HAM Toolkit/HAM Toolkit.iso/text/arrl/letter10.12

Text File | 1994-06-05 | 18KB | 554 lines

The ARRL Letter
Vol. 12, No. 19
October 12, 1993

Support grows in Congress
Joint Resolution continues to gain momentum

    97 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and
15 U.S. senators have become co-sponsors of The Amateur
Radio Service Joint Resolution, which was introduced in the
Senate on May 7 and in the House on May 20.

    At its January 1993 meeting the ARRL Board of
Directors paved the way for the resolution, with a motion by
New England Division Director Bill Burden, WB1BRE, that
read:

    "VOTED that our Washington team is authorized to
seek formal recognition by the 103rd Congress of the role
played by the Amateur Radio Service as a national resource
in preparation for and relief from disasters, and for
technical progress in electronics."

    The task now, as always, is to line up more co-
sponsors for both S.J. Res. 90 (the Senate version) and H.J.
Res. 199 (the House resolution), as quickly as possible,
through a letter-writing campaign. Mail from constituents at
home to senators and representatives is especially important
to the passage of a joint resolution.

    U.S. senators and representatives are listed in the
U.S. Government section of local telephone directories.

    Rep. Mike Kreidler (D-WA), an original co-sponsor of
the House Resolution, lauded amateurs for their public
service communications work, especially in natural
disasters, saying in his introductory statement  "It is
about time for the Congress to recognize these achievements.
With about 600,000 licensed amateur radio operators licensed
in the United States alone, I'm sure that every Member of
the House has had similarly favorable experiences with the
amateur community and will support this resolution."

    Listed below are the joint resolution co-sponsors
(as of September 24), by state. For more information on this
important resolution see July *QST*, page 73.

[Joint Resolution co-sponsors]

    ALABAMA
Sen. Howell Heflin (D)
Sen. Richard Shelby (D)
Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-1)
Rep. Terry Everett (R-2)
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-6)

    ARIZONA
Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D)

    ARKANSAS
Rep. Tim Hutchinson (R-3)

    CALIFORNIA
Rep. John Doolittle (R-4)
Rep. George Miller (D-7)
Rep. Bill Baker (R-10)
Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-13)
Rep. Norman Mineta (D-15)
Rep. Don Edwards (D-16)
Rep. Sam Farr (D-17)
Rep. Richard Lehman (D-19)
Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-23)
Rep. Edward Royce (R-39)

    COLORADO
Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-6)

    CONNECTICUT
Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-6)

    DELAWARE
Sen. William Roth (R)

    FLORIDA
Sen. Bob Graham (D)
Rep. Pete Peterson (D-2)
Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-9)
Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-20)

    GEORGIA

Rep. Buddy Darden (D-7)

    HAWAII
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D)
Sen. Daniel Akaka (D)
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-1)
Rep. Patsy Mink (D-2)

    IDAHO
Sen. Larry E. Craig (R)

    ILLINOIS
Rep. Jerry Costello (D-12)
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-14)
Rep. Thomas Ewing (R-15)
Rep. Lane Evans (D-17)
Rep. Glenn  Poshard (D-19)

    INDIANA
Rep. Frank McCloskey (D-8)

    IOWA
Rep. Jim Leach (R-1)
Rep. Fred Grandy (R-5)

    KANSAS
Rep. Pat Roberts (R-1)
Rep. Jim Slattery (D-2)
Rep. Jan Meyers (R-3)

    KENTUCKY
Rep. Jim Bunning (R-4)

    LOUISIANA
Sen. John Breaux (D)
Rep. Jim McCrery (R 5)

    MICHIGAN
Rep. James Barcia (D-5)
Rep. David Bonior (D-10)
Rep. Joseph  Knollenberg (R-11)
Rep. Sander Levin (D-12)

    MINNESOTA
Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-3)
Rep. Martin Sabo (D-5)
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-7)
Rep. James Oberstar (D-8)

    MISSOURI
Rep. Ike Skelton (D-4)

    NEW HAMPSHIRE
Sen. Judd Gregg (R)
Sen. Robert C. Smith (R)
Rep. Dick Swett (D-2)

    NEW JERSEY
Rep. Jim  Saxton (R-3)
Rep. Herbert  Klein (D-8)
Rep. Dean  Gallo (R-11)

    NEW MEXICO
Rep. Steven Schiff (R-1)

    NEW YORK
Rep. George Hochbrueckner (D-1)
Rep. Rick Lazio (R-2)
Rep. Gary  Ackerman (D-5)
Rep. Carolyn  Maloney (D-14)
Rep. Hamilton Fish, Jr. (R-19)
Rep. Michael McNulty (D-21)
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-26)
Rep. John LaFalce (D-29)

    NORTH CAROLINA
Rep. Howard  Coble (R-6)
Rep. Bill Hefner (D-8)

    OHIO
Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-5)
Rep. James Traficant (D-17)

    OREGON
Rep. Elizabeth Furse (D-1)
Rep. Mike Kopetski (D-5)

    PENNSYLVANIA
Rep. Tim Holden (D-6)
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-7)
Rep. John Murtha (D-12)

    RHODE ISLAND
Rep. Ronald Machtley (R-1)
Rep. Jack Reed (D-2)

    SOUTH CAROLINA
Rep. Arthur Ravenel (R-1)
Rep. Floyd Spence (R-2)
Rep. John Spratt (D-5)

    SOUTH DAKOTA
Sen. Larry Pressler (R)

    TENNESSEE
Sen. Harlan Mathews (D)
Rep. James Quillen (R-1)
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-4)
Rep. Bob Clement (D-5)
Rep. Bart Gordon (D-6)

    TEXAS
Rep. Charles Wilson (D-2)
Rep. John Bryant (D-5)
Rep. Joe Barton (R-6)
Rep. Jack  Fields (R-8)
Rep. Bill  Sarpalius (D-13)
Rep. Ronald Coleman (D-16)
Rep. Martin Frost (D-24)

    UTAH
Rep. James Hansen (R-1)

    VERMONT
Sen. James M. Jeffords (R)

    VIRGINIA
Sen. John Warner (R)
Sen. Charles Robb (D)
Rep. Lewis Payne (D-5)
Rep. James  Moran (D-8)
Rep. Leslie Byrne (D-11)

    WASHINGTON
Rep. Jolene Unsoeld (D-3)
Rep. James  McDermott (D-7)
Rep. Mike Kreidler (D-9)

    WEST VIRGINIA
Rep. Robert Wise (D-2)
Rep. Nick Joe Rahall (D-3)

    WISCONSIN
Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-3)
Rep. Tom Petri (R-6)
Rep. Toby Roth (R-8)

    WYOMING
Rep. Craig Thomas (R-AL)

    AMERICAN SAMOA
Del. Eni Faleomavaega (D)

    VIRGIN ISLANDS
Del. Ron de Lugo D

    * No co-sponsors yet: Alaska, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts,     Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada,
North Dakota, Oklahoma, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto
Rico.

IARU COUNCIL RECOMMENDS
EASED CROSS-BORDER LICENSING

    The Administrative Council of the International
Amateur Radio Union held its annual meeting in Brussels,
Belgium, September 26-27, 1993, following the IARU Region 1
conference that had been held in nearby during the previous
week (see "Amateur Radio World" in November *QST*).

    Among other actions, the Council encouraged IARU
Regions 1 and 2 to continue their efforts to facilitate
operation by amateurs visiting other countries without the
need for additional licensing.

    The Council also adopted resolutions requesting
member societies to draw attention to their governmental
administrations, where applicable, to the undesirability of
imposing type approval and station inspection procedures on
the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Service; reviewed and
approved plans for Amateur Radio representation at upcoming
conferences and meetings of the recently restructured
International Telecommunication Union; and encouraged the
promotion of the development of Amateur Radio worldwide.

    The Council agreed to the renomination of incumbents
Richard L. Baldwin, W1RU, as IARU president and Michael J.
Owen, VK3KI, as vice president.

ARRL DIGITAL CONFERENCE
HIGHLIGHTS RECENT PROGRESS

    The 12th ARRL Digital Conference (known as the
Computer Networking Conference in previous years) was held
September 11 in Tampa, with about 50 interested amateurs in
attendance.

    ARRL's Jon Bloom, KE3Z, editor of *QEX*, observes in
the upcoming issue that papers presented at the conference
"represent what people are working on -- or at least writing
about -- in amateur digital communications today. But do
they represent what the amateur digital community should be
working on?

    "The answer is yes," Bloom writes, "but only in
part. Conspicuous by their absence are substantial
developments or applications that don't relate directly to
packet radio. Where is the work on digital voice and image
communications and/or processing? Where are the advanced
techniques for using digital modes under poor propagation
conditions? Where, in short, are we going with digital
communications in Amateur Radio?

    "Packet radio as we amateurs practice it is almost
15 years old" (Jon says); "the Vancouver Area Digital
Communications Group packet developments on which our
developments are based were in 1979!

It's time -- past time -- to advance."

    A Proceedings collection of the papers presented at
the Conference is available for $12 (plus $3.50 shippping)
from ARRL HQ.

WIRE SERVICE REPORTS
HAMS IN QUAKE RELIEF

    An Associated Press story following the recent
earthquake in India lauded Amateur Radio operators for
providing the only communications in remote areas. Here's
how *The New York Times* ran it:

    "In rural India, where the nearest working phone can
be 25 miles away, amateur radio operators have cobbled
together a communications network to help earthquake
victims.

    "Twenty-six ham radio operators have set up a
network to help coordinate relief efforts for the 120,000
people left homeless by the earthquake on [September 30].

    "The first thing we need after any calamity is
communications, which are dismal in India," said
Sirama Suri [VU2MY -- ed.] of the National Institute of
Amateur Radio.

    "In rural areas, the telephone system is primitive.
From Killari, a village of 15,000 people that was leveled,
the nearest long-distance phone line is 25 miles away in the
town of Latur.

    "Police radios in the villages have a short range
and often do not work. Roads between many villages are just
dirt tracks for bullock carts.

    "Using a makeshift network powered by truck
batteries and stretched across several villages, the ham
radio operators have been able to relay requests from relief
workers and refugee camps to Latur and Umerga, staging areas
where thousands of tons of food, clothes and medicines are
waiting."


MISSISSIPPI HAM/BALLOONIST
WINS BIG PRIZE FOR FLIGHT

    Robert Vardaman, N5KBQ, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi,
may just be in the market for some shiny new radio
equipment. If not, it's certainly not for a lack of ready
cash.

    Vardaman, a skilled hot air balloonist, won the 'key
grab' in the 1993 Sky Parade, an aerial exposition held at
the Jackson, Mississippi International Airport over the
Labor Day weekend. His prize was $50,000.

    In the competition, pilots attempt to maneuver their
balloons into position to grab a key from atop a 30-ft pole.
It is a highly complex task involving precise measurement of
altitude, wind speed and wind direction. Although the
contest is a fixture at balloon events, it is very rarely
won because of its difficulty.

    More often than not, the prize is a new automobile;
but at Sky Parade, cash awaited the winner. That likely was
just fine with Vardaman, who is sales manager for an
automobile dealership. In addition to holding a balloonist
certification, Vardaman, 35, is a fixed-wing aircraft pilot
and experienced skydiver.

    [From *The Magnolia Report*, Hank Downey, K5QNE,
editor.]

STATION LOCATION DROPPED
FROM FCC LICENSE FORMS

    Effective November 15, 1993, the FCC will no longer
require that a station location be shown on amateur license
applications, nor on applications for reciprocal operating
permits.

    The Commission, in an Order adopted September 24,
said that because portable and mobile equipment is now so
often used by amateurs, a station's location often changes,
sometimes even daily.

    The FCC also said that deleting the station location
requirement would expedite the processing of license
applications.  They said that since this rule amendment is
not likely to be controversial and that it is a
"nonsubstantive" change in licensing procedures, no notice
and comment period was needed.

    The amended FCC Rule "Section 97.21 Mailing Address"
will be:

    "Each application for an amateur service license and
each application for a reciprocal permit for alien amateur
licensee must show a mailing address in an area where the
amateur service is regulated by the FCC.  The mailing
address must be one where the licensee can receive mail
delivery by the United States Postal Service."

4 AMATEURS RECEIVE FINES
FOR MALICIOUS INTERFERENCE

    Four amateurs have received FCC Notices of Apparent
Liability for $2000 for malicious interference on the 2
meter band.  In June the four gave responses to FCC Notices
of Violation but the FCC was not persuaded by their
arguments.

    Those receiving the NALs are John B. Genovese,
WB5LOC, of Slidell, LA; Will T. Blanton Jr., N5ROC, of
Carriere, MS; and Joseph F. Richard III, N5JNX, and Vernon
A. Paroli, KA5OWW, both of New Orleans.

    All four had until October 10 to respond to the
NALs.

10 years ago in *The ARRL Letter*

    This is an idea we should have had a year ago; the
first issue of *The ARRL Letter* came out in late October,
1982. The *Letter* grew out of a desire to provide ARRL
organizational information to members more often and faster
than through *QST*. At that time the only vehicle for doing
so was the "Director's Letter," which was circulated to many
Field Organization volunteers and other League officials,
but not offered by subscription.

    So ... the October 13, 1983 *The ARRL Letter*
reported on the second ARRL Board of Directors meeting held
in Houston October 5 and 6. At that time board meetings were
held in April and October; today they are in January and
July.

    The Board's primary concern at their October 1983
meeting was to determine how the League would participate in
the soon-to-be implemented Volunteer Examiner program.
Today, in the 10th year of the volunteer examiners, the
ARRL-VEC is the statistical leader among VECs.

    At this point in 1983, before the program even was
in place, about a thousand hams had expressed interest in
becoming volunteer examiners.

    The Board also approved early preparation by the
League for the next major World Administrative Radio
Conference (8 years hence!), and changed the League's by-
laws to permit Technician class licensees to sit as Board
members as well as hold other elective offices previously
restricted to General class or higher licensees.

    *The ARRL Letter* Vol. 2 No. 21 also had a brief
report on the National Convention, held in Houston in
conjunction with the Board meeting. And a report on shuttle
flight STS-9 (NASA has launched 50 since then) included a
tracking map; this was the historic first shuttle flight to
carry Amateur Radio, with astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL, to
do the operating, using a 2-meter handheld specially
prepared by Motorola. The successful flight took place in
November.

    The FCC finalized the extension of amateur license
terms from five years to 10, with a renewal grace period of
two years.

    And finally, most of these early *Letters* had a
column of DX information, excerpted from that provided by
volunteers for the weekly W1AW DX Bulletin. DX information
was later dropped from *The ARRL Letter*.

    Pete O'Dell, KB1N, was editor and Wayne Yoshida,
KH6WZ, was associate editor of the *Letter*.

BRIEFS

    * In September the ARRL DXCC Desk received 1,330
applications (95,212 individual QSL cards) for endorsements
and new DXCC awards, the largest number of QSLs received in
a single month since September 1990.

    * The Radio Society of Great Britain has picked 15-
year-old Tim Munn, G7OTO, as its Young Amateur of the year.
Tim has been interested in Amateur Radio since he was 10,
the RSGB said. With the help of the Isle of Wight Radio
Society and RSGB Senior Novice Instructor Alan Ash, G3PZB,
Tim passed his Novice exam in January 1992 and his licensing
exam a year later. He then started up a radio club in his
school, becoming one of the youngest RSBG Novice
instructors.

    The RSGB said Tim's main interest is packet radio
and construction (including an 80-meter receiver and a 50
MHz transmitter/receiver.

    Runner up for honors was Simon Kahn, G0STU, who
passed his licensing exam at age 11.

    * The countdown for SAREX shuttle STS-58 was
postponed as we went to press, with launch still on hold on
October 18. Pilot Rick Searfoss is now KC5CKM, joining
crewmembers KC5ACR and KC5AXA. Updates following launch can
be heard on W1AW bulletins.

    * Correction: On page one of our last issue a photo
caption incorrectly identified two people. John Peters,
K1ER, is on the left in the photo and Steve Larson, N3SL, is
on the right. And the name of their Colorado town is
Franktown, *not* Frankton.


FCC ISSUED CALL SIGN UPDATE

The following is a list of the FCC's most recently issued call signs
as of September 1.

District       Group A        Group B        Group C        Group D
               Extra          Advanced       Tech/Gen       Novice

0              AA0OR          KG0HW          N0YJG          KB0LLM
1              AA1HG          KD1QU          N1QBM          KB1BDK
2              AA2PI          KF2QV          N2WEQ          KB2QOE
3              AA3FS          KE3JR          N3QAO          KB3AYE
4              AD4JB          KR4BL           ++            KE4FBE
5              AB5PD          KJ5PJ           ++            KC5CNE
6              AB6VY          KN6QI           ++            KE6AOT
7              AA7YG          KI7QS           ++            KB7YBV
8              AA8MD          KG8DQ           ++            KB8PKS
9              AA9ID          KF9RF          N9URQ          KB9IUZ
Hawaii           ++           AH6NC          WH6OQ          WH6CQV
Alaska           ++           AL7PF          WL7MO          WL7CHF
Virgin Is.     WP2B           KP2CC          NP2GQ          WP2AHU
Puerto Rico      ++           KP4VQ           ++            WP4MJF

++All call signs in this group have been issued in this area.

*eof