[TCARC-NTX] ARRL Letter
David Johnson KB5YLG
kb5ylg at yahoo.com
Sat Jan 7 22:43:27 EST 2006
***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 25, No. 01
January 6, 2006
***************
IN THIS EDITION:
* +ARRL renews interference complaint against Ambient
Corp BPL
installation
* +Sole surviving West Virginia miner KC8VKZ still
critical
* +Hams aid fight against Texas grass fires
* +Bill Sawders, K7ZM, appointed NW Division Vice
Director
* +Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, named QEX Managing Editor
* +Weekends best time to catch NA1SS on the air
* +Canadian amateurs to lose 220-222 MHz
* +Nominations sought for 2006 Dayton Hamvention
awards
* +ARRL Foundation approves more new scholarships
* +Astronaut Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, goes out on top
* Solar Update
* IN BRIEF:
On the radio: ARRL RTTY Roundup, January 7-8;
ARRL Kid's Day,
January
8!
ARRL Certification and Continuing Education
course registration
+Available on ARRL Audio News
<http//www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>
===========================================================
==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery
only!):
letter-dlvy at arrl.org
==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist,
N1RL, n1rl at arrl.org
===========================================================
==>ARRL RENEWS INTERFERENCE COMPLAINT AGAINST AMBIENT
CORP BPL
INSTALLATION
In the wake of continued FCC inaction in response to
several previous
complaints, on January 5 the ARRL filed a renewal of
the complaint
against
the Ambient Corporation's Broadband over Power Line
system in
Briarcliff
Manor, New York. The BPL system is operated by
Ambient, on power lines
owned
and operated by Consolidated Edison, under an
experimental FCC
authorization.
The latest communication points out that the FCC,
without adjudicating
ARRL's repeated complaints about interference
throughout the amateur 20
meter band, renewed Ambient's experimental license for
an additional
term,
from August 1, 2005 to August 1, 2007. "The Briarcliff
Manor BPL system
currently (still) causes harmful interference to
Amateur Radio
communications and it is not compliant with applicable
FCC part 15
regulations," according to the ARRL complaint.
"Neither," it continues,
"is
it compliant with the terms of the experimental
authorization granted
by the
Commission, most recently on August 1, 2005."
It continues: "ARRL reiterates its request, now more
than a year old,
that
the BPL facility.be instructed to shut down
immediately; and that it
not
resume operation unless the facility is shown to be in
full compliance
with
Commission rules regarding radiated emissions and with
the
non-interference
requirement.of the Commission's Rules and the terms of
the experimental
authorization. Finally, information about it must be
listed in the BPL
publicly accessible database."
Appended to the January 5 complaint letter was a 25
page engineering
report
entitled "Additional Testing of BPL System in
Briarcliff Manor, NY."
ARRL
Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, wrote the report
after conducting
further
tests at the site December 5, 2005. The report points
out that he had
conducted similar tests twice before during 2005, and
three times
during
2004. In this earlier testing, Hare found significant
violations of FCC
rules regarding Part 15 emissions limits.
The January 5 ARRL complaint, entitled "Continued
Request for Immediate
Cessation of Operation," was signed by ARRL Counsel
Christopher D.
Imlay,
W3KD, and was sent to the FCC's Joseph Casey, Bruce
Franca and James
Burtle.
Casey is Chief, Spectrum Enforcement Division, while
Franca serves as
Acting
Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology, and
Burtle is Chief,
Experimental Licensing Division. A copy was also sent
to the counsel
for
Ambient Corporation.
For more about BPL, see the BPL pages on the ARRLWeb
<http//www.arrl.org/bpl>.
==>SOLE SURVIVING WEST VIRGINIA MINER KC8VKZ STILL
CRITICAL
The only survivor of the January 3 mine explosion in
Tallmansville,
West
Virginia is Randal McCloy Jr, KC8VKZ, of Philippi,
West Virginia. At
press
time, he was listed in critical condition at Allegheny
General Hospital
in
Pittsburgh, where he is undergoing specialized
treatment. Hams may wish
to
send a note of support on a QSL card to Randal McCloy
Jr, KC8VKZ, PO
Box
223, Philippi, WV 26435. -- tnx Randy Padawer, K7RAN
==>HAMS AID FIGHT AGAINST TEXAS GRASS FIRES
Amateur Radio Emergency Service and other Amateur
Radio operators from
the
West Texas Section, and especially the Abilene
vicinity, were called to
assist with communications during the last week of
2005 when the
wildfires
struck Cross Plains, Texas, in the southeastern
portion of neighboring
Callahan County.
"There was no cell service because the connection to
the cell tower was
burned," said Bill Shaw, KJ5DX, the ARRL Emergency
Coordinator in
nearby
Taylor County. "There was one landline phone working
at the church
where the
Cross Plains Red Cross shelter was set up."
Amateur Radio operators established communication via
UHF and VHF
radios
between the Cross Plains Shelter, Brownwood Red Cross
Shelter, and
Abilene
Red Cross headquarters. A team of 14 radio amateurs
was on hand during
this
emergency.
"We kept up 24 hour communications for Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday
until
noon via ham radio," Shaw explained. "The fire started
as a grass fire
about
noontime on December 27, and quickly escalated into a
raging wildfire
that
was fed by 45 mph winds."
Unfortunately, the fire quickly spread toward town
about 3 miles away,
and
it burned the area that is about 4 to 6 miles
east-west and 2 to 3
miles
north-south in size.
"About 31 fire departments fought fires until about
5:00 the next
morning,"
Shaw said. As a result of this fire, almost 8,000
acres burned, 152
homes
were damaged, and that represents 25 to 30 per cent of
the homes in
Cross
Plains. Over a hundred of those homes were completely
destroyed.
Wildfires have also been burning in drought-stricken
Oklahoma and New
Mexico.
==>BILL SAWDERS, K7ZM, APPOINTED NORTHWESTERN DIVISION
VICE DIRECTOR
ARRL President Jim Haynie has appointed William J.
Sawders, K7ZM, of
Bend,
Oregon, to fill the remaining year of the current term
of Northwestern
Division Vice Director. The Election and Ethics
Committee has verified
his
eligibility.
A former Oregon Section Manager, Sawders was appointed
to the position
vacated by Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF, who became Director
upon the sudden
passing of Greg Milnes, W7OZ, on December 17.
Sawders's term ends at
noon on
January 1, 2007.
First licensed in 1957 at the age of 12, Sawders has
held an Amateur
Extra
class license since 1968. Previous call signs were
K6ZMZ and W7KWK. He
received the call sign K7ZM in 1977. His wife, Vicki
is a licensed
General
class operator and holds the call sign K7VKI.
Bill was the ARRL Oregon Section Manager from 1998 to
2002, and is Past
President of the San Diego DX Club (1968), Central
Oregon Radio
Amateurs
(1992) and Central Oregon DX Club (1989-1998). He is
currently
President of
the Central Oregon Contest Club. Bill is also the
owner of the 145.490
repeater on the south end of Bend.
==>LARRY WOLFGANG, WR1B, NAMED QEX MANAGING EDITOR
Long-time ARRL HQ staffer Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, is the
new managing
editor
of QEX, the ARRL's magazine for communications
experimenters.
Editor of ARRL license study materials since 1985,
Larry has been
employed
at ARRL Headquarters since 1981. He holds a bachelor's
degree in
physics
from Susquehanna University, and taught high school
science prior to
coming
to ARRL. Larry edited the popular QST Hints and Kinks
column as well as
QST
technical articles before moving over to the Book Team
to take on the
ARRL
license manuals series. He has served as a technical
consultant on the
ARRL
video license courses and produced ARRL's Morse code
training
materials,
including Your Introduction to Morse Code. Larry was
the editor of the
1990
edition of The ARRL Handbook and was the handling
editor for a number
of
books in the ARRL Radio Amateur's Library. First
licensed as WN3JQM in
1968,
at the age of 15, Larry also held WA3VIL for many
years.
Readers can find more information about QEX, published
six times a
year, at
the QEX Web site <http//www.arrl.org/qex. The Table of
Contents for
each
issue is listed there, along with a sample article for
free download.
==>WEEKENDS BEST TIME TO CATCH NA1SS ON THE AIR
The best time to catch International Space Station
(ISS) Expedition 12
Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, on the air from NA1SS
is during a
weekend.
Now about halfway through his six-month duty tour,
McArthur already has
more
than 300 casual contacts in his log, and he's eager to
up the count.
"Weekends seem to be Bill's favorite time to operate,"
says Amateur
Radio on
the International Space Station (ARISS) Ham Radio
Project Engineer
Kenneth
Ransom, N5VHO. "The weekend has few scheduled
activities, so the crew
may
operate anywhere from 0800 until 2200 UTC."
But Ransom says McArthur also operates in his free
time on weekdays,
and
that includes his lunch hour, scheduled around 1200 to
1400 UTC. "Bill
has
occasionally operated in this time during the week,"
he told ARRL.
The crew's work day ends about 1930 UTC, but McArthur
and crewmate
Valery
Tokarev usually stay up for another couple of hours.
The crew sleeps
from
2130 until 0630 UTC.
McArthur recently completed Worked All Continents
(WAC) from space,
including the "traditional ARISS" requirement to work
Antarctica.
"We clearly share a lot in common," McArthur told
Chuck Kimball, N0MHJ,
at
Palmer Station's KC4AAC during their 2-meter contact
December 17. "You
know,
we have this bond. Just our hostile environments are a
little bit
different."
McArthur's still trying to earn Worked All States
(WAS) and DXCC from
space
and as 2005 drew to a close already had logged 37
states and 38 DXCC
entities.
Responding to questions regarding the legitimacy of a
DXCC earned from
a
spacecraft circling 220 miles above Earth, ARRL
Membership Services
Manager
Wayne Mills, N7NG, concedes that while McArthur's
efforts don't have
that
much to do with traditional DXCC, they won't devalue
the efforts of
those
earning the award from Earth either.
"While rules are very important, particularly in
defining the DXCC
program,
other concepts can, and often do, transcend mere
rules," he said.
"Think of
this as more of a public relations opportunity."
In addition, McArthur has been averaging two ARISS
school group
contacts as
his schedule permits. Not since Expedition 3--when
there were three
people
aboard the ISS for each crew increment--has a crew
member done this on
a
regular basis.
The NA1SS worldwide voice and packet downlink
frequency is 145.800 MHz.
In
Regions 2 and 3 (the Americas, and the Pacific), the
voice uplink is
144.49
MHz. In Region 1 (Europe, Central Asia and Africa),
the voice uplink is
145.20 MHz. The worldwide packet uplink is 145.99 MHz.
When NA1SS is in crossband FM repeater mode, the
worldwide downlink is
145.80 MHz, and the uplink is 437.80 MHz. All
frequencies are subject
to
Doppler shift. The Science at NASA Web site provides
location information
for
the ISS <http//science.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html>.
==>CANADIAN AMATEURS TO LOSE 220-222 MHz
Barring an outpouring of "compelling arguments to the
contrary,"
Industry
Canada will reallocate the 220-222 MHz portion of
220-225 MHz from the
Canadian amateur service to the mobile and fixed
services. Under the
provisional reallocation, which will take effect
January 25, the
amateur
service will be allocated the 219-220 MHz subband on a
secondary basis.
Additionally, the amateur service may be permitted use
of 220-222 MHz
"in
exceptional circumstances on a secondary basis to
assist in disaster
relief
efforts."
==>NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR 2006 DAYTON HAMVENTION
AWARDS
The Dayton Hamvention is accepting nominations for its
2006 awards for
Radio
Amateur of the Year, Special Achievement and Technical
Excellence. The
deadline for nominations is February 20, 2006.
All Amateur Radio operators are eligible. The winners
will be
recognized at
the 2006 Hamvention, which runs May 19-21.
Nominations are due by February 20, 2006. Additional
details on these
awards
and a nomination form are available on the Dayton
Hamvention Web site
<http//www.hamvention.org/nominate>. Nominations also
are accepted via
US
mail to Dayton Hamvention Awards, PO Box 964, Dayton,
OH 45401.
For more information, please send e-mail to
media at hamvention.org. --
Dayton
Hamvention
==>ARRL FOUNDATION APPROVES MORE NEW SCHOLARSHIPS
The ARRL Foundation has announced the addition of new
scholarships for
the
2006-2007 academic year. The ARRL Foundation Board
recently approved
additions to the 43 scholarship awards it now offers.
The Yasme
Foundation
will fund five $2000 scholarship awards in 2006 for
students pursuing
undergraduate studies in the sciences and engineering.
Two of the five
scholarships are designated as renewable for up to
three additional
years
depending on student performance. The ARRL Foundation
also approved The
Seth
Horen, K1LOM, Memorial Scholarship to honor Horen, a
native of
Stratford,
Connecticut and avid ham radio operator. The Horen
Scholarship award of
$500
is currently funded by contributions of family and
friends.
To be eligible for an ARRL Foundation scholarship, an
applicant must be
an
Amateur Radio licensee attending or accepted at an
accredited two or
four
year college or university. Information and
application forms for all
ARRL
Foundation-administered scholarships are available on
the ARRL
Foundation
Web site <http//www.arrl.org/arrlf/>. The application
period for ARRL
Foundation scholarships closes February 1, 2006.
==>ASTRONAUT LEROY CHIAO, KE5BRW, GOES OUT ON TOP
Veteran International Space Station commander,
spacewalker and
three-time
space shuttle flier Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, has retired
from NASA.
"Leroy's been a valued team member and has provided
extensive expertise
to
the nation's space flight program," said Ken Bowersox,
KD5JBP--who
headed
ISS Expedition 6 and now serves as flight crew
operations director. "We
wish
him continued success in his future."
During an Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS)
school
group QSO in late 2004 while heading ISS Expedition
10, Chiao told
youngsters that the most exciting thing about being an
astronaut is
flying
in space and looking at "our beautiful Earth." Chiao
spoke via ham
radio
with students at 23 schools while he was aboard the
ISS.
Selected as an astronaut in 1990, Chiao flew his first
mission four
years
later, becoming the first Asian-American and ethnic
Chinese to fly in
space
and perform a spacewalk. He subsequently conducted
four spacewalks in
1996
and 2000 to demonstrate tools, hardware and techniques
for space
station
assembly and to configure space station hardware just
prior to human
occupancy.
As Expedition 10 commander and NASA ISS Science
Officer, Chiao
performed two
more spacewalks to complete repair and installation
tasks during his
six
months aboard the ISS in 2004-2005.
==>SOLAR UPDATE
Solar Seer Tad "Dancing in Sunshine" Cook, K7RA,
Seattle, Washington,
reports:
Average daily sunspot numbers for the past week
(December 29 through
January
4) were nearly 22 points below the previous period.
Average daily solar
flux
was about the same. Average daily mid-latitude
geomagnetic indices (A
and K
index) were exactly the same, and planetary A and K
index were slightly
lower.
Sunspot numbers for December 29 through January 4 were
77, 67, 62, 41,
37,
39 and 25 with a mean of 49.7. 10.7 cm flux was 90.3,
89.9, 87.4, 87.4,
84.5, 84.9, and 84, with a mean of 86.9. Estimated
planetary A indices
were
8, 7, 9, 4, 5, 3 and 2 with a mean of 5.4. Estimated
mid-latitude A
indices
were 7, 6, 9, 5, 5, 3 and 1, with a mean of 5.1.
__________________________________
==>IN BRIEF:
* On the radio: The ARRL RTTY Roundup, the Midwinter
Contest (CW), the
Original QRP Contest, the EUCW 160-Meter Contest, the
Midwinter Contest
(SSB), the DARC 10-Meter Contest are the weekend of
January 7-8. ARRL
Kid's
Day is Sunday, January 8
<http//www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kd-rules.html>.
JUST
AHEAD: The North American QSO Party (CW), Hunting
Lions in the Air, the
070
Club PSKFest, the Michigan QRP January CW Contest and
the NRAU-Baltic
Contest (CW and SSB are separate events) are the
weekend of January
14-15.
The Run for the Bacon QRP Contest is January 16. The
NAQCC 80-Meter
Straight
Key/Bug Sprint is January 19. See the ARRL Contest
Branch page
<http//www.arrl.org/contests/> and the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar
<http//www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for
more info. See the
ARRL
Contest Branch page <http//www.arrl.org/contests/> and
the WA7BNM
Contest
Calendar
<http//www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for
more
info.
* ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course
registration:
Registration remains open through Sunday, January 8,
for these ARRL
Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) Program
on-line courses:
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2
(EC-002), Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003), Antenna
Modeling (EC-004),
VHF/UHF Beyond the Repeater (EC-008), Radio Frequency
Propagation
(EC-011)
and HF Digital Communications (EC-005). Classes begin
Friday, January
20. To
learn more, visit the CCE Course Listing page
<http//www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html> or contact the
CCE Department
<cce at arrl.org>.
* WRTC 2006 application deadline extended: The
deadline for
applications to
participate in WRTC 2006
<http//www.wrtc2006.com/html/web/> has been
extended until January 20, 2006. So far, more than 80
participant
applications have been received. WRTC 2006 will take
place July 7-10 in
and
around Florianopolis, Brazil. The global Amateur Radio
contesting
competition is held in conjunction with the
International Amateur Radio
Union (IARU) HF World Championship, although WRTC
rules differ in some
respects from those of the IARU event, and scoring is
separate.
Two-person
teams from all over the globe will compete for gold,
silver and bronze
medals. WRTC stations run 100 W and have comparably
modest antenna
systems--typically a dipole for the low bands and a
triband Yagi for
the
higher bands.
* KB5AVY is winner of third annual Lynch Award: Dr
Roberto Dabdoub,
KB5AVY,
of Metairie, Louisiana, has been named the recipient
of the W. Sandy
Lynch
(W7BX/7J1ABV) Memorial Award. Given annually by the
Tokyo International
Amateur Radio Association (TIARA), founded in 1972,
seeks to exemplify
Lynch's dedication to the hobby and his personality.
For 20 years, Dr
Dabdoub, a native of Honduras, has kept four repeaters
on the air in
the New
Orleans area, and one of them remained working in the
metro area
following
Hurricane Katrina. The repeater was able to stay on
the air because of
the
auxiliary power source at its location, Ochsner Clinic
Foundation.
"There
were many ham radio operators and stations, both on HF
and VHF,
involved in
the response to the Katrina disaster," TIARA President
Steven Herman,
K7USJ/7J1AIL, said in announcing the award winner. "We
want this year's
award to symbolize what a single ham and our so-called
old-fashioned
communications systems can do for the public when
disaster strikes."
TIARA
says Dr. Dabdoub lost his home in the disaster. Just
last year, his
insurance carrier discontinued his policy because of
changes in flood
zone
regulations where he lives near Lake Pontchartrain.
===========================================================
The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each
year, by the
American
Radio Relay League--The National Association For
Amateur Radio--225
Main St,
Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259;
<http//www.arrl.org>. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President.
The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of
essential news of
interest
to active amateurs. The ARRL Letter strives to be
timely, accurate,
concise,
and readable. Visit ARRLWeb <http//www.arrl.org> for
the latest news,
updated as it happens. The ARRL Web site
<http//www.arrl.org/> offers
access
to news, informative features and columns. ARRL Audio
News
<http//www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> is a weekly
"ham radio newscast"
compiled from The ARRL Letter.
Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or
reproduced in whole
or
in part in any form without additional permission.
Credit must be given
to
The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.
==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery
only!):
letter-dlvy at arrl.org
==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist,
N1RL, n1rl at arrl.org
==>ARRL News on the Web: <http//www.arrl.org>
==>ARRL Audio News:
<http//www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> or call
860-594-0384
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--- automatic signature follows...
David Johnson
MCP,MCSE,MCSD,MCDBA,CWS
david at justcalldavid.com
kb5ylg at yahoo.com
---
Emergency and public service communications,
a hobby of myriad facets, an enhancement to any
other hobby: The Amateur Radio Service.
Find out more at http://www.arrl.org
__________________________________________
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