QRZ! Ham Radio 3/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 3.iso/digests/infoham/931274.txt

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Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 11:12:26 PDT
From: Info-Hams Mailing List and Newsgroup <[e-mail]>
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Subject: Info-Hams Digest V93 #1274
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Info-Hams Digest            Wed, 27 Oct 93       Volume 93 : Issue 1274

Today's Topics:
                           'Vanity' calls.
                         All Azden HT Owners
                            BAUD VS BAUDS
          Casual DX'er needs help on direct QSL'ing (2 msgs)
                        Full Duplex Kids' HT's
                     Kenwood TS-50S Modifications
                       List of CEPT countries?
                             Looking For
                          Oct. QST question
                       Post-1989 map databases?
               Postal Rates, QSLs & Greenstamp -- cont
                   questionable repeater operation
             Questions regarding CTCSS, DTMF ??? (2 msgs)
                          TenTec Century 22
                   TRS Model 100 for RTTY/CW/Packet
          Was 'Vanity' Call Signs, now paying for call signs
                              ZA1QA QSLs

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Archives of past issues of the Info-Hams Digest are available
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We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text
herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official
policies or positions of any party.  Your mileage may vary.  So there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 11:07:25 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: 'Vanity' calls.
To: [e-mail]

Seems odd to me why anyone would be prepared to pay for these. I have always
considered calls to be part of the 'protocol overhead' of ham radio;
they are a tiresome burden we have to accept in order to stay legal. In
reality, they tend to get in the way of 'real communication'.
Maybe someday we will be able to transmit our calls on some subcarrier or
other, complying with the legal requirement to ID, but without needing to
interrupt the data-flow to do so?

       Pete Lucas      [e-mail]     [e-mail]
       Also available on Data, voice and video modes 50MHz and up.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 14:11:22 GMT
From: pacbell.com!att-out!cbnewst![e-mail]
Subject: All Azden HT Owners
To: [e-mail]

Attention all AZDEN AZ-11, AZ-61, & AZ-21A Owners....I recently purchased a
AZ-11 10 meter FM HT. I am pleased with the radio except for one thing.

When using the radio on high power, the receiver takes about 1 second to
fully recover after transmit. When using a local repeater where the signal
is immediately present upon dekeying the transmitter, the signal will fade
back up to a full quieting signal. This peculiar symptom does NOT occur when
the unit is used on low power.

The battery was fully charged during use of the radio. This particular
quirk is somewhat annoying when using carrier squelch as opposed to tone
squelch.

Incidently, Azden does have a factory issued fix to cure a rf feedback
problem which shows up as a receiver oscillation or "Belch" after dekeying the PTT button. This fix was performed on my unit.

I would appreciate any feedback from AZDEN HT users on what your impressions
are about this quirk and how your unit performs.

73,

Stephanie KD2RZ

------------------------------

Date: 26 Oct 1993 22:40:10 -0400
From: swrinde!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hpuerca.atl.hp.com!hpuerca![e-mail]
Subject: BAUD VS BAUDS
To: [e-mail]

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Roy) writes:

>IS THE TERM BAUD LIKE MOST PEOPLE USE OR IS IT BAUDS LIKE THE ARRL FOLKS
>USE?
>Roy

Roy, when you ask, do you mean baud=baud for most and baud=
subset of bps for others, or were you trying to say baud as
in baudy or body ? Unh or did you mean the way LARC uses it
instead of the way ARRL uses it ? Or is this a PC issue I
missed while ready other threads?

OBTW, according to the "Encyclopedia of Computer Science
and Engineering", a baud is a unit of signaling speed and
refers to the number of times the state of the line changes
per second. It is the reciprocal of the h - in seconds-
of the shortest element in the signaling code. By contrast,
a bit is the smallest unit of information in a binary system.
Therefore, the baud rate is equal to the bit rate only if
each signal element represents one bit of information.

it continues:
Unfortunately, in much of today's literature, the terms
"baud" and "bits per second" are used synonymously. This
is correct in cases where pure two-state signaling is used,
but is incorrect in general. For this reason, the term
"baud" is gradually being replaced by "bits per second",
since the latter is independent of the coding method used
and truly represents the information rate.

What a great book! And it shows why some 12 years ago or
so I completely switched to use of bps instead of baud.
Of course, I earned my living as a technical writer back
then :-) Or to pull from another comm book on my shelf:
"Non-technical people seem to use baud when they really
mean bits per second (or else don't know what they mean
at all!

Gee, I've been waiting _forever_ to post on this subject
:-)

Cheers & 73 Ed Humphries N5RCK
Hewlett-Packard North American Response Center
Atlanta GA - [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 20:31:10 GMT
From: pa.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!peavax.mlo.dec.com![e-mail]
Subject: Casual DX'er needs help on direct QSL'ing
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Steve Popovich) writes:

> Speaking of special callsigns, I worked a really weird-looking one
> today.  Can anybody tell me where it is?  I assume that it is in
> Yugoslavia somewhere, too, since their QSL instructions were via
> YU1FW.  The callsign was X5EBL.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 18:28:34 GMT
From: world![e-mail]
Subject: Casual DX'er needs help on direct QSL'ing
To: [e-mail]

[e-mail] (Steve Popovich) writes:

>> According to the information on hand, the QSL route for 4O4D is
>> via YU4FDE.  It's possible that 4O4D IS YU4FDE just using a
>> special callsign.

>Speaking of special callsigns, I worked a really weird-looking one
>today.  Can anybody tell me where it is?  I assume that it is in
>Yugoslavia somewhere, too, since their QSL instructions were via
>YU1FW.  The callsign was X5EBL.  Now, I haven't been able to find an
>X5 prefix in any list that I know about.  There's nothing wrong with
>this guy, is there?  Judging from the pileup that was on top of him,
>nobody else knows where he's operating from, either (so everybody
>wants to work him :-).

A couple of the "X5" stations were identifying themselves as in
the "Serbian Republic". I am deducing that these are
stations in the Serbian-occupied part of Bosnia-Herzegovina which
Serbian nationalists have declared a separate country; and they are
either pirates, or more likely deciding to use their own prefix
(either amongst themselves, or from some kind of local officials)
to deliberately state to the world that they are no longer part of
the nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
.
As far as I've heard, that prefix was not properly assigned to anyone
in Bosnia; nor is there any international body that recognizes the
legal authority of Serbian nationalists to either govern or issue
operating permission on any of the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The proper and legal prefix for B-H remains T9.

If they are in Serbia proper, as far as I know X5 was never awarded
properly to any part of Yugoslavia.

Perhaps someone else has more information on this?

73, Sharon KC1YR
--
electronic address: [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 16:36:11 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Full Duplex Kids' HT's
To: [e-mail]

i look at the catalog i have just received from Tiger Software.  on Page 5
they offer the Sony ICB-1500 "My First Sony Walkie Talkie Set".

Price is $49.90.

Anyone know what's in these?  They aren't the typical 49 MHz kids walkie
talkies.  the full duplex part is interesting.  maybe something convertible to
amateur radio use?


bill wb9ivr

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 10:18:02 +1000
From: munnari.oz.au!bruce.cs.monash.edu.au!monu6!vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au![e-mail]
Subject: Kenwood TS-50S Modifications
To: [e-mail]

I need some information on modifications on the Kenwood TS-50 HF radio for
extended coverage..

Jim Maramis

email to -:
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 1993 07:37:43 GMT
From: munnari.oz.au!comp.vuw.ac.nz!newshost.wcc.govt.nz![e-mail]
Subject: List of CEPT countries?
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Jack Hamilton) writes:
>Does anyone have a list of countries which honor CEPT licenses?
 Some non-European countries honor the licenses, but
>I don't know which, and I'd like to.-
>Jack Hamilton            POB 281107 SF CA 94128  USA
>[e-mail]           kd6ttl@w6pw.#nocal.ca.us.na

Hi Jack!
Good news is that New Zealand honours The CEPT Licenses.
Also If you are a licesnsed Amateur, the Authorities here will
allow you to operate a handheld rig on 2metres and above for
(I think six weeks) without any fee or even applicatio as a
visitor,.
We would love to see you down here in the South Pacific!!
Regards es 73

David Andrews ZL2SX
Chairman Frequency Management Group NZART.

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 12:12:50 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Looking For
To: [e-mail]

I am looking for a Central Electronics Transmitter model 100V
- hopefully in some sort of decent working order.

                                           thanks
                                           Art Hall (WB3EJA)
                                           [e-mail]

.



--
Login name: ahall        In real life: Art A. Hall
Office:  Biomedical, (508)8563758
Directory: /resh/ahall

------------------------------

Date: 26 Oct 93 15:48:36 EST
From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!bgsuvax!uoft02.utoledo.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Oct. QST question
To: [e-mail]

After reading the article  titled Schematics at your Fingertips in the OCT QST,
i tried to d/l the picture lib. from the aRRL bbs.  I have used my 14.2Kbaud
modem for hundreds of applications in the past, but when I connected to the bbs
at 14.2k and 9600, my transfer rate dropped down to 320 bytes/sec.  The line
was clear as the problem only occured when I tried to d/l.  Rather than
wasting more long dist. to the bbs, does anyone else have the following files
mentioned in QST?  Are they outthere for ftp??  If you respond, can you do so
directly?? your site wipes the posts every 2 days and I have to call long dist
to get in to my account, so I dial in twice a week.

The files are: ANTSYS.PCX
  RC.PCX
  CIRCUITS.PCX
  TRANSLOG.PCX

Thanks in advance,
Tony
+-----------------------------------------------+
|Tony Schliesser, N8XJA                         |
|Internet: [e-mail]           |
| AMPRNET: [e-mail]                 |
+-----------------------------------------------+

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 16:17:57 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Post-1989 map databases?
To: [e-mail]

I would like to update my database of coastline + political
boundaries to reflect the changes that have occurred since about
1989 - mainly in Eurpoe.  I already have the old CIA, WDB, etc.
databases but they are now outdated (for example, the USSR is one
big blob).  I mainly want CIS boundaries.

Does anyone out there know where I might find the data that I'm looking
for?

Mike Owen W9IP

************************************************************************
Michael R. Owen, Ph.D.                        a.k.a.: W9IP
Department of Geology                         Northern Lights Software
St. Lawrence University                       Star Route, Box 60
Canton, NY  13617                             Canton, NY  13617
[phone]             -  voice  -        [phone] (6-9pm)
e-mail: MOWE@SLUMUS            FAX   -        [phone]
************************************************************************

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 14:06:54 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Postal Rates, QSLs & Greenstamp -- cont
To: [e-mail]

 First I would like to thank everyone that has sent information
 to me already.  What started out as what I though to be a useful
 exercise has now become a very interesting problem.  As with
 any interesting problems I need more data :-).

 To make the table useful to everyone I will need to know the
 rates for airmail for different zones (i.e. same continent
 vs. different continent).  As an example Japan has three zones;
 the first for Asia the second for NA and the third for Eu.
 The rates for each zone are different.

 The next item is what will your postal system exchange for
 one IRC?  Is it enough for airmail postage to anywhere in
 the world?

 The last item is how many QSLs can you mail for one unit of
 postage.  The US's unit of postage is 1 oz which is good for
 several QSL cards (I will go to the post office today and
 check).  This would be useful if you have several different
 cards going to the same manager.

 Once again thanks for all your input and I hope to have the
 information compiled by next week.

  73 -- marty -- nr3z           [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 1993 15:09:43 GMT
From: nothing.ucsd.edu![e-mail]
Subject: questionable repeater operation
To: [e-mail]

Are you sure there's no receiver?  If you were to tune across one of the
repeaters I built a while back, you'd probably assume there's no
receiver either, because the system is DPL'ed.  That means that you need
a CDCSS encoder, not CTSS/PL to access it.  DPL is real common in
surplus commercial radios, but I've never seen it available in a
ham-band-only radio.
 - Brian

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 03:09:59 GMT
From: ogicse!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Questions regarding CTCSS, DTMF ???
To: [e-mail]

>>What is DTMS squelch and DTMF paging?
>
>DTMF stands for Dual Tone Multi Access, the ordinary telephone
>touchtones, or TT, that are used for dialing a number.

DTMF is Dual Tone Multiple Frequency.

Kris, AA5UO

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 15:50:30 GMT
From: spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!emory!rsiatl!ke4zv![e-mail]
Subject: Questions regarding CTCSS, DTMF ???
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Peter M. Miller) writes:
>
>I am new to Ham Radio and I am looking to buy my first HT.  I am coming across
>many terms with which I am not familiar.
>
>What is CTCSS?  I see ads saying the unit has CTCSS encode/decode options.

CTCSS is the generic term for Continous Tone Coded Squelch System. This
is a "subaudible" tone mechanism for controlling receiver squelch. The
tones aren't really subaudible, being in the 50-150 Hz range, but most
rigs have a low frequency response limit around 300 Hz, and some have
specific filters to remove the tone from the output. Anyway, the presence
of the proper tone on an incoming signal is detected by the CTCSS decoder
and your receiver squelch is opened. The reason that this is preferred
to ordinary carrier presence detection as squelch control is that the
tone identifies the signal as a desired signal as opposed to channel
crud. This is really important in metro areas where intermod can generate
tons of crud in your receiver that prevent the carrier squelch from
operating correctly. Many repeater systems require a CTCSS tone be
present in order to access the repeater. And many repeaters also output
a tone to make monitoring less painful. So encode and decode capability
in a radio are very useful. Motorola calls the system by the trade name
Private Line or PL, and GE called their system Channel Guard, or CG,
but they're all the same thing.

>What is DTMS squelch and DTMF paging?

DTMF stands for Dual Tone Multi Access, the ordinary telephone
touchtones, or TT, that are used for dialing a number. Nearly
all amateur HTs have a TT pad and a few also have a TT decoder
that will open the squelch on reception of a 3 digit TT sequence.
This is DTMF paging. Also, most repeaters respond to TT commands
for access to special features such as an autopatch interface to
the telephone network.

>What are the advantages/disadvantages to these options as I consider an HT?

You will want CTCSS encode/decode capability for repeater access in many
areas, and you'll want a TT pad to allow control of repeater functions.
DTMF paging is less useful. Many repeaters automatically mute their output
audio while receiving TT so paging through a repeater usually doesn't
work. Paging via simplex should work, but it's an unusual way of operating.

>Right now I seem to like the Kenwood TH-78A.  Any other recommendations?

I'll bite my tongue and avoid my usual anti-Kenwood tirade. :-)
My preference is for the Yaseu HTs, particularly the FT-470,
but Alinco, Icom, and Standard all have desirable units.
Some of the characteristics you want to give high precedence
are ruggedness, the Icom G series is champ but some of the others
are good, battery life, the Yaesu save function is the most flexible,
freedom from intermod, none really offer this but some are
definitely better than others, a user friendly interface, the
FT-470 really shines here, and a reasonable price, the Alinco
is champ of the bottom dollar contest.  The TH-78 doesn't
win in any of these comparisons.

Gary
--
Gary Coffman KE4ZV          |"If 10% is good enough | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
Destructive Testing Systems | for Jesus, it's good  | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
534 Shannon Way             | enough for Uncle Sam."| emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary
Lawrenceville, GA 30244     | -Ray Stevens          |

------------------------------

Date: 26 Oct 93 15:22:36 GMT
From: auratek![e-mail]
Subject: TenTec Century 22
To: [e-mail]

I have found them to be quite commonly available. Was at at flea market 2
weeks ago and saw 3 for sale. Asking prices were in the $110 to $175 range
depending on accessories.

Ed W1AAZ

------------------------------

Date: 27 Oct 93 18:00:12 GMT
From: news.crd.ge.com!NewsWatcher![e-mail]
Subject: TRS Model 100 for RTTY/CW/Packet
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(mark.a.mccuistion) wrote:

>
> Has anyone used a TRS Model 100 to interpret radio signals like
> RTTY, CW or Packet?
>
> Specifically, it occured to us that the Cassette port could decode
> and encode digitial signals at the low baud rates typical of RTTY
> or packet that we could plug the rig directly in withOUT a TNC.
>
> Love to hear any suggestions or success stories.
>
> --Mark KB2els

I'm just getting into HAM and also would like to hear abything about his.

I have a friend who is into this sort of thing BIG time (extra class HAM,
several base, mobile, and had rigs).  I'll ask him for some pointers.

BTW: He works at Radio Shack.  He sold me the Model 100!

Scott

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 17:23:31 GMT
From: haven.umd.edu!news.umbc.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!sgiblab!news.kpc.com!amd!netcomsv!netcom.com!netcom![e-mail]
Subject: Was 'Vanity' Call Signs, now paying for call signs
To: [e-mail]

The only valid objection to paying for licensing services from the FCC
that I've heard is that young people will be discouraged by one more
financial barrier to getting and keeping a license.
I think a fee for the license, that goes into the general fund (FCC
expenses come out of the general fund) is a perfectly reasonable
thing.  It alos gives us a slight advantage in that we can then state
that we're not getting a complete free ride.  How many other countries
have free licensing?  I know that the UK license is pretty expensive.
How about others?

73, doug

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 11:44:56 GMT
From: library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!TAMUTS.TAMU.EDU!news.utdallas.edu!corpgate!nrtpa038!bnr.ca![e-mail]
Subject: ZA1QA QSLs
To: [e-mail]

Don't know anyone personally who hasn't received their QSLs.  I received
mine in a reasonable amount of time.  Gee it's been more than a year ago
now.  I have Albania confirmed on all bands except 160 now.  Before
ZA1A that was unheard of.

OH excuse me when I say all bands I mean 160M through 10M.  These are the
bands I work.

****************************************************************************
* Alan Harp K4PB     *     Bell-Northern Research      *   CW FOREVER      *
* mail: [e-mail]  *   Research Triangle Park, NC    *                   *
****************************************************************************

------------------------------

Date: (null)
From: (null)
It's possible that they won't count for any DXCC country.

73 - Jim AD1C

--
Jim Reisert AD1C                Internet:  [e-mail]
Digital Equipment Corp.         UUCP:      ...decwrl!mlo.dec.com!reisert
146 Main Street - MLO3-6/C9 Voice:     508-493-5747
Maynard, MA  01754  FAX:       [phone]

------------------------------

End of Info-Hams Digest V93 #1274
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