Monster Media 1996 #15/Monster Media Number 15 (Monster Media)(July 1996).ISO/ham/news.zip/NEWS0505.TXT

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SB NEWSLIN @ ALLBBS $NLIN.977
Amateur Radio Newsline #977 05 May 1996

The Newsline Information and Copyright Notice is now published seperately
every month.  Please read this notice before using any part of Newsline in
any manner.  For a copy of the notice e-mail [e-mail] or netmail
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NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #977 - 05/05/96

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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 scripts
provided to him weekly by Newsline.  It is then distributed to on-line
services, bbs networks and internet user jointly by Dale Cary and Steve
Coletti.

   Editorial comments, news item and all other business should be directed
to:

                           Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF
                         Newsline Producer & Editor

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   Hardcopy comments or complements can be directed to:

                             Dale Cary, WD0AKO
                     Hardcopy Distribution for Newsline

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* The Melbourne, Florida newsline number will change from [phone] to
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                  Electronic Hardcopy Version of Newsline
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               In bulletin number 36
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               In bulletin number 6 of the ham radio conference
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               Ham Radio forum/Ham Radio General File Library
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           CompuServe/HamNet.................... HamNet Library 0
           Microsoft Network.......... Amateur Radio File Library
           Internet...............In the rec.radio.info newsgroup
           Internet FTP: oak.oakland.edu.........................
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[977]

   Newsline report number 977 for release on Friday, May 3, 1996 to follow.

                           The following is a QST
                           ======================

   The FCC says goodbye to the Morse Code for ship to shore communications
and also backs away from a pilot project where those who suffer from RFI
have to pay for the repair. These stories and more on a special extended
Newsline report number 977 coming your way right now.

(*****
                              MARITIME CW: RIP

   The Morse code has come one step closer to passing into oblivion.  This,
with the April 5th action by the FCC to drop the requirement that vessels
equipped with the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System also carry
manual Morse code radiotelegraph gear.
   Previously, any United States flag cargo vessel of more than 1600 gross
tons and U.S. flag passenger vessels were required to carry a manual Morse
code radiotelegraph installation when navigating in the open sea or on
international voyages.  But the older Morse code based safety system is
being phased out internationally and is scheduled to be totally replaced by
the more modern satellite based system on February 1, 1999.  After that
date, qualifying vessels won't have to carry any CW equipment if the US
Coast Guard determines the vessel has the satellite based safety gear
installed.
   The Commission requested that Congress authorize the shift away from
Morse code as a part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  The change
will also have a ripple effect into ham radio.  After February of 1999 it
will become very rare for hams to handle ship to shore emergencies using
Morse code to communicate.  Chances are that any maritime emergencies that
ham radio involves itself in after that date will be using SSB voice or
some form of data based communications.

(*****
                 VANITY CALL SIGN GATE I OPENS MAY 31, 1996

   This is a Newsline instant update.  Dateline Washington, D.C. May 1st.
The FCC has announced that Gate 1 of the long awaited vanity call sign
program will open on Friday, May 31st.  Amateur operators who meet the
eligibility standards may request a vanity call sign on or after May 31,
1996.
   As previously reported, to qualify for a vanity ham radio call sign, you
must hold an unexpired amateur operator and primary station license grant
of the proper operator class. To request a vanity call sign for a club
station, you must also hold an unexpired club station license grant listing
you as the license trustee.
   There will be four application gates opened over a period of time to
service the holders of various license classes. Since we do not have the
time to outline the entire plan we might suggest that you obtain a copy of
FCC Fact Sheet PR-5000 #206 for further information.
   And this very important note.  The FCC says that you must file your
request on its special FCC Form 610-V and that legibility is critical!  If
the information on your application is not easy to read, you will
experience a delay in processing, lose the opportunity to obtain a
requested call sign or even obtain a call sign different from what you
want.
   A $30.00 fee is required with your Form 610-V application. Payment of
the fee may be made by check payable to FCC, by bank draft, money order or
credit card.  If paying by credit card, you must also complete and submit
FCC Form 159 with your FCC Form 610-V.  The FCC warns do not send cash.
Send your application package to the:

                    Federal Communications Commission
                    Amateur Vanity Call Sign Request
                    P.O. Box 358924
                    Pittsburgh, PA
                    15251-5924

   We'll have more for you on this, the opening of the amateur radio vanity
call sign program next week.

(*****
                           FCC DROPS RFI PROGRAM

   The FCC is admitting that trying to get the public to pay to resolve TVI
and other kinds of interference, just won't fly.  It has quietly end its
pilot program in Florida.

   The Federal Communications Commission has ended its pilot program here
in Tampa, Florida, that referred consumer electronics interference cases to
a local repair shop for resolution.  Jim Dailey, the FCC engineer in charge
in Kansas City headed up the FCC's privatization RFI task force.  He says
that data collected by the FCC showed the program had no takers.  This,
says Dailey, was because the complainants do not want to spend their money
to eliminate the interference problems.
  Fear may have been another factor in the failure of the program, says Roy
Lewis, W4WLY.  Lewis operates Vulcan Electronics in Tampa was the only shop
certified by the FCC to deal with interference problems.  He reports that
all of the 2,000 or so complaints of RFI to televisions, stereos,
telephones and even air conditioners, stemmed from unlicensed, high-power
operations that the customers already had identified.  He said the
customers not only didn't want to pay to have the problems resolved, but
that some were afraid of retaliation if a repairman went out to investigate
the problem.

   The big question now is what other possible interference resolution
services the financially strapped FCC will suggest next.  So far their only
action is to make available a pamphlet on the cause of RFI that contains a
cut out complaint card.  No the card does not get sent to the FCC. It gets
mailed to the company that made the device suffering the interference
problem.  If that brings no response, the FCC says to file a complaint with
the Electronics Industry Association, a lobby group that represents the
consumer electronics industry.

(*****
                             NEW STATION LIMITS

   The Federal Communications Commission has raised the number of
commercial broadcast stations that any entity can own.  According to the
new limits, a company can own as many TV stations as it wants as long as
the station's don't reach more than 35% of the nation's TV viewing
households. Previously broadcasters could own only up to 12 stations,
reaching up to 25% of households.  The changes were designed to allow TV
networks expand and compete more freely with cable networks and direct
broadcast satellite systems and are a part of the new communications act
signed into law earlier this year.

(*****

           * * *   L a t e   B r e a k I n g   S t o r y   * * *

            HAM RADIO BANNED FROM OLYMPIC VENUES BY BROADCASTERS

   If you're going to the Atlanta Olympics as a spectator, leave your
handheld in your hotel room.
   Despite reports to the contrary from other amateur news sources, the
official in charge of radio usage at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games says
spectators may NOT bring handheld ham rigs or scanners to Olympic "venues,"
the formal name for sites where events will be held.
   Mike Smalls, Chairman of the Olympic Broadcast Frequency Coordination
Committee, told CQ VHF that exceptions MAY be made for hams providing
communications support for the games, but only if the appropriate officials
request them. Even then, each radio will be subject to inspection, testing
and approval.
   "I can't afford non-coordinated transmitters," Smalls told us. "Who
knows if a transmission is going to blow away a live wireless microphone or
an NBC news feed?"
   In summary, according to Smalls, "No scanners, no HTs, except for game
support." On the other hand, cellular phones WILL be allowed, in accordance
with an FCC request.

(*****
                              DISH OPPOSITION

   Opposition is growing to an FCC mandate that says anyone can put up a
tiny direct broadcast satellite dish and its the property owners that are
making the noise.  The Building Owners and Managers Association
International  has put the FCC on notice of its opposition to being forced
to let anyone put up Direct Broadcast Television satellite dishes.  At
issue is the FCC's plan to allow the mounting of satellite antennas on a
building owner's property regardless of the building owners' opposition.
   BOMA is joined in its 40 page filing by the National Apartment
Association, National Realty Council, Institute of Real Estate Management,
International Council of Shopping Centers and the National Association of
Real Estate Investment Trusts.
   BOMA says that any attempt by the Commission to compel building owners
to allow the placement of antennas in or on their buildings or surrounding
property by third party telecommunications providers, tenants, or residents
violate the owners' rights under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution.  In addition to its constitutional claim, BOMA cites
aesthetic, safety, security and structural integrity issues.
   BOMA's April 15th comments closely follow those it filed last month
which opposed mandating access for telecommunications providers onto
private property.  Most observers see this issue headed into the federal
courts.

(*****
                            N6NHG PLEADS GUILTY

   Computer super hacker Kevin David Mitnick, N6NHG has pleaded guilty to
charges of illegally using stolen mobile phone numbers.  His April 22nd
plea in Los Angeles is part of an agreement arranged by Mitnicks' attorneys
with federal prosecutors in North Carolina.  Mitnick was arrested in
Raleigh last year after being tracked down by a San Diego computer security
expert.
   Under the plea bargain agreement, Mitnick also pleaded guilty to
violating the terms of his probation on an earlier conviction on computer
hacking charges.  He could face up to 20 years in prison when he's
sentenced on July 15th but Judge Marianna Pfaelzer is expected to impose a
far shorter sentence.

(*****
                          ALLEGED NY JAMMER CAUGHT

   The lawyer for a Great Neck New York ham accused of using his Amateur
Radio station to reroute taxicabs and jam Long Island police communications
says that his client will fight the charges.

   The lawyer for a Great Neck, New York ham accused of using his Amateur
Radio station to reroute taxicabs and jam Long Island police communications
says that his client will fight the charges.  Michael Abbey, N2LPD, a 19
year old student at Queens College was arrested on April 16th by Nassau
County police who say that caught him in the act of making radio
transmissions from his bedroom.  Police say that he was broadcasting
illegally on a frequency used by a local livery service at the time he was
taken into custody.
   According to the newspaper Newsday, Abbey was booked at the Sixth
Precient police station and then ordered to appear in court in Hempstead,
New York on two felony counts of eavesdropping and one misdemeanor count of
obstructing governmental administration.
   Abbeys lawyer told Newsday that a not guilty plea will be entered at the
arraignment.

   If Abbey does stand trial and is convicted on all charges, he faces up
to eight years in prison.

(*****
                           SPOC PLANS MADE PUBLIC

   If there ever is a single point of contact between the repeater
coordinators and the FCC, it probably will not be what was decided at last
Octobers repeater coordinators conclave in St. Louis, Missouri.  The
coordinators have finally released several documents that detail their
desires and what they are asking is for ARRL funding and almost complete
autonomy.
   Basically, the coordinators have decided to form a national umbrella
group called the National Frequency Coordinators Conference or simply
N.F.C.C.  Its similar in many ways to the National Conference of Volunteer
Examination Coordinators except that N.F.C.C. will concentrate on issues of
interest to repeater owner operators and the coordinators that assign them
their operating frequencies.
   NFCC has completed a proposed Memorandum of Understanding that will be
submitted to the American Radio Relay League. The Leagues Board of
Directors will then vote on the proposal when they meet next summer.  Until
that time, the N.F.C.C. will continue to work on defining its role in
coordination issues and the part it will play in overall ham radio society.

(*****
                       NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME RULE

   San Francisco communications attorney Phil Kane, N6SP tells Newsline
that the FCC broadcast rule used to suspend the license of Irvin Foret Jr.,
KB5UJD of Metarie, Louisiana for two years was not the Prime Time rule as
we reported.  Rather, it is a regulation known as the Safe Harbor ruling.
   Kane says that the prime time rule limits the amount of network vs.
non-network television programming you get to see every evening.  The "Safe
Harbor" rule invoked in the case of the Louisiana ham is the law that sets
the hours when broadcasters can use indecent language in their programming.
   And Phil Kane, N6SP knows this law quite well.  Before going into
private law practice he served as the District Director and Engineer in
Charge of the FCC's San Francisco Office.

(*****
                               HAM RADIO HERO

   The March 4th edition of Time Magazine has named Richard Eastman, K1OJH,
of Billerica, Massachusetts, was one of Time magazine's Local Heroes.  The
magazine says that while managing a CompuServe forum, Eastman became aware
that one of the participants, the Rev. Kenneth Walker of Scotland, thought
he might be having a stroke.  Eastman got Walker to type his telephone
number and then contacted police in Scotland.  They quickly reached Walker
and provided first aid.  Eastman says that this was a simple thing, with an
interesting twist since it was 3,000 miles away.

(*****
                   LAWRENCE NAMED NASA MANAGER IN RUSSIA

   Astronaut Wendy Lawrence, KC5KII has been named to replace Charles
Precourt, KB5YSQ as the NASA manager of operational activities at Star City
in Russia.  As Director of Operations for the Russia operation, Lawrence
will support training and preparations of NASA astronauts at the Gagarin
Cosmonaut Training Center.  She also will be the primary link between NASA
and the Russian center's management, coordinating all training and other
operations involving NASA or contractor personnel in Star City.

(*****
                                JAS 2 LAUNCH

   Reports from the Japan Amateur Radio League indicate that the launch of
JAS-2 is expected about mid August.  This newest Japanese amateur satellite
is to ride as a secondary payload along with the ADEOS spacecraft.

(*****
                                 UK AWARDS

   Also from overseas, the Annual General Meeting of the Worked All Britain
Awards Group will be held at the Drayton Manor Rally on the 12th of May.
Worked All Britain members wishing to make nominations for the committee or
proposals for the agenda should send their suggestions to J. R. Thornnley,
G1NUS.

(*****
                             HAMVENTION BUSSES

   The 1996 Dayton Hamvention is now only three weeks away. As anyone who
has ever been to the Hamvention knows, at times it is a lot easier to drive
to Dayton than it is to park your car.  But there is some relief this year.
Hamvention General Chairman Ken Allen, KB8KE says to take the bus and leave
the driving to us:

   "We listened to folks last year when they had a few difficulties with
some of the bus service.  We have done some things this year to improve
that, streamline it a little bit.  Make sure that the waits will be a
little shorter.  A little more uniform.  We got agreements at this point
with 22 properties in the general Dayton area, most of them, of course
close in, that will be selling the bus tickets this year.  Again this year
one round trip will be $3.00 this year.  Tickets available at the hotel
desk. KB8KE

   The audio of Ken Allen you have been listening to the past two weeks was
supplied by Hap Holly, KC9RP of Chicago's Radio Amateur Information
Network.  This year in addition to recording many of the Hamvention seminar
sessions Hap will be hosting a special session of his own for newcomers to
ham radio.  His list of guests include several well known hams. This
includes the editor of a very popular ham radio magazine and the co-founder
of one of the nations most powerful repeater coordination groups.

(*****
                                     DX

   In DX, 6 meters is the hot band these days and not just here in the good
old USA.  Neil Carr, G0JHC reports the first E skip opening of the season
from Northern England to Italy came on  April 21st.  The Italian stations
were S9+ according to G0JHC.
   And Bill Sattler, N0XX says that On April 22nd there was a half an hour
of double hop from Oregon to Florida.  The only station worked was N0KBH
but Bill also heard was K4SC and about a dozen others.  The problem was
getting through the single-hop stations they were working, plus the fact
that they were mainly all on top of one another on 50.125 MHz.

(*****
                             NEW UK CALL SIGNS

   On the high frequency bands, the British Radiocommunications Agency has
presented the first of the new "M" series callsigns at a ceremony in
Bristol on Saturday the 30th of March.  M0AAA was issued to the Reading
Novices' Amateur Aerial Association, with the license being presented to
club members Paul Sayer, G0VKT, and Ben Clarkson, G7WHO.  Ben, aged 14,
recently upgraded from his Novice callsign 2E1DHA, and is an active member
of the Reading and District Amateur Radio Club.  The first "M" series Class
B callsign, M1AAA, was presented to Ian Oliver.

(*****
         LAST CALL FOR 1996 MCGAN SILVER ANTENNA AWARD NOMINATIONS

   If you're planning to nominate someone for this year's Philip J. McGan
Memorial Silver Antenna Award, the deadline is May 31, 1996.  The McGan
award goes to a ham who has achieved exceptional public relations success
on behalf of Amateur Radio.  The award is sponsored jointly by the New
Hampshire Amateur Radio Association and ARRL.
   All nominations must be accompanied by an official entry form, available
from ARRL's Public Relations department, at [phone].

(*****
                                   YHOTY

   This note to those who have sent for nominating forms for the Newsline
1996 Young Ham of the Year Award or who have downloaded a form from one of
the electronic data sites.  If you have a completed form and a nominating
package and are holding it back in hope that your nominee will do one more
great thing, please don't wait.  Send it in now.
   The committee judging this years award is spread out across the nation.
Once a nomination is received it has to be duplicated and sent to the
committee.  That takes a lot of time and the more last minute nominations
we receive means that each will get a lot less time to be judged.
   Some hams have told us that they want their nominee to get credit for
working the 1996 ARRL Field Day contest.  Take it from us, if you have a
good candidate, his or her participation in Field Day will not weigh
heavily on the judges decision.  Routine activities that most hams
participate in are not all that important in judging an award such as this.
We ask that you please begin sending in your nominating packages today.

(*****
                               GENTRY RETIRES

   The man credited as being the father of the modern Amateur Radio
repeater has retired from the ham radio scene.  On April 4th, Art Gentry,
W6MEP and his wife Millie, K6JJN left the smog of Los Angeles, California
for the splendor of Oregon. Art, who is 90 years young developed the first
practical voice repeater system in the early 1950's while working as an
engineer for Don Lee Broadcasting Company.  Using World War 2 surplus
parts, Gentry fashioned a 2 meter receiver that would still hear other
signals on the band even though a high power transmitter was retransmitting
what the receiver heard on a frequency nearby.  By the end of the '50's
decade, Gentry had assembled and put on the air K6MYK -- an AM repeater
that was to be the grandaddy of every FM repeater on the air today.
   Art Gentry's repeater, using his personal W6MEP call sign is still on
the air.  Since the late '60's it has been an FM machine operating on the
frequency pair of 147.24 and 147.84 MHz.  About two years ago Art turned
the day to day operation of the repeater over to Bill Arens, N6NMC.  Arens
tells Newsline that the repeater will keep the W6MEP call sign as long as
Art is alive.  This says Arens as a lasting tribute to the man who made
repeaters available to all hams, many of whom have never even heard the
name Art Gentry or the call sign, W6MEP.

(*****
   And 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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