Monster Media 1994 #1/monster.zip/monster/HAM/NEWSLINE.ZIP/NEWS0304.TXT

Text File | 1994-03-10 | 17KB | 332 lines

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,
ND0AKO, and is first published on Genie.

Editorial comment or news items should be E-mailed to [e-mail]
or [e-mail]. Voice or FAX to [phone].

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

 - - - - -
 NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #114 - POSTED 03/07/94

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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.  The electronic version of newsline is posted on this
 CBBS twice monthly.  For current information updates, please call

      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]

    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

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 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!!!

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 [864]

 * * * *   C L O S E D   C I R C U I T   A D V I S O R Y   * * * *
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 *     Newsline report number 864 for release on Friday, March   *
 *  3, 1994 to follow.                                           *
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                       The following is a QST

    The FCC takes another step toward the electronic filing of
 license applications.

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                            PRB SIGNATURE

    The FCC's has taken another step toward an eventual start-up
 of an all electronic filing system for radio licenses.  This,
 with an announcement by its Private Radio Bureau of the adoption
 of procedures to govern the signing of electronically filed
 private radio service applications.
    Last April, the commission amended its rules to permit the
 electronic filing of applications for PRB governed services but
 the agency also continued the requirement that handwritten
 signatures accompany all applications until the Private Radio
 Bureau establishes guidelines for accepting the electronic filing
 of applications.  The bureau is currently developing these
 procedural requirements with some already in place.  So far on an
 experimental basis at least 7000 licenses applications already
 filed by electronic means.
    The signature procedure that the Private Radio Bureau has now
 adopted is quite simple.  It states that if the applicant is an
 individual then the signature on an electronically filed must
 consist of the electronic equivalent of an individuals typed
 name.  In a partnership, it will be the electronic substitute of
 both partners names while for a corporate entity the signature
 must be the electronic equivalent of the typed signature of an
 officer, director or duly authorized employee.
    An electronic signature submitted according to these new
 guidelines will designate the individual authorized to bind the
 applicant who is certifying to the accuracy of the information
 contained in a given application.  By signing electronically, all
 applicants agree to comply with the terms of the Communications
 Act and the rules governing a particular radio service in the
 same way as if they has submitted a hand written signature on a
 printed application form.
    What does this mean for ham radio?  Simply that the legal
 framework is now in place for electronic signatures to be
 accepted by the Private Radio Bureau.  It also means that the
 start-up of electronic filing of Amateur Radio applications and a
 shortening of an applicants waiting time for an applicant to get
 on the air can't be all that far away.

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                               CMRS

    The FCC has established a new procedure whereby license
 holders in the private land mobile radio service who are subject
 to reclassification into the commercial radio service can file
 for a waiver to retain existing foreign ownership.  Under the
 framework of the 1983 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, certain
 private land mobile radio license holders were re-categorized as
 common carriers and are now subject to foreign ownership
 restrictions as outlined under section 310 B of the
 Communications Act.  Section 310 B prohibits the granting of
 common carrier authorization to any alien or representative of an
 alien or to any corporation that has been organized under the
 laws of a foreign government.  It also bars any corporation where
 any officer or director is an alien or which has more than 20% of
 its capital stock own by non-citizens or their representatives.
    The budget act does allow those affected by the change in
 status to petition the FCC for a waiver of Section 310 B as long
 as the foreign ownership interest lawfully existed prior to May
 24, 1993.  If a foreign ownership waiver is granted, the FCC
 says that it will recognize only the particular person or entity
 that held the foreign ownership interest as of the May 24th 1993
 cutoff date.  Subsequent transfers of these grandfathered foreign
 ownership interests will be limited to domestic persons or
 entities so as to keep the waiver valid and in effect.

 *****
                        VOICE MAIL HACKERS

    Pacific Bell Telephone in San Ramon, California says some of
 its voice mail customers are getting an unpleasant surprise.  The
 company is admitting that electronic hackers are breaking in to
 the voice-mail system that it runs for business and residential
 customers.  The hackers have altered message greetings and
 changed pass words.  One recent incident happened earlier this
 week when a woman found a stranger was using her voice-mail box.
 Pacific Bell's corporate security and various San Francisco area
 law enforcement agency are investigating these incidents.  In
 California, breaking into and tampering with a voice-mail system
 violates state law.

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                         CUBA AND THE ARRL

    Cuban American hams are angrily denouncing ARRL acceptance of
 an invitation for United States hams to join their Cuban
 counterparts in future operating events.  They are making their
 displeasure known on voice, on CW and on packet.
    The crisis began after the league issued an official bulletin
 saying that the Cuban national society had invited American
 amateurs to participate in a joint operation in the 1994 ARRL
 June VHF QSO Party.  It said that ARRL Oklahoma Section Manager
 Joe Lynch, N6CL, received the invitation to lead the group during
 his visit to Cuba the week of February 7th.
    Lynch, who is also the VHF editor of CQ Magazine was in Cuba
 as a member of a Methodist Church work team.  While there, he
 extended greetings from ARRL officials and presented Federacion
 Radioaficionados de Cuba President Pedro Rodriguez, CO2RP, with
 a certificate of participation for the June 1993 ARRL VHF QSO
 Party.  Joe also presented an author's certificate to Arnie Coro,
 CO2KK, for his article in December 1993 issue of the League's QST
 magazine.
    But many Cuban expatriate hams living in south Florida say
 that Rodriguez is nothing more than a puppet of Cuban Dictator
 Fidel Castro.  They claim that Rodriguez is a member of the Cuban
 military who was given a ham call sign and a new political job.
 The job of keeping Cuban hams following the Castro party line.
 This they say at the risk of loosing their ham radio privileges
 and possibly going to jail.
   The Cubans hams living in the United States say that hams
 outside Cuba should not be holding hands with the FRC.  Instead
 they should be pressuring their national societies to force the
 FRC to loosen the reign that dictator Castro has placed on the
 Cuban ham community.
    If it does take place, the joint VHF operation will place
 from Bellomonte, Cuba.  Officials of the FRC say they have also
 taken under consideration a proposal from an American group for a
 joint operation from Cuba on the High Frequency bands in 1995.

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                           DAYTON BANQUET

    On a lighter note, the planners of the 1994 Dayton Hamvention
 have announced that a broadcasting pioneer will serve as this
 years featured banquet speaker.
    The 1994 Dayton Hamvention Committee has selected the featured
 speaker for this years grand banquet.  Joseph M. Costello III,
 WA5HSI, President and CEO of WRNO International will present the
 main address at this years banquet.  Mr Costello is best known
 for promoting the licensing and establishment of a US commercial
 shortwave station.  Mr. Costellos perseverance has thrust radio
 station WRNO into fore front of shortwave broadcasting.  The
 grand banquet will be held Saturday evening April 30th at the
 Dayton Convention Center.

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                             QSO PARTY

    In the contest corner, the 1994 Wisconsin QSO Party is
 scheduled for 18:00 UTC on March 13th.  It runs until 01:00 UTC
 on March 14th.  Send your entries and logs to WARAC, P.O. Box
 1072, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201.

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                               MALTA

    In DX, you may have noticed that the 1A0KM, Sovereign
 Military Order of Malta DXpedition scheduled for February was
 postponed.  According to word from I0JBL, the scheduled activity
 from the area was put on hold because of some serious problems
 that occurred to two of the four operators.  There were no
 details given but it is assumed that most DXers were focusing
 most of their attention on the Peter I Island DXpedition.  The
 1A0KM operations are now scheduled to begin shortly.  In fact,
 the group may be on as we go to air.

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                               RS-15

    Also from overseas comes word that there has been a delay in
 the setting of a launch date for Russia's new RS-15 ham radio
 satellite.  Sources close to the project now say that the
 official technical presentation before the Russian Space Agency
 has been delayed until at least March 20th.

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                                WARD


    Congratulations to the new DOCTOR Jeff Ward, K8KA/G0 who
 recently earned his Doctorate degree.  Jeff has been instrumental
 in the design of not only OSCAR satellite hardware, but also the
 ground station software that is used for Pacsat type
 communications.  His work has had a great impact on the emerging
 micro satellite and digital communications technologies as well.

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                             SPACENEWS

    Word that KB2DB's "SpaceNews" is now available by satellite!
 The distribution of John Magliacanes' "SpaceNews" ham radio
 newsletter via Amateur Packet Radio networks has been improved
 recently with the help of high-speed "Pacsat" satellites.  These
 polar orbiting satellites now make SpaceNews available to every
 inch of the planet several times daily at 9600 bps.  W3QNS
 uploads copies of SpaceNews to the KITSAT OSCAR-23 satellite and
 is making them available for all KO-23 users.

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                         HELP FIND MARTY

    We have a special request from our producer Bill Pasternak,
 WA6ITF to try and help him to locate a boyhood friend who he says
 is trying to find him.  The person that Bill is trying to contact
 is Martin Schiff, the former K2TRU.  Bill says he learned
 that Marty was looking for him when he ran into a non ham cousin
 at a recent family gathering.

    "I was more than a little surprised when I was in New York
 not long ago I ran into a cousin, who I haven't seen in 32 years,
 who told me that a friend of mine, who I haven't seen in about 34
 years, has called him, surprisingly, and asked to get in touch
 with me.  My cousin did not know where I was at the time and had
 no way of contacting me, so he threw the piece of paper away.  He
 really doesn't remember where Marty Schiff, ex-K2TRU is living."
 Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, Editor of Newsline.

    According to Bill, he and Marty Schiff palled together in the
 late 1950's and into the early 1960's.  He says they lost contact
 after Marty went off to college somewhere in the north-east.
 Possibly to MIT.

    "Well the last time I saw Marty was a couple weeks before he
 went of to college.  He went off to an engineering school as I
 remember some place in the northeast.  It could have been MIT.  I
 am not a hundred percent sure.  This would have been back in 1960
 I guess, 59 to 60 something like that.  I did try to contact MIT,
 both the Registrars Office and the Alumni Association, but I
 have had very little luck.
    Also tried the radio club and some friends of mine in the
 Boston area and other states and nobody seems to know Marty.  But
 I've got a feeling if he is still around electronics, he's around
 radio people and even though he is not listed as holding a call
 sign right now.  There is a good chance he has got some friends
 who are hams.
    I have exhausted every other method of trying to find him
 short of flying back east and starting a house to house search,
 so it occurred to me possibly one of our listeners here on
 Newsline might know him and might put me in touch with him."
 Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, Editor of Newsline.

    If you happen to know someone named Marty or Martin Schiff
 and if he is originally from West 8th Street in Brooklyn, New
 York, let him know that Bill Pasternak, the former WA2HVK is now
 WA6ITF, that he is living in California and can be reached at
 area code [phone] on voice or fax, 24 hours a day.

 *****
    And 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 1994 all rights are reserved. * * *