March 8, 1996 (Volume 15, Number 3)

INSIDE

• At Deadline: Hams respond to WI train wreck disaster

• Reward offered in Teetson murders
• FCC drops VEC conflict rules
• Petitions, Telecoms Act hold up vanity call signs
• Stafford appoints DXCC committee
• ATV rocket launch set
• Digital conference set for September in Seattle
• Florida hams help FCC snag unlicensed repeater users
• Twin brothers, twin calls
• Sunspots missing

• In Brief: DF4TR back on Earth; new IOTA address; good news for OK repeater owners; AO-10 coming back; orbital calendars available; Amateur Radio Month in NJ.

At Deadline . . .

• Ham radio operators stepped in to help after a freight train carrying liquid propane derailed early on the morning of March 4 in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. One tanker car exploded, and others caught on fire. As of March 8, six cars carrying liquid propane were burning. Authorities evacuated 1700 residents of the town, west of Appleton in Waupaca County, fearing another explosion. Fire officials say the fire may burn for several days, and residents won't be allowed back in until the fire burns itself out. Among those evacuated were residents of two nursing homes. "The Division of Emergency Government brought us in immediately," said Waupaca County EC Bob Krueger, N9BKF. He reported ARES volunteers from several counties were working in three shifts around the clock to provide communication for emergency response personnel and for the American Red Cross, which has set up two shelters in Waupaca. Krueger said the Amateur Radio network is using a couple of 2-meter repeaters to support communication at the incident command post and the staging area back from the scene. He said ham radio was helping to relieve the burden on the public service communication system and would be available if telephone systems should fail. Hams also were providing health-and-welfare traffic. RACES volunteers were handling long-haul traffic from the scene on 75 meters to the state Division of Emergency Government and the Red Cross in Madison, the state capital. "We've got a lot of tired people," said Krueger, who's also RACES officer for Waupaca County.

FAMILY OF SLAIN HAM COUPLE OFFERS $10,000 REWARD

The family of Floyd and Winnie Teetson has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the couple's killer or killers. Authorities in Louisiana continue their investigation into deaths but apparently have no new leads in the brutal slayings February 21 of former ARRL Delta Director Floyd Teetson, W5MUG, and his wife Winnie, WN5YTR. Newspaper reports quoted a Webster Parish (Louisiana) coroner's investigator as saying he believes the murder was the work of one person. The Teetsons were found slain at their home near Heflin, Louisiana, February 23. Authorities believe the couple died on the evening of February 21. The Webster Parish Sheriff's Department and Louisiana State Police have questioned several individuals, but have made no arrests, according to news reports. The Teetsons' minivan, which had been parked under a carport adjoining a utility shed where the couple's bodies were found, has been taken to a police crime lab. The vehicle's rear hatch was open when police first arrived and discovered the bodies.

A DXpedition group the Teetsons had planned to accompany to Little Cayman Island in the Caribbean used Floyd Teetson's Caymans call sign, ZF2FT, in the couple's memory during the ARRL International DX Contest (SSB) weekend of March 2-3. The ZF2FT crew included the Teetsons' close friend Troy Ballard, W5AU, and Shreveport hams Brian Lewis, N5OCD and Billy Hillman, N5XIQ. "We sure missed Floyd and Winnie down there," Lewis said. Along with their contest exchanges, several operators commented, "This one is for Floyd" and "Floyd and Winnie were good friends," he added. "The Teetsons had lots of ham friends." The team racked up 4,286,520 points in their memorial effort.

Floyd served as ARRL Delta Division director in 1962 and '63. Prior to that, he was the SCM of Mississippi (1960-61). He was an Honor Roll DXer and active contester and had been a member of several multi-op contest teams operating from various Caribbean DX sites. The Teetsons were active ARRL members.

Following funeral services in Heflin February 26, the family held a memorial service March 2 in Madison, Mississippi. Floyd, an electrical engineer, had worked for BellSouth in the Jackson, Mississippi, area before moving to Heflin, Louisiana about six years ago. Winnie had worked as a medical technologist during the couple's years in Mississippi.

Floyd, 74, was a native of Elroy, Wisconsin. His three children from a prior marriage--a son and two daughters--survive him. Winnie, 69, was a native of Heflin, Louisiana. She is survived by her mother, one son and two daughters from a previous marriage, and four sisters.

FCC DROPS VEC CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST RULES

The FCC has formally eliminated conflict-of-interest provisions that had applied to the administration of Amateur Radio exams. The action conforms Part 97 of the rules to the provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, recently signed into law by President Clinton.

The Commission also eliminated a requirement that volunteer examiners and volunteer examiner coordinators maintain records of out-of-pocket expenses and annually certify those expenses to the FCC. The FCC notes that VEs and VECs still may recover actual out-of-pocket costs from examinees. The maximum reimbursement fee is $6.07 for 1996.

The FCC said the rules changes will eliminate "unnecessary regulatory burdens."

The former provisions precluded equipment manufacturers and their employees and anyone who prepares or distributes ham radio license study materials from administering Amateur Radio license examinations. The underlying purpose was to prevent an employee from favoring examinees who had purchased manuals or equipment produced or distributed by the VE or the VE's employer. The FCC has concluded that other rules provisions, combined with current Amateur Radio license examination procedures, will protect against potential abuses.

The FCC notice announcing the rules changes pointed out that Section 97.523 requires VECs to cooperate in maintaining a single question pool for each examination element. As a result, all exam materials and manuals must draw from the standard question pool, which is widely available to the public. Also, the FCC noted, each exam is administered by three VEs and coordinated by a VEC. The Commission said it would be highly unlikely for any examinee to be favored by a VE or VEC.

The FCC said the 12 years of experience with the VEC system has shown that breaches of trust by VECs and VEs can be dealt with swiftly and immediately by disaccrediting the offending VEs or rescinding the VEC agreement.

The FCC adopted the rules changes February 28, 1996. They become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

PETITIONS, TELECOMS ACT BEHIND VANITY CALL SIGN DELAY

A lack of FCC action on four Petitions for Reconsideration and a flurry of activity to implement the provisions of the newly signed Telecommunications Act of 1996 are among the factors behind the Commission's recently announced delay in the Amateur Radio vanity call sign program. The FCC has said it would wait at least until mid-year to announce when it plans to open the first gate or gates of the long-awaited program. The FCC had been expected to announce opening dates early this year. The deadline to file comments has expired.

Still awaiting FCC action are Petitions for Reconsideration filed last fall by Charnelle H. Summers, W4IJE; David B. Popkin, W2CC; Robert Nelson, on behalf of the Hill Country Amateur Radio Club; and Christine M. Gill, on behalf of the Southern California Repeater and Remote Base Association.

In his petition, Summers asks the FCC to amend the vanity call sign rules to permit survivors of Extra Class licensees to get a late parent's call sign without having to upgrade, but only if the applicant has held an Advanced Class license for at least 25 years and the parent had been dead for more than two years. Summers would like to obtain W4AR, the call sign of his late father, who died in 1991. In its Memorandum and Order, the FCC granted a reconsideration request by Popkin to limit relatives to obtaining the call signs of deceased relatives that were of the same or lower operator class held by the applicant.

Popkin, in his latest petition, wants the FCC to fine tune the wording of the rules to make it clear that if no call signs on an applicant's list of choices is available, the FCC refund the fee and would not classify the original call sign vacated by the applicant as a vanity call sign requiring a fee for future renewals. He also asks that renewal applications be accepted on the license expiration date, not just prior to the date.

The Hill Country Amateur Radio Club of Kerrville, Texas, requests the FCC permit club stations issued licenses after March 24, 1995, to apply for the call sign of a deceased member under Gate 1A. The club's call sign, KC5OJZ, was issued May 5, 1995.

The Southern California Repeater and Remote Base Association petition asserts that in the process of revising the vanity call sign rules, the FCC "unintentionally introduced inequities." The association cites the Commission's denial of an ARRL reconsideration request to limit an applications for a vanity call sign to those available in the applicant's call sign district. The association wants the commission to change the procedures for Gate 1 filings to allow for placing a deceased family member's higher-grade call sign in "reserve" for two years to give an applicant time to upgrade. Both the SCRRBA and Summers expressed concerns that the FCC failed to provide a two-year "upgrade period" as the vanity call sign program commences.

FCC vanity call sign application Form 610V is now available, but the FCC will not accept completed forms until it opens the appropriate filing gates. Prospective applicants can get the FCC Form 610V package by writing ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Please include an sase. Form 610V also is available from the FCC via the Internet at http://www.fcc.gov/Forms/Form610V or ftp://ftp.fcc.gov/pub/Forms/Form610V/, or by fax at 202-418-0177. Ask for Form 006108. The FCC's Forms Distribution Center also accepts orders for Form 610V at 800-418-3676.

ARRL PRESIDENT STAFFORD APPOINTS COMMITTEE TO STUDY DXCC

ARRL President Rod Stafford, KB6ZV, has appointed John Kanode, N4MM, to chair a committee to review the entire DXCC Program. The ARRL Board of Directors, at its meeting in Savannah, Georgia, asked President Stafford to name the committee. The panel will recommend changes necessary to "encourage broader participation by more amateurs, make the program more equitable, create better understood criteria for DXCC 'countries,' improve the process of reviewing requests for additions and deletions to the ARRL DXCC List and increase efficiency in the administration of the program."

In any case, there are no plans to scrap the DXCC program, said DXCC Manager Bill Kennamer, K5FUV, one of those named to the committee. "It's too important in the greater scheme of things, internationally," he said.

The committee is unofficially known as the DXCC 2000 Committee, reflecting its goal to have any changes to the DXCC program in place by the year 2000. Kennamer said he does not anticipate restarting the entire DXCC program, as has been suggested. "But we might make certain changes to make it more of a level playing field," he said. Applicable "country" credits from the current DXCC program will continue to count regardless of what other changes may occur.

Also appointed were Larry Price, W4RA; Rick Roderick, K5UR; Jim Maxwell, W6CF; Walt Stinson, WØCP; Garth Hamilton, VE3HO; Bob Winn, W5KNE; Wayne Mills, N7NG; and Chuck Hutchinson, K8CH.

1996 ARRL AND TAPR DIGITAL CONFAB SET

Mark your calendars and make plans now to attend the year's premier Amateur Radio digital communications event. The 1996 ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference is set for September 20-22, 1996, in Seattle, Washington--just minutes from the SeaTac Airport. This marks the first time the ARRL Digital Communications Conference and TAPR Annual General Meeting have joined into one conference. Local sponsors include the Puget Sound Amateur Radio TCP/IP Group and Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society (BEARS).

This international forum is for hams and experts in digital communications, networking and related technologies to meet, publish their work and present new ideas and techniques for discussion. Presenters and those attending have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and software advances, theories, experimental results and practical applications.

Papers are invited for publication in the conference proceedings. Presentation at the conference is not required for publication. Send papers by July 23, 1996 to Maty Weinberg, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 USA or via the Internet at lweinberg@arrl.org. Maty has details on format requirements.

ARRL and TAPR especially welcome papers from full-time students to compete for the first annual student papers award. Two $500 travel awards will be present for best technical/theory-oriented paper by a student and for best educational or community-oriented application paper by a student. Papers should relate directly to a wireless digital communication topic. Papers co-authored by educators or telecommunications professionals also are eligible for this award, as long as a student is the first author. First-year awards have been funded through a grant by The ARRL Foundation Inc. The deadline for completed student paper manuscripts is June 11 (please note this date is earlier than the deadline for general papers).

For full details and paper guidelines, contact TAPR (see below) or check http://www.tapr.org/.

Workshop presentations include Keith Sproul, WU2Z, on APRS packet-location software; Dewayne Hendricks, WA8DZP, on "How to Utilize Part 15 Radios for Ham Applications," and a workshop on Wireless Networking using WA4DSY 56K RF modem technology and its accessories.

For more information on the conference, registration, and hotel reservations, contact TAPR, 8987-309 E Tanque Verde Rd, No. 337, Tucson, AZ 85749-9399, tel 817-383-0000; fax 817-566-2544; e-mail tapr@tapr.org.

ATV ROCKET LAUNCH SET

Amateur Radio plays a role in plans to launch an ATV-carrying rocket from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, nearly 50 miles into the air over Lake Michigan, as part of the Wisconsin Rockets for Schools Project, a program to stimulate interest and excitement in mathematics and science. Some 3000 students, most in grades 6 through 12, are expected to witness the May 4 launch of the 11-foot-long Super Loki sounding rocket that will carry a black-and-white camera, ATV transmitter and radiotelemetry gear aloft. When the rocket reaches its peak altitude, it releases the payload and switches on the equipment automatically, explained Bryan Suits, WB8WKN, of Houghton, Michigan, who's in charge of the ATV payload. Over the next half-hour or so, the payload will descend into Lake Michigan on a Mylar parachute-type device. "One frame of video is 100% success. Anything after that is a bonus," Suits said, but added: "We hope to see the entire descent."

The Rockets for Schools program puts an emphasis on meteorological and environmental monitoring. Forty-five students will participate directly on one of the five teams: Launch, Range Safety, Tracking and Communication, Payload and Recovery.

If it all works, ground-station monitors will see Lake Michigan from aloft. In addition, radiotelemetry equipment will transmit data on battery voltage, internal temperature, external temperature and, possibly, ozone levels in the atmosphere. The camera will be aimed out the side of the payload device, which weighs about 17 lb. The ATV transmitter will put out up to 2 W of power on 434 MHz into a simple dipole or quarter-wave (with the metallic case as a counterpoise). Three 3-V lithium batteries will power the equipment. Telemetry and a CW identifier will be carried on the audio subcarrier. A floatation device is to deploy to keep the payload afloat for recovery. Plans to include a GPS unit were scrapped, Suits said.

"It should be quite a show," Suits said of the one-time experimental event. It's believed this will be the first sub-orbital rocket launched from Wisconsin. The first Rockets for Schools launch was in Florida in 1993.

The ambitious educational project must comply not just with local and federal laws but with the laws of physics as well. Just for the Amateur Radio component, Suits--a physics professor at Michigan Technological University--has found the demands are stringent. Space in the payload is very tight: it measures approximately 1.6 inches in diameter by 1 foot long. In addition, the launch will impose some 100 g of force and temperatures could rise briefly into the region of 250° C. Suits says he's done some ATV work on the ground but "never anything this ambitious" before.

Prior to the rocket launch, Near Space Sciences, a group involved with the rocket launch, will send up a balloon with an amateur crossband repeater, color ATV system and GPS. The equipment on the balloon will facilitate communication between the launch site and outlying areas.

The project had obtained approvals from the FAA, the EPA, the US Coast Guard and "a whole pile of local authorities," Suits said. ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, N3AKD, is helping with FCC notifications and approvals required for operation above 50 km (approximately 31 miles) altitude.

FLORIDA HAMS, FCC CLIP UNLICENSED LAWNMOWER MEN

What started out sounding like intermod from a lawn service company on a Sarasota, Florida, Amateur Radio repeater (W4IE/R, 146.91 MHz) in mid-February turned into a three-week-long ordeal involving the FCC and a lot of legwork by the Sarasota Amateur Radio Association, the repeater's sponsor. The intermod turned out to be bootlegging, and club members logged and transcribed transmissions by several people using false call signs--including phone-patch calls.

After about a week, the FCC's Tampa, Florida, office was called in. Initially, the FCC was reluctant to deal with the problem, but after club officials called the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau in Washington, D.C., the problem was handled quickly. By month's end, the field engineer-in-charge told the Sarasota hams who had done the tracking that they would be in the area that day.

On the afternoon of February 27, the FCC told the hams that they had established a "fingerprint" of the offenders' transmitter and--as a bonus--also had identified two other individuals who had been making rude noises on the repeater! In the joint effort that ensued, FCC field personnel and the Sarasota hams physically located and observed the perpetrators that same day. That evening, FCC personnel called at the home of the owner of the lawn service whose workers had been using the W4IE repeater. The FCC stated the owner was "very cooperative," and several radios and the employees involved were rounded up. Club members later learned that charges were filed against the lawn service and the involved employees.--KF4DMP, Sarasota Amateur Radio Association Amplifier

TWIN BROTHERS, TWIN CALL SIGNS

Floyd Bumpus is N5EL. His identical twin, Lloyd Bumpus, is N6EL. How'd they do that?! Well, it was just good timing. In 1977, when the FCC allowed Extra Class licensees to apply for special call signs, Floyd was K5OKQ, and Lloyd was W6PXB (ex-K5ELY). They wrote a joint letter to the FCC and each sent a Form 610. On the same day, April 2, they received N5EL and N6EL. "Keeping up with current affairs concerning Amateur Radio through QST and other publications allowed us to be at the right place at the right time," said Floyd.

The twins got interested in ham radio near the end of World War II, when their oldest brother was captured by the German Army in the Battle of the Bulge. The War Department sent a "missing-in-action" telegram to the family. A few months later, they received a postcard from a ham radio operator in New York City saying he'd intercepted a message from a German station giving a list of names of prisoners of war being sent to a certain prison camp. The brother's name was on the list. "We had not received any information until this time about the welfare of our brother," Floyd recalled. "Within a few weeks we received a form card from him saying he was at the prison camp as had been noted on the postcard from the ham operator."

Eventually their brother was liberated, and Lloyd and Floyd joined the US Navy, serving together. Lloyd became a radio op and stayed 22 years, while Floyd got out after 4. In 1956, Lloyd--stationed in Asmara, Eritrea, at the time--made a phone patch to Floyd via Dick Freeling, W5TIZ, an A-1 Operator from Little Rock, Arkansas, who was completely blind. That's when the twins really got interested in the hobby and have since enjoyed QSOs with each other from all over the world.

"Amateur Radio has a special place in our lives, and I sincerely hope all operators can enjoy our hobby as much as we have. We are both very active in promoting Amateur Radio," Floyd said. --Rosalie White, WA1STO

SUNSPOTS TURN UP MISSING

Keep those low-band antennas up! Solar seer Tad Cook, KT7H, reports solar activity continues to be extremely low, with extended periods of no sunspots at all. "It looks like 1996 will certainly be the year of the quiet sun for cycle 22," said Cook. Current projections show the sunspot minima (ie, numbers of sunspots observed) will occur this year, with the minimum solar flux still a year off. After the minimum, activity should begin to move upward rapidly, and even 10 meters could be exciting again in a few years, he said.

Current 80 and 160-meter conditions are good, especially with the quiet geomagnetic conditions we are experiencing. Conditions on the higher bands should improve soon because of seasonal variations as we head into spring, and not because of solar activity.

Flux levels should be back up to 75 by the third week of March, after leveling off around 70 earlier in the month. Quiet geomagnetic conditions should prevail, but some moderate disturbances are possible March 10, 11 and 23.

• German cosmonaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, is back on Earth. Reiter ended the longest European Space Agency manned mission February 29 with the successful landing of the Soyuz TM-22 spacecraft. Reiter and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Avdeev had been aboard the Mir orbital complex since September 1995. Reiter, who's 37, has entered the record books as the first ESA astronaut to perform a spacewalk and the first European to make a second walk in space. At 180 days, his mission is the longest by a non-Russian. --AMSAT News Service.

• The RSGB has a new address to mail Islands on the Air (IOTA) program inquiries and administrative correspondence. The RSGB emphasizes this address should not be used for QSL checking or IOTA award applications. The address is: RSGB IOTA Programme, PO Box 9, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 3RH, England. RSGB says all other correspondence should be directed to the authorized checkpoints.

• Good news for repeater operators with autopatch lines in Oklahoma's Southwestern Bell service area. Repeater owners now pay residential rates instead of commercial rates for telephone service to ham clubs' autopatch sites.

• OSCAR-10 may be coming back to life. Reports indicate the satellite's transponder is putting out a beacon tone and that the downlink has been functional. The spacecraft has been plagued by low levels of solar energy on its panels. Meanwhile, RS-12 apparently is offering strong signals via its newly activated 2-meter downlink on Mode KT. The uplink passband is 21.21-21.25 MHz; the 2-meter downlink passband is 145.91-145.95 MHz.

• ARRL publishes monthly orbital calendars, which include equator crossings for many popular amateur satellites and the Mir Space Station Complex. These data are helpful for those who manually track satellites. To get a copy, send a 4×9-inch SASE with two units of First-Class postage each month to Technical Department (ORBITS), ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111.

• June will be Amateur Radio Month in New Jersey, according to a proclamation by Gov. Whitman. The occasion is the 80th anniversary of the South Jersey Radio Association, which may be the oldest ham radio club in the US.

Electronic edition circulation/address changes, Kathy Capodicasa, kcapodicasa@arrl.org.

Printed edition circulation, Mark Dzamba, 860-594-0253.

Editorial, Rick Lindquist, Assistant Technical Editor, 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.