January 22, 1996

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IN THIS UPDATE . . .

AT DEADLINE . . .

The ARRL Board of Directors met on January 19 and 20 in Savannah, Georgia. Here are some highlights from that session:

  • The Board asked ARRL President Rodney Stafford, KB6ZV, to appoint a committee to develop ARRL policy positions, based on members' input, for the 1999 World Radio Communication Conference (WRC-99). Among issues the committee will study are possible simplification of the licensing structure, harmonization of international licensing standards and consideration of Article S 25 of the International Radio Regulations--the technical and operational rules governing the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services--including, but not limited to, the HF code requirement.

  • The Ad Hoc Repeater Coordination Committee will continue dialogue with the repeater coordinators' drafting committee and other interested parties and report at the board's next meeting any recommendations for regulatory change and suggestions to improve the coordination process. The coordinators' drafting committee was created at last October's ARRL-sponsored open meeting of repeater coordinators in St. Charles, Missouri, to address such matters as the "single point of contact" between FCC and coordinators, recognition of coordinators, and the settlement of disputes.

  • The Board elected ARRL President Rodney J. Stafford, KB6ZV, to his first full, two-year term. Stafford took over the post last July after George S. Wilson III, W4OYI, stepped down for health reasons. Stafford, a Life Member, is the League's 12th president. As first vice president, the board named Hudson Division Director Stephen A. Mendelsohn, WA2DHF, replacing Jay Holladay, W6EJJ, who retired from the board after 21 years of service. Holladay was named an honorary vice president. As additional vice presidents, the board chose Delta Division Director Joel M Harrison, WB5IGF, and Atlantic Division Director Hugh A. Turnbull, W3ABC. Incumbent Vice President Tom Frenaye, K1KI, was not re-elected. Upon the ascension of Directors Mendelsohn, Harrison, and Turnbull, Hudson Division Vice Director Paul Vydareny, WB2VUK, Delta Division Vice Director Rick Roderick, K5UR, and Atlantic Division Vice Director Kay Craigie, WT3P, all automatically assumed their respective divisions' directorships. The board re-elected Executive Vice President and Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ, Chief Financial Officer Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY, International Affairs Vice President Larry Price, W4RA, Treasurer James McCobb Jr, K1LLU, and Counsel Chris Imlay, N3AKD.

  • Northwestern Division Director Mary Lou Brown, NM7N, Roanoke Division Director John Kanode, N4MM, Southeastern Division Director Frank Butler, W4RH, and Southwestern Division Director Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, were elected as members of the Executive Committee.

  • Gene Hastings, W1VRK, Rocky Mountain Division Director Marshall Quiat, AG0X, and Roanoke Division Director John Kanode, N4MM, were re-elected members of the ARRL Foundation Board of Directors for three-year terms.

  • David Mann, VP2EHF, and Dorothea Mann, VP2EE, won the ARRL's International Humanitarian Award for 1995 for their hurricane relief efforts. ARES members of Oklahoma were awarded the ARRL Certificate of Merit for their courageous efforts in providing critical emergency communication services to agencies responding to the Oklahoma City bombing. The Board awarded Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, the ARRL National Certificate of Merit for his outstanding volunteer service as a member of the SAREX Working Group.

  • Scarborough Reef was approved as a DXCC country. (See ARRL DX Bulletin 5.) The board vote was 11 to 3, with one abstention. Scarborough was added based on DXCC Rules Section II, Point 2(a) (Separation by Water).

  • The Federal Communications Commission reports it's making good progress on processing a backlog of more than 2800 ham radio license applications filed electronically, including almost 2000 from ARRL. The commission was back on the job again January 16, in the wake of a month-long shutdown begun by the budget impasse and extended by bad weather and a Federal holiday. Between the budget-related shutdown and a second bout of bad weather, the commission returned to work for one day January 11. However, that was just long enough for VECs to electronically file applications with the FCC for processing. A spokesman said the furlough and the snow days have delayed implementation of the vanity call sign program. The commission has yet to announce opening dates for the various vanity call sign filing gates. New and upgraded license information is available from ARRL by calling 860-594-0300. Applicants also can check the University of Arkansas at Little Rock FCC database at http://www.ualr.edu/~hamradio/index.html.--Bart Jahnke, KB9NM

ONE HAM RADIO POWER SUPPLY ABOARD MIR FAILS

German cosmonaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR/DP0MIR, aboard the Mir orbital complex, reports that a power supply used for some of the spacecraft's ham radio equipment failed on New Year's Eve. The remaining, older power supply is only capable of powering the old ICOM 2-meter transceiver and one 1200-baud TNC. The digital voice module also has failed, so there will be no more automatic voice recordings in the near future.

Reiter reports all four fuses in the two connected transceivers have blown and only two spare fuses remain. Last month, Reiter used the digital voice recorder, built by Thomas Kieselbach, DL2MDE, to broadcast holiday messages. The primary transmitting frequency is 145.800 MHz.

Recently, the cosmonauts on Mir unpacked new Amateur Radio equipment delivered by rocket, including a 70-cm FM transceiver and 9600-baud packet gear.

Reiter was philosophical. "Well, at least we can be reached and still can talk with the world," he said in a message to Dave Larsen, N6JLH.

BAD BOYS, BAD BOYS, WHATCHA GONNA DO?

A Rocklin, California, ham--Bobby Lee Aguero, KE6VNU--has been charged under state law with obstructing justice after he allegedly interfered with law enforcement radio communication systems in Sacramento County and Roseville, California, in early January. During the interference, dispatches from Roseville Police turned up on Sacramento County Sheriff's Department radios, and vice versa, said Jeff Haggard, WB6DKX, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department communications systems manager.

Authorities first traced a telephone call from the jammer, who called himself "The Phantom" and bragged about his misdeeds. The trace helped establish the likely vicinity of the transmissions. A police team that included other Amateur Radio operators then used radio direction-finding gear to pin down the source of the interference. Their "fox hunt" led to the apartment of Aguero, 18, who let Rocklin police search the premises. It took just a few minutes to find the offending radio, still in operation. Aguero was arrested on the spot. The two affected police agencies reportedly plan to ask the FCC to bring Federal charges for causing malicious interference with a public service communication network. Fortunately, no serious problems resulted from the interference, which occurred over a weekend, Haggard said.

In an unrelated incident, Ronald R. Ames, WB6RSD, of Hesperia, California, was found guilty of contempt and was ordered to pay $3000 and spend 15 days in jail. The penalties, ordered by Judge John P. Wade of the San Bernardino County Superior Court, stemmed from a dispute between Ames, 49, and the Keller Peak Repeater Association. Ames is a former repeater trustee. During pending civil litigation between the KPRA and Ames, the repeater group obtained a preliminary injunction against Ames and two other men to prevent them from impeding access to the KPRA repeater and from contacting and harassing KPRA members. On January 3, Wade found that Ames, but not the other two men, had violated the injunction by harassing other hams on the KPRA repeater and threatening some of them, and by jamming the machine. Wade stayed execution of the sentence until February 7.--Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF/Newsline

HAM RADIO FOILS THEFT ATTEMPT

Zachary Canright, KB0GMC, and Beryl Masters, WB0EJJ, of the Kansas City area recently helped police in Overland Park, Kansas, nab three teenagers trying to make a getaway with $7500 worth of computers stolen from a local store. Canright's attention was first drawn by the teens' peculiar behavior as they carelessly loaded computer equipment onto a truck, Canright then noticed the vehicle had no plates. He used his mobile radio and a local repeater to contact Masters, who called police to a shopping center lot where Canright had followed the youths and witnessed them attach plates to the pickup. Police arrested the trio and charged them with felony theft. The Kansas City Star published an account on December 2, 1995.--James F. Vano, KB0MZF

HELGE O. GRANBERG, K7ES/OH2ZE, SK

Helge O. Granberg, K7ES/OH2ZE, a Finnish-American amateur and ARRL Technical Advisor for many years, passed away at his home in Phoenix, Arizona, January 16. He was 63. Helge was a long-time employee of Motorola Inc in Phoenix and owned his own consulting business. Helge wrote many technical articles on RF subjects for amateur and industrial radio publications worldwide. While living in his native Finland, he was one of the earliest pioneers in SSB technology.

An accomplished inventor, Helge was well-known for the "Granberg Transistor," on which he held one of his many patents. Helge's wife, Tuula, a son and a daughter survive. A memorial service was held in Phoenix. His wife planned to return Helge's ashes to Finland for burial.

JOSEPH MERDLER, N6AHU, SK

Joseph Merdler, N6AHU, died January 17 after apparently suffering a massive heart attack. He was 60. Joe was very well known in ham radio legal circles nationwide and frequently spoke at conventions, including the Dayton Hamvention. His wife, Margo, survives. Services were held January 19 in Mission Hills, California.--Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF

DORLA R. KOELLING, N7DKU, SK

Dorla R. Koelling, N7DKU, of Plant City, Florida, passed away December 20 of cancer. She was 57. A cross-country trucker, Dorla was among those who regularly stopped by the on-air "country store" that Bob Orsburn, N5MTR, described in QST for April 1991. Of N7DKU, Orsburn writes: "She used her radio on 20 meters during the day to converse with friends and fellow drivers. At night, she would join us on 75. We followed her across the country when she was low on fuel in New Mexico, stuck in a snowstorm in Colorado, fighting heavy traffic in the big cities and into truck stops from coast to coast. Dorla has left an empty chair beside the old potbelly stove."

IN BRIEF:
  • Sharp-eyed hams watching CBS Television's 60 Minutes on Sunday, January 14, might have noticed that 2-meter FM ham gear was being used by the family of an American businessman kidnapped in Colombia to keep in touch with the man's abductors. The readout on the dial clearly indicated 147.20 MHz. The kidnappers supplied the radio gear to negotiate ransom terms, which eventually were met and the man released after nine months in captivity. However, the kidnappers never were found.

  • The FCC will not renew your license electronically, the ARRL's Regulatory Information Branch advises in response to several recent queries. You may download the FCC Form 610 from the FCC fax-on-demand service or from the FCC's home page on the World Wide Web. The FCC only renews a license if an application is received within 90 days before or two years after the license expiration date. It will not be renewed if submitted earlier. (NOTE: If you apply for renewal after your license expires, you may not operate until the application has been processed.) You should receive an FCC Form 610-R from the FCC 90 days before your ticket expires. If all of the information is correct, you just need to sign the form and return it. If you do not get a Form 610-R, a regular Form 610 is okay.

  • AMSAT reports that Kitsat-Oscar 23's transmitter efficiency went down during January because its orbit configuration offered no eclipse period, thus no time to cool down. The additional heating resulted in a degradation of efficiency. The situation is being monitored and it's hoped that all will become normal by the end of January. K-O 23 is a packet store-and-forward satellite. The spacecraft is a cooperative effort between Korea and the Surry group in the U.K. At the end of 1995, K-O 25 also reported problems with the onboard computer.--AMSAT News Service

The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111, tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J. Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.

Editorial, Rick Lindquist, KX4V, Assistant Technical Editor, rlindquist@arrl.org.

Electronic edition circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, kcapodicasa@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.

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