[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1596 - March 14, 2008
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Sun Mar 16 09:20:46 EST 2008
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1596 - March 14, 2008
The following is a Q-S-T. The U-S championship Amateur Radio Direction
Finding games are set for May in Texas, a former Novice is fined $4300
and a look back at ham radio taking to space on a commercial communications
satellite. All this and more on Amateur Radio Newsline report number
1596 coming your way right now.
**
RADIOSPORTS: THE USA ARDF CHAMPIONSHIP IN TEXAS IN MAY
Hidden transmitter hunters from across the nation are making plans to
visit Texas in May. This, with hopes of going to Korea in the Fall.
And its all in the name of radiosports. Newsline's Joe Moell K0OV
tells us why. K0OV report:
--
Registration is now open for the biggest annual on-foot transmitter
hunting event in the Western Hemisphere. The Eighth USA ARDF
Championships take place Thursday, May 8 through Saturday, May 10 at
Bastrop State Park near Austin, Texas. The best radio-orienteers in the
USA will be there, but the courses will also be open to anyone, from
any nation, at any radio foxhunting skill level. There will be
practice sessions, a big two-meter hunt and another hunt on 80 meters,
following standard international rules. Excellent maps by the Houston
Orienteering Club will be given to competitors before they set out on
the course. Deer, raccoon and armadillo make their home among the tall
pines in this park, as well as over 250 bird species.
National ARDF Championships are for individuals only. No teaming or
assistance on the course is permitted. If you're a senior, don't worry
about trying to compete against teenagers. Equal medals will be awarded
in five separate
age categories for OM's from under 18 to over 60. There are four
similar age categories for the YLs.
Anyone with reasonable physical abilities can participate. You must be
able to run or walk through the forest and carry your DF gear for five
to ten kilometers. You might win a medal, and maybe even a spot on Team
USA, which will be traveling to South Korea for the World championships
in September. We can only send a maximum of three people in each age
category to Korea, so our national championships determine who gets the
invitations.
For everything you need to know about the USA Championships, including
schedules and registration forms, point your Web browser to the
official site, _www.TexasARDF.org_ (http://www.TexasARDF.org) . That's
TexasARDF.org. For a jump-start into the sport of ARDF, with equipment
ideas and news of the World
Championships in Korea, go to _www.homingin.com_
(http://www.homingin.com) , that's homingin.com.
>From southern California, this Joe Moell, K0OV, for Amateur Radio
Newsline.
--
As far back as the earliest days of Amateur Radio, direction finding
has been a part of the hobby. And one can only wonder what the
earliest T-hunters would say if they were here now to see the way in
which their favorite past time has matured into an international
radiosport. (K0OV)
**
RADIO LAW: GRAND TERRACE CA AGREES TO REDRAFT PROPOSED ANTENNA
ORDENANCE
You cant call this a win yet, but it could wind up being one in the
near future. This as the city of Grand Terrace, California, agrees to
re-draft a controversial proposed antenna ordinance that hams Say could
take them off the air.
According to an e-mail bulletin to all ARRL members in the Southwestern
Division, Grand Terrace, which is located in San Bernardino County,
held a hearing regarding proposed antenna restrictions on Tuesday
evening, March 11th. In response to a letter from Volunteer Counsel,
Len Shafer, WA6QHD, the city did make a few technical changes to the
wording of the proposed ordinance. Unfortunately, most of the
undesirable proposed limitations remained as originally written.
A dozen or so local hams including ARRL Southwestern Division Vice
Director Marty Woll, N6VI, and Orange Section Manager Carl Gardenias,
WU6D, attended the hearing. The amateurs explained the adverse impact
of the proposed limitations, the likelihood of frequent and contentious
appeals, and possible litigation, the city council.
After hearing the testimony the council members unanimously agreed to a
suggestion from Woll that the ordinance be redrafted by a working group
that will now include ham radio operators on the panel. No timetable
fore the work to be completed was announced. (SW Division News
Release)
**
HAM NUMBERS: GERMANY SAYS ITS HAM RADIO COMMUNITY GROWING
Some good news from overseas. Ham radio continues to grow in Germany.
That nations national society the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club or DARC,
says that recent figures show that the overall number of amateur radio
callsigns rose from 80,496 in 2006 to 80,927 in 2007.
But the news was not as good for the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club
itself. It says that within the same period of time its membership
fell from 45,308 to 44,246.
All in all, 75,262 personal amateur radio calls were registered in
Germany throughout 2007. (Deutscher Amateur Radio Club)
**
RESCUE RADIO: D-STAR TO SHINE AT GAREC 08
D-Star will be a prominent player at the upcoming Global Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications Conference, Also known by the acronym GAREC
0h 8, the event will take place June 26, and 27 in Friedrichshafen,
Germany. This, in conjunction with German national HamRadio convention
and exposition.
GAREC-08 will focus on the co-operation among I-A-R-U member societies
and with specialized groups working on emergency communications in the
Amateur Radio Service. Among the items on the program is a session
titled 'D-Star an Advanced Technology in Emergency Communications. The
preliminary program for conference can be seen at
www.iaru.org/emergency/GAREC2008Program.pdf (Southgate)
**
RESCUE RADIO: CT DRILL BECOMES REAL LIFE DRAMA
Ham radio was part of a recent American Red Cross exercise held by the
Mid-Fairfield County Chapter in Connecticut that became a real life
emergency operation. The original purpose of the planned operation was
to familiarize non ham members of the local Disaster Action Team
members with the territory serviced by the chapter. Also to gain
experience in the use of GPS to navigate to a destination; learn about
the use of radio during a deployment; and compare the operation of
VHF/UHF amateur radio gear and Red Cross 47.420 MHz radios.
The plan was to deploy five Red Cross vehicles to different
destinations within the ten served communities covering over 200 square
miles. Each vehicle would have a ham operator carrying a handheld
VHF/UHF radio. Four of the vehicles would have a permanently installed
Red Cross 47.420 MHz radio. In order to gain experience, only non-hams
were to operate the Red Cross radios. A base station would be situated
at the Bridgeport chapter house. The Greater Bridgeport ARC supported
the Red Cross with nine fully qualified and trained Red Cross
volunteers.
Just minutes prior to the scheduled start a real incident occurred and
the volunteers responded. It was a fire emergency o the Red Cross
Disaster Action Teams were activated. During the emergency radio
amateurs were the communications link for the Red Cross which provided
canteen supplies, office supplies and water.
Radio contact using the 47.420 MHz frequency was not possible once the
vehicles were on scene at the incident site. Amateur radio performed
flawlessly using repeaters in Bridgeport and Fairfield. The variety of
available repeater locations and their antenna height provided the
capability to virtually eliminate communications problems due to
terrain or structural interference. (WE1M)
**
WITH NEWSLINE: LATEST WEB SUPER SUPPORTER ABNNOUNCED
We at Amateur Radio Newsline are happy to announce our latest web super
supporter. Our support fund Administrator Andy Jaremea, N6TCQ, has
words as to whom it is:
--
The month of February 2008 saw another of our promotions for our web
Super Supporters. This time for an MFJ 2 meter FM monitor receiver to
be awarded to the individual or club donating the most to Amateur Radio
Newsline during February.
A longtime supporter of Newsline is the Reading Amateur Radio Club in
Pennsylvania, W3BN, and we are pleased to be sending their promotional
award out to them in the next week or so. One of the things this club
has the right to be proud of is that their original ARRL charter was
signed by none other than Hirim Percy Maxim.
If you did not receive this support information you need to get on the
Newsline Yahoogroups distribution list. Just go to Yahoogroups.com and
sign up there. Information on donations I on our website.
I'm Andy Jarema, N6TCQ.
--
Our thanks to all of you who support the Amateur Radio Newsline. Its
you who make these weekly newscast possible. (ARNewsline)
**
ENFORCEMENT: ANOTHER HAM WARNED TO STAY OFF CERTAIN REPEATERS
A Maine radio amateur has been warned by the FCC to stay off certain
repeaters or face enforcement action against her license. Receiving
the Warning Notice from the FCC's Spectrum Enforcement Division is
Amanda Spenlinhauer, KB1CQX, of the town of Wells. In it the FCC
states that she must refrain from using any repeater where the trustee
says to stay off. The FCC also told to Spenlinhauer that her Amateur
Radio license expires in June. It advises her that it will not be
routinely renewed unless this matter is resolved. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FCC FINES FORMER NOVICE $4300
The FCC has levied a fine against a former ham who operated after his
ticket had expired. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW,
reports:
--
On March 6, the FCC announced that it has issued a Forfeiture Order in
the amount of $4300 to Ronald Mondgock, the ex-KA3OMZ, of Honeybrook,
Pennsylvania, for operating radio transmitting equipment on the
frequencies of 439.850 MHz and 147.560 MHz without an FCC issued
license to do so.
While he was licensed, Mondgock, held only a Novice class ticket. He
was issued his first Advisory Notice in February 2001 after he had been
heard operating on the 75 meter band. He was told that he was not
authorized to use that portion of the spectrum and instructed to review
the Commission's rules relating to Amateur Radio Service frequencies.
In July 2004, Mondgock, received a Citation from the FCC's Philadelphia
Field Office dealing with several alleged infractions including
operating on a frequency not authorized for Novice Class license
holders. He did not reply as directed by the FCC and was issued a
Warning Notice in November 2004. He was also told that his license
that was scheduled to expire on December 14, 2005 would not be renewed
until the matter is resolved.
In February 2006, the Commission sent Mondgock another letter telling
him that his application for renewal of his Amateur Radio license could
not be routinely granted and has been referred to the Enforcement
Bureau for review. This, because he had never submitted responses to
the Commission's correspondence and never claimed a letter sent via
certified mail.
Mondgock was given 20 days to respond. He was also warned that if he
chose not to do so that his application for renewal would be dismissed
and a Notice of Apparent Liability for Monetary Forfeiture will be
issued against him.
Apparently Mondgock chose to let his license lapse but he did not go
away. It fell into the two year grace period where a ham can renew
without taking a test but cannot legally operate. So it was in
December 2006, the FCC's Field Office in Philadelphia sent Mondgock
another Letter of Inquiry. This time to as part of its investigation
of allegations of Mondgock operating his Amateur Radio Service station
on the frequencies 147.560 MHz and 439.850 MHz. Again no response so
on August 15, 2007, the Commission's Philadelphia Field Office issued a
Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $10,000
for unlicensed operation to Mondgock.
This time Mondgock did write back. In his response he did not deny the
FCC's findings. Instead he asked for a cancellation of the proposed
fine based on his inability to pay. He also supplied the financial
documentation that the FCC said that it required.
After examining Mondgock's financial records the Commission declined to
cancel the forfeiture. It did however recognize the financial hardship
that a $10,000 fine would cause and reduced the amount to $4300.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los
Angeles.
--
Mondgock was given the usual 30 days to pay or to file a further
appeal. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: UNLICENSED BROADCASTING BRINGS $10000 FINE
The FCC has affirmed a $10,000 monetary forfeiture or fine issued to
Pennsylvania resident Michael Stone Campbell. This, for allegedly
operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on the frequency 97.7 MHz in
the Philadelphia area.
Back on October 2, 2007, the Commission's Philadelphia Field Office
issued the Notice of Apparent Liability to Campbell. Although Campbell
never filed a response he did submit a letter to Senator Arlen Specter,
which was forwarded to the Commission on December 26, 2007. In his
letter to Senator Specter, Campbell claims that the FCC lost his
construction permit application, but he never has provided any evidence
that he submitted such an application to begin with. Moreover, even if
Campbell had provided such evidence, the mere filing of an application
would not have provided Campbell any authority to operate a radio
station.
Based on the information before it the Commission has now affirmed the
$10,000 forfeiture. Campbell was given the usual 30 days to pay up or
to file a further appeal. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: TWINS ARRESTED IN CA COPPER THEFT
A first break in the cases of the ongoing copper thefts that have been
plaguing telecommunications providers ion the South-West. This with
word that twin brothers and a juvenile have been arrested in connection
with a series of thefts of copper wire in California. Jim Damron,
N8TMW, has more:
--
An under cover investigation by the city of Lancaster's Sheriff's
Station began after a report was filed by Verizon that $40,000 worth of
copper wire had been stolen. The investigation in a sparsely
populated area lasted nearly 50 hours. Three suspects were taken into
custody who were linked to four thefts of copper from Verizon over two
weeks.
The suspects reportedly climbed utility poles to cut the wire down and
it was taken to recycling facilities where it was sold for between
$1.80 and $2.50 a pound. Authorities a believe that the three suspects
may be linked to at least a dozen similar thefts cross the region.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW, reporting.
--
With the price of copper soaring due to demand in overseas markets the
theft of wire especially the south-west has become a major issue here
in the United StatesIts also one of the reasons you are paying o much
for coax and rotor cable these days. (Published reports)
**
HAM RADIO ON THE WEB: THREE NEW HAM RADIO ONLY WEBSITES
Several of what can best be described as ham radio clones of existing
Internet services have sprung up in recent weeks. First up www dot
cqoogle dot com which calls itself a ham radio specific search engine.
Its really sharp at pulling up and grouping ham radio only information
and is far better than its general purpose namesake. This one is a
winner from the get-go.
Also now on-line is a ham radio dedicated video sharing site calling
itself www dot cqtube dot com. Its kind of like a youtube where hams
can hare videos but that in itself may be why it has only a handful of
videos uploaded to it so far. It appear as if most hams who go to the
trouble of producing a video are targeting those outside of the hobby
and that's where the more general purpose youtube dot com truly excels.
Both cqoogle and cqtube are registered to Justin Johnson, G0KSC in
Essex, in the United Kingdom who also operates the eBay-like www dot
hambid dot com. Johnson described as the Managing Director of Telco
Consultants Limited. That company has already seen success with online
business in the such as its A1isp operation and now seems to be
extending it's business plan into Amateur Radio. (ARNewsline)
**
THE SOCIAL SCENE: RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA TEXAS EVENT 2008
The Second Annual Radio Club of America Texas Event will be held
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 in Galveston at the San Luis Resort &
Convention Center. This, in conjunction with the Texas APCO State
Conference.
Craig M. Jorgensen will be the keynote speaker for this year's Texas
Event. Jorgensen is project director and co-chair of APCO Project 25-
34, chair of the Project MESA Steering Committee, and a member of the
boards of directors of the Radio Club of America and the Public Safety
Spectrum Trust. Long associated with standards-development for digital
radio communications, Jorgensen is a past president of the Associated
Public-Safety Communications Officials International and of the
National Association of State Telecommunications Directors.
For more information contact The Radio Club of America, c/o Carroll
Hollingsworth, PO Box 5680, Lago Vista, Texas 78645 or by e-mail to
dhlago at aol dot com
**
THE SOCIAL SCENE: EASTERN VHF - UHF CONFERENCE IN CT
And the 34th Annual Eastern VHF-UHF Conference will be held on April
18th to the 20th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Enfield, Connecticut. In
addition to speakers the gathering will feature an indoor auction to
help defray costs of future conferences. An outdoor Flea Market is
planned for Sunday April 20th, weather permitting. More information and
a registration form is on line at www.newsvhf.com. (Eastern VHF-UHF
Conference)
**
CHANGING OF THE GUARD: HARVEY HETLAND N6MM KILLED IN HIT AND RUN
ACCIDENT
Longtime Pasadena City College professor Harvey Hetland, N6MM, was
killed Wednesday, March 5th in what authorities are calling a hit-and-
run cycling accident in a Los Angeles suburb.
According to a reports in the Star News newspaper and the Westside
Bikeside newsletter, Hetland and a companion cycleist were on their way
home after riding up to the town of Montrose. They were descending La
Tuna Canyon Road in near-by Sunland where N6MM was passed on his right
by an automobile. Hetland swerved the bike into the center of the road
and fell over, got up for a moment, and then collapsed. An exact cause
of death has yet to be determined.
First licensed in 1960, and an Extra class license holder since 1964,
Hetland was a member of the DXCC Honor Roll and was certified as a 35
word per minute Morse operator. He had retired from Pasadena City
College in 2007 where had spent 32 years teaching various courses
including electronics and applied algebra.
Authorities are still looking for the car and its driver involved in
the accident. Funeral services for Harvey Hetland, N6MM, were
scheduled for Thursday, March 13, at the Westminster Presbyterian
Church in Pasadena, California. He was age 65. (Star News, Westside
Bikeside, K0OV)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: VISUALLY HANDICAPPED EMMCOMS SYSTEM DEVELOPED
Turning to the new technology page, researchers at Georgia Tech's
Wireless Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center say that they have
received good news. This, regarding initial testing of their newly
developed Wireless Emergency Communications or W-E-C project for the
visually handicapped. Results indicate that 94 percent of blind and
visually impaired test subjects found W-E-C to be a significant
improvement over their current methods of receiving emergency alerts.
This first field test involved participants from the Georgia Radio
Reading Service in a full-day study to engage the effectiveness and
accessibility of this prototype emergency alerting system. Subjects
ranged from sight-enhanced individuals to those who are fully blind.
Additionally, the test subjects' level of familiarity and use of
wireless technologies ranged from technically savvy to infrequent
users.
WEC tested custom software that runs on a Windows Mobile OS, designed
to send accessible emergency alerts to short message service capable
handsets. The custom software then presented the content of the text
alert in an audio format. During the test engineers simulated the
emergency alerts, employing the Common Alerting Protocol, as if they
originated from the National Weather Service. The mobile phones used
had the capability to recognize an incoming alert of critical
importance and override any muted sound or vibration settings to ensure
that the critical alarm was delivered.
Some 18 percent of Americans are thought to have some type of
disability, and that an estimated 60 percent of Americans use wireless
services. The advantage of accessible emergency communications
software and devices like this is that they can reach the user, no
matter what their activity or location, with lifesaving information.
Once fully functional, it could also assist blind hams involved in
Emergency Communications work as well. (KC9RP)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: W1YU D-STAR REPEATER OPS PAGE
Some names in the news. First is Tim Mik, WY1U, in Connecticut, who
has created a web page that enables anyone to view activity on a
particular D-STAR repeater. All you need to do is select a geographic
area, select a repeater and go click to see whose on the air and who
recently has been.
The page is for now centered on U-S operations. As such it only
includes a few of the D-Star repeaters that are available in the other
parts of the world. You can view this new service to D-Star users and
those interested in this emerging mode at
http://home.comcast.net/~timmik/dstarsearch.html (Southgate)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: NEIL PATEL NOMINATED TO HEAD NTIA
The White House has nominated Neil Patel to head the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration, better known as the
NTIA.
Patel has been assistant secretary for domestic and economic policy to
Vice President Cheney. Before that, he was staff secretary to the vice
president and is former general counsel at UUNET Technologies.
The NTIA is the President's principal adviser on telecommunications and
information policy.. Meredith Atwell Baker has been heading the
program as acting NTIA chief. she is leaving the agency, but has not
publicly given a timetable for her departure. Patel must be confirmed
by the Senate. (RW)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ARISS TRAINING PLANNED FOR THREE NEW ASTRO-HAMS
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station training sessions are
being planned for astronauts Nicole Stott, KE5GJN, Sandy Magnus,
KE5FYE, and Bob Thirsk, VA3CSA. Magnus is expected to be a crewmember
of Expedition 17 and 18, flying to the ISS on STS-126 in September.
Stott, a member of the Expedition 19 crew, will fly on STS-128 in May
2009. Thirsk, a CSA astronaut, will follow the same month on a Soyuz
flight. (ANS)
**
WORLDBEAT - NEW ZEALAND: NZART CLOSES MEMBERSHIP E-MAIL REFLECTORS TO
AVOID LITIGATION
The national society of New Zealand, the NZART has announced the
closure of its Internet reflectors.. This means that all remailers
formerly open to members are being permanently shut down.
The reason given in the Match 5th notice indicates that the action came
about to keep the NZART from becoming embroiled in some future
litigation. This, in case someone posted something another ham did not
like and the matter went to court.
The only NZART e-mail reflectors that will continue to operate are
those for internal use not open to the general membership. These
include the Council only, HQ plus Council only, the Officers only and
the ARE-C reflectors. All the other NZART sponsored reflectors closed
indefinitely effective at 9 p.m. New Zealand time on Friday 7 March
2008. Only more proof that we live in a truly litigious world.
(NZART)
**
DX
In D-X word that F5LGE, is active portable FM from Martinique until
March 30th. Listen out for him on 160 and 80 meters on CW. Operation
seem to take place between 2330 to 0730 UTC. QSL via F5LGE, by the
Bureau or direct. to Courgibet Rene, 13 Ruelle Crepion, 51240 ST
Germain la Ville, France.
Also, BU2AI, is again active portable 9 from Matsu Island until March
20th. He operates as a mobile station from 1000 to 2300 UTC on low band
CW and SSB. QSL to his home callsign, direct or by the bureau.
W6ALC will be in China for three weeks starting on March 17th. Red says
that he has permission to operate from the contest station B7P. He
also plans to visit the new club station BY7OK in Foshan. QSL as he
directs you on the air.
And WA2YUN is currently on a work assignment on Wake Island operating
portable KH9 as time permits. QSL this operation via K2PF.
Above from various DX news sources
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: AUSAT - THE HAM RADIO SATELLITE LINK
And finally this week, the story of ham radio taking to space on a
commercial communications satellite. It happened a few years ago down-
under. WIA- Newsman Jim Linton, VK3PC, takes on a trip back in time:
--
Recent news that AMSAT-North America had struck a deal with IntelSat to
put an amateur satellite in geosynchronous orbit has rekindled memories
of when VK and ZL radio amateurs had such a satellite.
In the early 1990s Australia's satellite company Aussat opened access
to a spare transponder on one of its three its geostationary
satellites, primarily for use during the Jamboree on The Air.
The Aussat link was normally established a week prior to JOTA for
testing and for the general amateur community to use.
It was accessible through various amateur repeaters across Australia
and the national UHF linked repeater system in New Zealand. There was
also the capability to transmit to all points the annual JOTA opening
broadcast.
The Westlakes Amateur Radio Club VK2ATZ north of Sydney also used
Aussat for amateur television transmission.
The transmission was downlinked by Peter Cossins VK3BFG who rebroadcast
it across Melbourne via the ATV repeater VK3RTV.
A proposed system called AMLINK, or Amateur Link, was conceived which
sought to permanently link a network of 70cm repeaters in Australian
capital cities through Aussat.
Approval was granted, a prototype interface unit developed and tested,
then news came through that a replacement Aussat satellite had suffered
a launch failure.
Changing government telecommunications policy ultimately rescinded
approval for the AMLINK project, and sadly the geostationary satellite
era for radio hams down under came to an end.
I'm Jim Linton VK3PC and you're listening to the Amateur Radio
Newsline.
--
Thanks Jim. (WIA News, VK3PC)
**
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 Jim
Davis, W2JKD, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline is Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
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