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1994-02-02
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The electronic publication of the Amateur Radio Newsline is distributed
with the permission of Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, President and Editor of
Newsline. The text is transcribed from the audio service by Dale Cary and
is first published on Genie.
Editorial comment or news items should be E-mailed to 3241437@mcimail.com
or B.PASTERNAK@genie.geis.com. Voice or FAX to +1 805-296-7180.
All other information and disclaimers are in the text header below.
- - - - -
NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #108 - POSTED 01/22/94
(header deleted)
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. The electronic version of newsline is posted on this
CBBS twice monthly. For current information updates, please call
Los Angeles............................ (213) 462-0008
Los Angeles (Instant Update Line)...... (805) 296-2407
Seattle................................ (206) 368-3969
Seattle................................ (206) 281-8455
Tacoma................................. (206) 927-7373
Louisville............................. (502) 894-8559
Dayton................................. (513) 275-9991
Chicago................................ (708) 289-0423
New York City.......................... (718) 353-2801
Melbourne, FL.......................... (407) 259-4479
For the latest breaking info call the Instant Update Line listed
above. To provide information please call (805) 296-7180. 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!!!
*****************************************************************
[858]
* * * * C L O S E D C I R C U I T A D V I S O R Y * * * *
* *
* The following is a closed circuit advisory and is not for *
* air over ham radio. Repeat, not for broadcast. This is just *
* a reminder that the address for the Newsline Support Fund is *
* Newsline, in care of Dr. Norm Chalfin, K6PGX, Post Office *
* Box 463, Pasadena, CA 91102. Again, and as always, we thank *
* you. That ends the closed circuit with Newsline report *
* number 858 for release on Friday January 21, 1994. *
* *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The following is a QST
Californians are awakened to one of the biggest quakes in
history. As usual, Amateur Radio plays a key role in health and
welfare.
CALIFORNIA QUAKE '94
At 4:31 am a tremor of tremendous magnitude rocked the Los
Angeles basin. Almost immediately, communications in and out of
the nations second largest city became nearly impossible. Phone
networks and other traditional means of communications became
overloaded and useless. But, as usual, years of training
resulted in amateur radio coming to the rescue in one of the most
heroic stories in the history of our hobby.
"The wake up call came at 4:31 am last Monday morning and
within seconds Los Angeles area hams had already swung into
action. The quake was centered in the San Fernando Valley just
northwest of Los Angeles. First came the work of the Public
Seismic Network. A collection of hams and amateur seismologists
who meet weekly on the air to compare data collected against
actual seismic events. When an area event occurs, they collect
felt reports on the air. And can often locate the general area
of the quake within minutes by this method.
Handling this flood of calls, some under very difficult
conditions, was Dorothy Darby, N6ZNC. Within the first half hour
following the quake the Los Angeles RACES Organization known as
the Disaster Communications Service was on the air from many of
the Sheriffs stations in the area. Providing interagency
communications between county sheriff, fire and the city
organizations, as well as area hospitals and shelters. This
reporter being the District Communications Officer for the
Cresenta Valley Sheriffs Station was kept busy providing
operators for that location which works with the cities of
Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank. The Glendale operators had
their own set of problems, as the parking structure at the police
station, where the emergency operations center is located, had
collapsed destroying a number of city vehicles in the process.
The hams responding to the city of San Fernando facility found
it without power mains and generator power. And ended up rigging
a handheld to the stations rooftop antenna. As we go to air hams
are still on duty throughout the Los Angeles Basin keeping the
lines of communications open. And this particular ham got
reminded on more than one occasion of his phonetics, Tiny
California Quake." Andy Jarema, K6TCQ.
"Santa Clarita, CA, a city that few of you had heard of until
now, when this quake put it on the map. This is a community that
has been cut off from the rest of Los Angeles after the collapse
of the Highway 14 overpass onto Interstate 5. There was no power
for twenty one hours. Telephone service, especially out of state
calling is still sporadic. Except for ham radio, Santa Clarita
was a community isolated from the city to the south.
I got a chance to see the devastation of the Northridge quake
first hand as I drove into work on Tuesday afternoon. A trip
that normally takes only 40 minutes dragged on for the better
part of four and a half hours. As I sat bumper to bumper on a
single lane road that parallels Interstate 5, the destructive
force of this quake was evident to everywhere you looked.
Highways torn apart. Twisted rebar. Mashed concrete.
But we Angrlenos seem to accept this type of natural fury as
being a part of the price we have to pay to live here. So, as I
inched my way into the city I also scanned the three most
heavily used VHF and UHF bands in the area.
Many repeaters normally alive with chatter were silent. They
were victims of being on remote mountaintops that had lost
power. But other channels were alive. Repeaters whose owners
had been smart enough to install battery or solar power to take
over when city power failed. Each was loaded with some sort of
quake related traffic. 147.705 was dedicated to working with the
Red Cross and still is. 146.79 was holding forth with Santa
Clarita Valley Emergency Communications. 224.52 and 224.58 were
providing road closure information. 224.52 was also making its
autopatch available for health and welfare calls. The number of
repeaters taking part is list far to long to report here. These
are just a few that I heard personally.
Later in the afternoon I used the ham station at work to scan
the high frequency bands. Emergency communications nets were
everywhere on 75, 40 and 20 meters. Most were associated with
the ARRL'S Amateur Radio Emergency Service. Each was handling a
myriad of health and welfare messages into and out of the Los
Angeles Metro Area.
As we go to air, many of these nets are still on the air.
Telephone service is returning to normal and many amateur radio
assistance operations will soon be winding down. But the ongoing
aftershocks of the Northridge quake are a constant reminder of
what it costs to live here in the southland, and it's why being a
ham can be vital to your very survival." Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF.
As we go to air, the California earthquake story is still
emerging. We'll keep you updated in future Newsline reports.
AMSAT-NA OPPOSES FCC "INSTANT LICENSING" PROPOSAL
AMSAT-North America says it does not want to see an instant
ham license in the United States. The ham radio space research
organization has filed comments with the FCC in opposition to the
instant licensing proposal contained in a Notice of Proposed Rule
Making, PR Docket 93.267.
Under the FCC's proposal, unlicensed persons who pass an
amateur license examination for the first time would immediately
be permitted to operate for up to 120 days. This, using
self-assigned call signs, while waiting for their licenses to
arrive.
But in its opposition filing, AMSAT cited the potential for
abuse by persons who have no intention of taking a ham radio test
and want to be able to bootleg without being noticed. It also
says that it will be impossible to verify the self-assigned calls
since they would not be registered in any data base.
AMSAT very strongly believes that the guaranteed anonymity of
a self-assigned call sign system would multiply the potential for
interference by unlicensed persons with amateur radio operation.
This the organization says is particularly relevant to the
Amateur satellite service because the 2-meter, 10-meter and 70-cm
bands, which presently contain the most popular satellite uplinks
and downlinks, are also among the most likely to be affected by
such interference. They say that the international nature of ham
radio satellite operation means that problems could be caused for
amateurs, and governmental authorities, in other countries as
well as in the United States.
As an alternative to instant licensing, AMSAT urges the FCC to
pursue the use of electronic filing and processing of amateur
license applications. This is the same position that has been
taken by the American Radio Relay League.
*****
ARRL BOARD MEETS
The American Radio Relay League's Board of Directors is
holding its first annual meeting of 1994 in a very chilly
Hartford, Connecticut as this newscast is going to air. The
board is expected to take action on a number of important matters
including the FCC proposal for a vanity call sign assignment
system. Tune into Newsline for a full report on ARRL board
actions next week.
*****
VANITY CALL DOCKET
The text of the NPRM in Personal Radio Docket 93-305, dealing
with the Commission's proposed Vanity Call Sign program, is
available electronically on America Online, Compuserve, Genie,
BIX and the National Video Network. On most of these services
the file is named vanity with a possible file extension
designator attached.
The same information is also available over Internet from the
ARRL information file server. To obtain it, simply send a
message over Internet to infoarrl.org that says only send FCC-93-
305. That's infoarrl.org and the message must only read SEND
FCC-93-305.
The file is also available for downloading from the ARRL
bulletin board at 203-666-0578 with the file name vanity. It
will be printed in February issue of QST magazine.
*****
STROKE CW
When a ham in Fargo, North Dakota suffered a stroke, he lost
almost all ability to communicate. His voice was gone, and he
was immobilized. But he could tap out morse code with his finger
and that gave him hope. It became the job of Paul Linnell, WQ0M
to make known the thoughts and needs of Kurt Hall, W0AZV.
"The first time I was up to see him we tried communicating by
having Kurt tap out CW on my hand and on my arm and also by
trying to squeeze my hand. Because he was so weak, it was very
difficult to make a whole lot of sense out of the CW that he
sending, but he did let us know that he could communicate.
So my second trip up I brought along a straight key and a
little oscillator. I knew we were in for a problem when Kurt,
when he got a hold of the key wanted to move it sideways. I then
thought he was used to a bug. He immediately sent out the word
bug on the straight key so I knew we were going to have some
problems. Kurt is right handed and here he was laying in the
hospital bed tying to send with his left hand. Also being very
weak from the stroke and he was still able to send my call and
his call. And even when I left that day sent 73 so when knew he
was able to communicate." Paul Linnel, WQ0M.
Newsline joins with the amateur radio community of Fargo,
North Dakota a full and speedy recovery.
ISRAEL ACCEPTS CEPT LICENSE
From overseas, word that Israel has joined the move toward a
world-wide universal ham radio license. IK1PHC reports that the
Israeli Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has accepted
CEPT recommendation TR 61-01. This means that any ham who holds
a license in any nation that is a signatory to the CEPT agreement
can freely operate an amateur station in Israel without asking
for a reciprocal permit. No effective date of the change has
been announced.
*****
UK SCANNER STING
For the second time in less than a year, authorities in the
United Kingdom have again tuned the tables on scanner enthusiasts
who eavesdrop on emergency service radio channels. This, by
issuing a false distress call and then arresting those who showed
up on the scene.
As 1993 drew to a close South Yorkshire police launched the
undercover sting after finding evidence that criminals were
cashing in on information that they intercepted over the
airwaves. As they did last spring, police dispatchers broadcast
a phony report that aliens were invading earth and had been
spotted in a nearby town. Yes, aliens, as in little green men
from Mars, and the like.
Anyhow, reports are that several people who showed up at the
address given in the bulletin. They were arrested at the scene
and charged with acting illegally on information broadcast in an
official police radio channel.
Under British law it is not illegal for scanner buffs to
eavesdrop on emergency communications. It is against the law to
take any action based on any information that might be heard.
A similar sting last year in central London netted more than a
dozen scanner addicts who showed up at the site of another
supposedly downed alien spaceship. All were forced to pay heavy
fines and a few of them actually did jail time.
*****
AMSAT AUSTRIA TO MEET
The first ever meeting of AMSAT-Austria will take place
Saturday, April 16th at the Technical High School of Electronic
and Telecommunication in Innsbruck. The main goals of the
gathering are to present papers about basic amateur satellite
technology along with seminar sessions dealing with modes-s
operation, analysis of telemetry and other assorted topics. The
preliminary list of lecturers includes I2KBD, ON6UG, DG2CV,
OE1VKW and OE1WDC. All satellite users are welcome to attend
this one-day meeting. For further information you can contact
OE7FTJ at his callbook address.
*****
SUPERBALL RISES, THEN FALLS
Superball 94, the Utah balloon carrying amateur radio
telemetry and an amateur television camera had a life of about
three hours. The launch of Superball took place Friday, January
7th, at 16:26 UTC. The balloon initially headed northeast as
expected. Telemetry was copied on both 2 and 15 meters, and ATV
sent back video of the balloon.
But then Superball began to change course as it came out of
the Troposphere. At about 18:04 UTC the balloon unexpectedly
burst. A quick drop in the differential pressure from 1.11 to
1.03 was one of the first clues that something had changed
radically. Hams in eastern Utah actually watched the rupture on
ATV and later saw the parachute deploy. Telemetry on 15 meters
was copied in Ohio with an signal report of 579 after the
package came to rest.
The landing site is in Utah's Uinta Mountains in the
neighborhood of Wolf Creek Summit, a 9500-foot pass. Plans are
to locate and retrieve the payload with the help of snowmobiles
and the Wasatch County Search and Rescue Team as weather permits.
*****
LA BEACON OUT
In DX, several sources report that the LA7DFA beacon has not
been active from Jan Mayen since last April. LA7DFA himself
says that he is looking for a rig to install permanently as
beacon transceiver at the club station. He says that they also
need a linear and a rugged yagi for the bad weather. LA7DFA
plans to return to there in April 94 and hopes to have this
equipment to take with him.
GHANA
Also, XT2BW is now active from Burkina Faso but will be
leaving at the end of January to spend a few months on vacation
with his family in Ghana. He says that he will apply for a
licence and will be active when time permits. QSL him via
WB2YQH.
*****
GORDO
Famed ham radio instructor Gordon West, WB6NOA, says that he
is now available to speak at your club meeting, hamfest, banquet
or what have you. Gordo says that he has been able to rearrange
his hectic personal appearance schedule so as to permit him to
accept even more invitations from yacht clubs, ham radio clubs,
SWL groups and other personal radio organizations.
West says that he requires a minimum of 90 days lead time for
such appearances, and has talks available on a wide variety of
subjects including Tropo Ducting, an Introduction to Radio Waves
using laser light technology to demonstrate reflection and
refraction, a presentation on the Global Positioning System, plus
other interesting seminar sessions far to numerous to mention
here. For more information on these interesting Gordon West,
WB6NOA seminars and talks, contact Gordo at 2414 College Drive,
Costa Mesa, CA 92626.
*****
ORIENTEERING
Amateur radio will play a major role in a national contest
taking place in central Alabama.
Hams are heading to the hills, literally. It's their way of
helping during a championship orienteering meet taking place in
Alambama's largest State Park.
"Basically orienteering is a sport involving following a
course marked on a map through the forest. And whoever completes
the course the fastest wins." Tom Lamb, N4OAJ.
Tom is counting on at least a dozen hams during the weekend of
January 22nd. Contest checkin points are spreadout over a large
area inside the park. With so many stations, so far apart, Lamb
knows how valuable amateur radio will be to the events success.
"With courses spreading out through the forest, the longest
course is about ten kilometers long, that is about six miles. We
have a got a lot of people scattered in far places. So one of
the ways that amateur radio ties in is helping us to organize
much the way that a road race is organized. But a road race is
normally is tied around a road so that things are planned closer
together. We are a lot more spreadout. So amateur radio is
going to help us organize the different areas like the
start/finish, results and those sorts of things." Tom Lamb,
N4OAJ.
As many as 200 participants from across the nation are
expected for the orienteering championships. Lamb expects the
event to run smoothly, thanks in part to the contributions of
amateur radio operators.
The hams will be helping not just with routine communications,
but with any emergencies that come up, as well.
*****
For this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.
You can write to us at Post Office Box 463 in Pasadena, CA 91102.
****** * * Newsline Copyright 1993 all rights are reserved. * * *