[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1606 - May 23, 2008
ham-news at mailman.qth.net
ham-news at mailman.qth.net
Sun May 25 10:15:31 EDT 2008
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1606 - May 23, 2008
The following is a Q-S-T. The Red Cross says lifestyle checks will no
longer be required of ARES volunteers, hams in China continue their
post earthquake lifesaving communications, Hollingsworth says he will
retire this summer and Dayton 2008 is a fun success. Find out the
details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1606 coming your way
right now.
**
RESCUE RADIO: THE RED CROSS SAYS NO MORE LIFESTYLE CHECKS ON HAM
VOLUNTEERS
In a surprise move, the American Red Cross has acquiesced to the
demands of the ham radio community and will no longer perform so-called
lifestyle background checks on hams who want to provide communications
to the relief agency. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA, of the ARRL Letter says
that the announcement came at a most apropos time and place:
--
Keane: "We had a big announcement yesterday in the ARES forum. The
Red Cross has announced that it will no longer conduct as part of its
background checks, mode of living checks or credit checks. And now,
all that remains to be done is for the ARRL and the Red Cross to hammer
out an MOU and get this thing going.
--
The MOU that K1SFA reefers to is the Memorandum of Understanding
between the League and the Red Cross. A fancy term that really means
an agreement where-in the ARRL and the American Red Cross agree to work
together in those situations where volunteer ham radio communications
are needed.
Such an agreement was in place for many years but the League was
hesitant to renew it after members complained about background checks
initiated back in 2006. Nobody minded criminal background checks but a
lot of folks objected to the extent the Red Cross was going to. Its
background checks included, among other things, a credit check and a
mode of living check for its staff and volunteers. This included ARES
volunteers providing services to the Red Cross during times of
disasters.
The ARRL and a lot of hams not associated with the League considered
the extent of the Red Cross background check as unneeded and
inappropriate for communications volunteers. So in November 2007, ARRL
President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, wrote to the American Red Cross
regarding concerns voiced by the nations ham radio community.
But until a few weeks ago the American Red Cross was hanging tough and
refusing to use hams who refused to permit the full background check
program. That all changed on May 8th when Armond Mascelli, who is
American Red Cross Vice President for Disaster Response Services
finally replied to W5ZN with word that his organization had
reconsidered its position. Mascelli's letter stated that the portion
of the background checks that the ARRL and seemingly all of ham radio
objected to had been eliminated. At least eliminated for
communications volunteers involved through the ARRL-sponsored ARES
program.
According to Mascelli, a new background consent form will be used by
all Red Cross chapters for ARRL members and other partner
organizations. The form and related process is limited to the name and
social security number verification of the individual, and a criminal
background check. References and suggestions to other related
investigative possibilities have been stricken from the form. (ARRL,
ARNewsline)
**
RESCUE RADIO: 40 AND 20 METERS BEING USED IN CHINA QUAKE RESCUE
According to news reports, China is in mourning for the estimated
50,000 people killed in the earthquake on May 12th and radio amateurs in
that nation are still asking that three frequencies be kept clear for
emergency rescue and relief operations
According to the Chinese Radio Sports Association 7.050 and 7.060 and
14.270 MHz. have been designated for use only by hams involved in
emergency services and post quake in the rescue. Michael Chen, BD5RV,
reports that a group of radio amateurs is transmitting on 14.270 MHz
from Wenchuan. That's not far from the epicenter of quake. During one
contact with BY8AA in Chengdu, messages were sent asking for raincoats,
water, tents, and outdoor living facilities. BY8AA has also been
helping many others with communication and during one week had an
operational log in excess of 300 pages.
Meantime the Chinese Radio Sports Association has reported that long
distance telephone services have been congested in the Chengdu area.
This, presumably due to a heavy demand and damage.
Because of this it was asked to set up and man a High Frequency station
in Chengdu. That station is currently on the air using the call BT8RC
and is the dedicated channel for the Chinese Red Cross Foundation in
Beijing to Chengdu providing communications to enable the relief agency
to more effectively carry out its work.
Other cities in the earthquake area have setup or restored VHF and UHF
repeaters and amateur radio communication teams to assist with
communication.
The quake hit at about 06:30 UTC on Monday, May 12th. It registered at
a magnitude 7.8 earthquake and was centered near Sichuan. In addition
to those known to have perished, more than 245,000 were injured and at
least 2 million are homeless.
Again the Chinese Radio Sports Association continues to request that
hams world wide stay clear of 7.050, 7.060 and 14.270 MHz so that they
can be used for emergency communications that can and will save lives.
(CQ, QRZ.com, Southgate, others)
**
RESCUE RADIO: NO HAM RADIO IN MYANMAR TYPHOON
Meantime in Myanmar where tens of thousands of people were killed by a
recent typhoon, CQ Public Service Editor Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO, passes
on a report from G4HPE of the International Radio Emergency Support
Coalition that there currently is no amateur radio relief activity
taking place there. The UN has finally been permitted to set up both
HF and VHF communications based in the capital city of Yangon. This is
for use by the entire humanitarian community, but none of the
frequencies in use are in the Amateur bands. (CQ)
**
RADIO LAW: FCC SAYS NO TO DIGITAL OPERATIONS PETITION
Back at home the FCC has dismissed a petition for rulemaking filed by
Mark Miller, N5RFX, requesting amendment of the Commission's Amateur
Radio Service rules. This, to revise the operating privileges for
amateur radio service stations that transmit data emission types.
Specifically, the Petition requested that several Sections of the
Amateur Service rules be amended to revise various definitions and
frequency privileges. While Millers petition covered a number of
issues regarding digital operations, the most controversial dealt with
unattended digital operations on the High Frequency bands. And while
Miller never named Winlink 2000 as the target of his petition, that's
the way the FCC seemed to see it. And according to the FCC's Bill
Cross, W3TN, speaking at last weeks Dayton Hamvention, there was an
important reason for the denial of this portion of the Miller rules
change request:
--
Cross: "Winlink as a communications system seems to have become the
Brussels sprouts of ham radio: You either love it or you hate it. And
trying to bury it under ketchup or hollandaise sauce hasn't changed the
basic like or dislike for Winlink.
"Most of the controversy here seems to swirl around how certain
licensees use it.
"Some use it for a radio e-mail system.
"Others use it for getting weather maps while they are on sailboats in
places the brave dare not go.
"Others use it for their personal business activities, such as buying
and selling stocks.
"These uses are really a Section 97.113, a 'prohibited communications'
question, not a technology question. The rules apply to the Control
Operator of the station transmitting the message, not the Winlink
system.
"As we have said until we are blue in the face, in the Amateur Service
we do not license or regulate systems. We license stations. And it is
the station licensee that is responsible for the proper operation of
the station.
"Its your callsign on the transmission. It is your responsibility."
--
In other words, whether a transmission is analog or digital really does
not matter. What is important is that all hams obey the rules that the
Commission has set out to guide the service. It also can be read as
the FCC saying that it will not re-regulate a service that its worked
very hard to free from burdensome regulations just to placate the
needs, wants or claims of any one group of hams regarding another.
There more to be covered regarding the Miller petition and its being
totally denied. Listen for it in future Amateur Radio Newsline
reports. (ARNewsline - Dayton Hamvention FCC Forum)
**
THE YHOTY AWARD: CLOSES MAY 30
Some news we hate to report, but we must. As of the release of this
weeks newscast we have not received any valid nominations for this
years Young Ham of the Year Award. Well, the nominating period for
this years award ends at midnight on Friday May 30th. Due to the
mechanics of preparing for the award presentation ceremony it is
impossible to extend beyond that date. Any nomination received
electronically after midnight May 30th or postmarked after midnight on
May 30th will be deemed ineligible. And if no valid nominations are
received by that cutoff date and time the award program for 2008 will
be cancelled.
And when we say valid nomination we mean one for a youngster age 18 or
younger who has made a major contribution in some way to the betterment
of Amateur Radio. This can be through public service, technical
development, contributions to the state of communications sciences,
recruitment of new hams or whatever seems to be an accomplishment worth
honoring.
What is not acceptable are nominations that say something like .. "my 7
year old just passed his tech test so give him a radio."
And if you think that we do not get our share of these, guess again.
About one in three nomination form we have received over the years
reads something like that because people do not read the rules and
think that the Young Ham of the Year Award is some form of contest or
prize drawing. Its neither. Its an award program now trying to enter
its 22nd year and aimed specifically way honoring the accomplishments of
the younger members of ham radio society. As recipient, the person
selected is given a free trip to the Huntsville Hamfest in August along
with a piece of Yaesu brand ham radio gear from corporate underwriter
Vertex Standard Corporation. He or she also gets to spend a week at
Spacecamp Huntsville courtesy of corporate underwriter CQ Magazine.
The Young Ham of the Year Award is open to any ham age 18 or younger
living in the 50 United States, plus Puerto Rico and all Canadian
Provinces. A full set of rules along with a downloadable nominating
form is on line at www.yhoty.org Just slick on the tab marked 2008
nominations and follow the instructions that say "Download the
nominating form as a PDF by clicking here. Then, fill it out, attach
the required substantiating material and mail it to Amateur Radio
Newsline - YHOTY, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita, California, 91350.
Again that address is Amateur Radio Newsline - YHOTY, 28197 Robin
Avenue, Santa Clarita, California, 91350.
If for some reason you cannot retrieve the form from the website, e-
mail us to newsline (at) arnewsline (dot)org. Include your return e-
mail and we will return a form to you electronically.
Once again, the cutoff for nominations for the 2008 Amateur Radio
Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award is midnight on Friday, May 30th
2008. If we do not receive any valid nominations by that date the
award program for this year will be cancelled.
The bottom line is that whether a worthy young ham is honored this
year, or not, is literally up to you. (ARNewsline / YHOTY)
**
HAMVENTION 2008: ITS ALL OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR
The 2008 Dayton Hamvention is over, but its left a lot of good memories
and thankfully only one that's was good one with some attendees. The
ones who will remember the bad are those who arrived early to set up
Flea Market spaces only to find that a computer glitch would have them
waiting in line. In some cases for several hours. Ron Moorefield,
W8ILC, has been associated with the Hamvention since the very
beginning. He says that this will be one of the items taken under
advisement when the committee holds its critique of Hamvention 2008 in
a few weeks:
--
Moorefield: "Well, we will have our critique early next month and from
there we are going to hold a meeting every month and get this going.
The word is that we are going to get a lot of things going way ahead of
time in October."
--
Moorefield says that moving things up a few months should insure enough
time to cure problems early on so that they do not become last minute
headaches.
The good news is that with this one exception it was a show that
everyone seemed to really enjoy. This includes Ray Arndt, SM5LBR, who
flew over from Sweden. Ray writes for several European amateur radio
magazines. He says that those who showed up were ready to deal:
--
Arndt: "I've talked to a couple of dealers here and (other) people.
They are all very satisfied and they all say the same thing. (That is)
the people who came here really bought. The people who normally came
here and do not buy, they stayed at home this time. So, obviously it
was very positive."
--
Arndt did note that it was not a big year for the introduction of new
high end gear. Definitely not like it was just a year ago:
--
Arndt: "You know: Last year was absolutely exciting. There were so
many new things that I couldn't actually cover everything. Every large
company had something new out. This year you really have got to look
around to find a few new things.
"This in the middle. A sort of in-between year because they cannot
bring out expensive new radios. There were some new things out here
but it was a more normal year, I would say."
--
As to the size of the crowd? Some say it was about the same as last
year. Others say it was definitely a smaller group and blamed the near
$4 dollar a gallon for gasoline as the reason folks may have stayed
away. Ron Moorefield tends to disagree:
--
Moorefield: "I think that the weather was perfect. This brought
people out who were feeling possibly with rain, they would not come.
"The gas prices as they were, really surprised me. Yet I believe that
if people really want to come to the Dayton Hamvention, that they will
be here no matter what the economics are. We had a good weekend."
--
Moorefield may be correct. According to Ray Arndt, gas prices in the
United states are still a bargain as compared to what radio amateurs
shell out to drive to a hamfest in Europe:
--
Arndt: "We have now (in Europe) $7 to $8 a U.S. gallon. But that's a
higher octane at 95.
"I recently saw an article in a newspaper in Sweden that Sweden is
trying to go to the forefront of being environmental. It says that if
we meet the constraints that Sweden has taken in the European Union,
then in 2020 a gallon will be up at $20.
--
Bottom line, it's a lot more expensive to hit a hamfest there than it
is here in the USA.
And no Dayton Hamvention would be complete without the views of a sales
representative and DX'er who has attended a lot of them. Of coarse we
are talking about Chip Margelli, K7JA, who now is with Heil Sound
Limited. Chip says from behind the sales counter, this was truly a
banner year:
--
Margelli" "Boy, what a great Dayton. The weather turned out to be
much better than we expected it to be. It was moderately cool with
partly cloudy skies.
"Business was brisk. We had our best year ever at Heil Sound. It was
a very up-beat crowd this year. We didn't know what to expect with
sunspots down but the crowd was very up-beat and interested in getting
new technology into their ham stations.
"We just think it was a great weekend in Dayton, Ohio."
--
Lots more happened at Hamvention 2008 and we will continue our coverage
next week. (ARNewsline)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: RILEY HOLLINGSWORTH TO RETIRE IN JULY
According to ARRL, Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, who is Special Counsel
in the FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division plans to retire on July 3rd.
Hollingsworth reportedly told the ARRL that his to head out in July,
assuming the results of the second round of the PAVE PAWS 440 repeater
monitoring in California present no complications.
Hollingsworth is quoted as saying that it has been a privilege to work
with and for the Amateur Radio licensees and the land mobile frequency
coordinators. He says that he was extremely fortunate to work for two
wonderful groups of people referring to those at FCC headquarters in
the Enforcement Bureau, and for those holding licensees in amateur
radio.
As previously reported, Hollingsworth had planned to retire earlier
this year, but changed his mind. At that time he said that there were
several issues on the table that he wanted to continue to work through
with the amateur community.
A full report on Hollingsworth's pending retirement can be found on the
ARRL news pages at www.arrl.org. (ARRL, Handi Hams, others)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: K5ZD NAMED DIRECTOR OF CQ WPX CONTESTS
Contesting luminary Randy Thompson, K5ZD, has been named Director of
the CQ World Wide WPX Contests, effective immediately. Thompson
succeeds Steve Merchant, K6AW, who has been WPX Contest Director since
2002 and who needed to step aside due to business obligations.
Randy Thompson has been a contester for more than three decades and has
multiple wins to his credit in the single-op, all-band categories of
both the CQ World Wide DX Contest and the CQ WPX Contest, in both CW
and SSB modes. He is also a past editor of the "National Contest
Journal" and a co-founder of the eHam.net website. He is a longtime
member of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club and an instructor at K3LR's
Contest University. In the past year, Randy has been working with Steve
Merchant behind the scenes on the WPX contests, so he is already
familiar with the program from the administrative side. (CQ)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: CQ ANNOUNCES INDUCTEES TO ITS HALLS OF FAME
CQ magazine has announced its 2008 Hall of Fame inductees, welcoming 14
new members into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, three new members
of the CQ DX Hall of Fame and two new members of the CQ Contest Hall of
Fame.
The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honors those individuals, whether
licensed hams or not, who have made significant contributions to
amateur radio. Also honored are those amateurs who have made
significant contributions either to amateur radio, to their
professional careers or to some other aspect of life on our planet.
For a complete list of this years inductees please visit the news pages
at www.cq-amateur-radio.com. (CQ)
**
ENFORCEMENT: SF CB-ER'S FINED FOR OUT OF BAND OPERATION
Turning to enforcement news, Citizen Radio operators Martha S. and
Miguel G. Campos, San Jose, California have been fined $800. This, for
operating a modified CB radio station on a frequency not authorized for
this use. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has the
details:
--
In a May 21st release the FCC says that back on April 7, 2006, the
Enforcement Bureau's San Francisco Office received a complaint alleging
intentional interference to CB radio communications on 27.055 MHz. The
complaints alleged that the source of the interference was located at
the residence of CB radio operators, Martha and Miguel Campos in San
Jose.
On August 24, 2006, after subsequent complaints, the San Francisco
Field Office issued a Warning Letter to Miguel Campos. The letter
informed him that, pursuant to Section 95 of the Commission's Rules he
must operate his CB station only on the 40 channels allocated to the CB
service. Mr. Campos was also warned that if the transmissions
continue, and if an investigation indicated that he had violated the
Communications Act or any FCC Rules, he could be subject to severe
penalties, including substantial monetary forfeitures. On August 31,
2006, Mr. Campos replied to the letter acknowledging that he was a CB
operator and detailing the CB equipment that he used.
On September 29, 2006, in response to continued complaints, the San
Francisco Office issued a similar Warning Letter to Martha S. Campos.
On October 27, 2006, Martha and Miguel Campos came to the San Francisco
Office to discuss the warning letters they had received. A San
Francisco agent clarified some of the CB Rules to them and again warned
them about the consequences of not following them. None-the-less,
during the period of November 2, 2006, to February 2, 2007, the San
Francisco Office continued to receive complaints alleging interference
by the Campos.
So on March 16, 2007, San Francisco agents, using mobile direction
finding techniques, located the source of the alleged interfering
signal on 27.675 MHz to the Campos' residence in San Jose,. The agents
also conducted an inspection of the Campos' CB station. By conducting
on/off tests, the agents confirmed that one of the transmitters had
been modified to operate on frequency 27.675 MHz. This is a frequency
that is not authorized for use by CB stations. The agents further
determined that the transmitter set up in the Campos' residence was
capable of operating in excess of the four-watt power limitations.
>From April 10, 2007, to September 10, 2007, the San Francisco Office
continued to receive complaints alleging interference by the Campos.
On October 31, 2007, the San Francisco Office issued a Notice of
Apparent Liability or NAL in the amount of $10,000 to the Campos. It
charged that they had apparently willfully violated Section 301 of the
Communications Act by operating a modified CB radio station on a
frequency not authorized for Citizens Band radio use.
On January 16, 2008, the Campos filed a response claiming that they did
not have the ability to pay the forfeiture. They also argued that did
not comprehend the severity of the situation, in part because they were
not able to read English. However, from the earlier meeting with the
FCC it was obvious to the Commission that Miguel Campos was able to
understand English in spoken form. Because of this, that part of the
Campos defense was disallowed.
However, to support this claim that they could not afford to pay the
$10,000 the FCC was trying to assess, Mr. And Mrs. Campos supplied tax
returns for the three years prior to the N-A-L being issued. In
analyzing this financial hardship claim, the FCC reviewed the data
supplied by the Campos. In the end the FCC concluded the claim to be
valid and that reduction of the forfeiture from $10,000 to $800 is
warranted.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los
Angeles.
--
The Campos' were given the customary 30 days to pay the fine or to file
a further appeal. (FCC)
**
D-STAR NEWS: WY1U SAYS TO NOT USE CLONED D-STAR INFO SITE
Tim Mik, WY1U, says over the D-Star re-mailer that the D-Star Search
Page that he created and updates daily has been copied. This, without
his approval by another group or individual in the United Kingdom who
has placed it on the World-Wide-Web using its own URL.
Tim says that the U-K site was not given permission to copy his page.
He says that he has asked the owners to place a link to the original
page instead, but they have ignored his request to do so. So Tim is
instead asking all D-Star user to ignore the U-K based clone and come
directly to his website for the latest D-Star operational information.
It's a simple URL at www.dstarsearch.org. (D-Star Reflector)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: A POSIBLE ROBOTIC THREAT TO 70 CM
Howard Gordon, W3CQH, reports over the VHF Reflector on a Public notice
posted by the FCC. This, on a proposal to use 430 to 448 MHz for
remotely-controlled surveillance robots for emergency use.
Gordon says that for the power proposed and the limited use, Ithat he
does not believe the device will cause any significant interference to
the amateur radio service. But he says that the real issue for the
manufacture is how to stop the hams from interfering with the
surveillance device.
W3CQH says that the possible threat to ham radio may be that once the
manufacturer has its foot in the door on 440mhz, it could conceivably
start petitioning the FCC for channelization to be done and assigned to
it citing interference problems that have occurred in some future
alleged emergency situations.
You can read the full FCC release on this robot device at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-1077A1.pdf
(W3CQH via VHF Reflector)
**
PROPAGATION REPORT: SOLAR CYCLE DELAYED A YEAR
The next 11-year cycle of solar storms will most likely start next
March and peak in late 2011 or mid-2012. That's up to a year later
than expected according to a forecast issued today by NOAA's Space
Environment Center in coordination with an international panel of solar
experts. (NOAA, QRZ.COM)
**
DX
In D-X, word that DF1LON is going to spend his holidays on Jersey
Island. He will be there through May 28th but his main activity will be
as MJZ0LON in the upcoming WPX CW Contest. He will work both CW and
SSB before and after the WPX. QSLs via DF1LON, direct or via the
bureau.
And listen out for LA5LJA, and LA7FJA, will be on from Svalbard using
CW, SSB and some digital modes on all the H-F bands. They will be
signing the calls JW5LJA and JW7FJA from May 25th to June 1st. QSLs to
their home calls via the bureau.
Lastly, JA1XGI has announced he will operate from East Kribati as T32XG
from May 27th through June 3rd. He plans to use CW, SSB and some digital
modes on 40 through 15 meters. QSL his operation to his home call,
either direct or via the bureau.
(Above from various DX news sources.)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: WELCOME TO A NEW EXTRA
And finally this week we return to the Dayton Hamvention for an
important moment of a young ham. Meet Tiffini Ravitch, KC2TFO, of New
Jersey. She had come to Hamvention in the hope of going home with a
General class license. Instead she went home with the top of the line
as an Extra. Here's her story as she told it to our Producer Bill
Pasternak, WA6ITF and ham radio educator Gordon West, WB6NOA:
--
Audio only: Please download the mp3 audio version of this newscast at
www.arnewsline.org
--
And from all of us at the Amateur Radio Newsline congratulations we
also say congratulations to Tiffini Ravitch, KC2TFO, on getting her
Extra to take home as a lasting momento of Hamvention 2008. Needless
to say we could use a lot more like her in the hobby.
**
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 WIA 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, another reminder that the nominating period for the 2008
Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award ends at midnight on
May 30th. Nominations postmarked after that time or received
electronically after that time will not be considered. A nominating
form as a dot pdf file is available at our special Young Ham of the
Year website at www.yhoty.org. Download it, fill it out and send it to
us by US mail or electronically.
For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline is Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
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