Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1633 - November 28, 2008

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1633 with a release date of
Friday, November 28th, 2008 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Lots of repeaters could loose their homes down
under as one Australian state enacts new site fees. Also, the DX drought
may be over as astronomers say the new solar cycle is here and we celebrate
the life of a ham who refused to let his physical condition interfere with
his devotion to the hobby. Find out the details on this Thanksgiving Day
edition of Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) and report number 1633 coming your way
right now


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

REPEATER NEWS: AUSTRALIAN REPEATERS COULD LOOSE SITES OVER NEW FEES

Repeater owners in the Australian state of New South Wales are not happy
over a government decision to raise site rental fees and it could cause a
number of them to go QRT. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News, explains
what has transpired:

--

Phil Wait VK2DKN in a news posting to wia.org.au says that the Director
General of the NSW Department of Lands has written to the WIA upholding the
Departments decision to impose a $367 (Australian) fee for each amateur
radio facility located on NSW Crown Land.

The WIA had written to the Director General in August arguing for special
consideration for communications facilities maintained by small amateur
radio clubs, and highlighting the strategic community resource that amateur
radio communications facilities provide during emergencies.

In the Departments reply the Director General advises that the site rental
fees are prescribed under NSW State legislation, and cannot be reduced
below the minimum rent provisions in that legislation.

This is bad news for small amateur radio clubs which maintain repeater
facilities on NSW Crown Land, and also for those larger clubs which have
several affected repeater sites. The likely outcome is the closure of a
number of rural amateur radio repeater facilities, or at least their
relocation to less favorable sites.

On the other hand, larger well resourced clubs may welcome the opportunity
to enter into an agreement which guarantees secure tenure for their
repeater sites located on Crown Land.

I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB in Brisbane, Australia, for the Amateur Radio
Newsline.

--

Amateur radio clubs with repeaters in the region have a choice to make. Its
pay up or go Q-R-T. That's because failure to enter into a rental
agreement
when asked to do so by the New South Wales Department of Lands may result
in eviction from a Crown Land site. (WIA News)


**

DX PROPAGATION: SCIENTISTS AY THAT THE NEW SUNSPOTS ARE HERE

Improved band may soon be on their way. Scientists say that after more
than two years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, the sun is finally
showing signs of life.

David Hathaway is a sunspot forecaster of the NASA Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville Alabama. In his opinion the solar minimum is behind
us. He said that in October scientists counted five sunspot
groups,. Hathaway says that this may not sound like much, but in a year
with record-low numbers of sunspots and long stretches of spotlessness,
five is significant.

Even more significant is the fact that four of the five sunspot groups
belonged to Solar Cycle 24. That's the new and long-awaited next
installment of the sun's 11 year solar cycle. Hathaway says that October
was the first time sunspots from new Solar Cycle 24 outnumbered spots from
old Solar Cycle 23.

Hathaway adds that this is a good sign that the new cycle is taking
off. This will be welcome news to the ears of hams who have waited a long
time to work some new and possibly rare DX. (NASA)

**

BREAKING DX NEWS: DESECHO TO BE ON IN FEBRUARY

The Desecheo Island DXpedition is now officially on for early next year.
This as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notifies the team that February
12th to the 26th 2009, will be the dates allocated for the radio operation.

These dates are coordinated with other Fish and Wildlife Service research
activities scheduled on other parts of Desecheo. It also handles the
scheduling security personnel for the camp.

Only fifteen operators will be allowed on the island at any given time. A
total of 6 to 8 stations will be operational on the High Frequency bands
including 160 and 6 meters.

Desecheo Island is #2 on the worlds Most Wanted DX List. For the latest
news, please go to the team's website. Its in cyberspace at
www.kp5us (WØGJ, K4UEE)

**

BREAKING DX NEWS: SPRATLEY OPERATION ON HOLD

Meantime, hams who have waited a long time to make contact with the
Spratley Island group will have to be patient a bit longer. This as its
announced that a planned operation has been put on hold. Amateur Radio
Newslines's Don Carlson, KQ6FM, has mo

--

The long awaited 9M0 DXpedition to the Spratley Islands has been
postponed. A team of six operators was expectedto activate Pulau Layang
Layang Island in the Spratly group in March 2009.

Now, an according to their Web page dated November 14th puts the operation
in to a state of delay. It says that due to a combination of personal and
logistical reasons that it has been necessary to postpone the operation to
a later date.

The announcement goes on to sat that its is hoped that the DXpedition will
go ahead at a later date but none was announced. The posting notes
that donations will be returned to those sponsors who made contributions
to the proposed operation. More is on-line at www.spratly2009.com

Im Don Carlson, KQ6FM, in Reno.

--

We will have more DX related items later on in this weeks Newsline
report. (E-Mail)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the Pentucket Radio
Club repeater serving Groveland Massachusetts

(5 sec pause here)


**

ENFORCEMENT: EVEN BROADCASTERS CANNOT INTERFERE

A broadcasters who interfered with other broadcaster has been fined by the
FCC. This as Florida's Black Crow Radio, LLC gets hit with a $18,400
monetary forfeiture that's being paid in two parts. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, explains:

--

The fine issued to Black Crow Radio is actually marked down from $23,000
and more than half of it has already been paid. Here's the story.

The forfeiture is based on allegations that Black Crow Radio's station WNDB
AM, in Daytona Beach, Florida failed to ensure that emissions removed by 60
kHz to 75 kHz from the fundamental frequency of 1150 kHz are attenuated 65
dB below the unmodulated carrier level. Its also charged with failure to
maintain effective locked fences around the bases of two of its antenna
towers.

According to the November 13th notice, this past February 26, the agency
began investigating a complaint that WNDB was causing interference to
stations on 1070 kHz and 1230 kHz . Also that it was the source of general
interference up and down the AM band. Agents from the Commission's Tampa
Office monitored WNDB on its licensed frequency of 1150 kHz using a
standard car radio and readily observed that the station could be heard up
and down the AM band. The agents also heard WNDB's signal intermittently
interfering with broadcast operations on 1070 and 1230 kHz.

On September 24th the Tampa Office issued a Notice of Apparent Liability
for Forfeiture to Black Crow in the amount of $23,000 for the rules
violations. Black Crow admitted part of the violation notice and
submitted a payment in the amount of $12,000 for those violations. However
it requested cancellation or reduction of the remaining $11,000 proposed
forfeiture.

In its response the FCC said that due to its compliance for the 13 years
WNDB had been on the air that it would reduce the remaining amount of the
fine to $6400. However, it would not dismiss it entirely.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles.

--

Black Crow Radio LLC was given the customary 30 days to pay the outstanding
remainder of the fine or to file a further appeal. (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT: WHAT A DIFFERENCE 140 FEET CAN MAKE

Here's one for the record books, and we mean literally. The FCC's San
Francisco field office has cited United States Cellular Corporation for
having one of its towers a rather small distance from where it was supposed
to have been put up. Or is it at the correct location and is the FCC
wrong? Here's the rest of this rather strange story.

According to a Notice of Violation released on October 10th, the FCC said
that an August 28th inspection showed the tower in question to be
approximately 140 feet from its registered location. Note that the
violation is for an approximate rather than verified distance from the
registration site. That's leading a lot of engineers to question by what
legal authority the FCC can guess at a location and issue a citation based
on this guesswork.

None the less, the FCC gave United States Cellular 20 days from the
issuance of the Notice to submit a written statement concerning this
matter. The response was to fully explain why each violation occurred,
contain a statement of the specific actions taken to correct each violation
and preclude recurrence, and include a time line for completion of pending
corrective actions.

You can read the entire Notice of Violation
at: http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2...-286437A1.html) (FCC, CGC)

**

RADIO POLITICS: WATCH THE FCC CHANGE

According to news reports, while FCC Chairman Kevin Martin says that he is
in no hurry to leave his post, we could see a three-member FCC for a
while. This, depending on how long it takes President-elect Barack Obama's
transition team to determine who the new Commission chairman will be.

Assuming Republican Commissioner Deborah Tate leaves because her term is up
and that Martin leaves after the inauguration, there could be a 2 to 1 FCC
for a while. The assumption is that one of the Democrats currently serving
as a Commissioner will be named as interim chairman. This would mean that
Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein along with Robert McDowell would make
up the Commissioners for a while.

Several names that have surfaced as possibilities for FCC chairman. These
include Julius Genachowski and Don Gips. Both are former FCC staffers
under President Bill Clinton. (RW)

**

RADIO LAW: SENATORS LOOKING AT NEW FAIRNESS DOCTRINE

Democrats in the Congress are pushing for the reinstatement of the
so-called "Fairness Doctrine" which forced broadcasters to offer equal time
to both sides of controversial issues. According to the trade newspaper
the Hollywood Reporter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and such influential
Democratic senators as Barbara Boxer and Charles Schumer are pushing for
its return, or something like it.

The Fairness Doctrine was abolished in 1987, paving the way for the type of
talk radio that seems to dominate the A.M. broadcast band these days. With
most talk radio dominated by conservatives. Now with President Elect
Barack Obama moving into the White House in January of 2009, talk on
Capital Hill about reinstating or even broadening the scope of a new
Fairness Doctrine has again begun to surface once again. (NAB News)

**

COMMUNICATIONS LAW: MUSIC INDUSTRY CHALLANGED ON DIGITAL MUSIC SHARING

The music industry's litigation of private citizens who share songs via the
Internet is coming under constitutional challenge. This with word that a
Harvard Law School professor has launched a constitutional assault against
a federal copyright law at the heart of the industry's aggressive tactic
which has brought in monetary payments from thousands of music file
swappers since 2003.

According to news reports law professor Charles Nesson has come to the
defense of a Boston University graduate student targeted in one of the
music industry's lawsuits. He argues that the Digital Theft Deterrence and
Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 is unconstitutional because it
effectively lets the Recording Industry Association of America which is a
private organization to carry out civil enforcement of a criminal law. He
also says the music industry group has abused the legal process by
threatening the possibility of lengthy and costly lawsuits in an effort to
intimidate people into settling cases out of court.

Charles Nesson is the founder of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and
Society. He says that his goal is to stop the courts from allowing
themselves to be used as a collection agency for the music industry. By
taking on the case, Nesson hopes to challenge the basis for the music
industry's suit, and all others like it. His challenge against the music
industry was filed in the U.S. District Court in Boston, and is considered
by many legal experts one of the most determined attempts to derail the
industry's ongoing litigation against those who download and swap music
files on-line. (Published news reports)

**

HAM RADIO ON THE NET: QRZ ACTS AGAINST SPAMMERS

The QRZ.com website as introduced new measures to prevent its users e-mail
addresses from being harvested by spammers and their robot programs. Up
until now the solution to this problem has been to display the address as a
graphic image instead of plain text. While this works reasonably well to
stop spammers, it also caused problems for many of our vision impaired

Wanting to serve all of its users, the website has now installed new
javascript browser code that leaves the email encoded on the page until the
user initiates a mouse action to display the address. The address
displayed is in plain text, and is clickable to make sending off to other
members e-mails easier. But as a safeguard against spammers QRZ has also
installed code that only will enable the display of e-mail addresses only
to other ham members of QRZ. In other words, you can see all the other
information simply by doing a search but to see an e-mail address you must
first log in

The managers of QRZ.com want to thank Jeff Iddings, W4GPL, for some great
suggestions that helped develop this solution. (QRZ)

**

PUBLIC SERVICE: LA MARATHON MOVES TO MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Some news for hams who are involved in the Los Angeles Marathon. Word that
the event which was till now held the first Sunday in March, will move to
Memorial Day beginning in 2009.

Organizers said runners who registered for next year's race will be
automatically signed up for the May 25, 2009 date. Those who already have
paid the entry fee will be reimbursed in full if they are unable to
participate. Volunteers such as ham radio communicators will likely be
contacted by their supervisory personnel in regard to the date change.

More than 25,000 people competed in the 2008 Los Angeles Marathon earlier
this year. (Published news reports)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: NCDXF ANNOUNCES ELECTION RESULTS

Some names in the news. Len Geraldi, K6ANP, is the first up. He's been
selected as President of the famed Northern California DX Foundation.

The election took place at the organizations Board of Directors meeting on
November 18th in Albany, California. Filling the other offices are Vice
President Al Burnham K6RIM, Secretary Tom McShane NW6P and Treasurer Bruce
Butler W6OSP.

The big surprise was the announcement by Rusty Epps, W6OAT, to retire from
the organizations board of directors. This following 35 years of service
to the group. More information about the Northern California DX Foundation
is on-line at www.ncdxf.org. (NCDXF)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: ARRL ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF DIVISIONAL RACES

The ARRL Delta Division has a new Director and Vice Director, while hams in
the Great Lakes Division voted to keep their incumbent Vice Director.

On Friday, November 21, ARRL staff members opened ballots for the Director
and Vice Director races in the Delta Division and the Vice Director race in
the Great Lakes Division. After all the ballots were counted, Gary
Johnston, KI4LA, of Edgewood, Kentucky, was elected to keep his seat as
Vice Director of the Great Lakes Division.

Delta Division Director Henry Leggette, WD4Q, of Memphis, Tennessee, did
not seek re-election this term. Former Louisiana Section Manager Mickey
Cox, K5MC, of West Monroe, with 1148 votes, was declared the new Delta
Division Director. Arkansas Section Manager David Norris, K5UZ, won the
Vice Directors seat.

In all other races, those running unopposed were elected or re-elected.
Terms for Directors and Vice Directors begin at noon on January 1, 2009 and
run for three years. (ARRL)

**

BREAK 2

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving 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)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: WSPR SETS NEW DX RECORDS

A newly developed digital mode is breaking all sorts of QRP records. Its
called the Weak Signal Propagation Reporter. It was developed by the man
who gave us WSJT: Joe Taylor, W1SJT. Taylor calls it WSPR. Justin
Giles-Clark, VK7TW, is in South Hobart, Tasmania, is here to tell us of the
of the distance records broken and other that have been set:

--

Back on Friday, 31 Oct, Bob VK7KRW had a two way contact with Richard,
N2JR, in Virginia, USA. on the 80M band, over a distance of 16300Kms and
both stations were running 2watts, yes, only 2 watts!

Bob's antenna is an Inverted V dipole and Richard was using a Butternut
ground mounted vertical. The SNR at that stage was around -25dB.

Bob VK7KRW has been recently experimenting with WSPR on the HF bands (15,
17, 20, 30, 40 & 80M) and he has had a number of QRP contacts into the UK,
EU, JA, USA, Canada and ZL.

Bob mentioned that he reduced power to 1W and he was still received by
Richard but unfortunately heard nothing in return at that power level.

Later that evening Bob received an email from Pat, F6IRF, who runs the WSPR
net, confirming that we had set a new world distance record for a two way
QRP contact on the 80M band. Bob mentioned that stations in the Northern
hemisphere are desperately looking for more stations in the southern
regions so if people want something to experiment with, try WSPR.

A call went out on the VK7 Regional News and records started to tumble with
Dick VK7DIK making a bilateral contact with Joe Taylor K1JT over a distance
of 23352km on 40m with just 5 watts.

Congratulation to Bob, Richard, Dick and Joe.

The powers just keep reducing and distances just keep increasing. Larry
WB3ANQ was able to get through to VK6DI using just 5mW (+7dBm) over a
distance 18615Km.

WSPRnet.org has all the information required and links to the
software. The URL is: http://wsprnet.org/drupal/

Cheers from Justin VK7TW.

--

Again, the URL to get the WSPR software is WWW.wsprnet.org/drupal. With
it, QRPDX seems to be a breeze. (WIA News)

**

WORLDBEAT - THE NETHERLANDS: HOLLAND ADOPTS AMBER ALERTS

Turning to news from around the globe, police in the Netherlands have
started using Amber Alerts to notify the public of missing or abducted
children. The Dutch system will incorporate pop-ups on personal computers,
large digital advertising screens, e-mail, SMS text, instant messenger,
RSS news feeds and Web site alerts via Flash. No word if hams in that
nation plan to connect their repeaters to the system as has been done
elsewhere.

The Netherlands Police Agency expects to issue an Amber Alert between five
and 10 times a year. Amber Alerts began in the United States in the late
1990's as a tribute to a Texas 9 year old named Amber Hagerman who was
abducted and slain. Since then several other nations around the world now
have created similar systems. (RW)

**

DX

In DX, word that Bill Tackett, KN4N, is reportedly looking for operators
for a Gunatanamo Bay, Cuba based operation to take place next spring or
sooner. Conditions include that he or she must be active duty or retired
military, hold a General class or higher license be in good health and
preferably a non-smoker. If you know anyone interested in joining such an
operation have that person contact kn4n (at) comcast (dot) net

And IV3YIM, is active as portable OD5/from Lebanon. He will be
there until April 2009 and is active mostly in SSB/RTTY on 80 through
10 meters. Also listen out for him on CW and SK. QSL direct or via the
bureau to his home call.

Lastly, keep on the lookout for Zimbabwe as 7Z1HB, comes on as Z21LS. He
will operate mostly in SSB on 20 meters between November 30th and December
9th QSL this one direct to 7Z1HB or to DE1ZHB via the bureau.

(Above from various DX news sources).

**

A FINAL REMEMBERENCE: CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF ARRL PRESIDENT EMERITUS
GEORGE WILSON W4OYI

And lastly this week we say a final 73 to a friend of many years. This
with the word of the passing of ARRL President Emeritus George S. Wilson,
W4OYI, early on Tuesday, November 25th.

George's death hits very close to home because for many years he was a
member of the committee that judges our Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of
the Year Award and a very close personal friend to all of us. Mark
Abramowicz, NT-V, heads that committee. Please join Mark as he takes a
look at the life of the man who lead the ARRL in what some may say were
among the organizations most glorious days and left a legacy of
accomplishment that few hams will likely ever match:

--

I have not had the pleasure to speak directly with George Wilson W4OYI.,
but his e-mails and input have been invaluable over the years I've served
as chairman of Amateur Radio Newsline's Young Ham of the Year award
committee.

He was one of our special judges and his insights into the candidates were
very much appreciated by the committee.

George's loss is truly difficult for his family and the amateur radio
community who knew and loved him. But his legacy is one that, I think we
can safely say, is unmatched by any ARRL president in recent times.

George Wilson served as president of the organization from 1992 until he
suffered a stroke in 1995 while in Washington D.C. representing the ARRL.

Up until the time of his death, George was president emeritus of the
American Radio Relay League, one of only a handful of people ever granted
this honor.

During his time as ARRL president, he was instrumental in a number of
initiatives including helping to bring about the vanity call sign program
and preserving access to sections of the 900 Mhz band for amateur radio.

And, it was in 1993 that George Wilson who used his legal skills as an
attorney to argue an amateur radio case in federal court, which, in part,
led to the famous PRB-1 rule from the FCC which solidifies ham radio tower
privileges.

In 2004, George Wilson was presented the Special Achievement Award from the
Dayton Amateur Radio Association for his outstanding record of service.

George is one of the few hams who came through the ranks, so to speak, to
achieve the ARRL presidency and the other recognition he so richly deserved.

It was 1948 when 16-year-old George Wilson was first licensed by the FCC.
He rode the bus from his home in Owensboro, Kentucky to Nashville,
Tennessee to take that test.

He waited seven months to learn he had passed the FCC's Class B test and he
was assigned the call sign W4OYI, which he kept for his entire life.

George's first contact was on 40 meter CW with a home-brew rig. It was 1949
when George got his first taste for public service when the Green River
flooded the community of Calhoun.

That was in the days before 2-meter HTs and cell phones. George and his
fellow hams used CW rigs on two ferries and one installed at the courthouse
to dispatch rescue crews to help those stranded in the flooding. It's
believed those actions saved many lives.

George also is responsible for coming up with a special drill for emergency
communicators in the 1960s. It was called the envelope drill and it was
described this way in a 1962 article in QST.

"Groups of radio amateurs meet to hold an emergency drill. A net control
station is set up and teams go out in their cars to specific locations.
Each team carries with it a few sealed envelopes. Once established at their
locations, they open the envelopes containing an emergency scenario and
check in with the net control who offers further instructions and awaits
additional messages and traffic."

It became a popular way to train emergency communicators and it was George
Wilson who devised it.

W4OYI has served as an assistant emergency coordinator and official relay
station in the ARRL's Radio Emergency Corp, the predecessor to the Amateur
Radio Emergency Service. He also served as a Section Emergency Coordinator
and later Section Communications Manager in Kentucky.

It was George who worked with local officials in his community to convince
that the National Weather Service during the mid-1970s to install an early
warning radio system. This happened after a twister had hit nearby
Brandenburg, Kentucky.

The Owensboro Hydroplane Races - the ones featuring those big, high-speed
boats racing up and down the Ohio River - they had George Wilson to thank
for overseeing communications for the event for many years.

And, it was George Wilson who fostered use of Amateur Television technology
to monitor the boats from the center of the Owensboro Ohio River Bridge.

W4OYI later became a vice director and later division director. He was
elected to a vice president's post in the ARRL and later became first vice
president. When the incumbent ARRL President Larry Price,W4RA, announced
he would not run for another term, George Wilson was elected to succeed him.

Although confined to a wheelchair in his last years, W4OYI was active on
the ham bands and monitored his local repeater for those in need of
information or a simple chat.

He is survived by his wife, Marian. They were married for 51 years. He also
has a son, Berry, and a daughter, Jennifer, and two grandchildren.

Marian has asked Amateur Radio Newsline to tell all of George's fellow hams
that they can remember him by making a donation to the American Red Cross.

For the final time: "W4OYI, this is NT3V, saying 73 on behalf of all of us
who have benefited from your generous contributions to the amateur radio
service."

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

--

George Wilson, W4OYI, was one of the true good guys of ham radio. As such
he would not want us to mourn his passing. Knowing George as I did he
would only want us all to carry on the traditions that have made amateur
radio the great service to mankind that it is. And his dedication to it
will never be forgotten. (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, the Southgate News and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all from the
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is
. 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, wishing everyone a great start to a wonderful holiday season, I'
m
Bill Pasternak WA6ITF, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.