Amateur Radio Newslineâ„¢ Report 1414 Â* September 17, 2004


Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1414 with a release date of
Friday, September 17th, 2004 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Ham radio meets hurricane Ivan. Find out
the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1414 coming your
way right now.



(Billboard Cart Here)

**


RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO VS. HURRICANE IVAN - IN THE CARIBBEAN


Last week it was Frances. This week it's Ivan. Bother killer
storms
that took lives and destroyed property across the Caribbean before
making landfall on U-S shores. And as has been the case s many times
this year, ham radio was ready. Our team coverage starts he


--


I'm Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ:


--


" The eye center of hurricane Ivan was located near latitude 17.9
North and longitude 78.7 West, or about three-zero, thirty miles or
five-zero, fifty kilometers South-West of the Western tip of Jamaica
and 190 - one hundred and ninety miles or 305 kilometers
East-South-East of Grand Cayman"


--


That was a warning relayed over ham radio in the Voice over I P
Hurricane Watch Net. Hurricane Ivan had hit Jamaica with wind speeds
near 155 mph. And as the storm approached, hams involved in the
Hurricane Watch Net relayed up to the minutes reports to the National
Hurricane Center in Miami:


--


"...wind speed sustained at 80 miles per hour. Gusts to 100
miles. Is
getting horizontal ran. Skies are darkening rapidly..."


--


The killer storm had already been blamed for at least 64 deaths in the
Caribbean, including 34 in Grenada. It hit Jamaica on Saturday,
September 11th packing winds close to 165 mph. In downtown Kingston,
20-foot-tall trees were uprooted, some flung onto the roofs of cars,
and twisted metal roof panels strew the streets. At least 11 people
were killed as the storm blew across.


Now on Sunday the 12th, reports were coming in from Ivan's next
stop.
From the few hams in the Cayman Islands who were riding out the storm
on the air using whatever gear they had that would run on emergency
power:


--


"Zed-F-one kilo oscar has come up a couple of times reporting
flooding
in areas that have never flooded before in a hurricane. They have
some intermittent cellular telephone service. The land line phones
are down and a lot of flooding. VP5DB with the Hurricane Watch
Net."


--



Then there was this dramatic report to the Hurricane Watch Net from a
crew member of the British Royal Navy ship Richmond that was anchored
not far off shore. The Richmond had cut short her visit to
Curacao to standby to assist islands devastated by Ivan:


--


Audio only. Hear it at http://www.arnewsline.org


--


Category 4 and 5 hurricanes can cause buildings to collapse, destroy
mobile homes and flatten trees and road signs. Such storms are
accompanied by a surge of sea water and require evacuation of
low-lying areas within 5 miles to 10 miles of the shore. Normal lines
of communications are almost always cut and this was the case with
Ivan. And broadcasters in the Caribbean who were able to stay on the
air had their reports passed to the outside world using ham radio.
Stations like Wenty Bethune, 6Y5IC, who had survived Ivan'
rampage on
Jamaica and was on the air from Kingston using battery power:


--


"We cannot confirm it, but we understand that there are people in
the
Caymans standing on their roofs shouting for help. Sounds like a
traumatic situation in the Caymans. This is coming off FM radio about
an hour ago. QSL?"


--


6Y5IC said that he was also handling traffic into and out of the storm
ravaged area. He added that he could probably operate for about to
weeks using batteries.


Now Ivan was on a direct path toward Cuba. This, as Florida residents
braced for a third storm to hit the state in a month. And on Monday
the 12th a strengthened Hurricane Ivan headed toward the tip of
western Cuba with winds in excess of 160 miles per hour:


Ivan bombarded western Cuba with the full fury of a category 5
hurricane. It damaged hundreds of homes and swamped at least two
towns. The storm was so vast that its clouds simultaneously covered
Cuba, the Florida Keys, the entire Florida peninsula and parts of the
Bahamas, Mexico, Belize and Honduras.


Florida expected the worst. But after passing Cuba Ivan kept
traveling West into the Gulf of Mexico. And even as Cuba was being
hit hams on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula like Juan Berndes, XE3AAF,
were
checking into the Hurricane Watch Net to report that Ivan was being
felt:


--


"Roger, OK. I can only tell you that we have been having squalls
--
intermittent squalls all throughout the morning, and that's about
it.
That's the information I can give you at the present time.
Over"


--


Now, a hurricane watch was in effect the entire Florida panhandle and
as far west as Louisiana, including New Orleans. Ivan, still a
category 4 killer storm was on his way to the U-S mainland. I'm
Henry
Feinberg, K2SSQ. (ARNewsline(tm))


**


Break 1


From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the W8GK
repeater serving Charleston West Virginia.


(5 sec pause here)



**


RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO VS. HURRICANE IVAN - LANDFALL


I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, continuing our coverage of Hurricane
Ivan.


Packing gale force winds, Hurricane Ivan slammed ashore near Gulf
Shores, Alabama in the wee hours of Thursday, September 16th.
Anticipating the storms arrival, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and
Mississippi had declared states of emergency a day earlier. A last
minute shift spared New Orleans a direct hit but some 360,000 homes
and businesses were without telephone service or power in Alabama,
Louisiana and Mississippi. And throughout it all, ham radio operators
did their part by passing health and welfare traffic, damage
assessments and those very important storm position reports:


--


"Repeating the 4 a-m CDT position: 30.9 North, 87.7 West.
Movement
toward the North near 214 miles per hour. Maximum sustained winds
near 115 mph. Minimum central pressure 947 millibars."
--


Notice something interesting about that audio? The station reading
that report is not in the continental United States. In fact he's
thousands of miles away in Australia. But thanks the latest
technology developed by hams -- a service called The Internet
Repeater Linking Project -- Amateur Radio operators anyplace in the
world can pitch in to help when there is an emergency like hurricane
Ivan.


But long before the storm made landfall residents of the Gulf States
and the nations ham radio community were preparing for the its
arrival. On Wednesday the 15th, some highways were converted into
one-way evacuation routes. This, after authorities from the Florida
panhandle to Louisiana ordered wholesale evacuations of low lying
areas. Everyone from New Orleans east to Apalachicola, Florida was on
alert because even the tiniest change in the storm track now could
move the location of the storm's landfall by hundreds of miles. And
after taking a day off to regroup, the Hurricane Watch Net on 14.325
MHz again sprang to life. Some of those checking in were directly
involved in storm relief efforts:


--


"Kilo Delta 5 Golf Golf Lima north of the Coast. I'm
operating the
Operations Center at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Over."


--


Even though the storm was still well out to sea, it did not take long
for reports from hams in Ivan's target area to begin flowing in.


--


"Kilo Charlie 5 Romeo Fox Uniform. What is your traffic?
Over"


"Thank you very much. The name is Paul and I am in Ft. Walton
Beach,
Florida. Ill give you the coordinates. Latitude 30.44 North.
Longitude 86.62 West. And the Barometric Pressure is 29.79 and
falling. The winds are estimated at coming from the
East-South-East."


--


Now it would be a waiting game for residents along the gulf coast as
they waited and watched as hurricane Ivan roared toward them with.
When Ivan did make landfall it lashed southern Alabama with 135 mph
winds and threatened much of the Gulf Coast with surging flood waters.


--


"This is K5PSB with the Salvation Army Team Emergency Net looking
for
stations with traffic in the affected areas of the Caribbean or the
Gulf Coast. Ill take anybody that I can hear. K5PSB."


"W-A-0-Lima Sierra Bravo."


And the latest advisories from the National Hurricane Center show that
Ivan still has a lot of destructive force left. The latest storm
track as of noon, Thursday September 16th shows Ivan heading
North-North-East through parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and
Ohio as it downgrades in intensity and begins to fall apart. But
falling apart may be a bit of a misnomer because even then a hurricane
can continue to be a destructive force.


But even as Ivan is weakening, yet another storm is gaining strength.
Hurricane Jeanne intensified as it made its way to the Dominican
Republic after hitting Puerto Rico on Wednesday. Jeanne is moving
west at about 9 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph
and will likely be the big ham radio story, next week.


For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF.


--


The hurricane, one of the strongest on record to hit the region, has
killed at least 65 people. With the hurricane season not yet over
these hams could be kept busy for some time to come. (ARNewsline)


(Note: Audio of Hurricane Ivan communications was recorded off-air
and from Internet relay feeds. Our sincere thanks to the may hams
world-wide who supplied them.)


**



RESCUE RADIO: SOCAL SHADOW DRILL


Out on the U.S. West coast, twenty-five city of California's
Huntington Beach Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service volunteers
participated in a simulated city-wide Emergency 911 system crisis on
Saturday, August 28th. Called the "Shadow Drill," radio volunteers
received 9-1-1 calls and dispatched fire department equipment and
personnel for an eight hour shift.


The objective of the drill was to provide an alternative dispatch
communications system to all Huntington Beach Fire Department
resources, including hazardous materials, ambulance and fire response
apparatus. This was the third year in a row that Huntington Beach
RACES performed the Shadow Drill for the city. (KH6WZ)


**


THE BPL FIGHT: PHILLY MAY GO NON-BPL WIRELESS


Philadelphia says it's looking to have wide spread Internet access
available over the next few years, but it likely will not be B-P-L.
This, as the City of Brotherly Love looks to create a 135-square-mile
wireless network instead. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz,
NT3V, has the rest of the story:


--


Philadelphia's Mayor John Street has a vision to turn this community
of historic and diverse neighborhoods into a Digital City. And, he's
not looking at Broadband Over Powerline Internet Access to do it.


Instead, Mayor Street, a big fan and user of technology - he carries
his own Blackberry everywhere - sees the wireless world as the way to
go. And, he's committed a task force to explore an estimated $10
million investment in the idea.


Mayor Street's chief information officer is Dianah Neff.


"Outdoor wireless has come on the scene and has presented an
affordable entry point to create a dense, cellular mesh network that
would act like an umbrella over the city," Neff explains. "And it's a
transport, it's an outdoor transport that would allow wireless access
that then goes to the Internet for all people in the city."


Neff says users of the system would have easy access. She notes one
test site near City Hall is being getting great reviews.


"You can access it through a lap top, through a PC tablet through a
hand-held device," Neff says. "You would log on, put in your code to
the system. And in the case of Love Park - which is a hot spot now -
it's free.


"All you have to do is go on and register. And then you get a
connection out to the Internet."


Neff says the plan proposes to attach transmitters/receivers atop
light pots.


"The best place to mount these in the outdoors is on the light posts
because you need a power source," Neff says. "You could mount the
radio antennas actually on the light posts which reside in the public
right-of-way which is owned by the government.


"And that's why this has to be a public-private partnership and
there's limited space on there you can't put a dozen companies'
wireless device.


"But if you had this infrastructure that anybody could either pay to
connect in for profit or ride for free, based on criteria that will be
established, you would be able to do it."


Neff says the system would be "hot" for outdoor use. But there is
equipment available to bring the signal indoors.


"There are devices that can be placed in your window to bring outdoor
wireless," Neff says. "If your proximity is close to a fixed-wireless
outdoor point, you may be able to get it in your house.


"And, so we see that there's a great opportunity to be able to go
either out onto your front porch and log on into a wireless
environment outdoors, or through a device, if you want to bring it
into your home, to all rooms in your home.


"That may be one of the fee-services that would allow us to sustain
the system."


Neff says the task force is looking at a couple options in terms of
fees.


"The mayor is committed to providing some level of free access whether
that's in public outdoor areas or as a low cost to everyone," Neff
says. "There has been a committee that's been formed - the Wireless
Philadelphia Executive Committee - they're looking at fees, roles and
responsibilities in the investment and the sustainability of the
system."


Neff says the committee will deliver a report to Mayor Street by
December. After that, bids will be sought and Neff says she'd like to
see several neighborhoods up and running a few months later.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in
Philadelphia.


--


Philadelphia hopes have the whole network in operation sometime in
2006. (ARNewsline(tm))


**


BREAK 2


This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the United
States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the
world from our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being
relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio amateur:


(5 sec pause here)


**


ENFORCEMENT: LETS MAKE A DEAL - FCC STYLE


The FCC has accepted an offer from an Iowa ham to turn in his Amateur
Radio license in order to avoid having to pay a $12,000 fine. It did
so in a September 7th Memorandum, Opinion and Order that partially
granted a June 6, 2003 Petition for Reconsideration filed by Scott E.
Kamm, N0UGN, of Sioux City.


Back on May 7, 2003 the FCC issued a $12,000 Forfeiture Order to Kamm
for what the agency said were willful violations of several sections
of its Amateur Service Part 97 rules. The Commission said that the
offenses involved intentional interference to communications on 146.31
MHz, the transmission of music on an amateur station, and failure to
identify an amateur station by call sign.


The FCC says that in support of his Petition for Reconsideration that
Kamm offered to immediately withdraw his pending application for
renewal of his license. He also offered to refrain from applying for
any other license for a period of five years.


The FCC says that it agrees to this offer. As such it concludes that
cancellation of the $12,000 forfeiture was warranted. (FCC)


**


ENFORCEMENT: $10000 PAGING FINE AFFIRMED


The FCC has affirmed a $10,000 monetary forfeiture to Jeffrey Amedro
of Morgantown, West Virginia. Amedro does business as Cell Page and
the FCC says he has racked up a number of violations. Cathy Anno,
KB0FDU, reports:


--


The FCC says that it issued the fine for what it calls willful and
repeated violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act by
Amedro's company Cell Page. This, by operating radio transmitting
equipment on the frequency 157.740 MHz without FCC authorization to do
so.


On September 5th, 2003 the District Director of the Commission's
Columbia, Maryland Office issued a monetary forfeiture in the amount
of $10,000 to Cell Page. Cell Page did not contest the violation.
Rather in its October 16, 2003 response, the company requested a
reduction or cancellation of the proposed forfeiture.


Presumably, intending to claim its inability to pay Cell Page stated
that it had been in contact with a certified public accountant to
complete its tax returns. Once completed, Cell Page states that it
would forward three years of tax returns to the Enforcement Bureau by
approximately October 31, 2003.


The FCC says that as of its decision to affirm the fine, neither
Amedro nor Cell Page has submitted the company tax returns. Without
the appropriate financial documentation, the FCC says that it can not
consider Cell Page's claim of inability to pay. So it is now
denying
the request by Cell Page for reduction or cancellation of the fine.


For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cathy Anno, KB0FDU.


--


The fine against Cell Page was affirmed on September 7th. Amedro was
given the usual 30 days to pay or to file an appeal. (FCC)


**


ENFORCEMENT: CLEANING UP INTERFERENCE


The FCC has written to Andrews Cleaners in Andrews, Texas. This to
tell proprietor Andrew White that he regulatory agency has received
complaints that equipment at the business may be causing harmful radio
interference to a local ham radio operator.


In its letter, the FCC tells White that the agency has the
responsibility to require that such problems be rectified within a
reasonable time if the interference is caused by faulty consumer
equipment. It also suggests that he might want to contact the ARRL
for guidance about radio interference that involves Amateur Radio
operators. (FCC)


**


HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SIGNALS BOUNCED OF THE GENESIS RE-ENTRY


A group of ham radio operators have successfully bounced signals off
the ionized trail of the Genesis space probe. This, as it re-entered
the Earth's atmosphere on September 8th.


According to Robert Brown, KR7O, several stations trying to be heard
off the probes fiery trail were monitored at his QTH from 1552 to 1600
UTC. This is part of what Robert heard:


--


Backscatter audio


---



Robert says that all signals heard were on 144.200 MHz in the 2 Meter
band. Among them were KC6ZWT and WA6KLK who were using voice. There
were also others trying to make the path using CW. K7RO adds that
KC6ZWT reported hearing Robert's signal over the same backscatter
ionized path. All of the stations involved in this test were located
in California. (K7RO)


**


DX


In D-X, BB2RS reports that a group of Japanese amateurs are operating
from Sri Lanka as 4S7DUG from September 18th to the 23rd. Activity is
on 160 to 6 meters with an emphasis on the lower bands. They plan to
have four stations active simultaneously. (GB2RS)


And F4DZY is active from Corsica stroke TK through the 22nd of
September. Look for him on the High Frequency bands using SSB and QSL
as directed on the air. (GB2RS)


**


THAT FINAL ITEM: HAM RADIO, HURRICANE FRANCES AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES


And finally this week, the story of hurricane Frances, some ham radio
operators who helped to keep a local commercial station on the air
after the storm and two who met with President Bush on his recent
tour. Joseph Lenartiene, KD4BTD has the rest of the story:


--


Pres Bush: "I want to thank the Emergency Operations Centers all
across the state of Florida, the first responders, Police and
Firefighters, the people working long hours here, I want to thank
the Red Cross"


--


While President George Bush did not mention Amateur R radio Operators
in his national Press Conference held on Wednesday, September the 8th,
He did the next best thing while visiting Florida's Treasure
Coast
that day when he shook hands with Bruce Reid, K9SHT and Lee Kaufmann
KG4BYG at the St. Lucie County Emergency Operations Center in Ft.
Pierce Florida.


--


Kaufmann: "Well we had two special visitors today, we had The
President and the Governor both came in. The one nice thing is that
he greeted everyone he He didn't just walk by. He came in,
said
hello and saw the ham station in the shelter here and even was aware
of what we were doing."


--


Other than the President stopping by, thing were pretty normal at the
EOC Ham Station according to Lee.


--


Lee: "I was running communications between the EOC and the
shelters
and today was a little bit calm but yesterday was busy sending
messages. I think we had somewhere in the number of a hundred
messages back and fourth between the shelters."


--


Not the most glamorous work but as expressed by St. Lucie County EC
Ernie Marques, KF4IHX, very Satisfying.


--


KF4IHX: "We had a busy last 6 days. We've handled over 350
pieces of
traffic during this emergency and we're very pleased because for a
brief period of hours, ham radio was the only link between our
shelters and we proved a point that Amateur Radio can get through when
nobody else can."


--


While Frances stayed awhile to visit St. Lucie County, The Special
Needs Shelter felt the wrath and when the need came to find a new QTH
for the evacuees, (Sound of a Nextel) not Nextel but N9SRO answered
the call.


--


N9SRO: "The Special Needs Shelter needed someplace to relocate
because they had sustained some damage during the Hurricane.
Nextel's
were a no go after the storm but I was able to facilitate
communications via the ham radio to get that move started."


--


Hurricane Frances officially made Landfall in a town called Sewall"s
Point in Martin County Florida. The next County south St. Lucie.
While Amateurs down there did much the same from their EOC, A few did
more. Louie Delonoy, K4LOU, Helped put Martin Counties Radio Station,
back on the air.


--


K4LOU: "Martin County had been telling people all day Friday on
their
Billboard to tune to WSTU for the latest news. Now there comes Monday
Morning and they're off. I called Ben, N4BG and he tells me
chances
are they took a major hit. I come up, he takes me around to the back,
and here's their tower on top of the dish with the two STL feeds
on
them. You know, sitting on the roof. So I go up there and inspect it
moved everything around and Boom, they're on the air."


--


And Port St. Lucie Broadcasters Vice President Greg Wyatt
couldn't be
happier.


--


Wyatt: "We now have the Louie, Ben, and Jerry show here at WPSL,
WJNX, and WSTU. Between the three of em, they managed to get two
radio stations on the air in 5 hours and now the third one today. I
tell you, its mind boggling."


--


Although it was far from over for Florida thanks to Hurricane Ivan,
Amateur radio on Florida's Treasure Coast has returned to what it
was
before the storm. The major lesson learned here was the need for
relief after the storm. And that's what Treasure Coast Hams are
ready
to do for those affected by Ivan.


For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Joe Lenartiene, KD4BTD, in Ft.
Pierce
Florida.


--


Joseph Lenartiene, KD4BTD, is with WQCS FM in Ft. Pearce, Florida.
(KD4BTD, ARNewsline(tm))



**


NEWSCAST CLOSE


With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ
Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain,
the RSGB and Australia's Q-News, that's all from the Amateur Radio
Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is newsline @arnewsline.org. More
information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's(tm) only official
website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or
support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), P.O. Box 660937, Arcadia,
California 91066.


For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm
Norm
Seeley, KI7UP, saying 73 and we thank you for listening." Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.







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