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 #894 - POSTED 10/02/94 (***************************************************************) (* *) (* * * ***** * * **** * ***** * * ***** *) (* ** * * * * * * * ** * * *) (* * * * *** * ** * *** * * * * * *** *) (* * ** * * ** * * * * * ** * *) (* * * ***** * * **** ***** ***** * * ***** *) (* *) (* **** * **** ***** *** *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* **** ***** * * * * * *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* * * * * **** ***** *** *) (* *) (***************************************************************) 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 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!!! (**************************************************************** [894] (* * * * 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 necessarily for broadcast * (* over amateur radio. 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 * (* 894 for release on Friday, September 30, 1994 to follow. * (* * (* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The following is a QST The FCC acts in the alleged California license fraud case. Disciplinary action is on its way! This story and more on Newsline report number 894 coming your way right now! (***** PUNITIVE ACTION IN CAL VE PROBE The FCC has begun punitive action in the wake of widespread fraud in California's all volunteer amateur radio testing program. The FCC takes action against 54 amateur radio operators connected with alleged license fraud in Southern California. The Commission plans to revoke the licenses of three hams and is cancelling license upgrades for 51 others. Ordered to turn in their licenses are James B. Williams, AA6TC of Wilmington, California, Robert L. Flores, N6WPQ of Santa Monica and his wife, Rose Marie Flores, N6WPR. All three are former Volunteer Examiners holding Extra class licenses. The Commission says that an exam session the three claim to have administered never actually took place. The Commission accuses all three of willfully signing certificates showing that people who were not tested had passed elements necessary for amateur radio licenses. The Commission singles out Rose Marie Flores as being in charge of the paperwork for one test session. Flores is accused of getting other VE's to sign certificates of completion for people the FCC sez were not examined. The Commission issued a show cause order against the three September 27th. They have 30 days to appeal or lose their ham licenses. FCC is also punishing 51 other hams they received license upgrades from Volunteer Examiners suspected of fraud. In June, the Commission gave each amateur a choice: they could either take the test again, or lose their upgrade. Only 3 of the 51 appeared for re-testing and all three failed. Now, the Commission is revoking the upgrades all 51 hams received during exams in 1992 and 93. The three amateurs who face losing their licenses are part of a larger group. Nearly three dozen Volunteer Examiners were suspended throughout California about a year ago. There's speculation that the Commission's action may be the FCC's way of saying, there's more to come. (***** ENGINEER ADMITS SABOTAGING COMPETITION A Cleveland Ohio radio station engineer has pleaded guilty to charges that he cut transmission lines that knocked Howard Stern's broadcast off a rival station. On September 7th, William Alford pleaded guilty to one felony charge of disrupting a public service and one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass. Alford admitted that last June 10th that he cut cables to a satellite feed as shock-jock Howard Stern was broadcasting his syndicated show from a Cleveland nightclub. Stern was in Cleveland to promote local station WNCX FM, which carries the show. Alford worked for WMMS FM at the time of the incident but is no longer is employed there. He could be sentenced to up to two years in jail. In a prepared statement WMMS said Alford acted on his own. A check of the FCC database indicates Alford is not a ham. (***** CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM SHUT DOWN The FCC has partially shut down a cable television system for excessive leakage. It happened in Oklahoma where an engineer working out of the Dallas, Texas office discovered that a small town cable television system had a signal leak on aeronautical frequencies. The FCC identifies the cable system as Trans-Western Video of Waukomis, Oklahoma. The FCC says it measured a cable leak of 1,850 microvolts per meter where the FCC rules permit a maximum of 20 microvolts per meter. As a result of this leak, and several smaller ones, the system was found to violate the cumulative leakage index limit. This called for suspension of operation on all aeronautical frequencies to prevent interference with aviation communications. (***** FAIRNESS R.I.P. The FCC's top lawyer has recommended that the agency not consider reinstatement of the fairness doctrine. This is a former rule that required TV and radio stations to present both sides of a controversial issue. According to the trade publication Variety, the recommendation, from FCC general counsel William Kennard, is considered a big win for broadcasters. It's believed Kennard made the decision only after consultation with Reed Hundt, the FCC's Democratic chairman. Kennard's opinion could close the books on attempts to resurrect the fairness doctrine, which had been a staple of U.S. communications policy until 1987 when then FCC chairman Dennis Patrick led a drive to repeal the rule. Patrick argued that the fairness doctrine stifled, rather than promoted the presentation of stories with controversial themes. He also said that the explosion in cable TV and other media outlets rendered the rule obsolete. Since Patrick's FCC nixed the regulation key congressional Democrats have fought unsuccessfully to pass a bill making the doctrine law and expanding its scope to cover new communications technologies. But in a memo circulated to Hundt and the four other FCC commissioners, Kennard says that the legal arguments against codification of the fairness doctrine have not changed since 1987. Moreover, he believes that arguments today are even stronger than they were seven years ago against bringing the Fairness Doctrine back. (***** ARRL TO ASSIST HANDICAPPED The says that it ARRL is currently working to develop materials for disabled individuals with an interest in Amateur Radio. It notes that it is looking for stories, photographs, recordings of experiences of disabled Amateur Radio operators or from instructors and rehabilitative personnel who have worked with handicapped ham radio students. It is also looking for practical solutions to problems faced by handicapped hams. This includes adaptive devices for radios and computers that could be invaluable to a potential ham struggling to earn a ticket or make the ham shack as accessible as possible. If you have any ideas and would like to help, please contact Mary Carcia, N7IAL in care of the ARRL Program for the Disabled, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111. Or you can call Mary at (203) 666-1541 during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, Eastern time. (***** BRAILLE NOVICE EXAM Meanwhile, Dave Allen, WD8LDY says that he has already transcribed the most recent Novice question pool for Examination Element 2 into grade two Braille. In his recent all United States packet radio posting Dave notes that anyone who needs it, please contact Dave at (214) 235-9821. He asks that you call him only between 9:00am and 9:00pm central time. WD8LDY adds that he will try to get the Technician Element 3A done soon, and will look into others if requested. (***** NO UNION AT ARRL There will not be a Union coming to ARRL headquarters after all. The National Labor Relations Board recently conducted an election among League employees on the matter of union representation. There were 65 employees eligible to vote. Most did and unionization was rejected by a wide margin. (***** EXAM DAY MISTAKE National Exam Day is October 29th and not October 9th as noted in the September issue of the ARRL's QSO Media News. The league says that the October 9th date was nothing more than a typographic error. (***** ANS NEEDS INPUT The AMSAT News Service is still looking for volunteers to contribute its weekly OSCAR status reports. If you have a favorite OSCAR satellite which you work on a regular basis and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272. On the Internet he can be reached at WD0HHU@AMSAT.ORG, or by mail to his callbook address. (***** ELECTRONIC NASA PRESS RELEASES Hams involved in the SAREX program and repeaters that carry space shuttle mission audio should take note that NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to DOMO@HQ.NASA.GOV. Now, in the body of the message and not the subject line, you must type the words subscribe press-release without any quotes. The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on this new electronic press release service. (***** DX In DX, word that KU0J and DK8FD have been active from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Activity has been mainly CW on 17, 30 and 40 meters. Unfortunately this one does not really count for anything but fun. You may remember that the League's DX Advisory Committee recently rejected a petition for new DXCC country status for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. DXAC members stated that it did not meet DXCC Criteria Point 1 operating to government. (***** SPECIAL ITU STATION Also, the ARRL reports that special event station 8N3ITU is operating from the International Telecommunication Union 14th Plenipotentiary Conference. The station is set up at the International Congress Center in Kyoto, Japan, site of the conference. ITU officials attending the conference who are licensed amateurs are allowed to operate the station. Japanese amateurs watch over the station and assist visiting amateurs. The conference is scheduled to run until October 14. QSL's may be sent via the JARL bureau, or direct with an SASE to 8N3ITU. (***** A FISH STORY This story from Australia. Researchers at the University of Sydney say that they have made an interesting discovery that could yield major benefits in the areas of solar energy and optics and they owe it all to a fish. It seems that a group of physicists were arguing at lunchtime over what makes a fish so "silvery." Unable to reach a conclusion, they went to a nearby Fish Market, bought the shiniest fish they could find, and took it back to the lab. A scientific inspection of the fish skin showed that it contained "multiple stacks of organic crystals, interleaved by layers of watery tissues, arranged in what scientists call the Chaos Theory principle. In other words the cells are arranged in an apparently disordered manner, instead of neat arrays. The highly efficient natural reflectors are intended to confuse predators, but this discovery promises to lead to more efficient solar mirrors and other optical and reflective devices. (***** And on that fishy note, we will say for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at Post Office Box 463 in Pasadena, California 91102. (* * * Newsline Copyright 1994 all rights are reserved. * * *