June 14, 1996 (Volume 15, Number 6)

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IN THIS EDITION. . .

2-METER/70-CM BAND THREAT COMMENT FLOOD CONTINUES

Hams continue to respond in force to defend the 2-meter and 70-cm bands against a threat from the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS). Since the issue surfaced in May, hams and others have directed thousands of letters, e-mail messages, and faxes to representatives on Informal Working Group 2A (IWG-2A), which is preparing draft US proposals for the 1997 World Radiocommunication Conference. The IWG-2A's list of "candidate bands" for low-earth-orbit mobile satellites ("little LEOs") includes the 144 and 420-MHz bands, among others suggested for consideration. Little LEOs are intended mainly to offer commercial paging and other low-data-rate messaging services.

The list of candidate bands was submitted by little LEO industry representatives at a May 7 IWG-2A meeting. ARRL Technical Relations Manager Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, was present and objected strongly to the inclusion of these two bands. As directed, the ARRL subsequently put its objections in writing. Despite the objections, the two ham bands remained on the table, prompting ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, to issue a call to action in his July 1996 QST editorial. The editorial--circulated far and wide by e-mail and packet radio--generated so many responses that the FCC has had to modify its procedures to cope with the deluge!

Instead of directing comments to the individuals listed in the pre-press version of Sumner's editorial, the Commission's new procedures ask that comments by e-mail be sent to wrc97@fcc.gov. Written comments, with an original plus one copy, should be sent to: Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC 20554. Each comment should include at the top, "Reference No. ISP-96-005" and "Advisory Committee Informal Working Group 2A." The FCC staff assures that all comments will be given prompt consideration. Spread the word about this new commenting procedure. But remember: as Sumner's July QST editorial advises--Do comment. But be civil. Don't abuse people who are simply doing their jobs.

The initial outpouring of comments directed to individuals prompted the Chairman of the Industry Advisory Committee Scott B. Harris to ask the League to call off the campaign. In a June 5 fax, Harris accused the League of unfairly targeting private-industry representatives on the committee. "The tactic ARRL has chosen to use in this process in neither necessary nor appropriate," Harris wrote. Sumner responded that Harris was misinformed about the ARRL's intentions. "The League has participated actively in the IAC, IWG-2A, and other IWGs as appropriate, and will continue to do so," he replied. "Our 'campaign' is not to 'protest' the work being conducted in IWG-2A. Rather, it is an educational campaign."

Meanwhile, the FCC's Cecily C. Holiday--who's director of the WRC-97 Preparatory Team--expressed assurances to the Amateur Radio community that "no amateur bands have been selected for reallocation." In a June 5 letter to Sumner, she said the list of bands generated at the IWG-2A's May 7 meeting "represent only the IWG-2A's initial efforts to study spectrum use below 1 GHz in order to assess the feasibility of proposing world-wide MSS allocations in that range." She called the proposals "only the initial component of a long-term effort to conduct sharing studies before submitting the Committee's proposals to the Commission for review."

Holiday said that, before recommending preliminary proposals for consideration by the Commission, IWG-2A participants "must first conduct sharing studies among a range of services using frequencies below 1 GHz" to find out if it's feasible to share among services and to recommend specific frequency bands. Holiday said that all written and electronic comments from Amateur Radio operators received at the Commission have been included as part of the public record on WRC-97.

The complete text of this correspondence is available on the ARRL Web Page, http://www.arrl.org/. Click on Band Threat News for the latest word.

Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) also has called on Canada's 47,000 hams to support the League's initiative by sending their comments to the RAC rather than directly to a government body. The RAC will have a representative on the Canadian WRC-97 Conference Preparatory Committee. The RAC has promised it "will place strong technical, political, social and economic argument in opposition to the use of Amateur bands for this ill conceived attempt at an incompatible shared service." RAC President Farrell Hopwood, VE7RD, and Vice President Jim Dean, VE3IQ, are coordinating response to the threat north of the border.

SAR: A NEW 70-CM OCCUPANT?

In a development unrelated to the commercial "little LEO" proposal to share 2 meters and 70 cm, AMSAT News Service reports that NASA (JPL) plans to launch a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on a satellite to be placed in a 400-km orbit. The SAR would operate in the 400-470 MHz range. The choice of this part of the spectrum is reportedly due to the radar's ability to penetrate foliage and desert. Word has it that they plan to seek access to the 430-440 MHz band. The proposed NASA radar will reportedly result in a very high-power flux density at the Earth's surface and could cause interference to amateur operations if the radar transmissions were to be continuous. This appears not to be the plan, however, based on recent correspondence between ARRL and JPL.

JPL claims that the imaging radar proposed will transmit only over land with a typical 1 to 5-minute "on" period followed by a 10-minute "off" time. These on-off cycles will be active mainly over dry land masses and woody biomasses, but rarely over populated areas. The proposed single-satellite NASA/JPL system won't fly before 2001. NASA and JPL claim that the short duration of the active transmissions and the on-board antenna directivity (the main beam, pointing sideways, will illuminate a given point in the Earth's surface for less than 2.5 seconds) will result in an insignificant probability of continuous harmful interference to the Amateur Radio service.

In another, similar proposal, the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs was reported to have submitted a request for a frequency allocation for an "Earth Exploration Satellite" within the 400-470 MHz Band. This was presented and discussed in December at a meeting of the Space Frequency Coordination Group. The Netherlands government requests an allocation of at least 3.5 MHz of bandwidth in the frequency band 400-470 MHz. The footprint of the satellite antenna will be 83 km by 83 km. This report assumes a satellite altitude of 750 km, which, they calculate, would illuminate a given location on Earth for about 13 seconds while the satellite passes over. The report claims the number of times an Earth station would experience interference from the SAR depends on the station's latitude, but would only be about nine times a year.

The Netherlands SAR would operate in a burst mode having a duty cycle of 30% (0.43 seconds on, 1 second off) with a peak power of 760 W and an antenna gain of 28.7 dB. Linear frequency modulation pulse compression (chirp) would be used. Based on these parameters, the report calculates the peak power flux density as -75 dBW/m2 in its 3.5 MHz bandwidth (-87 dBW average).

ARRL has asked AMSAT to assess the interference potential to and from the amateur satellite service that might result from both of these proposed satellite radars.--AMSAT News Service

VANITY (FLOOD)GATE 1 OPENS TO ENTHUSIASTIC RESPONSE

Thanks to the new vanity call sign program, W4KFC--the former call sign of the late ARRL President Vic Clark--will again grace the airwaves. On June 7, the FCC issued W4KFC to Vic Clark's son Ken. The younger Clark, who lives in Centreville, Virginia, was formerly K4OKZ. Vic Clark served as ARRL President from 1982 until his death in 1983. Vanity Gate 1, which permits licensees to get back former individual or club call signs or the former call sign of a deceased close relative, opened May 31.

The FCC reports it received 371 first-day applications and nearly 700 the following day. By June 10, the Commission had nearly 1700 applications in hand. Some folks apparently jumped the gun, however. The FCC reports 85 applications were filed too early. These had to be returned to applicants for timely resubmittal. A handful of applications have required special handling by the Commission.

The FCC's Larry Weikert said the vanity call sign program has not been without its problems. Some of the more common ones: The license of a deceased ham is still in the FCC database, since no one has properly requested that the license be canceled. Item 6 on Form 610V also has been a problem area. Some applicants are failing to show their current valid call signs. Other applicants are not selecting one of the choices in Item 7B. For example, they're writing "son" when the correct response should be "child."

In addition, "we have had some that applied when their gate is not yet open, or they are applying for a Group A call sign and they are only a General class," Weikert reports.

Gate 1 remains open for applications indefinitely. The FCC has not yet announced opening dates for the other filing gates.

ASTRONAUT RON PARISE VISITS SCHOOL

Elementary school students at Plymouth Center School in Connecticut recently rolled out the red carpet for a very special visitor, NASA Mission Specialist Ron Parise, WA4SIR. Parise spent an activity-packed day with students he'd spoken with during the STS-67 SAREX mission last year.

Several area schools also joined in the fun with Parise and the school's ham radio club via the airwaves. Spotting a great opportunity, the ARRL was on hand to shoot footage for a new public service announcement, featuring the theme "You Never Know Who You'll Meet on the Air."

Stay tuned for more information about our new ham radio PSAs for TV and radio.--Jennifer Hagy, N1TDY

SHUTTLE MISSION STS-78 TO CARRY SAREX

Space shuttle mission STS-78, set to launch June 20, will carry a SAREX payload aboard the Columbia. Three amateurs will be among the crew of seven--two Americans and one Canadian: Astronaut Susan T. Helms, KC7NHZ, will serve as the payload commander. She was a crew member aboard the shuttle Endeavour during STS-54 in January 1993 and operated SAREX from aboard Discovery during STS-64 in September 1994; Charles E. Brady Jr, N4BQW, is a mission specialist on his first shuttle flight. Canadian Robert Brent Thirsk, VA3CSA, will serve as a payload specialist. He's also on his first shuttle flight.

Remaining crew members include Commander Terence T. Henricks, Pilot Kevin R. Kregel, Mission Specialist Richard M. Linnehan, and Payload Specialist Jean-Jacques Favier. During the mission, the shuttle will carry the Life and Microgravity Spacelab to conduct experiments in the weightless environment.

SAREX--the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment--is sponsored by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA and is supported by the FCC. Amateur Radio has been flying aboard the shuttles since 1983.

Launch time for STS-78 is 10:49 AM (Eastern) from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch will place the shuttle into Earth orbit at an altitude of 173 statute miles. The mission is planned to run for nearly 16 days and end July 6, but it could be extended an additional day, which would make it NASA's longest shuttle mission to date.

The SAREX Working Group has chosen a handful of schools from around the world to make scheduled contacts with the shuttle during this SAREX mission, so students can ask questions of the astronauts during the contact. Here are the schools selected for a scheduled radio contact during this mission:

  • Bethlehem Central Senior High School, Delmar, New York
  • Eisenhower Middle School, San Antonio, Texas
  • Heritage Middle School, Collyville, Texas
  • Anacortes Middle School, Anacortes, Washington
  • Valley Heights Junior-Senior High School, Blue Rapids, Kansas
  • Monroe Elementary School, Santa Barbara, California
  • Maple Grove Education Centre, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • Saskatoon Public AreospaCe Education (SPACE), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
  • Toowoomba State High School, Queensland, Australia
  • Catholic Ladies College, Victoria, Australia
  • CENG - Nuclear Center of Grenoble, Grenoble, France

During most SAREX missions, crew members also make random contacts with earth-bound hams. Over the past several years, ham astronauts have contacted thousands of amateurs around the world and, on many missions, they have even carried 2-meter packet. They make these contacts during their breaks, before and after mealtime, and during their pre-sleep time. Innovative computer software allows the crew to operate the packet gear in an "unattended" mode, allowing amateurs to make contacts with the robot station when the astronauts are working or sleeping. The call signs to look for on FM voice are KC7NHZ, N4BQW and VA3CSA. The FM packet call sign is W5RRR-1.

The crew uses separate receive and transmit frequencies. Please do not transmit on the shuttle's downlink frequency. The downlink is your receiving frequency. The uplink is your transmitting frequency. The crew will not favor any of the uplink frequencies, so your ability to communicate with SAREX will be the "luck of the draw." Transmit only when the shuttle is within range of your station and when the shuttle's station is on the air.

  • Worldwide FM Voice Downlink: 145.55 MHz
  • FM Voice Uplink: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, and 144.99 MHz
  • Europe-only FM Voice Uplink: 144.70, 144.75, and 144.80 MHz
  • FM Packet Downlink: 145.55 MHz
  • FM Packet Uplink: 144.49 MHz
Some SAREX activities will take place on shuttle mission STS-78 during this year's ARRL Field Day, June 22-23. KC7NHZ, N4BQW and VA3CSA hope to find enough free time to hand out points from the shuttle to Field Day ops.

Send reports and QSLs to ARRL EAD, STS-78 QSL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111-1494, USA. Include the following information in your QSL or report: STS-78, date, time in UTC, frequency and mode. If you wish to receive a card, you must also include an SASE using a large, business-sized envelope. "The Net" in Anacortes, Washington, has generously volunteered to manage the cards for this mission.

PROBE LAUNCHED INTO ARIANE 5 FAILURE

The European Space Agency and CNES--the French space agency--have set up an independent board of inquiry to look into the causes of the failure of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle following its launch June 4 from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's Spaceport, at Kourou, French Guiana. The board also will propose actions to prevent a recurrence. The board is being asked to report by mid July. The Amateur Radio Phase 3-D satellite is scheduled to be launched in October using the same type of rocket. In the wake of the June 4 failure, AMSAT officials have not ruled out a delay in that schedule.

Right now, investigators are looking closely at the launcher's electrical and software systems. The launcher was carrying the European Space Agency's four Cluster satellites, a science mission to study Earth-Sun interactions, but no Amateur Radio satellites. The vehicle veered off course after nearly 40 seconds of flight and was destroyed by an "onboard neutralization system." Preliminary analysis of the telemetry data confirms that the propulsion stages functioned correctly.--AMSAT News Service

N4T OPERATING SCHEDULE

Ron Quednau, N4GHU, reports a more refined schedule for the Tennessee Bicentennial Station, N4T, at the Bicentennial Mall in Nashville. He says operators will try to concentrate on the following frequencies: 3.502, 7.002, 7.108 and 14.002 MHz.

Guest operators and visitors are welcome by appointment. Call N4GHU at 615-532-1711, days, or 615-776-5345, evenings.

A commemorative QSL card signed by Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist will be issued for contacts with N4T. The card bears Sundquist's message: "Let Tennessee Amateur Radio commemorate our Bicentennial with this QSL card." Quednau says similar cards bearing the governor's proclamation are available to all Tennessee amateurs for the Bicentennial celebration.

1×1 CALLS HIT THE AIR IN FORCE FOR WRTC

Those 1×1 sixth-district call signs you'll be hearing July 13 and 14 are no mirage. The FCC has authorized 52 1×1 call signs (W6A through W6Z and K6A through K6Z), one for each team competing in the second World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC). The call signs will be assigned to the WRTC teams by random drawing a few hours before the event. Awards are available for working WRTC stations.

First held in 1990, the WRTC this time will run as a "sub-event" of the IARU HF World Championship contest. The WRTC event runs from 1200 UTC Saturday, July 13 until 0600 UTC Sunday, July 14 (the IARU contest run another six hours). WRTC teams compete as two-person, multi-single entries.

WRTC participants come from 30 different DXCC countries and were chosen by national Amateur Radio organizations, contest clubs, and an international panel of judges. Among their ranks are world record holders in virtually every major HF contest. To provide a "level playing field," all teams will operate from low-elevation sites in the San Francisco Bay area, running 100 W. Each team will use a triband Yagi approximately 50 feet high for 10, 15, and 20 meters, and dipoles for 40 meters (WRTC stations will not operate on 80 or 160 meters). By eliminating many of the station and propagation variables normally associated with radio contesting, the WRTC "strives to present a meaningful competition in which the winners can rightfully claim to be the best of the best," according to WRTC publicity chairman Rusty Epps, W6OAT.

QSL cards will be sent to holders of call signs that appear in the 52 WRTC computerized station logs. Each WRTC station using a 1×1 call sign will have a unique QSL card. Those who bust the pileups will earn a customized, commemorative WRTC letter opener with endorsements for 10, 25, 50, 75, or 100 QSOs on any combination of bands and modes. Because you can contact each of the 52 WRTC stations once on SSB and once on CW on each of four bands, it is possible to make up to 416 QSOs. Achieving a "grand slam" by working all 52 call signs can earn you a special commemorative deck of WRTC playing cards. WRTC T-shirts go to the top 300 stations who make the most QSOs with WRTC teams. Several clubs and individuals have donated plaques to be awarded to amateurs in specific geographical areas who make the most QSOs with WRTC team stations.

The WRTC Committee will publish the list of stations qualifying for awards in various ham publications and on the Internet Contest and DX reflectors. If you make the list (at least 10 QSOs with WRTC stations) and want to receive your award(s), send a self-addressed adhesive mailing label (not an SASE) with your name, call sign, and address to WRTC-96 Inc, c/o Rusty Epps, W6OAT, 651 Handley Trail, Redwood City, CA 94062, USA. For the letter opener or the playing cards, include $2 (or 4 IRCs) to cover postage and handling; for the T-shirt, send $5 (or 10 IRCs) and your shirt size, S, M, L, XL or XXL. Please submit your request before December 31, 1996.--Patty Winter, N6BIS

WRTC-96 Announces Chinese and Latvian Exhibition Teams

Two exhibition teams have been added to the lineup of stations which will be active in connection with the World Radiosport Team Championship competition July 13 and 14, 1996. Attending from the People's Republic of China will be BA1OK and BA4RC plus their coach and observer BA1FB. The PRC team will operate WRTC using the call sign AH3D. Attending from Latvia will be YL2KL and YL3CW who will sign AH3C in the competition.

Although these two exhibition teams will not compete with the 52 official teams using the 1×1 call signs, they nonetheless will operate from relatively similar stations and generally observe the same rules as the 52 official teams.

Anyone working AH3C or AH3D during the competition may count these stations as "wild cards" for the purpose of qualifying for the commemorative deck of WRTC playing cards available to those who contact all 52 different 1×1 WRTC call signs. AH3C and AH3D may be substituted for any two 1×1 call signs otherwise missed.

OL' SOL IS SPOTLESS AGAIN

Sun watcher Tad Cook, KT7H, says there is very little solar activity to report! There was an eight-day run of no visible sunspots at the end of May, but activity has picked up slightly since then. Average solar flux is up about two points from the May 23 report. Solar flux is expected to drop down below 70 after today (June 14). It isn't expected to rise above 70 until after the first of July.

Geomagnetic conditions are quiet, but some moderate unsettled conditions are forecast for June 16 and 17. Propagation on the upper bands remains depressed. As we move toward summer, 160 and 80 meters are getting noisier. Check 30 and 40 meters during the night for worldwide propagation and 20 meters during the day.

Sunspot numbers for May 30 through June 5 were 0, 0, 11, 11, 13, 23 and 28, respectively, with a mean of 12.3. The 10.7-cm flux was 66.5, 68, 68.5, 68.2, 69.1, 69.2, and 70.7, respectively, with a mean of 68.6.

HAM RADIO EARNS PRAISE AT RIO FORUM

Amateur Radio came in for high praise this past week from presenters at the Strategies Forum, being held in conjunction with ITU Americas Telecom 96, a week-long telecommunications exposition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, reports ARRL International Affairs Vice President Larry Price, W4RA, who's attending and helping to man the IARU Region 2 display at Americas Telecom 96.

Hans Zimmerman, Senior Officer, UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs, concluded his presentation by offering "special thanks" to ham radio, which he described as "a mainstay of emergency telecommunications."

"The Amateur Service provide the best qualified operators for emergency telecommunications, which requires flexibility, ingenuity and improvisation. The Amateur Radio Service also provides a unique, world-wide, decentralized network of highly disaster-resistant stations," Zimmerman declared. He appealed to policymakers "to facilitate and to encourage the development and the use of this unique and entirely voluntary, and at the same time highly professional, public service."

IARU Region 2 President Tom Atkins, VE3CDM, spoke on behalf of the Amateur Service. He addressed ham radio's history and tradition of contribution during emergencies, taking particular note of events which have occurred in the Americas, including storms, floods, earthquakes and volcano eruptions. Atkins also discussed the CITEL/OAS initiative to establish an International Amateur Radio Permit (IARP) as a way to facilitate the movement of operators and possibly equipment across international borders.

Session moderator M. Harbi, Special Assistant to ITU Secretary General Tarjanne, paid tribute to the work of amateurs and indicated both his personal support and that of the ITU to encourage a regulatory framework favorable to Amateur Radio and sufficient frequency allocations to permit the service to perform its functions.

During a question-and-answer session, Price offered his own observation that there is "no system which man has invented (or is likely to invent) which will not someday fail and there will continue to be a role and need for amateurs to assist in emergencies."

TRANSATLANTIC CHALLENGE

To assist in the study of transatlantic VHF propagation, a 2-meter test beacon was scheduled to begin operating June 9 from the southwestern coast of Ireland. The CW beacon, signing EI3DP/P, will remain on the air for about three months on 144.480 MHz, running 25 W. The antenna is an eight-element horizontal Quagi at 20 feet aimed at the US and Canada. The specific location is in grid square IO41xp (51.38 N, 10.00 W).

The beacon transmits every 60 seconds. It sends: TEST DE EI3DP/P EI3DP/P EI3DP/P QTH IO41XP.

Any station in US or Canada that monitors the transmission and wants to attempt a QSO may page Tom, EI4DQ, and Dave, EI4HT, at 353 1 2032371. They will be available 24 hours a day and can be on air within 30 minutes. They'll operate CW on 144.080 MHz. Station operator Jim Ryan, EI3DP, would appreciate reports from stations who monitor the transmission.

In Brief . . .

  • Courage HANDI-HAM Educational Coordinator Sister Alverna O'Laughlin, WA0SGJ, is recovering from injuries received May 31 in an automobile accident in southern Minnesota. Sister Alverna suffered a badly broken leg and other less-serious injuries and had to undergo surgery. It's expected she'll have to wear a cast for several months (she got a new cast this week). A Franciscan nun, Sister Alverna will recuperate at Assisi Heights, her order's motherhouse. She's reported to be in good spirits. Cards and letters (no telephone calls, please) are welcome to Sr Alverna O'Laughlin, Assisi Heights, Third Floor Health Care, Rochester, MN 55903. Sister Alverna received the 1988 International Humanitarian Award in recognition of her dedication to helping people with disabilities and through service to the community (see QST January 1990, page 53). Maureen Pranghofer, KF0I, who learned Amateur Radio with Sister Alverna's help, and who worked alongside her for years, will fill in during Sister Alverna's convalescence.

  • The FCC lists the number of new licensees for the month of May as 3301--another good monthly total.

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.