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Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1557 - June 15, 2007
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1557 with a release date of Friday, June 15, 2007 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Education combines with public service in a California school, the ARRL tries to solve ham radio interference to a military radar system and a Field Day concert in Sacramento. Well, kind of. Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1557 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESCUE RADIO MEETS EDUCATION: 47 NEW EM COMM TEEN HAMS IN CALIFORNIA We start this week with a very positive story with word that 47 eighth grade students in California are now prepared to serve their community in time of crisis using Amateur Radio. This, thanks to a middle-school principal and a teacher who saw the opportunity to combine science and public service into a learning experience for their students. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR, lives in the area and has mo -- Representatives of the City of Calabasas, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the American Radio Relay League and other agencies were on hand recently to congratulate 47 eighth-graders at A.C. Stelle Middle School. This, after they completed a class that lead to their getting the Amateur Radio licenses as a part of the American Radio Relay League's educational incentive known better as The Big Project. The adoption of the Big Project into the Las Virgenes Unified School District as an Amateur Radio educational program was the brain child of school Principal, Mary Sistrunk, and science chairman, Karl Beutel. Beutel, who is KE6MAO, kicked off the project in all six of his science classes some time ago with a presentation and demonstrations of radio, including communication with other amateur operators using the schools own radio station. He then offered the students the opportunity to take an Amateur Service exam on-campus. Meantime, emergency services groups are supporting this project with hopes that it will provide a source of communications volunteers. Sheriff's Department Reserve Captain, Tom Fakehany, N6FDR, says that these students are likely the next generation of emergency volunteers who will provide communications when all else fails. County Disaster Communications Service member Norm Goodkin, K6YXH, says that the plan is to help organize these new hams into a youth group. One with the ability to provide emergency communications services to the school and to the community in the the City of Calabasas. Next semester, the 47 students plan to start an amateur radio club at Calabasas High School, along with the 17 new hams already there from last year's project. According to Beutel, his school nearly tripled the number of students who earned their licenses from the program's inception last year. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR, in Los Angeles. -- Beutel believes that this program is among the largest groups of middle school students to ever accomplish this. The honor of the largest middle school ham radio licensing program thus far goes to "The Bardstown Experiment," that was chronicled in the October 1989 issue of QST magazine. That article detailed how more than 60 middle-school students and two teachers studied for and received their Novice class licenses. (ARNewsline(tm) via E-Mail) ** WORLDBEAT - NEWFOUNDLAND: VO1MRC BEACON ON THE AIR Turning to world news, word that the Marconi Radio Club of Newfoundland will be conducting a propagation experiment running a CW beacon on 5 point 269 MHz. This, using its VO1MRC station. The beacon will be operational on June 15th and 16th from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC. VO1MRC will also be open briefly for 2 way contacts. Starting 00:01 UTC each of these days it will operate on 5260.5 KHz using CW. Following this it will transmit on 5327.5 and receive 5346.5 KHz using Upper Sideband for stations authorized to transmit on 60 meters. It will also operate on 3807.5 KHz Lower Sideband for other stations. Further information may be found by searching for VO1MRC on the World Wide Web. (VHF Reflector) ** WORLDBEAT - AUSTRALIA: NEW COMPETANCY STANDARD FOR HAM RADIO New and closer ties between government, industry, education and ham radio have come together down-under. This, as a result of a new Competency Standard exam in Amateur Radio being made available to all citizens of Australia. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News has the details: -- The Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Technology has endorsed a new competency standard, called:-"Operate and maintain an amateur radio communication station". The standard approximates the syllabus for a Standard amateur operators certificate of proficiency. This means the there is now a nationally recognised standard built around amateur radio. This is a link between amateur radio and education and industry. Competency to this standard can be an element in an electro-technology qualification. It certainly should make amateur radio as an activity much more attractive to schools. However, it is important to note that holding the competency will not qualify the holder for an amateur licence which still requires WIA certification to ACMA of competency in the theory, regulatory and practical elements of the syllabus. WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI welcomed the Departments endorsement, saying that he hoped that schools would be encouraged to support amateur radio activities and also acknowledged the work of the WIA's Nominated RTO, Fred Swainston VK3DAC in achieving this recognition of amateur radio. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News in Australia. -- The new competency standard may not bring a lot of operators to the air but it should give the citizens of Australia a better understanding of what Amateur Radio is really all about. (WIA News) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: OCEAN TRAVLER W7KFI HEADS TO JOHNSTON ISLAND Ham radio operator and ocean adventurer Susan Meckley, W7KFI, has told the Ohio Penn DX Newsletter that she is on her way to Johnston Island and should be there by the time this newscast goes to air. W7KFI plans to operate 80 through 10 meters on SSB and CW while on Johnston and is usually at 36 Kilohertz above the bottom of any band. She expects to be on Johnston Island for about a week before heading to Marshall Islands which is a 3 week voyage further South. What makes this story unique is that Susan Meckley is a 70 year old grandmother and the skipper of the USS Dharma who has been sailing all over the Pacific. This amazing lady has a truly interesting story to tell and it is highly recommend that you visit the following Web pages to see where she has been: http://ussvdharma.net and www.qrz.com/callsign/W7KFI (Southgate, OPDX) ** WORLDBEAT - NEW GUNIA: HAM RADIO REVITALIZATION IN P29 Still in the South Pacific, Papua New Gunia is seeing a revitalization in its Amateur Radio community. Jim Linton, VK3PC, has the rest of the story. -- A strong effort is being made to increase amateur radio activity in Papua New Guinea and a recent P29 CQ Day is only just the beginning. Wilfred Kilepak Amai P29PG/VK3DWA initiated the very successful special activity day outside the Parliament Building in Port Moresby. There were plenty of interested on-lookers. The radio administration PANGTEL is supportive of any steps to achieve a greater participation in amateur radio. Wilfred says PANGTEL is aware of the Australian licence restructure that occurred in October 2005 that includes the Foundation Licence, but has not yet followed suit. Traditionally P29 has mirrored the VK licence system, due to the strong relationship between Papua New Guinea and Australia that was established before it gained independence in 1975. I'm Jim Linton VK3PC reporting for the Amateur Radio Newsline. -- Papua New Gunia could also soon have its first ever female radio amateur. The unidentified ham qualified for a license in Australia earlier this year. She is now being by that nations telecommunications regulator Pang Tel for a P29 callsign. (WIA News) ** Break 1 From Auckland, New Zealand and Los Angeles California in the United States of America, we are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the Douglas County Amateur Radio Club's W0UK repeater serving Lawrence, Kansas. (5 sec pause here) ** RADIO REGULATIONS: HAM RADIO VS. PAVE PAWS - CHAPTER 2 The ARRL has sent out more than 100 letters to owners and trustees of 70 centimeter repeaters whose systems have allegedly affected the governments PAVE PAWS radar installations on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The letters essentially tell these hams to lower the output power of their repeaters to 5 watts and await further notice from the FCC. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reports: -- Citing an increasing number of interference complaints, the US Air Force earlier this year asked the FCC to order dozens of repeater systems to either mitigate interference to Pave Paws radar installations or to shut down. According to the ARRL Letter, the situation affects 15 repeaters within less than 100 miles of Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and more than 100 repeaters within some 140 miles of Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento, California. The ARRL is working with the Department of Defense to develop a plan to mitigate alleged interference from 70 centimeter ham radio repeaters to this military radar system on both coasts. The letters sent to affected repeaters give them an up-to-date briefing on the ongoing negotiations with the US Air Force, as well as outlines the Department of Defense plan. The Department of Defense has indicated a willingness to try a mitigation proposal, but they have also indicated their need is for these issues to be resolved sooner rather than later. With that in mind, the ARRL proposed an initial mitigation strategy. It works this way. All repeaters on the Department of Defense list in the affected areas will immediately reduce power to 5 watt absolute maximum transmitter power output. Each repeater licensee or trustee should then immediately contact ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, N1ND, to confirm that this step has been taken. Meantime, the ARRL will provide Longley-Rice calculations for each repeater to the Department of Defrense. For those who have never before heard the term, Longley-Rice Calculations are used to compute signal loss from a transmitter to receiver along a particular path and terrain. For its part, the Department of Defense will then provide engineering data to the ARRL and FCC. These studies will be reviewed by the Department of Defense, the ARRL Lab and the FCC to determine the amount of mitigation necessary for each repeater. Based on this review by the Department of Defense additional mitigation proposals for individual repeaters will be provided by the ARRL as needed to individual repeater owners. This might include further power reductions, lowering of antenna heights, use of more directive antennas and other possible mitigation techniques. If there is a disagreement on the conclusions, a conference call will be held to resolve any outstanding issues. All interference must be resolved no later than August 1st. Beginning in August and continuing on a periodic basis, the Department of Defense will have a follow-up engineers study at each PAVE PAWS Radar site to ensure corrective actions have been taken and to ensure that successful mitigation continues. The ARRL says that even with extreme measures, its still possible that some repeaters in close proximity to the PAVE PAWS sites may have to be shut down permanently. If that happens, official notice would come from the FCC. It is also conceivable that some repeaters might be required to operate permanently at a lower power level in the areas near these Air Force bases. In those cases, the League will be in contact with the individual repeater owners with that information and the FCC will be notified. The bottom line: Its up to the ham community near the two PAVE PAWS Radar installations to make co-existance work. If the hams fail to do so, then they could have their repeaters taken off the air for good. For the Amateur Radio newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles. -- PAVE PAWS radar systems are used for national security functions, including early detection of water-launched missiles. The Amateur Radio Service is a secondary user in the 420 to 450 MHz band. As such, Amateur Radio licensees bear the responsibility of mitigating or eliminating any harmful interference to the primary user, which in this case is the Government Radiolocation Service that includes the PAVE PAWS Radar systems. (ARRL) ** MILITARY RADIO: EXPIREMENT AT MIRAMAR An experimental authorization has been granted to Northrop Grumman to operate in the 1850 to 1865 and 1930 to 1945 MHz bands. This, to demonstrate a Battlefield Airborne Communications Node for the U.S. Air Force. The system will operate both fixed and mobile as well as airborne at an altitude of 60,000 feet within 92 miles of Marine Corp Air Station Miramar near San Diego, California. More about it is on-line at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...C-273498A1.doc (CGC) ** RESCUE RADIO: NEW CELLPHONE SENSORS The United States Department of Homeland Security has reportedly launched an initiative asking the wireless industry about the potential for equipping a new generation of cellular telephones with technology to scan and detect harmful compounds in the environment and automatically relay the readings to a central monitoring point. According to the CGC Communicator, the concept, known as "Cell-All," is said to have attracted the interest of several companies, and partnerships with handset manufacturers are being discussed. More is on-line at http://public.cq.com/docs/hs/hsnews1...002524221.html (CGC) ** FCC NEWS: BETTER ULS INTERFACE ASSISTS THE HANDICAPPED The FCC has enhanced the usability of the Universal Licensing System website for people with disabilities. According to the Handi Ham Newsletter, in the redesigned License Archive, the search interface, results screen and detail pages will use the same display as ULS License Search. On the detail pages, users will directly access license information. Handi Hams says that this attention to better web design will help everyone navigate the ULS pages, not just people with disabilities. Users are able to access the new functionality via the "Archives" button on the ULS homepage at: http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/ (Handi Ham Newsletter) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: GET WELL WISHES TO QCWA PRES W3BE Some names in the news. First some get well soon wishes to QCWA President and 1991 Radio Amateur of the Year John B. Johnston, W3BE. John is back at his Maryland home recuperating from heart bypass surgery on Thursday, June 8th. According to word from the QCWA the operation went well and he should be fine after his recovery period. Get well wishes can be sent to W3BE at his callbook address. (ARNewsline(tm), QCWA) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: JOHN HENNSEESS N1KB TO BE REMEMBERED AT FIELD DAY 2007 The ARRL is reporting that the Newington Amateur Radio League in Connecticut will honor the memory of long-time Handiham volunteer John Hennessee, N1KB. This, at Field Day 2007 by using the special event callsign W1H. John Hennessee died in 2006 at age 42. He had worked at ARRL headquarters for 20 years and was described as always patient and thorough in his answers to our questions about rules and regulations. The Field Day operation using the W1H callsign is a tribute to his dedication to the Amateur Service over his lifetime. (ARRL) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: N6R - A FIELD DAY CELEBRATION OF PRESIDENT AND MRS. REAGAN And listen out for a very special Special Event station over Field Day weekend. This one operating from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Vally, California as N6R. This is the third consecutive year that the Ventura County Amateur Radio Society will operate from the library grounds . And once again they will be joined by members of the Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club for what is fast becoming an annual Field Day operation that also commemorates the lives of President Ronald and Mrs. Nancy Reagan. This is a prize contact not to be missed. QSL N6R to N6ZE with Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to his QRZ.com mailing address. (N6ZE) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: A K9EID FIELD DAY CONCERT This year will mark a different kind of Field Day for ham radio's own Mr. Audio. This with word that Bob Heil, K9EID, will spend Sunday, June 24th firing up the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ at the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento, California. For those of you not aware, in addition to being an inventor and researcher, Bob Heil is also a well accomplished concert organist. And this particular concert will actually be a reunion of sorts between K9EID and the instrument on which he will be performing. The gorgeous instrument which Bob will play was originally installed in the St. Louis, Missouri. Lowe's State theatre during the late 1920's. In 1958 it was removed and installed in Rugerri's restaurant in St Louis where a then young Bobby Heil played this very Wurlitzer for the diners. The organ was moved to Sacramento were pipes from the Hollywood home of the late producer director Cecil B. De Mille were added to make this spectacular sounding instrument. The Sierra Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society is sponsoring this Sunday afternoon concert. It begins at 2 P.M. Pacific time and admission to it is free with a paid museum admission. And during the program K9EID will introduce songs from his latest CD titled "Bob Heil at Home." This recently completed album was recorded on his own 3 manual theatre organ that is installed in his Illinois studio. Again, that's Field Day Sunday, June 24th at the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento, California, for a free theater organ concert by ham rafios's own Bob Heil, K9EID. It should be a truly fun afternoon. (Heil Sound Ltd. release) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From beneath the Southern Cross, 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) ** CHANGING OF THE GUARD: 73 TO "MR. WIZARD" If you grew up in the 1950's and 1960's and had a fascination with science, them you likely tuned into a television program called "Watch Mr. Wizard." For 30 minutes each week from 1951 to 1965, Don Herbert donned the persona of "Mr. Wizard" to teach his legions of young viewers about the magic of science in every day living. Its not known if Don Herbert was a radio amateur. Years ago there were stories circulating that he held a W 9 call prior to World War 2, but that's never been established. No matter, Don Herbert as "Mr. Wizard" is generally credited with helping to build the United States base of baby boomer technologists whose interest in science and engineering was peaked by tuning into this program. Some, credit their lifelong careers to watching Mr. Wizard as they were growing up. And one ham we know quite well got hooked in a big way. While he was in college, Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ, took a job with Mr. Wizard designing many of the simple experiments that made kids want to turn on and tune in. He says that Don Herbert's key to success was to always keep science understandable and use the kind of objects a youngster might find around the house. -- Feinberg: "The first thing that I made after I found out it was Mr. Wizard -- I had watched that program while growing up -- was to take a piece of Oak Tag (construction paper) , make it into a cone, stick a darning needle on the end of it and use it as a phonograph." -- Keeping science simple was the real key to Don Herbert's success as Mr. Wizard. As a result, the show which was aimed at youngsters between 8 and 13 received a Peabody Award in 1953 for the high quality of its youth programming. And by the mid-1950's more than 100,000 children across the United States had enrolled in 5,000 Mr. Wizard Science Clubs. And such was the power of Don Herbert on America's youth that during the 1960's and 1970's, about half the applicants to Rockefeller University in New York cited Mr. Wizard when asked how they first became interested in their chosen careers. After his children's program went off the air, Don Herbert remained in television science programming with general-audience shows like "How About" and "Exploration." NBC revived "Watch Mr. Wizard" for one year in the early 1970's. In the 1980s, Don Herbert reprised his children's shows with "Mr. Wizard's World" on the Nickelodeon cable network. Don Herbert never really retired. Always dedicated to the education of America's youth, in recent years he established a website where he made may past shows and his science training materials available to the general public. And it was on that website where his family posted the sad news that he had passed on Tuesday morning, June 12th . Don Herbert -- "Mr. Wizard" -- was 89. Additional informatiuon from the Mr Wizard Studios website: For those of you who would like to share your thoughts on Don Herbert or anything Mr. Wizard related, the family has added a guestbook for your convenience. Also added is a new blog. Both Can be reached by links on the http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/ home Pge. (ARNewsline(tm) from published reports.) ** ON THE AIR: COMMEMORATING 70 YEARS OF TRANS ATLANTIC FLIGHT To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the first transatlantic passenger test flight, a special re-enactment flight is planned by Captain Patrick White and his son Ian. The two will be flying their "Vintage Lady", a PBY Catalina Flying Boat, from Botwood Newfoundland to Foynes, Ireland, on the 5th and 6th of July. To celebrate this event, Ireland's Limerick Radio Club has been invited by the Foynes Flying Boat Museum to operate a special Amateur Radio station in conjunction with the commemorative reenactment of the 1937 flight. EI70FOY will be on the air from the 6th to the 8th of July on 80 throuhgh10 meters as well as locally on VHF and UHF. A special QSL card, commemorating the flight, will be sent to all stations worked over the three days . All QSL cards should be sent to the Club's QSL Manager Alan Cronin EI8EM at his callbook address. (Southgate) ** ON THE AIR: 2ND REGIMENT HELICOPTER COMMEMORATIVE And another special event station is TM2RHC. It will be active from 10th to 24th of June before and during an air show at Le Luc le Cannet, France. QSL via F4EUN. The call letters TM2RHC stands for 2nd Regiment Helicopter Combat. QSL as directed by the operators. (OPDX) ** THE CONTEST CALANDER: IARU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIO - JULY 14 - 15 UTC In radiosport news, this years annual IARU HF World Championship will be held during the 24-hour period from 1200 UTC Saturday, July 14th to 1200 UTC Sunday, July 15th. Because this is unusually late in the month for the event to occur, there has been some confusion about the dates. So again the correct dates are the 14 and 15 of July in UTC time. Complete rules are on line at www.iaru.org/contest.html (Via E-Mail) ** DX In D-X, word that the The Polish 3B6 Agalega Islands DXpedition Team will be operating until the 18th of June. Team leader SP9MRO says that the group's call sign is 3B6DX. For more details and updates, visit www.3b6.godx.eu ON4LO, will be active portable C T from a couple of Portuguese lighthouses until 29th June. Thoise hes putting on the air are Cabo de Sao Vincente and Ponta Sagres. He plans to operate SSB and digital modes on 10 to 40 meters. QSL as directed on the air. The White Tower DX Team's operation from Skyros Island is expected to take place from 16th to 22nd June. Nine operators will be active as SY8WT with six stations, five amplifiers and a wide range of beams, verticals and dipoles. QSL via SV2HPP, direct or via the bureau. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: FIGHTING THE 10 METER FREEBAND INVASION And finally this week, if you are wondering what all those conversations without call signs are on 28.085 MHz, well it appears to be a small invasion of unlicensed truckers and so called Freeband operators of our 10 meter band. We have more in this report: -- Originally confined to portions of the mid-West, the pirate trucker and Freeband epidemic appears to be spreading nationwide. This, as more and more of these illegal operators are making their unauthorized home on 28.085 Megahertz and several other 10 meter frequencies. And what is the Amateur Radio community doing about this invasion? On the surface at least, very little. With the upper High frequency bands not offering very much D-X these days, the majority of hams are sticking to 20, 40 and 80 meters with few stations heard in the 15, 12 and 10 meter spectrum. So the truckers and Freebanders see this is fair game for their unlawful operations and are busy establishing squatters rights in these bands. What about the FCC? Well its doing what it can. There have been several well publicized violation notices sent to trucking firms. They request owners to instruct their drivers to curtail any operations for which they are not licensed and threatening punitive action such as fines. But that's about it. With the FCC enforcement folks stretched thin and Freeband operations being among the lowest of priorities on the enforcement agenda, there is no reason to believe that there is going to be any sort of massive sweep by the Federal government to clear these pirate operators out of the ham radio bands. In the end, it will be the ham radio community that will have to defend these frequencies. And it does that by using them. If hams load up 10 meters or any band with legitimate Amateur Radio operations, there will be no place for the illegals to play and they will go elsewhere. In the case of 28.085, there have been suggestions that this frequency become a national C-W or RTTY Calling Channel. That's a pretty good approach. Another is for every ham with the capability of operating 10 meters to start holding QSO's on that frequency. As any Morse enthusiast will tell you, C-W can get through even when faced with all sorts of QRM including pirate operators using voice. The bottom line. if licensed radio amateurs fill up 10 meters even for local chats, the truckers and Frreebanders will soon be looking elsewhere for a new home. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Evi Simons, in New York. -- About two decades ago, then 73 Magazine editor Wayne Green, W2NSD, coined the phrase "Use it or loose it." Back then it was applied to the pending transfer of 220 to 222 MHz away from Amateur Radio. Today the same words ring important in fighting those without licenses who are trying to take 10 meters forcibly from hams. (ARNewsline(tm), QRZ.com, listener input) ** 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, and our other contributors, 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. Before we go, a reminder of our latest on-line poll. It asks what is your favorite major U.S. ham radio magazine. You vote at www.arnewsline.org. For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Auckland, New Zealand, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. |
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