Monster Media 1994 #1/monster.zip/monster/HAM/NEWSLINE.ZIP/NEWS861.TXT

Text File | 1994-02-18 | 23KB | 439 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 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 #111 - POSTED 02/13/94

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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
 NET
 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

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

 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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 [861]

 * * * *   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 amateur 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 861 for release on Friday, 02/11/94.           *
 *                                                               *
 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                       The following is a QST

    When the information super highway arrives, ham radio will be
 riding on it at the front of the pack.  So says a high ranking
 FCC official on Newsline report number 861 coming your way.

 *****
                     INFORMATION SUPER HIGHWAY

    Ham radio definitely will play an important part in President
 Clinton's information super highway.  So says FCC Private Radio
 Bureau Chief Ralph Haller, N4RH.  Speaking on Saturday, February
 5th at the 1994 Tropical Hamboree in Miami, Haller told the group
 that it's the inventive nature of radio amateurs that makes them
 so important to the emerging information flow.

    "The amateur service, I think is going to play a major role in
 the information super highway and the advancements that come
 online in the future.  You're the people that have the practical
 knowledge of communications.  You're the people that have come up
 with the innovative networks.  Your packet data systems that are
 now very common in the commercial world.
    I guess what I am saying to you is, while I am not
 particularly concerned about any more of your frequencies being
 in jeopardy at this time, because there is no plans for that.  I
 am concerned that you continue to move forward and keep pace with
 the commercial side, so that the technologies you have on the
 air will in fact provide you all of the kinds of feature rich
 functions that are going to be available to the general public.
 In fact you ought to have even more features because you are more
 qualified, you know what else is available besides just a device
 that can only be operated by someone that is not sophisticated in
 communications.  It is an exciting time.  I hope you share that
 view with me.  Because it really, I think, is going to make a
 difference in the way we live in the future."  FCC Private Radio
 Bureau Chief, Ralph Haller, N4RH.

    Haller also took note of the success of the expansion of
 public service activities as a result of the FCC action to
 change its rules governing business communications.  N4RH
 singled out the recent New York City Marathon as a primary
 example of the ham radio success brought about by this regulatory
 change.

    "I recently had the opportunity to visit the New York
 Marathon.  And to watch how amateur radio communications actually
 made that event occur.  Without it, it would not occur.  It is
 hard perhaps, to think about, to believe that the city of New
 York Police Department is unable to communicate over the entire
 26 miles of that marathon.  The only communications that worked
 over the entire 26 miles of that race was the amateur
 communications.  The amateurs provided medical support, provide
 physician information, provided a whole host of communications
 capabilities.  In fact it goes so far as to this.  It was an
 amateur radio transmission that in fact signaled start the race.
 It wasn't on police radio, it wasn't on anything else, it was
 amateur that was the only communications capability that provided
 an instant notification to everyone in all parts of that race.
 Pretty amazing what you people have done."  Ralph Haller, N4RH.

     N4RH says that this one rules change has forever expanded the
 public service abilities of the ham radio community.

 *****
                     ARRL SAYS NO TO RF STANDARDS

    The ARRL has told the FCC that a proposal to adopt new
 standards for exposure to radio frequency radiation should be
 terminated.
    The League says that the proposal, which would change the
 Commission's guidelines to match those adopted by the American
 National Standards Institute and the Institute of Electrical
 and Electronic Engineers in 1992, was premature.  It also asserts
 that the commission has an obligation to introduce this matter as
 an FCC notice of inquiry to allow a wider range of commentary.
    The ARRL claims that the proposed standards were not properly
 delineated and not a proper basis for evaluating communications
 facilities.  It also said that an FCC Report and Order in 1987
 that concluded that amateur stations should be exempted from such
 RF exposure guidelines, because amateur stations operate only
 intermittently, and at low power levels, still applies.  Only
 rarely, the League said, would amateur stations even exceed the
 proposed, more stringent 1992 standard.
    The League wants the current FCC proceeding terminated in
 favor of more study by a more appropriate government agency, such
 as the Environmental Protection Agency.  If not, then it says the
 obligation of he FCC is to issue a notice of inquiry.
    The current proposal, in ET Docket 93-62, was made in the
 spring of 1993 and its comment deadline has been extended several
 times, most recently to January 25, 1994, based on a request by
 CBS Inc.  The reply comment deadline is February 24th.

 *****
                              SAREX

    The STS 60 Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment has successfully
 completed another first.  At 10:42 UTC on February 6, Cosmonaut
 Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, on board the space ship Discovery made
 contact with the House of Science and Technology for Youth in
 Moscow.  This is the first time a cosmonaut on a U.S. space
 shuttle has communicated with a school group in Russia.  Leonid
 Lebutin, UA3CR and Valery Agabekov, UA6HZ were the prime school
 coordinators for the contact.  Six students were able to ask
 their questions to the crew on the Space Shuttle DIscovery.  In
 addition, several cosmonauts were on hand to hear the
 communications and witness the event.

 *****
                       SAREX PACKET QSL INFO

    While voice contacts with the hams on Discovery have been
 scarce due to problems with the Wake Shield satellite experiment,
 the packet robot ham station has been quite busy.  As we go to
 air just prior to landing, there have been several thousand
 automatic SAREX contacts made with hams from around the world
 reporting a booming packet radio signal from the shuttle.
    For those of you who have heard or worked the STS-60 crew
 and wish to receive a QSL card you need to send your signal
 report and an SASE or an envelope with International Reply
 Coupons to the QSL manager.  This time its the ARRL. The address
 is STS 60 QSL, in care of the Educational Activities Division,
 The American Radio Relay League, 225 Main Street, Newington,
 Connecticut 06111.

 *****
                       Anik E2 Lost in Space?

    Still with satellite related news, word that Thursday January
 20th was not a good day for Telesat Canada.
    Within a 12 hour period they lost both of their $300 million
 geostationary satellites Anik E1 and E2.  E1 was eventually
 recovered by switching to a backup momentum wheel but the E2 bird
 may be permanently disabled.
    Both satellites are of the GE Series 5000 family of birds.
 Experts believe that electromagnetic disturbances in space may
 have caused the damage.  Canadian radio and television
 broadcasting, telephone services, data carriers and even a
 national ham radio satellite repeater intertie have all been
 seriously affected.  Some believe the transponder shortage will
 cause a rush toward the introduction of video compression on the
 surviving Canadian satellite.  This would greatly enhance its
 throughput while at the same time making it unviewable by home
 satellite viewers.

 *****
                       2 MET

    Amateur Radio may have saved a life when Diana Carlson, KC1SP,
 used a local repeater to report a possible suicide attempt to
 police.  Carlson, of Hudson, New Hampshire, was on her way to
 work in Concord, Massachusetts, the morning of January 10, when
 she and another motorist observed a man climbing the railing of
 the Merrimack Bridge.  The man's auto was parked directly in
 front of Carlson.
    While the other motorist talked to the man, Carlson first
 tried a call on 146.52, which she knew was sometimes monitored by
 the Westford, Massachusetts police.  When no response came she
 switched to the 147.12 repeater in Billerica.  There, Larry
 Garneau, N1QEZ, who was mobile, responded and passed the message
 to his wife, Virginia N1QFA, who telephoned police.  An officer
 of the Tyngsboro Police arrived in time to pull the 27-year-old
 man from the railing of the bridge.
    By the way, Diana Carlson comes from an all ham family.  Her
 husband David is N1JYX, her son is KA1VWX, and her daughter is
 KA1VUA.

 *****
                          STOLEN REPEATER

    From England comes word that the GB3GF repeater operated by
 the Guildford UHF Repeater Group in England has been stolen.  The
 radio gear was sited at Guildford near Surrey and was last heard
 on the air on December the 29th.  Sometime between midnight and 8
 am on the 30th, the entire installation was skillfully dismantled
 and removed from the site.  The thieves even took the time to
 climb a fifty foot high tower to take the antennas as well.
    The system was made up of a modified Pye Communications model
 F9U wall mounted base station, a Pye AE 450 F cavity filter and
 home made copper cavity circulator.  It was crystalled to operate
 on the European RB 12 UHF repeater frequency pair of 433.300 MHz
 in and transmitted on 434.900 MHz.  It also had an automatic
 Morse Code identifier of GB3GF every fifteen minutes.
    While its doubtful that this machine will show up on North
 American shores, be aware that any leads in locating the repeater
 and those who took it are welcome.  Any information should go
 directly to the Guildford Police Department.  The telephone
 number from the United States is a long one.  You dial 0114448
 followed by the local number 331111.  When you get an answer, ask
 for extension 3128.

 *****
                      UK REPEATER DELINQUENCY

    From the United Kingdom comes word that the Radio Society of
 Great Britain has issued an urgent advisory to twenty-four of
 that nations repeater trustees telling them to respond to a
 letter or loose the right to keep their systems on the air.  This
 is because the British Radio Communications Agency abandoned the
 single repeater license to the RSGB and is now individually
 licensing each of the nations repeaters.
    Actually, the RSGB repeater keepers license expired at the
 end of last November.  Now the government has told the national
 society that it must have a letter requesting a Notice of
 Variation from each repeater license holder to keep the machines
 on the air.  The society says that it has received all but two
 dozen of these requests, and it is urging the users of the
 repeaters that have not filed to urge the license holder to do so
 immediately.  The RSGB says that its under increasing pressure
 from the Radio Communications Agency to let it know which
 repeaters have not filed for the required Notices of Variation.
 As far as the British Government is concerned, these systems are
 operating illegally without a proper license.

 *****
                                 PSA

    The ARRL has some new Public Service Television commercials
 available to its Public Information Officers and Public
 Information Coordinators.  The tapes feature astronaut Linda
 Godwin, N5RAX, and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr Joel Taylor,
 K1JT.  The full-color PSA's include testimonials from Godwin and
 Taylor in varying lengths for both commercial and public-access
 television use.  Be sure to specify videotape format required by
 television station or cable television system when placing your
 order.  If you are not certain, we strongly suggest that you call
 the TV station or cablecaster and ask what type of videotape they
 require.

 *****
                          PSA TAPE FORMATS

    By the way, it may be time for a quick lesson on how to get a
 public service spot on the air.  Let's start off by saying that
 its getting a lot harder to these spots aired these days.  Only
 a few years ago, TV stations were happy to have them to fill the
 gaps in late night time slots where no commercials had been sold.
 The advent of the long format commercial called the infomercial
 changed all of that.  Infomercials are known as time buys and
 they supplant individual commercials in a given period.  As a
 result, free time for PSA's is getting scarce.
    Complicating things further is the kind of videotape you must
 submit to a TV station.  A decade ago, that too was easy.  Big
 stations required 2" quad tape while the little ones would accept
 the then popular 3/4 inch U-Matic.  But its not that way anymore.
    Now a days commercials and PSA's are run by automated
 machinery that use cassette format tapes.  As a rule of thumb,
 television stations that make their own cassettes require any
 commercial to be delivered to them on what is known as 1 inch
 type C open reel tape.  But with manpower cutbacks and the
 introduction of even more automation, that trend is changing too.
 More and more stations now require you to submit 1/2 inch Betacam
 SP cassettes that can be placed directly into their automated
 tape players known as cart machines.  This saves the station the
 cost of having to transfer the original you supply to a cassette
 that will fit their commercial playback machine.  A small number
 still accept 3/4" tape but that number is shrinking daily as
 U-Matic and quad is replaced by Betacam SP as the defacto
 standard.
    Complicating matters further is that some stations; mainly
 those affiliated with the National Broadcasting Company may
 require your submitting the PSA's on the Panasonic M2 video
 format while some Tribune and independent stations utilize the
 new D2 digital 19mm videocassettes for their Ampex built ACR 225
 cart machines.
    The majority of cablecasters are a lot more lenient than
 commercial broadcasters but even here its not like it used to be.
 While some will accept the older 3/4" U-Matic cassettes the vast
 majority now are switching over to the Super VHS.  That's Super
 VHS and not the home type VHS we have in our houses.  Except for
 undercover news stories, VHS is not acceptable for over the air
 broadcast and is rarely used any longer in cable transmission.
 VHS cassettes are used only for viewing purposes in offices to
 see if the material in the PSA or commercial is acceptable for
 air.

 *****
                                 DX

    In DX, word that Walis Island as ZS9DX was to be active by
 operators ZS6BRZ and ZS6WPX, but there have been no QSN reports.
 To date, the only activity seen from Walis has been by ZS9A on
 21.335 MHz at 14:00 UTC.  ZS9A also frequents 10 meters at
 various times.

 *****
                              FORM 610

    This important note to any ham who contributes time as a
 Volunteer Examiner.  Beginning March 1st the FCC will accept
 only the new version of its Form 610.  Information about the new
 610 is explained on page 103 of the February QST
     Those hams who serve under the ARRL VEC have been assured of
 having the needed materials before the implementation date.  The
 latest issue of their VE Express newsletter includes a full size
 version of the new Form 610 and the ARRL VEC has also mailed
 bulk quantities of the new form to all of its 650 plus field
 stocked VE teams.  The ARRL VEC recommends that its VE teams
 begin using the new form on February 12 to allow for sufficient
 turnaround time.
    The W5YI national VEC is also getting supplies of the new
 form out to its VE teams very quickly and should have them in
 place by the time this newscast goes to air.
    Its not known what action other VEC's have taken to provide
 their VE's with the new Form 610 prior to its implementation
 date.  If you are not an ARRL or W5YI VE, and have not been
 restocked with new form 610's by your VEC, consider requesting
 the new version to be sent to you from that VEC right away.  If
 these VEC's will contact us with their plans, we will be happy to
 pass along the information in future Newsline reports.

 *****
                           BOSWELL OBIT

    It's no exaggeration to say that one Alabama ham radio
 operator has touched thousands of lives.  But you probably won't
 recognize his name.  Nonetheless, friends of Ken Boswell,
 KB4BWO, were saddened at the news of his death in early January.
 This man has been considered an inspiration in their lives.
    If there is one point everyone that met Ken Boswell agrees
 about, it's the smile.  He always had one.
    "He tried desperately to look and find the good in
 situations."  Ron Arap, N4PHP.
    Ron remembers the man who worked hard to help students at
 Bessemer State Technical College.  That's where Boswell taught
 electronics courses.
    "If the student was interested, and applies themselves, he
 would go out of his way to help them."  Ron Arap, N4PHP.
    Boswell setup an amateur station at the college to build
 interest in ham radio.  He was active in the Birmingham Amateur
 Radio Club.  At the school fellow instructor Clarence Johnson
 deals with the loss of a close friend.
    "He cared about people.  He was a people kind of person.  As a
 matter of fact the memory that I will probably have that will
 linger with me about Ken is just how much he really showed he
 really loved humanity.  He got along well with his students.  Ken
 was just the kind of person that get along with anybody.  Ken met
 no strangers."  Clarence Johnson, fellow instructor.
    In his nearly thirty years in vocational education.  Ken
 Boswell thousands of people a powerful tool, knowledge to make
 their lives better.
    A special tribute may be in the works to honor Ken Boswell.
 Friends and co-workers want to set up a scholarship fund in his
 honor.  Ken Boswell was 57 years old.

 *****

    For this week that is 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. * * *