[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1446 - April 29, 2005

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Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1446 -  April 29, 2005

WITH ARNEWSLINE (tm):  THANKING JANUARY'S CONTRIBUTORS

Ladies and gentlemen, with some thank-you's to those who have supported 
the Amateur Radio Newsline operation, here's our Support Fund 
Administrator Andy Jarema, N6TCQ:

--

In the month of January we heard from The Raleigh, NC Amateur Radio 
Society: Regular contributor Benton Bonney, W4PE of Orlando: Monthly 
contributor Joseph Bartzi, Jr., KC8DKF of Columbus, OH: Bob Guidas, 
KB4ABF of Maynardville, TN: Ernest Clark of Greenwood, IN: The North 
Shore Radio Club in Highland Park, IL: Richard Lust, K9APW in Verona, 
WI: The Boise County Amateur Radio Club, K3ZFF in ID: Wallace Willhard, 
W7MVK of Bountiful, UT: Regular contributor Linda Reeder of Salt Lake 
City, UT. We'll have more from January next week.

Week-in, week-out, the gathering of the news takes funds. The news 
doesn't come to us- we have to go get it. Check out our website at 
arnewsline.org for information on how to support us, or you can write us 
at Newsline Support Fund, PO Box 660937, Arcadia, CA 91066, or there is 
our new PayPal account that some of you have already taken advantage of. 
The address for that is: N6TCQ at arnewsline.org. 

I'm Andy Jarema, N6TCQ for Newsline. Now to this week's up-to-the-minute 
news on Amateur Radio.

--

Thanks Andy.  Now, Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1446 with a 
release date of Friday, April 29th, 2005 follows in 5-4-3-2-1.  

The following is a Q-S-T.  A big tower win in New Mexico, a bill to 
limit the N-W-S and another ham told he will face a license hearing in 
Washington D-C.  All this and more on Amateur Radio Newsline report 
number 1446  coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here) 
 
**

RADIO LAW:  NEW MEXICO AMATEUR WINS ANTENNA CASE IN STATE SUPREME COURT


Some good news for hams living in the "land of enchantment."  The ARRL 
Letter reports that a pair of 130-foot antenna support structures on the 
property of New Mexico radio amateur Gerry Smith, W6TER, will remain.  
This, after Smith's arguments to permit their construction prevailed in 
the state Supreme Court.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, 
has the rest of the story:

--

The high court opinion reversed New Mexico Court of Appeals and District 
Court decisions that had ruled against allowing Smith to continue 
constructing the towers on his rural property.  

In July 1999, the county issued W6TER a building permit but in December 
of that year ordered him to halt the project claiming it had erred in 
issuing him the permission. After the two lower courts agreed with the 
county, the case reached the states highest court.  The New Mexico 
Supreme Court applied three standards of review and agreed with Smith on 
all counts.  The high court said that the plain terms of the county 
ordinance indicate that Amateur Radio towers are exempt from height 
restrictions.  Also  that the county had previously interpreted ham 
radio antennas as customarily incidental, and that the county had failed 
to adopt a specific standard to preserve scenic value.  The Court also 
said that if the county had wanted to prevent towers like Smith's, it 
could have expressly amended its zoning ordinance to include specific 
height  limitations.

Smith bought his property in July 1999 after researching deed 
restrictions
covenants and conditions and receiving assurances from county 
officials that his towewrs could go up.  He also submitted a detailed, 
professionally prepared site plan.  But After Smith got his building 
permit and began work on the tower project, the county attempted to shut 
it down, citing June 1999 amendments to its zoning ordinance that, the 
county asserted, had removed Amateur Radio antennas as an "incidental 
use" in a rural agricultural zone.  But the Supreme Court says that the 
county cannot stop a permit by changing the rules after the fact, and 
Smith has the go ahead to complete the project.

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


--

Smith credits Albuquerque attorney and ARRL Volunteer Counsel, Ed Ricco, 
N5LI, for the successful outcome in this case.  (ARRL)

**

COMMUNICATIONS LAW:  BILL TO RESTRICT NWS INFO INTRODUCED IN THE SENATE

Hams nationwide are being asked by those involved in severe weather 
spotting to write in opposition to Sentate bill S 786.  This is a 
measure introduced by Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is pushing that 
some fear would restrict what information the National Weather Service 
provides to the public. 

 Under the proposed legislation the N-W-S would  be allowed to offer 
particular types of services only if the private sector does not offer 
them in a given geographic area.    According to Santorum's office, for 
many years the N-W-S was restricted by just such a law.  When the rule 
was finally changed in 2003, the N-W-S and its parent agency, the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expanded into areas 
already served by the commercial weather industry.

The senators office does not deny that the bill is intended to protect 
private weather service companies in Pennsylvania including industry 
leader AccuWeather.  Santorum's spokesman says that the measure is about 
job retention in Pennsylvania. 

But S 786 has alreay drawn criticism from those who say it unfairly 
favors private weather providers, and would endanger the public by 
preventing the dissemination of certain weather data.  A  spokesman for 
the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association says that  the bill as 
written  could prevent the N-W-S from distributing weather data to the 
Federal Aviation Administration for pilots to use.

Several on-line ham blogs have also picked up on the Santorum bill.  
While on the surface it seems to mean little to radio amateurs, some 
believe that their participation in Sky Warn activities might be limited 
or curtailed if s 786 passes.  Others fear that the information that 
they supply to the N-W-S could be delayed or not disseminated to the 
public by commercial weather providers.  All are urging the ham 
community to write their legislators asking them to vote against this 
measure if and when it reaches the Senate floor.  You can read the text 
of S 786 along with a lot of comments -- on line at www.qrz.com.  
(Various)

**

FCC NEWS:  MARTIN NOW DEFENSE COMMISSIONER

Newly appointed FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has taken on the additional 
title of Defense Commissioner.  Like his predecessor Michael Powell, he 
oversees the commission's homeland security, national security emergency 
preparedness and defense functions.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  CAL HAM FACES HEARING BEFORE ALJ

The FCC Enforcement Bureau has referred the Amateur Radio Service 
renewal application of Thomas  Lynch Jr, K6COL, to the Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau for a  hearings related to enforcement-related 
issues.  The FCC says that it has complaints regarding alleged 
interference caused by Lynch, as well as at least one instance of 
operating outside the his General class privileges. 

Lynch's license expired March 28th.  He did file a timely renewal 
application and will be permitted to continue operating until the FCC 
makes a decision on whether to grant his application.  Among other 
things, the regulatory agency alleges that Lynch continues to show 
apparent deliberate interference on 40-meter SSB.  This includes 
complaints it has received as recently as February 2005.

In the near future the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is expected to 
issue a Hearing Designation Order to Lynch.  At that time the Los Altos,  
California ham  would be ordered to appear at a hearing in Washington, 
DC.  before an Administrative Law Judge.  Evidence gathered at a hearing 
would guide the  Administrative Law Judge in determining how the FCC 
should dispose of Lynch's pending application.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  WEBSITE URGES U.S. ATTY ACT IN GERRITSEN CASE

A high profile repeater and its owner appear to have taken the point 
position in the campaign by Southern California hams to rid the airwaves 
of Jack Gerritsen.  This with the establishment of a new website by the 
WA6TWF Super System that urges the ham community to back a letter 
writing campaign  to the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles 
demanding immediate action be taken against the ex KG6IRO..

As reported last week, the campaign targets Los Angeles based United 
States Attorney Debra Yang whom the local Amateur Radio community feels 
is ignoring the problems created by Gerritsen's continued unlicensed 
operation.  This, even though quite a bit of evidence has reportedly 
been presented to her office by the FCC.

The website reinforces the stated objective of the campaign.  That being 
to flood Yang's office with a minimum of 25,000 letters demanding that 
she act against Gerritsen using any and all legal tools at her disposal.  

But the posting at www.wa6twf.com/Enforcement.htm takes this campaign a 
step further.  In addition to U.S. Attorney Yang, the site also urges 
that hams send letters to their congressmen and senators, to the ARRL 
and the FCC.  Letters that say the Southern California ham radio 
community needs enforcement action right now.  It also gives the address 
of where to write the U.S. Attorney in this case.  (ARNewsline(tm), 
QRZ.com)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  CALIFORNIA RADIO THEFTS CONTINUE

The California radio thieves we reported on recently are at it again.  
This time breaking into 41 buses at two school bus yards in the cities 
of Victorville and Barstow the weekend of April 16th and 17th. Thirty-
one two way radios were stolen with a value of $15,000.

The radios stolen in Victorville are Kenwood model TK880H-1.  The lead 
detective on the case says that he believes there is more than one 
person involved with the thefts.  This is because the thieves did not 
smash glass or pick locks to break into the buses.  17 more were taken 
in the bus yard that serves the Barstow Unified School District

A previous bus burglary netted thieves 33 radios in one brazen theft on 
July 11th of 2004.  None of those radios ever turned up on public 
auction websites.  This has lead investigators to believe that they are 
being smuggled out of the United States and sold elsewhere in the world.  
(CGC)

**

RADIO HISTORY:  KPS CALLSIGN GRANTED TO MARINE RADIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

The FCC has granted a license for a new, common carrier class 1A CW 
coast station to the Maritime Radio Historical Society,  operators of 
KPH stroke K6KPH at Ptoint Reyes, California.. The Maritime Radio 
Historical Society was formed in 1999 with the aim of restoring ex-RCA 
coast  station KPH to operational status.  A task now completed.  

KSM will start operation running 5 kilowatt CW transmitters on 426 and 
500 kilohertz and 6.474 and 12, 993 MHz.  Operators say they will 
eventually file requests for the assignment of one CW frequency in each 
of the marine bands from 2 to 22 MHz.  

Also in the works are looking for authorization to transmit Frequency 
Shift Keying in the marine bands. The intent is to make RTTY and SITOR 
press and weather available to the maritime community via these modes.  

No sign-on date for any operation has yet been set.  More information is 
on-line at www.radiomarine.org  (K7CD)

**

COMMUNICATIONS LAW:  CABLE SALE INVESTIGATED

Three senators are urging a secretive government panel to investigate 
the national security implications of the $130 million sale of a network 
of U.S. undersea communications cables to India's largest phone and 
broadband company  Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama 
and Ted Stevens of Alaska described the undersea cables owned by Tyco 
International Ltd. as a strategic asset of incalculable value to United 
States security and commercial interests.

The senators are seeking a rare full-scale review of the network's 
pending sale by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United 
States, which considers security risks of foreign firms buying or 
investing in American companies. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., India's 
telecommunications company, announced plans to buy the network in 
November for cash pending approval by U.S. and Indian regulators. 
India's government owns about one-fourth of Videsh Sanchar Nigam.  
Tyco's network currently carries as much as 80 percent of voice and data 
traffic across the Pacific from the United States.  (Published reports)

**

RADIO RECORDS:  GUINNES BOOK RECOGNIZES HAM RADIO ACHIEVEMENT

The Guinness World Records Ltd  awarded a certificate to Finnish radio 
amateur OH2BR.  This, for a record number of contacts made by an 
individual from one location in one year.  

Operating as VP6BR from Pitcairn Island, OH2BR made 56,239 contacts 
between 25 January and 21 April 2000.  A world record according to 
Guinnes.  (GB2RS)

**

THE BUSINESS SCENE:  HD RADIO GROWTH

An update from the Radio World High Definition Radio Scoreboard.  
According to Ibiquity figures, the total number of HD Radio stations now 
on the air has passed 300. The company has 701 stations listed as 
licensees, of which 301 are on the air.  There are 13,525 licensed AM 
and FM stations in the country.   (RW)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  TONY ENGLAND, W0ORE AT HAMVENTION 2005

Those of you planning to attend Hamvention 2005 will have several 
chances to meet former Astronaut Tony England, W0ORE.  Tony will be both 
the guest of the ARRL at its Exop as well as AMSAT at various locations 
on the convention floor.  

Back in 1985 Tony rode into space onboard the shuttle Challenger. During 
his eight-day mission, he operated both FM voice and slow scan 
television.  It was on that flight that the term SAREX was coined.  
Thats an acronym standing for the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment.  

Now Tony is back in person with the ham community. On Thursday night, 
May 19th he will be the guest of honor at an invitational fund raiser 
hosted by the American Radio Relay League.  Then on Friday morning May 
20th, Tony will spend 9:30 to 10 AM in the ARRL EXPO exhibits area then 
move to the ARRL Youth Activities booth from 10 to 10:30.  From 11 to 
noon W-Zero-O-R-E will be at the AMSAT booth rounding out a busy 24 
hours at the AMSAT Banquet that evening.  (AMSAT, ARRL, Hamventionr)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  HEIL SOUND MIC WINS NAB RADIO WORLD COOL STUFF AWARD

Radio World magazine has announced that the Heil Sound PR 40 Microphone, 
designed by Bob Heil, K9EID has been named one of the winners of its 
"Cool Stuff" Award.   This is broadcast radio's most prestigious 
technology honor that goes each year to a very select few products at 
each years National Association of Broadcasters convention.  Newsline 
caught up with Bob at the show.  He says that it was ham radio that made 
all of this happen:

--

Heil:  "Its all because of Amateur Radio and how proud I am to be a 
ham."

--


Receiving the Cool Award means a product was selected by a panel of 
engineers and technical experts as notable for its design, features, 
cost efficiency and performance in serving radio users.  It also means 
the product caused the judges  to stop in the aisles and say, "Oh, 
cool!"  K-9-E-I-D says, thats cool with him too:

--

Heil:  "I look at my background of starting out with my Harvey Wellsin 
`56 and all those days.  Thats what governed me to learn what I know 
about electronics.  And here we design this great product thats just 
absolutely blowing the whole market away here at NAB.  So, what can I 
tell you."


--

In addition to the award to Bob for his PR 40 microphone, other products 
receiving the Cool Award included the Harris R-M-X Digital Audio 
Console, the Marantz Professional P-M-D 660 Recorder and Orban's Optimod 
FM 8500 Processor to name only a few.   

The panel also singled out two groups of companies for their roles in 
advancing new technologies.  National Public Radio, Harris, Kenwood, 
Broadcast Electronics and Ibiquity Digital Corp. received "Cool Stuff" 
recognition for innovation in the development of multicasting, the use 
of radio's existing bandwidth for multiple audio program streams.  
Telos/Omnia/Fraunhofer, Neural Audio and SRS Labs and their respective 
development partners were honored for advocacy of radio surround sound 
and for their demonstrations of how U.S. radio might implement it.

The awards were presented at the recent National Association of 
Broadvasters convention in Las Vegas, Nevada,  by Paul McLane who is 
Radio World magazine's Editor in Chief.  (ARNewsline(tm))

**

RADIO HISTORY:  ALPINE TOWER TO HELP COMMEMORATE FM BROADCASTING

The original Armstrong tower at Alpine New Jersey will celebrate the 
75th anniversary of Edwin Armstrong's first experimental FM broadcast 
with a commemorative broadcast on 42.8 Mhz.  This, thanks to the efforts 
of Steve Hemphill, owner of equipment maker Solid Electronics 
Laboratories, and Charles Sackermann Jr., who is the C-E-O of the 
company that owns the Alpine Tower.

Hemphill and Sackermann say that they have received Special Temporary 
Authority from the FCC to conduct the broadcast on Armstrong's original 
FM frequency of 42.8 MHz under experimental call sign WA2XMN.  They plan 
to be on the air from the site from June 11th to the 12th with 
programming that includes a dramatic production of the Tom Lewis book 
"Empire of the Air."   Also planned are excerpts from a 1941 test 
broadcast between stations of the original New England Yankee Network, 
featuring recordings of Edwin Armstrong, Paul deMars, the Yankee Network 
Chief Engineer and others. The planners said they'll also rebroadcast 
the final signoff of Major Armstrong's pioneer FM station W2XMN which 
went dark in 1954 after his death.

The Alpine Tower that became a lifeline for New York City television 
stations following the September 11th 1991  Al Quida terror attacks.  If 
you are within range of the tower you can hear the programming live at 
42.8 MHz on any scanner radio with low-band capability.  Audio will also 
be streamed on the Internet, world-wide.  

More about the tower is on-line at http://www.cscmgt.com/atc.html 

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  ONE NEW DVD STANDARD -- MAYBE

Consumer Electronics manufacturers Sony and Toshiba are reportedly in 
talks about their competing standards for future optical discs that will 
replace DVDs. Tokyo-based Sony which also has movie, music and video-
game divisions leads an international group promoting the Blu-ray Disc 
format.  A rival group led by Toshiba backs a system called HD-DVD.  

Critics believe that the competition could result in a format battle 
reminiscent of the 1980s in video-cassette recorder standards war.  This 
one pitted the Sony-backed Betamax versus VHS supported by Matsushita 
Electric Industrial Company.  VHS eventually won that battle, but only 
because it could record a longer than Betamax.  In next-generation DVD 
tug of war, Sony and Matsushita Electric are both backing the Blu-ray 
format.  Blu-ray has more capacity with 50 gigabytes compared to 30 
gigabytes for HD-DVD.  Poponents of HD-DVD counter by saying that their 
format is cheaper to make because the production method is similar to 
current DVDs.  (Todays Technology)

**

SOCIAL SCENE - NEW YORK IN MAY   

Turning to the ham radio social circuit, the East Greenbush Amateur 
Radio Association holds its annual hamfest gathering on May 21st in East 
Greenbush New York.  The venue is the Phillips Avenue Firehouse starting 
at 8 a-m sharp. For more information or top reserve a spot e-mail 
kc2fp at aol.com  (Via e-mail)


**

SOCIAL SCENE - MARYLAND IN MAY

And the Maryland F-M Association Hamfest takes place May 29th at the 
Howard County Fairgrounds in Hanover.  The gate opens at 8 a-m and the 
event ends at 2:30 p-m, local time.  If you plan to be a sell at this 
one reservations are required.  Write to M-F-M-A, PO Box 351, Hanover, 
Maryland ,21076.  (VHF Reflector)

**

WORLDBEAT - UK:  A TRUE ENIGMA REVISITED

Remember our report some time ago on the history of the Enigma Machine?  
The World War 2 German coding machine that allowed the Axis military to 
pass coded messages that they thought could not be deciphered by the 
Allies?  But unbeknownst to the Axis the Allies had captured an Enigma 
and were decoding their military transmissions for a good part of the 
war.

And now after 60 years, some hams in the United Kingdom will be putting 
an Enigma machine back on the air in tribute to the work of the British 
World War 2 code breakers. The Scarborough Special Events Group is 
sponsoring the event.  It will be on the air as G-B-2-H-Q over the 
weekend of May 7th to the 8th on SSB, PSK and CW.  And here is the best 
part.  The club has been provided with the loan of a working Enigma 
machine and government permission to put on the air.  Enigma 
transmissions will be on C-W on 7 point 015 or 3 dot 515 MHz.  They will 
consist of a few five letter groups which will be repeated at 1300 and 
1900 U-T-C giving lots of people a chance to copy them.  The group 
invites all licensed amateurs and listeners to copy this Enigma message 
and will award a certificate for a 100% accurate intercept.  You need 
not try to decode it.  More on this event is on-line at www.sseg.co.uk  
(W1EOF)

--

WORLDBEAT - UK:  RSGB INVITED TO TALK TO SAPECTRUM REVIEW AUTHOR

The United Kingdom;s Office of Communications has invited the Radio 
Society of Great Britain to talks with Professor William Webb, the 
author of the contriversial U-K Spectrum Review document.  As we have 
previously reported, the RSGB raised many concerns on the future 
management of the radio spectrum and its affect on amateur radio 
operation at the time of the Spectrum Review consultation. The RSGB days 
that it welcomes this invitation and sees it as another opportunity to 
point out to the regulatory agency's senior management the conflict that 
exists between current spectrum policies and the future well being of 
amateur radio in the U-K.  (GB2RS)

**

WORLDBEAT - TASMANIA:  HAM NEWS GOES VIDEO

>From down-under comes word that the ham radio news program Spectrum 
Tasmania is now produced as an audio visual presentation on DVD and 
mpeg2 DV files in 4 by 3 Aspect Ratio.  These files are being made 
available for those interested in relaying Spectrum Tasmania using fast 
scan ATV  and ATV Repeaters.  Anyone interested in copies of the DVD or 
DV mpeg2 encoded file, please e-mail spectrum at spamex.com  (Spectrum 
Tasmania)

**

DX

In D-X, word that HB9CQK will be active as S79QK from the Seychelles 
through the 8 May.  He will operate from Denis and Alphonse Islands on 
20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 metres SSB.  Q-S-L as directed on the air.

And I0SNY is active as JT1Y through  May 10th. He is also planning an 
operation from the Gobi Desert as JT1Y slash 4.

(From various DX sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  LOTS OF HAM RADIO FUN AT NAB

And finally  this week. al there was a lot of fun at this years National 
Association of Broadcasters convention Ham Radio Reception held 
Wednesday night, April 20th.   This event was again hosted by Heil 
Sound, who this year brought in some ham radio entertainment in the 
person of Gordon West, WB6NOA.  And Gordo had the crowd on its feet as 
he reminissed about the old days, complete with the sounds of the day:

--

West:  "Wow many of you had a Swan.  You know a Swan user because they 
have big mussels from foerever turning that dial because they would 
drift up and drift down.  You could always tellsomebody was on a Swan 
[drifty CW]  It hasn't warmed up yet."


--

Gordo also had a cure for B-P-L.  Well more of a challange really.  A 
challange as in a pickle based spark gap transmitter:

--

West:   "Now. first we depress it and get it warm. (chuckles)

Theres the guy to handle it.  Im getting away from this transmitter 
(laughs

And ladies anf gentlemen, if ever the American Radio Relay League was 
working hard for us on Broadband Over Powerline elimination, this is 
going to un-do everything that they did. (laughs)."

--

The audio we have really does not do Gordo's act justice.  You really 
had to have been there to see both the pickle based spark gap 
transmitter and the toilet seat morse key for yourself. 

The National Association of Broadcasters says that this years show drew 
104,427 registered attendees.   Thats way up from last years 97,544.  
About  eleven hundred this year were hams who also showed up at the N-A-
B ham radio reception.   Just about everyone had high praise for hosts 
Bob Heil, K9EID, his wife Sarah and the folks from Heil Sound.  
(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. 

A reminder that the nominating period for the 2005 Amateur Radio 
Newsline Young Ham of the Year Awaed is now open.  Full details along 
with downloadable and on-line nominating forms are at the awards website 
at www.yhoty.org.  Just click on 2005 Nominations at the top of the 
page.  


For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim 
Damron, N8TMW and I'm Jeff Clark, K8JAC, saying 73 and we thank you for 
listening."  Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2005.  All rights 
reserved.