Volume 17, Number 3 (January 16, 1998)

The ARRL Letter Index
ARRL Audio News

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IN THIS EDITION:

+Available on ARRL Audio News

ARRL BOARD MEETS

The ARRL Board of Directors is meeting this week in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, for its first session of the new year. Standing committees met on Thursday, January 15. The whole Board will gather Friday and Saturday, January 16 and 17.

A report on the Board's actions will be available as a W1AW bulletin and in the next edition of The ARRL Letter.

NEW YORK HAMS HELP IN ICE STORM RECOVERY

Hams in upstate New York continue to respond to the weather emergency caused by ice storms that hit the Northeast. But more bad weather could be on the way to the affected areas. Albany County ARES was activated January 8 to assist the American Red Cross. Eastern New York DEC April Stack, K2ZCZ, reports a local emergency net began operating on the 147.12 MHz repeater, while neighboring Schenectady County ARES ran a flood watch emergency net on the 147.06 MHz repeater. The 145.39 Mount Equinox, Vermont, repeater also was being used to relay information to Northern New York counties when HF could not be utilized. HF communication continues on 7255 kHz and 3993.5 kHz.

A state of emergency was declared in five upstate New York counties (Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, and St Lawrence). National Guard units were dispatched January 9 to assist in recovery efforts. Five Eastern New York hams are assisting at Red Cross Shelters in Malone, in Franklin County. In the early stages of operation, Capital District (Albany-area) hams found themselves faced with two problems: first trying to deal with the North Country ice storm, then assisting with localized flooding in Schoharie, Fulton, Schenectady, and Albany counties. Some 50 homes had to be evacuated in Waterford, where the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers meet. The Red Cross has set up shelters in affected areas.

To facilitate communication in areas of the North Country, the FCC District Director for New York this week requested all amateurs to cooperate by recognizing the existence of a voluntary communications emergency and therefore relinquishing the use of frequencies between 145.100 MHz to 145.120 MHz, 147.140 MHz to 147.160 MHz and 147.275 MHz to 147.295 MHz (for) handling of emergency traffic only.'' The request was contained in a January 14 letter to ARRL Northern New York Section Emergency Coordinator Darry Roberts, WN2F.

The ice storms caused massive power and telephone outages in New York's northern counties up to the Canadian border and west as far as Watertown, and east to Burlington, Vermont. In New York alone, as many as 85,000 were reported still without power. Major problems continue throughout the Northeast, including Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, where President Clinton declared all but one of that state's 16 counties as disaster areas. "It is the worst ice storm anyone has ever seen," said VHF-UHF-EME op Dave Olean, K1WHS, in an Internet posting. Olean, who lives in Maine's southernmost county--York--said he'd lost several antennas due to icing and also lost power for a time. He said the situation was much worse to the north. Widespread power outages also were reported north of the border in Quebec.

As of late this week, amateurs in New York's Capital District were still maintaining links with hams in New York's northern tier. Pete Rea, WZ2X, was manning the New York State Emergency Management Office station. Hams also continue to staff the station at the Red Cross in Albany, and other hams were working locally with disaster assessment teams. "Things are moving very slowly, and everyone is hoping there will not be another weather blast," Stack said this week. "That could have devastating effects." Albany County operations are being headed by ARES Emergency Coordinator George Odom, KB2SIY. Efforts are under way by Western New York SM Bill Thompson, W2MTA, to secure assistance for the state's westernmost counties.

Communications specialist Steve "Sid" Caesar, NH7C, was among those called in to work with the Office of Emergency Preparedness in supporting the Disaster Medical Teams put into service to help storm victims. Other hams on the team are Sparky Spradlin, KE4QGF, and Mark Swicord, KD4EYF.

"The ham radio operators in the local area have been extremely helpful with providing local information about public service and ham radio resources," Caesar reports, adding that Eastern New York Section Emergency Coordinator Tony Pazzola, WB2BEJ, has been working with the team from the start. "Traffic has been passed via the local ham traffic network (both VHF and HF) to some of our outlying sites." Caesar says that many ham radio repeaters in their areas of concern are not working because of no power or storm damage.

VICE PRESIDENT VISITS VIA HAM RADIO

Vice President Al Gore visited the ice-storm stricken areas of Maine this past week. While there, he got a chance to visit via ham radio with Clarence Rider, AA1PN, in Exeter, Maine, to get an idea of how the weather emergency had affected residents in that part of the state. Gore spoke from the RACES station at the State House in the capital city of Augusta.

Maine SM Michelle Mann, W1GU, in Monmouth, says telephone service remained intact over most of the state, but Maine hams have responded to help out with some communication tasks as needed. "Several have been helping with the Winthrop shelter doing communications for a makeshift meals-on-wheels program, getting food to the elderly in the area that are still sticking it out at home," she said. Maine RACES Director Rod Scribner, KA1RFD, has been manning the radio station at the State House. Mann reports he’s handled some message traffic to and from areas where telephone service was knocked out.

Mann says Maine hams, in general, have been monitoring 146.52 simplex since many repeaters are down. Repeaters in the Bangor and Portland areas are working okay and have been providing reliable communication, however.

Mann says hams in other areas of the state have been providing communication for local emergency management offices.

AMSAT-NA CONSIDERS COMMERCIAL VENTURES

AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan, W3XO, says AMSAT may go commercial to keep its Orlando, Florida, Lab afloat. In an interview, Tynan told the 200th meeting of the Houston AMSAT Net January 6 that AMSAT needs to keep the Orlando Integration Lab "or a facility of that type" going and that the organization is looking into several commercial ventures to help fund future projects and activities. Tynan said revenue from commercial projects would give AMSAT flexibility in pursuing future Amateur Radio satellite projects and additional commercial work.

"I can assure you that unless we can find some way to get a significant amount of money into the organization, we cannot keep Orlando going. We're going to have to shut it down," Tynan told the on-air gathering. One commercial prospect is the Canadian MOST proposal. Tynan said the project's sponsors have "promised us a significant financial donation" if AMSAT participates in the project, assuming it's eventually funded by the Canadian government.

AMSAT-NA Vice President for Operations Keith Baker, KB1SF, echoed Tynan's concerns. Baker, who also was interviewed for the Houston AMSAT Net, said that one lesson learned from Phase 3D is that AMSAT can no longer "stand on the corner with our hands out" to fund future endeavors. Baker said AMSAT-NA wants to pursue additional revenue sources "without damaging or putting into jeopardy the volunteer spirit of AMSAT."

Phase 3D Integration Lab Manager Lou McFadin, W5DID, said most of the modules for the spacecraft have been installed. Technicians now are installing the rest of the electronic components.

Also on the Net, AMSAT Vice President of Manned Space Flight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, discussed ham radio equipment aboard the International Space Station. Bauer said the first ham gear aboard the ISS later this year will include H-Ts for 2 meters and 70 cm, a packet radio system, and a "digi-talker" that's being developed by hams in Germany.

Bruce Paige, KK5DO, moderates the Houston AMSAT Net. A RealAudio transcription of the entire 200th Houston AMSAT Net (and other net sessions) is available at http://www.amsatnet.com.--AMSAT News Service via Bruce Paige, KK5DO

ARRL INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS OPEN

Nominations are due to ARRL Section Managers by February 28, 1998 for the ARRL Instructor of the Year awards.

Each year, the ARRL Board of Directors selects recipients for each of four award categories. The ARRL Herb S. Brier (W9AD) Instructor of the Year Award is presented to an unpaid volunteer instructor. The ARRL Professional Educator of the Year Award is presented to a paid, professional, state-certified teacher. The ARRL Professional Instructor of the Year Award is presented to a paid instructor who is not state-certified. The ARRL Excellence in Recruiting Award is presented to an individual who recruits more than teaches.

Section Managers forward nominations to the Educational Activities Department at ARRL, and EAD will send details to nominees about how to compete for the awards. See page 12 in any QST for your Section Manager's name and address. More information and nominating forms can be found on the ARRLWeb at http://www.arrl.org/ead/award/. For further information, e-mail ead@arrl.org.

WB5LUA COPIES LUNAR PROSPECTOR

See K3PGP's Web page for recordings of the received signal. Signals were received using a 5-meter dish and RHCP. Receive noise figure was 0.4 dB at the feed. LNA device was a Hewlett Packard ATF-36077.

Well-known VHF-UHF-EME enthusiast Al Ward, WB5LUA, monitored the recently launched Lunar Prospector on 2273 MHz on January 11. Using his 2.3 GHz EME antenna, Ward first heard the beacon just as the spacecraft was nearing the moon's orbit. The next day, he heard the Prospector as it was orbiting the moon. Ward reports moon elevation from his QTH in Texas (EM13QC) was 14.1 degrees and azimuth was 77.4 degrees. "I was surprised as to the signal strength. It was no stronger than it was prior to orbiting the moon," Ward said in an Internet posting. "It was my understanding that the Prospector would deploy an omnidirectional antenna while on its way to the moon and then deploy a higher-gain directional antenna while in orbit." [At week's end, John Yurek, K3PGP, reported that, as far as he can determine, the spacecraft had been switched to the higher-gain antenna.--Ed]

Ward said he also had made provisions to receive the Prospector with righthand circular polarization (RHCP) as opposed to the normal left hand circular polarization (LHCP) used for receiving 2304 MHz EME. He found signals were "definitely being received better using RHCP as compared to LHCP." Using a 500-Hz bandwidth, he says he measured the main carrier at 10 to 15 dB above the noise.

"The main carrier appears to have no discernible modulation on it. Both subcarriers have a series of dashes followed by a couple of dots and then periodic rough sounding tones which are most likely digitized information regarding flight conditions," he reported.

Ward says he tracked the Prospector on January 12 when it went behind the moon on one orbit. "The Doppler was slowly going up in frequency by a few kilohertz when, all of a sudden, the signal went up in frequency a few hundred Hertz," he observed. Ward said the frequency stayed there for a few seconds then the signal dropped out as the spacecraft went around to the moon's dark side. Ward said he learned of this "hook effect" from Paul Wilson, W4HHK, who monitored some of the first Apollo transmissions on 2287.5 MHz in 1971.

Ward says he'd like to record the phenomenon. Yurek also has received the Prospector's signal using a 12-foot dish. Yurek has posted Prospector information and some sample audio recordings of the main carrier and subcarrier on the Web at http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/.

FORMER YL EDITOR JEAN PEACOR, K1IJV, SK

Former QST "YL News and Views" editor Jean Peacor, K1IJV, of Orleans, Massachusetts, died January 10. She was 70. Peacor twice served as editor of the QST YL column, from July 1963 until October 1966 and again from July 1979 through August 1985.

She also was active in the West Mass Net for many years and, until her death, had served as a sorter for the W1 QSL Bureau. Peacor also was an avid bridge player and held the rank of life master. She frequently traveled around the country for bridge tournaments.

Survivors include her husband, Norman, K1IJU, their two sons, Mark and Grant, and six grandchildren.

A memorial service was held January 14 in Orleans, Massachusetts. Burial was in Orleans Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the Orleans Council on Aging Building Fund, 150 Rock Harbor Rd, Orleans, MA 02653.

ALEXANDER McKENZIE, W1BPI, SK

Alexander McKenzie, W1BPI, of Rosemont, Pennsylvania and formerly of Eaton, New Hampshire, died December 13, 1997. He was 89. McKenzie was the last surviving member of the team that logged the record wind speed on New Hampshire's Mount Washington on April 12, 1934. McKenzie, the expedition's radio operator, transmitted the wind data by radio from the mountain to scientists at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts. The record, a wind gust of 231 mph, stood until three days after McKenzie's death when a gust of 236 mph was recorded in Guam during Typhoon Paka. A Dartmouth College graduate, McKenzie also worked on the development of the LORAN navigation system at MIT's radiation laboratory and later was an editor and author of technical publications.

McKenzie often returned to the Mount Washington observatory every April (including last April) to recount the story surrounding the record wind gust. McKenzie and four companions were in the shack at the mountain's peak when the weather turned and winds began building. The Boston Globe reports that the three crew members and two guests became instant New England celebrities. Survivors include his wife Hilda, three sons, and seven grandchildren. A memorial service was held in Conway, New Hampshire, on December 23.--thanks to Joe Reisert, W1JR

SOLAR UPDATE

Solar scholar Tad Cook, K7VVV, Seattle, Washington, reports: Solar activity was still depressed last week. On every day except Monday the solar flux was below the 95 average for the previous 90 days. Solar flux is expected to rise over the next few days to just over 100, then drift back down after January 20. There are no known active regions on the Sun's surface expected to rotate into view that might change the depressed short-term outlook. MUF values should also be low as a result. Solar flux should reach a minimum in the low to mid 80s around February 1, then rise above 90 a week later.

Old region 8124 may cause some heightened geomagnetic instability over the next couple of days. Solar flux is predicted by NOAA Space Environment Service Center over January 16-18 to be 100, 102 and 102.

Sunspot numbers for January 8 through 14 were 0, 0, 14, 51, 60, 54, and 43, with a mean of 31.7. The 10.7-cm flux was 82.2, 81.6, 80.7, 84.8, 95.8, 90.4, and 93.9, with a mean of 87.1, and estimated planetary A indices were 7, 9, 6, 6, 4, 3, and 4, with a mean of 5.6.

In Brief:

  • This weekend on the radio: The ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes and the North American QSO Party (SSB) are on tap. See page 105 of January's QST for details.

  • ARRL Audio News now available via telephone: The weekly ARRL Audio News service now is available via telephone at 860-594-0384. For those wishing to record ARRL Audio News for later use, a short countdown precedes the complete audio feed, which is typically around 10 minutes long. This service has been available on a trial basis since last Monday. It formally inaugurates today and will be updated every week that The ARRL Letter is published. We expect to have each week's audio feed available by 6 PM Eastern Time every Friday. Comments on this service are welcome to Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl@arrl.org. ARRL Audio News will continue to be available in RealAudio from our Web site, http://www.arrl.org/.

  • League numbers: As of December 31, 1997, the ARRL had 171,944 members, down slightly from December 1996. There were 910 new members during December 1997.

  • More new call signs: The FCC on January 14 processed more vanity call sign receipts. Gettysburg has processed all applications received through December 12, 1997, including all work in process or WIPs. Notable among the most recent batch was a new call sign for ARRL President Rod Stafford, who is now W6ROD (he was KB6ZV). Lots of other call sign "name suffix" combinations were granted in the most recent vanity batch. ARRL Hudson Division Vice Director JP Kleinhaus, W2XX, was able to obtain W2AA for the "Big Gun Contest Club" of which he is the trustee. Eastern New York DEC April Stack, formerly KA2QIG, got K2ZCZ, the former call sign of New York Governor George Pataki.

  • Coping with your new call sign: Changing your call sign entails a bit of housekeeping. For instance, if you have a new vanity call sign and are active on packet, you should alert the sysop of your packet BBS of your new on-air identity. You'll also need to change the call sign in your packet TNC firmware and in your ham radio software (communication and logging software, for example). If your call sign is also part of your e-mail address, you'll want to update that with your Internet service provider, as well. ARRL field appointees should alert section managers too. A new call sign also can mean a new club or ARRL field appointment badge, new QSL cards, new business cards (if they carry your call sign), and maybe new license plates. The list goes on. One thing you won't have to do is let ARRL HQ know. ARRL members' call signs are automatically changed as the FCC database is updated.--thanks to This Week in Amateur Radio

  • New EAD videos: Two, new ARRL Continuing Education Workshop videos now are available from the ARRL Video Library. Volume 10--Digital Signal Processing (1993; 4.5 hours) is Order #6605. It's $21. This is an in-depth workshop on getting started in Amateur Radio projects involving digital signal processing, taught by ARRL Senior Engineer Jon Bloom, KE3Z; Volume 11--Computer-Aided Antenna Design (1996; 4 hours) is Order #6613. It's $15. This is an in-depth workshop on getting started in designing antenna systems on the computer, taught by ARRL Senior Assistant Technical Editor Dean Straw, N6BV. Both of these are best when used in small study groups and may be shown in four installments. To order by credit card, call Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS, 860-594-0200 (9 AM until 4:30 PM Eastern Time). If you call before 2 PM Eastern, your credit card order will be shipped the next day. Orders paid by check go to ARRL EAD, 225 Main St, Newington CT 06111.

  • FCC "Internet fee" notice is old news: The FCC's trying to staunch a flow of e-mail concerning a non-existent issue. Several individuals, including some hams, have circulated or posted "warnings" on the Internet concerning the possibility that telephone companies would be permitted to charge by the minute for Internet access. Some recipients of this "warning" were advised that the telephone companies were trying to slip this past the public before users realized what was happening. The "warning" mentioned a February 1998 date to send comments to the FCC. In short, this is old news. The FCC did issue a Notice of Inquiry on this topic in late 1996 (with a reply comment deadline in February 1997), but it subsequently rejected the idea. The FCC now has posted a message to this effect on its Web site (see http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Factsheets/ispfact.html): "There is no open comment period in this proceeding. If you have recently seen a message on the Internet stating that in response to a request from local telephone companies, the FCC is requesting comments to isp@fcc.gov by February 1998, be aware that this information is inaccurate."

  • KC5VPF does space walk: US astronaut David Wolf, KC5VPF, carried out his first space walk from Mir on January 14, accompanied by Russian flight commander Anatoly Solovyov. During the nearly four-hour-long foray, the pair examined the space station's outer hull for possible leaks. Wolf will return home later this month after spending approximately four months on the Russian space outpost. According to news reports, Wolf, 41, enjoyed the space walk so much he was reluctant to return to Mir when it was time to go back. Wolf got Solovyov to take a picture of him in space. "This is a great moment in life," he said.--thanks to Roy Neal, K6DUE

  • KB6LQS survives balloon failure: Dick Rutan, KB6LQS, and an accomplice were forced to abort an around-the-world balloon flight attempt January 9, parachuting from the craft just an hour after launch from a site near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The fabric in the propane-fueled balloon developed a flaw which forced the occupants to abandon the so-called "Global Hilton." Rutan, who won acclaim for circumnavigating the globe in an ultralight aircraft in 1991, was only slightly injured. The other crew member, Dave Melton, suffered a dislocated hip. According to Rutan, the jump was the safest option as the crew faced the prospect of an explosion onboard the craft. Following the crew's evacuation, the balloon caromed out of control at about 100 miles per hour before it crashed into electric lines and caught fire in Texas. Rutan's flight was another in a recent series of unsuccessful attempts to circle the globe by balloon.--This Week in Amateur Radio

  • RFI reflector established: An Internet reflector focusing on the causes and cures of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) has been established. It will be moderated by Tim Duffy, K3LR. Issues relating to RFI and TVI are welcome. Discussions should be aimed at providing technical information to assist amateurs in resolving interference problems. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to rfi-request@contesting.com. The message body should include only the work "subscribe." To post a message to the group, send it to rfi@contesting.com. A digest form of this list also is available. You will receive one message per day around midday (Eastern Time) that contains the previous day's messages. To subscribe to the digest version, send a message to rfi-digest-request@contesting.com and put only the word "subscribe" in the message body. You do not need to be subscribed to both reflectors. Individuals subscribed to the digest list still may post to the RFI list address. For more information, contact Duffy at k3lr@contesting.com.--Tim Duffy, K3LR

  • DXCC processing status: The DXCC Desk has announced that the number of unprocessed applications at the end of December 1997 was 556 (53,337 QSLs). The desk received 5038 applications (368,887 QSLs) for endorsements and new awards during the year. This compares with 5621 applications (406,373 QSLs) received during 1996. Applications being sent out at the end of December were received about three weeks earlier. A few applications received prior to that time were in the process of being audited and had not yet been completed.--DXCC

  • TV show promotes Amateur Radio: QST YL column editor Diane Ortiz, K2DO, will moderate Tech Talk, a half-hour program about Amateur Radio that's currently in production in New York City. The program will be broadcast on Manhattan Neighborhood Network on the third Wednesday of each month from 4:30 to 5:00 PM on TCI cable channel 17. Upcoming programs will include some basics on station operation, contesting, public service, and other aspects of Amateur Radio. The program has a potential audience of more than 10,000. Says Ortiz, "We hope to reach many viewers in Manhattan who may never have heard of ham radio." The program is scheduled to continue in production through 1998. For more information, contact Ortiz at hamyl@aol.com.--Diane Ortiz, K2DO

  • AX prefix for Australia Day: In recognition of Australia Day, Australian hams may substitute the prefix AX during the 72-hour period (local time in each Australian state) of the Australia Day weekend, January 24-26. Use of the AX prefix was first granted last year by the Australian Communications Authority.--QNews