[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1502 - May 26th, 2006

Tue May 30 19:18:45 EDT 2006

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1502 - May 26th, 2006

The following is a Q-S-T.  Hamventionr 2006 is now history and Amateur 
Radio Newsline brings you the sights and sounds of ham radio's greatest 
show on Earth.  Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report 
number 1502 coming your way right now.

**

THE 2006 DAYTON HAMVENTION STORY

When a reporter sits down to write a story about the Dayton Hamvention, he 
or she is well aware that the first thing the audience will want to know is 
how many people were there.  And while the official figure is a few weeks 
from being released, it was announced at the closing ceremonies that the 
number was somewhere up near 20,000.  And that's not to bad for a show that 
depends on folks from all across the East and mid-West states to drive in.  
This, at a time when gasoline is approaching $3 or more a gallon in some 
areas.  

But the Dayton Hamvention is a lot more than the numbers flowing through 
the gates at the Hara Arena.  Its really about each person as an 
individual.  Its about those who attend as well as those who work behind 
the scenes to make the show a success.  One of those people is Ron 
Moorefield, W8ILC.  Ron has held just about every position one can and has 
been there since the very beginning.  We asked him to assess Hamvention 
2006 for us:

--

Moorefield:  "It's a little bit early to give figures.  We will have that 
later on.  But from personal observation, I feel that this is one of our 
better years.  

We don't have the complaints this year that wave's had in past years.  The 
weather has been ideal from the standpoint of temperature.  Its looking 
very good.  Most everybody is positive about Hamvention this year."

--

There are really three public parts to Hamvention.  These are the Flea 
Market, the forums and of coarse the commercial displays.  And in relation 
to the latter, folks like Chip Margelli, K7JA, from Vertex Standard and Bob 
Heil, K9EID, from Heil Sound could not be happier:

--

Margelli: "Well, we actually had a rockin-sockin Dayton this year with our 
new FT-2000 HF and 6 meter transceiver.  We had a big crowd in our booth 
and we thought that it was a wonderful weekend.  

The weather cooperated.  It gave us good steady traffic.  We were not 
seeing a lot of people twice,, so it was obvious that there was a good 
crowd here and everyone going around seeing the seminars and the vendors 
and we think that it  was a bang-up year.  And the Dayton Hamvention 
Organizing Committee did a really great job.

--

Heil:  "My whole thing each year is to get to see everybody and that's the 
social thing that's about half of it.  I love the Hamvention because I can 
see all of my friends.

Business-wise we did pretty good and I appreciate the Hamvention committee 
putting it together so we'll.  It really ran smoothly this year.  I've been 
coming here as you know for many years and this was really a smooth one.  
Teriffic."

--

To be fair, both Heil Sound and Vertex Standard had their booths in ideal, 
prime  commerce locations.  Others, in areas where traffic was lower had a 
slightly different view:

--

Wittingham:  "It was better run, but the attendance was still down."

Reporter:  "On What do you judge that?"

Wittingham:  "Traffic going by the booth and talking with other people."

--

That was Duane Whittingham, N9SSN, who was at the W0KIE booth.  It was 
located in an area where people were noticeably skirting around quickly to 
get to the big name players in the ham radio industry.  But this area 
seemed to be the exception rather than the rule.  Bob Heil says that where 
he was in what he calls Audio Alley, the crowds were overflowing:

--

Heil: "Audio Alley was busy all the time and (folks) could hardly get 
through it, as usual.  But Julius and Timewave and NCS -- we had a great 
traffic here."

--

As they say in all the retail trades, success is really a matter of 
location, location and location.

And speaking about location, this year all of the forums came back to the 
HARA Arena.  This, thanks to the re-birth of two added forum rooms adjacent 
to the ARRL Expo area.  One of the sessions jam packed dealt with the topic 
of Electromagnetic Interference and BPL.  It was hosted by the League's 
point man on the topic, Ed Hare, W1RFI.  Hare says he does not see BPL 
succeeding as a stand alone technology:

--

Hare:  "What I see in the long run we are going to see to be successful, is 
a hybrid technology.  A combination of fiber, wireless, maybe even BPL, 
where the technology used in a network is determined by the circumstance 
rather than trying to make one set of circumstances fit a particular 
technology."

--

Year after year, two very popular sessions are the Educators Workshop and 
the Youth Forum.  These were conceived by Carole Perry, WB2MGP, who is 
their regular host.  Last year, illness kept Carole away and was she ever 
happy to be back in 2006:

--

Perry:  "I can't even tell you how pleased and happy I am to be here and to 
see all of these great people showing up at the Teachers Workshop, and I'm 
hoping to see a lot more at the Youth Forum where we have some excellent 
children lined up to speak."

--

Carole's wish came true.  Both of her sessions were packed full.  Welcome 
back.

Meanwhile, outside the HARA Arena, the sun was shining and the Flea Market 
was alive with the sounds of ham radio gear being bought and sold.  Well 
actually a lot more than just ham radio equipment could be found at the 15 
acre flea fest.  You name it and it was likely there.  From buttons for 
radios to buttons for your jacket, the Hamvention Flea Market had it all.  
Jack Parker, W8ISH, walked it and has this report:

--

For some amateurs the pilgrimage to Dayton can be a long journey for a few 
parts. I found Tatsimoto-JA6SVP, roaming the outdoor flea market with a 
long list of needed parts. 

--

Greeting (in Japanese language)
--

This is Tatsimoto's seventh trip to Dayton in the past 35 years. The DXer 
from southern Japan was on a quest to find some special parts. 

--

Tatsimoto:  "I'm looking for very special parts. Really high powered 
parts." 
No doubt he found what he came for. The outdoor flea market has row after 
row of new and used parts and radio equipment. "

--

Umbrellas began popping up later in the day. Sun drenched hams were 
praising the great weather and finding shade under sunny skies. 

--

"It keeps the rain from coming as long as you hold up the umbrella."

--

For many the inside exhibit hall was the place to be. Dozens of 
manufacturers and ham radio stores where showing the lastest technology on 
the market. One exhibit drawing a lot of attention was the new Red Cross 
Emergency Communications van."

--

Iain McFadyen, KI4HLV, was showing how his fully loaded suburban was 
developed for rapid response, quick set up and reliable communications.

--

McFadyen: " We have thirteen radios, an eight kilowatt generator under the 
hood and a fifty-two foot mast." 

--

The rapid response rig comes complete with computers, wireless inter-
connect and two satellites dishes for go anywhere communications. Iain says 
the American Red Cross has several of these units staffed and ready to roll 
when a disaster strikes anywhere in the U.S. 

No matter what your interest, there was plenty to see and learn at this 
years Dayton Hamvention. 

Reporting for Newsline, this is Jack Parker, W8ISH.

--

More about Hamvention 2006 in a moment.  Right now its time for you to 
identify your station.  From the 2006 Dayton Hamvention and around the 
world, this is the Amateur Radio Newesline.  We will be right back.  
(ARNewslineT)

---

Back with our coverage of Hamvention 2006, one of the most anticipated 
events is the presentation of the annual awards.  This year there were 
three well known hams accepting the honors.  Richard Illman A-H-6-E-Z, 
received the Technical Excellence award for his development of an almost 
interference free B-P-L system.  The FCC's Riley Hollingsworth, K-4-Zed-D-
H, was givren the Special Achievement Award for his long term efforts in 
elimination malicious interference from the ham bands and Gordon West was 
named Radio Amateur of the Year for his lifelong devotion to the hobby.  
West turned around and shared his honor with many others who teach and test 
ham radio candidates:

-- 

West:  "I share this award with all the volunteer instructors, Elmer's, 
VE's.  What a great team we have in ham radio."

--

Hollingsworth also had praise for the Amateur Radio community.  He called 
it an honor to serve their needs:

--

Hollingsworth: "It feels great because I have always felt that this Amateur 
Radio Service as a group of people are the best, and its an honor to be 
working for them.  Its (also) an honor to see our enforcement program 
supported as it is and validated."

--

Speaking about the FCC, if you were expecting the agency to render its 
decision on the future of the Morse code at Hamvention 2006, you were 
likely a bit dismayed.  It seems that this measure, like many others are 
still in the FCC's hopper for future action, but its not going to happen 
immediately.  In reality, the FCC would not even to hazard a guess on when 
the FCC might act on any  Amateur Radio related proceeding.  So right now, 
its strictly a wait and see game.

And while on the subject of things to see, one of the sessions at this 
years Hamvention had more to do with producing television than it did ham 
radio.  Saturday, May 20th marked the launch of the new Ham Radio Video 
Corps.  The man behind the idea is film and t-v producer Dave Bell, W6AQ:

--

Bell:  "It's a really simple idea.  We basically shoot stock footage of 
Amateur Rafio happenings so that anybody with a computer who wants to put 
together a ham radio video or who desperately needs a few shots -- of the 
2006 Dayton  Hamvention as an example -- can find them."

-- 

Among those making presentations at this session was another well known 
Hollywood personality.  Keith Glispie is one of the most sought after video 
editors and the co-owner of Suite 16 Post.  He edited together the last two 
ham rafio videos produced by Dave Bell for the American Radio Relay League.  
He explained how editing video brings it all together using a show he does 
for Animal Planet as an example:

--

Glispie: "We fix things like dropouts and bad frames.  Sometimes we get 
video in on all types of sources including VHS, DVD, Mini-DV, Betacam and 
all types of sources but the producers want it all to have the same type of 
look.  So, that's why we never worry what people submit their raw footage 
on because our job is to make it all look the same."

--

Keith says that when it comes to capturing the sights and sounds of ham 
radio, what you have now will likely suffice:

--

Glispie:  "So don't think that you have to go out and buy a special camera 
or go out an buy some expensive editing system or whatever it is.  What we 
are more interested in is your actual footage.  

But there is a certain technique (to shooting) as you have heard today in 
shooting the footage.  The lighting.  The look.  The steadiness.  The sound 
which is very important to all of us (who edit).  Never roll pictures 
without sound."

--

Another of the presenters at this session was ARRL Public Rel;ations 
Director Allen Pitts, W1AGP.  He says that he liked what he heard and saw 
and believes its essential to the future of the hobby:

--

Pitts: "I believe that not only is it a viable plan, it is a plan that is 
absolutely mandatory for the continuation of the Amateur Radio service as a 
true service.  We have to reach out to the American public using video, 
audio and moderb means and not just rely on print media if we are to get 
our message to the American Public."

--

The Ham Radio Video Corps has created a real-time reflector on Yahoogroups.  
If you are interested in this project, have video gear and know how to use 
it then you might want to join up.  To do so send a note to subscribe-
thehrvc at yahoogroups.com.  Also look for a Ham Radio video Corps website to 
come on line in a few weeks.

There's lots more to report on about Hamvention 2006 and we will have more 
over the next few weeks.  For now, please let us extend our thanks to our 
hosts Noel and Marilyn Mc Kewon.  They are WB8QQC and KA8OVD.  And also to 
all the volunteers in Dayton who made Hamvention 2006 another ham radio 
extravaganza.  One of the very best.  (ARNewslineT)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HOMELAND SECURITY'S CHERTOFF SAYS TO STOP THE COMMUNICATIONS 
TURF WARS

Unless police, firefighters and other emergency responders end turf wars 
and talk to each other during disasters, billions of dollars spent on high-
tech communication systems will go to waste.  This, according to Homeland 
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who says that the value of the 
technology provided through federal grants has been diminished by local and 
state disagreements over control of the new communications equipment. 

Officials representing police and fire departments acknowledge that there 
are some turf squabbles over the communication systems.  These include 
which responders should have access to it, what codes should be used and 
who, overall, would be responsible in disasters with overlapping 
authorities. As a result, most emergency workers like police, firefighters, 
and hospital staff cannot talk to one other on the same radio frequency.  
This slows down getting a coordinated response to a disaster scene. 

Chertoff says that his department has provided $2.1 billion over the last 
three years to buy the equipment and train emergency responders to use it. 
But police and fire officials say those funds only scratch the surface of 
what's needed nationwide. They claim that the costs of mearly getting the 
technology in hand still far exceeds the federal monies that has been 
provided.  Meantime, emergency response agencies continue to rely on ham 
radio operators in RACES, ARES and other organizations with their low cost 
and low priced gear to provide the inter-operability and cross service 
communications that their high priced radio systems cannot.  And as the 
numerous bureaucracies continue to struggle for political power in the area 
of controlling new radio systems, hams may be providing these services for 
many years to come.  (Ledger-Leader)

**

RADIO LAW:  SENATE VOTES IN FAVOR OF HIGHER BROADCAST INDECENCY FINES

The Senate has unanimously approved a tenfold increase in broadcast 
indecency fines,  boosting the maximum penalty to $325,000 per violation.  
The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, sponsored by Republican Senator Sam 
Brownback passed with little notice in a nearly empty chamber after an 
unusual parliamentary maneuver by Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee 
that assured approval unless any senator objected.

Frist's procedural tactic broke a months-long logjam for action on the 
matter.  Brownback's bill must now be reconciled with a House measure 
before heading to the White House, where President Bush has vowed to sign 
legislation as a way of cracking down on indecent programming.  

The House of Representatives voted 389 to 38 in early 2005 to dramatically 
increase fines.  But that legislation differs significantly from the 
Senate's.  The House voted for a maximum fine for each violation of 
$500,000, and the Federal Communications Commission would be required to 
hold a license revocation hearing after three offenses by a broadcaster.  
(Published news reports)

**

HAM RADIO SCIENCE:  CATCH A FALLING STAR

Kerry Banke of Qualcomm - well known for his Laser  Communicator work in 
amateur radio circles - has rigged up a device  that allows him to hear the 
scintillations of a star.  When someone  asked him for a recording of the 
sounds, he put the audio into a .wav  file and shared the results with CGC.

Kerry said he used a four inch lens and about $5 worth of electronic  
components to capture the sounds. He adds that, "Most any star  visible to 
the naked eye will be audible with this setup." 

Kerry is  N6IZW and his wav file (about 1.3MB) is available at the link 
that  can be found on the web at  
http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/audio/starscint.wav (CGC Communicator via 
VK7 News)

**

ON THE AIR:  HCJB DROPS ENGLISH BROADCASTS

A famed South American shortwave station is no longer broadcasting in the 
English language.  Jim Davis, W2JKD, has the rest of the story:

--

WORLDBEAT - ECUADOR:  HCJB GOES SPANISH ONLY

Shortwave radio station HCJB, also known as "the Voice of the Andes," aired 
its final English language broadcasts from Ecuador on Saturday, April 6th.  

The Christian station's English Language Service is shifting its emphasis 
toward teaching English as a second language.  

English was one of the first two languages, along with Spanish, to air when 
the station began broadcasting from  Quito on Christmas Day, 1931.

--

More is on the stations website at www.hcjb.org  (RW)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  AMSAT SYMPOSIUM 2006

Speakers are invited to submit papers dealing with the science of Amateur 
Radio Satellites and associated technologies for the AMSAT 2006 Space 
Symposium.  This event is slated for October 6th through the 8th at the 
Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City, California. 

As regular listeners know, the 2005 Symposium was cancelled due to 
hurricane damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Speakers 
originally scheduled for the 2005 Symposium are invited to re-submit papers 
for the 2006 Symposium.  More information is on line at www.amsat.org  
(AMSAT)

**

THE TECHNICAL SCENE:  MICROWAVE UPDATE 2006 OCTOBER 19-22 IN OHIO

The Midwest VHF/UHF Society has been chosen to host the Microwave Update 
2006 conference in Dayton, Ohio from October 19th to the 22nd.  The event 
will be held at the Holiday Inn North, located at the Wagner Ford Road exit 
on I-75.  

In addition to the excellent technical presentations the event is known 
for, there will be an exhibit area for vendors to show off their latest 
offerings, and a hospitality suite on Thursday and Friday evenings.  More 
information on the event is on-line at www.microwaveupdate.org  (VHF 
Reflector)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  GERMANY CHANGES ENTRY LEVEL LICENSE

German telecommunications authorities have made significant changes to the 
entry level Class E amateur radio license.   As a result, Class E holders 
now have access to the HF bands and can run up to 75W output on the 160, 
80, 15 and 10m bands.

The German approach to entry level licensee holders is subtly different 
from other nations.  Rather than giving newcomers access to all bands but 
at a very low power level,  Germany has decided to offer them reasonably 
high power levels but restricted the spectrum that they can use.

Meanwhile, German Class A license holders have been allocated the 7 point 
100 to 7 point 200 MHz segment of 40 meters on a secondary basis with a 
power output of 250 watts.  German amateurs can now also use the 50 MHz 
band.  Finally, a restriction on the use of 1,260-1,263 MHz has been 
lifted.  (DARC, GB2RS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  CHICKEN LITTLE AND SUIT SAT

AMSAT-NA is sponsoring a "Chicken Little" contest to guess the date when 
SuitSat-1 will re-enter the atmosphere. 

There are three entry categories: Grades K-8, Grades 9-12 and adult. 
Certificates will be provided to winners of each group. 

The last date to enter the contest is July 1st.  More information and an 
entry form is on-line at the website whose URL is in this weeks printed 
Amateur Radio Newsline report.

(Do Not Read: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ariss/suitsatContest.php 
(KA3HDO)

**

DX

Now with this weeks DX news, here's Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, across the Atlantic 
pond in Nottingham, England.

--

In DX, DL4FF, is active as TK/DL4FF from Corsica until 9th June. He will 
operate on 10-160m CW and SSB. QSL via home call, direct or bureau.

VE3ZIK, will operate as T9/VE3ZIK from Ljeb, Bosnia & Herzegovina, on 27th-
30th May.  Look for him on 40 and 80meters and QSL via DL3PS, direct or 
through the DARC bureau.

2E1EUB will be active as 2M1EUB/P for 7 days from the Cairngorms National 
Park, north east Scotland on all amateur satellites and modes and some HF.

Peter, HA3AUI, has announced that he has prolonged his stay in Africa and 
will now be active from both Senegal (as 6W/HA3AUI) and Guinea-Bissau (as 
J5UAP) until 10th June.  Look for activity on 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10meter 
SSB with some PSK and RTTY.

(Above from GB2RS DX News)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  A CHEAR FOR HAMVENTION FROM GORDON WEST, WB6NOA

And finally this week, its back to Hamvention 2006 for one of the most 
entertaining acceptance speeches ever.  A speech where the recipient 
praises the presenters, the ham community and has a bit of fun at the 
expense of another award winner.  The person who pulled it all off?  Why 
none other than Radio Amateur of the Year, Gordon West, WB6NOA:

--

(Applause)

West:  "Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  

Hey are we having fun at Hamvention 06?  Lets hear it.  Yep. (cheers from 
audience)

However, Mr. Hollingsworth said he needs all of your callsigns for proper 
ID, so on the count of three I want to hear everybody's callsign as if you 
were trying to bust the biggest pile-up ever.  And that could very well be 
here at the DARA convention.  No early-birds.  Here we go:  Callsigns in 3 
- 2 - 1."  

(10,000 people in bleachers all ID'ing at once.  You had to have been 
there!)

West:  "I heard some CW on the left side."

"5 more days.  3 more days and this is it.  We hope that all of you win the 
grand prize and (for me) being here at the Dayton Amateur Radio 
Associations Hamvention this is the grand prize."

"Thank you all so much for your support.  Thank you fellow instructors, 
VE's and Elmers.    This is your convention:  Thank you DARA.  Have fun and 
I hope you win the grand prize."  

Unknown Voice:  "Thank you Gordon" (Applause)

--

Who else but Gordon West, WB6NOA, could have had more fun than that and 
share it with thousands of his fellow hams?  (ARNewslineT)

**

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 WIA News, that's all from the Amateur Radio 
Newsline(tm).  Our e-mail address is newsline at 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 2006 Amateur Radio Newsline 
Young Ham of the Year Award is about to close.  The cuttoff date for 
entries this year is midnight on Tuesday, May 30th. 

This Young Ham of the Year Award seeks to honor hams age 18 or younger for 
their outstanding contributions through Amateur Radio. Full information on 
the award along with on-line and downloadable nominating forms are at the 
awards own wesite created and maintained at Web Designs by Kevin by our 
1993 recipient Kevin Boudreaux, N5XMH.  Its in cyberspace at www.yhoty.org.  
Again. that's www.yhoty.org