[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1553 - May 18, 2007

Sat May 19 07:21:17 EDT 2007

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1553 - May 18, 2007

The following is a Q-S-T.  Hamvention 2007 is here and we have a 
preview.  Also, the 500 Kilohertz experiment expands in Europe and  a 
19 year old radio amateur will head Delaware's newly formed ham radio 
Communication Corps.  Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline 
report number 1553 coming your way right now.

**

Hamvention 2007 is here and we are here too.  The doors at Dayton 
Ohio's Hara Arena opened on Friday, May 18th, bringing with them a 
celebration of the backbone of Amateur Radio:

--

Nies: "Our theme this year is "Local Radio Clubs, The Heart Of Ham 
Radio."  We are trying to recognize that an awful lot of what goes on 
in Amateur Radio happens because of the efforts of the local clubs 
rather than any national, regional or statewide activity."

--

That's Jim Nies, WX8F, who is this year Dayton Hamvention General 
Chairman.  And in a recent interview with the Radio amateur Information 
Network, he expanded on some of the ways that the role of clubs will be 
celebrated:

--

Nies:  "We have a program in the Flea Market to offer discounted spaces 
to clubs.  We have some banners inside recognizing the contribution 
that local clubs make in terms of getting people involved, Elmering. 
Just the kind of support that local clubs do that brings members in and 
keep the whole thing going."

--

So what are the major changes this year?  Most appear to be in the area 
of forums:

--

Nies: "In terms of anything dramatically new, we have some forums 
coming in.  One of the things with forums we are trying to do is to 
shorten things up a little bit so we have room for more topics.  
Software Defined Radio is an up and coming technology and they're 
getting some attention.  They were there last year and will be again 
this year."

--

And will those attending see anything new in the way of radio gear?

--

Nies: "We never really know but we do believe that several of the 
inside manufacturers are going to be showing off some of their new 
products this year.  They never tell us.  We always ask but they tend 
to event to keep it under wraps until the very last minute, but I 
noticed in the latest QST that a couple of different vendors are 
touting new equipment that they are going to be showing at Hamvention, 
and we are kind of excited about that."

--

And there was some good news this year about parking.  Even with all 
the construction at one important lot, the parking remained: 

--

Nies:  "We will still have parking at the Salem Mall, which is kind of 
an interesting situation.  The Salem Mall is under construction and all 
of the stores except for a bank and the Home Depot and Sears have been 
torn down.  The city of Trotwood is marketing it as a new kind of a 
mall with the renovation.  Meanwhile though, the parking spaces are 
still available to us and we will be bussing to there as we have done 
for the past years."

--

The Dayton Hamvention runs May 18th, 19th and 20th.  Its truly a fun event 
but if you cannot be there in person, you can take part vicariously 
over the World Wide Web thanks to Tom Medlin, WA5KUB.  Tom will be 
webcasting many of the Hamvention 2007 highlights.  Look for the fun at 
http://wa5kub.com. Meantime we hope to see some of you at the Hara 
Arena and Hamvention 2007.  (ARNewsline with audio provided by RAIN)

**

RADIO EXPERIMENTATION:  500 KHZ EXPERIMENTS EXPAND IN EUROPE

In other news, word that the German medium wave radio experiment is 
expanding.  Since the beginning of 2005 the German telecommunication 
authorities have licensed a propagation study on medium wave bands.  
The first permit for an experimental station on 440 kHz plus/minus 100 
Hz was issued to DJ2LF under the callsign DI2AG.   In May 2006, DK8KW 
got the second license to operate under the callsign DI2BO at his home 
location in Peine near Hannover.  

Now comes word that early in 2007 the experimental radio licenses were 
extended to a second frequency.  Besides 440 kHz the frequency of  
505.1 kHz plus or minus 100 Hz is also now being used. This frequency 
falls into the frequency range being used by the United States 
experimental radio group with the callsign WD2XSH. 

And this just in.  Swedish authorities have issued one license for this 
frequency range.  (GB2RS News)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  2 RESCUED AT SEA THANKS TO AMATEUR RADIO

A long established ham radio network was instrumental in a recent 
rescue at sea.  

It took place South-West of the Galapagos Islands starting on on 
Friday, May 4th.  That's when Wes Mullenix, KI0A, the Texas-based net 
controller on Intercon intercepted a distress call from a damaged 35 
foot pleasure craft called the Sail About.  As KI0A did not have good a 
truly readable signal from the emergency request, he handed the 
communications over to Fletcher Henderson, KA4BPR, in Dolthan, Alabama.  

It was KA4BPR obtained the pertinent information through a series of 
relays.  He learned that there were two people on board, that they were 
named Gunner and Gretta, that they were from Norway, that the boats bow 
was damaged and began taking on water.  With this information in hand, 
KA4BPR then called the United States Coast Guard to report the 
situation.

Soon several vessels had set an intercept course to rendezvous with the 
Sail About which was slowly headed toward that point under motor power.  
During that time, members of the Intercon net kept in contact with 
Gunner and Gretta to assure them that help was on its way.

It took several hours, but finally the  Sail About was spotted by the 
rescue ship S V Damarri.  Soon other vessels arrived.  Gunnar and Greta 
were rescued, transferred to M V Belnor and the Sail About was, sadly, 
abandoned at sea.  (W4QVA)

**

MORSE:  NEW SUPPORT FOR A POPULAR OLD MODE

Morse may no longer be a licensing requirement in most nations, but the 
mode is very much alive and well.  In fact its gaining favor with more 
and more hams as witnessed by the large number of clubs that are 
springing to life dedicated to preserving that very basic mode.  The 
latest of these is the Pro C-W Club based in Romania.  

The Pro C-W Club is the brain child of Vasile Giurgiu, YO6EX.  The 
organization is dedicated to the preservation and encouragement of the 
art of CW communications.  There are two classes of membership and hams 
the world over are welcome to join.  

No website yet but more information and the dues structure is available 
from Vasile Giurgiu, YO6EX, SIBIU-1, RO-550450, Romania.   (YO6EX)

**

PUBLIC SERVICE:  HAM RADIO AND THE MINI MARATHON

May in Indianapolis is always a busy time for Central Indiana amateur 
radio operators. As drivers prepared for the 91st running of the 
Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, local runners and amateur radio operators 
took to the streets of Indianapolis to set the pace during the annual 
Mini-Marathon.  Jack Parker W8ISH was at the finish line and filed this 
report

--

Nat Sound:   :N9NIC net control for the Mini-Marathon."

--

Central Indiana hams hit the ground running for the  32nd annual 500 
Festival Mini-Marathon.  This year over 100 hams provided health and 
welfare communications around the 13 point one mile marathon.  And, 
that's no easy task.   

 Thirty-five thousand runners and walkers crossed the downtown  
starting line on their trek out to,  and around the famed  two and one 
half mile oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  After a slow trip 
around the track they headed to the finish line back downtown.  

--

Nat Sound:  "I need a medical transport at mile marker nine for a 
diabetic."

--

That much foot traffic kept the amateur radio operators on their toes 
during the seven hour event.  Warm morning temperatures and high 
humidity took its toll on the runners.  According Net coordinator Mike 
Palmer, N9FEB, hams posted the yellow warning flag midway through the 
event as runners began to fall by the wayside.  Thirty participants 
were taken to the hospital for treatment.   Amateur radio operators 
tracked each patient and  all other runners that failed to make it to 
the finish line.  

Reporting from Indianapolis,   this is Jack Parker, W8ISH for Amateur 
Radio Newsline.   

--

The Amateur radio net had six controllers utilizing local repeaters and 
several simplex frequencies to handle all the health and welfare 
traffic.    As usual the ham radio operators finished in first place 
for a job well done.  (W8ISH)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  TEEN HAM HEADS UP DELAWARE COMMUNICATIONS CORPS

Delaware's new Communication Corps coordinator is a 19-year-old college 
student and ham radio operator.  He also has more experience in 
emergency communications than many radio amateurs twice or three times 
his age.  

The Delaware Emergency Management Agency has chosen Justin Kates, 
KB3JUV, to head its newly formed Communication Corps.  Managers say 
that Kates, who is a University of Delaware freshman,, will coordinate 
Amateur Radio operators across the state in the event of a terrorist 
attack, natural disaster or other emergency. 

Kates is believed to be the youngest person in the nation to hold this 
level of responsibility in an emergency response organization.  The 
Delaware  Communication Corps program is funded by a Department of 
Homeland Security grant.

More about Justin Kates, KB3JUV, and the role he is playing in 
Delaware's emergency preparedness is on-line at 
http://kb3juv.blogspot.com/2007/05/nineteen.html  (eHam, others)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  CALIFORNIA CITY GETS HAM RADIO EMCOIMM GRANT

San Rafael, California has received a $23,000 grant for ham radio 
operations to help coordinate an emergency response during times of 
disaster.  San Rafael received the grant to establish an amateur radio 
network that will swing into action if phone and radio communications 
fail.  

The Marin Independent Journal reports that three other Bay Area 
organizations received funds from  California Volunteers as well.  This 
is a state-run organization meant to get civilians trained in emergency 
response. 

The organizations director is Karen Baker.  She says that these grants 
will help assist local communities and nonprofit organizations to 
better prepare Californians for the next disaster. A total of $1 
million was handed out across the state.  No specific radio clubs or 
groups were named in the California Volunteers press release.  (Marin 
Independent Journal On-Line)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  ON-STAR ADVANCED SAFETY

General Motors has announced that its OnStar remote vehicle monitoring 
technology will be partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.  This, to use data from vehicle crashes to tell paramedics 
and doctors how badly passengers might be hurt.

On the vehicle, the OnStar sensors will measure the severity of a 
crash, where the vehicle was struck, if airbags deployed and whether 
the vehicle has rolled over. Experts will then review the crash data 
radioed back from OnStar's Advanced Automatic Crash Notification 
technology and notify first response authorities.

Researchers say that this data could help to save lives by helping 
first responders get to people who are more seriously injured than they 
seem and then send them to the nearest trauma 
center. 

The partnership between OnStar and the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention is funded by a $250,000 grant from OnStar and the General 
Motors Foundation.  (GM, CDC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  STATION DINGED $15000 FOR PHONE REBROADCAST

A licensed broadcaster has been dinged for $15000 by the FCC.  WMGO 
Broadcasting Corp., Inc. which operates WMGO A-M radio in Canton, 
Mississippi received the fine for recording a telephone conversation 
and later broadcasting it without first informing the party on the 
phone of its intention to do so.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce 
Tennant, K6PZW, reports:

--

According to the FCC, Luke Gordon filed a complaint alleging that on 
January 6, 2005, the station recorded a telephone conversation between 
him and newsman Jerry Lousteau without notifying him of Lousteaus' 
intention to do so.  Gordon further charged that the WMGO later 
broadcast excerpts of the recorded telephone conversation on January 
7th, 10th, and 11th, 2005.

In its defense, the station responded that Lousteau initiated a phone 
call to the Gordon to interview him.  WMGO claims that Lousteau was 
unsuccessful in contacting the Gordon so there was no need and no 
opportunity to inform him, in person, of the station's intentions to 
record and/or broadcast the conversation.

Shortly after the Commission received the stations response, Gordon 
provided the agency with a recording that contained a portion of the 
telephone conversation that was aired by WMGO.  In light of this 
development, the FCC issued a follow-up letter to the radio station.  
It directed WMGO to confirm the authenticity of the content of the 
recording, and to identify the persons whose voices are heard on the 
tape.  The FCC also instructed the WMGO to review its initial response 
and make any revisions that it believed were necessary.

In responding, WMGO confirmed the authenticity of the audio recording 
and identified the two speakers as Lousteau and Gordon. WMGO did not 
affirmatively respond to the Commission's question as to whether the 
station had informed the Gordon of its intention to record and/or 
broadcast the telephone conversation.  Instead WMGO stated that because 
Gordon had participated in previous telephone interviews that were 
recorded and subsequently broadcast by the station.  Therefore it could 
only surmise that Gordon has always been aware of the taping for 
broadcast.

But the FCC says that's not good enough.  It says that the purpose of 
Section 73.1206 of its rules is to protect the legitimate expectation 
of privacy in connection with the broadcast use of telephone 
conversations. It says that when Gordon returned the phone call to WMGO 
that same day that the station had a legal obligation to inform him 
that it intended to record and rebroadcast the conversation but failed 
to do so.  And that says the FCC warrants the imposition of a $15,000 
fine which WMGO Broadcasting has been ordered to pay.

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

--

WMGO Broadcasting was given the usual time to pay the fine or to fine 
an appeal.  (FCC)

**

RADIO LAW:  CONGRESS MAY ACT TO SAVE INTERNET BROADCASTING

A bill introduced in Congress ton Friday, April 27th, could be the 
savior for so-called Internet radio station.  Called the Internet Radio 
Equality Act, the measure would nullify the new rates set by the 
Copyright Royalty Board  which advocates say would put webcasters out 
of business.

The bi-partisan Internet Radio Equality Act legislation was introduced 
by Washington Democrat ay Inslee and Republican representative Don 
Manzullo of Illinois.  Its purpose is to curtail the imposition of a 
highly  controversial March 2 decision which forces royalty payments of 
a .08 cents per song per listener, retroactively from 2006

Web radio advocates have condemned the Copyright Royalty Board ruling.  
They say that it could raise rates between 300 to 1200 per cent for 
webcasters and effectively ending the transmission of musical 
entertainment over the World-Wide-Web.  The Copyright Royalty Board 
defends its decision stating that artists are entitled to a fair share 
of the profits from the music that they have created.  

If passed, Internet Radio Equality Act would set new rates at 7.5 per 
cent of the webcaster's revenue.  That's the same rate paid by 
satellite radio broadcasters.  Alternatively, webcasters could decide 
to pay 33 cents per hour of sound recordings transmitted to a single 
user.  The bill would also reset royalty rules for non-profit radio 
such as National Public Radio.  Such government funded radio operations 
would be required present a report to Congress on how it should 
determine rates for their internet streaming media. (Published reports)

**

HAM HERITAGE:  KEYS 2007 - WORKS OF ART

Keys 2007 - Amateur Radio Works of Art is the first in a multi-part 
series depicting some very unique Morse keys appearing in the May issue 
of CQ Magazine.  In it, author Dave Ingram, K4TWJ, brings you some of 
the most beautiful C-W generating devices ever created by the mind of 
man.  Included is an incredible Roto-Bug that uses a motor generator 
system to produce dots and a paddle key crafted from an old Astatic D-
104 microphone.  Its true ham radio creativity at its best and it all 
begins on page 44 of the May C-Q that's on newsstands right now.  (CQ)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  CONGRATS TO LARRY KING - 50 YEARS ON THE AIR

CNN personality Larry King is not a ham, but he has been on the air a 
lot longer than most radio amateurs have been licensed.  And this year 
the master interviewer celebrates his 50th anniversary as a broadcaster.

The Brooklyn, New York born King began his broadcasting career in 1957 
after changing from his surname from Zeiger.  His first job was as a 
disc jockey at Miami's WAHR-AM. The next year, he began a show 
originating live from a local restaurant, where he interviewed whatever 
folks as they happened by.  Now age 73, King joined CNN back in 1985 
and has been interviewing the famous and not so famous ever since.

As an aside, King and our producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, have two 
things in common.  Not only are they both from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.  
Both also attended Lafayette High School though King had graduated a 
few years before Bill arrived.  

Kings career has already spanned half a century.  We at Amateur Radio 
Newsline wish him many more years of success yet to come.  (Published 
reports)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD:  WRITER DAVE ROSENTHAL, N6TST, - S.K.

The changing of the guard in Amateur Radio continues with word of the 
passing of longtime Radio Netherland U-S reporter Dave  Rosenthal, 
N6TST.  A longtime resident of Ridgecrest, California, the 58 year old 
Rosenthal passed away on March 16th after battleing a protracted 
illness.  

We at Newsline first met Dave through the former Radio Netherlands 
Media Network program producer Jonathan Marks, G8WGN.  And over the 
years, Dave was a contributor to a few of our newscasts as well.  In 
more recent days, N6TST, became a very prolific writer.  His articles 
in QST Magazine drew much interest and acclaim including the ARRL Cover 
Plaque Award for his article, "Polar Bear Portable."

Dave Rosenthal, N6TST, is survived by his wife Donna, KF6ZVE.  In lieu 
of flowers  memorial donations in Dave's name should be sent to the 
Wiseman Cancer Research Foundation, 201 S Alvarado St, Suite 321, Los 
Angeles, California, 90057.  (ARRL)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  ERROR RATES HIGHER WITH FEMALES USING VOICE 
RECOGNITION SOFTWARE

Science Daily reports that there is a significantly higher rate of 
transcription error in women compared to men when using commercial 
voice recognition applications. 

According to a recent study ten radiology residents, five male and five 
female, were each trained on a commercial speech recognition 
application. Each was then asked to dictate a standardized set of ten 
radiology reports containing a total of 2,123 words. 

The generated reports were then compared with the original reports and 
error rates were calculated.  The error rate was defined as the sum of 
the number of word insertions and deletions divided by the total word 
count for a given report.  The results showed error rates in the male 
population ranged from 0.025 to 0.139 while the error rates in the 
females ranged from 0.015 to 0.206.   (Science Daily)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  MICROSOFT SUPPOORTS ROBOT DESIGNERS

Microsoft has previewed a set of new software tools that aims to give 
developers a simpler way to design robots and to create and test 
programs that operate a wide range of machines  The group's first 
product is called Microsoft Robotics Studio.  It is designed for 
hobbyists, students or commercial developers, who have had to reinvent 
the wheel each time they use different hardware to build a robot.  
While the fragmented robotics market is now in its infancy, Microsoft 
says that forecasts call for the industry to grow into a multibillion-
dollar market in the next five to 10 years.  (Technology Report)

**

WORLDBEAT - SOUTH AFRICA:  CALLBOOK BY APRS

The South African Radio League reports that Dick Stratford, ZS6RO, has 
set-up a server on APRS which can be used to obtain callbook 
information from anywhere in the APRS international network.

It works this way.  When querying a local South African callsign, the 
South African Radio League database is used. When a D-X callsign is 
queried via APRS, the QRZ.COM database is used in real-time. The same 
databases are used when querying from the packet radio network.

APRS, the acronym for Automatic Position Reporting System, was 
developed by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR.  The system uses amateur radio to 
transmit position reports, weather reports, and messages between users.  
(SARL)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  PAPERS SOUGHT FOR AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM

AMSAT has put out a call for papers to be presented at its 2007 AMSAT 
Space Symposium and Annual Meeting slated for October 25th to the 28th in 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Proposals for papers, symposium 
presentations, and poster presentations are invited on any topic of 
interest to the amateur satellite program. Emphasis for this year is an 
educational outreach to middle and high School students with emphasis 
on papers dealing with several targeted topics.  These include but are 
not limited to Students & Education, Amateur Radio on the International 
Space Station,  satellites AO-51, Phase 3 E and Eagle along with other 
satellite-related topics.

A one-page abstract is required by June 1st.  Camera ready copy on 
paper or in electronic form will be due by September 1st for inclusion 
in the printed symposium proceedings. Papers received after this date 
will not be included in the printed proceedings.

Abstracts and papers should be sent to Daniel Schultz N8FGV by e-mail 
to: n8fgv at amsat.org.  (AMSAT)

**

WORLDBEAT - UK:  TV SHOWS THE EARLY DAYS OF UK EMCOMMS

A television show about the early days of Amateur Radio emergency 
communications in England was recently broadcast on the U-K TV station 
Channel 4 .  This, as a part of the stations ongoing '3 Minute Wonder' 
series.

The program was called "Preparing for the Worst" was hosted by Pat 
Gowen G3IOR.  It discussed one of the first ever mobile emergency 
communications operations ever in the U-K.  Also in the show is Terry 
Owen, G4PSH and references are made to Rafars & Raynet of the city of 
Norfolk.

Preparing for the Worst can be seen on the YouTube video service.  Just 
take your web browser to www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLfsr-Q3m0o  
(Southgate)

**

WORLDBEAT - UK:  NEW UK HAM RADIO WEBSITE	

A new British website at www.RadioDXer.co.uk, has been launched.  This 
to create an online community for United Kingdom based amateurs and 
other radio enthusiasts where they can participate in discussion on 
anything to do with radio as a hobby.

Graeme Stoker, M0EUK, the man behind the new cyberspace global village.  
He  believes that there are a number of similar American-based forums, 
but until now nothing really with a U-K focus.  (Southgate)

**

DX

DL6LAU has informed the OPDX newsletter that DL8OBQ, DJ8NK and himself 
will now be active as PJ2/homecall from the island of Curacao (July 9-
16th. They plan to participate in the IARU HF Contest
(July 14-15th) as PJ2HQ, and as a Multi-Multi entry. QSL via their home 
callsigns. QSL PJ2HQ via N9AG or LoTW.

IW2NEF, will be active as portable HI7 from Bayahibe, in the Dominican 
Republic from June 3-9th. Activity will be limited to no more than 1 or 
2 hours a day on HF, on 40-10 meters and VHF 6 meters E-skip. He will 
use a Yaesu FT-857D w/100 watts max power into a vertical "9M WIRE" for 
HF and a J pole for the 6M band. QSL via IW2NEF.

(From various DX news sources)

**

THAR FINAL ITEM:  THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF PROTEINS

And finally this week, word that biologists have converted protein 
sequences into another form of communications.  Classical music.  This 
they say is an attempt to help vision-impaired scientists and boost the 
popularity of genomic biology. 

New research published in the open access journal Genome Biology 
describes how researchers have found a way to present human proteins as 
musical notes.  Doctors Rie Takahashi and Jeffrey H. Miller from the 
University of California, Los Angeles, USA, have so far transcribed 
segments of two human proteins into music. But to make their melodies 
more pleasing on the ear, they had first to overcome a few problems -- 
how to incorporate rhythm, and how to cram the 20 standard amino acids 
into just 13 notes.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. The two researchers 
focused on codons which are sets of three adjacent bases that code for 
particular amino acids.  They decided to include four different note 
durations with codons that appear more frequently transcribed into 
longer notes than those which appear less often. Individual amino acids 
are expressed as chords, in which similar amino acids are paired. For 
example, the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine are both assigned a 
G major chord, but they can be distinguished because the notes in the 
chord are arranged differently. This means the resulting music has a 20 
note range spanning over 2 octaves, but with just 13 base notes.

The team find their music more melodic and less 'jumpy' than previous 
attempts, which have focussed on DNA sequences and protein folding, and 
hence closer to the musical depth of popular compositions. They are 
currently piloting a computer program, written by a collaborator Frank 
Pettit, which uses their translation rules to convert amino acids into 
music and hope it will speed up the translation of large segments of 
genomes.  (BioMed Central via Science OnLine)

**

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 closes on May 30th.  That's less than 2 weeks 
away.  Any nominations received after that date will not qualify for 
this years award program.

The Young Ham of the Year Award is open to 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 Bon 
Wilbanks, AE5DW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.  