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 #892 - POSTED 09/17/94 (***************************************************************) (* *) (* * * ***** * * **** * ***** * * ***** *) (* ** * * * * * * * ** * * *) (* * * * *** * ** * *** * * * * * *** *) (* * ** * * ** * * * * * ** * *) (* * * ***** * * **** ***** ***** * * ***** *) (* *) (* **** * **** ***** *** *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* **** ***** * * * * * *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* * * * * **** ***** *** *) (* *) (***************************************************************) 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 CompuServe/HamNet...................... Coming Soon! For questions or comments about the text version, contact me at D.CARY@GENIE.GEIS.COM on the Internet. 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!!! (**************************************************************** [892] (* * * * 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 for transmission over * (* amateur radio broadcast. This is just a reminder that the * (* address for the Newsline Support Fund is Newsline, in care * (* of Randy Hammock, KC6HUR, Post Office Box 463, Pasadena, * (* California 91102. Again, and as always, we thank you. That * (* ends the closed circuit with Newsline report number 892 for * (* release on Friday, September 16, 1994 to follow. * (* * (* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The following is a QST The International Amateur Radio Union meets in Singapore and the FCC helps investigate a far flung radio hoax. These stories and more on Newsline report number 892 coming your way right now! (***** IARU An important meeting of Region 3 of the International Amateur Radio Union has taken place in Singapore. A number of the decisions made there will definitely impact on the way that Amateur Radio is perceived at the upcoming World Radiocommunications Conferences. The 9th Conference of the IARU Region 3 was held in Singapore from the 5th to the 9th of September. Key items supported by the conference included that the conference recognized the excellent work of JARL, Paul Rinaldo (W4RI), in the working group ITU TG8/2 dealing with wind profiler radar. The conference confirmed support for the continuation of the requirement contained in the ITU regulations for competency in morse code to be first demonstrated before an operator in the amateur service is licensed to use the allocated HF bands. Region 3 recognized the work of IPHA, the information program for handicapped radio amateurs. And commended it to member societies. Amateur radio direction finding and rules for IARU Region 3 ARDF Championships were approved. IARU Region 3 International Class Referees were also appointed. The next ARDF Championship in Region 3, that will be hosted by the Wireless Institute of Australia in Queensland. To Beacons, and the conference approved the international beacon project. Region 3 is to establish timeshare beacons. The generous offer of the JARL to fund the purchase of beacon in Sri Lanka was acknowledged. Region 3's bandplan for 144 Mhz has had the EME segment extended. It is now aligned with the plan of Region 1. Many papers were presented to the conference relating to the improper use of amateur bands and the IARU monitoring service. The conference encouraged all societies to be active in the monitoring service. Finally in this summary of key points of the conference, Region 3 conference endorsed the Phase 3D satellite project and societies have agreed to assist with funding to the one or more organizations involved in the realization of the project. For those not aware, decisions made in any IARU region eventually impact on amateur radio operations worldwide. For that reason it is important to keep an eye on all of the Union's gatherings. We will have more on this IARU conference next week. (***** SOUTH PACIFIC RADIO HOAX The Boston FCC Office reports that it has helped to bust an apparent South Pacific radio distress hoax. It started when the office received a call from the Coast Guard reporting they has been alerted to a distress call from a woman saying she was on a boat off the Massachusetts coast and in an emergency situation. The woman claimed that her husband, a diabetic, was seriously ill and needed emergency medical attention. She also claimed that her vessel's power supply was dead and she was communicating via cellular radio. The Coast Guard launched a 14,000 square mile search without success. But the Engineer In Charge of the Boston FCC Office, who helps coordinate the Coast Guard District Hoax Enforcement Action Team, suspected that the call was a phony. This, because she could not accurately describe her location, sea conditions and other details to the Coast Guard. Working with local cellular companies, he determined that the call was not being placed locally. Instead it was actually coming from Avalon Beach, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Contacts will be made via the U.S. Embassy and prosecution by Australian authorities is expected. (***** FCC TO MOVE The FCC's Washington D.C. headquarters will be relocating to southwest Washington D.C. after all. An agreement between the U.S. government's General Services Administration and an office complex called "The Portals" has been reinstated by an appeals court. The justices ruled that the GSA had improperly terminated an agreement to lease space in 1991 after the FCC decided it did not want to make the move. The commission argued that the leased space was inadequate for future needs and that it did not want to leave the downtown Washington area which they say is more conducive to FCC operations. As a result of the court decision, the GSA has re-signed the lease with "The Portals" and plans to move the FCC to the new location before the end of the century. (***** SAREX - STS-64 FLIES On the 9th of September, the Space Ship Discovery was launched into a high inclination orbit that flew it over most of the populated places on Earth. It's prime objective was to measure the atmosphere, emitting laser energy and measuring the return signals that bounced back. The astronauts also deployed and retrieved a free flying astronomical observer, took an untethered space walk and conducted robotic processing of semi conductor materials. Ham radio operators cheered the success of another shuttle amateur radio station, the 15th sent into orbit by the SAREX Program. Mission Commander Dick Richards, KB5SIW checked out the equipment during an Australian pass with Graham Ratcliffe, VK5AGR. Then Richards and Blaine Hammond, the pilot, KC5HBS, and Doctor Jerry Linenger, KC5HBR, a Mission Specialist, went on to rack up ten of the most successful school contacts ever. Several of the school groups had horizon to horizon QSO's with the astronauts, asking and getting answers to dozens of questions. Most of the school were stateside, but one of them, the Middletown Grange School, was in Christchurch, New Zealand, where some 60 pupils, teachers and parents chatted with Jerry Linenger, who described his life aboard the Discovery. The contact was covered by all the New Zealand National Television Services and was retransmitted throughout the country on amateur repeaters. The young astronauts association, in Spokane, Washington, also televised their contact with the space ship, from the Step/Star Schools to a C Band satellite system that sent coverage to schools all over the United States. Added to the school contacts, the crew of STS-64 found time for dozens of general QSO's with hams all over the world, their high orbit giving them strong signals almost everywhere. Next up for SAREX? STS-67, Now scheduled in January. A 14 day mission aboard the Space Ship Endeavour with Steve Oswald, KB5YSR, the Commander, and Ron Parise, WA4SIR, the Payload Specialist making his second SAREX flight. (***** SPACE HAM EXPERIMENT A ham radio operator will soon have an experiment flying on a space shuttle mission. Dalina Steiner, N2MIA is a researcher at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Her project is a study is a cartilage mineralizing culture system. N2MIA says that this is very important in the study of osteoporosis and other bone related diseases and the effects of new medications on them. As we go to air Dalina Steiner is at Cape Canaveral for a run through of the project with the NASA launch team. She says she hopes the experiment will fly before years end. (***** TASMA CANCELS DATABASE FEE Southern California's Two Meter Area Spectrum Management Association now says its ten dollar a year database management fee is not mandatory. Repeater owners in the area were upset after receiving notification that read in part -- and we quote -- "TASMA has adopted a resolution to assess each coordinated repeater ten dollars per year. The assessment will be due on July 1st of each year and will be held to be delinquent if not paid by September 31st of each year, commencing with September 31, 1994." -- end quote --. Needless to say this announcement was not very popular. Now, TASMA has recanted it stating that the $10 fee is optional, and will be used only to purchase equipment for monitoring the band. However, all two meter repeaters will still be required to submit updated information on their current status or risk decoordination. (***** TSARC LIVES! Like the fabled Phoenix, a well known repeater coordination council serving the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area has again risen from its own ashes. An article appearing in September 1994 issue of the BEAR Fax, that's the newsletter of the ABC Broadcast Employees Amateur Radio Society in New York, says that Tri State Amateur Repeater Council (T-SARC) was on the verge of extinction when salvation arrived. According to the article, at the last moment a number of hams stepped up to take on the time consuming, complex and thankless job of coordinating the estimated 2200 repeaters operating in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area. Elected as the new T-SARC President is Tom Raffaelli, WB2NHC of Thornwood, NY. Tom is joined by Vice President Don Venberg, W2GEZ of Eatontown, NJ. Eddie Velasquez, KD2JS of Queens, NY has been chosen as recording secretary and Steve Koeper, KF2JA of Suffren, NY as corresponding secretary. Richard Sandell, WK6R of Larchmont, NY rounds out the leadership group as Treasurer. This latest incarnation of T-SARC is already hard at work trying to solve a number of regional repeater problems. It has successfully forged an agreement between the operators of two closely spaced repeaters on the frequency pair of 147.24/.84. Currently it is attempting to solve issues surrounding users of machines on 223.90 MHz and 28.68 MHz. T-SARC is also attempting to clear up a large backlog of wait-listed repeater coordination requests for the area. We know you all join in wishing T-SARC much success. (***** NEW LEADERS AT QCWA Famed radio amateur Lew Mc Coy, W1ICP has assumed the Presidency of the Quarter Century Wireless Association. Mc Coy who is currently a Contributing Editor of CQ Magazine is best known for his years of service to the American Radio Relay League. He first hired on at League headquarters in 1949 and served as Assistant Communications Manager. In 1950 he transferred to the Technical Department where he held many titles including Technical Editor of QST Magazine. W1ICP also used his writing skills as Novice Editor to assist newly licensed hams get started in the hobby. In 1988 Mc Coy was named the winner of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association's Technical Excellence Award. Serving with Mc Coy as his Vice President is Jack Kelleher W4ZC, Secretary John Swafford W4HU and Treasurer Wes Randles W4COW. The new QCWA Directors are Walt Brink W3WPY, Milt Chaffee W1EFW, John Edel K8LBZ, Gary Harrison WA0RWS, John Huntoon W1RW, Larry Shima W0PAN, Croft Taylor VE3CT, John Troster W6ISQ, Milly Wise W5OVH and Ed Yoder W3YMB. If you want to meet the new QCWA leadership team you will get your chance September 29th to October the 1st. All will be attending the 1994 QCWA National Convention in El Paso, Texas that weekend. (***** CHAVERIM SCHOLARSHIP The Chaverim of the Delaware Valley has named Stuart J. Meyers, KB8JBK of Dublin, Ohio as the recipient of the $1,000 Ed Ludin, K2UK Memorial Scholarship. Meyers is a pre-med student at Miami University. Chaverim is the Hebrew word for friend. The Chaverim of the Delaware Valley is a Philadelphia based fraternal organization of Jewish radio amateurs and their friends who support education and brotherhood through Amateur Radio. (***** MOUNT ATHOS In DX operating news, word that Mount Athos is now on RTTY. Several German operators have set up RTTY gear for Monk Apollo, SV2ASP/A. He has already been heard on the air testing the equipment. The best day to catch him is Sunday. (***** NORM CHALFIN RETIRES FROM NEWSLINE The end of September will bring with it a major change for the Newsline family. This, with the announcement that our long-time Support Fund Administrator, Norm Chalfin, K6PGX, has decided to retire. Recently our producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF had lunch with Norm at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California where K6PGX spent most of his adult career. Norm took the opportunity to reminisce on how he became involved in Newsline in the days when we were still the Westlink Radio Network and distributed mainly by mailout tape: "We sent out, I don't know how many hundreds of recordings and the upshot of it was that the mail crushed about 6 of them in 16 years. Otherwise everything seemed to go on very smoothly." Norm Chalfin, K6PGX. Dr. Chalfin's replacement is Randy Hammock, KC6HUR. Randy is also with The Jet Propulsion Labs. He was also at the luncheon and we asked him to introduce himself to you. "I was working with Norman as a contractor at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when I joined up with the radio club. Seemed like I was a regular member, attending all the board meetings, so they elected me President after just one year membership. And like a fool, I decided to go for that two years in a row. So this year, since I am no longer President of the JPL Radio Club, I figured I might as well take on some other duties elsewhere. So now here I am with Newsline." Randy Hammock, KC6HUR. What now for Dr. Norm Chalfin? He says that at age 80, its time to enjoy ham radio: I want to get all my equipment back in shape with your help and anybody elses. After that, I expect to get on the air more than I have been recently. And get my computing equipment back in shape. There will be lots to do, even for a octogenarian." Chalfin, K6PGX. It's hard to put into words the way all of us at Newsline feel toward Norm Chalfin. For the past sixteen years he has been our friend. Our confidant. Our inspiration and most important, the person who's skill in handling our finances has kept us solvent even in the worst fiscal crisis. Maybe its best to simply say "we love you Norm." No matter what you do. No matter where you go. You will always be an important part of our lives. A little flowery maybe, but these are feelings that come from the hearts of all of us on the Newsline team. (***** 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. * * *