QRZ! Ham Radio 5/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 5.iso/digests/infoham/940426.txt

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Date: Sun, 17 Apr 94 04:30:01 PDT
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Subject: Info-Hams Digest V94 #426
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Info-Hams Digest            Sun, 17 Apr 94       Volume 94 : Issue  426

Today's Topics:
                Amateur Radio Newsline #870  15 Apr 94

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We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text
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policies or positions of any party.  Your mileage may vary.  So there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 16 Apr 1994 15:21:34 MDT
From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!cyber2.cyberstore.ca!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!alberta!adec23!ve6mgs![e-mail]
Subject: Amateur Radio Newsline #870  15 Apr 94
To: [e-mail]

The electronic publication of the Amateur Radio Newsline is distributed
with the permission of Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, President and Editor of
Newsline.  The text version is edited from the original scripts and
transcribed from the audio reports by Dale Cary, WD0AKO, and is first
published in The Radio & Electronics Round Table on the Genie Online
System.

If you have any comment, suggestion, or news item you would like to submit,
send them via E-Mail to [e-mail] or [e-mail].
You can contact Newsline at [phone].  It is a combination answering
and FAX machine, if you have a FAX to send, wait for the voice prompt and
press your fax-send button.

All other information and disclaimers are in the text header below.
 - - - - -

 NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #120 - POSTED 04/16/94

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 (*                *   * *   * ****  *****  ***                 *)
 (*                                                             *)
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    The following is late news about Amateur Radio for Radio
 Amateurs as prepared from NEWSLINE RADIO scripts by the staff of
 the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, INC. -- formerly the WESTLINK RADIO
 NETWORK.  For current information updates, please call

                     Audio Version of Newsline
                     =========================
      Los Angeles............................ [phone]
      Los Angeles (Instant Update Line)...... [phone]
      Seattle................................ [phone]
      Seattle................................ [phone]
      Tacoma................................. [phone]
      Louisville............................. [phone]
      Dayton................................. [phone]
      Chicago................................ [phone]
      New York City.......................... [phone]
      Melbourne, FL.......................... [phone]

              Electronic Hardcopy Version of Newsline
              =======================================
      GEnie (RTC Bulletin Board)............. m345;1
      GEnie (File Library)................... m345;3
      Dallas Remote Imaging BBS (DRIG)....... [phone]
        In bulletin number 36
      The Midwest Connection BBS............. [phone]
        In bulletin number 6 of the ham radio conference
      Delphi.................................
        In the ham radio conference
      Internet...............................
        In the rec.radio.info newsgroup
        FTP: oak.oakland.edu, file: pub/hamradio/docs/newsline
      Fidonet, RIME, Intellec, I-Link........
        In the Ham Radio conference of those networks

    For the latest breaking info call the Instant Update Line listed
 above.  To provide information please call [phone].  This
 line answers automatically and will accept up to 30 minutes of
 material.

    Check with your local amateur radio club to see if NEWSLINE
 can be heard weekly on the air in your area.

    Articles may be reproduced if printed in their entirety and
 credit is given to AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE as being the source.

    For further information about the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE,
 please write to us with an SASE at P.O. Box 463, Pasadena, CA
 91102.

                                              Thank You
                                              NEWSLINE

 *****************************************************************

 Some of the hams of NEWSLINE RADIO...

 WA6ITF WB6MQV WB6FDF K6DUE W6RCL N6AHU N6AWE N6TCQ K6PGX N6PNY
 KU8R N8DTN W9JUV KC9RP K9XI KB5KCH KC5UD KC0HF G8AUU WD0AKO DJ0QN
 and many others in the United States and around the globe!!!

 *****************************************************************

 [870]

 (* * *    C L O S E D   C I R C U I T   A D V I S O R Y     * * *
 (*                                                              *
 (*     According to Newsline Support Fund administrator Norm    *
 (*  Chalfin, K6PGX, the funds needed to keep Newsline in        *
 (*  operation are once again low.  According to Norm, it now    *
 (*  costs a bit over $850 a month to pay the telecommunications *
 (*  and equipment supply bills.  That's up over $150 from the   *
 (*  same time last year.                                        *
 (*     For those of you unaware, Newsline pays the cost of      *
 (*  three telephones including the one used for news gathering. *
 (*  We also pay for several electronic news and information     *
 (*  services, we pay for electronic mail, for raw tape stock    *
 (*  and the cost of repairing and updating our production       *
 (*  facilities.                                                 *
 (*     Right now, Newsline has enough funds to carry it through *
 (*  to the end of April, but that's it.  Therefore we are once  *
 (*  again appealing to all of our listeners to assist in any    *
 (*  way that you can so that Newsline can continue to being     *
 (*  you these weekly ham radio news bulletins.  Our address is  *
 (*  the Newsline Support Fund, Post Office Box 463, Pasadena,   *
 (*  CA 91102.                                                   *
 (*     Again, and as always, we thank you for your ongoing      *
 (*  interest and support.  That ends the closed circuit         *
 (*  advisory with Newsline report number 868 for release on     *
 (*  Friday, April 15, 1994.                                     *
 (*                                                              *
 (* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                      The Following is a QST

    The ARRL looses the first round in its advertising feud with
 the Lambda Amateur Radio Club, the FCC eases the rules on
 automatic digital communications and more license downgrades may
 be on their way in California.  These stories and more on
 Newsline report number 870 coming your way right now!

 (*****
                         LAMBDA vs. ARRL

    The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities
 has announced that it has reasonable cause to believe that the
 American Radio Relay League has discriminated against a gay ham
 radio club.  This, when the League refused to publish the gay
 club's notices in the classified advertising section of its QST
 Magazine.
    In a March 18th initial decision on litigation brought by the
 LAMBDA Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Commission affirmed
 the case investigator's finding that ARRL's refusal to publish
 the LAMBDA Amateur Radio Club ad was motivated by the club
 member's sexual orientation.  The hearing board refused to accept
 the Leagues defense that it excluded the ad because the group is
 issue oriented.  It was noted that while the ARRL has refused to
 publish LARC's ad for nearly ten years, it has continued to
 publish classified advertisements for other ham radio clubs
 including Jehovah's Witnesses, missionaries and animal rights
 groups.   The Commission held that the issue in this instance is
 clearly the fact that LARC's members identify themselves as being
 Gay.
    LAMBDA President Jim Kelly, KK3K has issued a statement saying
 that in his view the time has come for responsible individuals at
 the ARRL to publicly acknowledge the unfairness of their past
 practices, adopt and publish a non-discrimination policy which
 includes sexual orientation, and to work with LARC in the spirit
 of cooperation and good will which has always characterized the
 amateur radio service.
    There has been no comment on the Commission finding nor any
 response to Kelly from the ARRL or its legal staff.  None is
 expected until after a full hearing on the case that is now
 scheduled for sometime in June and any appeals that will most
 certainly follow, no matter which side is victorious in the
 hearing room.

 (*****
      COMMISSION AMENDS RULES CONCERNING MESSAGE FORWARDING

    The FCC has relaxed the amateur service rules to enable
 modern message forwarding systems to operate at hundreds of
 characters per second while retaining safeguards to prevent
 misuse.
    To the FCC, a message forwarding system is a group of
 amateur stations participating in a voluntary, cooperative,
 interactive arrangement.  Under such a plan the communications
 from the control operator of an originating station are
 transmitted to one or more destination stations via forwarding
 stations, which may or may not be automatically controlled.
    Currently, the control operator of each station is held
 individually accountable for each message retransmitted,
 resulting in unnecessary content review and delays.  In a filing
 on the matter, the American Relay League stated that the
 obligation of the control operator of the first forwarding
 station should be the establishment of the identity of the
 station originating the message.  Only when this is not done
 should these control operators be held accountable for improper
 message content.
    Also, there is currently no central supervisory authority in
 an ad hoc amateur service digital network, making these
 unsupervised systems easy targets for misuse by uncooperative
 operators and non-licensees.  The Commission says that it could
 be difficult to establish after the fact that a particular VHF
 station originated a fleeting high speed digital transmission.
 For these reasons, the Commission said there must be on-going
 oversight of the system and the control operators of the first
 forwarding stations are in the best position to exercise such
 control.
    The Commission also clarified that the station that receives
 a communication directly from the originating station and
 introduces it into the message forwarding system is the first
 forwarding station.
    Additionally, the ARRL and the Colorado Council of Amateur
 Radio Clubs suggested that the Commission substitute the word
 "simultaneously" for "instantaneously" in the redefinition
 of a repeater.  The Commission concurred and adopted this
 modification.
    The FCC says that these rule changes will enable contemporary
 high speed message forwarding systems to operate as their
 designers intended, while retaining the minimum safeguards
 necessary to prevent misuse.  The action to amend the rules took
 place on March 30th by Report and Order.  No effective date for
 the new rules to take effect has yet been announced.

 (*****
                 BAXTER TARGET OF PHONY PACKET

    The new rules concerning automatic message forwarding are
 already being tested by another of those phantom hams who seem to
 exist only as a derogatory packet radio posting.  Almost as the
 FCC was issuing its notice easing the rules dealing with
 automatic message forwarding a phony message targeting
 International Amateur Radio Net manager Glenn Baxter, K1MAN
 appeared on a suburban Chicago packet bulletin board.  The
 message originated in Winnetka, Illinois and indicated that the
 Drug Enforcement Agency or DEA was monitoring various ham radio
 communications including bulletins issued by Baxter and his IARN
 service.
    The All United States posting was signed with the name Hal
 and the call sign WA9PVJ.  Newsline checked the latest Sam Call
 Sign database.  Guess what.  There is no such person as Hal or
 call sign WA9PVJ listed.  Nor does WA9PVJ appear in our latest
 printed callbook directory.
    This would seem to be another case of a packet radio SySop
 being victimized by a person hiding behind the anonymity of a
 keyboard and radio while putting the ham license of the SySop in
 jeopardy.

 (*****
                       CAL VE SCAM UPDATE

    A second wave of letters from the FCC may soon be on their
 way to hams thought California telling them that their license
 upgrade or entry level examination credit is no good.  This
 following the news last week that some seventy California hams
 have already been notified that examination credits previously
 earned have been disallowed because the examination sessions
 themselves are suspect.
    Under Section 97.509 of the Amateur Service Rules the FCC has
 the right to unilaterally invalidate any test session where it
 felt that the integrity of the test may have been compromised.
 There is no appeal.
    The commission also has the right to direct that candidates
 at these test sessions appear for retesting on or before a
 pre-determined date.  If a person so ordered fails to take a
 retest the FCC can cancel the upgraded operator and station
 licenses of that applicant.  In an instance of such a
 cancellation, the person will be issued a new operator and
 station license consistent with previously completed test
 elements that have not been disqualified.  If the elements
 disallowed are for entry level licenses like the Novice or
 codefree Technician, the applicant will automatically loose all
 operating privileges and will essentially become a non-ham.
    If the FCC holds true to form, the next step in its clean-up
 of the statewide California VE testing scandal will probably be
 the issuance of either Notice of Apparent Liability to Monetary
 Forfeiture, license suspension, Show Cause orders or both against
 those that the FCC suspects to be the masterminds behind the
 testing fraud.  And because of the number of licenses alleged to
 have been issued under the various schemes there is a better than
 even chance that the FCC will approach the Department of Justice
 seeking criminal complaints as well.
    True, a good part of this is supposition on our part but it
 comes from years of watching the FCC and the way in which the
 government reacts in situations like this.  Its also widely held
 that the All-Volunteer testing program is a kind of sacred cow to
 the staff at 1919 M Street in Washington, DC.  Those who violate
 its sanctity are shown little leniency by the FCC.

 (*****
                           TRIAL UPDATE

    This an update to last weeks report on a decision by an Orange
 County Superior Court that it had the jurisdiction to hear a
 civil case involving amateur radio.  As a part of the evidence
 accepted in making his decision to hear a petition for a
 restraining order by the Claremont Amateur Radio Club against
 Anthony Cardenas, WA6IGJ and Drew Feldman, N3KSO, Judge Robert
 Hutson held in part that this authority was delegated to him by
 the FCC part 97 rules themselves.
    We have since learned that the rule in question was Section
 97.113 subpart d.  Apparently Judge Hutson and everyone else
 involved in the case believed that the regulation stated in part
 that no station shall transmit music, radio communications, or
 messages for any purpose, or in connection with any activity that
 is contrary to federal, state or local law.  That wording would
 seem to give the state some small amount of jurisdiction in
 matters of content of ham radio communications to local
 governments.  Judge Hutson cited it to deny a motion by Cardenas
 and Feldman to change the venue of the case into a federal court.
    But what slipped by everyone including the judge, the
 attorneys, the plaintiffs, the defendants, the media and even
 the ham radio public was one fact.  The fact that this is no
 longer the wording of section 97.113 subpart D.  At the request
 of the American Radio Relay League and others, Section 97.113 D
 was changed late last year.
    Remember all the hoopla surrounding the so-called Pizza
 Ordering rule?  The rule that prevented hams from doing any kind
 of business over the air.  That too is a part of section 97.113
 of the rules.  And when the restrictions business communications
 were changed it was also decided to delete any reference that
 might give state or local governments any jurisdiction over ham
 radio.  The only person who noticed the error by the court was
 W5YI Report publisher Fred Maia.

    "That was changed a year ago, almost a year ago.   Actually
 the rulemaking started in 1992 when the FCC decided that perhaps
 that might be misinterpreted and they clarified it by changing
 communications which might be contrary to Federal, State and
 local law.  They changed that to communications which might
 facilitate a criminal act."  Fred Maia, W5YI.

    Fred picked up on the courts mistake easily because he is
 involved with the part 97 rules on a day to day basis.  In
 addition to his newsletter, Fred also runs the W5YI Volunteer
 Examination Coordinator, the nations second largest VEC
 operation.
    The question now is what will happen next.  Will the
 restraining order against Cardenas and Feldman be automatically
 vacated.  We consulted with our own legal correspondent Joe
 Merdler, N6AHU.  Joe is now retired from active practice but
 still keeps his ear to the law.  He says that in all probability,
 unless there is an appeal by the defendants, that under
 California civil law the judgment will stand as it is.
    So it would appear that the next move is up to Feldman and
 Cardenas.  Newsline has attempted to contact both parties but has
 yet to hear from either one.  As reported last week Feldman has
 been quoted publicly on a local repeater as saying that he
 intends to appeal the judgment.  Whether either man will do so is
 at this time unknown.
    Meantime, if your copy of the Amateur Radio Rules and
 Regulations is dated 1993 or earlier, we might suggest you
 getting a new copy.  Especially if you have to use it to defend
 yourself in a court of law.
    More on this story as it develops.

 (*****
   BLEVIN ASSUMED POSITION OF CHIEF OF THE ENFORCEMENT DIVISION

    Still on the regulatory front, word that Lauren "Pete"
 Belvin has assumed the position of Chief of the Enforcement
 Division of the FCC.  Blevin replaces Mary Beth Richards who
 has accepted a position on the staff of FCC Chairman Reed
 Hunt.
    Blevin is described as a skilled government investigator
 with good knowledge of the problems facing all private radio
 services, including those of Amateur Radio.

 (*****
                  STS-59 SAREX MISSION UNDERWAY

    On Saturday April 9th, the Space Shuttle Endeavour rose into
 the early morning skies of the Kennedy Space Center signaling the
 beginning of yet another manned Amateur Radio mission in space.
 This one known as shuttle flight STS-59.  The spectacular,
 on-time launch occurred precisely at 7:05 Eastern Daylight Time.
 SAREX, The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment was activated
 approximately 3 hours after liftoff with a check pass while over
 San Diego, California.

 (*****
                        AA8FQ SUCCESS RUN

    Now a follow-up to our Los Angeles Marathon story of a few
 weeks ago about runner Fred Doob, AA8FQ.  We are pleased to tell
 you that Fred raised more than $2000 for the Childrens Cancer
 Research Fund while running the twenty-six mile event.  AA8FQ
 made more than 400 contacts on 144 and 440 MHz using an Icom dual
 band hand-held transceiver.  Icom donated five dollars to the
 research fund for each contact made.
    Doob, 47, topped his run last November in the New York City
 Marathon by 100 contacts and bettered his time by 15 minutes.  He
 says that he averages about 3.5 hours in a marathon without radio
 but the same run takes about 5 hours when he operates.
    The race was televised in Los Angeles by Chris-Craft station
 KCOP television channel 13.  KCOP news also did a profile of
 AA8FQ's run for charity the evening of the marathon that included
 tape of him, at the finish line, and inside the Amateur Radio
 communications tent that's used to run several nets in support of
 the annual event.
    AA8FQ's on-air operation was coordinated by the Baldwin Hills
 Amateur Radio Club and organized by its President Ed Walker,
 WA6MDJ.  Fred's principal net control was Keith Glispie, WA6TFD.
 Glispie will be on hand at the 1994 Dayton Hamvention Media forum
 on Sunday May 1st to tell about the association of his radio club
 with Doob and the marathon race.

 (*****
                    DX OPERATION TO MALTA ON ICE

    In DX, word that the 1A0KM, Sovereign Military Order of
 Malta operation is on ice.  "The DX Bulletin" reports that the
 operation has been postponed indefinitely due to restrictions
 imposed by the enclave's managers.  This is more bad news for
 this DXCC country which is ranked 20th on the "Most Wanted List"
 of DX countries.

 (*****
                             NOSE OBIT

    We are sad to report that famed DXer and humanitarian Katashi
 Nose, KH6IJ is dead.  Nose, age 79, passed away April 7th in
 Honolulu, Hawaii following the second in a series of debilitating
 strokes.
    First licensed sixty-one years ago as K6CGK, Nose was a
 graduate of the University of Hawaii and spent much of his adult
 life as an educator.  On Kauai, KH6IJ enjoyed a superb DX
 location and access to an antenna test range that he used to
 develop his own beam type antennas.  His design was so successful
 that it was carried in the ARRL Antenna Handbook for years.
    But there was another side to KH6IJ.  That of a kind and
 loving human being.  One of those who knew him best is the former
 editor of QST magazine's YL column, Ellen White, W1YL.

    "We first met in Hawaii when my husband Bob W1CW and I worked
 in broadcasting and we kept in contact over the years.  For many
 years Bob and I worked for the ARRL and in our professional
 contact we always were in touch with Nose and we got to know him
 and his family on a very personal level.
    When he studied at Harvard he also considered enrolling his
 daughter Frances at the College of Boston.  His daughter Frances
 became like a member of our family and every school holiday she
 came to visit us.  This gave a very warm and close relationship
 with the whole Nose family."  Ellen White, W1YL.

    Others we spoke to including Westlink Radio Network co-founder
 Bill Orenstein, KH6QJ agree that the passing of Katashi Nose,
 KH6IJ, leaves a gap that can not ever be filled.

 (*****
    That is all for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio
 Newsline.  You can write to us at Post Office Box 463, Pasadena,
 CA 91102.

 (*****
 * * * Newsline Copyright 1994 all rights are reserved. * * *

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

End of Info-Hams Digest V94 #426
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