QRZ! Ham Radio 5/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 5.iso/files/arrl/hiram/ltr12n23.txt

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The ARRL Letter
Vol. 12, No. 23
December 14, 1993

FCC proposes choice of call sign

     The FCC on December 13 proposed that amateurs be able to
choose their own call signs, once a new automated processing
system is in place at the Commission's Private Radio Bureau.
     Under the proposed system, amateurs wishing to apply for an
available call sign would be required to file a form and pay a
fee.
     Trustees of club and military recreation stations also would
be eligible for the new program.  The FCC cancelled a rule it
adopted last summer establishing a call sign administrator
program for amateur club and military stations, a program that
was never implemented.
     The FCC said that at the present time call sign selection by
new licensees was not feasible, but left the door open for that
possibility in the future.
     The FCC said that the new PRB computer might eventually
allow amateurs to check for themselves the availabilty of call
signs, and that the new system might be used to allow electronic
filing of applications, making the process easier for applicant
and FCC alike.
     At the meeting today, the first under new FCC Chairman Reed
Hundt, Private Radio Bureau staff began by telling the FCC
commissioners that recent Nobel Prize winners Joseph Taylor and
Russell Hulse had begun their scientific education as radio
amateurs.
     The "vanity" call sign plan was unanimously approved by the
four FCC commissioners.  The text of the Notice of Proposed Rule
Making is expected to be issued shortly.

222 MHz: Novices get more, weak-signal band OK'd

     The FCC has acted to expand privileges for Novice class
licensees on the 222-MHz band as well as to create a subband for
"weak signal" work on that band. The changes approved by the FCC
in a Report and Order released December 2, 1993, were first
proposed in an FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making in November,
1992 (PR Docket 92-289) in response to petitions for rule making
from the ARRL.     The effective date for the new rules is
February 1, 1994.

Expanded novice privileges

     The new rules authorize Novice operation in the entire 222-
225 MHz (1.25 meter) band. Novices currently have access to
222.10-223.91 MHz, an allocation created in the 1987 "Novice
Enhancement" proceeding. At that time the League sought full
access for Novices to the (then) 220-225 MHz band. The FCC's 1987
Report and Order, however, limited Novices to 222.10-223.91 MHz.
     In support of its latest proposal to the FCC, the League
said expanding Novice frequency privileges to include the entire
1.25 meter band made sense since Novices already are permitted to
use SSB and CW on portions of the HF bands, and there was no
reason why they should not be permitted to utilize those same
modes in the entirety of the 222-225 MHz band, where other
licensees use those modes.
     The FCC agreed with the ARRL that allowing Novices
privileges on the entire 222 MHz band was a good idea, saying
that the changes would allow Novices "to become proficient in a
wider variety of amateur service operations"  and give them "more
flexibility in selecting the mode of transmission.
     "Choosing the appropriate mode would result in a more
efficient use of available spectrum," the FCC said.

Not repeater control operators

     In PR Docket 92-289, the FCC also proposed that Novices be
authorized to be licensees and control operators of repeaters on
the 222 and 1240 MHz bands.     The ARRL opposed this idea, as it
had during the Novice Enhancement proceeding in 1987. The FCC in
its final ruling agreed, saying that Novices lack knowledge about
repeater operation. The Commission also noted that allowing
Novices to be control operators would diminish the distinction
between the Novice and Technician classes.

Experimentation encouraged

     The League also proposed that a "weak signal" segment be
established at the bottom of the 222 MHz band, at 222.0 to 222.15
MHz, similar to what previously existed at 220.0 to 220.5 MHz.
Repeater and auxiliary operation will, beginning February 1, be
prohibited from 222 to 222.15 MHz.
     The League said its proposal was in response to amateurs'
loss in August 1991 of 220-222 MHz to the land mobile service,
and that a weak-signal subband, which could not be enforced
through voluntary agreements or formalized band-planning by
amateurs, was necessary to allow amateurs to carry on experiments
in propagation and operating techniques.
     Some repeater operators, nearly all in southern California,
said that severe crowding in the 222-225 MHz band there would
make a 150 kHz subband untenable.
     On the other hand, weak signal operators said that the loss
of 220-222 MHz most severely affected them, rather than the
repeater users, and that repeater owners and users in the 222-225
MHz band had been unwilling to accommodate other types of
spectrum use.
     The ARRL told the FCC that it "remains persuaded that the
issue reflects not any one group of amateurs refusing to
accommodate another, but rather the difficulty of reaccommodating
amateur users displaced from the 220-222 MHz segment."
     The League noted that weak signal operators are entitled to
pursue a variety of weak signal operations in some segment of the
222 MHz band, and such such operations are incompatible with
repeater and auxiliary link operations on the same frequencies.
     The League said that while it has always supported local,
voluntary band-planning as a means to accommodate the interests
of diverse groups of amateurs, such simply could not work in this
case, and that current FCC staffing does not permit it to referee
amateur-to-amateur disputes. Thus, a statutory subband seemed the
only solution.

U.K. amateurs surveyed on HF no-code license

     British amateurs are opposed to a code-free amateur license
with HF privileges, an informal survey has shown.
     The current U.K. Class B license, with privileges only on 50
MHz and above, is code-free; the Class A (HF) license requires a
12 wpm Morse code exam.
     In 1992 the British Radiocommunications Agency asked the
Radio Society of Great Britain to conduct a "consultation
exercise," a survey. Through articles in its journal, *Radio
Communications*, and other British Amateur      Radio
publications, readers were asked to express their opinion on the
subject. Out of 60,000 U.K. licensed amateurs, 1,413 responded,
including 86 from "overseas."
     By a 2-to-1 margin the respondents opposed a code-free HF
license.
     The RSGB said that with the worldwide amateur community
expanding at some 7 percent per year, some method is needed to
restrict access to the HF bands, which already are very crowded
and unlikely to expand. It said that if the current method of
restriction, CW, were eliminated, some other "filter" should be
found.
     "It is the way in which numbers are limited to avoid
intolerable levels of interference that is being questioned," the
RSGB said.
     The RSGB said that "it is primarily up to the amateur
community worldwide, and its elected representatives, to
determine what qualifications are necessary and what standards
need to be met to gain different types of transmitting licence."
     Current International Telecommunication Union regulations
requiring a Morse exam for an HF amateur license would have to be
changed, through a petition process from individual countries,
the article said, although it also noted that Japan has a code-
free license that allows limited amateur privileges below 30 MHz
(10 watts output and excluding 20 and 17 meters -- ed).
     The RSGB noted that Region 1 of the International Amateur
Radio Union as recently as September had voted to support keeping
a Morse code requirement for HF licenses. The RSGB said it
currently agrees with that opinion "but recognises that the
situation may change in the next 5-10 years."

     Here is a summary of survey arguments for and against a
code-free U.K. license:

     Against:

     * Would reduce "status" of amateur service;
     * Standards already too low;
     * Would erode "challenge" to licensees;
     * Would make U.K. a renegade among nations;
     * CW fundamental to "spirit" of Amateur Radio;
     * CW has "communications advantages";
     * CW a common international language;
     * CW alleviates HF overcrowding, encourages good operating.

     For:

     * CW a barrier to new licensees;
     * Young people "put off" by Morse requirement;
     * Morse no longer a "communications necessity:"
     * Resultant band crowding would promote new technologies;
     * CW is a relic, an "artificial barrier"
     * Some people simply can't learn CW.

     The RSGB also said that a significant number of people
responding to the survey also favored some sort of "incentive
licensing" in the U.K., with more levels of license than the
current two. The RSGB said that two of its committees are
studying the idea of some sort of incentive licensing structure.

LICENSE RENEWALS TO BEGIN AGAIN IN 1994

     Have you looked at the expiration date on your FCC license
lately? Five years ago the term of an FCC amateur license went
from five years to 10. So, for the past five years no licenses
have expired. Licenses are now beginning to expire again, which
means that *it may be time for you to renew*.
     It's a good idea to renew at least 60 days before the
expiration date on your current license. Use an FCC Form 610,
available from ARRL Headquarters. If you submit a timely renewal
application, you may continue to operate even if the FCC doesn't
act on the application by the expiration date. If your renewal is
late, you must stop operating until your new license arrives.
     Licenses that have expired for more than two years may not
be renewed, which means you lose your call sign and will have to
take the exam again. Don't take a chance -- check your license
expiration date now!

BRIEFS

     * The FCC has extended to January 11 the comment period in
ET Docket 93-62, which proposes to adopt new guidelines for
evaluating the environmental effects of RF radiation, based on
petitions for more time from CBS and ABC.
     The new guidelines would parallel those adopted in 1992 by
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and would impose
stricter limitations on low-power devices such as hand-held
transceivers and portable and cellular telephones.

     * The ARRL DX Advisory Committee has recommended the
creation of an RTTY DXCC Honor Roll, to require the same number
of RTTY countries as the Mixed Honor Roll. On December 14 the
ARRL Awards Committee approved the new RTTY Honor Roll, to
include all non-CW digital modes, including Baudot, packet,
ASCII, and AMTOR.
     The DXAC also voted to maintain the "start date" for CW DXCC
at January 1, 1975 (rather than moving it back to 1945 to match
Mixed and Phone DXCC).

     * The first private station DXCC application has been
received from the People's Republic of China, from BZ4RBX of
Nanjing. Operator Wang Long submitted 102 QSLs which,
interestingly, did *not* include a card from his own country. The
lucky American in this historic DXCC was K4MIH.
     DXCCs have already been awarded to PRC *club* stations
BY4RSA and BY5AC.

     * Those weird Canadian prefixes you hear are courtesy of
Industry and Science Canada (their FCC), granted through the end
of 1993 to mark Canada's new Amateur Radio national organization,
the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC).

     * The FCC has added Bosnia-Herzegovina (T9) to the list of
countries with which the United States has an Amateur Radio
third-party agreement.

     * Manuscripts on antennas and propagation are being accepted
through March 1, 1994, for Volume 4 of the ARRL *Antenna
Compendium*. Prospective authors should contact Dean Straw, N6BV,
at ARRL HQ.

     * 1994 ARRL National Exam Days have been set for May 14 and
October 29. Details will be in February *QST* but you can start
planning now by checking February, 1993 *QST*, page 96.

     * Clean Sweep! We may not always be politically correct but
we're diverse! With the recent addition of *QST* Managing Editor
Al Brogdon, K3KMO, to the HQ staff, we now have every US call
area represented on the full-time Newington payroll. For example:
KR1R (Massachusetts); AA2Z (New Jersey); K3KMO (Maryland); KJ4KB
(South Carolina); K5FUV (Arkansas); N6BV (California); KU7G
(Washington); K8CH (Michigan); WB9RRU (Wisconsin); NT0Z
(Minnesota); and even KH6CP.

     * In other staff news, Assistant Technical Editor Jim
Kearman, KR1S, has transferred from the "book team" to the *QST*
editorial team.

     * 13-year-old Nathan A. Taylor, WZ1W, of Gardner,
Massachusetts is still missing after disappearing on August 27.
     According to Gardner police, Nathan left of his own volition
apparently under the influence of unidentified adults. Amateurs
in Tennessee and Texas in particular are asked to keep his
disappearance in mind; although an Extra Class amateur, Nathan's
most recent interest has been in computers.
     At least two agencies of the federal government are now
involved in the search for Nathan.     Anyone with information on
Nathan is asked to call Detective Bill Grasmuck of the City of
Gardner (Mass.) Police Department, at 508-632-5600.

     * Arthur Milne, G2MI, died October 6, 1993, at age 86. First
licensed in 1924, he was a member of the RSGB Council for more
than 30 years. He also was a Secretary of IARU Region 1 from 1950
to 1959.
     He is probably best remembered as manager of the U.K. QSL
Bureau, a post he held from the beginning of World War 2 until
the early 1980s. Thousands of DXers have thus addressed envelopes
to "A.O. Milne."
     Among his survivors are a son, G3UMI, and a grandson, G6VMI.

10 Years Ago in *The ARRL Letter*

     Finally, the delayed first Amateur Radio operation from
space was over, an "unqualified success," yet it was relegated to
an inside page of the December 8, 1983 issue of *The ARRL
Letter*.
     The reason? ARRL's president of just 20 months, Vic Clark,
W4KFC, was dead, of a heart attack at age 66.
     The next available issue of *QST* carried a major tribute to
W4KFC. First Vice President Carl L. Smith, W0BWJ, assumed the
League's presidency. Fittingly, Straight Key Night on December 31
was dedicated to W4KFC.
     The *Letter* had a very early report on W5LFL/Shuttle.
Astronaut Owen Garriott reported that noise inside the shuttle
made copy somewhat difficult but that plenty of stations had been
worked on 2-meter FM and more had been recorded on tape.

Profile: Director-elect Lew Gordon, K4VX

     ARRL Midwest Division Director-elect Lew Gordon, K4VX, lives
in Hannibal, Missouri. Lew's 64 and retired as an electronic
systems engineer for an agency of the federal government.
     Lew was born in Wabash, Indiana, grew up in Indianapolis,
and began his Amateur Radio career as W9APY at age 17. He was a
student at Purdue University when the Korean War heated up, and
he enlisted in the US Air Force. He ended up an instructor at
Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi, where one of his Air Force
students was a young woman named Marie Teresa Girard. Lew asked
Airman Girard if she'd like to see the Military Affiliate Radio
System (MARS) station there (now K5TYP).
     In 1954 Terry and Lew got married, and in 1955 Terry became
K5BRQ -- "General class on the first try."
     After his Air Force hitch Lew went to work for the
government, then returned to Purdue to finish a bachelor's degree
in physics. The founder, John Purdue, suffered Greek and Latin as
a youth and disallowed its use at the university, so Lew
graduated in 1962 "with distinction" rather than *cum laude*.
     Lew and Terry moved to Manassas, Virginia, in 1963. Terry
got W4BFA and Lew was assigned WA4RPK through a bureaucratic
error. Lew finally spoke up and became W4ZCY in 1968, and then
K4VX.
     In Manassas the Gordons had two towers; today in Missouri
there are *nine* (with a tenth on the ground waiting to go up).
They retired to land that has been in Lew's family for more than
170. Lew and his call sign are well-known among contesters and he
still does his own tower work, including on the tallest, 170 ft.
     *(This is the first of what we plan to be a series of brief
profiles of the ARRL Board of Directors family, beginning with
those elected last month.)*

*eof