Another "filtered" ARRL Letter. Complete text located at www.arrl.org
73 Tom
The ARRL Letter
Electronic Update
June 21, 1996
__________________________________
IN THIS UPDATE . . ..
* Vanity Gate 1A opens!
* Waiver request filed for 1.296 GHz
* Tall antenna structure registration program
* Yaesu sponsors WRTC teams; social events planned
* Kenwood defends distribution plans
* Atlantic Division award winners
* Paralympics logo okayed for Georgia QSLs
* Solar report
* William M. "Ducky" Duckwitz, W8CJT, SK
* Cor Posch, PA3DYW, SK
* In Brief: MSN drops ham forum; New Jackson, Michigan,
hamfest date and place; N6S commemorates California history
__________________________________
FCC OPENS VANITY CALL SIGN GATE 1A JULY 22!
FCC TO REQUIRE REGISTRATION NUMBERS FOR TALL ANTENNA STRUCTURES
The FCC streamlines its antenna structure clearance process starting July 1
by implementing new antenna and tower registration procedures. The Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau has released a Fact Sheet to explain the
registration program. Most antenna structures that are higher than 60.96
meters (200 feet) above ground level or that may interfere with the flight
path of a nearby airport must be cleared by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and registered with the FCC.
The Fact Sheet contains guidelines on applicability, registration
requirements, electronic filing, and painting and lighting specifications.
It's available on the World Wide Web at
http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/antstruc.html.
After registering an antenna structure with the FCC, the owner will receive
a registration (FCC Form 854R) containing a unique seven-digit registration
number that identifies the structure. The owner must provide each tenant
licensee and permittee a copy of the registration. Licensees and permittees
must reference the registration number on all subsequent filings with the
Commission. For more information, call the Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau's Consumer Assistance Branch in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at
800-322-1117 or 717-338-2500.
YAESU TO SPONSOR TWO TEAMS AT WRTC 96
Yaesu Musen and Yaesu USA will directly sponsor Team Finland and Team
PRC--the exhibition team from the People's Republic of China--in the World
Radiosport Team Championship set for July 13-14 in the San Francisco,
California, area. WRTC 96 will feature competition among some of the world's
top contesters on 52 teams and two exhibition teams. Each team will have two
operators. WRTC-96 is being billed as a "sub-event" of the IARU HF World
Championship contest the same weekend.
Yaesu said the job of picking two teams to sponsor "was a difficult one, and
was based on the particularly unique attributes of the Finnish and Chinese
teams." Yaesu said the selection of Team Finland (OH2IW and OH1JT)
"recognized Finland's outstanding per-capita contribution to the improvement
of DXing and contest competition over many years."
Yaesu said support of the Chinese exhibition team (BA1OK and BA4RC, plus
their coach and observer, BA1FB) "is an extension of Yaesu's long-standing
support of Amateur Radio in China" since the rebirth of ham radio there in
the early 1980s. Team PRC will operate WRTC using the call sign AH3D. A
second exhibition team, from Latvia (YL2KL and YL3CW) will sign AH3C in the
competition. The other 52 teams will use special 1(1 call signs to be drawn
randomly a few hours before the event begins.
Yaesu will supply FT-1000MP transceivers to both Team Finland and Team PRC
for use during the competition.
WAYNE GREEN INC PUBLISHING FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY
Wayne Green Inc (WGI) of Peterborough, New Hampshire--operated by colorful
'73 Amateur Radio Today magazine founder Wayne Green, W2NSD--has filed for
bankruptcy, according to a report in the June 20, 1996, edition of The
Monadnock Ledger. The action apparently does not affect '73; the newspaper
reports that Green's wife, Sherry Smyth-Green bought '73 two years ago. The
ham magazine is still operating, but with "a considerably downsized staff"
of about a dozen, according to the Ledger report.
The bankruptcy notice lists several Green subsidiaries, including Almost
Free CDs, Uncle Wayne's Books, Creative Music, N.H. Language Systems and
Green With Envy.
Wayne Green, a frequent hamfest speaker and well-known for his lengthy
"Never Say Die!" commentaries, once edited CQ magazine. He's also the
founder and former publisher of BYTE, among the first computer magazines.
SOLAR REPORT: CLEAN AS A WHISTLE
Solar prognosticator Tad Cook, KT7H, in Seattle, Washington, reports that
May had several periods of spotless days, where no sunspots were visible.
Late April and early May had 10 days with no spots, save for one day with a
sunspot number of 13. Following this was a four-day period of no spots,
then an eight-day period after a two-day respite. Now, he says, we may be
headed into another spotless period:
As we reach the bottom of this solar cycle it is interesting to look at the
rise in the number of spotless days per month. An early period of no spots
was April 1995, which had over 10 spotless days. After that, the number of
spotless days per month declined, but then has had a fairly steady rise
since last August.
Since January of this year, every month has had more than 10 spotless days,
and May had over 15. There is a good chance that it could be mostly spotless
through June 25, since the predicted solar flux is headed toward the mid-60s
and is not expected to rise above 70 until month's end. During this period
of inactivity, the geomagnetic field is quiet, meaning that there is less
absorption over high-latitude paths.
During May, some new sunspots appeared which seem to be part of the new
solar cycle. Region 7963 appeared in the north on May 10. A couple of
unnumbered regions in the south followed on May 17 and 19. Region 7965
showed up on May 22, and 7967 on May 31.
Sunspot numbers for June 6 through 13 were 32, 38, 29, 34, 17, 11 and 11,
respectively, with a mean of 24.6. The 10.7-cm flux was 72, 73, 70, 70, 69,
68 and 67.4, respectively, with a mean of 69.9.
COR POSCH, PA3DYW, SK; DIES IN FALL AT ANTENNA SITE
Cor Posch, PA3DYW, of Monnickendam, The Netherlands, died May 5, 1996, after
falling from a platform while adjusting a UHF parabolic reflector in
preparation for a contest. He was 43. According to a story in a Dutch
newspaper, it's not known what caused Posch to fall backwards from a height
of approximately 15 feet. He struck his head when he landed at the club
contest site and was rushed by helicopter to Amsterdam Medical Center--where
he had worked as a computer programmer. He died several hours later.
Posch's friend Richard Musicer, N6CR, said the accident serves as a grim
reminder to other hams. "This accident, made even more sad because it
occurred while enjoying our hobby, needs to be brought to the attention of
the ham community as a poignant reminder that safety first is more than just
a slogan."
Posch's wife Annamarie and two daughters survive.
__________________________________
The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main
St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J.
Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.
Electronic edition circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail
kcapodicasa@arrl.org.
Editorial, Rick Lindquist, KX4V, e-mail rlindquist@arrl.org.
The purpose of The ARRL Letter is to provide the essential news of interest
to active, organizationally minded radio amateurs faster than it can be
disseminated by our official journal, QST. We strive to be fast, accurate
and readable in our reporting.
Material from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any
form, including photoreproduction and electronic databanks, provided that
credit is given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: frenaye@pcnet.com
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box 386, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444
>From ac1o@gate.net (Walter Deemer) Thu Jun 27 12:57:57 1996
From: ac1o@gate.net (Walter Deemer) (Walter Deemer)
Subject: WRTC Suggestion
Message-ID: <199606271157.HAA51272@osceola.gate.net>
In order to eliminate at least some of the "guess the teams" element during
the WRTC competition (and the temptation to spot the locals on packet,
etc.), may I suggest that all queries during contest QSO's along the lines
of "Is that you, Sparky" be responded to with a standard (yet truthful)
"This is Frisco; QRZ?"
-- 73, Walt, AC1O
>From k0wa@southwind.net (Lee Buller) Thu Jun 27 15:00:27 1996
From: k0wa@southwind.net (Lee Buller) (Lee Buller)
Subject: Voices or Reason
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19960627140027.0068bb0c@southwind.net>
People....
After the last several days on the reflector, I was thinking seriously about
pulling the plug and taking up golf.
We need voices of reason.
We need good ideas
We need the sharp people in ham radio to come up with solutions
All this doom and gloom has gotta stop! We need to look at the problem like
we look at a broken radio...diagnose the problem...repair it...and try it
out. We need dedicated people who want to fix the problem. There are many
of you who are working towards those ends.
Lets look for the opportunity to excell...to be better...to make it count!
Come on...lets stop flooding the internet with this doom and gloom and lets
get down to ham radio again while trying to come up with solutions.
Flames are accepted, but go into the trash....
Lee Buller
k0wa@southwind.net
>From tree@lady.blindchicken.com (Larry Tyree) Thu Jun 27 15:18:37 1996
From: tree@lady.blindchicken.com (Larry Tyree) (Larry Tyree)
Subject: W6UQF
Message-ID: <199606271418.HAA10802@lady.blindchicken.com>
Nice to see the outpouring of comments with memories of Chas - W6UQF.
As others in the NorthWest have mentioned, Chas had a pipeline up here
and we would always work him, even when conditions were poor. I remember
him being the station I worked from more different counties in the great
Armadillo run. He is one of those guys who always got on and handed out
QSOs. We could use more of them.
I believe the first time I met Chas was in the backyard of W6YA who hosts
an annual beer party in the summer.
I will miss the unique yellow, 100 QSO per page, sprint logs. I can remember
waiting to call Chas as he paitently repeated his name 10 times on phone.
It was a tough one of phone to get across. Once I got through, you could
hear the smile in his voice.
Down the log Chas...
Tree N6TR
>From Henry.Knoll-1@tc.umn.edu (Henry Knoll) Thu Jun 27 10:28:46 1996
From: Henry.Knoll-1@tc.umn.edu (Henry Knoll) (Henry Knoll)
Subject: Open letter to the ARRL
Message-ID: <31d29b581b0e007@mhub1.tc.umn.edu>
I mistakenly sent a copy of this letter I sent to the ARRL, to the
DX-reflector. After Lyndon pointed out the error of my ways, I
decided to post it here, where the thread originated, even though it
has as much to do with the future of DXing as the future of contesting.
Open letter to the ARRL 26 June, 1996
This is in response to the ARRL's past actions and to Steve
Mendelsohn's letter to the Directors dated 15 January, 1996,
"The Coming Storm...or Opportunity", which seems to be pointing
to the League's future actions.
You told your core constituents that, as a National Leader, they
should trust you and allow no-code licensing. That would increase
the number of hams, and thus the number of ARRL members, and thus the
ARRL would have a larger influence with the FCC and other government
bodies, and that ham radio would be much the better for it all. And
on top of that, these people would bring much technical expertise to
the hobby, and would upgrade and thus become outstanding ham citizens.
(I won't even discuss the $$$ in your eyes at the prospect of selling
more advertising, or the pressure I'm sure you got from the equipment
manufacturers.)
What happened didn't turn out as you promised. There was an increase
in the number of people who call themselves hams. The problem is
that most just went out and bought 2 meter HT's and said "why should
I join the League, I don't need them, I got what I want with out
any hassle." "Why should I upgrade, I'm a 'ham' having fun right now".
So now we have a lot of people calling themselves hams operating on
what has become 2 meter CB.
To quote from Steve's letter:
An examination of several seemingly disparate signs seems to
show that they are really parts of a whole picture which, when
blended together, will form a negative picture of the future,
for ARRL and Amateur Radio, if not watched and managed. These
points include: (My guess is he's more worried about ARRL)
- Growing numbers of No-Code Licensees who are content to
enjoy VHF operation with no desire to upgrade to HF
operation and HF culture including DXing, Contesting and
working for personal achievements (WAS, DXCC, etc.).
- The recent definition by the Board that the core member-
ship of the League is an HF operator.
- The slowing in the numbers of amateurs who choose to
upgrade.
- The declining numbers of ARRL membership renewals. (BINGO!!)
- The growing perception among VHF licensees who believe
that ARRL is becoming irrelevant. (BINGO again!)
- The realization by a growing number of Code-Free licensees
that they will become the majority by 1999. (end quote)
Wow!!! What a sorry state of affairs to admit to. Why was the
League a part of helping this happen, and why didn't it see
the consequences of it happening before now? The no-code barn
door is open, and you opened it.
Everything went so well, the no-coders decided to try and snooker you
into giving them more, and you need members. Hmmmmm!!! Well, you've
got yourself between a rock and a hard place.
Now you are trying to convince your core constituents that if they
will just trust you again, and give these folks no-code HF privileges,
that the number of hams will increase, and thus the number of ARRL
members will increase, and thus the ARRL will have a larger influence
with the FCC and other government bodies, and that ham radio will
be much the better for it all -- blah, blah, blah.
What a crock. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on
me."
Again to quote from Steve's letter:
"The elimination of an international requirement for a
knowledge of Morse Code can be used domestically as a way to
change the image of the League among what is quickly becoming
the majority population of the Service."
He seems to be hopefully looking forward to the elimination of the
international requirement for CW so he can use it to bolster
his argument to eliminate it here in the U. S. Keep 'dumbing down'
amateur radio and it will soon be as relevant as CB.
As one of your core constituents, here is what I expect the League
to do in WRC-99. I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT WITH ALL FLAGS FLYING TO
KEEP THE CODE REQUIREMENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL TREATIES!!!!!
You claim to be a National Leader - then lead! Don't give me any of
that one country, one vote baloney I keep hearing. That is
just an excuse for not leading. I expect you to lead. If you
don't know what that means, you won't be representing much of
anything in the future. When your core constituents leave
you and all you have left are a few no-coders, what will you then do
to convince the FCC and other government bodies that you represent
amateur radio?
With hopes for a more sensible League,
Henry Knoll
WA0GOZ
>From psoper@encore.com (Pete Soper) Thu Jun 27 15:50:53 1996
From: psoper@encore.com (Pete Soper) (Pete Soper)
Subject: 40m double extended zepp
Message-ID: <13849.9606271450@earl.encore.com>
Hi Lee,
Your editorial reminded me to ask how well this antenna
worked for you on Field Day? How high did you have it?
We had a 40m dipole above the deck of a WWII battleship.
It played pretty well on 40 and 15 but I suspect we could do better.
Regards,
Pete
KS4XG
(KO4PY 1A on USS North Carolina)
>From 71111.260@CompuServe.COM (Hans Brakob) Thu Jun 27 16:25:33 1996
From: 71111.260@CompuServe.COM (Hans Brakob) (Hans Brakob)
Subject: KH6IJ reassigned
Message-ID: <960627152533_71111.260_EHM31-1@CompuServe.COM>
K0EJ asked:
>That's an interesting tidbit. Wonder what the relationship is? <
The new KH6IJ is Nose's daughter.
73, Hans
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