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Text File | 1994-07-10 | 19KB | 369 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.
 - - - - -
NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #131 - POSTED 07/05/94

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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.  For current information updates, please call

                    Audio Version of Newsline
                    =========================
     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]

             Electronic Hardcopy Version of Newsline
             =======================================
      GEnie (RTC Bulletin Board)............. m345;1
      GEnie (File Library)................... m345;3
      Dallas Remote Imaging BBS (DRIG)....... [phone]
        In bulletin number 36
      The Midwest Connection BBS............. [phone]
        In bulletin number 6 of the ham radio conference
      Delphi.................................
        In the ham radio conference
      Internet...............................
        In the rec.radio.info newsgroup
        FTP: oak.oakland.edu, archive: pub/hamradio/docs/newsline
      Fidonet, RIME, Intellec, I-Link........
        In the Ham Radio conferences on those networks

   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

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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!!!

(****************************************************************

[881]

(* * * *   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, California 91102.  Again, and as   *
 (*  always, we thank you.  That ends the closed circuit with     *
 (*  Newsline report number 881 for release on Friday, July 1st,  *
 (*  1994 to follow.                                              *
 (*                                                               *
 (* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                      The following is a QST


   The FCC proposes automatic operation for high frequency digital
 operations and more on the alleged California VE licensing scam.
 Learn what it used to cost to buy a license in La La land on
 Newsline Report number 881 coming your way right now!

(*****
        FCC PROPOSES AUTOMATIC CONTROL FOR HF DIGITAL COMS.

   The FCC has proposed amending the Amateur Service rules to
 authorize automatic control of stations transmitting a digital
 signal on the High Frequency bands.  The action had been requested
 in petitions filed by the ARRL and the American Digital Radio
 Society.
   In its release, the FCC has proposed to authorize automatic
 control for stations transmitting data and RTTY in specific
 subbands of each High Frequency band where such emissions are
 authorized.  It also proposed to authorize communication between a
 locally or remotely controlled station and an automatically
 controlled station on any frequency where data and RTTY emission
 types are otherwise authorized.
   The FCC says that it is gratified by the cooperation and
 dedication of the two amateur organizations in determining the
 conditions necessary to allow automatic control of stations
 transmitting data and RTTY on the HF bands.  It agrees with the
 two petitioners that automatic control of amateur stations in the
 HF bands can, with safeguards, make the transmission of data and
 RTTY emission types both practical and effective.
   The notice of proposed rule making is designated Personal
 Radio Docket 94-59.

(*****
                      HOW THE VE SCAM WORKED

   More information has come to light on the activities of up to
 three dozen suspect volunteer examiners thought California.  This
 is the same group of VE's that we have been reporting on since
 late last year.  The bunch that is under government investigation
 for possible fraud in the testing of candidates for amateur radio
 licenses and upgrades.  Enough information has now surfaced so
 that Newsline has been able to reconstruct the way in which the
 scam may have been operated.
   To begin with, this is an overly simplified version of what
 most likely took place.  We preface it by saying there is a lot
 more paperwork at a ham radio testing session then we are going to
 talk about, but the FCC does not see every bit of it.
   As far as the FCC and Volunteer Examination Coordinators are
 concerned, there are actually three key documents of concern up
 the license processing chain.  These are the completed Form 610's
 that bear the signature of the volunteer examiners to certify an
 individual passed an examination  There is a document signed by
 the Volunteer Examiners to certify that they are charging
 applicants only for expenses at the prescribed government
 reimbursement rate.  Finally, there is a manifest listing those
 who attended a session and weather they passed or failed.  If our
 guess is correct, it was by manipulating these documents that
 fraudulent licensing was possible.
   As reported last week, the FCC suspects that allegedly corrupt
 VE's would either create a non existent test session or hold a
 legitimate one where additional people who never attended were
 added to the test manifest at a later date.  In either case, it
 also appears as if names were also added of people who supposedly
 failed the examination.  This, to keep a reasonable looking pass
 to failure rate.
   By way of example.  Suppose a legitimate session had ten
 people who were actually tested.  The VE's suspected of wrong
 doing might then add on another twenty, thirty or even fifty names
 in the same pass to failure ratio, complete with all necessary
 paperwork.  This material would then be sent to the VEC and then
 onto the FCC.
   Obviously the VEC and the FCC would have had no way of knowing
 that about the add-ons since only those with passing grades needed
 to have Form 610 applications.  Those who paid the asking price
 but didn't attend the exam sessions were in fact buying completed
 paperwork from which they were issued legitimate FCC ham radio
 licenses.
   And those names added on as failures to make the numbers come
 out right?  Most likely they were taken from a nearby telephone
 book with the allegedly corrupt VE's making out the answer sheets
 in their name.  These were probably people who never even knew
 that their names were being used in the commission of a federal
 crime until interviewed by government investigators.

(*****
                   LICENSE PRICES IN LA-LA LAND

   What was the cost of getting a ham license this way?  If you
 believe the talk on some Los Angeles repeaters, the word is that a
 Novice or No-Code Technician went for $250, a General was priced
 at $500 and an Advanced Class ticket at $750.  And the Amateur
 Extra -- the grand-daddy of them all -- the Amateur Extra came
 with a minimum $1000 price tag, but it would go as high as the
 applicant would be willing to pay.
   The FCC is currently limiting its investigation to the period
 from the Spring of 1992 to the late winter of 1994.  This is a
 period of about two years.  Some in Los Angeles believe its been
 going on a lot longer.  Possibly dating back to the early 1980's.
   If its proven that all of those being investigated were
 actively selling ham licenses on a weekly basis for the entire
 time period, and figuring just one test session a week for each
 V-E team, the take even then becomes astronomical.  In fact, its a
 figure that's so mind boggling that the internal Revenue Service
 might even show some interest if its found that no taxes were paid
 on this income.
   Stay tuned.  Obviously this story is not over yet.

(*****
                        CALIFORNIA LICENSE

   Also from California comes word that the FCC's Los Angeles
 Office recently responded to a complaint from the ARRL's Amateur
 Auxiliary that will probably cost an unlicensed operator some
 big bucks.  The Amateur Auxiliary is a volunteer arm of the
 American Radio Relay League.  It was called in to investigate
 after it received reports that an allegedly unlicensed amateur
 radio was promoting his brand of unlicensed operations on the ham
 bands.
   The FCC says that he was using his station to broadcasting a
 message that citizens of California need not be licensed by the
 FCC because amateur radio is not interstate commerce.  He was also
 heard issuing his own "California licenses" with call signs using
 an SC prefix.  The SC obviously standing for Southern California.
   So the FCC just let him rattle on while the agency's engineers
 used direction-finding techniques to located his station.  The
 government says that it will soon be issuing him a hefty Notice of
 Apparent Liability for his own, personally licensed, unlicensed
 operation.  The name of the suspect is being withheld pending this
 punitive action by the FCC.

(*****
           PETER I OPERATOR PLEADS GUILTY TO BANK FRAUD

   Robert Wilber, N4GCK, of Ypsilanti, Michigan and one of the
 operators on last February's Dxpedition to Peter One Island 3Y0PI
 operation, has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and mail theft.
 According to a report in the Ann Arbor News, under a plea bargain
 agreement Wilber will receive a sentence of 24 to 37 months in
 federal prison.  He will then be subject to three to five years of
 supervised probation following his release.
   The paper that said Wilber took checks totaling some $113,000
 from the mailbox of a University of Michigan professor and cashed
 them.  He was photographed at an automatic teller machine and his
 photo appeared in local papers on December 20th, 1993.  But Wilber
 avoided arrest long enough to join the expedition to Peter One.
 He surrendered on his return, having spent all the stolen money,
 the newspaper said.

(*****
                            CB BLOWHARD

   The July issue of Popular Communications magazine reports that
 a CBer in the Salem Oregon area has turned to broadcasting.  The
 problem is that the broadcasting is taking place in the middle of
 the 27 MHz Class D, CB band.
   Writing in his CB Scene column, Bill Sanders says that this
 latest CB bandit comes onto CB Channel 10 every Sunday evening
 around 7 PM local time.  He offers no identification, and his
 transmissions consist of the operator pouring out his personal
 rage on all sorts of political matters.  Bill says that the one
 way transmissions can continue for as long as 90 minutes with no
 time out for commercial breaks.
   And late word into Newsline is that the FCC's Seattle office
 has now become involved in the case.

(*****
                 INTERFERENCE TO BREATHING MONITOR

   A legally operating Texas citizens radio operator has been
 ordered off the air because the FCC cannot figure out what to do
 about his signal that's causing RFI to a neighbors infant monitor.
   The Dallas Office responded to a complaint that the CB radio
 station was believed to be a potential source of interference to
 an infant apnea breathing monitor.  An infant apnea monitor is
 really nothing more than a cheepie one-way intercom operating in
 the 48 MHz band along with cordless telephones, childrens toy CB
 sets and two way wireless intercom sets.
   Anyhow, it seems that the parents of the newborn relayed
 the fears to their physician that the neighbor's CB transmissions
 could desensitize the monitor so that it would fail to alarm if
 the baby stopped breathing.  FCC investigators inspected the CB
 radio station to insure that no overpowered operation was present.
 Even though they found nothing wrong the FCC engineered
 unilaterally ordered the 11 meter CB station to cease operations
 until the agency can determine the monitor's desensitization
 susceptibility from its manufacturer.
   At airtime its not known if the unidentified CB operator will
 be appealing the government order.

(*****
                       NEW ENFORCEMENT TOOL

   The Federal Communications Commission has shown off a new
 vehicle equipped with two computers, a color printer, complete
 with a satellite receiver in the trunk.  This car when driven
 through cities and neighborhoods can detect unlicensed radio
 signals and signals that cause malicious interference.
   By months end the FCC will have ten such cars, each installed
 with $75,000.00 worth of electronic equipment.  The Commission
 would not say which field offices will get the first cars.  The
 goal is to provide each Field Office with at least two of these
 cars.

(*****
                         REACT CONVENTION

   REACT International's 1994 national convention is slated for
 July 18th to the 22nd at the Somerset New Jersey Radisson Hotel.
 The convention is being hosted by the Garden State Council of
 REACT teams.
   For those of you not aware, REACT is a citizens radio group
 that used to operate primarily on the 27 Mhz Class D citizens
 band.  While some CB operation is still a part of REACT, these
 days its members primarily uses General Mobile Radio Service
 frequencies to provide all sorts of public assistance.  While a
 ham license is nor required for participation in REACT, many hams
 have joined the organization with some holding high ranking
 positions in its structure.
   If you are a REACT member or interested in learning more about
 becoming a member, this is probably a gathering well worth
 attending.

(*****
                       NORM CHALFIN RETIRES

   Our heartiest congratulations to our close friend and colleague
 here at Newsline, Dr. Norm Chalfin, K6PGX, on his retirement from
 the Jet Propulsion Lab on Tuesday June the 21st.  In addition to
 his administering the Newsline support fund -- a fund that he
 created some fifteen years ago -- K6PGX has also worked closely
 with the folks at AMSAT to chronicle in photographs and slides
 much of the history of the organization and its numerous
 achievements.
   To his family here at Newsline, he is a very special person.
 He showed up at a time that he was needed most, volunteered to
 find a way to help get support from the Amateur Radio community to
 keep the then Westlink Radio Network in production.  He set up the
 support fund.  He worked closely with attorney Bernard Heinz
 WA2BAK to walk us though our incorporation under the banner of the
 Holmsburg Amateur Radio Club.  Norm also handled all of the
 paperwork when we changed our name to Newsline and even gave us
 use of his personal post office box in Pasadena -- an address that
 has become synonymous with the Newsline name.
   We asked K6PGX what he plans to do now? Norm, who is a young
 eighty years old, says that he will stay with Newsline a bit
 longer -- at least until a new Support Fund Administrator can be
 found.  After that, who knows.
   K6PGX has good health, a wonderful wife and family, and a lot
 of time now, to enjoy it all.

(*****

   And for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.
 You can write to us at Post Office Box 463 in Pasadena,
 California 91102.

(* * * Newsline Copyright 1994 all rights are reserved. * * *