SB NEWSLIN @ ALLBBS $NLIN.1014 Amateur Radio Newsline #1017 17 JAN 1997 The Newsline Information and Copyright Notice is now published seperately every month. Please read this notice before using any part of Newsline in any manner. For a copy of the notice e-mail bigsteve@dorsai.org or netmail Steve Coletti @ 1:278/230 on Fidonet. NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #1014 - 01/17/97 (*************************************************) (* *) (* A M A T E U R *) (* *) (* R A D I O *) (* *) (* N E W S L I N E *) (* *) (*************************************************) 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. Amateur Radio Newsline is a audio news service distributed via telephone. This hardcopy version is produced by Dale Cary - WD0AKO from scripts provided to him weekly by Newsline. It is then distributed to on-line services, bbs networks and internet user jointly by Dale Cary and Steve Coletti. Editorial comments, news item and all other business should be directed to: Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF Newsline Producer & Editor Internet E-mail: Billwa6itf@aol.com newsline@ix.netcom.com Phone: (805) 296-7180 Fax: (805) 296-7180 (Fax senders wait for voice prompt.) For further information about the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, please write to us with an S.A.S.E. at: NEWSLINE c/o Andy Jarema-N6TCQ P.O.Box 660937 Arcadia, CA 91066 Thank You, NEWSLINE (************************************************** Some of the hams of AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE: WA6ITF WB6MQV WB6FDF K6DUE W6RCL N6AHU N6AWE N6TCQ K6PGX N6PNY KU8R N8DTN W9JUV KC9RP K9XI KB4KCH KC5UD KC0HF G8AUU WD0AKO DJ0QN and many others in the United States and around the globe!!! (************************************************** [1014] C l o s e d C i r c u i t A d v i s o r y The following advisory is not necessarily for transmission over amateur radio. This is just a reminder that the address for the Newsline Support Fund is: Newsline c/o Andy Jarema-N6TCQ P.O.Box 660937 Arcadia, California 9106 Again, and as always, we thank you. This ends the closed circuit with Newsline report number 1014 for release on Friday, January 17th, 1997 to follow. (***** The following is a QST Ham radio growth takes a nose dive in 1996, the FCC creates a new license free wireless data service and SWL's indicate that they want the code to go away so that they can become codefree HF hams. These stories and lots more on Newsline report number 1014 coming your way right now! (***** SLOW GROWTH IN HAM RADIO The combined number of United States General, Advanced and Extra class license holders is declining, but no-code continues to grow. This according to 1996 year end figures published in the January 1st W5YI Report. The No-Code Technician continues to show the greatest increase in the number of people holding that class of license. There are now 6.7 percent more Technician and Technician Plus operators than there was a year ago. In fact, some 43 percent of all radio amateurs share these two classes of licenses. That's more than twice the number of only a decade ago. And for the first time ever, the combined number of Extra, Advanced and General class operators declined in 1996. But that was offset by the growth in the numbers of No-Code techs making for slight one percent growth in the total number of hams coming into the service last year. What does this all mean? W5YI says that there is a major shift in interests taking place in ham radio. Back in the 50's, 60's and 70's ham radio meant low band DXing, ragchewing and long range operations. That pool of High Frequency operators is now drying up says W5YI. Others agree. They say that the traditional high frequency operator is being replaced by a massive influx of codefree licensees who have no inclination to ever upgrade. A new breed of radio amateur who seem very content to spend their entire ham radio careers on a single repeater, talking to the same people, day after day, in what was once experimental world above 50 MHZ. (Via W5YI, others) (***** U-NII vs. HAM RADIO A new wireless personal communications service is coming. One that could signal the end to logging on to the internet using wired phone lines. And that could have an impact on amateur radio. The FCC has issued a Report and Order creating a new service called U-NII. Unlicensed wireless devices will operate using three 100 MHZ wide bands at 5 GHz. U-NII may cause amateur radio growth to slow down. Here's why. The ruling makes possible low cost and very high speed wireless Internet access over great distances. Up to several miles in some cases. As a result, you can expect to quickly see wireless 1.544 Mega bit per second radio links severely undercutting the costs of high speed lines from telephone service providers. Once the high speed U-NII modems are available at computer supply companies, it will probably signal the beginning of an end to wired Internet access. It also means that more and more people with even a remote interest in communications will be using radio links to the Internet. That means fewer and fewer will want to study for even a codefree Technician class ticket to talk across town. Ironically, the new U-NII service shares the already shared Amateur Radio allocation at 5.725 to 5.825 GHz. Under the new rules, the unlicensed radio modems may operate up to 4 watts of effective radiated power. They may use high gain directional antennas depending on the band. The bottom line is that the general public now has access to high speed radio links to the Internet. This means that they can almost go anywhere and not be out of touch with the world wide web. Those who might have been even remotely considering ham radio as an adjunct to their computers will probably say, why bother. The FCC has now given us, license free, far more than they have ever given to any licensed ham. And they have given us a ham band to do it on. Ironically, the no-code Technician class license was created in part to interest computer literate people in becoming hams. It never happened. Now what few might have come over will probably opt for license free U-NII instead. (Via FCC release, various computer merchandisers.) (***** SWL's WANT TO BE HF NO-CODE HAMS Shortwave Listeners would like to become hams, but only if they can get licensed without having to pass a Morse Code test and have full access to the high frequency bands. This surprising information came to light as the result of an admittedly unscientific poll conducted by the talk radio program "Ham Radio and More." During the week of December 20th, the ARRL made public a decision by its WRC preparatory committee a decision to recommend that asks the ARRL Board of Directors vote to endorse the retention of the Morse testing requirement at the upcoming World Radio Communications Conference. So, Ham Radio and More host, Len Winkler, KB7LPW, decided to spend the next two weeks finding out what his audience thought. The first week he limited comments to those who favored retaining the Morse requirement. He received 21 calls. What surprised him was the following week when it was time for the anti-Morse members of his audience to have their say. It was not GMRS operators who called in. It was not 11 meter CB operators. Rather, ten of the thirty comments, that's thirty three percent of the comments came from SWL's who feel that its time for a change: "It's hit a sore spot with me from my own personal experience. I did go through a local group to try and become a ham. I am an avid shortwave listener. I had no problem with the electronic theory and no problem learning the rules and the regulations. But, I hate to say it nut when I got to the code I just fell apart. I did not remain fun. It became work!" Winkler Winkler tells Newsline he is not surprised. "It's very interesting the people out there that have a feeling about this. Everybody, ham and non-ham has a feeling about Morse code. It's defiantly thee strongest issue in ham radio." Winkler Winklers' Ham Radio and More airs live every Sunday night at 6 PM Eastern time over radio stations across the nation. It's also simulcast worldwide on shortwave on 5.070 MHZ over radio station WWCR and in Real Audio on the World Wide Web. What makes Winkler's poll significant is that it's the first such survey that was open to members of the general public. And it definitely shows that one segment of society has an interest in gaining access to the high frequency ham bands and also in seeing that Morse code does go away. (Via Newsline) (***** FCC TURNS DOWN MORE PETITIONS FROM EARLY FILERS The FCC has turned down yet another round of petitions for Reconsideration from three hams asking the agency to reinstate their vanity call sign applications. The applications had been dismissed because they arrived prior to the opening of Gate 2 on September 23rd. According to the Commission, these applicants paperwork arrived at the FCC's fiscal agent, the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, on September 20. That was three says early and made them ineligible for processing. In November, the FCC dismissed nine other similar petitions for reconsideration based on the same claim. (Via FCC, ARRL) (***** HAM RADIO FLOOD RELIEF CONTINUES Ham radio continues assisting in flood recovery efforts in the Northwest, including Oregon, Washington and Nevada. As reported last week, when long distance phone service failed to the Ashland-Grants Pass vicinity ham radio took over, linking the county via HF with the state emergency operations center in Salem. Oregon Section Emergency Coordinator Lew Williams, WD7NML, said Jackson and Josephine counties were the hardest hit. In Jackson County, hams helped provide communication at shelters and also pitched in during sandbagging operations. In Nevada, Dick Creley, KJ7UK, of Gardnerville says that hams were activated on New Year's Day. They provided secondary communication for the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, the Emergency Management Office and two shelters that housed some 50 residents. Approximately 30 hams in Douglas County and Carson City put in a total of 350 work hours. Creley says that damage was extensive, and the cities of Minden and Gardnerville were isolated. Bruce Pfeiffer, N7CPP, of Carson City said telephone service remained in operation, limiting the need for ham radio communication support. His wife Sue, N7PRF, and Reed Ross, W7HOP, manned a station at the Carson City EOC, while he and Jo Ann Paul, N7MBM, manned a station at a local Carson City shelter. And in Yerington, Nevada, 17 year old Carrick Dunn, KB7OBE, provided the only communication link between his town and the outside world. We will have more information on ham radio's role in the Western US flooding as it becomes available. (Via ARRL) (***** SPOC LIVES SPOC lives. At least the SPOC that stands for a single point of contact for repeater coordinators. On Friday, January 10th, Owen Wormser, K6LEW, the president of National Frequency Coordinators' Council signed and mailed to ARRL headquarters the formal Memorandum of Understanding between the NFCC and the ARRL. The ARRL had sent Wormser two copies of the MOU both having been previously signed by League President, Mr. Rod Stafford, KB6ZV. To formalize the agreement, Wormser signed one copy and returned it to League headquarters. The other has been retained for NFCC records. The agreement creates a new National Frequency Coordination Office located at ARRL headquarters that will begin work on phase two of the project. That being the establishment of an ongoing dialogue with the FCC on issues of importance to the coordination community. Work on the creation of this single point of contact from repeater coordinators to the FCC began in St. Charles, Missouri back in October of 1995. (Via Newsline) (***** INDIANA CTCSS You soon may need to have continuous tone coded squelch to use repeaters in the North Central United States. Continuous tone coded squelch is the proper name for PL a Motorola trademarked version of this system. And it now appears as if Indiana will be one of the first states to adopt a statewide Universal PL coding system. As we head into the new year, plans are underway to develop a PL system across the state of Indiana for all repeaters. The new Indiana Repeater Coordinating Counsel is proposing that each repeater switch to a Private Line input. According to the plan, repeaters in each area of the state will have a common PL tone, something like an area code. This, according to officials, would eliminate most repeater interference and allow development of more repeaters in the state. The same kind of PL tone system is already being used in states surrounding Indiana. We will have more on this coordinated system as plans develop. The idea of universal region wide tone coding is not new. It was first suggested by the old Southern California Repeater Association back in 1974. But back then it was not practical because it would have meant a major expenditure to add tone encoders to the popular radios of the day. Hams were not willing to pay the extra cost. Today its a different story. It is almost impossible to purchase a new piece of VHF or UHF FM ham gear that does not already have a built in CTCSS tone encoder. Because of this, area wide universal tone access to help minimize repeater to repeater interference may become a reality in some areas. (Via Amateur News Weekly, Newsline) (***** NO HAMVENTION HOTEL BUSSES If you plan on attending this years Dayton Hamvention, be prepared to drive to the HARA Arena from wherever you will be staying. This is because the Hamvention will no longer be providing bus service from area hotels to the convention site. The reason? The same as it was the last time the Hamvention was forced to cancel the busses, money. The cost of running the service has gotten so high as to make it impractical to continue. (Via DARA) (***** BAXTER'S COUP Glen Baxter, K1MAN, has scored a major public relations coup for his high frequency bulletin service. Baxter has managed to get the man known as the nations most trusted voice in America to record identification breaks for his International Amateur Radio Network bulletin service. And according to Baxter, famed CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite endorses the work of Baxters groups: "Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, keeps informed about Amateur Radio events by listening to the International Amateur Radio Network and supports ARRS, the American Amateur Radio Association, Walter:" Baxter "You are listening to the International Amateur Radio Network. This is K1MAN." Cronkite For those not aware, Walter Cronkite holds a Novice class license and the call sign KB2GSD. Why he chose to record for K1MAN is not clear. What is apparent is that this is a major public relations victory for Glenn Baxter and one that his detractors will have a hard time brushing off as trivial. Cronkite has been quoted many times as saying he never lends his name or his voice to anything that he does not fully support. (Via Usenet reports.) (***** VERMONT SECTION MANAGER RECALL FAILS An effort to recall ARRL Vermont Section Manager Justin Barton, WA1ITZ turns instead into a vote of confidence. Barton was re-elected in May, defeating Ronni Stern, KA1NRR by a vote of 234 to 105. The recall petition was submitted last October charging possible irregularities in the voting process. Recall ballots were counted January 7th by ARRL staff members under the watchful eyes of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. Also present was New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI. The vote on whether or not to recall Barton was 135 "yes" votes and 257 "no" votes. This making for a clear victory for WA1ITZ and proof that voting patterns have defiantly shifted in the Vermont ARRL Section. (Via This Week in A/R) (***** PAST ARRL PRESIDENT CARL L. SMITH, W0BWJ, SK Noted aviator and past ARRL President Capt. Carl L. Smith, W0BWJ has died. A career pilot for Western Airlines, Smith captured front page headlines and worldwide acclaim in the 1970's when he safely landed a fully loaded Boeing 707 passenger jet with a jammed nose gear on a foamed runway at Honolulu International Airport. Nobody was hurt, and, as Capt. Smith often commented, he barely scratched the paint off the nose of the big jet. Ironically, W0BWJ flew the very same aircraft on his last scheduled trip for Western before his retirement. Carl Smith's contributions to the Amateur Radio spanned four decades. They started when he was still flying For Western. He volunteered his spare time to serve as Colorado Section Communications Manager and did so starting in 1955. >From there, his roles kept on growing. He served as Rocky Mountain Division Vice Director and then Director before being elected an ARRL Vice President. During his tenure in this office he served on the Leagues' WRC' 79 Committee attending. He is credited with spearheading much of the work that lead to hams gaining three new bands at 10, 18 and 24 MHz at that 1979 international communications gathering. Smith moved up to First Vice President, where, under its constitution then in force, automatically made him Vice President of the International Amateur Radio Union. In November 1983 W0BWJ was First Vice President when then President Victor C. Clark, W4KFC, unexpectedly died in office. Smith succeeded Clark as President and served in that office until March of 1984. Capt. Carl L. Smith was 78 and had been in poor health for several years. He passed away in Colorado on January 9th. A memorial service was held in Denver on Sunday January 12th. (Via ARRL, Newsline) (***** DX-VK0 In DX, a strike in France delayed the departure of the Heard Island VK0IR DXpedition team from Reunion Island. The group had been ready to set sail January 3rd but was delayed until January 5th. They headed directly to Heard Island without making a planned stop on Crozet. Also, CBS News reports that British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has given up his attempt to walk across Antarctica. This, after completing about a quarter of the trip. Fiennes is reported to be suffering from kidney stones and requires medical care. Morag Howell, GM0MUV, served as the Antarctic base leader. She was active as VP8CME from Antarctica. The walk was to raise money for cancer research. (Via ARRL, SCDX, OPDX, others) (***** CALLSIGN - CALLSIGN Finally, what's in a callsign? In ham radio it could be a licensees entire persona. Literally the essence of his or her being. And that may be the who reason that the Vanity Call Sign program had to come into being. The FCC's Vanity Callsign Program is causing many changes in what you are hearing these days as in "I know the voice, but the call doesn't ring a bell". A friend of mine applied for a 1 by 2 call under the program and after doing some research found out that he is probably the first individual ever to hold it. The call was issued to a club in the east in the early '30s. And when the license expired, the call was not renewed, and apparently never reissued. Under the rules, clubs can get calls that has special significance to the group. The call of the founder of Collins Radio was recently reissued to the Collins Collector Group. And now W8CYE is back on the air. That call was held by Robert M. Drake founder of the R.L. Drake Company, of C Line and L4B fame. The Drake Amateur Radio Club call under Gate 2 of the Vanity Callsign Program. And the Drake Contest Group received the call K8UU. And in case you have not yet noticed, some of us here at Newsline have new vanity calls as well. (Via KA8OQF) (***** With thanks to W5YI, The ARRL Letter, and the FCC that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at: Newsline P.O.Box 660937 Arcadia, California 91066 For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF at our editors desk, we at Newsline say 73 and we thank you for listening. (* * * * Newline is copyright 1997 & all rights are reserved. * * * *