QRZ! Ham Radio 4/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 4.iso/files/arrl/hiram/ltr13n9.txt

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 23KB | 435 lines

The ARRL Letter
Vol. 13, No. 9
May 10, 1994

Telephone interference survey examined; ARRL Lab offers solutions
to problems

     In early March the Federal Communications Commission's Field
Operations Bureau released statistics from a survey of 105 random
cases of telephone interference, saying that since some
telephones are "bulletproof," all of them could be.
     The results of the study were obtained by the ARRL and
reported in May QST.
     The FCC concluded that transmitter power did not seem to be
a significant factor, and found that filters worked only one-
third of the time.
     The FCC said that its own bulletproof telephones were free
of interference "virtually all of the time."
     The FCC did say that, since its survey was done at random,
the results should not "be construed as FCC endorsement or
criticism of any particular manufacturer's product."
     The FCC said that telephone interference filters "cannot be
relied upon to eliminate telephone interference" (emphasis
added), since, in two out of three cases in this survey, they
didn't work.
     ARRL Laboratory Supervisor Ed Hare, KA1CV, spoke to the FCC
about their survey, and was told it was preliminary and not meant
to be conclusive. On May 4 the FCC issued a news release about
the survey, summarizing its findings.
     The FCC's "bullet-proof" telephones were all modified, non-
electronic type, Hare said, and it is much more difficult
(although not impossible) to make modern electronic telephones,
full of active devices, so absolutely immune.
     The bullet-proof telephones also lack the bells and whistles
popular with consumers.
     There are many reasons why telephone filters may work only
"one-third of the time." RF filters are designed to be optimum
over a specific frequency range -- an HF filter installed to
correct an interference problem caused by a VHF station may not
be effective, Hare said.
   Separate filters are often required for telephone lines and
handsets; a handset cord can pick up an RF signal from an HF or
VHF station and some telephones may as a result require the use
of a handset filter.
    Hare emphasized that telephone interference can be cured.
Often, a combination of immune telephones, multiple filters and
troubleshooting techniques is required for a complete solution.
     On the other hand, as the FCC said in its report on the
survey, "...manufacturers can design interference-free
telephones."

FCC seeks comments on UHF reallocations

     The FCC has issued a Notice of Inquiry on reallocation of
spectrum from federal government use (in ET Docket 94-32). 50 MHz
of spectrum would be transferred to private sector use, possibly
as early as this summer. The comment deadline is June 15, 1994.
     The reallocation is called for under the Omnibus
Reconciliation Act of 1993, which requires the Department of
Commerce to identify 200 MHz of spectrum below 5 GHz to be
reallocated within the next 15 years.
     The spectrum identified for immediate reallocation is at
2390 to 2400 MHz, 2402 to 2417 MHz, and 4660 to 4685 MHz.
Amateurs share the first two ranges. The Commission said that
"there are a number of factors associated with existing
allocations of the bands that will affect their potential for
private sector use."
     In response to ARRL initiatives, the NOI said:
     "The 2390-2400 MHz and 2402-2417 MHz bands are in the 2300-
2450 MHz range referred to as the 13 cm band by the amateur
service community. Within this range, the amateur service is
currently allocated a total of 70 MHz on a secondary basis. The
Department of Commerce has identified 35 MHz of this spectrum for
reallocation (25 MHz available immediately).
     "The Department of Commerce expects that the amateur service
community can satisfy the majority of its spectrum requirements
in the remaining 35 MHz. It also believes that current use of the
13 cm band by amateur stations is light compared to use of bands
lower in the spectrum, but notes that use may increase for
amateur-satellite, high-speed computer data links, amateur TV,
and other wide-band applications. The Department of Commerce
states that it excluded the 2400-2402 MHz band from consideration
for reallocation in order to protect existing amateur satellite
operations."
     The FCC requested comment on two specific areas of concern
to amateurs:
     * "Will the recommended reallocation avoid excessive
disruption of existing use of Federal Government frequencies by
amateur service licensees? Is the 2 megahertz segment at 2400-
2402 MHz that the Department of Commerce excluded from
consideration for reallocation sufficient to avoid disrupting
existing amateur-satellite operations?"
     * Will new non-Federal services in these bands be able to
share the spectrum with existing services, especially with
amateur operations in the 2390-2400 MHz and 2402-2417 MHz bands,
and with the fixed-satellite service in the 4660-4685 MHz band?
If yes, what are appropriate technical sharing criteria? What
should be the relative status of users? What effect will existing
users have on competition and on access to new services?"

NEW MOBILE TOOLS FOR FCC INCLUDE 10 COMPUTER CARS

     The Federal Communications Commission is showing off a new
vehicle for investigative work, equipped with two computers, a
color monitor, a mobile phone, and a satellite receiver. The FCC
told the Associated Press it expected to have 10 such cars in
service in metropolitan areas this month, with the goal of
eventually having two such cars for each of the Commission's 35
field offices. The FCC said that businesses and boat operators
are the most likely to operate unlicensed transmitters.
     Meanwhile, in Gettysburg, at the end of April the FCC's
amateur license processing backlog was 10 to 12 weeks. The
Commission has not yet switched to its new computer system, which
will be required for processing the new-style, simplified Form
610, which has been mandatory since March 1.
     And according to Broadcasting and Cable magazine, FCC
Chairman Reed Hundt is asking the Office of Management and Budget
for more money for fiscal 1995, in order to hire more Commission
workers. Hundt said the FCC is running at a "personnel deficit"
of about 500, compared with 1980.

FCC TURNS DOWN PETITIONS FOR CHANGING AMATEUR RULES

     In late April the FCC denied three petitions from amateurs
to change the licensing structure. One petitioner would have
lowered Morse code requirements and two others would have
eliminated the 5 wpm CW examination for the Novice license. The
FCC said that the current amateur license requirements were the
result of Commission proceedings that produced thousands of
comments. "The amateur community indicated on each occasion that
it strongly desires to preserve communications by telegraphy,"
the FCC said.

NEW JERSEY HAM PAYS FINE FOR QRM TO REPEATER

     A New Jersey amateur has paid a fine for interfering with a
New York City repeater. John Lickun, N2MVZ, of Little Falls, New
Jersey, admitted causing malicious interference to repeater
W2SNM, operated by the Manhattan Avenue of the Americas Radio
Club. In July 1993 the FCC's New York Field Office monitored
transmissions determined to be coming from a coffee vending
street stand, and from Lickun. The FCC issued a Notice of
Apparent Liability for $1,000; Lickun apologized for his actions
and paid a reduced fine of $250.

ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE PONDERS A.R. BILLS

     Three bills related to Amateur Radio are currently before
the Illinois legislature, but insiders say only one has much
chance of becoming law this session.
     HB 4180 would ban scanner radios as well as many amateur
rigs from vehicles, and was the brainchild of a local police
force. Legislators are aware of the implications for licensed
amateurs and a future bill would exempt them from any such ban.
But HB 4180 is dead for this session at any rate, sources said.
     HB 3730 cites PRB-1 and would exempt amateurs from most
overly restrictive local covenants on towers and antennas. The
bill's sponsor is a Republican from the northwest Chicago
suburbs. The bill -- as do most current Republican-bills in
Illinois -- languishes.
     One bill that probably will pass is SB 1159, which would
permit Amateur Radio call sign vehicle marker plates on
corporate-registered autos (instead of only those registered to
licensed amateurs).

QST TO MAKE JULY DEBUT ON NATION'S NEWSSTANDS

     Beginning in July, QST will be available at selected
"newsstands" around the US, on an experimental basis. These
newsstand copies will be identical to member copies, except that
their front covers will have a slightly different look, including
"teasers" for stories inside. QST will still be available at
Amateur Radio retail stores.
     NH law exempts antennas from taxes; inspired by $9,000
assessment on ham

     New Hampshire House Bill 1380, recently signed into law by
Governor Steve Merrill, exempts from real estate property taxes
"radio towers, antennas, and related or supporting structures
used exclusively in the operation of an Amateur communications
station under Federal Communications Commission Amateur Radio
Service rules and regulations."
     ARRL Counsel Chris Imlay, N3AKD, called the bill "an
important precedent," saying that it may have far-reaching
effects throughout the US as amateurs continue to seek relief
from local and state regulation.
     ARRL New Hampshire Section Manager Al Shuman, N1FIK, who
played a key role in the passage of the bill, largely credits
ARRL New Hampshire State Government Liaison (and representative
in the state legislature) Ralph Rosen, W1HSB, and a team of ARRL
Field Organization volunteers, who testified numerous times
before both House and Senate committees.
     The matter came to a head when a New Hampshire amateur was
assessed $9000 for his towers and antennas. While he appealed the
assessment in court, Rosen and others initiated the legislation.

Washington Coordinator W1UED bows at Dayton; speaks to
HamVention, accepts its top award

     Perry Williams, W1UED, retired last week as ARRL Washington
Area Coordinator, after 40 years of working at HQ. At the Dayton
HamVention on April 30, Williams accepted the HamVention's 1994
"Amateur of the Year" award. He was nominated by former US
Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, and ARRL Southwestern Division
Director Fried Heyn, WA6WZO.
     Here are excerpts from Williams's speech to the banquet:

     "This assembly tonight is composed of radio amateurs, would-
be radio amateurs  -- and people who have been dragged here by
radio amateurs! We share a fascinating avocation. Never, before
the advent of ham radio -- in all human history -- has the
ordinary person had the opportunity and the means to exchange
views with others in every corner of the world -- and without
paying a tariff to a third party!      And this unique thing,
this Amateur Radio, is worth protecting against all forces. It
must be preserved.
     "I'm a most fortunate man. From time to time in the past
forty years, circumstance has placed me where I could make a
modest contribution to that goal of preservation, and
occasionally of enhancement, of the hobby as well. You, who have
been members of the American Radio Relay League during this span,
deserve credit for preservation of Amateur Radio by providing
this particular circumstance. Individuals alone, even a group of
customers of a book and magazine publisher, couldn't have done
the job.
     "It took interested, active people, people willing to serve
as volunteers in a cause --  in my case, the ARRL -- through
which ham radio has grown and prospered.  Particularly, it took
that special breed of people willing to give up large chunks of
personal time to run for and serve as [ARRL] Officers, Directors,
Vice Directors and Section Managers, as club officers, Emergency
Coordinators, Public Information Officers, Technical Advisors,
Volunteer Counsels -- people who will argue out what policies
will best preserve and enhance, and then do the work necessary.
     "You see, there are some tasks an individual can't handle
alone. The first of our forebears to stand upright and use
language discovered that several hunters working together were
far more successful than the sum of them working alone. With some
hunters waiting in a box canyon and others driving the game into
its walls, the living standard of the group took a giant step
upward -- meat on the table!
     "The principle remains true today. Even with modern
technology, some tasks overwhelm the individual but seem easy
when everyone works together. With assets derived from relatively
small contributions of 170,000 persons, a host of services are
provided to all of Amateur Radio by the American Radio Relay
League. Some of the services, to be sure, are personal, even
inward-looking. But most are not.       Take the Amateur Radio
Emergency Service, for instance. Organizing, training, recruiting
and interconnecting these volunteers is a group effort,
efficiently done by the League. In turn, America and the world
can count on hams to be there whenever an act of God or misstep
of mankind overloads or interrupts the public communications
systems.  This is a major reason the world has tolerated and even
encouraged us. Emergency service is a cornerstone for the
preservation of Amateur Radio.
     "Amateur contributions to technology, too, are by no means
inconsequential. Stuck below 200 meters with what was considered
flea power at the time, amateurs opened up those short waves,
discovering DX with small tube-type transmitters, and gave this
technology to the world.
     "Some folks here tonight may remember Fred Schnell's Navy
cruise in 1925 which proved the utility of short wave to the US
Navy. More will remember Generals Curtis LeMay and Butch
Griswold, in the fifties, installing a Collins amateur sideband
rig on an Air Force plane, and flying it around the globe, all
the time staying in touch with Omaha on voice. Those two hams
solved the Air Force's dilemma: how to stay in touch with an
armada of jet bombers dispersed over the Earth yet too cramped to
carry a radio operator for Morse.
     "The beat goes on: Volunteers in Technical Assistance (Vita)
and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) together have
earned a Pioneer's Preference from the FCC for applying Amateur
Radio technology to the little LEO [low Earth orbit] branch of
the emerging Information Highway.
     "The Bible points out that one doesn't light a candle and
place it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand. If the work
which hams do is kept secret, then no one will appreciate their
usefulness. If the hams are not seen as making a contribution,
their frequency allocations will be fair game for conversion to
another purpose. The light of Amateur Radio must shine brightly,
particularly in Washington. League members have sent me there to
do that for the past 14 years.
     "Initially, I was detailed to both the executive and
legislative branches of the government. Each workload got heavy
enough two years ago to require another hand, so my colleague
Paul Rinaldo is now covering the executive side, and my beat
until yesterday was solely the Congress.
     "Now Congress takes a lot of lumps from people, some of them
well-earned, as when personal peccadilloes get in the way of
statesmanship. But throughout history, the rulers of the people
have always had their bad sides, even David the King,
Constantine, and many rulers with "Saint" in front of their name
or "the Great" after it. Congresspeople collectively, freely
chosen by the people as their leaders, are probably better
behaved than the hereditary rulers, taken as a whole.
     "And you know, senators and representatives do listen to
their constituents! We've had a number of bills to follow in the
past several years -- some we've originated, some imposed on us.
These bills have dealt with spectrum issues, with license and
administrative fees, with call signs of choice. Always, the
messages from home have turned the tide.
     "Congress listens. Beyond that, the course for all of us to
follow is: participate, participate, participate.  Keep ham radio
strong and useful through your membership and activity in the
QCWA, the ARRL, your radio clubs and club councils, your nets and
the groups specializing in your favorite activity or mode. Keep
Congress and the FCC informed of your needs, your desires, and
your activities.
     "Write letters, send faxes, make phone calls. They can't
operate in a vacuum; they need to know what's out there. What's
in the balance is no less than the survival of our thing, Amateur
Radio."

BRIEFS

     * Job opening at HQ: Regulatory Information Branch
Supervisor in the Field Services Department. Needed, a bachelor's
degree, supervisory experience, strong writing and speaking
skills, and strong customer service orientation. Amateur Radio
license required. Salary range, $24,024 to $33,541. Contact FSD
Manager Rick Palm, K1CE.

     * Youngest DXCC? Nine-year-old Casey Haley, AB5RG, received
his certificate in April. Casey, an Extra Class licensee, lives
in South Houston, Texas.

     * No reply from Russia to your QSL? A Moscow newspaper in
April reported the arrest of several mail thieves at the Moscow
Central Post Office. Postal workers were searching bags of mail
for valuables (e.g., currency and International Reply Coupons),
then throwing the mail away.

     * Dr Karl William Edmark, a Seattle heart surgeon who
invented the portable defibrilator, died in April. Although not a
licensed amateur at the time of his death, he held W7IGJ for many
years and said he built the first prototype of his life-saving
device on a card table in his bedroom, in 1954.

     * HQ news: We're about halfway finished hooking up to a new
local area network that will not only better connect HQ employees
but will give them better and faster access into and out of the
building, to the Internet and other needed services. You can send
electronic mail to The ARRL Letter at the following address:
[e-mail]

     * A highlight of the 1994 Dayton HamVention was the ARRL
Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) forum, commemorating 10
years of Amateur Radio from the Space Shuttle. Some 500 attended,
to hear space tales from astronauts Tony England, W0ORE, and
Steve Nagel, N5RAW. Astronaut Ken Cameron, KB5AWP, participated
by telephone from Russia's Star City, where he is on assignment
from NASA.

     * The Houston Amateur Radio Club has disbanded; the club
became ARRL-affiliated in 1919. The club's directors have given
the remains of its accounts to the ARRL Legal Research and
Resource Fund ($11,283), and to the ARRL Foundation to support
scholarships for amateurs in the ARRL West Gulf Division ($3759).

     * The FCC has once again denied a request by Dale Gagnon,
KW1I, for a waiver of transmitter power limits. A year ago the
Commission denied a similar request from Gagnon for higher-power
AM operation.
     The FCC also recently denied a petition for reconsideration
from David Ingram of Mableton, Georgia, who was fined $2500 for
violating citizens band rules, and fined K40 Electronics, Ltd.,
of Warren, Michigan $20,000 for selling non-type accepted CB
equipment, including power amplifiers.

     * The 1994 Microwave Update Conference is scheduled for
September 22 to 24 in Estes Park, Colorado. A lineup of speakers
is already forming, under the direction of Al Ward, WB5LUA, and
Jim Davey, WA8NLC. As usual, the ARRL will publish the
proceedings of the conference.
     More information and a registration form are available from
Bill McCaa, K0RZ, PO Box 3214, Boulder CO 80307, tel (days) 303-
441-3069.

10 years ago in The ARRL Letter

     The FCC suspended the license of a New York Technician class
amateur for allegedly cheating on his General class CW exam
before an FCC examiner. [The man had passed the same test a month
later. He is licensed today, as an Advanced class.]
     Canada's Department of Commerce floated the notion of
removing all HF subband restrictions for amateurs there, in part
in response to "imminent US phone band expansion" on 10, 15, and
20 meters.
     Republican Sen Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, introduced into the
Congressional Record a commendation to the Dayton (Ohio) Amateur
Radio Association for administering the first "large scale" batch
of volunteer examinations. Goldwater also complimented other
volunteer examiner coordinators who were gearing up to begin
exams, saying "The radio amateurs of this nation are once again
demonstrating their dedication and abilities. The taxpayers
benefit by not picking up the tab for amateur examinations, and
the amateurs benefit by having examinations more readily
available and a more direct role in the amateur service."
     The ARRL was still delaying its application to be a VEC
until the matter of reimbursement of expenses for volunteer
examiners was resolved.
     ARRL's Task force on Federal Preemption continued visiting
officials in Washington but most of them "gave little hope of
relief in the near future." (PRB-1 became law in 1985).
     Dayton HamVention attendance was estimated at 21,000 and
"was marked by good weather."

FCC ISSUED CALL SIGN UPDATE

The following is a list of the FCC's most recently issued call signs
as of April 1.

District       Group A        Group B        Group C        Group D
               Extra          Advanced       Tech/Gen       Novice

0              AA0QT          KG0ML           ++            KB0MIQ
1              AA1JB          KD1UG          N1RPQ          KB1BHC
2              AA2RR          KF2UQ          N2YKM          KB2QXV
3              AA3HM          KE3MQ          N3RUC          KB3BBG
4              AD4RD          KR4QD           ++            KE4KXC
5              AB5TP          KJ5WI           ++            KC5GCF
6              AC6BN          KO6AI           ++            KE6GNH
7              AB7BV          KI7XI           ++            KC7BTH
8              AA8ON          KG8HY           ++            KB8SBS
9              AA9KM          KF9UW          N9WPG          KB9IXQ
Hawaii           ++           AH6NF          WH6TE          WH6CRE
Alaska           ++           AL7PP          WL7RN          WL7CHN
Virgin Is.     WP2J           KP2CC          NP2HH          WP2AHU
Puerto Rico      ++           KP4WO           ++            WP4MOC

++All call signs in this group have been issued in this area.

*eof