[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newline Report 1528 - November 24, 2006

Sun Nov 26 10:10:27 EST 2006

Amateur Radio Newline Report 1528 - November 24, 2006

The following is a Q-S-T.  A guilty verdict in the murder of two hams 
at sea, Malaysia to embrace Amateur Radio emergency communications and 
new support for the ARRL in its fight against B-P-L.  All this and more 
on Amateur Radio Newline report number 1528 coming your way right 
now.

**

RADIO JUSTICE:  FIRST CONVICTION IN HAM RADIO MURDERS

Jennifer Deleon of Long Beach, California, has been found guilty of 
murder in the killings of Thomas and Jackie Hawks, KD7VWJ and KD7VWK .  
Murders that took place off the Newport Beach, California, coastline in 
November of 2004.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has 
been following this story and has the latest:

--

It took the jury only about 5 hours of deliberations spread over two 
days to find Jennifer Deleon guilty of two counts of murder with 
special circumstances.  The verdict, announced on November 17th included 
an allegation for committing multiple murders for financial gain. 

Back in November 2004, Thomas and Jackie Hawks placed an advertisement 
for their 55-foot boat named the "Well Deserved" asking  $440,000.  
They wanted to spend more time with their new grandchild in Arizona.

Answering the advertisement was Jennifer Deleon's husband Skylar.  He 
is a former child actor who had appeared in the TV series Power Rangers 
some years ago.  

At trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Jennifer Deleon along 
with her husband and three others identified as John Fitzgerald 
Kennedy, Alonso Machain, and Myron Gardner Sr. participated in the 
murder of the Hawks.  This, to take the couples their boat and life 
savings.

Testimony presented showed Skylar Deleon and Machain staked out the 
boat and the victims on November 6th of  2004.  Jennifer Deleon, who was 
pregnant at the time, gained the trust of the Hawks by bringing her 
then  9 month old baby to meet the Hawks on November 9th.  The state 
showed that before their murder at sea, the Hawks' had been pressured 
under extreme duress by Skylar Deleon and his accomplices into signing 
ownership papers and a power of attorney to him.

After the murders, evidence was presented showing that Jennifer and 
Skylar Deleon cleaned the boat with bleach and destroyed evidence and 
personal items belonging to the Hawks.  Skylar Deleon then bribed a 
Notary Public to notarize the papers with backdates.  The Deleons then 
took money out of the Hawks bank account in Arizona and transferred it 
to an account in Mexico.  

It was at about this time that hams across the states of Arizona and 
California were alerted to keep an eye open for the Hawkes' Honda CRV 
which had gone missing when they disappeared.  At that time it was not 
yet known that the Hawkes' were dead.  Some hams formed voluntary 
patrols to look for the missing vehicle.  Others set up watch near U-S 
and Mexico border crossings.  The car was eventually found sequestered 
at a home in Mexico.  

During trial, the people presented proof that Jennifer Deleon had 
multiple phone conversations with Thomas Hawk's brother after the 
couple disappeared.  During those calls she told him that her and her 
husband had purchased the yacht and the Hawkes' were last seen driving 
away.  Jennifer Deleon also lied to police on multiple occasions during 
taped interviews.

On January 16, 2005, Skylar Deleon was arrested while he was trying to 
leave for Mexico.  Machain was arrested on March 2, 2005, Gardner was 
jailed the next day, Kennedy a week later, and Jennifer Deleon was 
taken into custody on April 8th.  

During closing arguments Deleon's lawyer tried to prove that his client 
was no more than an unwitting pawn manipulated by her husband.  He said 
she didn't know of the killings until after they occurred and reminded 
the jury that the case was built on circumstantial evidence alone.  

But for this jury the evidence was overwhelming to convict.  Jennifer 
Deleon now faces life without the possibility of parole when she is 
sentenced next  February 23rd.  

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

--

Skylar Deleon and John Fitzgerald Kennedy are scheduled to go to trial 
in January 2007.  The Orange County District Attorney is seeking the 
death penalty in that case.  (ARNewsline adapted from Orange County 
CA. District Attorney's Office release)

**

HAM RADIO POLITICS:  CHALLENGER OUTS VICE DIRECTOR IN ARRL ROANOKE RACE

An upset in the ARRL Roanoke Division Vice Directors election.  This, 
as challenger Patricia Hensley, N4ROS, defeats Reverend incumbent Les 
Shattuck, K4NK, in a lopsided 2280 to 996 vote.  

Patricia Hensley is a retired school principal from Richburg, South 
Carolin.  She has served in ARRL volunteer positions for the past 15 
years including that of  South Carolina Section Manager from February 
2000 to December 2002.  Hensley  is also a recipient of the ARRL 
Instructor of the Year award and is currently the South Carolina state 
director for Air Force MARS.

Patricia Hensley ran on a platform wanting to make the term 'Amateur 
Radio operator' a highly respected title.  She said she feels that an 
Amateur Radio license no longer fosters respect from community and 
national Leaders.  She notes that even FEMA finds it more comfortable 
to hire part-time individuals to provide emergency communications 
because amateurs are volunteers.

Hensley also acknowledge something that few corporate leaders ever do.  
In this case that the corporation known as the ARRL is seeing a decline 
in membership along with leadership positions being filled by default 
because few want to serve.  

Hensley says that more is required than smiling faces behind a hamfest 
table to solve these problems.  She also says that she sees restrictive 
covenants and interference to frequencies as major issues affecting the 
Amateur Radio community.

Turning out an incumbent ARRL official is a very rare occurrence.  But 
Hensley ran what may best be called a campaign for proactive change.  
Her three year term begins at noon Eastern Standard Time on January 1, 
2007.  (Adapted from ARRL bulletin)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  MALAYSIAN STATE TURNS TO HAM RADIO EM COMMS

Malaysian authorities in Kota Baru state will for the first time enlist 
the services of about 200 licensed amateur radio ham operators.  This, 
in the event of a major flood in the region. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF is 
here with more:

--

The Malaysia Star reports that officials believe the coming monsoon 
season may cause severe flooding.  It says that authorities are seeking 
the help of that areas radio amateurs to help to handle any 
communications emergencies that might arise.

Turning to ham radio is no accident.  Back in 2004, almost all wired 
communications was shut down due to rising flood waters.  This caused a 
communication breakdown between ground rescue workers and the flood 
relief centers.   

To prevent a communications blackout from ever occurring again, State 
National Security division director Rosle Mamat says that authorities 
would recruit hams and especially those staying in the low-lying areas.  
He noted that the flow of information is crucial when handling 
evacuation and flood mitigation work and effective communication was 
important.

Mamat was speaking at a media briefing the on preparations for possible 
floods.  At that time he noted that Amateur Radio operators worldwide 
frequently provide assistance during emergencies.  He said that ham 
radio would come in handy, especially in rural areas where basic 
communication tools such as fixed and cellular lines were limited. 

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

--

Kota Baru state has already set up 677 flood relief centers.  Most are 
located in schools, with the total capacity to house up to 142,347 
potential flood victims .   (Malaysia Star)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  ASIA PACIFIC BROADCAST UNION CALLS FOR TSUNAMI WARNING 
SYSTEM

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union wants to implement an Emergency 
Warning Broadcast System in all of its member countries.  Plams call 
for development of an Emergency Weather Broadcast Service to minimize 
the impact of disasters and for members to urge national regulators to 
enact the necessary provisions. 

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union is also calling for members to push 
manufacturers to produce receivers with the feature.  The organizations 
secretary-general is quoted as saying even 2 years after the great 
tsunami of 2004 most countries in the region do not have a system 
whereby they can receive early warnings of potential tsunamis and other 
natural occurrences which may cause disasters.  (RW)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  ARRL TO W1AW TO SHIFT 80 METER DIGITAL TO NEW FREQ

The ARRL is QSY'ing W1AW to a new digital transmission frequency on 80 
meters.  This, as a result of the recent FCC restructuring that 
expanded the 75 meter phone band down to 3.6 MHz.

Effective Friday, December 15th, W1AW will shift its 80-meter digital 
bulletin frequency down to 3.597.5 MHz.  The new frequency will be in 
use beginning with the regularly scheduled 23:00 UTC digital bulletin .  

A possible change in the 80 meter CW frequency is being considered by 
the League.  (ARRL)

**

WORLDBEAT:  NEW DL 6 METER PROP BEACONS ON THE AIR

Two new 6 meter propagation beacons have come on the air in Germany and 
a third is on as time permits.  

DGOHGW is in the Northeast in grid locator JO64QC.  DFOANN in on from 
the South in grid locator JN59PL.  Both came on the air quite quickly 
after being announced.  

A third, located in West Germany is only intermittently on the air.   
DF7KF, received permission to install and run DBODUB in grid JO31HF 
near Dusseldorf.  Since he is still building a dedicated transmitter, 
he is currently using his home station to get DB0DUB on the air.  As a 
result this beacon is only QRV on weekends.

First reports show that DBODUB has been heard in Denmark via meteor 
scatter and in Southern Portugal via E skip.  All three beacons share 
50.083 MHz as an operating frequency.  (DARC)

**

THE BPL WAR:  BROADCASTERS INTERVENE TO SUPPORT ARRL IN BPL COURT 
APPEAL

The Association for Maximum Service Television and the 
NationalAssociation of Broadcasters have filed a joint motion for leave 
toIntervene.  This, in support of the ARRL in its court appeal of the 
Federal
Communications Commission's Broadband over Power Line rules.

The ARRL Letter reports that the motion to the US Court of Appeals for 
the District of Columbia Circuit s dated November 9th.  In part it 
states that the two groups believe that the regulations under review 
are arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law, and will adversely 
impact their members by, among other things, permitting unlicensed 
users of radio spectrum to interfere with licensed uses of the 
spectrum.

The Association for Maximum Service Television and the National 
Association of Broadcasters are entitled to intervene as a matter of 
right, so the Court is expected to grant the motion.  As expected, some 
BPL proponents are seeking to intervene on the side of the FCC.  (ARRL)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  TWO DETAINED FOLLOWING FLORIDA CB SHOOTOUT

A CB shootout has lead to a pair of arrests.  This as two 11 meter 
operators decided to end a long-running feud with bullets and Mace.

According to WKMG television's website, Forty-eight year-old Frank 
Lukasik and 47-year-old Paul Goldman met up for a fight at in an 
Apopka, Florida Wal-Mart parking lot on Saturday, November 11th.  One 
wound up being grazed with a bullet while the other was sprayed with 
Mace.

Both men were arrested and taken to the Orange County Jail.  Lukasik 
was charged with aggravated battery for shooting at Goldman.  Goldman 
was accused of causing bodily harm after authorities said he sprayed 
the Mace  at Lukasik.  

Both men told police they knew each other only from arguing over the 11 
meter C-B radio airwaves the past six years.  More is on-line at 
http://www.local6.com/news/10299812/detail.html#  (WKMG-TV News)

**

RADIO LAW:  NEW U.S./MEXICAN AGREEMENT FOR USE OF TV CHANNELS 52-69

The United States and Mexico have just signed a Protocol for Sharing 
agreement for the 698 to 806 MHz spectrum in the area around the 
U.S./Mexican border. The Protocol is reportedly friendly to new 
technologies and offers band sharing flexibility in what used to be the 
"old" UHF TV Channels 52 to 69. (CGC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  MICROSOFT VS. CYBERSQUATTERS

Microsoft has filed two lawsuits against so-called "cybersquatters" or 
"typo squatters." Those are people who use the company's product names 
to profit illegally from online advertising.  

The world's largest software maker says that the explosion in online 
advertising in recent years had given rise to the illegal registration 
of Web site domains containing trademark Microsoft phrases or common 
brand name misspellings.  Microsoft contends that with billing for the 
ads determined by number of clicks, such sites can drive up traffic 
and, ultimately, ad revenue.   (Microsoft, others)

**

ON THE AIR:  SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY IS DECEMBER 2

The 8th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day special event will take place 
Saturday, December 2nd.  Event operation will be from 0000 UTC to 2400 
UTC on that date.

The ARRL Letter says that during that 24-hour period, Amateur radio 
operators will visit their local National Weather Service office, set 
up Amateur Radio stations, and work as a team to contact other hams 
around the world.  The object is for all radio amateur stations to 
exchange QSO information with as many National Weather Service Stations 
as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meter bands plus the 70 
centimeter band.  Contacts via repeaters are permitted.

SKYWARN Recognition Day is co-sponsored by the National Weather Service 
and the American Radio Relay League.  Its billed as the National 
Weather Service's way of saying "thank you" to Amateur Radio
operators for their commitment to helping keep their communities safe.  
(ARRL,)

**

RADIO IN SPACE: FORMER MICROSOFT EXEC TO BE NEXT SPACE TOURIST

Former Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi plans to be the fifth space 
tourist.  Speaking recently at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, 
Washington, Simonyi revealed his plan to become the 450th person to 
orbit the Earth when he visits the International Space Station next 
March.

The 58-year-old Simonyi is from the Seattle, Washington area.  He is 
best known for leading development team that brought about such office 
management programs as Microsoft Word and Excel. 

Simonyi has already started training with cosmonauts.  He says he is 
excited about the trip and that he hopes he can contribute something to 
space science research. 

Simonyi says he has wanted to be an astronaut since he was a child 
growing up in Hungary.  He moved to the United States when he was 17.

The ten-day adventure will cost him a cool 20  million dollars.  
Arrangements for his flight were  made through the Space Adventures of 
Vienna, Virginia.  This is the same agency that has sent four other 
space tourists to the I-S-S.  

No word yet if he plans to get his Amateur Radio license or operate 
from space.  So far now call sign has been issued in his name.  (Press 
release)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD:  LAST LIVING LINK TO ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL DIES

The last living link to telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell has 
passed away.  This with word that Bell's granddaughter Mabel Grosvenor, 
died late last month in Nova Scotia at the age of 101.

Mabel Grosvenor, was the daughter of Elsie Bell Grosvenor, the 
inventor's eldest child, and Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, the first 
president and longtime editor of National Geographic magazine.

Although some say Bell hated the telephone, Maxell Grosvenor once told 
reporters that wasn't true.  Rather, he hated being interrupted by it. 

She also remembered her famous grandfather insisted that a ringing 
telephone be answered with "Hoy, hoy."  That a simple "Hello" was 
considered to be very undignified.  (CGC)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD:  STSORBIT PLUS AUTHOR DAVID RANSOM - SK

The author of the very popular STS ORBIT PLUS tracking program has 
died.  David Ransom passed away on November 5th.  While not a ham, 
Ransom was a long-time supporter of AMSAT and a major player in 
providing Space Shuttle orbital data to the AMSAT and NASA communities.  
(N2WWD)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  DL5ANH REPLACES DL5GS ON GERMAN VHF CONTEST 
COMMITTEE

And across the Atlantic, Martin Henz, DL5NAH and other members of the 
Deutscher Amateur Radio Club VHF Contesting Committee will be replacing 
its long-term Chairman, Alfred Schlendermann, DL9GS.  This, by the end 
of the year.

His work has already been handed over to them and as of January 2007, 
Martin and his group will be integrated into the DARC V-U-SHF-
Committee.

The President and the Board of the DARC has thanked Schlendermann for 
the work he has done for so many years.  They say that his ideas had an 
important impact on VHF contesting in Germany.  (Southgate News)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  KEVIN MARTIN RECONFIRMED AS FCC CHAIRMAN

Radio World reports that Kevin Martin has been reconfirmed as FCC 
chairman for a second five-year term.  President Bush had re-nominated 
Martin in April for the second, five-year term. His first expired June 
30.
The Senate approved his nomination Thursday night, November 16th .  (RW)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  VE3AJB RE-ELECTED IN CANADA

And word from Radio Amateurs of Canada that Ontario Section Manager 
Allan Boyd, VE3AJB, has been elected to a second term.  It begins on 
March 1, 2007.  Boyd  ran unopposed, thereby eliminating the need for a 
balloted election.   (RAC)

**

WORLDBEAT:  AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND:  ALL LICENSES WELCOME

A new open door policy between Australia and New Zealand on ham radio.  
Jim Linton, VK3PC, reports:

--

Audio report only.  Download the MP3 news at www.arnewsline.org

--

The bottom line:  Bring along your H-T and enjoy. (WIA News)

**

WORLDBEAT:  NZART VS. MED OVER ANNUAL REPEATER FEE

New Zealand's national ham radio society has called in the aid of a 
government minister in its battle with the nations Ministry of Economic 
Development -- known down-under as the M-E-D.  This over licensing fees 
that it has imposed on repeater owner operators to keep their systems 
on the air.  

The Ministry of Economic Development recently decided to impose an 
annual license fee of 50 New Zealand dollars on operators of repeaters.  
This, much to the outrage of many of the country's radio amateurs who 
installed and maintain the systems as a free service to that nations 
ham radio community.  . 

At an annual general meeting soon after M-E-D announced its decision, 
members of that nations national society -- the New Zealand Association 
of Radio Transmitters -- unanimously passed a resolution refusing to 
pay the charge.  They were resolute in that the association -- which 
holds the nations repeater licenses -- would not be forced to give up 
close to $16,000 New Zealand dollars each year in this type of fee. 

Now representatives of  NZART have enlisted the help of government 
Minister Peter Dunne in its fight against the fees.  They recently held 
a meeting with the him and according to the association's president 
Bruce Douglas, ZL2WP, Dunne was sympathetic to the plight of New 
Zealand's ham radio population.  What Minister Dunne can do to get the 
M-E-D to abandon its ham radio repeater fees is at this moment unknown.  
(NZART, Southgate)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  ARISS CONTACT LEADS TO NEW YOUNG HAMS

A recent ham radio contact with the International Space Station has 
inspired several school students to earn ham radio licenses.  

Back last April, the Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro made contact 
with Marcos Pontes, PY0AEB, on board the I-S-S.  As a direct result of 
that communication, several students became interested in learning more 
about amateur radio.  

Now, less than 7 months later, its been announced that ten of these 
students have studied and are prepared to take their amateur radio 
license exams.   A team from the Brazilian Amateur Radio and Space 
Experiment developed a special workshop for the students which covered 
radio communications, antenna systems, space communication by 
satellites and the amateur radio system on the International Space 
Station.  

The Brazilian Amateur Radio and Space Experiment is a non-governmental 
organization dedicated to developing technical programs for use in 
schools. (Southgate)

**

DX

In D-X, EA3BT and his wife EA3WL and three other operators will be 
active from Bangladesh as S21EA.  This from te 10th to the 16th of 
January 2007.  The will be operating on SSB, CW and RTTY on 160 through 
6 meters using  three stations. QSL route is via EA3BT, direct or 
through the bureau. 

And word that well known German operators DJ6SI and DJ9ZG will be on a 
DXpedition to Congo in late November and early December.  DJ6SI will 
use the call sign TN6X on CW and DJ9ZG will be TN0Z on SSB and RTTY.  
Both stations will operate on 160 through 10 meters using two stations. 

If the call sign DJ6SI sounds familiar, think back to 1983 when he and 
DF6FK, DJ4EI, and DJ3NG  were all part of a DXpedition to the Spratley 
Islands. The group of German operators had chattered a private boat and 
were fired on by Vietnamese soldiers as they neared the Islands.  DJ4EI 
was killed during the shelling.  DJ3NG died after 9 days in a dingy.  
DF6FK and DJ6SI were rescued on the 10th day by a nearby Japanese cargo 
ship.  The incident created outraged the free world with Vietnam 
condemned for the atrocity.  

DJ6SI fully recovered and has gone on to numerous other DX operations 
with the Congo up next.  If you word either station QSL to their home 
call signs via bureau.

(Above from various DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  WORK MARS  AND GET A TROPHY

And finally, are you a true, blue D-X operator?  If so, have you 
thought of trying to win the ARRL's Elser-Mathes Cup.  Never heard of 
it, you say.   Well, here's John Williams, VK5BUI, to tell us all about 
it:

--

The Cup is carved of a dark tropical hardwood. It shows four stylized 
human  figures, two standing, two seated. The standing figures are 
using one hand each to support a wooden bowl (the cup part) and the 
other hand rests on the head  of the rather-dejected looking seated 
figures.  It was carved in the Philippines and taken back to the USA by 
Elser and Mathes, who gave it to the folks at ARRL Headquarters.  It's 
been waiting to be won for more than 80 years.

To understand the Cup, you must understand its times.  From the 
earliest days of radio, DX had always been hard-won.  The professionals 
had spanned the globe, BUT compared to the small power of we Amateurs 
they could use tens of kilowatts to gigantic skyhooks using waves 
thousands of meters long.

Even the most well equipped amateurs could not match the big commercial 
stations. And even after the 1912 restrictions, that gave amateurs one 
kilowatt input and wavelengths no longer than 200 meters, the DX 
situation looked  hopeless.

By 1920, a well equipped 200 meter amateur station might reach 1000 
miles.   1500 miles was exceptional. Bridging the Atlantic seemed a 
dream.

Then, in late 1923, three amateurs tried a shorter wavelength -- 110 
meters  --  and the Transatlantic barrier was broken.  Others soon 
followed, and  overnight the old records were dust.  

No sooner would a record be set than it would be smashed by a new one.  
It was in those days that Elser and Mathes decided to create the Cup, 
hoping that its requirements would take more than a few weeks or months 
to achieve.  They succeeded - the Cup arrived at ARRL in the mid-1920s, 
and still waits to  be awarded.

But heres the kicker to this story.  The Elser Mathes Cup will be 
awarded to the first two-way radio contact between amateurs on Earth 
and the planet Mars.

Elser and Mathes thought the Moon to be too easy a target, and this in 
the roaring twenties!

So.. will the advent of the AMSAT-DL P3 mission to mars make winning 
the  Cup a reality?   Only time will tell.  And if per chance H. G. 
Wells type robots  are discovered on Mars,  the full set of rules for 
taking out the Elser  Mathes Cup  states:  "QSO'S with robots don't 
count!"

I'm John VK5BUI and yes.. this IS the Weird and Wonderful file.

--

Oh yes.  If you do work a station claiming to be on Mars and the date 
is not April 1st, please be careful of what you say.  You would not want 
to be the one to start a -- war of the worlds?  (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, Southgate News  and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all from 
the Amateur Radio NewslineT.  Our e-mail address is 
newsline at arnewsline.org.  More information is available at Amateur 
Radio Newsline'sT only official website located at www.arnewsline.org.  
You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio NewslineT, P.O. 
Box 660937, Arcadia, California 91066. 

Before we go, a reminder that the digitalization of ham radio is the 
topic for the next Ham Radio Town meeting.  Its slated for Saturday, 
May 19th from 1 to 3 p.m. local time at the at Dayton, Ohio's Hara 
Arena. This, in conjunction with the Hamvention 2007.

And starting right now we are looking for presenters who want to share 
their opinion, their technological know how or both with those 
attending the session.  If you plan on attending Hamvention 2007 and 
would like to be part of the Ham Radio Town Meeting, e-mail us to 
newsline at arnewsline.org and include a bio on whom you are and a short 
outline of your presentation.  We will look it over and get back to 
you.  

Again, that e-mail address is newsline at arnewsline.org  We look forward 
to hearing from you.