[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1592 - February 15, 2008

Sat Feb 16 10:33:11 EST 2008

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1592 - February 15, 2008

The following is a QST.  Ham radio responds as tornadoes sweep the 
South-East on super Tuesday.  Also, two failures of commercial wireless 
services show why ham radio needs to remain self sustained and a new 
way to operate down-under as Australia's telecommunications regulator 
says welcome to visiting hams.  Find out the details on Amateur Radio 
Newsline report number 1592 coming your way right now.

**

RESCUE RADIO:  THE TORNADOS OF SUPER TUESDAY

Ham radio was called out all across the South-East as a series of 
tornadoes and other violent weather swept across the region on Tuesday, 
February 5th.  Amateur Radio Newsline's David Black, KB4KCH, is in 
Birmingham, Alabama not far from an area hard hit by the storms:

--

Super Tuesday will go down in the history books for a lot more than 
presidential politics.  It was a time of death and destruction in 
several southern states, including Tennessee, where at least 30 people 
died.  Lowell Bennington, WD4DJC, is the A-double-R-L's Section 
Emergency Coordinator:

--

Bennington:  "A great number of hams were involved in the National 
Weather Service weather spotter program and in the area of 
Madison County which is where Jackson Tennessee is one of the hams did 
actually spot the wall cloud and the twister out of it." 
--

Bennington says hams used linked repeaters on VHF and UHF to transmit 
emergency reports, as well as sending digital messages with WinLink -- 
a blend of amateur radio and Internet technology.

--

Bennington:  "What's called METERS, which is the Middle Tennessee 
Amateur Radio Repeater group relayed information on the approaching 
storm to the Tennessee Emergency Management office in Nashville."

--

At one point, Bennington says hams and weather service personnel had to 
head for safety themselves:

--

Bennington:  "In an area of Jackson there's a National Weather Service 
office that was pretty much in the path of the approaching storms so 
they all had to duck for cover and some hams went down to help them.

--

In Alabama, five people die across the northern part of the state when 
EF3 and EF4 tornadoes hit.  In Lawrence county, west of Huntsville, 
four people, including a husband, wife and son die in a tornado that 
leaves a damage track more than 18 miles long in the middle of the 
night.

--

Free:  ".we let our guard down"

--

The storm passes about five miles from the home of Rex Free, KN4CI, a 
founder of the North Alabama Skywarn Network.

--

Free:  "I never thought in a million years that we would have this type 
of path come through with this amount of destruction this close to 
home.  I've heard that even Scrooges -- people (who say) '.I don't need 
a weather radio -- ah the odds of it hitting my house." Buddy, they 
were the first ones at church to say '.I'm going to the store and 
getting a weather radio."  It was a wake-up call to put it in short 
terms.  A wake-up call."

--

Hams are busy in other states hit hard, including Kentucky.  It's the 
deadliest barrage of tornadoes to strike the nation in nearly 23 years. 
And authorities say once again ... when phone lines and other 
communications systems got knocked out or overloaded ...amateur radio 
worked.

>From the Southeast Bureau in Birmingham, Alabama, I'm David Black, 
KB4KCH, for the Amateur Radio Newsline.

--

Other states where severe weather hit and radio amateurs were called 
out to assist include Arkansas and Mississippi. (ARNewsline)

**

RESCUE RADIO: WIRELESS  FAILURES SHOWS FALICY OF HAM RADIO EMCOMMS 
GOING TO THE WWW

To more good reasons why hams should not to become dependant on the 
Internet to carry emergency communications.  This as the commercial 
wireless infrastructure that connects to the Internet proves twice in 
less than a month that its prone to 

The first event took place on January 31st.  It involved AT&T service 
for customers with Web-enabled wireless devices across the Midwest and 
Southeast which had no service most of that day.  According to news 
reports, customers could make voice calls but experienced trouble 
getting e-mail or connecting to the Internet with their smart phones, 
P-D-A's or laptop computers.  An AT&T spokesman said that the outage on 
the nation's largest telecommunications company's 3G and Edge networks 
began about 5:30 a.m. Central Standard Time and was repaired by mid 
afternoon. 

And on Monday February 11th Blackberry wireless device users suffered 
about a 6 hour outage.  This as Research in Motion, the company that 
owns the rights to the Blackbery system, suffers its second service 
loss in less than a year.

The glitch that began about 3:30 Eastern Standard Time shut off e-mail 
and Internet access to more than 8 million subscribers on all wireless 
carriers in North America for three hours.  In a statement issues on 
Tuesday, February 12th, the Research in Motion says that it is 
continuing to investigate the exact cause of the service outage and it 
will provide additional information as soon as it is able to verify the 
events that prompted the service loss. 

No reason by either company for either outage taking place was given.  
Unlike the wired infrastructure of the Internet, the current structure 
of ham radio emergency communications is decentralized and not wireline 
or commercial wireless dependant.  As seen countless time in the past, 
this independence from a centralized structure and the ability to use 
low current battery operated gear means that hams can continue to 
function as emergency communicators.  This, even if a widespread 
disaster takes all of an areas electrical power, telephones, 
cellphones, wireless devices and all access to the World Wide Web. 
(Published reports)

**

RECIPROCAL LICENSING:  NEW RECIP LICEMNSE IN VK-LAND

A new "arrive and operate" reciprocal licensing system has been 
approved by Australia's Communications and Media Authority.  Michael 
Owen, VK3KI, is down-under in Mount Waverly in Victoria state with the 
details:

--

Word has reached the WIA that the Australia Communications and Media 
Authority -- the A-C-M-A -- . has issued a news class of license to 
allow visiting amateurs to operate in Australia for up to 90 days.  
This, using their home call sign followed by the suffix VK followed by 
"portable" and then the location of the station, without doing anything 
more. 

For example.  If Newsline producer Bill Pasternak were here visiting, 
he would sign WA6ITF/2/Sydney or /Brisbane, or whatever city, depending 
on where he actually was.  . 

That class license comes into effect on the 14th of February.

There are 5 levels of visitor license, 3 matching the Australian 
Advanced, Standard and Foundation licenses, a VHF license, and finally, 
in effect, a 146 to 148 FM license.

The privileges of each level are set out in the class license.

The ACMA will publish on its website a table showing equivalencies to 
the Australian visitor levels for different overseas licenses. 

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Michael Owen, VK3KI, of the WIA 
News reporting for the Amateur Radio Newsline.

--

The bottom line.  If you decide to vacation down-under, bring along 
your portable ham radio gear and enjoy making new friends on the air.  
(WIA News)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  MORE POWER AT 500 KHZ FOR UK HAMS

There is good news this week for U-K hams experimenting on the Mid 
Frequency band 501 to 504kHz.  Following representations made by the 
Radio Society of Great Britain, telecommunications regulator OfCom have 
extended the validity of all Notices of Variation by one year to 28th 
February 2009.  At the same time the maximum permitted power has also 
been increased to 1watt effective radiated.  This is up from the 100 
milliwatts that was previously permitted.  (GB2RS)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  FCC WARNS HAM REGARDING OVERPOWER PART 15 STATION

An Illinois ham has been warned by the FCC that he could face stiff 
penalties for operating an unlicensed radio station on at least two 
frequencies.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has more:

--

In its January 29th letter to Todd E. Daugherty, N9OGL, the FCC says 
that information before it indicates that the of  Taylorville, 
Illinois, ham has been operating an unlicensed radio station on 6.950 
and 13.556 MHz.  Also that the  information indicates that the signal 
strengths of these transmissions exceed the power limit of Part 15 of 
the Commission's rules for unlicensed transmitters.  

According to the rules the maximum radiated power from Part 15 devices 
is 500 milliwatts.  In response to an earlier letter received 
Enforcement Bureau on November 6, 2007, Daugherty asserted that his 
power levels were in compliance with those Part 15 of rules.,  

But in its latest letter the FCC says that Daugherty's response was 
insufficient, contradictory, and indicated a misunderstanding of the 
Part 15 power limits for unlicensed stations. It quotes Daugherty's 
alleged statements made in 2006 and 2007 describing his  shortwave 
station known as "Omega One" as operating at 5 watts, then 10 watts and 
later 50 and 100 watts.  

In the FCC's eyes operating at power levels in excess of the Part 15 
rules constitutes unlicensed operation.  It also says that such 
unlicensed operation would be a violation of Section 301 of the 
Communications Act of 1934 as well as the Commissions own rules.  It 
warns Daugherty that a fine could be as much as $10,000.  

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

--

Daugherty was also told that such operation could also reflect 
adversely on his qualifications to remain an Amateur Radio service 
license.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  LICENE RENEWAL OF W6WBJ DESIGNATED FOR HEARING 

The FCC has designated another hams license renewal application for a 
hearing.  This says the regulatory agency is to determine whether or 
not to renew the license of  William F. Crowell, W6WBJ.

According to the February 12th Hearing Designation Order, the record 
before the FCC indicates that Crowell has apparently, willfully and 
repeatedly engaged in and continues to engage in unlawful Commission-
related activities.  This says the regulatory agency includes, but is 
not limited to, intentionally causing interference and/or interruption, 
transmitting music and one-way communications, and using indecent 
language on amateur frequencies.

Crowell formerly held the call sign N6AYJ. The license expiration date 
for N6AYJ was March 12, 2007.  On January 24, 2006, Crowell applied for 
and, on April 11, 2006, was granted vanity call sign W6WBJ to replace 
N6AYJ.  While grant of a vanity call sign ordinarily results in a new 
ten-year license term, the March 12, 2007 expiration date for Crowell's 
license was not extended because of various complaints involving 
station N6AYJ.

Crowell has steadfastly denied that he is in violation of any FCC rule.  
And in response to an August 2000 warning letter, Crowell stated in 
part -- and we quote -- "In determining the free-speech rights of ham 
radio operators, any court is going to apply the specific language of 
97.113 and not the very vague and general language of 97.1. That is 
an elementary principle of statutory construction as it affects 
citizens' free-speech rights." -- end quote.  

Also, in October of 2006, one complainant identified as Patricia Ray, 
K4ZE, retracted her earlier complaint against N6AYJ.  

That said, the FCC has decided to persue the matter.  It says that 
based on the information before it, the regulatory agency believes that 
Crowell's apparent past and continuing course of misconduct raises what 
it calls a substantial and material question of fact as to whether he 
possesses the requisite character qualifications to be and remain a 
Commission licensee.  Accordingly, the regulatory agency has designated 
his renewal application for hearing.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  YOU CAN'T SELL GPS JAMMERS

The FCC has issued an official citation to Garden State Investigations 
and Security of Jackson, New Jersey.  This, alleging that the company 
marketed an unauthorized jammer of Global Positioning System or G-P-S 
signals.  Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has more:
--
Back on October 2, 2007, the Spectrum Enforcement Division of the 
Commission's Enforcement Bureau initiated an investigation into whether 
Garden State was marketing an unauthorized device listed as the "GPS 
Blocker."   This after Division personnel saw an advertisement for the 
GPS Blocker jammer device on Garden State's web site on September 25, 
2007.

In Garden State's October 9, 2007 response, the company admitted that 
it had imported 15 GPS Blocker devices into the United States and began 
advertising this device on its web site in August 2007.  It also admit 
to the sale of eight of the GPS Blocker jammer devices to clients 
within the United States.  The company also said that on receipt of the 
FCC's October 2, 2007 letter of inquiry, that it  ceased all 
advertisement of the GPS Blockers and that it destroyed its remaining 
inventory of seven devices.  

But in its citation, the FCC says that the rules prohibit any person 
from manufacturing, importing, selling, offering for sale, or shipping 
devices that fail to comply with its regulations.  Also that 
intentional radiators must be authorized in accordance with the 
Commission's certification procedures prior to the start of marketing 
in the U.S.  

The FCC goes on to note that the jammer device that had been marketed 
by Garden State is not capable of receiving a grant of certification 
because the device is designed to block or interfere with radio 
communications.  The FCC says that such use is clearly prohibited by 
Section 333 of the Communications Act and cannot comply with the FCC's 
technical standards.

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

--

The FCC ends its January 28th citation letter by warning Garden State 
Investigations that if the company violates the Commission's rules in 
any manner, it may impose monetary forfeitures that could reach up to 
$11,000 for each such violation or each day that a continuing violation 
takes place.  (FCC)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS:  INDIANA'S SEVERE WEATHER PREPAREDNESS WEEK

Hams in Bloomingtom, Indiana, are getting ready to support the states 
Severe Weather Preparedness Week.  Jack Parker, W8ISH, has the details:

--

Amateur Radio operators in Bloomington, Indiana are gearing up for 
Indiana's  Severe Weather Preparedness Week, March 3rd through the 7th. 
According to Kevin Pauley-KB9WVI the Monroe County hams are hitting the 
commercial radio airwaves to get the word out. This is the 5th year for 
their grass roots public outreach effort. And it continues to grow. A 
third Bloomington radio station has agreed to talk with hams about 
their Skywarn spotting efforts.

WISH TV Meteorologist Steve Bray says amateur radio operators play an 
important role in watching severe weather.

Bray sot : If we can see it on radar and say hey this cell may be 
producing something but then we can verify that report with ham radio 
operators then somebody will be spurred to take action. After all 
that's the end result we want. If they hear that confidence level high 
because we have a verification then people are going to react.

Indiana has a long history of deadly tornado outbreaks. As a result the 
Indianapolis office of the National Weather Service conducts two hour 
spotter training classes throughout the state during February and March 
. Coming March 1st is an expanded course for weather watchers. N-W-S 
will hold an eight hour class in Greenwood, Indiana for those spotters 
who crave more detail and weather science . Three hundred participants 
are expected. The program features talks by weather service 
meteorologists, local TV meteorologists and those doing research for 
Indiana Universities.

Weather officials hope all these efforts will lead to better severe 
weather awareness across the state.

Reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline, this is Jack Parker W8ISH

--

The hams involved with Indiana's Severe Weather Preparedness Week say 
that ham radio is a lot more than just a hobby.  In an emergency it's a 
true lifeline.  (KB9WVI, W8ISH)

**

RADIO SHOWS:  ORLANDO HAMCATION A DIG SUCCESS

Some great news regarding last weeks Orlando Hamcation.  According to 
Quarter Century Wireless Association President John B. Johnston, W3BE, 
the affair enjoyed the best weather in recent years.  

W3BE estimates were that there were more than 10,000 attendees, making 
it a clear number two show only surpassed by the Dayton Hamvention.  

Johnston says that every space was occupied.  Even Alpha was there, 
breaking its long policy to show only at Dayton.  

W3BE was there to represent the QCWA.  (W3BE)

**

RADIO SHOWS:  MIAMI TROPICAL HAMBORE TO RETURN ON A NEW DATE

The Miami Tropical Hamboree will be back, though at a different time of 
year and with a new name.  Its now a one-day gathering to be known as 
HAMTOBERFEST.  It will take place on October 25th at a location yet to 
be announced.  

According to show planners, the 2007 Super Bowl was held in Miami on 
the same weekend as their last show. Hotel rooms for that weekend were 
booked over 6 months in advance and were very expensive.  With the 
Super Bowl coming back to Miami in 2010, the decision was made to 
abandon their long standing first February weekend and opt for another 
time of year.  More is on-line at www dot hamboree dot org.  (W3BE)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  W2GPS TO ADDRESS AMSAT ZA SPACE SYMPOSIUM 

Some names in the news.  First up is AMSAT North America President, 
Rick Hambly, W2GPS.  He will deliver a paper by videoconference the 
April 19th AMSAT South Africa symposium.   Hambly is slated to talk 
about the new direction in amateur radio satellites and discuss some of 
the current AMSAT projects. Visit www dot amsatsa dot org dot za for 
more details.  (Southgate)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  ARRL CREATES FRED FISH N5FF AWARD

The ARRL has created a new award to honor the weak signal 6 meter work 
done by the late Fred Fish, W5FF.  This, by creating a new award named 
in his honor.  

According to an ARRL release, The ARRL Board of Directors approved the 
new award honoring the late W5FF who is the only amateur to work and 
confirm all 488 grid squares in the 48 contiguous United States on 6 
meters.  The Fred Fish Memorial Award will be awarded to any amateur 
who duplicates Fish's accomplishment. 

By way of background, Fish from Edgewood, New Mexico, was a mainstay on 
the VHF and higher bands for many years.  He achieved Worked All States 
on 6 meters through 432 MHz, as well as DXCC for 6 meters.  He is 
widely regarded as a gentleman operator and one of the finest amateurs 
in the VHF community. 

The #1 Fred Fish award be issued posthumously to its namesake and 
presented to his wife Lee Fish, K5FF.  Complete details on the Fred 
Fish Memorial Award will be available soon.  (ARRL)

**

HAM RADIO HONORS:  2008 HAMVENTION AWARDS NOMINATIONS CLOSE FEB 19

There are only a few days left for you to nominate someone for the 
annual Dayton Hamvention awards.  The nominating season for the 2008 
Radio Amateur of the Year, Special Achievement and Technical 
Achievement honors closes at midnight on Tuesday, February 19th.  

To find out if your potential nominee qualifies prestigious awards 
simply take tour web browser to www dot hamvention dot org and click on 
the box that says Award Winners.  

After you read the qualifications scroll down to the bottom of the page 
to download a nominating form in either Word or Adobe PDF format.  
Complete it and send it with support documentation to Hamvention Awards 
P.O. Box 964, Dayton, Ohio 45401.  Or to save time you can Fax your 
information to 937-276-6934.  

Again, the cutoff for nominations is midnight on Tuesday, February 19th.  
This years winners will be announced shortly thereafter.  And as we 
said, full information is on-line at www dot hamvention dot org.  
(Hamventionr, W8ILC)

**

RADIO HONORS:  2008 YHOTY AWARD NOMINATIONS SOUGHT

The nominating period for the 2008 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of 
the Year is now open.  Any licensed radio amateur age 18 or younger 
residing in the United States or Canada is eligible for the award.  We 
have put the full details and both downloadable and on-line nominating 
forms at the Young Ham of the Year website  Its in cyberspace at www 
dot YHOTY dot org.  Again that's www dot YHOTY dot org.  (ARNewsline)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  NEW ARISS ANTENNAS NOW ON THE ISS

Several new ARISS antennas are now a part of the International Space 
Station.  They were pre-mounted on the new 14-ton module Columbus 
research module that was launched to orbit almost two weeks ago and was 
attached to the orbiting outpost on Monday, February 11th.   

Columbus, which cost about $2 billion, will expand the range of zero-
gravity experiments aboard the station.  Meantime, the new antennas 
will help broaden the role of ham radio plays as both an educational 
and recreational tool for the crew and hams on the ground.  They will 
also provide additional back-up emergency communications channels for 
the crew stationed on board the ISS.   (ARISS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  ISS REPEATER CONTACTS GOOD FOR JAMSAT AWARD

Contacts via the International Space Station repeater will be valid for 
the Japan AMSAT's Five Star Award.  The goal of this program is to get 
more activity using amateur radio satellite communications, to get more 
hams interested in this aspect of the hobby and to protect the 
frequency allocations of the amateur satellites.

The Award is open to all Radio Amateurs world wide.  To qualify an 
applicant is required to establish a QSO with five different stations 
using  five different Satellites for a minimum total of 25 contacts.  
Verification by QSL cards is required.  The complete rules are on line 
at www.jamsat.or.jp/award/index_e.html   (JAMSAT)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  FO-29 NO LONGER OFFERS WORLD WIDE SERVICE

Controllers of the Fuji Oscar 29 ham radio satellite say that the bird 
is no longer fully functional.  While command and control and some 
transponder operation has been recovered, the satellites power budget 
is a key issue.  While power from the solar cells is just adequate for 
operation, the inner impedance of the Ni-Cad rechargeable batteries is 
increasing. They can only support operation of the transmitter 
approximately 10 minutes after entering eclipse.  Also, the on-board 
Power Control Unit has failed.  This means the satellite's transmitter 
does not automatically recover and requires it to be reset by the 
ground control station in Tokyo.

Fuji Oscar 29 was originally known as JAS 2.  It is a Mode-J satellite 
launched back on August 17, 1996. The Japan Amateur Radio League is the 
agency responsible for its operation.  It says that it will continue to 
monitor the situation aboard Fuji Oscar 29 and will work to preserve 
its functionality for as many as users around the world as possible.  
But JARL also warns that the current situation may continue for up to 2 
years until Fuji Oscar 29 enters a no-eclipse period in 2010.   (JARL)

**

WORLDBEAT - AUSTRALIA:  D-STAR DV DONGLE NOW LEGAL IN VK

The Australian Communications & Media Authority -- the ACMA -- has 
legalized the use of the so-called D-Star D V Dongle in that nation. 
Amendments to the Australian telecommunications regulations to permit 
use of the dongle include ending the prohibition on the connection of 
automated systems to a public telecommunications network and the 
Internet.  Also gone is the prohibition on third party traffic.  

The responsibility for keeping things legal has now been put on the 
receiver of the third party traffic.  This, to ensure it is legal in 
the information receivers country. And to prevent any form of computer 
to repeater bootlegging, The ACMA has enacted a clear requirement that 
a person operating through a repeater must be licensed to operate on 
the repeaters output frequency.  In other words, if you are not a ham 
you can't be retransmitted.

Lastly, any Australian amateur station connecting a device to the to a 
public telecommunications network including the Internet must provide 
an in-band announcement every 10 minutes.  This to tell anyone 
listening that communications are on a connection is public and can be 
monitored. Repeaters are excluded from this clause.

For those not aware, a dongle is a small hardware device that connects 
to a computer, often to authenticate a piece of software. The D V 
Dongle will allow hams to encode audio in the AMBE format used by D-
STAR digital voice for later playback through the repeater. It will 
also permit live P-C to repeater communications.  These changes were 
scheduled to come into place on  the 11th or 12th of February.  (WIA 
News)

**

DX

In DX word that the 3Y0E, Bouvet Island DX-pedition is winding down and 
will like;y be Q-R-T by the time that most of you hear this newscast.  
At airtime, the 3Y0E team was scheduled to be picked up from Bouvet on 
February 12th.  That date may have changed however due to weather 
conditions, the speed of the ship or any other urgent matter beyond 
their control.

And several Polish operators will be on the air from Saint Barthelemy 
and Saint Martin From February 14th to the 17th.  Listen out for SP6IXF, 
SP3IPB, Q3WN and SP7VC operating portable from each location. QSL via 
their home callsigns, either direct or by the bureau.

Lastly, LA8AW is once again expected be active as JW8AW.  This, from 
Spitsbergen between February 10th to the 18th.  If you work him, QSL as 
directed on the air.

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  THE VIDEOS NAMED CQ SERENEDE

And finally this week, more about a song.  We've told you about it 
before.  Its likely the first-ever ham radio song. Its title is C-Q 
Serenade and it was composed by the late Canadian musician Maurice 
Durieux VE2QS. 

Durieux was orchestra conductor employed by Radio Canada who had 
emigrated from France. Assisting Duriux in the creation of the song was 
F9KT.  There have long been audio versions floating around the World 
Wide Web, but now there is a C-Q Serenade music video.  Actually two.  
One in English and the other in French with ham radio related scenes 
cut to the beat of Duriux 1960's song.  They were created by Alberto 
Urano Silva, LU1DZ, of Adrogue, Argentina, and have been posted to the 
YouTube dot com video website.  

Sorry, but being video we cannot show you any clips.  And because music 
is involved we cannot bring you a sample.  But fear not.  That's 
because we  can at least provide you with the U-R-L's where you and 
your computer can now both see and hear C-Q Serenade.  You will find 
the English version video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MgOyWW5uG8  
French version video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hrbkn7Vwd4
Three renditions in MP3 audio are on-line at 
http://www.zerobeat.net/cqsong.html)  (LU1DZ)

**

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. 

Before we go we want to remind you that the nominating period for the 
2008 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year is now open.  Any 
licensed radio amateur age 18 or younger residing in the United States 
or Canada is eligible for the award.  Full details and both 
downloadable and on-line nominating forms are in cyberspace at www dot 
YHOTY dot org.  

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