QRZ! Ham Radio 4/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 4.iso/files/arrl/hiram/ltr13n8.txt

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 17KB | 366 lines

The ARRL Letter
Vol. 13, No. 8
April 26, 1994

New message-forwarding rules begin June 1

     The FCC on April 13 released its Report and Order in PR
Docket 93-85, regarding messages relayed by amateur high
speed networks. The new rules, effective June 1, 1994, will
establish what the FCC calls "a compliance policy for
amateur stations participating in automatic message-
forwarding systems."
     The new rules relieve most station operators in such
networks of responsibility for the content of the messages
relayed by their stations. Under current rules, all
licensees in a chain of forwarding stations are responsible
for message content.
     Originators of messages continue to be responsible for
their content, and the first forwarding stations are
responsible either for the content of the message or for
verifying the identity of the originator.
     The new rules also will relieve repeater control
operators of responsibility for inadvertent retransmission
of communications that violate the rules. All operators
remain responsible for discontinuing communications that
violate the rules as soon as they become aware of their
presence.
     Here are the exact wording changes in FCC Rules Part
97:

97.3 Definitions.

     (7) Auxiliary stations. An amateur station, other than
in a message forwarding system, that is transmitting
communications point-to-point within a system of cooperating
amateur stations.
     (28) Message forwarding system. A group of amateur
stations participating in a voluntary, cooperative,
interactive arrangement where communications are sent from
the control operator of an originating station to the
control operator of one or more destination stations by one
or more forwarding stations.
     (36) Repeater. An amateur station that simultaneously
retransmits the transmission of another amateur station on a
different channel or channels.

97.109 Station control.

     (e) No station may be automatically controlled while
transmitting third party communications, except a station
participating as a forwarding station in a message
forwarding system.

97.205 Repeater station.

     (g) The control operator of a repeater that retransmits
inadvertently communications that violate the rules in this
Part is not accountable for the violative communications.

97.219 Message forwarding system.

     [Section 97.216 is redesignated Section 97.217]

     (a) Any amateur station may participate in a message
forwarding system, subject to the privileges of the class of
operator license held.
     (b) For stations participating in a message forwarding
system, the control operator of the station originating a
message is primarily accountable for any violation of the
rules in this Part contained in the message.
     (c) Except as noted in paragraph (d) of this section,
for stations participating in a message forwarding system,
the control operators of forwarding stations that retransmit
inadvertently communications that violate the rules in this
Part are not accountable for the violative communications.
They are, however, responsible for discontinuing such
communications once they become aware of their presence.
     (d) For stations participating in a message forwarding
system, the control operator of the first forwarding station
must:
     (1) Authenticate the identity of the station from which
it accepts communications on behalf of the system; or
     (2) Accept accountability for any violation of the
rules in this Part contained in messages it retransmits to
the system.

League seeks tighter club license standards

     The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to increase the minimum
number of members necessary for granting a club station
license from two to four.  The FCC has designated the
petition RM-8462.
     The League said that the FCC's 1993 notice of proposed
rule making to reinstitute club licensing makes this an
issue whose time has come.
     In 1990, the League, as part of a petition for rule
making seeking miscellaneous changes in the Amateur Service
Rules, proposed the same change. At that time, no club
station licenses were being issued, but the League said that
if that program was resumed, the two-person criteria would
invite applications from parties that are not clubs, such as
two or three licensees simply wanting an alternative call
sign.
     The FCC at that time declined to change the criteria,
since new club licenses were not being issued.
     The League said that the two-person criterion is
insufficient to distinguish bona fide clubs -- which should
be encouraged and provided the identity of a separate
license and call sign -- from two or three individuals who
do not function as a normal Amateur Radio club.
     The League said, by way of example, that of 1,957
Amateur Radio clubs that are ARRL-affiliated, only 10 have
fewer than four members.
     Until 1976, the FCC required an application for a club
station license to file copies of the club's constitution
and bylaws, which helped ensure that the club was bona fide.
     The FCC has not issued club station licenses since
1979.

LEAGUE'S CALL SIGN COMMENTS MIRROR PANEL'S RECOMMENDATIONS

     The ARRL has filed comments on the FCC's proposal, in
PR Docket 93-305, to establish a "vanity" call sign program
for amateurs, consistent with the recommendations of its ad
hoc committee on the subject, as reported in the April 13
The ARRL Letter.
     The League emphasized that an orderly assignment system
is vital to ensuring as much fairness as possible in the
issuing of such call signs, and to that end proposed a
series of four steps, or "gates" (as described in the
previous issue), under which applications would be accepted.
Once each gate opens, it would never close.
     The ARRL said that a one-time application fee for a
vanity call sign was preferred to an annual fee, since the
processing takes place only once, and that an "up-front" fee
would discourage frivolous, frequent requests for new call
signs.
     The League's comments also asked that those seeking a
call sign formerly held, or the call sign of a deceased
family member, not be bound by another recommendation --
that call signs be issued only in the call area where the
licensee lives.
     The League also recommended that call signs of "well-
known and highly regarded" amateurs in general not be
"retired," since there was no fair way to determine where to
draw the line, and any list of retired call signs was bound
to become unreasonably large. Two possible ways in which a
call sign might in essence be "retired" would be its
issuance, upon application, to a club or to a direct family
member.
     Details will appear in June QST.

W6KG-ARRL FUND AIMED TO FOSTER GOOD WILL

     When Lloyd Colvin, W6KG, died last December, the League
became the beneficiary of the proceeds of a life insurance
policy on Mr. Colvin. The proceeds, more than $150,000, will
now fund an endowment, the income from which will be used to
further the strengthening of international friendship
through DXing.
     ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, said
"During his lifetime, W6KG made great personal contributions
to international friendship through Amateur Radio in his
visits to more than 150 countries with his wife Iris Colvin,
W6QL. Through the Colvin Award, the League will proudly
continue those contributions."
     Announcement of the Colvin Fund was made at the
International DX Convention in Visalia, California, on April
16. Details of the administration of the endowment have not
yet been worked out.

HAMVENTION FORUM TO FEATURE HAM-ASTRONAUTS W0ORE, N5RAW

     A space forum at the Dayton HamVention will feature two
NASA shuttle astronaut-hams, Tony England, W0ORE, and Steve
Nagel, N5RAW. The forum will commemorate 10 years of Amateur
Radio aboard the shuttles, which began with the flight of
Owen Garriott, W5LFL, in November 1983.
     Tony England flew on the second ham radio mission, in
1985, while Steve Nagel, a veteran of several shuttle
flights, most recently commanded shuttle flight STS-55, in
1993. The two will describe their Amateur Radio experiences
from space and answer questions.
     Also at the forum will be members of the ARRL SAREX
Working Group, including ARRL Educational Activities Manager
Rosalie White, WA1STO, and Roy Neal, K6DUE, a principal
coordinator of the shuttle Amateur Radio project.
     The forum is scheduled for 1 PM on Saturday, April 30,
in Forum Room 5 at Hara Arena.

NEW COMMUNICATIONS PACT LINKS ARRL VOLUNTEERS,
AMERICAN RED CROSS

     On April 1, 1994, the ARRL and the American National
Red Cross signed a new Statement of Understanding, to lay
out how Amateur Radio volunteers -- including members of the
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the ARRL National
Traffic System (NTS) -- can assist the Red Cross in disaster
communication.
     The League and the Red Cross have had such agreements
since 1940; the new agreement replaces one in effect since
1974, and defines "disasters," acknowledges the Red Cross's
recognition of the volunteer ARRL field organization for its
"emergency communications readiness." acknowledges the
ARRL's recognition of the Red Cross, and specifies the ways
in which the two organizations will cooperate.
     According to ARRL Field Services Manager Rick Palm,
K1CE, the new agreement differs from earlier agreements in
two major ways. It promotes closer working relationships
between ARRL ARES and NTS volunteers and the Red Cross on
the local level, and it calls for the development of
specific guidelines for the handling of health-and-welfare
traffic and inquiries during and after disasters.
     The agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., by ARRL
President George S. Wilson III, W4OYI, and American Red
Cross Senior Vice President William H. Reno.

FCC VIEWS ARRL-VEC FIGURES

     The ARRL has responded to an FCC request for
information about the ARRL-VEC's reimbursement fees. The FCC
made the request of several VECs late last year and the
League provided the information when an independent
accounting firm had completed its yearly audit of the
League's finances in March.
     As reported to the FCC, the ARRL-VEC finished 1993 with
expenses of $184,821 above and beyond those offset by
examination fees collected. This amount is far greater than
the amount of revenue the ARRL-VEC does not receive as the
result of its policy not to charge for Examination Elements
1(A) or 2 (the two portions of the Novice examination, Morse
code and written).

TWO COUNTRIES NEAR DELETION; PRATIS BACK ON DXAC AGENDA

     The ARRL DX Advisory Committee has unanimously
recommended that two DXCC countries be deleted: Walvis Bay,
ZS9, and Penguin Islands, ZS0 and ZS1. The DXAC concluded
that following their turnover to Namibia by South Africa,
these island groups no longer met the DXCC criteria for
country status. The recommendation has been sent to the ARRL
Awards Committee, with a suggested effective date of March
1, 1994.
     The DXAC voted down (13 to 2, with one abstention) a
proposal to add additional single band awards to the DXCC
program, and also, by 15 to 1 rejected a proposal to add a
10-Meter DXCC Honor Roll.
     Finally, on the matter of Pratas Island, correspondence
with Dr. Bolon Lin, BV5AF, of the Chinese Taipei Amateur
Radio League, continues, but a vote on DXCC country status
for Pratas has not yet been scheduled.

US, RUSSIAN SPACE AMATEURS LINK ON 2-METER BAND

     On April 13, Amateur Radio linked the Russian space
station Mir with the orbiting US space shuttle Endeavour.
     By two meters, Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov,
U3MIR, contacted Rita Iaquinto, VK3CFI, in Melbourne,
Australia, while Astronaut Jay Apt, N5QWL, hooked up with
Graham Ratcliff, VK5AGR, in Adelaide.
     The Australians then used a telephone link to connect
the two spacecraft as both passed over Australia, at 5:36 PM
Australia time.
     The shuttle-Mir contact was arranged by the Shuttle
Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX). The SAREX payload has
flown on 12 previous shuttle flights, providing school
children, ham operators and astronaut families with the
unique opportunity to speak with shuttle astronauts by ham
radio.
     Polyakov ended his communication by wishing Apt, and
the entire crew aboard Endeavour, a safe return home. The
shuttle landed safely on Wednesday, April 20, in California,
two days late because of bad weather.

ARRL meets teachers at two science conventions Events expose
thousands to Amateur Radio

     Again this year, the ARRL Educational Activities
Department hosted a booth at the International Technology
Education Association Conference, held March 22 and 23 in
Kansas City, Missouri. 2,600 attended and had the
opportunity to be exposed to the possible uses of Amateur
Radio in the classroom. More than 400 educators asked for
more information on becoming licensed and on how to
integrate ham radio -- including the Shuttle Amateur Radio
Experiment (SAREX) -- into their curricula.
     The ARRL was represented by Midwest Division Director
Lew Gordon, K4VX, his wife Terry Gordon, NS0Z (a retired
school teacher), and EAD staffer Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R.
     A special visitor to the ARRL booth was astronaut Story
Musgrave, a veteran of five spaceflights, including the
recent Hubble Telescope repair mission. His special interest
in technology education drew him to this year's event,
Inderbitzen said.
     Amateur Radio educator Gil Huggins, KD4HDW, of Seneca,
South Carolina, spoke about the NASA NEWMAST program, a two-
week summer workshop for middle and high school math,
science and technology teachers. Huggins is himself a
NEWMAST alumnus, and his school was recently chosen to
participate in SAREX activities for an upcoming shuttle
flight in July.
     Inderbitzen's next stop was at the National Science
Teachers Association (NSTA) National Convention held March
30 to April 2 in Anaheim, California.
     Called the world's largest gathering of science
educators, this year's NSTA convention drew 15,199 people;
NSTA has 47,784 members. Each year, NASA invites ARRL to
exhibit with their Aerospace Education Services specialists
at the convention. ARRL's booth was nestled near exhibits of
the Hubble Space Telescope, Mission to Mars, and other NASA
education programs.
     Other amateurs attending, in addition to Inderbitzen,
included Bob Maurais, KC1IV (1992 ARRL Professional Teacher
of the Year), and EAD staffer Tracy Bedlack, N1QDO.
     Among those visiting the ARRL booth were Frank
Forrester, KI6YG, and NASA Teacher-in-Space designee Barbara
Morgan; both are educators from schools that have
participated in SAREX.
     Among those helping ARRL staff at the booth were
Southwest Division Vice Director Art Goddard, W6XD, and
Southwest Division Director Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, and his wife
Sandi, WA6WZN (Orange Section Affiliated Club Coordinator).

UKRAINE JOINS IARU

     The Ukrainian Amateur Radio League is the newest member
society of the International Amateur Radio Union.  President
of the UARL and its IARU liaison is Nickolai Gostry, UT5UT;
secretary is George A. Chlijanc, UY5XE.
     The Union of Radio Amateurs of Russia (SRR) has applied
for IARU membership.
     The address for the UARL QSL bureau is PO Box 56, Kiev
252001 Ukraine.
     The IARU now has 140 societies.

10 years ago in The ARRL Letter

     The big news continues to be the fledgling volunteer
examiner program, with the ARRL pressing the FCC to allow
reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses by both volunteer
examiners and volunteer examiner coordinators. The League
says that the rules changes it proposed simply reflect
Congressional mandates of the FCC Authorization Act of 1983,
and that reimbursement is crucial to the long-term health of
any volunteer program.
     The ARRL continues to hold back its own application to
be a volunteer examiner coordinator, until the matter is
settled.
     Top Band is the subject of petitions to the FCC; they
seek CW-only subbands in addition to removal of power
restrictions (which already had been done). The FCC
dismisses the petitions.
     Hams are active in the wake of tornadoes in
Mississippi, assisting Civil Defense and the National
Weather Service, three San Diego amateurs are ordered to
show cause why their licenses should not be revoked in
connection with interference to local repeaters, the CBS
Evening News shows a man listening to a cordless telephone
conversation on an amateur HF transceiver, and ARRL
President Larry Price, W4RA, and International Affairs Vice
President Dick Baldwin, W1RU, return from a "very worthwhile
trip" to an IARU Region 1 conference in Sicily.

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