[Letter-List] The ARRL Letter for April 8, 2010

Thu Apr 8 15:18:16 EDT 2010

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            The  ARRL Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
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April 8, 2010

Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA <k1sfa at arrl.org>

ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Letter Archive
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>Audio News
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>
==> BPL: CITY OF MANASSAS TO END BPL SERVICE

   Once touted as "the most successful BPL deployment in the nation,"
the City of Manassas has decided to get out of the BPL business, once
and for all. At a Special Meeting on Monday, April 5, the Manassas City
Council -- acting on a recommendation from the Manassas Utilities
Commission -- unanimously voted to discontinue Broadband over Powerline
(BPL <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/>) Internet service as of
July 1, 2010 to the approximately 520 residents and businesses who
currently subscribe to the service; these customers were told that they
have three months to find a new Internet service provider.

According to Manassas City Clerk Andrea Madden, there was no discussion
on the resolution to discontinue service and the motion was passed
"without incident."

With the motion made by Councilman Jonathan Way and seconded by Mark
Wolfe, the City Council cited three reasons for discontinuing BPL
service: a declining customer base, an annual income deficit of almost
$166,000 from providing Internet service, and a determination that AMI
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Metering_Infrastructure>
[Advanced Metering Infrastructure] platforms don't require BPL. Way and
Wolfe favored shutting down the BPL system in November 2009
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/19/11206/?nc=1>, the last
time this matter was brought to the Council's attention. "The City
needs to get out of BPL forthwith," Way said back in 2009. "It's not a
good product. The whole business is not financially sound and it never
has been."

Manassas residents pay $24.95 each month to receive Internet service
via BPL. In November 2009, the Utility Commission showed the Council
that little more than 500 residents and 46 businesses currently
subscribed to the service, which since 2008, has been run by the City
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/10/16/10391/>. "It's costing a
little more to maintain the system than we projected in the budget,"
Manassas Director of Utilities Michael Moon told the Council. "The
original projections were that the customer base would be double this."
In September 2008, the Manassas City Council voted to assume control of
the BPL service from COMTek <http://www.comtekbroadband.com/>, the
private company that served (back then) approximately 675 residents.

In January 2009, there were 637 residential and 51 commercial BPL
subscribers in Manassas. In February 2010, those numbers had shrunk to
457 residential and 50 commercial subscribers. The Utilities Commission
said that the total revenue brought in by BPL for FY2010 was almost
$186,000, but the expense of keeping up the City-owned system was
costing the ratepayers a little more than $351,000, resulting in a net
loss of almost $166,000.

"In October 2003, the Manassas City Council was told that it could
expect as much as $4.5 million in revenue from awarding a 10 year BPL
franchise," said ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ.
"Instead, six months later, BPL had turned into a money pit for the
City of Manassas. Anyone thinking of investing in BPL would do well to
learn from the Manassas experience."

   In November 2009, Manassas' Assistant Utilities Director (Electric)
Gregg Paulson told the ARRL that they had "every intention of putting
BPL Internet service in the budget and the Council can decide its fate
as they work through the budget process." Paulson also said that while
Internet service to consumers would "probably" be the only thing that
would be cut if the Council decided to forego BPL, he left the door
open as to using the BPL infrastructure for other purposes: "We still
own the BPL network, but we may or may not use this network for utility
monitoring or other AMI purposes."

But according to the resolution passed by the Council, the Manassas
Utilities Department will not be using BPL for AMI, but instead will
use "a combination of fiber and wireless technology exclusive of the
BPL." According to the Agenda Statement for the Special Meeting, the
BPL equipment will be removed from the system and "inquiries will be
made regarding the salvage value."

Sumner said that the ARRL's concern was not with the business plan --
that he termed "obviously flawed" -- but with "the interference to
licensed radio services -- and in particular the Amateur Radio Service
-- inevitably caused by putting radio frequency energy on unshielded,
unbalanced conductors. Manassas was touted as 'the most successful BPL
deployment in the nation' when FCC Chairman Michael Powell visited the
site with much fanfare -- and, the ARRL maintains, in violation of the
FCC's own rules -- on the eve of the FCC's vote to adopt inadequate
protection for licensed radio services against interference from BPL
systems. The taxpayers and ratepayers of Manassas are not the only ones
who benefit from the end of this ill-considered foray into BPL. Radio
amateurs in the Manassas area have good reason to celebrate, for they
have spent countless hours documenting the widespread interference
caused by the system."

BPL technology uses the electricity grid in a city and the wiring in
individual homes to provide direct "plug in" broadband access through
electricity sockets, rather than over phone or cable TV lines. Because
BPL wiring is physically large, is often overhead and extends across
entire communities, these systems pose a significant interference
potential to over-the-air radio services, including Amateur Radio.

==> FCC NEWS: ARRL RESPONDS TO FCC'S NPRM CALLING FOR NEW RULES ON
VANITY AND CLUB CALL SIGNS

   In November 2009, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making
(NPRM) -- WT Docket No 09-209 -- seeking to amend the Commission's
Amateur Radio Service rules in an attempt to clarify certain rules and
codify existing procedures governing the vanity call sign system, as
well as revise certain rules applicable to club stations. In March, the
ARRL submitted comments and additional proposals to the FCC to update
the Amateur Service's call sign assignment system and provide for
continued growth of the Amateur Radio Service, as well as enhance the
pride and satisfaction of licensees in their personal achievements in
the radio art. The ARRL's positions were developed by the Executive
Committee at its March 13 meeting. Read more here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/07/11423/?nc=1>.

==> FCC NEWS: ARRL FILES COMMENTS IN RESPONSE TO HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
SEEKING BLANKET WAIVER REQUEST FOR AMATEUR RADIO DRILLS

   In February 2010, the American Hospital Association (AHA) filed a
request with the FCC for a blanket waiver of Section 97.113(a)(3) of
the Commission's Rules "to permit hospitals seeking accreditation to
use Amateur Radio operators who are hospital employees to transmit
communications on behalf of the hospital as part of emergency
preparedness drills." On March 3, the FCC issued a Public Notice -- WP
Docket 10-54 -- asking whether the Commission "should grant AHA's
request for a blanket waiver of Section 97.113(a)(3) to permit amateur
operators who are hospital employees to participate in emergency drills
that are conducted by hospitals for accreditation purposes and that are
not government-sponsored."

Section 97.113(a)(3) specifically prohibits amateur stations from
transmitting communications "in which the station licensee or control
operator has a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf
of an employer." On April 2, the ARRL filed comments regarding the
blanket waiver request. Read more here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/07/11425/?nc=1>.

==> FCC NEWS: ARRL FILES PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION OVER WAIVER FOR
NON-AMATEUR DEVICE IN 70 CM BAND

   In January 2008, a company called ReconRobotics filed a request with
the FCC for a waiver of Part 90 of the Commission's Rules with respect
to the Recon Scout -- a remote-controlled, maneuverable surveillance
robot designed for use in areas that may be too hazardous for human
entry. A waiver is required to permit licensing of the Recon Scout
because the device operates in the 430-448 MHz band, which is allocated
to the Federal Government Radiolocation service on a primary basis, as
well as the Amateur Radio Service and certain non-federal radiolocation
systems on a secondary basis. More than two years later, the FCC
granted the waiver request in the form of an Order (WP Docket No
08-63), subject to certain conditions. The ARRL had opposed the waiver
on the grounds that the device has a significant potential to interfere
with amateur stations and that the company is simply trying to avoid
redesigning for the domestic market a device that was designed for
military use overseas, and as such, filed a Petition of Reconsideration
with the FCC in late March. Read more here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/06/11422/?nc=1>.

==> PUBLIC SERVICE: TELEPHONE OUTAGE IN NEBRASKA WAS NO APRIL FOOL'S
JOKE

Early on the morning of April 1, almost 40,000 people in Southeastern
Nebraska -- including the City of Lincoln's government, business and
emergency centers -- found that they had no landline telephone service,
as well as spotty cell phone coverage, thanks to an equipment
malfunction at a Lincoln switching facility owned by Windstream
Communications. According to news reports, residents of 12 counties
were unable to contact 911 and dispatch centers had rely on other
communications services -- including Amateur Radio. Read more here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/05/11421/?nc=1>.

==> ON THE AIR: THE FIRST ROOKIE ROUNDUP -- COMING APRIL 18!

   The ARRL's newest contest -- the Rookie Roundup -- is getting a lot
of buzz among newly-licensed amateurs. Designed as a modern equivalent
to the ARRL Novice Roundup from a few decades ago, this new incarnation
combines a competitive event with some on-the-air training. The first
Rookie Roundup is scheduled for April 18 and will be an SSB contest.
The Rookie Roundup is six hours of fun on a Sunday afternoon that is
designed to give new hams a chance to get their feet wet on HF and 6
meters. Old-timers are encouraged to get on the air and work the
Rookies, just as in they did in the Novice Roundups. The six hour event
-- from 1800 UTC-2359 UTC -- will be held on the third Sunday of April,
August, and December. SSB, RTTY, and CW will be featured in the
different months. Read more here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/08/11426/?nc=1>.

==>  COMING UP IN QST : CHECK OUT WHAT'S IN THE MAY ISSUE

   The May issue of QST is jam-packed with all sorts of things today's
Amateur Radio operator needs. From product reviews to experiments to
contesting -- including a breakdown of the Second ARRL Homebrew
Challenge -- the upcoming issue of QST has something for just about
everyone. You'll find an abundance of technical and general interest
articles, as well as monthly columns such as Happenings, How's DX,
Hamspeak, Vintage Radio and more. Click here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/07/11424/?nc=1> to discover
what's in store for you in the May issue of QST, the official journal
of the ARRL.

==> ON THE AIR: MOONBOUNCE FOR EVERYONE -- COURTESY OF THE ARECIBO
RADIO TELESCOPE!

   Sending Amateur Radio signals to the Moon and back has never been
easy. After roundtrip journeys of nearly half a million miles, even the
most powerful signals generated by hams are exquisitely weak on
arrival. Because of the equipment and expertise necessary for
successful "moonbounce" operating, this facet of Amateur Radio
generally has been confined to a small audience. But for three days in
April even hams with very modest stations will have the opportunity to
experience the thrill of moonbounce, thanks to the giant radio
telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Read more here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/07/11420/?nc=1>.

==> SOLAR UPDATE

   Tad "Pay no worship to the garish Sun
<http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.3.2.html>" Cook,
K7RA, reports: A strong solar wind blasted us on Monday and Tuesday,
causing the biggest geomagnetic storm since 2006. On those days, the
mid-latitude A index was 28 and 22 and the planetary A index was 49 and
46. A search for similar numbers over the past few years yields
nothing. In 2009, the highest planetary A index was 19 on August 30,
and in 2008 it was 37 on October 11. This is indicative of how quiet
space weather has become in the past few years. In 2007, the planetary
A index reached 30 on April 1, and we have to go back to 2006 to find
any geomagnetic activity as strong, when the planetary A index reached
63 and 104 on December 14-15. It seems counter-intuitive, but average
daily sunspot numbers rose by 3.5 points this week to 32.4, while the
average daily solar flux dropped more than 7 points to 77.8. NOAA and
USAF predict solar flux at 76 for April 8-9, 75 on April 10-14 and a
jump to 80 on April 15. The same forecast predicts planetary A index
settling down to 15, 8, and 5 for April 8-10. For some reason, despite
the high geomagnetic activity, no reports have come in from 6 meter
operators about auroral propagation. Perhaps we will hear from them
before Friday when this week's bulletin is released. Look for more
information on the ARRL Web site on Friday, April 9. For more
information concerning radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical
Information Service Propagation page
<http://www.arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals>. This week's "Tad
Cookism" brought to you by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
<http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.3.2.html> (Act
III, Scene 2).

==> ARRL PUBLICATIONS: NEW EDITIONS OF THE ARRL HAM RADIO LICENSE
MANUAL, TECH Q&A NOW AVAILABLE

   Discover all the excitement of Amateur Radio when you get your
Technician license -- your ticket to the unique mix of fun, public
service, technology and experimenting with electronics. The ARRL Ham
Radio License Manual and ARRL's Tech Q&A will guide you as you get
started in Amateur Radio, helping you select your equipment, set up
your first station and make your first (of many!) contacts. These
manuals -- designed for Technician exams given after July 1, 2010 --
contain all of the information you need to study for and pass the 35
exam questions derived from the new

   Technician class (Element 2) question pool. The questions in the
pool provide for the new Technician licensee to be able to establish
his or her station and operate it legally, courteously and safely. The
new Technician pool contains approximately 400 questions, from which 35
are selected for an Element 2 examination; the exam will contain
graphics and diagrams. When you use The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual
and the ARRL's Tech Q&A to study for your first license exam, you'll be
on the air in no time! Every page presents information you will need to
pass the exam and become an effective operator, such as radio and
electronics fundamentals, operating station equipment, communicating
with other hams, licensing regulations, operating regulations and radio
safety. Read more here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/04/05/11419/?nc=1>.

==> THIS WEEK ON THE RADIO

 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LsUNXPtObs>	This week, the Montana
QSO Party is April 9-11. The Japan International DX Contest, the QCWA
Spring QSO and the Georgia QSO Party are April 10-11. Next week, the
TARA Skirmish Digital Prefix Contest, the Holyland DX Contest and the
EU Spring Sprint are April 17. The Michigan QSO Party, the Ontario QSO
Party and the YU DX Contest are April 17-18. The Run for the Bacon QRP
Contest is April 19. All dates, unless otherwise stated, are UTC. See
the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests>, the ARRL
Contest Update <http://www.arrl.org/The-ARRL-Contest-Update> and the
WA7BNM Contest Calendar
<http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info.
Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the ARRL
Special Event Station Web page <http://www.arrl.org/special-events>.

==> ARRL CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSE REGISTRATION

   Registration remains open through Sunday, April 25, 2010, for these
online course sessions <http://www.arrl.org/courses-training> beginning
on Friday, May 7, 2010: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1;
Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; Antenna Design and
Construction; Propagation; Analog Electronics, and Digital Electronics.
To learn more, visit the CEP Course Listing page
<http://www.arrl.org/online-courses> or contact the Continuing
Education Program Coordinator <cce at arrl.org>.

The ARRL Letter is published Thursdays, 50 times each year. ARRL
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