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 #889 - POSTED 08/27/94 (***************************************************************) (* *) (* * * ***** * * **** * ***** * * ***** *) (* ** * * * * * * * ** * * *) (* * * * *** * ** * *** * * * * * *** *) (* * ** * * ** * * * * * ** * *) (* * * ***** * * **** ***** ***** * * ***** *) (* *) (* **** * **** ***** *** *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* **** ***** * * * * * *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* * * * * **** ***** *** *) (* *) (***************************************************************) 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)...... 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In the rec.radio.info newsgroup 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!!! (**************************************************************** [889] Newsline report number 889 for release on Friday, August 26 1994 to follow. The following is a QST The FCC issues a Notice of Apparent Liability to a repeater owner failed to take his machine off the air after it's coordination is canceled. In taking the action the commission may have codified the right of coordinators to set and enforce rules governing relay operations nationwide. Also, the Foundation for Amateur Radio hands out fifty scholarships and more on the New Zealand group proposing worldwide no-code licensing. These stories and more on Newsline report number 889 coming your way right now! (***** NAL = COORDINATION RECOGNIZED A Notice of Apparent Liability issued to a Puerto Rico ham whose repeater is alleged to have caused interference to other Amateur Radio operations has set the stage to give repeater frequency coordinators legal recognition of their activities. That is, if the coordinator is one that is recognized by the American Radio Relay League. Heres the story. According to an FCC press release, on April 13th, its San Juan, Puerto Rico office issued a Notice of Apparent Liability to Monetary Forfeiture in the amount of $7000 against Juan Anthony Rodriguez. Rodriguez who holds the call sign NP4VG was cited for his alleged violation of Section 97.101, sub-part D of the Amateur Service Rules. This is the section that deals with willful interference by one radio amateur to another, and the FCC says that Rodriguez failure to remove his repeater when told to do so by the local frequency coordinator and the FCC constitutes such a violation. The FCC says that back on March 25th, inspectors from its San Juan office were called out to investigate repeated interference complaints on the frequency of 145.350 MHz. They used the usual close-in direction finding techniques to trace the interference to a home in Canovanas, Puerto Rico. The transmitter allegedly causing the interference had a Morse code identifier signing NP4VG. The FCC says that it took the action in an attempt to solve a long standing dispute between the license holders of amateur repeater stations WP4CNU and NP4VG. When the interference complaints began to reach the FCC, both parties were reminded of the Commission rules as outlined in the Report and Order on Private Radio Docket 85-22. Local FCC officials even went so far as to meet individually with the trustees of both systems in an attempt to reach a solution to the problem. Ultimately, they returned the case to the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Volunteer Frequency Coordinators Incorporated. This the FCC says this is the local organization that is recognized by both the areas repeater trustees and the American Radio Relay League as the frequency coordinator of choice for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Note carefully the wording because this is where any precedent has been set. The key words here are "Recognized by both the area's repeater trustees and the American Radio Relay League." Continuing with the story. Based on information provided to the Commission by the coordination council the FCC determined that Rodriguez' repeater had been previously decoordinated. A part of the decoordination process was for NP4VG to remove his repeater from service and take it off the air. In other words, the FCC says that by loosing its coordination, the NP4VG repeater was operating contrary to the will of the amateurs of the region as represented by the decision of the ARRL recognized frequency coordinator. The Commission notes that Rodriguez failed to stop operations even after receipt of an order from their San Juan office. As a result it found that Juan Anthony Rodriguez, NP4VG to be -- and we quote -- willfully and maliciously causing interference to ongoing amateur communications -- end quote. In taking this action against NP4VG, the FCC not just given validity to the existence and purpose of voluntary frequency coordinators in Amateur Radio. It has gone the one step further that coordinators have been seeking for years. It has codified their ability to make decisions concerning who may and may not have a repeater on the air. It has given them the right to order a repeater off the air. It has also said that it will back up the decisions of ham radio frequency coordinators with the power of federal law, but only for coordinators who are recognized by the American Radio Relay League. The full text of this FCC press release appears in the current issue of the ARRL Field Forum newsletter. At airtime, it's not known if Rodriguez has filed an appeal. (***** TASMA FEE A new policy of Southern California's two meter frequency coordinator will add ten dollars a year to the cost of maintaining a two meter repeater. The Two Meter Area Spectrum Management Association of Southern California has voted to impose what it terms as an annual "Database Maintenance Fee" on every repeater now coordinated by the group. Note that this is not being billed as a coordination fee, but none the less, if a system fails to pay, its coordination could be canceled and its owner asked to remove his repeater from the air. Again the idea here is not to collect the fee as much as it is to insure that every available kilohertz of two meter relay spectrum is used to maximum efficiency. TASMA seems to feel that the owners of non existent or paper repeaters will not want to cough up money just to keep a two meter channel pair in reserve. Whether the organization is right or wrong on this one, remains to be seen. The big question is whether or not TASMA can force the issue of collection since the idea of a database fee is not sitting well with many long time repeater owners. Numerous packet radio bulletins have been posted which are highly critical of the TASMA database maintenance fee. Some flatly say that it should be ignored. But there is the action just reported having taken place in Puerto Rico. It seems to give repeater coordinators sweeping new powers. This considered, the TASMA database fee would seem to bring with it almost the power of collection of federal law. (***** PIRATE RADIO AND THE FCC A tip from a ham radio operator has helped nab another unlicensed broadcast operation. Yet another self professed pirate mini broadcaster has been put off the air, and this time its a ham that made the enforcement action possible. It happened in Dallas, Texas after the FCC's regional office received a complaint from an amateur radio operator complaining of a an unlicensed AM radio station in the area identifying itself as "Hard Rock 1620." FCC investigators traced the illegal broadcasts more than ten miles. They finally arrived at the residence of the operator in Rowlette, Texas. They say that the pirate Disk Jockey was using a transmitter that was FCC approved for Part 73, but that he held no station license. He also was using the power lines as his antenna system to help conceal his operation. Further investigation revealed that the operator was the same person that they had closed down in 1991 for similar pirate radio operation. The operator still owes $600 on his $1,200 fine from 1991. Guess what. He is going to owe a lot more in a few weeks after his next fine arrives in the mail. (***** FAR SCHOLARSHIPS The Maryland-based foundation for Amateur Radio has announced the 1994 winners of the 50 college scholarships that it administers. The top, $2,000 winner Craig A. Gullickson, KC6CEX. Craig is 20 years old, holds an Extra class license and attends Cal Poly in San Louis Obispo, California. He says that the Foundation administered Scholarships are important to all young people seeking a high education: "It gives them a opportunity to show what they have done, be competitive as to working hard and being able to actually be recognized and help out a little bit in their studies. Kind of giving them something for showing towards the future that they have something to work for." Craig Gullickson, KC6CEX. Another 20 student hams received scholarships of $1,000 or more. These grants are open to all radio amateurs meeting the qualifications and residence requirements of the various sponsors. The non-profit Foundation represents more than 50 clubs in Maryland, northern Virginia, and the District of Columbia. For more information and application forms for 1995 scholarships contact the Foundation for Amateur Radio, 6903 Rhode Island Avenue, College Park, Maryland 20740. (***** N0ONP - A PROFILE OF A SCHOLARSHIP WINNER As we said, the Foundation for Amateur Radio oversees a large number of educational endowment programs every year. Awarded the YLRL International Scholarship for 1994 is 17 year old Stefnee Lindberg, N0ONP, of Kansas City, Missouri. Stefnee told Newsline that getting this monetary grant is very important to her because it means she can devote all of her attention to her studies: "It will allow me more time to concentrate on the work at hand, rather than trying to concentrate on a job at the same time." Stefnee Lindberg, N0ONP. Stefnee, who was also awarded a $2,000 scholarship earlier this year by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association will be entering the University of Missouri at Columbia this fall. She plans to major in computer engineering. N0ONP says even that was a decision influenced by Amateur Radio: "I've done a little work with packet and did just a lot of work with my ham friends and have seen what it can do. Like in the flood for example we used packet to communicate between shelters in the Salvation Army. I saw the benefits of it there, and how important it is in todays world and how much easier it make things." Lindberg, N0ONP. By the way, Stefnee Lindberg, N0ONP has been a ham for about three years. She holds an Advanced class license. (***** ORACLE FOLLOW-UP Now a follow-up to our story last week on the newly formed Organization Requesting Alternatives by Code Free Examinations -- ORACLE. That item seems to have generated more interest than anything since the FCC enacted the no-code Technician class ticket. For those of you who may have missed last weeks newscast, ORACLE is a New Zealand based international lobbying effort aimed at making testing for knowledge of Morse Code an option in international radio law, rather than it being a rule. Many of the messages were the anticipated "Morse Code Forever" calls. Those were expected. What truly amazed us was the number of hams wanting to know more about how a group of six people in the South Pacific might be able to convince telecommunications administrations worldwide to do away with the Morse Code requirement for ham radio licensing. The answer to that came in an Internet message to us from ORACLE founder Bob Vernall, ZL2CA. According to Vernall, the idea is for a separate branch of ORACLE to form as an incorporated society in each country. This gives each organization an official status with each nation. ZL2CA adds that the New Zealand founding branch of ORACLE will be happy to assist groups in other countries to start up. It's also willing to provide international co-ordination for their efforts. For those of you who asked that we give the organizations address again, its simply ORACLE, 90 Campbell Street, Karon, Wellington, New Zealand. Also, at airtime we have no knowledge of any ORACLE affiliate group operating in Canada or the United States. (***** DX In DX, word that VE3MJQ has arrived in Kigali, Rwanda for a six month stay. He hopes to receive a callsign soon and plans to operate mostly SSB. QSL him via VE2PR. Also listen for PA3DZN who is in Kigali on UN related business. He should be on as we go to air. (***** RADIO MUSEUM If you talk on HF or your local repeater, if you use a cellular phone, or if you just enjoy listening to your favorite songs on the broadcast radio, you're among the millions of people benefiting from the technology of radio communications. Now, the earliest years of radio broadcasting are getting special, permanent recognition. On July 23rd, the Alabama Historical Radio Society opened that state's first radio museum. The museum's opening is one man's dream come true. "These are some of the pioneers in the industry here. You probably recognize the name of Atwater Kent, and this is Major Armstrong. Of coarse this is Marconi. And you will find Samuel B. Morse over on this side here." Tour guide of new Radio Museum. Take a walk through the Don Kresge Radio Museum and you travel back to the beginning of radio broadcasting. From the people to the earliest radio receivers. On one shelf a 1927 Superflex. Nearby is a 1942 Philco carefully restored by Society members. The museum is full of names many hams will recognize: Hallicrafters, Transoceanic and Zenith. One name with special significance here is Don Kresge, a society member who first started talking about a museum five years ago. Robert Frye is President of the Alabama Historical Radio Society. "Don was in radio and helped build the FM radio with Major Armstrong and he was an engineer for over 62 years and he had many, many radios that he wanted to give a place to. And at that time we didn't have it. Don pasted last year and as you can see today we have that dream for him fulfilled." Frye. Society members believe that radio's historical importance is in danger of becoming lost in today's high-tech world. The Radio Museum recognizes the tremendous contributions radio has made since it's start, contributions that are no less important today. If you'd like to visit the Don Kresge Radio Museum, the Fairfield Civic Center is about a 20 minute drive from downtown Birmingham. The Museum is open weekdays. (***** And for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at: NEWSLINE P.O. Box 463 Pasadena, California 91102 (* * * Newsline Copyright 1994 all rights are reserved. * * *