[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1551 - May 4, 2007

Sun May 6 07:27:26 EDT 2007

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1551 - May 4, 2007

The following is a Q-S-T.  The ARRL backs away from Regulation by 
Bandwidth but says that it will be back.  Also, researchers say that 
the next solar cycle is late and so will be the High Frequency D-X.  
Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1551 
coming your way right now.

**

RESTRUCTURING:  ARRL RECALLS REGULATION BY BANDWIDTH PETITION

The ARRL has requested that the FCC permit it to withdraw its 
"Regulation by Bandwidth" petition known at the Commission as RM-11306.  
The ARRL says it wants time to reassess and re-file but those who 
oppose the concept are calling it a victory over what they see as a 
misguided attempt to change the service.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill 
Pasternak, WA6ITF, is here with the rest of the story:

--

The bloggers are having a field day.  They claim that they are the ones 
who forced the ARRL to withdraw its November 2005 Petition for Rule 
Making.  One  calling on the FCC to establish a regulatory system that 
would have done away with traditional by-mode subbands and brought 
about a new regulatory scheme based on the bandwidth of a given signal.  

Whether or not it was the web log writers had anything at all to do 
with the ARRL decision to abandon the measure the FCC dubbed as RM-
11306 will be forever open to debate.  The real deciding factor was 
likely the 1000+ comments filed with the FCC, the majority of which 
opposed the idea.  And rather than face the possibility of a wrenching 
political defeat, the League wisely chose to walk away from this 
initial attempt but has left the door open to try again at some later 
date.

So what was so wrong with RM-11306?  That really depends on where your 
interest in Amateur Radio lies?  For the average ham in the street it 
really meant nothing more than doing away with the concept of subbands 
and instituting handshake agreements as to whom would operate where.  
No longer would there be the traditional band segments dedicated to a 
given mode or modes like CW and SSB.  Instead, anyone could operate 
anywhere as long as his or her signal did not exceed a specific 
bandwidth for a particular spectral parcel.  This meant that in a given 
band one might see a legacy mode such as SSB mixed with all sorts of 
emerging digital modes that have yet to be devised.  This change in 
itself was one that a lot of folks seemed to have a problem 
understanding or simply opposed because they oppose any sort of change.

Another point of contention was automated digital messaging.  Amateurs  
involved in emergency communications say that this is a must if the 
hobby is to maintain its status as a support organization to first 
responders.   But opponents fear that permitting unattended operation 
by more and more automated stations would lead to a massive 
interference problem all across the High Frequency bands.  Whether or 
not this would have happened can only be theorized on because the ARRL 
has asked that RM-11306 be withdrawn from consideration from the FCC's 
agenda and it likely will be if the regulatory agency has not done so 
already.

In the end, if one looks as the comments filed on this matter with the 
FCC, one realizes that there are really two schools of thought 
expressed.  A small contingent says that ham radio must march forward 
into the age of digital communications at all costs.  A much larger 
group appears to wants to maintain the status quo or initiate any 
change at what can best be described as a snails pace.  In the end it 
looks as if the ARRL  leadership after reading the comments from the 
ham community concluded that RM-11306 simply did not have the support 
from the ham radio community to make it a viable plan even if the FCC 
issued a Report and Order agreeing worth it.  So it decided to take a 
step back, reassess what is needed and to try again at some later date.  
And in its statement withdrawing RM-11306, that's exactly what it has 
done.  

How soon will the ARRL re-file?  Only the League knows the answer to 
that one.  But one thing is certain.  Whether it's the ARRL some other 
group or the FCC itself leads the way, the road to regulation by 
bandwidth is one that the ham radio community is going to have to 
travel one of these days.  The only real question is how soon.

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

--

By the way, now that the ARRL has decided to withdraw RM-11306, we have 
decided to close down our web based straw poll as to how many folks are 
for or against the concept of Regulation by Bandwidth.  When we took 
the poll off line on April 30th, 1138 of you had taken the time to cast 
your vote.  Of these, 694 or 61% favor a shift to Regulation by 
Bandwidth while 395 or 34.7% oppose the idea.  Another 49 or 4.3% 
responded by noting that you had no idea as to what Regulation by 
Bandwidth is really all about.  (ARNewsline, others)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  KD5PLB TALKS TO SCHOOL KIDS IN GERMANY

Saturday, April 28th is a day that students at the Samuel von Pufendorf 
School in Floeha, Germany, will long remember.  Gathered in the 
gymnasium, they were there to hear a voice from space.  And they would 
not be disappointed as the voice of astronaut Suni Williams, KD5PLB, 
operating as NA1SS from the International Space Station rang forth from 
the speakers:

--

Williams audio - hear it in the MP3 version of this weeks newscast 
downloadable at www.arnewsline.org

--

As soon as two way contact was established, Williams went to work 
answering questions posed by students at the school.  Here is an edited 
sample of her responses as supplied by PA2RPJ and PD0RKC with the first 
questioner interested in knowing whether she watches satellite T-V:  

--

Williams audio - hear it in the MP3 version of this weeks newscast 
downloadable at www.arnewsline.org

--

Soon the questions became a lot more technical and so did the answers.  
Here KD5PLB describes what its like to watch lightning storms on Earth 
from her vantage point in space:

--

Williams audio - hear it in the MP3 version of this weeks newscast 
downloadable at www.arnewsline.org

--

And it was also a pretty dynamic event for the students at the Samuel 
von Pufendorf School to get to talk to Suni Williams flying overhead on 
the I-S-S.  One that they are not likely to forget.  (ARNewsline, 
ARISS with audio by PA2RPJ and PD0RKC)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  SATGATE CLOSES DO TO LACK OF USE

AMSAT's Satgate is going away.  After many years of packet message 
forwarding via UO-22, GO-32 and AO-51 the Satgate System will close due 
to a lack of traffic being handled. 

Using Satgate, traffic was automatically accepted from the terrestrial 
packet networks and routed to the satellites.  It was trhen downloaded 
from the satellite and routed into another packet network untouched by 
human hands.  

A total of thirty five worldwide stations were in the system a few 
years ago.  This  has dwindled due to this lack of traffic, maintenance 
problems, change of location of command stations and users who have 
become Silent Keys.  

Another reason for its going away was not stated.  That being packet 
mesaging being replaced by electronic mail over the Internet.  That 
lead to a major loss of interest in traditional packet by the worlds 
ham community with the lone exception of A-P-R-S.  More ham radio space 
related items later on in this weeks Amateur Radio Newsline report.  
(ARNewsline, ANS ,W0SL)

**

RADIO SCIENCE:  RESEARCHERS SAY SOLAR MAX DELAYED A YEAR

Good D-X may have to wait a little while longer.  This is because the  
next 11-year cycle will most likely not start next March and peak in 
late 2011 or mid-2012.  This according to a forecast issued by the NOAA 
Space Environment Center in coordination with an international panel of 
solar experts all of whom agree that the cycle will begin up to a year 
later than expected.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Evi Simons reports:

--

If you have been waiting for improved D X conditions on the High 
Frequency bands, you are going to have to be patient a bit longer.  So 
says the NOAA Space Environment Center which led a prediction panel 
that issued the forecast at its annual Space Weather Workshop in 
Boulder, Colorado.  

Expected to start last fall, the delayed onset of Solar Cycle 24 has 
stymied the panel.  It also left them evenly split on whether a weak or 
strong period of solar storms lies ahead, but neither group predicts a 
record-breaker.

One disagreement among the current panel members centers on the 
importance of magnetic fields around the sun's poles as the previous 
cycle decays. End-cycle polar fields are the bedrock of the approach 
predicting a weak Cycle 24. The strong-cycle forecasters place more 
importance on other precursors extending over a several-cycle history. 
Another clue will be whether Cycle 24 sunspots appear by mid 2008. If 
not, the strong-cycle group might change its forecast.

In the cycle forecast issued Wednesday, April 25th, half of the panel 
predicts a moderately strong cycle of 140 sunspots, plus or minus 20, 
expected to peak in October 2011.  The other half predicts a moderately 
weak cycle of 90 sunspots, plus or minus 10, peaking in August 2012.  
An average solar cycle ranges from 75 to 155 sunspots. The late decline 
of Cycle 23 has helped shift the panel away from its earlier leaning 
toward a strong Cycle 24.  Now the group is evenly split between strong 
and weak.

The first year after solar minimum, marking the end of Cycle 23, will 
provide the information scientists need to arrive at a consensus. NOAA 
and the panel decided to issue their best estimate now and update the 
forecast as the cycle progresses, since NOAA Space Environment Center 
customers have been requesting this forecast for more than a year.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Evi Simons, in New York.

--

Scientists have issued solar cycle predictions only twice before.  In 
1989, a panel met to predict Cycle 22, which peaked that same year. 
Scientists met again in September of 1996 to predict Cycle 23 -- six 
months after the cycle had begun.  Both groups did better at predicting 
timing than intensity.  (NOAA)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  CONGRESS COULD DESIGNATE BROADCASTERS AS FIRST 
RESPONDERS

U-S Senator Mary Landrieu, of Louisiana says that she and a colleague 
plan to introduce congressional legislation that would recognize the 
role of local broadcasters in responding to disasters on a federal 
level.  Co-sponsored by Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the First 
Response Broadcasters Act of 2007 would designate broadcasters as first 
responders, and as such, entitled to federal supplies of "fuel, water 
and emergency supplies so that they can remain in operation in or near 
a disaster zone. The Landrieu-Stevens legislation would also direct 
FEMA to expedite access to the disaster area by broadcast engineers to 
restore transmitters and other key facilities of a broadcasters 
infrastructure. The bill establishes a $10 million Broadcast Disaster 
Preparedness Matching Grant Program that could be used to protect, 
upgrade or enhance facilities.  (RW)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  NEW EMCOMMS DATABASE BEING DEVELOPED IN LOS ANGELES

A University of California at Los Angeles center is developing an 
online database and mapping system for first responders.  This, to 
better address the needs of Los Angeles County's vulnerable populations 
in the event of a disaster. 

The Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at the UCLA School of Public 
Affairs is using a 500,000 dollar endowment from the state Homeland 
Security Grants Program to develop the database.  It along with maps 
are being designed for use by the Los Angeles County Office of 
Emergency Management.  

The information will also be used the Los Angeles Mayor's Office, Los 
Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Police Department, and 
city and county fire departments.  No word if the database will be 
available to volunteer agencies that utilize radio amateurs as primary 
communications.   (CGC, others)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  FCC SAYS THAT'S NO WAY TO RUN A REPEATER

Turning to enforcement news, the FCC has written to John C. Kimbrough, 
WR3S, of Murfeesborough, Tennessee, asking why has repeaters operated 
without apparent control and rebroadcast portions of commercial 
television programming and music on several dates in March of this 
year.  The FCC told WR3S that this contrary to the FCC Part 97 rules.  
It also noted that its monitoring found that repeater control operators 
were failing to properly identify themselves.

The letter to Kimbrough goes on to note that the Commission requires 
that repeater be under the supervision of a control operator.  Also, 
that it both requires and expects control operators to take whatever 
steps are necessary to insure that the repeater is in fill compliance 
with all FCC rules.  

WR3S was given 30 days from the date of the FCC's April 12th letter to 
provide detailed answers to a list of questions asked by the FCC.  He 
was also told that the information he submits will determine what 
additional action, if any will be taken in this matter by the FCC.  
(FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT: FCC CANCELS HARTMANN JR ALJ HEARING AND DENIES AOPLICATION

The FCC has told a hard to locate ham radio applicant that he will not 
get a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge and that his license 
application is denied.  This, after Joseph W. Hartmann Jr of Lansing, 
Michigan, wrote to the judge assigned to the case telling him that he 
did not have the money to fight the agency's claims of alleged wrong 
doing.

For a long time the FCC could not communicate with Hartmann J,r.  
Correspondance to him was returned unopened and unclaimed.  Then 
Hartmann decided to contact the agency on his own initiative.  In 
several electronic communications to Administrative Law Judge Arthur I. 
Steinberg, Hartmann Jr. stated that he did not have the resources to 
obtain legal counsel for a hearing nor have the resources for driving 
to hearing in Washington.D.C..  

By way of background, the FCC had earlier designated Hartmann's license 
application for a hearing after noting that it had evidence suggesting 
that he had intentionally submitted fraudulent administrative updates 
to obtain the privileges associated with the General class license of 
another radio amateur with a similar name.  That ham is f Joseph V. 
Hartman Sr, K3GUX, of Oceanview, Delaware.

The Commission had earlier placed put Hartmann's January 2006 
application for an Amateur Radio license on hold.  This, while it was 
looking into why he'd filed numerous requests back in 2005 in attempts  
to change the name and address of the Delaware Hartman to that of his 
own.  

Other than one being Hatrtmann Jr. and the other being Hartman Senior, 
there is also a difference in the spelling of the name.  Joseph V. 
Hartman Sr, K3GUX, is spelled with only one letter "n" while Joseph W. 
Hartmann Jr. uses two.  Its unknown if that's what caught the FCC's eye 
in this matter, but its likely a good guess.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  ONLY EXTRA CLASS CAN OPERATE THERE

Edib Zildzo, K2AAW, of Roselle, Illinois, has been sent a letter by the 
FCC.  One trhat asks him to explain why he has been heard operating on 
frequencies reserved for Extra class license holders when he only holds 
a General class license.

In its note to Zildzo, the FCC says that it has a copy of documents 
submitted by him to unnamed radio organization s where-in K2AAW claims 
that between February and July of 2006 that he operated at least 200 
times on frequencies reserved for Extra class licensees.  As such, it 
says that this raises questions whether or not Zildzo holds the 
qualifications to continue to hold an Amateur Service license.  

Zildzo was asked to respond within 30 days to a series of questions 
regarding the operation of his station.  He too was warned that future 
punitive action, if any, will depend on the information that he 
provides.  (FCC)

**

ELECTRICAL SAFETY:  SIGNS MIGHT HAVE SAVED STUDENTS LIFE

Purdue University says that it will update warning signs at all high-
voltage areas, including the one where the body of an electrocuted 
freshman was found on March 23rd. The school said it will hold an 
independent review into the circumstances surrounding the death of 19-
year-old aviation technology student Wade Steffey who had been missing 
since January 13th.

Under federal safety law, buildings constructed or renovated after 1981 
are required to post signs on doors of rooms containing more than 600 
volt circuits.  Owen Hall, the dormitory where the Steffey was found 
was built in 1957. 

According to published news reports investigators believe that Steffey 
probably walked into the room containing the high voltage circuitry.  
This, after trying several doors to enter the dormitory to retrieve a 
coat from a friend's room.   An autopsy suggested that he died 
instantly when he made contact with the wiring.  (Published reports)

**

INDUSTRY NEWS:  ICOM IC-R3 MINI-TV RECEIVER IS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

The Icom IC-R3, a small handheld receiver with a 2" T-F-T color display 
has been popular with ATV'ers involved in Emergency Communications for 
mobile reception of TV pictures may soon go extinct.  Icom announced on 
april 26th that the IC-R3-26, blocked version for the United States 
market is currently on backorder with the delay is due to the FCC's 
Part 15.112 rules change. This ruling states that all TV receivers 
imported into the United States, after March 1, 2007, must be DTV 
compatible.  As the IC-R3 is analog only, so it will no longer be 
imported for domestic sales. When existing stocks are gone, that's all 
there will ever be.  (CGC)

**

HAM RADIO ON THE WEB:  THE DAYTON AMATEUR RADIO FORUM

Turning to ham radio on the World-Wide-Web, word of a new on-line 
discussion board for hams in the Dayton Ohio area.  Its called the 
Dayton Amateur Radio Forum and is in cyberspace and is billed as a 
place to discus amnything from vintage grear to the latest operating 
modes and much more. Its on-line at 
www.hamradioboard.proboards56.com/index.cgi  (W8JWA)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE:  HAVENTION 2007 - THE ANNUAL VHF DINNER

This years Dayton VHF Dinner is slated for  Thursday evening, May 17th  
at 6pm.  The venue is the  Shuckin Shack, at 5512 North Main in Dayton;  
This is a very casual. Affair where such things as VHF contesting, gear 
and antennas will be discused.  

Seating is limited to about 60 and reservations are required.  If you 
plan to attend please e-mail Dick Hanson, K5AND, at dick at dkhanson.com 
to reserve your spot.

Hamvention 2007 takes place May 18th to the 20th at the Hara Arena in 
Dayton Ohio.  Newsline's Ham Radio Town Meeting is Saturday, May 19th 
from 12:45 to 2:45 PM.  We hope to see you there.  (VHF Reflector)

**

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD:  HOWARD LESTER, W2ODC - SK

One of the grates of the Amateur Radio service has passed from the 
scene.  This with word that Howard Lester, W2ODC, passed away on April 
16th.

Lester was best known for his work in forming the Upper New York 
Repeater Coordination Committee after the sudden collapse of the 
NorthEast Repeater Association in the early 1970's.  He was also a 
member of the Schenectady Amateur Radio Association and heavily 
involved in the regions emergency comminations planning.  

In addition to his devotion to Amateur Radio, W2ODC was also an 
engineer and was credited as one of the inventors of color television 
during his tenure at RCA. He also devoted many hours helping local, 
State, and Federal officials solve radio communication problems.  This 
included the Schenectady Police Department and the Schenectady County 
Emergency Operations Center.

Services for Howard Lester were held at Calvary Episcopal Church in 
Burnt Hills, New York on Sunday, April 22nd. He is survived by his wife 
Ruth; sons, Carl, David, Donald and Eric plus eight grandchildren and 
five great-grandchildren.  (E-mail)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  THE TINY FRACTAL 2.4 GHZ ANTENNA

A new and very tiny Fractal antenna has come to light .  In press 
release dated March 6th, the Spanish wireless antenna company Fractus 
released a 2.4GHz fractal antenna that is the size of a grain rice. 

Fractus, the pioneer developer of fractal antenna technology says that 
it has set a new standard for antenna miniaturization with the launch 
of its smallest antenna for the I-S-M 2.4GHz band. The 3.7mm by 2mm 
Micro Reach Xtend provides device designers with significantly more 
available space to enable new multimedia applications or reducing the 
antenna space needed within devices.

The miniature antenna was developed especially for Bluetooth headsets 
and mobile handsets.  It supports all standards working at the 2.4GHz  
ISM band, including Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.  Now the only problem is to 
convince Fractus that there's a restricted antenna ham radio market for 
a full kilowatt 20 meter version that would be about the size of a 
dime.  More information s on line at 
http://www.fractus.com/main/fractus/news_english/  (New Technology )

**

RADIO IN SPACE:  NASA MISSION TO STUDY THE AURRA BOREALIS

NASA has launched five satellites into orbit on a mission to study 
aurora like the famous Northern Lights.  During the mission, the five 
satellites will observe an estimated 30 substorms in process and radio 
their findings back to Earth. At the same time, 20 observatories in 
Alaska and Canada will study the aurora from the ground.

The overall  mission of these satellites is to solve the mystery of 
what causes geomagnetic substorms.  Substorms are atmospheric events 
visible in the Northern Hemisphere as a sudden brightening of the 
Aurora Borealis that can  have an impact on radio propagation.  
Researchers say that the findings may help protect commercial 
satellites and humans in space from the impact of particle radiation.  
Discovering why aurora fluctuate and fade will also provide scientists 
with important information on how the planet's protective magnetosphere 
works.  (Space OnLine)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  FO-29 GOES QRT

The Fuji-Oscar 29 satellite may have gone silent.  Reports received 
from JE9PEL say that the Japan Amateur Radio League is asking for any 
received telemetry to be forwarded to them.  The e-mail address given 
is lab at jarl.or.jp.  (VHF Reflector)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: INDIA PLANS HAMSAT-2

The secretary of AMSAT India says that organization that planning for a 
second Indian amateur radio satellite.  It will be called Hamsat-2 and 
AMSAT India is  asking for proposals from satellite operators, 
designers, and international AMSAT organizations. You can send your 
comments to info at amsat.in.  (AMSAT India)

**

WORLDBEAT - UK:  GB400AA CELEBRATES FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN

Three clubs U-K radio clubs are banding together to celebrate the 
founding of Jamestown.  The Clacton Radio Club, Felixstowe and District 
Amateur Radio Club and Harwich Amateur Radio Interest Group have joined 
forces to operate GB400AA as a special event station.

The station will commemorate the founding of Jamestown, Virginia 400 
years ago.  This, when the ships Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery 
arrived in that then U-S colony.  They carried 102 passengers and 
founded the first English speaking settlement in North America.

GB400AA will be operated at the Mayflower Museum on the Halfpenny Pier 
at Harwich where the Harwich Society will have an exhibition showing 
the local area's connections with the inaugural voyages.  The station 
is planned to operate from May 11th to the 13th and again on May 25th and 
26th.   (GB2RS)

**
WORLDBEAT- GREECE:  NEW 4 METER BEACON ON 70.040 MHZ

A new 4 meter beacon is on the air from Greece on 70.040 MHz..  

4 meters, which was once a United Kingdom only ham radio allocation is 
gaining favor across Europe.  The latest offering is the new SV1FOUR 
beacon operation located in Athens that started operation on April 24th. 

SV1DH is the beacon keeper.  He reports over the Four Meter website 
that the beacon is licensed for 5 watts output to 5-element yagi 
antenna beaming 315 degrees toward the UK.  

At the moment SV1FOUR is only running at about 1 watt out and transmits 
its callsign followed by several dashes and locator KM27AW in Morse.  
More is on-line at www.70mhz.org  (Southgate)

**

WORLDBEAT - UK:  INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMS WEEKEND 

The seventh International Museums Weekend special event will take place 
on June 16th and 17th. M1BYT, who is organising the event, asks that all 
those intending to join in should please register their museum via the 
International Museums Weekend website at www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/imw. 
Hams world-wide are encouraged to participate in this event by setting 
up stations in their local museums and showing the public the magic and 
mystery of Amateur Radio.  (GB2RS)

**

WORLDBEAT - ITALY:  THE PONETE LIGURE DX MEETING

And the 4th annual Ponente Ligure D X Meeting will take place in 
Imperia, Italy on May 19th.  Topics covered include DXing, contests, the 
Summits On The Air and Islands on the Air award programs, and much 
more.  Also, further discussions will be held regarding the proposal of 
an Italian team to build a permanent contest station in Morocco.  Award 
hunters may bring their QSLs along to have them checked for the DXCC, 
WAS or IOTA. More information is on line at www.ariloano.it and 
http://www.arimperia.net  (Southgate)

**

DX

In DX, word that the long awaited Scarborough Reef BS7H DXpedition is 
on the air!  At 03:00 UTC on Wednesday, May 2nd, it was reported that 
four operating positions had been built and that operations are 
ongoing. Two stations will stay on 20 meters while the other two will 
search 15, 17, 30 and 40 for openings.

In other DX news, DS4DRE is currently active stroke 4 from Hong Island.  
He will be there until the 30th of June. Activity is on 80 through 10 
meters using  CW and SSB.  QSL to his callbook address.

And EA4ATI is returning to Dakar, Senegal and will remain there until 
April of 2008.  He expects to be active as with his own call portable 
6W and also as 6W1EA.  Listen for him on 10, 15 and 20 meters using a 
beam and on other bands using dipoles.  QSL direct to his EA4ATI  home 
call.

Lastly, PA5CW, will be active portable YB9 from Bali through the 10th of 
May.  QSL this one as directed on the air.

(Above from various DX sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  THE DX ENTITY THAT NEVER WAS

And finally this week the story of the DX entity that never was -- and 
likely never will be.  Its another tale from down-under described by 
Lim Linton, VK3PC:

--

The Hutt River Province Principality announced two years ago plans to 
begin short-wave broadcasts and also seek amateur radio DXCC entity 
status.  Not heard of it? Well this self-proclaimed independent 
territory on Australia's mainland is located just north of Geraldton, 
Western Australia and began in 1970. 

The Royal Amateur Radio Society was formed as a body to represent the 
interests of amateur radio on the Hutt River Province. It was full 
steam ahead seeking United Nations, IARU and ITU recognition. 

Special Hotel Five prefix callsigns were being made available to 
inaugural members of the Royal Amateur Radio Society. 

ARRL DXCC rules were being quoted as enabling the Principality to 
qualify for separate country status. DXers and contesters were claimed 
to be eager to operate from Hutt River. 

However today it is all but a memory, no mention is made on the Hutt 
River Province website of the former radio plans. 

A source close to the ruler of the Hutt River Province, Prince Leonard, 
reveals he's gone totally cold on the radio ideas and is now very busy 
engineering a pyramid in his Principality. 

I'm Jim Linton VK3PC.  

--

Sounds as if Prince Leonard and ham radio have gone their separate 
ways.   (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, the Southgate News and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all 
from the Amateur Radio Newsline.  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 Newsline, P.O. 
Box 660937, Arcadia, California 91066. 

Two reminders before we go.  First we have a new poll for the month of 
May.  This one asks the question now that the Morse exam is part of ham 
radio history, do you plan to upgrade or remain the license class you 
are right now.  Of coarse this is unfair to Extra class licensees 
because they cannot go any higher so this poll kind of leaves them out 
in the cold,  To compensate, we added a third possible answer, but you 
will have to go to our website at www.arnewsline.org to see what it is.  

Also, the nominating season for this years Amateur Radio Newsline Young 
Ham of the Year Award is now open.  Any radio amateur age 18 or younger 
residing in all 50 United States, plus Puerto Rico and all 13 Canadian 
Provinces can qualify.  Full details and nominating forms are on our 
special website at www,yhoty.org.  Also see the Vertex-Standard 
sponsored ad  on page 8 of the March issue of QST Magazine.  

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Don 
Willbanks, AE5DW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.  