AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE(tm) REPORT #1275 - January 18 2002<p>Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1275 with a release date of <br />Friday, January 18th 2002 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. <br /> <br />The following is a Q-S-T. A new ham antenna on the I-S-S and a new microwave<br />record down-under are first on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1275 coming<br />your way right now!<br /> <br />(Billboard Cart Here) <br /> <br />**<p>HAM RADIO IN SPACE: NEW ANTENNAS INSTALLED ON THE ISS<p>An American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut ventured into space on Monday<br />January 14th to move a construction crane and install a new set of ham radio<br />antennas on the International Space Station. Roy Neal, K6DUE, has the details.<p>--<p>THERE IT WAS, ON NASA TELEVISION, TWO WHITE SPACE SUITED CHARACTERS, DWARFED BY<br />THE IMMENSITY OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. FOR THE 32ND TIME<br />ASTRONAUTS AND COSMONAUTS WERE OUTSIDE THE HUGE SPACECRAFT TO ASSEMBLE<br />HARDWARE.<p>THEIR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE WAS TO MOVE A BIG CARGO CRANE FROM ITS TEMPORARY BERTH<br />ON THE UNITED STATES SIDE OF THE ORBITING OUTPOST TO A PERMANENT LOCATION<br />OUTSIDE THE DOCKING COMPARTMENT OF THE RUSSIAN CONTROL MODULE.<p>THAT ACCOMPLISHED, THEY WENT ON TO UNFURL A HAM RADIO ANTENNA. ASTRONAUT CARL<br />WALTZ, KC5TIE AND COSMONAUT YURI ONUFRIENKO, RK3DUO, DEPLOYED THE RIBBON OF<br />TAPE THAT SOON WILL BE IN USE ON A HAM RADIO STATION IN THE SERVICE MODULE,.<br />WHERE THE CREWS LIVE AND SLEEP. A SECOND STATION HAS BEEN IN SERVICE FOR SOME<br />TIME INSIDE THE SO CALLED FUNCTIONAL CARGO BLOCK, ANOTHER SECTION OF THE I S S.<p>FRANK BAUER, KA3HDO, THE CHAIRMAN OF ARISS, THE GROUP THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR<br />AMATEUR RADIO ON THE SPACE STATION, CONGRATULATED THE INTERNATIONAL TEAM OF<br />LICENSED HAMS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION TO MONTHS OF HARD WORK.<p>ON JANUARY 25th ONUFRIENKO IS SCHEDULED TO GO OUTSIDE AGAIN, WITH FLIGHT<br />ENGINEER DAN BURSCH, KD5PNU, TO INSTALL 3 MORE HAM RADIO ANTENNAS OUTSIDE THE<br />MODULE THEY CALL ZVEZDA, THE CREW COMPARTMENT THAT’S THE SIZE OF A PASSENGER<br />BUS HERE ON EARTH.<p>HAM RADIO IS GROWING RAPIDLY IN SPACE, ALONG WITH THE INTERNATIONAL STATION ON<br />WHICH IT’S INSTALLED.<p>FOR THE AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, ROY NEAL, K6DUE<p>--<p>The Expedition 4 crew will remain on board the ISS until May. And according to<br />Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, another important task is to bring the automatic packet<br />system back on line. He says that ground technicians are working with the<br />astronauts and cosmonaut on that project and that task will continue as crew<br />time permits. (ARNewsline from information provided by ARISS, NASA.)<p>**<p>HAM RADIO RECORDS: 24 GHZ DOWN-UNDER<p>A new distance record is set on a band where even commercial interests are only<br />now starting to tread. And its a group of Australian hams who have set it. <br />Q-News Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has the details:<p>--<p>A new Queensland distance record on 24.048.1 GHz USB was established morning of<br />Tuesday 08 January over a 72.8 Km path. Location 1 was at Wellington Point,<br />with VK3ZQB and VK4ZHL portable. Location 2 was at Caloundra, with VK3XPD and<br />VK5DK portable operating.<p> Signals strengths up to 5x5 after initial optimization with typical daytime<br />QSB. The visiting team are continuing with local propagation experiments. The<br />challenges of building and operating microwave amateur radio equipment<br /> are wonderfully rewarding in many ways!<p>From Q-News Australia, I’m Graham Kemp, VK4BB, for the Amateur Radio<br />Newsline.<p>--<p>Further experimentation is expected to bring even more record setting contacts<br />in this very microwave ham radio band. (Q-News)<p>**<p>RESTRUCTURING: BIG LICENSING SUCCESS IN THE UK<p>A new slow-code license recently introduced in the United Kingdom is also<br />setting records. This in the area of people flocking to get it. Jeramy Boot,<br />G4NJH, days that the new British Foundation License is on its way to becoming a<br />major success:<p>--<p>The Radio Licensing Center reports that, as of the 7th of January, exactly 600<br />of the new M3 Foundation Licenses had been issued.<p>In the 'QSO Party' for Foundation Licensees that took place on the 1st of<br />January it is estimated that about 100 M3 stations were active. Many joined the<br />one-minute-past-midnight 80-meter net and many more were heard working DX<br />during the subsequent days. <p>One person active on the 1st of January was Mike Marsden, M3BQH, who also holds<br />the callsign G8BQH. Mike reports that he worked Alex, UR5EDU, in the Ukraine at<br />two seconds past midnight, using 10 watts on 40 meters. The report was 59+10dB.<br />After a few hours' sleep M3BQH worked 66 stations on the first day, with only<br />two short CQ calls. <p>"The pile-up queue was never ending, I even managed to work seven other M3s",<br />Mike said.<p>Jeramy Boot, G4NJH<p>--<p>To put this in perspective. The UK has 57,814 hams so 600 is about 1%. Here<br />in the United States we have close to 625,000 licensees. That’s the<br />equivalent of getting 6250 hams signing up for a new license class here in the<br />USA in only a few short days. (GB2RS)<p>**<p>BREAK 1<p>This is ham radio news coming to you from the United States of America. We are<br />the Amateur Radio Newsline, including the W8GK repeater serving Charleston West<br />Virginia. <p>(5 Sec Pause Here)<p>**<p>RADIO REGULATIONS: FCC'S APPROVES DRAFT WRC PROPOSALS<p>The FCC’s Advisory Committee for the year 2003 World Radiocommunications<br />Conference has approved its preliminary draft proposals. The document has been<br />assigned as D-A-02-101 and deals mainly with satellite and terrestrial<br />allocations in the UHF and microwave bands. Amateur Radio is only briefly<br />mentioned in the area of 890 to 1350 MHz allocations.<p>The Advisory Committee itself was formed in January of 2001 to assist in the<br />development of United States proposals for WRC 2003. DA-02-101 is based<br />primarily on the committee report. Comments on it are due on it no later than<br />January 28th. <p>The complete of 55 page text of DA-02-101 is on the FCC website at<br />
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-02-101A1.txt (FCC)<p>**<p>ENFORCEMENT: CLEAN UP THE INTERFERENCE - PLEASE<p>The FCC has written to an A-M radio station and an electric power provider to<br />help resolve an unusual and long-standing interference situation. One<br />affecting local amateurs in the Cincinnati and Mason Ohio areas. Amateur Radio<br />Newsline’s Don Wilbanks, KC5MFA, brings us up to date:<p>--<p>The letter suggests that multiple sources may be involved in this interference<br />case. Also that two that are possibilities are Cinergy Corporation and radio<br />station WLW. Cinergy is the electric company to the affected area and WLW is a<br />Clear Channel Communications owned power-house AM station serving the greater<br />Cincinnati area from a transmitter in Mason.<p>WLW operates on 700 kHz with 50,000 Watts into a single element diamond shaped<br />half-wave vertical tower. This is only one of two such towers left in the<br />United States, the other belonging to WSM AM in Nashville Tennessee. Both were<br />constructed in the early 1930’s by the now defunct Blaw Knox Construction<br />Corporation. <p>One of the amateurs affected is Bob Reiff, WA8ULW, of Mason. Reiff told the<br />ARRL Letter that while the noise is most noticeable on 160 meters, it's showing<br />up elsewhere. He says that some local hams suspect it is even causing problems<br />even on a two meter repeater.<p>In its letters, the Commission says that it recognizes this to be an unusual<br />case. It says that the source of the interference could turn out to be<br />something else unexpected. But the Commission adds that it is turning to the<br />radio station and electric utility company and asking for their help in finding<br />the source of the noise plaguing the Mason ham community. It’s also asking<br />that both cooperate with the technical experts from the American Radio Relay<br />League in solving the problem.<p>For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Don Wilbanks, KC5MFA.<p>--<p>By the way, More information on this very interesting Blaw Knox diamond tower<br />design and the ones installed at both WLW and WSM is available on-line. Simply<br />take your browser to
http://www.wsmonline.com/w_homepage/tower/index.html. Its<br />very interesting reading. (FCC, ARRL, Amateur News Weekly)<p>**<p>ENFORCEMENT: UNLICENSED OPERATOR TOLD TO EXPLAIN<p>A former ham that the FCC says may have been on the air without a license has<br />been asked by the agency to provide an explanation. The person posing the<br />questions is FCC chief ham radio rules enforcer Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH. <br />And in a recent Rain Enforcement log, Hollingsworth outlined the situation:<p>--<br />Hollingsworth: “We requested clarifying information from Brian Bailey,<br />ex-KD5PXQ. His license was set aside by the Wireless Bureau on October 19th. <br />We want to know his exact whereabouts on two specific days in September. <br />Bailey has been in touch with us and is deciding weather to provide the<br />information.”<br />--<p>According to Hollingsworth, the information that the FCC wants from Bailey<br />relates to allegations of unlicensed operations and malicious interference. <br />(FCC, RAIN)<p>**<p><br />HELPING HAMS: HAMDIHAMS NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS<p>This note: The Courage HandiHam System has a new electronic mail address. You<br />can now reach the group at handiham@courage.org. You may also contact its<br />Director Pat Tice directly at wa0tda@arrl.net. (HandiHams)<p>**<p>CONVENTIONS: HAMVENTION SAYS BRING YOUR BUS AND LAVE THE PARKING SPOT TO US<p>Free parking at the HARA Arena for Hamvention? Well, kind of. Its free if you<br />leave your car at home and charter a bus to bring in a pretty large group of<br />people to the event. Amateur News Weekly’s Phil Thomas, W8RMJ has the not so<br />complex details:<p>--<p>For Amateurs who charter a bust to make the annual journey to Hamvention, the<br />Dayton Hamvention Committee will reserve a parking place for your chartered bus<br />for the entire three days of Hamvention. The reserved parking will be close to<br />the HARA Arena Complex, allowing not only a place to secure your valued<br />purchases, but also a place to rest those weary feet after walking many, many<br />miles of Hamvention. Space is limited for the new charter bus parking area. <br />Pre registration is required. Availability is on a first come, first served<br />basis. <p>--<p>For more information on the new on-site charter bus parking offer or to reserve<br />a space, please contact the Dayton Hamvention office. It’s open normal<br />business hours Eastern Standard Time at are code (937) 276-6930. You can also<br />fax your request toll free at <br />1-800-491-4267. (Amateur News Weekly)<p>**<p>CONFERENCES: SE VHF SOCIETY IN APRIL<p>Greg Robinson KB4NVD says over the VHF Reflector that the Sixth Annual<br />Southeastern VHF Society Conference will take place April 26th through the 27<br />Th. in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The conference, hosted by the Southeastern VHF<br />Society, promises to be an interesting and exciting event with presentations<br />from accomplished VHF and up amateur radio enthusiasts from several parts of<br />the country. Registration, program details, hotel and travel information can<br />be found in cyberspace at
www.svhfs.org. (SE VHF Society)<p>**<p>HAM RADIO EVENTS: KIDS DAY A BIG MID-WEST SUCCESS<br /> <br />The first Kids Day operating event for 2002 was a rousing success in many<br />venues. But in one Mid-West city a bit of coverage on a local T-V station<br />helped to make it even better. Again to Amateur News Weekly and reporter Jack<br />Parker, W8ISH:<p>--<p>Kids Day at the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Red Cross got a boost when<br />event coordinator Stece Wendt, KB9RDS, made an appearance on a local TV news<br />program. During the two minute segment. Wendt told viewers that all kids and<br />their parents were welcome to share in the Amateur Radio experience, including<br />an introduction to Morse Code, VHF repeaters and HF:<p>--<br />Wendt: “And then we turn around tand take them over to the big radios -- the<br />big base station radios where they can talk -- literally -- around the<br />world.”<br />--<p>This is the second year the local Red Cross chapter has shown young people how<br />to tune in the world. <p>Reporting from Indianapolis Indians for Amateur News Weekly, This is Jack<br />Parker, W8ISH.<p>--<p>This is just one of many Kids Day success stories. We will have more in future<br />Amateur Radio Newsline reports. (Amateur News Weekly)<p>**<p>BREAK 2<p>From the United States of America, we are the Amateur Radio Newsline, with<br />links to the world from our only official website -
www.arnewsline.org.<p>(5 sec pause here)<p>**<p>ARNEWSLINE(tm) FINANCIAL UPDATE WITH N6TCQ<p>It’s time for a report on the financial situation here at Amateur Radio<br />Newsline. With it is our Support Fund Administrator and Corporate Treasurer,<br />Andy Jarema, N6TCQ:<p>--<p>It is January of 2002. A brand new year for ham radio. And the beginning of<br />another year for us here at the Amateur Radio Newsline. And as we start off<br />the new year, here are the current finances.<p>Looking in the new corporate checkbook, the balance shows us at about $700 give<br />or take a few bucks. Not very much when you consider that it takes over a<br />thousand dollars a month to produce these weekly 20 minute Q-S-T’s. <p>Obviously, Amateur Radio Newsline is going to need your help -- and -- need it<br />quickly to keep it from going away and to keep the news of ham radio coming<br />your way.<p>We have done all that is possible from our side to keep costs under control. <br />But, some fixed expenses like the telephone and long distance calling are a<br />must have. So are electronic mail and world wide web access. There is the<br />cost of the routine maintenance on the tape machines and editing gear. And in<br />a few months the Newsline sponsored Young Ham of the Year Award will be rolling<br />our way. All of this adds up and some costs just keep going up. When you add<br />it all up and average it out, it comes to that $1000 a month figure I just<br />mentioned.<p>So now is the time when Amateur Radio Newsline has to ask to ask that you help<br />to keep its newscasts coming your way. Your tax deductible contributions can<br />be sent to the Newsline Support Fund, Post Office Box 660937, Arcadia<br />California. The Zipcode is 91066.<p>Ill be back within the next few weeks with an update on how things are going. <br />For now from the Amateur Radio Newsline support center, I’m Andy Jarema,<br />N6-Tiny-California-Quake.<p>--<p>Don’t worry if you missed the address. It will be repeated in a few minutes<br />at the end of this weeks newscast. (ARNewsline(tm) Support Fund)<p>**<p>ARNEWSLINE(tm): WE ARE GOING MP3<p>One other piece of news concerning Amateur Radio Newsline. As of March 1st, we<br />will be dropping Real Audio and going exclusively MP3. Why the change? Well<br />ever since we began posting a downloadable MP3 file at our own FTP site along<br />side the Real Audio file, 9 out of 10 people have chosen the MP3. And with<br />good reason. MP3 simply sounds a lot better than Real Audio to most of you. <br />And by dropping the Real Audio, we can make the MP3 sound even better by<br />encoding at a higher bit rate. <p>Right now, you can still compare the two formats if you like. Until February<br />22nd we will continue to post both Real Audio and MP3. Take the time to<br />download both. And don’t worry. Most modern media players including Real<br />Audio, Microsoft Media and Winamp play MP3 so the chances are that you are<br />already equipped to cover of the digital format change. (ARNewsline(tm))<p>**<p>SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: THE NOISE OF EARTH<p>According to Space Daily, researchers have known for three decades that the<br />Earth is a potent radio transmitter, but they were never able to pinpoint where<br />the noise was coming from. Recently, by using data from the four spacecraft of<br />the European Space Agency's Cluster mission, NASA-funded scientists have<br />precisely located the source of the radio noise along the magnetic field lines.<br /> The noise originates several thousand miles above bright regions in the<br />Earth's<br />northern lights. (AMSAT, Space Daily)<p>**<p>INTERNATIONAL-CANADA: ARE AGREEMENT IN B.C.<p>Turning to international news, Radio Amateurs of Canada which sponsors that<br />nation’s Amateur Radio Emergency Service has signed a Letter Of Understanding<br />and the British Columbia Provincial Emergency Radio Communication Service. The<br />letter represents the collaboration between Radio Amateurs of Canada’s <br />British Columbia Section Manager Fred Orsetti VE7IO and Supervisor of<br />Information and Communications Technology for the Provincial Emergency Program<br />Andrew Bryan VE7KSN, to provide a cooperative plan to carry out emergency<br />communication. The letter also further enhances the work of the Canadian ARES<br />program and compliments the Memorandum of Understanding signed May of 1994<br />between Radio Amateurs of Canada and Red Cross. (RAC)<p><br />**<p>INTERNATIONAL - CANADA: VE1AWA RESIGNS AS MARITIME PROVENCES SM<p>Due to personal reason Roy MacIntosh, VE1AWA has stepped<br />down from the position of Section Manager for the Maritimes. <br />Tom Caithness, VE1GTC has been appointed acting Section<br />Manager pending outcome of the upcoming election call. (RAC)<p>**<p>INTERNATIONAL - UK: AMSAT-UK COLLOQUIUM<p>The 17th AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at Surrey University in Guildford<br />from the 26th to 28th of July this year. AMSAT-UK is now inviting speakers to<br />submit papers about amateur radio space and associated activities for this<br />event and for the Proceedings document. Offers of papers should be submitted as<br />soon as possible and should be sent only to Richard Limebear, G3RWL. His<br />e-mail goes to g3rwl@amsat.org. (AMSAT-UK)<p>**<p>HAM RADIO IN SPACE: WEBSITE UPDATE<p>AMSAT reports that IK8XLD has updated his website with information about<br />satellite operations, EME, the ham radio operation on the International Space<br />Station, ATV and homebrew equipment. You can visit Rocco’s website at<br />
www.qsl.net/ik8xld. (ANS)<p><br />**<p>DX<p>In DX, DJ4KW and DK9GG are active from Belize as V31YN and V31GW respectively<br />until about the 2nd of February. Activity is on CW, RTTY and PSK 31. (GB2RS)<p>And KE1F will be active on 10 to 160 meters CW, SSB and perhaps RTTY as ZF2LM<br />from Grand Cayman Island from the 14th to 30th of January. (GB2RS)<p>Also R1ANF began operations as CE9 slash R1ANF on the 29th of December from a<br />Chilean base in the South Shetland Islands. He is active on 10 to 28 MHz with<br />100 watts to an R6000 vertical. For all three, QSL as directed on the air. <br />(OPDX)<p>Last but by no means least, word that JX7DFA, is on a job assignment to Jan<br />Mayen. He is operating as LA7DFA. QSL via his home call. He will reply when<br />he returns home in the Spring. (Modern DX)<p>**<p>THAT FINAL ITEM: A CALL FOR ARDF HUNTERS FOR THE WORLD GAMES<p>And finally this week, 2002 may be the biggest year yet for fans of hidden<br />transmitter hunts, especially the ones that are all on foot. Amateur Radio<br />Newsline’s Joe Moell K0OV helps coordinate happenings like these and has news<br />of two major events.<br />--<p>Every two years, hams from around the world gather to see who is best at<br />on-foot hidden transmitter hunting, also called foxtailing, radio-orienteering<br />and ARDF. There are separate events on eighty meters and two meters, each with<br />five transmitters scattered in a forest that can encompass 1000 acres or more.<p>Competitors are divided into five categories for males and four categories for<br />females. Each country may have up to three persons per category on its team.<p>Back in Y2K, the championships were in China, with a dozen stateside hams among<br />the competitors from 26 countries. This year, the excitement moves to Slovakia<br />and takes place from September 2 through 7. Once again, ARDF Team USA will be<br />there.<p>Would you like to be on that team? If so, contact me right away, because USA<br />must submit its Letter of Intent to the Slovakian hosts by the end of January.<p>Of course you'll need lots of practice beforehand, and you can get plenty by<br />attending USA's own national ARDF championships, which will be April 19-21 in<br />Pine Mountain, Georgia, near Atlanta.<p>Find out about both championships -- Slovakia and Pine Mountain -- by visiting<br />my Web site:
www.homingin.com. Homingin is one word. Then apply for the Team<br />USA roster at my e-mail address on that site, or by postal mail to my callbook<br />address.<p>Maybe you'll bring home a medal this year. From southern California, where<br />this year's local radio-orienteering training sessions will begin soon, this is<br />Joe Moell K-zero-Oscar-Victor for Amateur Radio Newsline.<p>--<p>In case you missed it, Joe’s website is
www.homingin.com. “homeingin” is<br />one word. (K0OV, ARNewsline(tm))<p>**<p>NEWSCAST CLOSE<p>With thanks to Alan Labs, Amateur News Weekly, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC<br />Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio<br />Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB and Australia's Q-News, that's all from the Amateur<br />Radio Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is newsline @arnewsline.org. More<br />information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's(tm) only official website<br />located at
www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or support us at <br />Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), P.O. Box 660937, Arcadia, California 91066. <p>A reminder that the nominating season for the Dayton Hamvention Radio Amateur<br />of the Year, Technical Achievement and Special Achievement Awards closes<br />January 31st. Nominations should be sent to Post Office Box 964 Dayton Ohio<br />45401. They can also be filed using the e-form at the Hamvention website. Its<br />at
www.hamvention.org.<p>For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm ______________<br />saying welcome to the year 2002, 73, and we thank you for listening." Amateur<br />Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. <p>**<p>Terminal Break
