The ARRL Letter Vol. 13, No. 20 October 26, 1994 Faster licensing: FCC sets date for electronic filing On October 24 the FCC released a 7-page Order amending its amateur rules, effective December 20, 1994, to reflect what the Commission calls "nonsubstantive procedural changes": * To permit electronically filed data from VECs (paper applications also will still be accepted); * To authorize operation as soon as the new license data appears in the amateur service licensee data base, rather than (as now) when the license document has been delivered (details of how the new licensee can determine his call sign will be announced later); * To add a new rules section, "Examinee Conduct," to emphasize that an examinee must comply with the instructions given by the administering VEs; * To treat "Technician Plus" as a license class; * And to provide for a "renewal short form," which the FCC says will be mailed to licensees in advance of their expiration date beginning sometime in 1995. The FCC added that renewal applications would be accepted no more than 90 days before the expiration date. Because of the nature of these rule amendments, there is no notice or comment period required by federal law. Again, these changes do not take effect until December 20, 1994. FCC seeks changes in two UHF bands The FCC on October 20 adopted a Notice of Proposed Rule Making to convert a block of spectrum from federal government to commercial use, including two UHF bands shared by Amateur Radio on a secondary basis with the government. The proposal, in ET Docket 94-32, would allocate 2390 to 2400, 2402 to 2417 (both shared by amateurs), and 4660 to 4685 MHz to the Fixed and Mobile Services. The FCC is required by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 to adopt rules for such a reallocation by February 10, 1995. The proposal calls for licensing to be accomplished through competitive bidding. In a news release, the Commission said it is requesting comment on alternative approaches, including "continued use of some of this spectrum by the amateur community." The FCC said it received a number of responses to its Notice of Inquiry on the proposed reallocations, including formal comments from "the amateur community" (primarily the ARRL). More information was in October QST, p 83. In another proceeding, ET Docket 94-124, the FCC is proposing to open a number of bands above 40 GHz to commercial use. The only one that potentially affects amateurs is 76.0 to 77.0 GHz, which is adjacent to our primary allocation at 75.5 to 76.0 GHz and is part of the 76.0 to 81.0 GHz band that amateurs share on a secondary basis. FLOODS BRING OUT TEXAS VOLUNTEERS The FCC on October 19 declared a "Voluntary Communications Emergency" as Texas amateurs provided service during flooding in the southeastern portion of the state and particularly in the Houston area. That morning, North Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Joe Brown, K5UPN, reported that several statewide and emergency nets were in around-the-clock operation. Some of these nets, like the Texas RACES Net and the Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net, were handling emergency and priority traffic only. The other nets were handling information requests and health and welfare traffic. As a result of the net activity, the FCC's Houston office issued a statement saying "All Amateurs are requested to cooperate by recognizing the existence of a voluntary communications emergency and therefore relinquishing the use of frequencies between 3967 and 3973 and between 3972 and 3978 kHz and between 7245 and 7251 kHz for the handling of emergency traffic." On Thursday, October 20, ARRL South Texas Section Manager Alan Cross, WA5UZB, reported by telephone that ARES teams were heavily involved in emergency communications. At the time, he didn't notice any ARES personnel shortages. Radio amateurs were active at Houston-area Red Cross shelters, assisting fire departments and sheriff departments, according to plans already in place. Many radio amateurs were also staffing emergency operation centers. Cross also mentioned the burning gas pipelines at the San Jacinto River. He was concerned that in due time, the ARES operators would need reinforcements. The North Texas Section had already contributed ARES personnel to help. By late Thursday, emergency nets were back to their normal operating schedules. Joe, K5UPN, reported a large number of health and welfare messages and related traffic being handled. On Friday, Brown reported the same kind of activity on the local and section nets. -- Steve Ewald, WV1X. NEWSMAN BILL LEONARD, W2SKE, IS DEAD AT AGE 78 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, a former president of CBS News, died October 23 in Laurel, Maryland. He was 78. Leonard, an avid DXer and contest operator in the 1960s and 1970s, was an advocate for Amateur Radio, writing, for example, an article for Sports Illustrated in 1958 entitled "The Battle of the Hams." It described the "sport of DXing" and Leonard's role in it from the contest super station of Buzz Reeves, K2GL, in New Jersey. Leonard said in 1981 that he was interested in radio as a child in the 1920s, and received his first amateur license, W1JHV, while a student at Dartmouth College in 1934. After graduating in 1937, Leonard went to work as a reporter for the Bridgeport, Connecticut, Post-Telegram. After serving in the US Navy from 1941 to 1945, where he was involved with electronic countermeasures against German radio-controlled bombs, he joined CBS News in 1945. As CBS president, Leonard was credited with the selection of Dan Rather as CBS Evening News anchor, as a member of the team that developed the "60 Minutes" newsmagazine, and of helping develop techniques to predict election outcomes. Asked in 1981 about the future of Amateur Radio, W2SKE said "I have a hunch that Amateur Radio is going to get more and more tangled up with amateur computer technology." He also said "My bet is that ham radio, in one form or another, will be around 100 years from now." A profile of W2SKE appeared in March, 1981, QST. Bill Leonard leaves his wife, the former Norma Kaphan Wallace, and six sons. FCC ESTABLISHES NEW INTERNATIONAL BUREAU The FCC has created an International Bureau to handle international telecommunication and satellite programs and policies and to represent the Commission at international conferences and negotiations. The bureau will have three divisions: Telecommunications; Satellite and Radiocommunication; and Planning and Negotiations. This new bureau is a major part of the FCC's overall reorganization announced last summer. COMICS FUNDING SOUGHT All kids like comics. Every year ARRL HQ provides some 50,000 copies of an Archie ham radio comic to amateurs, who then give them to interested youngsters as part of the League's effort to tell them about Amateur Radio. Print runs of 100,000 (the minimum) cost about $19,000. The comics come with a reply card for more information and a list of companies and clubs that have contributed to the comics program. So please help, by asking your club to consider giving $50, $100, $250 or what your members can afford -- or ask your club newsletter editor to run this article in the next issue. Contact the ARRL Educational Activities Department for details. And thanks. BRIEFS * W1AW has reoriented its beams for 10, 15, and 20 meters to provide better coverage of the southeastern states. The 120-foot tower now has upper antennas on those bands pointed west and lower beams, fed in phase, pointed south. The work was done by station manager WA1MBK and operator WB9RRU. * Last summer, London's Science Museum announced that its Amateur Radio exhibit station, GB2SM, would be closed down because its time had passed. The Radio Society of Great Britain went to work, and now says that the museum has agreed to discuss "providing an innovative, state-of-the-art, hands-on exhibit to replace the existing station." In the interim (GB2SM will close November 7) the RSGB hopes to find a way to at least keep the famous call sign on the air. * The latest HQ staff member to get an amateur ticket is Media Relations Assistant Jennifer Hagy, sporting N1TDY. And November QST's "Behind the Diamond" victim Bill Moore, NC1L, has been promoted to DXCC supervisor. Speaking of November QST, did it seem fat to you? At 272 pages it was a record! * German Astronaut Ulf Merbold, DP3MIR, has been active from the Russian space station Mir, but a power supply problem prevents him from using his digital voice memory and reduces his activity to only a few passes a day over Europe. DF5DP, the Deutscher ARC Coordinator of Satellites and Space Projects, said they do not have details about the problem because questions and answers about DP3MIR are relayed via the Moscow control center, a process that "turned out to be very complicated." DP3MIR will stay aboard Mir until about November 3. * The United Kingdom has lowered the minimum age for its full amateur license. Previously 14, the age has been lowered to 10 years, provided that the applicant has held a Novice license Class A or B for a full year and then passes the exam for either a full Class A or Class B ticket. * The Dayton Amateur Radio Association is once again accepting applications for its scholarship program, open to all FCC-licensed amateurs who will graduate high school in 1995. The DARA offers eight scholarships of $2000 each. For more information and application forms write to DARA Scholarship Committee, 45 Cinnamon Court, Springboro OH 45066. * As noted last issue, the "Big Dish" Earth-Moon-Earth operation from VE3ONT on the first weekend of the ARRL EME Contest October 29 and 30 was canceled. Now, however, in addition to likely having the dish available for the second weekend of the Test, November 26 and 27, the operators may be able to use it on November 24 and 25 as well. If so, they plan to operate on 50, 432, and 1296 MHz on those days (and on 144 MHz during the contest). All this was still tentative as we went to press. 10 years ago in The ARRL Letter A letter from the FCC's Private Radio Bureau Chief Robert Foosaner clarified what was permissible during Amateur Radio support of the New York City Marathon. The prohibition against "business communications" became more of a concern because the marathon was, in 1984, awarding prize money for the first time. Foosaner said that of the three specific services amateurs planned to provide at the event -- a medical network, crowd-control logistics, and lead runner position -- only the latter was questionable, because news services could use the amateurs' communications to provide them with information. Foosaner recommended that lead runner information be passed on commercial frequencies. The matter of "business communications" continued to be a thorny one for amateurs until the summer of 1993, when the FCC acted to ease prohibitions on "business communications." The FCC in 1993 also agreed with the League that proposals from commercial broadcast interests to allow Amateur Radio to be used in dissemination of information was not desirable. In 1983 the FCC had changed the way hams' transmitter power was to be measured, from dc input to PEP output; AM operators in 1984 began lobbying for special consideration, since the change in the rules actually reduced the amount of power they were legally allowed to run. The matter was not finally settled until the early 1990s.