The electronic publication of the Amateur Radio Newsline is distributed with the permission of Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, President and Editor of Newsline. The text version is edited from the original scripts and transcribed from the audio reports by Dale Cary, WD0AKO, and is first published in The Radio & Electronics Round Table on the Genie Online System. If you have any comment, suggestion, or news item you would like to submit, send them via E-Mail to 3241437@mcimail.com or B.PASTERNAK@genie.geis.com. You can contact Newsline at +1 805-296-7180. It is a combination answering and FAX machine, if you have a FAX to send, wait for the voice prompt and press your fax-send button. All other information and disclaimers are in the text header below. - - - - - NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #130 - POSTED 06/16/94 (***************************************************************) (* *) (* * * ***** * * **** * ***** * * ***** *) (* ** * * * * * * * ** * * *) (* * * * *** * ** * *** * * * * * *** *) (* * ** * * ** * * * * * ** * *) (* * * ***** * * **** ***** ***** * * ***** *) (* *) (* **** * **** ***** *** *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* **** ***** * * * * * *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* * * * * **** ***** *** *) (* *) (***************************************************************) 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. For current information updates, please call Audio Version of Newsline ========================= Los Angeles............................ (213) 462-0008 Los Angeles (Instant Update Line)...... (805) 296-2407 Seattle................................ (206) 368-3969 Seattle................................ (206) 281-8455 Tacoma................................. (206) 927-7373 Louisville............................. (502) 894-8559 Dayton................................. (513) 275-9991 Chicago................................ (708) 289-0423 New York City.......................... (718) 353-2801 Melbourne, FL.......................... (407) 259-4479 Electronic Hardcopy Version of Newsline ======================================= GEnie (RTC Bulletin Board)............. m345;1 GEnie (File Library)................... m345;3 Dallas Remote Imaging BBS (DRIG)....... (214) 492-7573 In bulletin number 36 The Midwest Connection BBS............. (701) 239-2440 In bulletin number 6 of the ham radio conference Delphi................................. In the ham radio conference Internet............................... In the rec.radio.info, rec.radio.amateur.misc and sbay.hams newsgroups. FTP: oak.oakland.edu, archive: pub/hamradio/docs/newsline Fidonet, RIME, Intellec, I-Link........ In the Ham Radio conferences on those networks For the latest breaking info call the Instant Update Line listed above. To provide information please call (805) 296-7180. This line answers automatically and will accept up to 30 minutes of material. Check with your local amateur radio club to see if NEWSLINE can be heard weekly on the air in your area. Articles may be reproduced if printed in their entirety and credit is given to AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE as being the source. For further information about the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, please write to us with an SASE at P.O. Box 463, Pasadena, CA 91102. Thank You NEWSLINE (**************************************************************** Some of the hams of NEWSLINE RADIO... WA6ITF WB6MQV WB6FDF K6DUE W6RCL N6AHU N6AWE N6TCQ K6PGX N6PNY KU8R N8DTN W9JUV KC9RP K9XI KB5KCH KC5UD KC0HF G8AUU WD0AKO DJ0QN and many others in the United States and around the globe!!! (**************************************************************** [880] Newsline report number 880 for release on Friday, June 24 1994 to follow. The following is a QST Postal authorities could be called to investigate the alleged California ham radio testing scam. Accusations are surfacing that some hams may have bought their licenses by mail! This story and more on Newsline report number 880 coming your way right now! (***** FRAUD SUSPECTED IN CAL VE TESTING SCAM Charges of mail fraud could be levied against one or more of the Volunteer Examiners and several license applicants currently under government scrutiny in the ongoing California ham radio testing fraud probe. Newsline has learned that the FCC has interviewed a number of individuals in other parts of the country whose examination paperwork seems to indicate that they came to California to be tested by several of the suspect VE teams. According to usually reliable sources, at least one applicant clams to have driven over 2000 miles round trip in one weekend, just to be tested in Los Angeles. Another was found to be a resident of a South Eastern state. Word is that the FCC does not believe that the examination sessions in question ever took place. That they were created on paper and are therefore fraudulent. And under the vigilant eye of Personal Radio Branch Chief John B. Johnston, W3BE, the commission is hard at work building evidence to make the charges stick. The June 19th edition of the Westlink Report ham radio newsletter contains what it claims are quotes from the letters sent by Johnston to those suspected of complicity. It alleges that numerous testing sessions the VE's claimed to have sponsored never actually took place. That in some sessions that were held the applicants had access to the answer key for the test being given to them and most important. Most important, the FCC says that it had its own investigator listening in on the telephone when an informant cut a deal with one of the suspect Volunteer Examiners. A cash deal to purchase a ham license without the informant having to take a test. If Johnston can prove that people purchased government licenses without having attended a test session, and if the United States Postal Service was used to convey payment, then the Postal Inspector can be brought into the case. Under his purview, charges of mail fraud can be brought against those who sold the bogus licenses and those who bought them. The bottom line is that mail fraud is a criminal offense that carries heavy fines and mandatory jail time. The governments hard nosed approach to dealing with those it suspects of wrong doing in the California VE investigation seems to indicate that the government is prepared to take these cases all the way. (***** ARRL REPLIES TO VANITY CALL SIGN PLAN The ARRL has filed reply comments in the FCC's proposal to institute a vanity call sign program as outlined in PR Docket 93-305. The League says that the vast majority of the 109 comments filed on the proposal favored it, with the major concerns being how to fairly administer it. In its reply comments the league said that the issue of cost already had been settled, in that amateurs themselves would pay for the privilege of selecting a call sign. Regarding Silent Key call signs, the League said that by giving family members and clubs the first opportunity to apply for such call signs, well known and respected amateurs' call signs could be preserved. (***** ARRL TO W5YI: NO The League says that a proposal by newsletter publisher and national VEC Fred Maia, W5YI of Dallas Texas to establish a "Vanity Call Sign Administration" program in the private sector, was not only not permitted within FCC's mandate from Congress, but would be cumbersome and bureaucratic, while adding no value for the applicant. Instead, the League urged the Commission to proceed with a Report and Order on the "vanity" call sign proposal, incorporating the minor modifications suggested in the earlier ARRL comments. (***** POWER REQUEST DENIED The FCC has affirmed the Chief, Private Radio Bureau's denial of a request by Dale Gagnon, KW1I for a waiver of the Commission's rules governing transmitter power standards in the Amateur Service. Gagnon requested permission for his amateur station to transmit at power levels greater than the 1,500 watts authorized by the Commission's rules. Gagnon requested the need for higher power in order to engage in long-distance communications. Gagnon also sought to avoid the cost of bringing his vintage transmitters into compliance. Affirming the Bureau's decision, the Commission said that Gagnon had not submitted any compelling arguments why his station should be given preferential treatment over other amateur stations operated by licensees of the same license class. The Commission said also that there is no basis for permitting Gagnon's station to use greater power than other amateur stations, and to do otherwise, would be unfair to other amateur station licensees who must comply with the power requirement. (***** THE LONG WAIT RETURNS The Amateur license application backlog is on the rise again at the FCC. The latest figures released are based on numbers that are three months old but do show a definite trend. As of Feb 1 st, there were applications 8543 were pending while on Feb 28 there were 12,868 awaiting action. This information is according to ARRL VEC Manager Bart Jahnke, KB9NM, who also says turnaround time in Gettysburg is hovering around the FCC's self imposed maximum of 90 days. (***** NEWSLINE Heres a quick update on the financial crunch facing Newsline. Dr. Norm Chalfin, K6PGX, who administers the Newsline Support Fund reports that he has received enough in the way of sponsorship so that Newsline can continue at least through the end of August, but after that the service will once again be in crisis mode. That is, looking for enough money to avoid having its telephones and electronic mail services turned off. But the good news is that Newsline will not have to go bi-weekly over the summer since enough support has come in to see the service through though the next sixty days. For information on how to help keep Newsline on the air, please talk off the air to the person running this bulletin on your repeater or net. Or you can write with a self addressed stamped envelope to Newsline in care of Dr. Norm Chalfin, K6PGX, Post Office Box 463, Pasadena, California 91102. (***** SERA TO MEET A new ham television bandplan for the south eastern region of the United States could be on its way. This, with word in the Repeater Journal that the SouthEastern Repeater Association Board of Directors will hold their annual Summer Board meeting July 23-24 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Directors and Vice Directors from each of the eight member SERA states will take up a number of band planning questions including addressing the bandplan for ATV operations in the region. Hams active and knowledgeable in the ham television mode have been invited to attend and participate in establishing a viable bandplan for the mode. Another item on the agenda will be the possible expansion of the SERA 440 MHz bandplan. The SouthEastern Repeater Association is the nations second largest "regional umbrella" coordination body overseeing Amateur Radio relay communications bandplanning through member affiliates in Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia and Georgia. (***** ATLANTIC DIVISION AWARDS The ARRL Atlantic Division "Amateur of the Year" for 1994 is Bob Bennett, W3WCQ, of Towson, Maryland. Among his many contributions to Amateur Radio, Bennett, 58, co-anchors the "Answer Man Net" on the Baltimore Amateur TV Society repeater. After serving for nearly 10 years as the Atlantic Division representative to the ARRL UHF/VHF Advisory Committee, in 1993 Bennett was named chairman of the new ARRL Spectrum Committee. The Division's Technical Achievement award was won jointly by Bill Ferguson, WA3BXW, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, and Charles "Jim" Smith, K3ATI, of Newportville, Pennsylvania. And the "Grand Ole Ham" is 94-year-old Dean Wallace, K2ANM, of Herkimer, New York. Dean was first licensed in 1919, as 8AAF. The awards were announced at the ARRL Atlantic Division Convention, held in conjunction with the Rochester (New York) Hamfest, on May 21, 1994. (***** HOLLY TO SPEAK Rain Dial-Up producer Hap Holly, KC9RP, will make a rare personal appearance on July 7th at the American Council of the Blind convention in Chicago. Holly's talk is titled "The Evolution of Amateur Radio Information services" and will be presented to the ACB's amateur radio gathering. Haps talk will run about 30 minutes, so if you plan to be in the Chicago area or are attending the week-long convention, then stop by and take a listen to what KC9RP has to say. And oh yes. The admission to Hap's talk is free. (***** FRENCH ISLANDS On the international scene the rumor mills says the French government is going to be doing a lot of electronic updating on the French islands located in the Indian Ocean this summer. As a result, it is thought that there may be a lot of amateur radio activity because of the French amateurs involved in this upgrading. (***** AUSTRIAN CALLS The Austrian Communications Authority has opened a block of special call signs for special operations there. The 26 available calls are OE-A to OE-Zed, with the number assigned depending on the station's geographic location. 14 calls will be reserved for club stations of the Austrian national association, OVSV, with the remaining 12 available for others. (***** DX - 4U1ITU KB2R, will be active from 4U1ITU in Geneva, Switzerland during the IARU HF Championship Contest on July 9 and 10 and two days before. This will be a single operator effort and the 4U1ITU station counts as a HQ multiplier for the contest. Activity will be on 80-10 meters and possibly 160 meters. The two days before the contest, Len will be active as time permits on 80-10 meters CW/SSB and on the WARC bands if antennas are available. QSL the entire operation via WA2CJT, the bureau or direct. (***** DX - MICRONESIA The DX NewsLetter reports that V63PA will stay on the island of Micronesia longer than expected. He prefers 14.150 MHz around 21:00 UTC during the weekend. QSL via G6MDM. (***** CLOCK ON HOLD Great Britain's National Physical Laboratory has issued a notice that the 60KHz frequency and time reference transmitter at Rugby, will be closed down for essential maintenance between 12:00 GMT on 4th July 1994 and 12:00 GMT 18th July 1994. G1UXP who provided this information believes that the transmitter will be operational during the night hours in this period, but it will be off-air during the hours between 08:00 GMT and 16:00 GMT daily. (***** STU MEYER W2GHK, SK Some sad news to report. Word that Stu Meyer, W2GHK, the former Chief Engineer and President of Hammerlund Radio Corporation became a silent key on Saturday evening, May 21st, of a heart attack. Among his many accomplishments was his being the driving force behind Hammarlund's "DXpedition of the Month" campaign during the 1950's and 1960's. He was a long-time member of the National Capitol DX Association, past president of NCDXA, and very active in NCDXA's DX operations of past years. W2GHK was also very active in many areas of ham radio, sponsoring one of the CQWW trophies. He will be missed by many of us in ham radio. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in his name can be made to the Radio Club of America or the QCWA. (***** BROTHER STAIR For you hams who are also shortwave listeners, this from the shortwave BBS on GEnie. A report that Brother Stair of the Overcomer Ministry has stated that he had been offered an opportunity for a 24 hour a day shortwave broadcast facility from -- and we quote -- "...from another part of the country." -- end quote. This on his program aired on shortwave station WRNO on 7355 Mhz. Brother Stair said he would not give the details after what happened with his radio ship the MV Fury. Listeners of Brother Stair will remember the boarding of the radio ship by the FCC and the confiscation of its transmitting equipment. This ended Brother Stair's planned broadcasting project off the coast of Belize. Dollars to donuts the FCC already knows more about Brother Stair's new broadcasting venture than he or the agency is letting on. Its a good bet that the regulatory agency will be watching this one real close. (***** And for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at: NEWSLINE Post Office Box 463 Pasadena, California 91102 (* * * Newsline Copyright 1994 all rights are reserved. * * *