[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1614 - July 18, 2008

ham-news at mailman.qth.net ham-news at mailman.qth.net
Thu Jul 24 19:45:58 EDT 2008


Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1614 - July 18, 2008

Ladies and gentlemen.  With some more thank you's to the listeners who 
help keep Amateur Radio Newsline in operation, here's our Support Fund 
Administrator Andy Jarema, N6TCQ;

--

Last year in February we heard from The Montgomery ARC of Gaithersburg, 
MD:  The Hamfesters Radio Club, W9AA of Bedford Park, IL; James Weir, 
K6QGN and Evelyn Weir, K6QXC; John Rice, KE6YFV of San Pedro California 
and our regular contributors Benton, W4PE, Joseph, KC8DKF, William 
WA2IBM and Scott in San Jose.  

Via PayPal there were Terry Moore in Lancashire, Earby, Lancashire and 
David Ellison in Richmond, North Yorkshire, both in the UK; Mark 
Braunstein in Certreville, VA; Michael Finkbone in Deland FL; 
James Deneen in Whitmore Lake, MI; Joseph Kratky in Hickory Hills, IL; 
Charles Hailbronner, Colorado Springs CO. and Paul Cote, K6PFC in San 
Diego, CA.  

PayPal makes it easy to keep these newscasts on the air, and as you've 
just heard, they take care of any currency conversion needed. So if 
you're outside the US, we'd love to hear from you. Be sure and include 
your callsign info in the memo portion of the form. Or via our regular 
address, which will be given later.
Listen for these thank-you's in future broadcasts. 

I'm Andy Jarema, N6TCQ at our studios in Hollywood.

--

Thank you Andy.  Now, Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1614 with a 
release date of Friday, July 18th, 2008 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.   

**
 
The following is a QST.  A Pennsylvania ham faces a different kind of 
tower fight, the ARRL and Newsline have their e-mail addresses spoofed 
by Internet bad guys, an essay says that ham radio is disappearing and 
QRP operation is on the march down-under.  Find out the details on 
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1614 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here) 
 
**

LEGAL ISSUES:  PENN TOWNSHIP RESCINDS ANTENNA PERMIT TO PITTSBURG AREA 
HAM

A tower case with a twist.  This after a Pennsylvania zoning hearing 
board sides with neighbors who want the ham's tower totally screened 
from view or taken down.   But the battle over the 53-foot tower could 
end up in federal court because the tower had already been granted a 
permit and has been up for some time.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark 
Abramowicz, NT3V, sorts it all out:

--

Chuck Mills W3YNI, lives in the town of Irwin, Pennsylvania, about 30 
miles east of Pittsburgh.

Mills, an assistant Emergency Coordinator for Westmoreland County's 
ARES group, had been using a Cushcraft A-3 tribander on a roof-mounted 
tower on his property for about nine years.

Last fall, Mills says he acquired a tilt-over, crank-up tower on which 
he planned to put an antenna array.

But Mills says he never got the chance because he got a visit from the 
township zoning officer who had been summoned by neighbors who didn't 
like the idea of a tower going up in their development.

Mills says he applied for a permit as instructed by the zoning officer 
and then was told he'd have to put up trees or something else to screen 
the tower.

He says his neighbors never bothered to directly express their 
concerns.

"They didn't talk to me first," Mills says. "They simply called the 
township and demanded that it be taken down.
"The township, of course, really can't take sides. They have to 
interpret and enforce the law. In their mind, they were more or less 
saying that he does have a right to do what he wants on his property 
within reason. And this would be within reason."

After months of wrangling, the township finally granted Mills the 
permit and said two trees he had planted would be sufficient to meet 
the screening requirements.

But that didn't sit well with the neighbors, who appealed to the zoning 
hearing board.

"They really would not accept any kind of compromise because the 
township tried to mediate the situation," Mills says. "The only thing 
that they would accept is that the tower would be taken down." 

On July 10, the zoning board ruled the township shouldn't have granted 
Mills the permit for his tower in the first place saying it didn't 
follow through on site plan and proper screening of the structure.

Mills predicts the decision won't stand.

"In order to deny me the permit, they have to have a legally valid 
reason," Mills says. "They can't just deny it because somebody doesn't 
like it or they don't like it. That goes against PRB 1. That's pretty 
clear. 

"The reason my permit, they ruled against me, was a technicality in the 
permitting process that the township improperly granted the permit."

Mills says there's also an ironic part to this whole saga so far.

"At the present time, I have no antenna on top of it," Mills says. 
"These proceedings have kind of retarded the process of getting an 
antenna on top of it because I seem to spend a lot of time speaking to 
my attorney."

Mills is being represented by Michael Lazaroff, K3AIR, a volunteer 
legal counsel for the American Radio Relay League.

"I can assure you that we're either going to appeal this to the next 
higher court or we're going to try to remedy it through the township to 
get a permit that will be able to stand," Mills says.

And, Mills says, he's gratified by the support he's been getting from 
hams in his community and across the country via message boards on the 
internet and email.

Mills says he was also surprised by the groundswell of support from an 
unexpected corner.

"Surprisingly, support from the community at large has been - even non-
hams - has been very, very strong," Mills says. "Because, you know 
there's a lot of people who don't see this as about a tower issue and 
my hobby issue but see it as a property rights issue.

"And, a surprising number of people feel that you know this is a case 
of being told what to do on your own land which a lot of people see as 
appropriate."

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in 
Philadelphia.
 
--

This appears to be an tower and antenna case that may be with us for 
some time and we keep watching it in future, Amateur radio Newsline 
reports. (ARNewsline)

**

THOUGHT PROVOKING ESSAY: 25 THINGS VANISHING FROM AMERICA: HAM RADIO IS 
#16

Ham radio is one of the top 25 things vanishing from America.  In fact 
its number 16 according to author Tom Barlow, N8NLO, in his opinion 
piece on the walletpop dot com blogging website.

In his July 17th article, Tom Barlow says that an easy way to prolong a 
disaster is to have the respondents use dozens of different, 
incompatible communications systems, or operate them with no protocol 
as was the case during Hurricane Katrina.  He also laments about what 
he calls the  vanishing American treasure of the amateur radio 
operator. 

According to N8NLO, over the past five years alone, the number of 
people holding active licenses has dropped by 50,000.  This, even 
though passing a Morse code exam is not longer a requirement to obtain 
a license.  

And while some might take issue with that 50,000 figure and others will 
provide other numbers to prove ham radio is growing Barlow says that 
somerthing else is far more important.  That being the tradition that 
hams have always been there to volunteer.  He says that he knows them 
to be among our nation's best trained and most capable respondents in 
time of disaster.

Barlow concludes by saying that when amateur radio as we know it 
disappears, it won't be the radios we'll miss. We'll miss the 
operators.

This walletdrop dot com series "25 Things Vanishing From America" 
explores aspects of our nation  that may soon be just a memory.  And 
whether or not you agree with what he says you can read the complete 
Tom Barlow article about ham radios possible disappearance on-line at 
www.walletpop.com/2008/07/17/top-25-things-vanishing-from-america-16-
ham-radio/  (walletdrop.com)

**

RADIO SCAMS: E-MAILS ASKING PERSONAL INFO ARE NOT FROM THE ARRL OR 
ARNEWSLINE 

Both Amateur Radio Newsline and the American Radio Relay League appears 
to have had our e-mail addresses spoofed once again.  Spoofing is a 
method that criminals on the Internet use to get you to reveal your 
personal information to them by pretending to be someone or something 
else.  Maybe a bank, a credit company or even a person you know and 
trust.  The information request itself is called phishing.  It's the 
Internet version of throwing out an offer and hoping that some sucker 
will respond.

In our case, last week we began receiving bounced e-mails with our e-
mail address a the sender.  The messages asked people to click a link 
and provide information so that they would be eligible for a prize.  If 
you got one, don't click on it.  Just delete it.  It was a phishing 
expedition but we cannot tell you what was on the click to website.  We 
never looked at it because our web browser Firefox warned that it was 
an infected site and never let us get there.  

If you did go there, we suggest that you run your ant-virus and anti-
spyware software so as to be sure your computer was not infected with 
some malicious mal-ware or spyware.

Meantime the ARRL reports on its website that it has received several 
notes  from members with arrl.net e-mail accounts who have also 
recently been contacted via e-mail asking for personal information.  
The ARRL says that these the e-mails requested personal information 
such as user names and passwords. 

The League says that these e-mails are fraudulent attempts at 
"phishing" and did not originate from ARRL.  It says that there is 
never a time when it  would ask via mass e-mail for user names and 
passwords of arrl.net users. 

The bottom line:  If you receive an e-mail asking for personal 
information and it looks like it originated from Amateur Radio Newsline 
or from the ARRL, please do not respond or click a link.  Just delete 
it.  Your bank account and you will both be a lot happier that way.  
(ARNewsline, ARRL)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  UK FOOUNDATION LICENSE FACE LIFT

The very popular United Kingdom Foundation class and the Intermediate 
class licenses are getting a first makeover.  Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, is in 
Nottingham, England, and has the details:

--

A new version of both the Foundation and Intermediate syllabus have 
been released, which will take effect from 1st June 2009.

Additional material will be added to both the Foundation and 
Intermediate course. From that date, the Foundation will additionally 
cover conductors and insulators but the major change is to the 
Intermediate exam.

It will now cover some material previously in Advanced, such as 
alternating currents and voltages. This will significantly increase the 
technical level of the Intermediate exam. 

I'm Jeramy Boot, G4NJH.

--

The new schedule of questions and training materials will not apply 
until 1st June 2009 so any exams held before then will still use the 
current syllabus.   (GB2RS)

**

RADIO SAFETY:  HAM AND SON ELECTROCUTED IN KC

Back in the United States comes word of a tragedy.  Two men identified 
as Edward Thomas, KC0TIG, of Kansas City, Kansas, and his son Jacob 
were electrocuted Sunday July 13th after the ham radio antenna they were 
installing came into contact with overhead high voltage electrical 
service. 

Neighbors of the victims called emergency crews for help, but the 
father was dead when they arrived.  The younger man passed away after 
arriving at a hospital.  No one else was hurt

According to an Internet poting by Chuck Kraly, K0XM, the parties 
involved, were installing a mostly fiberglass Comet antenna  that came 
in contact with a single 7,620V power line.  Kraly says that he is well 
familiar with electrical power service in that part of the city as he 
is the technician that built and maintained the substation that fed the 
circuit. 

K0XM  notes that the wires you see going through the residential areas 
are at a minimum 7200 volts from each wire to ground, and between any 
two of them is 13,800 volts.  He says that he has seen a fault totally 
vaporize a 1" solid copper buss wire.  He also notes rhetorically: 
"Imagine what it can do to a human."  (KMBC News on-line, N0UF, N0IRS, 
QRZ.com, others)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  FCC TO HOST PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS SUMMIT

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland 
Security Bureau says it will host a summit on pandemic emergency 
preparedness from 9 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. on September 16th.  Titled 
"Enhancing Communications Response for Health Care and First 
Responders," the meeting will focus on communications and coordination 
among the health care sector, first responders, government and industry 
in preparation for a pandemic type event.

A panel discussions will highlight ways that communications may be 
expanded and enhanced in response to a pandemic.  It will also cover 
methods of how the communications industry will serve an instrumental 
role in such a response.

The summit will be open to the public, though admittance is limited to 
the seating available. You can pre-register online at www.fcc.gov.  The 
deadline for pre-registration is September 12th.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  ND RADIO STATION FINED FOR AIRING PHONECALL

The FCC has issued a $12,000 fine against radio station giant Clear 
Channel Communications.  This, for an incident on KFGO- AM in Fargo, 
North Dakota, in 2006 where the Commission claims the station broadcast 
a phone conversation without first informing the caller of its 
intention to do so.

The action is in response to a complaint by a listener named Sandy 
Blunt. Blunt is identified as a former state agency official.  The 
audio was from a voicemail he had left on the private cell phone of one 
of the station's hosts named Joel Heitkamp who is a former North Dakota 
state senator.  

Heitkamp said he believed the message to be an open record because 
Blunt was a public figure, he knew he was being recorded..  He claims 
that the call came to Heitkamp's work phone, not a private cell phone 
as the FCC reported.  

But the commission says that its Enforcement Bureau had previously 
ruled that an outgoing personal answering machine message is a 
"conversation" for purposes of the rules.  As such, nonconsensual 
broadcast of a conversation from an answering machine recording is a 
definite violation of the agency's rules.  (FCC)

**

RADIO HAPPENINGS:  CB IS ALIVE - WELL AND GROWING AGAIN

If Canadian writer Jeffrey Reed was a Monty Python fan, he might have 
written a lead line 11 meter C-B radio isn't dead yet, its just been 
resting.   Instead, his in-depth article on the resurgence of 11 meters 
appearing in the July issue of Popular Communications takes an in depth 
look at why the once popular form of communications is suddenly making 
a comeback among the driving public.  

Reed, who did quite a bit of research for his article titled "Ready to 
Roll With CB Radio" says that anyone who believes that Citizens Band 
Radio has gone the way of the Dodo bird really needs to think again.  
He says that the spectrum of legal C-B operations from 26.695 to 27.404 
MHz is truly alive, well and living in your neighborhood.  

Reed contends that unlike the C-B culture of the 1970's that was fueled 
by movies such as Smokey and the Bandit, that the C-B operations of 
2008 bring with it a more mature mode of communicating.  He notes that 
even with all of the latest in high-tech on the go communications that 
most professional drivers still have simple C-B serts mounted in their 
trucks that they use for daily on the road communications.  

Jeffrey Reed's article deals only with legal in-nband C-B.  It also 
dispels many myths about 11 meter operation and highlights some of the 
legal gear that's available in todays 11 meter marketplace.  "Ready to 
Roll With CB Radio" is a good read and begins on page 16 of the July 
issue of Popular Communications magazine.  (Popcomm)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  CHANGE OF COMMAND AT COMMAND TECHNOLOGIES

Some names in the news.  First is Daniel Simmonds, KK3AN of Somerset, 
Pennsylvania.  He has been chosen to continue operations of amplifier 
manufacturer Command Technologies following the retirement of company 
founder Patrick Stein, N8BRA.  

Simmonds is 32 and has been a licensed Amateur Radio operator since 
1990.  He is currently active on all HF bands from 160 to 10 meters.

As part of the changeover the Edon, Ohio based company will soom move 
to a larger facility in Somerset, Pennsylvania.  Stein who began 
Command Technologies back in 1978 says that he will stay very close to 
the company's internal operations for the next several months during 
the move.  He will also remain available for customer contact through 
this period.  (Command Technologies)

**

NANES IN THE NEWS:  JOHN LINFORD G3WGV NEW PRESIDENT OF SOTA

John Linford, G3WGV has been named the new President of the United 
Kingdom-based Summits on the Air or SOTA program.  Linford is actually 
the inventor and founder of the Summits on the Air program. He and 
Richard Newsted, G3CWI, developed the original set of rules which are 
largely unchanged to the present day. They pair launched Summits on the 
Air on March 2nd  2002.  (GB2RS)

**

HAM RADIO ON VIDEO:  TODAYS PEOPLE PASTED TO YOUTUBE

Another ham radio video has been added to YouTube dot com, and this one 
has a rather interesting history.

Back in the late 1980's almost all the ham radio documentary and 
promotional videos were produced by the trio of Frosty Oden, N6ENV, 
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF and the late Roy Neal, K6DUE.  The three would 
regularly toss ideas to one another.  One of Bill's was a weekly cable 
television show aimed at 12 to 18 year olds that had a teenage host 
interviewing hams who had gained some level of fame. 

To see if it could work a show pilot was produced.  It was called 
Today's People and was hosted by then 18 year old Kelly Howard, N6PNY.  
Howard previously co-hosted the ARRL's "The New World of Amateur Radio"  
with K6DUE.  The person she interviewed was the late Senator Barry M. 
Goldwater, K7UGA.

Unfortunately, the show was never sold into syndication and the master 
tape of the 7 minute pilot was lost.  That is it was lost until the 
other day to when Bill was cleaning up a closet and found a VHS copy of 
the show.  Not wanting it to be lost forever he converted it to a D-V-D 
and then got the idea of putting it up on the YouTube bot com video 
sharing website.  If you want to see it and maybe get a bit of inight 
into the late senator Barry M. Goldwater, K7UGA, the video is there now 
at www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jss9FYmzq8

And less we forget.  We don't know why the audio on YouTube sounds a 
bit compressed.  On the VHS tape and the upload file made from the tape 
it sounds fine.  (ARNewsline)

**

HAM RADIO ON VIDEO:  OSCAR 10 AND OSCAR 13

And from Germany comes word that Peter Glzow, DB2OS has uploaded full-
length videos about the integration and launch of OSCAR-10 and OSCAR-13 
to a video sharing website.  Also placed on-line was a video from the 
Software Defined Transponder demonstration from the recent HamRadio 
2008 convention held in Friedrichshafen.  Both are at 
http://en.sevenload.com/search/amsat/videos (AMSAT DL)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE:  HAM FEST INDIA 2008

Turning to the amateur radio social calendar, word that HAM Fest India 
08 will be held October, 11th  and 12th. The event is hosted by the 
Gujarat Institute of Amateur Radio.  More information is on-line at  
www.hfi2008.com (VU3DHX)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE:  30th CLIPPERTON DX CLUB HAMVENTION. 

And if you are planning to be in France this fall, word that the 30th 
annual Clipperton DX Hamvention will be held in the Poitou Charente 
area from  September 19th to the 20th.   For more information about forum 
activities including dinners, please visit www.cdxc.org/index-f.htm on 
the World Wide Web.  (Southgate)

**

COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH:  NBC TO USE OLYMPICS AS A MEDIA LAB

The NBC television network will be using the 2008 Summer Olympic gamess 
as a research laboratory.   This, to get a sense of how people are 
using different media platforms to experience the Beijing Games that 
begin August 8th.

NBC has scheduled 3,600 hours of Olympics programming on its main 
network, along with Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo. 
That's the equivalent of eight days of programming packed into each 
day.  In addition, the company is planning to make 2,200 hours of 
streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com. Consumers may also get 
video on demand via their computer and Olympics content through their 
mobile phones.

NBC hopes its research provides a comprehensive picture of how people 
are supplementing TV viewership with tools such as video streaming, 
video on demand and mobile phones.  (RW)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  AO-51 POWER DOWN A BIT

In ham radio space related news, AMSAT says that he transmitter power 
on its AO 51 ham radio satellite has been down lately.  This, due to 
the length of eclipse that peaked about 2 weeks ago.

According to AO-51 command station Gould Smith, WA4SXM, in Knoxville, 
Tennessee, the eclipse periods will continue to get shorter until 
September.  That's when the satellite will be in full sunlight with no 
eclipse period for about 8 months.

WA4SXM says at present AO-51 is operating at 430 milliwatts on its 
digital downlink and T at 470 milliwatts on its analog downlink. During 
the peak of the eclipse periods both transmitters were operating only 
in the 340 milliwatt range.  (AMSAT)

**

ON THE AIR:  THE OHIO STATE PARKS CONTEST IN SEPTEMBER

On the air, the Portage County Amateur Radio Service announces the 
first Ohio State Parks On The Air Contest to be held on Saturday, 
September 6th from 1600 UTC to 2400 UTC. This contest places a premium 
on working stations at Ohio State Parks. That means that it is critical 
to have as many parks activated as possible. 

The challenge for Ohio stations will be to work HF in the 50 to 300 
mile range. Contacts can be made with any mode on the HF and VHF bands.  
Complete information, some frequently asked quests along with answers 
and forms can be found at parks.portcars.org.  (Portage ARC)

**

WORLDBEAT - SOUTH AFRICA:  STUDY GRANTS FOR COLLEGE AGE HAMA

Turning to news from across the globe, the South African Amateur Radio 
Development Trust is introducing an annual study grant program.  This, 
for young licensed radio amateurs who wish to enter a University or 
University of Technology to study electronics and communication.  

The study grant will contribute a specific level of funding towards the 
students first year of study.  The aim of the project is to encourage 
young radio amateurs to enter careers in communication and electronics.  
(SARL, Southgate)

**

WOLDBEAT:  NEW BROCHURE FROM THE SARL

We also have word of a new brochure explaining ham radio being made 
available on the World Wide Web courtesy of the  South African Radio 
League.   The four page handout takes the reader into the historic 
aspect of the hobby and then explains where ham radio is today and 
where its headed in the near future.  It also demonstrates just how to 
get a license and what a person can do on the air once he or she has 
passed a licensing exam. 

The brochure is in full color and has been formatted as a P-D-F file 
for easy printing.  While intended for a South African audience, it 
could easily be modified to fit almost any nations ham radio recruiting 
needs.  You will find it ready to be download at www dot sarl dot org 
dot za.  (Southgate)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS:  QRP ON THE MARCH

A group of Australian hams are about to take a walk in the Southern 
hemispheres winter.  They do it every year and will be spending nearly 
a week far from civilization, camping in the snow with only amateur 
radio to keep in touch with the outside world.  Jim Linton, VK3PC has 
more:

--

Three radio amateurs and a number of friends are making final plans for 
their annual cross country skiing in the wilderness of the Bogong High 
Plains in north-east Victoria.

They are to spend the 30th of July to the 4th of August camping in the 
snow, and during rest periods play amateur radio.

Matt VK3HFI, Gerard VK3JPA and Stephen VK3SN will use several repeaters 
in VK1, VK2 and VK3 as well as 160-metres through to 20-metres in the 
afternoons and evenings.

Their QRP stations, powered by solar panels and batteries will radiate 
from simple wire antennas, plus hand-held VHF/UHF transceivers. Listen 
for the trio and give them a call.

I'm Jim Linton VK3PC and you're listening to trhe Amateur Radio 
Newsline.

--

Listen out for the group mainly when its dusk and nighttime, in 
Australia.  (WIA News)

**

DX

In DX, word that PA5M is now active from Tomor Leste  as 4W6AAB for 
about 5 weeks.  His activity will be limited to his spare time using 
only a 100 watts and a vertical.  He has been heard on 20 meters around 
14.047 MHz between 0530-0615 U-T-C.  His QSL Manager is PA7FM.

JA2IVK will be active from the Maldives as 8Q7SH between July 18th and 
the 20th on 80 through 10 meters.  He will be using only CW and SSB 
using 100 watts to a vertical.  QSL via JA2IVK, via the bureau or 
direct to his QRZ.com address.

DL5XX, will be on a business trip in Ghana and plansto be active during 
his free time as 9G5MM between July 15th and August 10th.  Hi opeation 
will  be on all bands using only CW.  QSL via DL5XX. 

Lastly, DO7ZZ will once again be active from Croatia operating VE3ZIK 
portable 9A.  This, between July 23rd and August 23rd.  Activity will 
be on the HF bands only, using CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK31, PSK63 and 10m FM.  
There is a chance to be active for one day operation portable E7 from 
Bosnia-Herzegovina.  QSL via DO7ZZ via the bureau 

(Above from OPDX and other DX News sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  A SALUTE TO ISRAEL HAM RADIO GROUP

And finally, our story of a few weeks ago on ham radio support for the 
2008 New York City  Salute to Israel Parade has brought in a lot of 
mail, a lot of e-mail and even a bit of controversy.   Bill Pasternak, 
WA6ITF, who worked on that event and others like it in the 1960's tries 
to clear it all up:

--

When you sit down to write stories as I do every week, there's no way 
to know where one of these might take you.  Or where it might take 
those who might be listening in when a newscast goes to air.  

Our story a few weeks ago about the hams who provide communications 
support to this years New York City Salute to Israel Parade seems to 
have been one of those rather special ones. A story that has taken on a 
life of its own and one that has taken some radio amateurs on a trip 
through time.

First off, what it did was to bring Newsline together with a group of 
hams  who had served with the parade in years past.  Some of them had 
long ago moved away from the Big Apple and were no longer aware that 
volunteer ham radio support was still continuing more than four decades 
after the first march.  

One of the first things that we learned was that in the first parade in 
1964 that organizers tried using 11 meter C-B.  They requested or were 
offered the assistance of the now defunct Manhattan CB Radio 
Association. It did not work out very well and by 1965 it became 
primarily a ham radio only event. 

There seems to be a bit of disagreement as to who did what during the 
earliest of the ham radio years.  Thanks to some excellent archiving by 
past Dayton Radio Amateur of the Year Andy Feldman, WB2FXN, there is 
proof positive that from 1967 on, communications for the parade became 
a formal ham organization.  One that Feldman co-chaired for several 
years with the late Louis Belsky, K2VMR.  

Before that there's nothing on paper.  Just one photo dated from July 
1966 and some amateur radio folk lore to show that hams were involved.  

And if you think that's complex, how about this.. A RACES group from 
the borough of the Bronx, also contacted us with proof from QST 
Magazine that they were also a communications provider to the parade in 
1967.  This at a time when the official parade program listed only the 
ham radio group headed up by the Brooklyn-based WB2FXN and K2VMR.  

But there is a much brighter side.  The story seems to have lead to a 
lot of folks who had a common interest in providing volunteer radio 
communications  for the Salute to Israel Parade to get to know one 
another.  40 years is a long time yet our story seems to have bridged 
the years.  As a result there is a brand new remailer on Yahoogroups 
reflector for those who have in the past been communications volunteers 
to the New York City Salute to Israel Parade. Its billed as a place for 
them to meet on-line and discuss their experiences.  

If you are a Salute To Israel Parade ham radio alumni communicator, and 
if you are interested in joining this remailer, please send an e-mail 
to STIParade at yahoo.com.  In the body of your note give your full name, 
your callsign and the years that you were a ham radio volunteer to the 
event.  The administrator will end back an e-mail with a formal 
invitation to join.  And we hope it brings you a lot of joy.  

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, in the 1960's  as 
WA2HVK and now WA6ITF, in the studio in Los Angeles.

--

Again, that e-mail address for amateur radio alumni of New York City's 
Salute to Israel Parade to join the remailer is STIParade at Yahoo.com.  
The list administrators say that they hope to see you on board.  
(ARNewsline)

**

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. 

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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