From Newsgroup: alt.ham-radio.ssb

Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1400 ­ June 11, 2004


The following is an advisory and not necessarily for air. Ladies and gentlemen, Amateur Radio Newslines' Support Fund Administrator,
Andy
Jarema, N6TCQ:


--


This is Andy Jarema, N6TCQ, Newsline Support Fund Administrator,
getting caught up with our supporters. In the month of August of
last year we heard from The Reading, PA Radio Club, W3BN; Joseph
Bartzi, Jr., KC8DKF of Columbus, OH; The North Hills Radio Club in
Sacramento, CA; monthly contributor William Walters, WA2IBM, of San
Jose and monthly contributor Scott Hensley of the Area Communications
Team, also in San Jose


Thank you to everyone, and we promise to do our best to continue to
earn your care and support. A reminder that Newsline is a federally
chartered 501c 3 California non-profit corporation. FCC regulations
prohibit us from telling you exactly how to support us, but that
information is on our website at www.arnewsline.org. That address
will be repeated at the end of the newscast.


I'm Andy Jarema, N6TCQ.


--


Thank you Andy. Now, Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1400 with
a release date of Friday, June 11 2004 follows in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T.


Australia to make big changes in its Amateur Radio service, Greece
will welcome hams at the 2004 Summer Olympics and Amateur Radio
Newsline celebrates 1400 weeks of service to the world-wide ham radio community. It all comes your way, right now!


(Billboard Cart Here)

**


RESTRUCTURING: BIG CHANGES DOWN-UNDER


Big changes are coming to ham radio down-under. This, as Australia
announces some sweeping changes that are about to take place in that
nations Amateur Radio service. Owen Duffy reports:


--



The ACA has released their report entitled "Outcomes of the Review of
Amateur Service Regulation". The report contains the ACA's intended
changes to the Amateur service following stakeholder response to the
recent discussion paper entitled "A Review of Amateur Service
Regulation."


The key changes are removal of the Morse qualification requirements
for all grades of amateur radio license; introduction of a new entry
level license (the Foundation License) along the lines of the UK
Foundation License, although it will be adapted to suit Australian preferences.


A three tier licensing structure: Advanced, Standard, and Foundation; translation of Unrestricted, Limited and Intermediate licenses to
Advanced; translation of Novice and Novice Limited licenses to
Standard; a privileges package for the Standard License that is much
greater than enjoyed by Novice Licenses today.


A generous privileges package for the Foundation License allows voice
or Morse code at low power (10W PEP) using only unmodified commercial transmitting equipment on all of 80m, 40m, 15m, 10m, 2m, and most of
70cm.


Australian participation in CEPT Recommendation T/R 61-01
(reciprocal licensing) is in progress. The status-quo is essentially preserved in respect to higher operating power; interference and
interference management built on current arrangements.


Apparatus Licensing as the vehicle for licensing Australian amateur
stations (though stations licensed under CEPT Recommendation T/R 61-
01 would be class licensed). State significance of callsigns remains.


This has been Owen Duffy for the CQVK project on Q-News Australia.



--


As we go to air, no effective date for these changes to take place
has been announced by the Australian Communications Agency. (Q-News)


**


INTERNATIONAL: THE BIG DISPUTE


Two Asian Pacific nations are embroiled in a territorial dispute and
Amateur Radio appears to be caught right in the middle. Q-News
Graham Kemp, VK4BB, is in Brisbane with the details:


--


A centuries-old territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea is
again escalating with the South Koreans placing a group of amateur
radio operators on the rocky islets known in Korea as the Lonely
Islands. To the Japanese they are the Bamboo Islands.


The radio station, licensed by South Korea, was seen as a
provocation by the Japanese. Some amateur radio operators in JA are
said to have interfered with the South Korean stations transmissions.


I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of Q-News for the Amateur Radio Newsline.
--



Kemp says that hams around the world were surprised to hear about the
dispute. This is because our hobby stresses development of
technologic skill along with friendly international communications.
(Q-News)


**


RESCUE RADIO: THE NEBRASKA TORNADO AFTERMATH


Back on this side of the Pacific Amateur Radio operators were on duty
aiding tornado-stricken communities in Nebraska and elsewhere in the
Midwest. Norm Seeley, KI7UP, picks up the story from here:


--


As we reported last week, a May 22nd tornado virtually destroyed most structures in the small town of Hallam, Nebraska. Hallam is located
some 20 miles south of Lincoln and one death there was attributed to
the storm.


During and after the tornado ham radio was an important part of the
overall emergency service effort. The ARRL Letter quotes Nebraska
Section Emergency Coordinator Reynolds Davis, K-zero-G-N-D, as
saying that Lancaster County ARES and SKYWARN spotters were
activated that evening in response to a report of an approaching
front. Within a half-hour, W0NWS at the National Weather Service
office was receiving tornado damage reports via the Lincoln Amateur
Radio Club K0KKV repeater.


The storm severely damaged a high school in Norris, Nebraska, and
plucked the tower supporting the K0RPT repeater's south region
receiver from the ground. The tornado went on to demolish
additional homes to the northeast. Its path of destruction finally
ended south of the town of Bennet.


Once the SKYWARN Nets closed, the remainder of the K0RPT system was
put into service to support Red Cross communications between the
tornado scene, the chapter house and a shelter set up in a Lincoln
high school for residents displaced by the storm. Two ARES nets were activated May 23rd to coordinate damage survey and assessment. They
logged reports via K0EOC at the Lancaster County Emergency Operations
Center.


For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Norm Seeley, KI7UP


--


Amateur Radio communications support continued for several days.
(ARRL)


**


Break 1


More news after a break for you to identify your station. Cue the
announcer, please:


"From the United States of America, we are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the
K2SBD repeater serving Long Island. New York."


(5 sec pause here)



**


WITH NEWSLINE: SEND US YOUR ID - PLEASE


The station I-D you just heard was recorded a few weeks ago at the
Dayton Hamvention. And it has lead us to an idea.


Would you like to I-D your own repeater or bulletin station here on
Amateur Radio Newsline? Well here is how you can do it.


Simply record on a cassette tape the following sentence and include
the call sign and location you want to honor.


From the United States of America, we are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the
"xxx"
repeater serving "yyy zzz." The "xxx" is the call
sign. The "yyy"
and "zzz" are the city and state.


Then, take the tape and mail it to Amateur Radio Newsline, Editorial
Office, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita, California, 91350. As
time permits, we will select an audio I-D and include it in the
newscast.


All tapes submitted become the property of the Amateur Radio Newsline
and cannot be returned.


Again, the address to make yourself a part of this bulletin service
is Amateur Radio Newsline, Editorial Office, 28197 Robin Avenue,
Santa Clarita, California, 91350. (ARNewsline(tm))


**


HAM RADIO IN SPACE: FIRST EXPEDITION 9 QSO A BIG SUCCESS


AMSAT reports that the first ARISS contact with the Expedition 9 crew
on the ISS took place on Tuesday, May 25th. During his first-ever
amateur radio contact, Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, answered 18
questions asked by the students who gathered at the Erie Planetarium
in Pennsylvania.


The contact used the facilities of telebridge station, VK5ZAI, in
Australia to assure high quality space to ground communications. It
was deemed very successful as the children applauded and thanked
KE5AIT for taking the time to join them from space. We will have
more ham radio space related news later on in this weeks newscast.
(AMSAT, ARISS)


**


WORLDBEAT: HAM RADIO AND THE 2004 SUMMER OLYMPICS

If you are planning to attend the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece, we
have some good news for you. Foreign radio amateurs from CEPT
countries or from countries with reciprocity can use the special
prefix J42004 from August 1st to November 15th without any special
license from Greek Authorities.


Not only that. Demetre Valaris, SV1UY, says all hams visiting Athens
for the Olympics is more than welcome to give a shout on 145.425 MHz
with a 88.5HZ access tone. Demetre says that this is so visitors can
hook up with Greek hams and share hospitality.


What about visiting hams from non CEPT nations? They will have to
contact Greek telecommunications regulators for special permission to
operate. (Via E-Mail)


**


RADIO RESEARCH: MCRN TO TEST RADIATION ANGLES


The Marconi Radio Club of Newfoundland station VO1MRC will be
conducting an antenna comparison experiment on the 19th and 20th of
June and you are invited to take part. Amateur Radio Newsline's
Bruce Tennant, K6PW, has more:


--


Each day during the experiment from 0000 to 2400 UTC station VO1MRC
will operate a CW beacon on 5269.5 kilohertz. Its purpose will be to determine the relative performance of high and low radiation angles.
The antenna in use will be identified by a code in each transmission.


VO1MRC will also be open briefly for 2 way contacts with stations
authorized to transmit on 60 meters starting 0000 UTC each of these
days and will operate simplex on 5260.5 kilohertz CW. Following this
it will transmit on 5327.5 kilohertz upper sideband and receive
5346.5 kilohertz upper sideband and 3807.5 kilohertz on lower
sideband.


The experiment was proposed by Marconi Radio Club of Newfoundland and
is endorsed by Radio Amateurs of Canada. Its operated under an
authorization issued by Industry Canada which is that nations telecommunicastions regulatory body.


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


--


For further information, please check the Marconi Radio Club of
Newfoundland web site. That U-R-L is http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~jcraig/5megex.html (RAC)


**


ENFORCEMENT: TO MUCH RF


The licensee of FM station KWNZ, located in Carson City, Nevada, has
been fined $10,000 by the FCC. This, for creating ground-level
radiation in excess of the permissible public exposure level at
KWNZ's McClellan Peak transmitter site.


The CGC Communicator says that the various excuses offered by the
licensee were not impressive. For example, KWNZ contended that there
was no evidence whatsoever of public use of the particularized ten
square foot area where the station exceeded the RFR permitted
radiation limits.


According to the FCC, it is not necessary to establish actual public
use of the particular unfenced and unmarked]area where excessive
power density occurs. The regulatory agency says that public use of
an area nearby is sufficient.


(DO NOT READ: More is on-line at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-1533A1.doc
(CGC)


**


ENFORCEMENT: AMATEUR RADIO ACTIONS


Now with more enforcement news here's the FCC's Daryl
Duckworth, NN0W:


--


Audio report only. Hear it on this weeks newscast at http://www.arnewsline.org
--


More on these issues as the FCC releases follow-up information. (FCC,
RAIN)


**


BEST PRACTICES: EMERGENCY READINESS GUIDE FOR LOCAL MEDIA


The FCC's Media Security and Reliability Council has published a new
booklet titled the "Readiness Guide for Local Media on How to Prepare
for Emergencies." This colorful pamphlet is good for a quick
overview of what the media should do in times of emergencies. Its
available on the web in both Mocrosoft Word and PDF format. The PDF
version is at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC- 244522A1.pdf. Download the following doc version at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-244391A1.doc.
Finally, the generic website for the Media Security and Reliability
Council is http://www.fcc.gov/MSRC/. (CGC)


**


ON THE AIR: THE COLLINS COLLECTORS NETS


And if you own vintage ham gear, you might want to become a member of
the Collins Collectors Association and join one of their monthly
nets. The nets are held the first Wednesday of the month on 3.888
MHz beginning at 7:30 PM in the Eastern time zone and 8 PM in the
Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.


These nets draw hundreds of vintage stations from across the country
and are anchored by a "tall ship" AM station in each time zone and
you do not need to operate Collins gear to take part. For more
information. just tune in. Comments go by e-mail to wa9vrh@mtco.com
(Via e-mail)


**


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)


**


CHANGING OF THE GUARD: LLOYD "SIG" SIGMON W6LQ - S.K.


A ham radio operator who developed a public warning scheme that
eventually carried his name, has died. This, with word that 95 year
old Lloyd Sigmon, W6LQ, became a silent key on Wednesday, June 2nd,
following a long illness.


Known to his ham radio buddies as Sig, in 1955 W6LQ perfected a
method that allowed the Los Angeles Police Department to issue
emergency warnings over local radio stations. At the time Sigmon was
an executive with radio station KMPC and wanted to boost station
ratings by providing traffic information.


Then Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker permitted use of
Sigmon's device but only on the condition that it be made
available
to any radio station that wanted to use it. He also is dubbed the
bulletins as SigAlerts in honor of W6LQ.


The first SigAlert was broadcast on Sept. 5, 1955. It was carried by
six radio stations and urged medical personnel to respond to a train derailment outside Los Angeles Union Station. The California Highway
Patrol later took over freeway traffic warnings from the Los Angeles
Police Department and handles SigAlerts, which now are computerized.


Lloyd Sigmon, W6LQ, was born in 1909 in Stigler, Oklahoma. He was
fascinated by electronics and received his first Amateur Radio
license at age 14. He died at Green County Assisted Living Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where he had been residing the past four
years. (Published news stories)


**


RADIOS LEGACY: THE HISTORIC KGFJ 1230 KHZ TRANSMITTER SITE HAS BEEN
SHUT DOWN


The CGC Communicator reports the passing of a different sort. This
with the announcement that on May 24th a historic AM broadcast
transmitting site was turned off after 80 years of service.


In 1924, radio station KGFJ started broadcasting from the Odd Fellows
Lodge Building on Oak Street near downtown Los Angeles. In more
recent years, the station call sign was changed its call letters to
KYPA.


Shortly after 4 PM on May 24th, Marvin Collins, W6OQI, turned on the
new 1230 kHz transmitter. Its signal is diplexed into a tower at the
KBLA 1580 kHz transmitter site.


Collins says that the old KGFJ "flat top" antenna had been in
continuous use by since 1924. He adds that the old antenna may well
have been the last full-time use of a flat top antenna anywhere in
the country.


Marv took photos of the old KGFJ site and the new diplexed setup at
KBLA, visit Marvin's web page at http://earthsignals.com/Collins/ and
scroll to "KGFJ 1230." You can write to Marv at KFIam640@aol.com

(CGC)


**


HAM RADIO IN SPACE: BIG LAUNCH DOLLARS RAISED AT DAYTON


AMSAT says that its Launch Fund campaign now has $93,0000 in it.
This, thanks to donations received at the recent Dayton Hamvention
including one anonymous donor who matched every dollar collected with
another one.


AMSAT North America President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, says that now
is the time to make a final push to reach $110,000 goal. He adds
four words that seem to come right out of the Mel Brooks musical the Producers. The four words are - "we can do it." And
Haighton is
confident that they will.


More about the fund and ham radio space exploration is on-line at www.amsat.org. (AMSAT-NA)


**


HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ECHO NEAR COMPLETION


And some more good news from on the ham radio satellite scene. It
comes from Jim White, WD0E, who has been testing and performing final integration of the ECHO ham-sat.


White says that as far as he can tell the ECHO team is on track and
the new satellite is looking good. He says that there are a few
minor items have to be completed before the bird is sent to the
Kazakhstan launch site. White says that he is confident that it will
be 100% by the time it gets there for the launch. (AMSAT-NA)


**


WORLDBEAT: HFRADIO.NET TAKES LIGHTNING HIT


Due to a system failure caused by a recent lightning strike, the H-F-
RADIO dot NET Canadian Amateur Radio Bulletin service has lost its
database of subscribers. In order to rebuild it and for subscribers
to continue receiving those weekly bulletins, hams across Canada are
asked to send an e-mail to webmaster@hfradio.net with the
word "subscribe" in the subject line. (RAC)


**


DX


IN DX, K8AQM, reports that his trip to Samoa will take place between
July 7th to the 21st. While there he will operate as 5W0TR on 160
through 10 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK. Also, look for him as
KH6BB from Hawaii July 5th and 6th and 22nd through he 24th. QSLs go
via K-8-A-A as his Callbook address.


And members of the United Kingdoms Wrexham and District Amateur Radio
Society will be on from the Isle of Man from September 1st to the
8th. Station location will be at the discontinued Coast Guard
lookout tower at Scarlett Point. Activity will be on all High
Frequency bands plus 50 MHz, 70MHz, 144MHz and 432 MHz, at full UK
power on CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK and SSTV. More information is on-line at www.gb4iom.co.uk (Various DX sources)


**


THAT FINAL ITEM: CELEBRATING NEWSCAST 1400


And finally this week its time for a bit of a celebration here at
Amateur Radio Newsline. That's because this newscast marks 1,400
consecutive weeks that we have been bringing you news from the worlds
of Amateur Radio and personal communications. With some thoughts on
this milestone, here's our producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF:


--


If you get out your calculator and do the math, you will find that
1400 weeks comes out to be 26 point 923 years. Close enough in our
book to say 27. And in ham radio news, I guess we can say that's
a
pretty long time.


Back when we still edited on tape I used to wonder how many splices
that we made in a year. One day I sat down and figured out that
there were about 30 in an average newscast. That was 120 a month or
1440 a year and an awful lot of Scotch splicing tape. Had we stayed
on tape it would mean that we would have cut into a piece of audio
tape 38,880 times as of today.


But we stopped putting the newscast together using tape almost 4
years ago. Now its done in the digital world using computers and
programs like Goldwave and Cool Edit pro. Becoming part of the
digital age early on is something we are kind of proud of. Being on
your favorite repeater for the past 27 years and never missing a
deadline is another.


As we enter year 27 and begin rolling on toward year 28, we pause and
renew our simple pledge to you. The promise we made many years ago
and which continues to guide our very being. Amateur Radio Newsline
will be here as long as you want us and as long as you support us.
We exist to serve you and we all consider it an honor to do so.


Speaking for all of the volunteers who make up the world-wide Amateur
Radio Newsline team, I say ­ "thank you." Thank you for
sharing your
lives with us through the magic of Amateur Radio. Thank you for
caring about us through your ongoing support. Most of all, we thank
you for being a part of what we like to call the Amateur Radio
Newsline family.


To paraphrase a line from the show Chicago. "We simply could not
do
it alone."


Again, we thank you.


I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF.


Jim.


--


As one of the anchors who has been here almost from the start, I add
my thank-you's as well.


**


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.


A reminder that the nominating period for the 2004 Amateur Radio
Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award is now on. This program is open
to any FCC licensed young radio amateur age 18 or younger residing in
the contiguous 48 states and who has made a significant contribution
to the community, the nation or ham radio though the United States
Amateur Radio Service.


More information and a downloadable on-line nominating form is at our
website. That's in cyberspace at www.arnewsline.org. The cutoff
for
nominations this year is midnight on June 30th.


For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm
Jim
Davis, W2JKD, saying 73 and we thank you for listening." Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.









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