Monster Media 1994 #1/monster.zip/monster/HAM/NEWSLINE.ZIP/NEWS0409.TXT

Text File | 1994-04-17 | 20KB | 405 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 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.

If you would like back issues of the Newsline transcripts you can get them
by either of the following means.
  Genie users can find them in the Radio & Electronics software library,
  M345;3.  They are archived under the CBBS edition number, (NEWSLINE.ccc).

  Internet users can FTP or Gopher them at the oak.oakland.edu library.
  They are archived in /pub/hamradio/docs/newsline/ as newsline.nnn, (the
  on the air edition number).

  Please Note: The rec.radio.info newsgroup, as a whole, is no longer being
  archived at ftp.funet.fi.  The bulk of what is there will soon be
  deleted.  Except for a minimum of selected articles, NOT including
  amateur radio, the archive will continue on a limited basis.  Lack of use
  and the large acumultion of disk space are the primary reasons for the
  drastic reduction.

Special thanks:
        Larry Ledlow, NA5E and Allan Courtney, KD4DBN - Genie Sysops
              Mark Salyzyn, VE6MGS - Moderator, rec.radio.info
           Paul W. Schleck, KD3FU - Internet Elmers Resource List
      Scott Ehrlich, WY1Z - Ham files administrator at oak.oakland.edu

 - - - - -

 NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #119 - POSTED 04/09/94

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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]
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      Seattle................................ [phone]
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      Louisville............................. [phone]
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      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

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

 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!!!

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

 [869]

                     The following is a QST

    Killer tornadoes sweep through the southeast and ham radio is
 there to provide communications in the wake of the devastation.
 Also, a California judge says the Part 97 rules give his court
 jurisdiction over ham radio on the air operations.  He orders two
 more hams to stay off a repeater.

 (*****
                       SOUTHEASTERN TORNADOS

    Some chilling moments from the March 27th tornado outbreak
 that killed more than 40 people in the Southeastern U.S.  Amateur
 radio operators helped the public by providing Skywarn and other
 emergency communications.  Alabama was hardest hit by the storms.
 Some dramatic storm spotting and damage reports were captured on
 tape:

    "This is N4KMJ, Jack in Goshen Valley at the Goshen Methodist
 Church.  The roof has exploded.  I see one house, the top all
 gone.  Power lines down.  Vehicles wrecked.  I am approaching the
 church more now.  N4KMJ, rescue squad is on scene."

    That was one of the first reports coming from the Goshen
 Methodist Church near Piedmont, Alabama.  That's where 21 people
 -- including six children -- died when a tornado slammed into the
 church during Palm Sunday services.  Skywarn nets were active
 across more than half the state.

    "This funnel cloud is definite I mean it is real formed right
 now.  But I can't hear any roar but there is a lot of lightning
 goin' on, KC4KWX."

    In some areas, tornadoes strike twice.

    "The tornado has touched down in the Macedona area of Raglin.
 Second tornado, I repeat Macendona area of Raglin second touch
 down."
    "Roger, Roger, I copy second touch down.  Will advise National
 Weather N4YYQ."

    Reports of large hail were common.

   "We're experiencing hail at the present.   Probably marble
 sized is what it would be considered and getting larger, comin'
 down pretty steady."

    "We had golf ball sized hail at the bridge.  I probably have
 several dents in the car."

    Hams stayed at the National Weather Service near Birmingham
 for nearly 10 hours.

    "W4CUE, NWS looking for severe weather reports only."

    Palm Sunday 1994 has a new name in Alabama:  Tornado Sunday.
 It's a day residents in the South will never forget.
    In Georgia the state's ARES net was activated Sunday
 afternoon following reports of the tornadoes in Alabama.
 Amateurs manned nets in 12 counties in the storm's expected path.
 Local 2 meter net reports were funneled to the Georgia ARES net
 on 3975 khz, with liaisons to both Alabama and South Carolina.
 From there spotting reports were relayed to state Red Cross
 Headquarters in Atlanta.  Nearly a dozen repeaters were used for
 emergency nets.

 (*****
                       TORNADO HAM TRAGEDY

    The tornadoes in Alabama also brought personal tragedy to Jack
 Blair, N4KMJ.  He's the ham who made the first report you just
 heard in the story about damage to the Goshen Methodist Church.
 As Jack moved closer to the church, he learned that his daughter
 had been injured, and his wife was among those killed when the
 building collapsed.  We know you join with us in wishing Jack's
 daughter a speedy recovery from her injuries and in offering
 condolences to the Blair family on their tragic loss.

 (*****
       CAL STATE COURT DECLARES JURISDICTION OVER HAM RADIO

    A California Superior Court judge says that state courts at
 least state courts in California do have jurisdiction over the
 on-air activities of ham radio operators.  In taking this
 position Judge Robert Hutson has also banned two hams from using
 a private repeater.
    Judge Hutson quoted chapter and verse from section 97.313,
 subpart E of the FCC rules in making his decision.  A decision
 we reported last week to grant a petition from the Claremont
 Amateur Repeater Association to issue a permanent restraining
 order barring Anthony Cardenas, WA6IGJ, and Drew Feldman, N3KSO,
 from operating on the clubs repeaters or taking part in any club
 activity.
    The latest revision of Section 97.113, subpart E of the
 Amateur Radio rules and regulations states in part that any radio
 amateur in his operations obey all federal, state and local laws.
 It was only after talking to Sidney Radus, N6OMS, the attorney
 for CLARA that the scope of the judge Hutson's decision became
 evident.

    "The argument that the other side was making was that only a
 federal court had jurisdiction.  That the federal government had
 preempted all of these areas.  What he found was that since
 federal law applied, but state and local law also applied, then
 there is no preemption and the states are free to act." Radus

    Radus added that it was his view that this loophole in
 federal regulation applies only to the on the air operation of a
 radio amateur in cases where his or her operation may cause harm
 to other hams.  He doubts that it could be construed as giving
 states and municipalities total control over Amateur Radio
 operations because this appears to be the only place in Part 97
 where the FCC gives any authority to other jurisdictions.  Most
 other experts in ham radio legal issues we have spoken with seem
 to agree with Radus.
    The restraining orders against Cardenas and Feldman came just
 a bit more than a month after another Orange County Superior
 Court judge granted the clubs request for a similat order against
 Tim W. Seawolf, KJ5KE.
    Its reported that Feldman has announced, on the air, that he
 will be filing an appeal.

 (*****
                        LICENSE DOWNGRADES

    This just in.  Word that the FCC has mailed out between sixty
 and seventy letters to hams throughout California canceling
 license upgrades.  This, in connection with the governments
 continuing probe into wide spread testing irregularities
 statewide.  Most of the license downgrades are believed to be in
 Southern California and involve sessions run by a number of
 volunteer examiners that the government has temporarily had
 banned from the V.E. testing program.  None of the names or call
 signs of those downgraded have been released by the FCC.  All
 were given sixty dates to take a retest or face the loss of their
 higher license privileges.  Word is that some of those who have
 lost their upgrades took their tests as far back as late 1991
 and early 1992.  That's all the information we have right now.
 More on the continuing California V.E. probe in future Newsline
 reports.

 (*****
                   W5YI LICENSE RENEWAL SERVICE

    W5YI Report publisher Fred Maia seems to have become
 embroiled in another controversy not really of his own making.
 This one involves a mailout of his company of a renewal reminder
 to hams who'se licenses are about to expire.  For a fee of five
 dollars, Fred's company offers to handle the license renewal
 paperwork.  This is not unlike companies that provide this kind
 of a support for land mobile radio, broadcast and other FCC
 licensees.
    Fred told Newsline that he is providing the service at cost
 as a way to advertise.  But some hams seem to view it in another
 light.  Already there have been several messages appearing on the
 national packet radio network warning of what the origionaters
 call a license renewal scam.  The text of one of these postings
 all but says that the W5YI license renewal service is illegal.
 Another goes so far as to call it fraud.  Others simply point out
 that any ham can get a form 610 from the FCC, fill it out, sign
 it and send it in at no cost other than postage.
    Nor is the W5YI Group the only license renewal service
 operating.  The American Radio Relay League has undertaken the
 same project, but only for its members only and with no fee
 involved.  League members will receive a notice about 90 days
 before their license expiration date, along with an FCC Form 610
 and an envelope addressed to the FCC.
    In reality, the Leagues license renewal service is not free.
 You must be an ARRL member to use it and that membership costs
 thirty dollars a year.  And there are also rumors that several
 V.E.C.'s and a number of ham radio database companies may get
 into the license expiration reminder and license renewal service
 as well.  What charges will be made by these groups, if there are
 any, are unknown.
    The bottom line is this.  What Fred Maia and his W5YI group
 are doing is legal.  License renewal services may be new to ham
 radio, but they have been around in other services for years.
 And as ham radio continues to grow at a rate of 6000 to 7000 new
 hams a month, there is a lucrative market developing for all
 kinds of products and services including license renewals.  Look
 for more services like this one to spring up in the months and
 years to come.

 (*****
                          FREE ARRL LETTER

    Another ham radio newsletter price war may be on the horizon
 with word that the American Radio Relay League has decided to
 give away its ARRL Letter free of charge.  But there is a catch.
 The catch is that you have to be an ARRL affiliated radio club
 to get the truly bargain rate.
    The league says that it is limiting the free distribution of
 the ARRL Letter to the Editors of these club newsletters.
 Staffers at Headquarters have already mailed out the offer of a
 free one year subscription to qualifying newsletter editors.
    No word from W5YI Report publisher Fred Maia as to whether he
 plans to match the league's free offer.  The Westlink Report ham
 newsletter has already said that it will not.

 (*****
                            DAYTON SAREX

    It's April and that means Spring in this part of the world.
 Time to get out and work on antennas, fix up the house and for
 thousands of hams... go to Dayton for the Hamvention.
    For more than ten years, amateur radio operators have carried
 ham gear with them into space.  They call the program SAREX, The
 Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment.  More than a dozen flights have
 given thousands of students in schools all over the world the
 thrill of experiencing space close up and personally by taking
 part in two way conversations between kids on campus and
 astronauts aboard Columbia... or Endeavour... or Discovery, 200
 miles above the earth, spinning along at 17 thousand miles an
 hour.
    Teachers say this highly visible exposure has generated so
 much enthusiasm that several hundred youngsters have gone on to
 get licensed and now are members of the amateur radio fraternity.
    SAREX is sponsored by the ARRL, AMSAT and NASA and is
 controlled by an appointed board called The SAREX Working Group.
 To celebrate its tenth anniversary, the Group accepted an
 invitation to stage a Forum at Dayton.   Astronaut Tony England,
 W0ORE, who operated Slow Scan TV and voice back in 1985, will
 join Command Pilot Steve Nagel, N5RAW, who flew two SAREX
 missions in the nineties, to tell us what it's like from an
 astronauts' point of view.
    The Working Group itself will make a rare appearance.  Rosalie
 White, who heads the Educational Activities Department at ARRL
 headquarters and works with the schools that are chosen to take
 part in SAREX, will team up with Frank Bauer, the AMSAT Vice
 President or Manned Space Flight who sets up the ground stations
 and telebridges that bring the astronaut signals to the
 classrooms.  Lou McFadin, the Principal Investigator from the
 Johnson Space Center will demonstrate the SAREX equipment.  Roy
 Neal, K6DUE as Chairman will introduce the players and describe
 our proud history.
    Several SAREX pioneers are flying in for the occasion.  Bill
 Tynan, President of AMSAT; Doug Loughmiller, a former AMSAT
 President; John and Karen Nickel, who helped form the SAREX team;
 all plan to share their experiences.
    Add several teachers and some students telling what it was
 like for them... plus questions and answers with the audience...
 and you have what promises to be a major highlight, Saturday
 afternoon at the Dayton Hamvention this year.
    I'm Roy, K6DUE, for Newsline.

    The SAREX forum will take place Saturday, April 30th at the
 1994 Dayton Hamvention in Dayton Ohio. We'll see you there.

 (*****
                  WESTLINK YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR

    A reminder from the Westlink Report ham radio newsletter that
 the nominating period for its annual Young Ham of the Year Award
 closes on Saturday April the 30th.  The Westlink Report Young Ham
 of the Year award was conceived to honor the younger members of
 the Amateur Radio Community. Hams aged 18 and younger who have
 used Amateur Radio to significantly contribute to the benefit of
 the service, to their community or the nation are eligable.
    With corporate underwriting from Yaesu USA, the 1994 winner
 will receive a trip to the Sea Pac convention, a piece of ham
 radio equipment and a special plaque denoting his or her
 accomplishments.
    All nominations must be submitted on an official application
 available for a self addressed stamped envelope to the Westlink
 Report Young Ham of the Year, 28197 Robin Avenue, Saugus, CA
 91350.  The winner will be announced in early May.

 (*****
                           Mc Gan Award

    Nominations are solicited for the 3rd Annual Philip J. McGan
 Memorial Silver Antenna Award for volunteer public relations
 efforts on behalf of Amateur Radio.  Nominees must be full ARRL
 members in good standing and not be an officer, Director, Vice
 Director, or paid ARRL staff member.  Nominations are due by May
 31, 1994, and must be made on official nominating forms, which
 are available from ARRL HQ, 225 Main Street, Newington Ct. 06111.

 (*****
                       BLANCHARD OBITUARY

    Finally, last week, Newsline brought you the touching story of
 Frank Blanchard, AA4LB, in Birmingham, Alabama.  Frank received
 a special honor in mid-March from fellow members of the
 Birmingham Amateur Radio Club.  He was named this year's
 recipient of the Club's annual Citizenship Award.  Due to a
 critical illness, Frank received his plaque early, during a
 special surprise visit to his hospital room.  It was a very
 emotional presentation and one that won't be forgotten.  We're
 saddened to tell you that on March 30th barely two weeks after
 receiving his award, Frank lost his battle with cancer.  Frank
 Blanchard, appreciated for all the ways he found to help others,
 was just 56 years old.

 (*****

    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. * * *