a tape recorder was going and here is a small part of what 
happened.  The first voice you hear is that of Bill Scholz, W1HIJ 
followed by that alleged to be former ham Jack Gerritsen. This was 
recorded using VOX, so any dead air is missing.

--

W1HIJ:   Wiskey One Hotel India Juliet, Coast Guard Auxiliary Upland 
Radio 1.  This frequency is in use for emergency communications.  This 
frequency in use for emergency communications.  Please remain off he 
frequency.  This is W1HIJ, Upland Radio 1 out."

Unidentified Transmission:  "Yeah whats your phone number.  Ive never 
heard any emergencies on this damn frequency. You ever heard of 911 
stupid?"

Repeater:  "beep"

--

The station believed to be Gerritsen continued on.  Not only did he 
pester W1HIJ verbally.  He also played what can best be described as  
political recordings over and over again.  

Soon, other stations believed to have come over from the 147.435 MHz 
repeater  -- the one calling itself the "Animal Farm" -- also appeared 
on the Calalina machine.  They began taunting and jamming the station 
believed to be Gerritsen,  tying up the Catalina repeater frequency much 
of the time.  The combined garbage made it impossible to continue the 
passing of emergency traffic  and it was not until much later in the day 
that the other boat was confirmed as having arrived at Guadalupe Island, 
and that KG6FB had made it safely to Whites Landing.  

Copies of the full recording of this incident have reportedly been 
forwarded to several government agencies that handle malicious 
interference to ongoing emergency radio traffic.  We will have to see of 
any of them follow up on this one.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los 
Angeles.

--

Another ham, Tim Thompson, W6DCE, provided us with whats purported to be 
a phone message left on Gerritsen's answering machine by local FCC 
inspectors.  The investigators  reportedly went to his house on a 
complaint from the Coast Guard to perform a station inspection but were 
refused entry.  On the recording they urge the person inside to permit 
them in.  This, to avoid added fines or possible arrest.  

You may recall that the last person prosecuted for bothering an 
emergency communications service was Rajib Mitra, of Brookfield, 
Wiisconsin.  As reported here on Newsline, last June Mitra was convicted 
under the United States "Patriot Act" of interference to the 
communications of a local police department.  He was sentenced to 8 
years in a Federal prison for that crime.   (ARNewsline (tm) with 
infrormation from K6PZW, W1HIJ, W6DCE, others)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  YOU CAN'T OPERATE THERE

A pair of hams who operated the wrong part of 20 meters have caught the 
eye of the FCC enforcement folks.  The agency's Daryl Duckworth, NN0W, 
has the details:

--

Duckworth:  "Two warning notices went out for operation on 14.010 MHz.  
The first went to K0HUU, Donald Mullen, of Springfield, Missouri, for 
operation outside General class privileges.  The second went to W6QEU, 
Peter Onnigian, of Sacramento, California, for operating outside 
Advanced class privileges."

--

Both operators were advised that such operation my lead to revocation of 
their licenses or to a monetary forfeiture.  Also that no renewal or 
upgrade application will be considered until this matter is resolved.  
They were given 20 days from the October 18th date of the FCC's letter 
to them to respond.  (FCC, RAIN)

**

ON THE WEB: QRZ.COM WEBSERVER DE-LISTS K1MAN

A popular ham radio callsign webserver has removed the listing of 
International Amateur Radio Network net manager Glenn Baxter, K1MAN, 
from its database.  In a posting to his own QRZ.com website, owner Fred 
Lloyd, AA7BQ, says that he took the action because the staff at QRZ 
reached the collective opinion that K1MAN does not represent a view of 
amateur radio activities that is conducive to the furtherance of the 
hobby.  His words -- not ours.  

Lloyd has also started what he calls an informal survey of QRZ.com users 
to get their feelings as to whether or not this is the right course of 
action.  As of Wednesday, November 4th, some 387 hams say that they 
support QRZ's decision to de-list K1MAN while only 19 feel the listing 
for Baxter should remain.  

You can follow this one for yourself.  Its on-line at www.qrz.com  
(QRZ.COM)

**

TOWER PROBLEMS:  EXPLOSION ROCKS TEXAS TRANSMISSION TOWER

Remember our recent story about a  fire bug in the Pacific Northwest 
burning down radio towers.  Fires that cost one ham his home.  Well that 
fire bug still has not been caught and authorities are still looking for 
leads in the case.  

And while we do not know if there is any connection, but news reports 
say that Federal investigators are now looking into the circumstances 
surrounding an explosion at a power line transmission tower near Dallas, 
Texas on October 27th.  The reports say that one leg of the support 
structure appeared to have been severed in two places.  

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco and Firearms, along with local police, are investigating.  
(Published reports)

** 

TOWER PROBLEMS:  VANDAL FELLS TWO TOWERS IN TEXAS

But that's not the only tower vandalism to report this week.  Another 
instance is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where a company that owns two power 
transmission towers that were deliberately toppled two weeks ago says 
that it is willing to pay big bucks to have the person who did it put 
behind prison bars.   

The American Transmission Company is offering a $10,000 reward for 
information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible 
for the criminal act that left 17,000 customers without electrical 
service.  News reports in the one say that a person or persons unknown 
removed the base bolts from the eighty five foot towers causing them to 
tumble.  

American Transmission says that it is installing two temporary wooden 
structures to support the downed power lines until such time as 
replacements can be put in.  Meantime investigators want the person 
behind these criminal acts behind bars before he or she strikes again.  
(Published reports)

**

THE HAM BUSINESS CENTER:  NEW RELEASES FROM CSS

>From the ham radio business world comes word that Creative Services 
Software of Muscle Shoals, Alabama has announced the release of PacTerm 
3 for Windows and P k Term 3 for Windows for preview.  This latest 
software includes a new user interface in a single window,  a built in 
generic logging program, the M T 63 soundcard mode, a PSK 62.5 mode, 
TCP/IP support and much much more.  Both programs include a 30 day full 
featured demo version, so hams and MARS users can try before they buy. 
Creative Software Services is on the web at www.cssincorp.com  (CSS)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE:  GREAT LAKES SUPER SWAP IN MICHIGAN IN NOVEMBER

Meantime, the combined 2004 Great Lakes Super Swap and ARRL Michigan 
State Convention takes place November 5th and 6th at the Harbor Lights 
School in Holland, Michigan.  For more information on this fun event 
take your web browser over to www.hollandarc.org and click on the words 
swap info.  (Via Internet)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE:  HAMVENTION(r) ANNOUNCES 2005 THEME

"Bringing Hams Together From Around The World" will be the theme of the 
next Dayton Hamvention now slated for May 20th to the 22nd of 2005.  The 
announcement was made this past week by the events General Chairman Gary 
Des Combes, N8EMO, who added a personal thank you to everyone who made 
suggestions and helped to select this theme.  Des Combes said that all 
of these efforts were very valuable and sincerely appreciated.  More 
information about Hamvention 2005 is on the World Wide Web at 
www.hamvention.org  (Hamvention (r))

**

A HELPING HAM:  GET WELL WISHES TO W4TBU

If you read the QCWA Journal, then you may remember an article about 
"Ultimate Elmer" Shirley Wilkerson, Jr.,  W4TBU, that appeared in the 
winter 2003 edition.  A ham who loves sharing the hobby with others.

Now, Tom Webb, W4YOK, says over the QCWA remailer that Wilkerson, who is 
his close friend and personal Elmer, is seriously ill and confined to a  
hospital.  

Tom says that Shirley is 84 years old and the situation has him 
depressed and he is refusing treatment. Tom says that this is so unlike 
Shirley who he describes as a person who loves life so much.  And W4YOK 
says that hearing words of encouragement from the ham community might 
really help.

So we are going to ask that you take a moment, write out a QSL or post 
card and send it to W4TBU.  Tell him how much you appreciate what he has 
done to make ham radio a better place.  

Send your card to Shirley Wilkerson, Jr.,  W4TBU, Room 314, Community 
Methodist Hospital, Henderson, Kentucky,  42420. 

Hams traditionally support one another in time of need.  This is one of 
those times.  (W4YOK, QCWA)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  FINNISH CONTACT SUCCESSFUL

Students at a Senior High School, in Pori, Finland, spoke to cosmonaut 
Yuri Shargin, on October 19.  They were able to ask 12 questions before 
the International Space Station went over the horizon.  Students, 
teachers and members of the media attended the event.  (ARISS)

**

WORLDBEAT - AUSTRALIA:  COST PROHIBITIVE TO KEEP REPEATERS ON THE AIR

Several repeaters down-under are now off the air.  This after 
Australia's telephone provider Telstra put site rental beyond the 
economic reach of ham radio.  Felix Scerri, VK4FUQ, of the WIA News 
Service reports:

--

>From 22nd October the UHF repeaters co sited on the Black  Mountain 
Telstra Tower in Canberra have been removed from service.  Telstra 
recently carried out an audit of the site and discovered there was no 
rental agreement that could be found for this ham gear to be on site.

After negotiations with Telstra, the rental offer made  by Telstra is  
beyond the economic resources of the Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club 
and, sadly they had no option but to remove the equipment by Today 
October 31st .

Better news however is at Black Hill the ACT's 146.900 MHz service is  
on air however it may subject to further interruptions.  Following last 
years bush fires there has been a considerable amount of work done by 
the Tibinbilla tracking station staff to get the site fully operational. 
The task of the refurbishment and repairs is almost complete.

--

The repeaters that lost their home operated on 438.025 MHz and 439.950 
Mhz.  They served the greater Canberra area.  (WIA)

**

WORLDBEAT:  UK 5 MHZ BEACONS COMING SOON

The Radio Society of Great Britain says that is close to installing and 
operating two new beacons on 5 point 290 kHz.  The new beacons will 
operate under the callsigns GB3WES and GB3ORK.  GB3WES will be located 
in Cumbria and GB3ORK in the Orkney Islands.  Both will have a stepped 
transmit power sequence and a 30-second sounder sequence of 0.5ms pulses 
at 40 Hz and identical to that of the Oxfordshire GB3RAL beacon. 

The new beacons will have transmit times will follow GB3RAL by one and 
two minutes respectively.  Together the three beacons will provide an 
excellent spread of signal source from across Great Britain and offering 
experimenters worldwide a unique opportunity to study propagation 
effects at 5 MHz from their own QTH.  (GB2RS)

**

ON THE AIR:  USS SALEM ARC COMMEMORATES VETERANS DAY

In news of special event operations, the radio group supporting the U-S-
S Salem  will be activating K1USN on November 11th for Veterans Day.  
Activities will be on most bands using CW and SSB.  During the operation 
the ship will be open to the public as well as radio amateurs.   A 
special QSL has been created from the official 2004 Veterans Day Poster. 
Stateside QSL requests with a S.A.S.E. go to Harold Pugh, K1RV, at his 
callbook address.  DX cards go via the W1 Bureau. More information is 
on-line at www.qsl.net/k1usn.  (1VV)

**

ON THE AIR:  VoIP TRANSCEIVER TO BE INSTALLED IN BAGHDAD

Former 73 Magazine Editor Keith Lamonica, W7DXX, plans to install a 
fully operational remotely controlled transceiver in Baghdad, Iraq, in 
the next few weeks.  YI9DXX this will be available for any ham in the 
world who is registered with W7DXX to use his Voice over I P Internet 
system.  For more information take your web browser over to 
www.lamonica.com and peruse the information you will find there.  
(G3ZHI)

**

DX

In D-X, word that Team Vertical will be operational from Taveuni Island, 
Fiji from November 20th to the 30th.  Operations will be on 160 through 
10 meters, mainly on CW. The group will have 6 low-power stations and 
ocean-front vertical arrays on all bands. QSL all Team Vertical 3-D-2 
stations via WA4WTG.  (Team Vertical)

And YT1CS who is currently active portable 5Z4 from Nairobi, has 
arranged a side trip to Lamu Island.  He will be there through the 11th 
of November on 80 to 10 meters SSB using 100 watts to verticals and 
inverted-Vees.  QSL as directed on the air.  (RSGB)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  RFID FOR COWS

And finally this week a cow sized idea. in fact, its an idea that 
combines radio R-F-I-D tags and cows in a system called the National 
Livestock Identification System or simply N-L-I-S for short.  John 
Williams, VK2BUI, is in New South Whales, Australia, where the system is 
being tried out:

--

NLIS uses machine-readable Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices 
to  identify cattle. Cattle are tagged with NLIS devices only once in 
their life.  Cattle identified with NLIS devices can be electronically 
read as they move through the livestock chain.  At time of reading, each 
owner's PIC can be  recorded and linked to the NLIS device. This 
transaction information is  then stored in the secure central NLIS 
database.

RFID eliminates the need for "line of sight" reading necessary with 
barcode systems.  The signal can penetrate through body tissue, wood, 
plastic, mud, manure and more.  RFID in this application is passive and 
therefore requires no battery, meaning it will last for the life of the 
animal.

--

With Japan set to reopen import of U-S beef, government officials in 
that nation feel that it is more important than ever to be able to trace 
every animal from birth to marketplace.  Many believe that a National 
Livestock Identification System using R-F-I-D tagging is the logical 
answer.  (WIA News)

**

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