Monster Media 1996 #15/Monster Media Number 15 (Monster Media)(July 1996).ISO/ham/news.zip/NEWS0405.TXT

Text File | 1996-04-21 | 26KB | 512 lines

SB NEWSLIN @ ALLBBS $NLIN.973
Amateur Radio Newsline #973 05 Apr 1996

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NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #973 - POSTED 04/06/96

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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.  Amateur
Radio Newsline is a audio news service distributed via telephone.

   This hardcopy version is produced by Dale Cary - WD0AKO from
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provided to him weekly by Newsline.  It is then distributed to on-line
services, bbs networks and internet user jointly by Dale Cary and
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[973]

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                        The following is a QST

   A phony disaster call in Maryland is solved and a tower case is
nearing settlement in New York.  These stories and more on Newsline
report number 973 coming your way right now!

(*****
                         PHONY DISTRESS CALLS

   A Maryland man has been charged with issuing phony distress calls
on the VHF Marine band.  The Commission says that on February 12th, it
teamed up with the United States Coast Guard to track down the
resident of Arnold, Maryland that the FCC says had spent five hours
issuing false calls for help for a non existent maritime emergency.
Beginning just before midnight, the unidentified man began
broadcasting a message that the ship he was on had caught fire and was
sinking with 135 passengers on board.
   While the man spoke calmly, he could not provide any sort of
constant information as to where the vessel was. He then began
claiming that terrorists were holding him captive.  Based on the
incredible nature of what it was hearing, the Coast Guard contacted
the FCC and asked help in tracing the signal.  Since the perpetrator
was not smart enough to get off the air, it did not take FCC
investigators long to track the signal to the mans Arnold, Maryland
home.  He now faces the probability of both civil and criminal
charges.  These could lead to penalties that include a year in jail
and a $10,000 fine.

(*****
                         FLORIDA JAMMER BUST

   Two alleged repeater jammers have been caught by hams in the Largo,
Florida area.  The Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Council says in
the April issue of its newsletter that the pair were identified after
several direction finding teams took to the hunt.  The two
unidentified individuals were reportedly observed making unidentified
transmissions, as the direction finding car sat side by side with the
alleged offenders vehicle in Pinellas County.  One of the alleged
perpetrators claims to be a ham, but the club is withholding specific
details until a government investigation is complete.

(*****
                FCC UPHOLDS INTERFERENCE-RELATED FINES

   The FCC has reaffirmed fines against John B. Genovese, WB5LOC, of
New Orleans, Louisiana, and Vernon A. Paroli, KA5OWW, of Gretna,
Louisiana. This, for interfering with communications of other amateurs
in the spring of 1993.
   The FCC upheld forfeitures of $500 against Genovese and $700
against Paroli after a second review of the case. Genovese and Paroli
were among four hams issued Notices of Apparent Liability by the FCC's
New Orleans office.  The other hams were Will Blanton Jr, N5ROC, of
Carriere, Mississippi, and Joseph Richard III, N5JNX, of New Orleans.
  The fines resulted from occurrences of willful and malicious
interference to an organized, 2 meter repeater net and were based on
information provided by the Amateur Auxiliary, which tape recorded the
violations and turned them over to the FCC.  All four were initially
fined $2000 each.  These fines later were reduced on appeal.  Blanton
and Richard were ordered to pay $1000.  Paroli's fine was cut to $700
based on his inability to pay the original fine, while Genovese's fine
was set at $500 because of the shorter duration of his transmissions.

(*****
                   NY HAM WINS TOWER CASE - ALMOST

   A court has struck down a New York township antenna ordinance as
being unreasonable.  J. P. Kleinhaus, AA2DU, says that he chose to
live in Cortlandt Manor, New York, in 1993, because the town's zoning
ordinance did not restrict him from erecting a planned 120 foot tower.
By the time he closed the deal on his house in early 1994, a new
zoning ordinance had gone into effect, one prohibiting towers above 35
feet.
   The town denied his application for the much taller tower, and
Kleinhaus sued.  On March 20, the New York Supreme Court handed down a
ruling annulling the Zoning Board of Appeal's decision as "irrational,
arbitrary and capricious."  But the fine print in the decision does
not order the town to grant the permit.  Instead, it directs Kleinhaus
and the town to arrive at a compromise.  Among the possibilities the
judge cited was painting the tower to help it blend in with its
surroundings.
   Kleinhaus, who describes himself as a contester and a DXer wants to
install a guyed 120-foot tower in a wooded area 250 feet back from the
road and behind his house. Ironically, the town imposes no height
restrictions on rooftop structures, provided they cover no more than
25% of the roof's surface area.

(*****
               SUNNYVALE VEC SAYS REINSTATE ARRL TO QPC

   Gordon Girton, W6NLG who runs Northern California's Sunnyvale VEC
says its time for the National Conference of Volunteer Examination
Coordinators to end their feuding with the American Radio Relay League
and get on with the work of administering the all volunteer testing
program. In a March 29th media release, Girton says that the current
three members of the Question Pool Committee, elected by unanimous
vote at the '95 conference, were Ray Adams, N4BAQ as Chairman with
Fred Maia, W5YI and Bart Jahnke, KB9NM of the ARRL as members.  Girton
notes that no alternate was named.
   Girton says that if he were to vote on the matter it would be to
reinstate the ARRL's Jhanke as a Question Pool Committee member this
weekend.  It should be noted that the Sunnyvale VEC is one of a small
number of Volunteer Examination Coordinators that elected not to join
the NCVEC.
   The ARRL is currently at adds with the NCVEC over the termination
of Bart Jhanke from the Question Pool Committee after the League
declined to join the national conference group.

(*****
       LEAGUE RESPONDS TO COMMENTS IN SPREAD SPECTRUM PETITION

   The ARRL says its petition to relax spread spectrum rules seeks to
address a lack of experimentation by hams, not too spread -- spread
spectrum.  Responding to comments filed in response to its December
rule making petition, RM-8737, the League emphasized that Amateur
Radio -- as an experimental service -- requires flexible rules and
some trust of the licensees carrying out experiments.
   Noting that some commenters called for tighter rules on Spread
Spectrum operation, the League sought to dispel fears that relaxing
the rules on spread spectrum would lead to an increase in the noise
floor in bands used by narrowband modes.
   The League says that most opposing commenters ignore the fact that
some amateur bands already are occupied by Part 15 spread spectrum
devices.  Also, that many already operate near ham stations.  The
League says that additional constraints would hinder hams from keeping
up with spread spectrum developments and prevent maximizing spectrum
efficiency.  The ARRL believes that its petition suggests only a
modest deregulatory effort.  The League's Petition for Rule Making
seeks relaxed restrictions on spreading sequences and greater
flexibility in spreading modulation. The spread spectrum technique,
which distributes information among several synchronized frequencies
within a band at the transmitter and reassembles the information at
the receiver.  It first approved for Amateur Radio in 1985 for bands
above 225 MHZ, and there has been some experimental amateur operation
since then.
   The petition proposes that the FCC permit brief spread- spectrum
test transmissions and allow international spread- spectrum
communication between amateurs in the U.S. and those in countries that
permit hams to use spread-spectrum techniques. The current rules allow
only domestic communication.  The petition also asks for automatic
power control provisions to insure use of minimum necessary power to
conduct spread-spectrum communication and limit the potential for
interference to narrowband modes.  The petition does not ask for any
changes in frequency restrictions on Spread Spectrum emissions, the
100 watt power limit or logging and identification requirements.
   The League calls the proposals "the minimum necessary changes in
order to foster Spread Spectrum technology in ham radio.  Those
opposed say that Spread Spectrum modulation will interfere with all
other users of the bands in question.  Weak signal enthusiasts fear
that the ambient noise floor of the bands will be significantly
raised.  The loudest opposition is coming from repeater owners and
their frequency coordinators.  They say that the lower VHF bands are
far to crowded to accept any new mode that has the potential to affect
hundreds of thousands of hams who rely on FM and repeaters for their
day to day utility communications.

(*****
                             FUND REPORT

   He's back!  The "he" in this case is our Support Fund Administrator
Andy Jarema, N6TCQ.  Here is Andy with the February report:

   We heard from the Mount Beacon Amateur Radio Club in Wappingers
Falls, NY, the Connawa Amateur Radio Club, and W.C. and Elizabeth
Hunter (K8BS and KA8MLP) of Charleston, WV, the Sugar Creek Repeater
Assn. of Crawfordsville, IN, the Mid State Amateur Radio Club KB9LOC
of Franklin, IN, and the Cincinnati Chapter OMEC Electronic Assn.  We
heard from Sey Field-KB9IKO of Park Forrest, IL, Jack Koole-KE8TJ of
Portage, MI, and Jack I don't know how you could get a signal out
living across the street from the KRLA antenna farm like that, Ken
Covey-W0ZQJ of Moorhead, MN, the Amateur Radio Transmitting Society of
Louisville, KY, and the Northwest Arkansas Amateur Radio Club in
Fayetteville.
   Moving toward the west, we heard from the Enid Amateur Radio Club
of Enid, OK, and Col. John Bash-KG7HL a regular contributor from
Tucson, AZ.  From California we heard from David Swann-KD6FJB of Santa
Maria, the Contra Costa Repeater Assn. in the bay area, Janet
Westerhold-WD6PGO of Vista, the Western Amateur Linking Assn. of Buena
Park, Mattilin Fockens-KB6IS of Los Angeles, the West Side Amateur
Radio Club of Marina Del Ray, Gerald Huling-K2OXH of Arcadia, Steven
Han-KO6XT of Lakewood, and Mac Waugh-WA6VTV of Big Bear Lake.  Finally
a big Gordo Thank you to Gorden West- WB6NOA.
   Remember the clubs that support us, with the club name, repeater
call and service area get a mention during the newscast id break.

   Listen for Andy again in about four weeks.

(*****
                        BILL BURDEN RECOVERING

   ARRL New England Division Director Bill Burden, WB1BRE, of
Strafford, Vermont, is reported to be recovering nicely in the wake of
a mild heart attack he suffered the weekend March 23rd.  Director
Burden was admitted to a hospital in Lebanon, New Hampshire, after
complaining of chest pains. Following extensive tests he underwent a
balloon angioplasty to relieve a blockage.  The procedure was
successful and Bill was back home Wednesday, March 27.  Get well
wishes go to WB1BRE at his Callbook address.

(*****
                NEW REPEATER COUNCIL FORMED BY MERGER

   Two northeastern repeater coordinators have merged to form a single
new coordination body.  On February 1st, Pennsylvanias' TPARC
Coordinating Committee merged with Southern New Jersey's ARCC repeater
coordination group to form one new organization known as ARCC TPARC,
Inc..  This ends a year of confusing circumstances in Eastern
Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey.  The new organization's address
is:

                              ARCC TPARC, Inc.
                              P.O. Box 3006
                              Maple Glen, PA
                              19002

(*****
                           NEW UK HAM TESTS

   From overseas, word that ham radio tests are changing in the United
Kingdom.  The City and Guilds organization that oversees the Radio
Amateurs' Examination says that the questions used will be revised in
May of 1997.  The revised exam will consist of a single multiple
choice paper of 80 questions, with a duration of two and a quarter
hours. This compares with the present two papers containing 100
questions, with a total duration of two and three quarter hours.

(*****
                            UK HF MEETING

   The RSGB High Frequency Contests Committee will be holding an all
day meeting in mid-April in order to examine the thinking behind all
current RSGB HF contests.  This includes the mix of modes in the
present range of contests.
   The committee would like the views of any RSGB member residing
anywhere in the world.  These will be discussed at the meeting.  Input
should be addressed to Chris Burbanks, G3SJJ, Chairman of the High
Frequency Contest Committee. His address is good in the International
Callbook.

(*****
                  10 GHZ CUMULATIVE CONTEST EXPANDED

   Back at home, the ARRL Awards Committee has voted unanimously to
accept a Contest Advisory Committee recommendation to add the bands
above 10 GHz to the ARRL 10 GHz Cumulative Contest, to encourage use
of the upper microwave bands.  The 10 GHz cumulative run August 17th
to the 18th and September 21st to the 22nd.  In the past, entries have
not been divided.  Effective this year, however, there will be two
entry categories, 10 GHz only and 10 GHz and above.
   Scoring is based on distance points and QSO points. Distance points
are earned at the rate of 1 point for each kilometer of distance
between stations for each successfully completed QSO.  An additional
100 QSO points is awarded for each unique call sign worked per band.
Portable indicators added to a call sign do not make the call sign
unique.  The total score is the sum of distance points and QSO points.
There are no multipliers.

(*****
            DXPEDITION SCORES TO COUNT IN CLUB COMPETITION

   Also, the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee and the ARRL Awards
Committee have voted in favor of adding DXpedition scores to the club
aggregate competition totals for active affiliated clubs in the ARRL
International DX Contest, starting with the 1997 event.  The current
rule requiring that single guest operators and the station licensee be
members of the same club, has been waived for DXpeditions only.  The
requirement that at least 66% of the operators in a multi-operator
entry be members of the same club for the club's score to count,
remains in effect, as do all other club-competition rules.

(*****
                    NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FIELD DAY

   QRP Field Day is April 27th and the Northern California QRP Club
will be operating from the historical old ghost town of Riley, New
Mexico.  With the multitude of QRP stations, that will be in Riley the
group will offer a special photo QSL Card.
   If You are interested in joining the Nor Cal QRP To The Field or
want more details, send a SASE to WU7F at his callbook address.  You
can also find more information on the Internet from the QRP L
Reflector.
   By the way, the town of Riley, New Mexico is best for the bandits
that hid out in the nearby Ladrones Mountains. Legend has it that over
$50,000.00 in loot is still buried in the nearby mountains and you can
guess where the operators will be when they are not on the air!

(*****
                       VISALIA ANTENNA CONTEST

   W6KTT will be conducting another Mobile Antenna System "Shootout"
On Saturday, April 20th, at the Visalia DX Convention.  Test frequency
will be 3995 kilohertz with an antenna height limit is 13.5' tip to
ground.
   If you are going to attend the convention or plan to be in the
area, join in on the fun, food and see how your mobile antenna system
stacks up against some of the best systems in the country.

(*****
                          DX - SOUTH PACIFIC

   In DX, Ron Tivey, N4GFO, is aboard the US Navy vessel Frank Cable.
He reports that he is in the South Pacific headed for Guam and
operating maritime mobile.  Ron plans to make various ports of call,
but cannot say just where ahead of time because of Navy regulations.
Listen for N4GFO maritime mobile on SSB through mid-April from 01:00
to 07:00 UTC on 14.222 and 14.175 MHZ.

(*****
                          HAM RADIO AND MORE

   Before leaving, we want to tell you that April 21st marks the fifth
anniversary of the nationally syndicated Ham Radio and More Show,
hosted by Len Winkler, KB7LPW. The program airs live on many stations
Sundays at 6 PM Eastern and features weekly guests, listener call-ins,
prizes, news and more.  Shortwave station WWCR carries the show live
on 5065 kHz.  Our congratulations to our close friend Len Winkler,
KB7LPW on this important milestone.

(*****
                         FREEMEN ON HAM RADIO

   And finally, the Spokane Washington Spokesman Review newspaper
reports that two leaders of the Freemen militia were arrested because
of ham radio.  The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, reported that an
undercover FBI agent posing as a ham radio antenna installer had
gained the confidence of Freemen leaders.
  The Spokesmen Review says that the Freemen use ham radios to
exchange information and messages. The newspaper says that they wanted
to erect a radio antenna on the hilltop near the farm buildings where
they have been holed up, the newspaper reported. An installation crew
arrived Monday morning March 25th, spread the materials on a tarp on
the ridge, and the undercover agent asked Schweitzer and Petersen to
approve the tower location. When they arrived, the newspaper says that
FBI agents swooped in with guns drawn and made the arrests.
  Only one problem with the Spokesman Review story. A check of the
latest FCC ham radio database does not show any listing for either a
LeRoy Schweitzer or Daniel Peterson in Montana. Then again, the
Freemen militia does not recognize the authority of the United States
government, so there is no reason to believe that any of its members
are licensed hams. Which makes us wonder, if the Freemen are
bootlegging on our ham bands, is there any reason to think that the
FCC might want to get involved in their prosecution?  After all,
unlike the jamming of our repeaters, this one is a high profile case!

(*****
   And for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.  You
can write to us at:

                           NEWSLINE
                           P.O.Box 660937
                           Arcadia, California
                           91066

   For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF at our editors desk, we at
Newsline say 73 and we thank you for listening.

(* * Newsline is copyright 1996 & all rights are reserved. *
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