Volume 17, Number 4 (January 23, 1998)

The ARRL Letter Index
ARRL Audio News

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IN THIS EDITION:

+Available on ARRL Audio News

BOARD RE-ELECTS LEAGUE'S LEADERSHIP TEAM

W6ROD greets K0TO and K0QB ARRL President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, greets Dakota Division Director Tod Olson, KØTO, and Vice Director John Bellows, KØQB, at the ARRL Board of Directors meeting, held January 16 and 17 in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.

N8TI and WT8W Newly elected Great Lakes Director Joe Falcone, N8TI (right) attended his first ARRL Board meeting this month. With him is his division's Vice Director Dave Coons, WT8W.

Photos courtesy of Tod Olson, KØTO.

Expressing confidence in the League's leadership team, the ARRL Board of Directors has re-elected all current officers. Among those tapped for new two-year terms was President Rod Stafford, ex-KB6ZV, who now sports the call sign W6ROD. Also re-elected were First Vice President Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML, Vice Presidents Joel Harrison, W5ZN, and Hugh Turnbull, W3ABC, International Affairs Vice President Larry Price, W4RA, Treasurer James McCobb, W1LLU, Executive Vice President and Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ, Chief Financial Officer Barry Shelley, N1VXY, and--for one-year terms--all current Executive Committee members. The action came as the Board met for its first regular session of the new year January 16 and 17 in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. For several hours on January 16, the Board gathered under emergency lighting because of a power outage caused by an ice storm.

The League ended 1997 in the black and in overall sound financial shape, the Board was told. That was a dramatic improvement from 1996, when the League finished the year in red ink. The Board also approved a financial plan for 1998 that will continue 1997's successful fiscal management policies.

The Board also okayed the appointment of up to 15 members of The President's Roundtable, a group of influential Amateur Radio leaders and strong League supporters to guide development and endowment activities. The League plans to launch a "vigorous program of education on planned and deferred giving."

In response to repeated member complaints of malicious interference and the use of foul language on the amateur bands, the Board established an Enforcement Task Force to push for better rules enforcement from the FCC. Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, will chair the 10-member panel. Other members include President Stafford, Directors Joe Falcone, N8TI, Frank Fallon, N2FF, Kay Craigie, WT3P, Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, and Marshall Quiat, AGØX, Vice President Hugh Turnbull W3ABC, General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, and Field Services Manager Rick Palm, K1CE. The Task Force will oversee and work closely with the Amateur Auxiliary and make recommendations to the Board on enforcement issues.

The ARRL also will ask the FCC for a declaratory ruling to put teeth into the voluntary band plan concept. The League wants the FCC to affirm that any operation that conflicts with established, voluntary band plans and causes interference or adversely affects those operating in accordance with applicable band plans "is not good amateur practice" and would be considered a rules violation.

The Board also applauded actions by the FCC and the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission to crack down on illegal use of the 10-meter band by taxi drivers in the city and urges confiscation of equipment and fines to drivers who fail to comply and eventual removal of illegal transmitters from New York City cabs.

Approved by the Board were rules changes for the DXCC program that had been recommended by the DXCC 2000 Committee. Under the new criteria, no countries currently on the DXCC list will be removed. In the future, countries will be referred to as entities. A political entity will be added to the DXCC list if it meets any one of three criteria: it is a UN member state, it has an ITU prefix block assigned, or it has a separate IARU member society. The new criteria also replace all DXCC measurements, including physical separation distances, with metric system figures roughly equivalent to the former distances. While the 57 entities on the deleted list will remain, no new countries will be added to the deleted list in the future. Deleted entities simply will be removed. In addition, the new rules specify a minimum "island" size of 100 meters measured in a straight line. The DXCC field checking program will remain in place. The effective date of the changes will be announced later this year. The DXCC 2000 Committee was discharged with the Board's thanks.

On a 11-4 vote, the Board voted to not draft a petition to the FCC to simplify the Amateur Radio license structure and to increase HF privileges for Novice and Technician Plus licensees. In general, the plan would have asked the FCC to halt issuance of new Novice licenses while continuing to renew existing licenses, to rearrange current HF CW allocations for Novice and Tech Plus licensees to provide expanded HF phone frequencies, and to add 75- and 15-meter phone privileges for Tech Plus holders. No changes in Morse code testing were proposed. Rejection of the plan completes the Board's consideration of a committee proposal that it first received at its January 1997 meeting, and that had been the subject of membership study and comment during the year.

On a 10-5 vote, the Board declined to refer to the Executive Committee for study a proposal to ask the FCC to reduce the number of license classes to three.

The Board agreed to have the League petition the FCC to permit additional call sign formats in its special event call sign rules. These new formats would include 1x1 call signs with the letter X as a suffix; 1xx1 and 1xx3 call signs (eg, W25Z or K75AAA), and call signs starting with the letter N and having two digits and two suffix letters (eg, N25MM).

In other actions, the Board:

  • resumed the important strategic planning process by creating a Strategic Planning Steering Committee that will develop detailed procedures to review and revise the ARRL Strategic Plan and work with the Executive Vice President to pick a facilitator. The Board developed a strategic plan in 1994 that requires updating in view of telecommunications developments since that time.

  • renamed the Technical Excellence Award as the Doug DeMaw Technical Excellence Award, as requested by several members who have earned the award.

  • authorized appointment of a volunteer ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding Coordinator. Working with IARU organizations in the Americas and other parts of the world, the ARDF Coordinator would promote radio direction finding in the US.

  • approved in principle the establishment of the ARRL Alternative Dispute Resolution Service as a low-cost alternative for hams finding themselves in disagreements with other hams, such as in frequency utilization disputes, and who wish to avoid legal action.

  • directed the Volunteer Resources Committee to study the "E-Mail Elmers" project in the Great Lakes Division and the "Get on the Air" project in the New England Division and recommend ways to establish a national program that incorporates the benefits of these programs and other features to encourage new licensees to become active.

  • created an International Membership, open to anyone who holds a current ham license but who is not eligible for full membership by virtue of residence.

  • agreed to permit the advertising of performance claims (ie, antenna gain figures) derived from antenna modeling programs in QST, subject to certain conditions.

  • endorsed the APRS/Manned Space "APRS QSY Activity" compromise as a way to share frequencies in the two-meter band to minimize interference between APRS activities and communication between Earth and manned spacecraft. The League also pledged a donation of up to $500 to support the APRS QSY initiatives.

  • retired the Public Service Advisory Committee "with deepest thanks and appreciation." Specialized ad hoc committees will now handle issues formerly addressed to the PSAC.

  • recognized Directors Ed Metzger, W9PRN, and Frank Butler, W4RH, for their 40 years of service as elected ARRL officials.

HAM RADIO SAVES THE DAY IN ICE STORM'S WAKE

Some ham radio emergency communication operations across the Northeast wound down this week as the ice storm disaster moved from the response to the recovery phase. Telephone service and electricity are being slowly restored, but in many areas ham radio remains a primary--and in some cases the only--means of communication. And barely more than two weeks after the initial disaster, New Yorkers were bracing for the possibility of additional severe ice storms. The story to date is one of a great ham radio response peppered with small acts of heroism and dedication.

Hams--in many cases working as ARES and RACES volunteers--continued to operate from emergency operation centers, shelters, meals centers, and government offices throughout the region. In New York alone, more than 1000 people are still living in shelters. ARES and RACES groups were cooperating with the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and government agencies, including the National Guard.

Repairs to the utility infrastructure are expected to take months. Ice loading from the storm brought down utility poles (one estimate said 180,000 poles in New York will have to be replaced), countless trees, and even steel transmission-line towers. Several deaths were attributed to the ice storm, and damage estimates ranged in the billions of dollars. Ham volunteers too numerous to mention mustered to help and many have been on the job for more than a week straight. Simplex and HF became the rule in some areas as repeaters were brought down by a lack of power or storm damage. Some repeaters were brought back up on emergency power. For a look at the storm response in New York, see http://www.nysemo.state.ny.us/IceStorm98/teamwork/.

The initial response to the ice storm disaster would not have been possible without ham radio, according to Jim Edmonds, WA1KPG, who lives near Syracuse, New York. "Everything was knocked out," he said. "I've never seen a situation where everything was so dependent on ham radio." A Civil Air Patrol group commander, Edmonds was called in January 8 by CAP and soon found himself at the Syracuse Red Cross office, training disaster relief volunteers and coordinating ham radio efforts on behalf of the Red Cross. "The first request by the Red Cross and the New York State Emergency Management office was, please send us all your hams'," he said. His wife, Sue, N2GNN, also helped out.

Across the Empire State, other hams worked with Red Cross damage assessment teams. Steve Auyer, N2TKX, said many hams in unaffected parts of the state took time away from work to help out in the disaster areas, staying in the shelters for days at a time. Offers of help came from New York City ARES/RACES and from as far away as Minnesota, where residents had to deal with floods and ice last year.

ARRL PIC Viv Douglas, WA2PUU, in Syracuse reports that a number of hams from Western New York traveled from shelter to shelter in hard-hit Jefferson County moving out health-and-welfare traffic. Ham radio was even able to get word to a Naval officer at sea, concerned for the safety of his elderly mother who lived alone, that she was safe and had been moved to a shelter. Edmonds told of how hams used multiple relays to dispatch an ambulance to an injured elderly man in Potsdam, New York, who had managed to get word to his daughter via his almost-dead cell phone. The whole process took ten minutes.

Douglas said ham radio became a focal point in the shelters, too. "When updated condition reports were being given over the ham radio, people would run to cluster around. It became apparent that ham radio was the lifeline to the outside world for communication," she reports. "Many watching asked how they could get into ham radio so it would be available to them during times like this. It became a teaching experience."

As Jim Edmonds put it: "The guy on the street corner with the hand-held saved the day."

In some areas of New England, new snowfall hampered recovery efforts. That was the case in Vermont, where six northern counties were declared disaster areas and more than a foot of additional snow fell in the ice storm's wake. Throughout the region, stores quickly sold out of portable generators and other emergency supplies. Out-of-state line crews were called into help restore electricity. In New York, National Guard generators moved from dairy farm to dairy farm so herds could be milked--and thus saved.

All 16 Maine counties eventually were declared disaster areas. State RACES Director Rod Scribner, KA1RFD ("Ready for Disaster"), said about half of the state's repeaters were not working after the storm, but the wide-coverage KQ1L machine on 146.85 MHz in Dixmont stayed up and got a lot of use. It was that repeater that Vice President Al Gore spoke over from RACES Headquarters when he visited the state capital to survey the damage earlier this month. Scribner said parts of Maine are still without electrical power, and he praised the efforts of hams there in dealing with the emergency--which he characterized as the most serious he'd ever seen in terms of the number of people affected. "I think ham radio really did a yeoman's job in the areas affected," he said this week. Scribner singled out for special mention Maine SM Michelle Mann, W1GU (who has an infant at home), as well as Mike Smith, N1UHR, who camped out in the Waldo County EOC for a week and helped handle local, door-to-door health-and-welfare checks on rural residents, and Max Jacques, K1MAX, who helped organize a Red Cross meals program in the Winthrop vicinity.

Husband and wife Red Cross volunteers Connie Morrison, N1OCE, and Paul Shapter, N1SWM, of Worcester, Massachusetts, just back from three weeks assisting in the Typhoon Paka recovery on Guam, were called in to help with ice storm relief efforts in Maine. Morrison is an attorney and a registered nurse, while Shapter is an accountant. Although her work did not involve disaster communication, Morrison carried along her dual-band H-T on both trips just in case she needed it.

North of the Border, the Province of Quebec was especially hard hit with ice damage and power and telephone blackouts. "The scope of this emergency is beyond the meaning of the word catastrophic'," said RAC Quebec Director Daniel Lamoureaux, VE2ZDL. Hams in affected areas set up round-the-clock emergency nets and assisted in the relief effort. Without Amateur Radio, "there is absolutely no way that many emergency and support activities could have taken place," said The Canadian Amateur Editor Rob Ludlow, VE3YE.--This Week in Amateur Radio; RAC; Albert Hayeck, N1EFR; and many others

ARRL BOARD NAMES 1997 HUMANITARIAN AWARD WINNERS

The ARRL Board of Directors has presented the 1997 ARRL International Humanitarian Award to Al Burke, W3VR, and Mae Burke, W3CUL (SK), in recognition of their lifetime of public service of traffic handling "and for their unique dedication to this facet of Amateur Radio." The action came January 16 as the Board met for its first meeting of the new year in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.

Al Burke started handling message traffic by ham radio before the start of World War II. Mae Burke, who died last November at age 86, earned a historic record of traffic handling honors over her lifetime handling overseas traffic for US service personnel, MARS, Red Cross and other emergency messages during the Korean, Vietnam and Cold War eras. Much of her civilian traffic included messages on behalf of disaster victims. In 1956, she won the fifth Edison Radio Amateur Award for public service. At that time, she operated daily in six CW nets and handled some 312,000 messages between 1949 and 1957. The Board also cited both Burkes for serving as traffic handling mentors to others.

IT'S THOMAS FOR WOLF ABOARD MIR

The last US astronaut to serve on Mir, Australian-born Andy Thomas, KD5CHF/VK5MIR, replaces astronaut David Wolf, KC5VPF, aboard Mir this coming week. Wolf has lived on Mir since late September. The Australian government issued Thomas a reciprocal license with a special event call sign for his use while aboard Mir. Thomas is from Adelaide, South Australia (VK5). It's not yet known how active Thomas will be on ham radio.

Thomas blasted off from Kennedy Space Center Thursday, January 22, aboard the shuttle Endeavor. The shuttle was scheduled to dock with Mir on Saturday, January 24.

Two new Russian crew members, cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev, R03FT, and Nikolai Budarin, RV3FB (ex-RV3DB and R4MIR), are set to arrive in late January in the first crew change of the year. French astronaut Leopold Eyharts will arrive with the new crew members to work aboard Mir for three weeks before returning to earth with Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov, the previous Mir Russian contingent.

Thomas, 46, will work aboard Mir until June, when the US shuttle Discovery will dock with Mir for the final time, rounding out the Russian-US cooperative mission. Thomas prepared for his four-month tour of duty on the space outpost by taking along several dozen books, cassettes and CDs, and computer programs. Among his selections was Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.--thanks to Roy Neal, K6DUE

KANSAS HAM CITED FOR HELPING BLIND BECOME HAMS

The Kansas City Star newspaper recently recognized Chet Hallberg, KØTCB, of Prairie Village, Kansas, as a "Community Star" for his work over the past two decades introducing blind people to Amateur Radio. The paper cited Hallberg in its January 2, 1998, edition. According to the article, his efforts began after a blind machinist asked Hallberg's advice about which CB radio to buy. Hallberg talked the man, Beryl Masters, now WBØEJJ, into going for his ham ticket instead. That led to a prominent role in the creation of the Kansas City Association for the Blind Amateur Radio Club (WAØFQL), which helps sightless people get their tickets and get on the air.

The organization now has several dozen members who volunteer to provide communication during community events. Masters, now 79 and living in a retirement home, is still an active ham. He recalled how Hallberg helped him learn the code and study the theory for his exam.

The WAØFQL club station is equipped with special gear to aid the sight-impaired, including voice-synthesized annunciators to tell the frequency and rotor direction. About 75% of the club's members are blind.

"The beauty of Amateur Radio is that there's no physical barrier to the voice context," Hallberg is quoted as saying. "They can get on the air and hold their own with anybody."

Hallberg, 63, and his wife Mary Joe, KØTGU, also are Red Cross volunteers who did duty tours after the Grand Forks, North Dakota, flooding and in Guam after Typhoon Paka.--thanks to Howard Findlay, KØBYC, and Larry Staples, WØAIB

SOLAR UPDATE

Solar prognosticator Tad Cook, K7VVV, Seattle, Washington, reports: Solar activity was only slightly higher over the past seven days compared to last week. Average solar flux was up only about three points, but the average sunspot number was about double from the week previous. Average solar flux for the previous 90 days moved from 95 to 96 this week, but flux values were above 96 only two days out of the reporting week. This observation is consistent with the relatively flat nature of recent conditions in the current solar cycle. Solar flux for this weekend is predicted to be around 92, with some geomagnetic instability resulting in a projected A index of around 12. This is not terrible news for the CQ Worldwide 160 meter CW Contest this weekend, but not as good as some recent conditions, where A and K indices were down near zero. Solar flux is expected to dip soon into the high 80s, then rise above 90 again around February 3. This is all based on the previous solar rotation, so all HF operators can hope for are some new sunspot groups to liven up the bands.

Sunspot numbers for January 15 through 21 were 46, 88, 89, 67, 88, 50, and 25, with a mean of 64.7. The 10.7-cm flux was 97.8, 97.5, 95.9, 95.1, 93.5, 91.4, and 90.9, with a mean of 94.6, and estimated planetary A indices were 3, 8, 5, 9, 4, 11, and 8, with a mean of 6.9.

The ARRL DX Bulletin notes this week that FT5X/FR5HR is active from Kerguelen Islands around 0200 UTC on 20 meters and 1400 UTC on 17 meters. Conditions from most of the US to Kerguelen don't look good at those times on those bands, but 17 meters may be possible from the East Coast. The further south one is in this hemisphere though, the better the odds. Conditions to Kerguelen from South America and the Caribbean on 20 meters should be quite good around 0200 UTC.

ERIC EDBERG, W6DU, SK

Noted DXer and contester Eric B. Edberg, W6DU, of Los Altos, California, died January 19, 1997. He was 79. Edberg was a long-time ARRL member and DXCC Honor Roll member. He was a past president and secretary of the Northern California DX Foundation, past president and secretary of the Northern California DX Club, a member of the Northern California Contest Club and a member of the First Class CW Operators Club (FOC). In posting word of Edberg's passing on the Internet, Rusty Epps, W6OAT, called Edberg "a wonderful friend whom I and many others will miss greatly." A memorial gathering will be held Saturday, January 31, 1998, 2 until 5 PM PST, at W6DU's home, 461 Heather Court, Los Altos, California. A DX pedition to Palmyra, Kingman and Howland is to be dedicated to the memory of W6DU.--Rusty Epps, W6OAT; Brad Wyatt, K6WR

HENRY RUGG, VA3HN, SK

Veteran Canadian Amateur and ARRL member Henry "Hank" Rugg, VA3HN (ex-VE2HN, VE3JX and VE2JZ), of St Catharines, Ontario, died October 29, 1997. He was 80. Rugg had been a member of the ARRL for 60 years. During World War II, Rugg was among the group of scientists and engineers who worked on a top-secret project to build Canada's radar defenses. He later recalled his wartime experiences in a book, No Day Long Enough--Canadian Science in World War Two. In 1992, when he was in his mid-70s, Rugg was part of an expedition to a remote island in the Canadian Arctic. His wife and two sons are among his survivors.--Andrew Rugg, VE2EM/VA3TEE

In Brief:

  • This weekend on the radio: Contest highlights this weekend are the CQ WW 160-Meter DX Contest (CW) and the REF French Contest (CW). See January QST, page 105, for details.

  • More coping with your new call sign: Bob Dixon, W8ERD, reminds those with new call signs to notify their ARRL QSL bureau about their change in call signs. Dixon, a volunteer bureau sorter, says not being alerted to a call sign change is "a huge problem" for QSL bureaus. He advises new call sign holders to send additional envelopes or postage to cover cards sent to the new call sign and to ask that cards addressed to the former call sign be forwarded to the new one.

  • Patty Loveless, KD4WUJ, tops Grammy nominations: Having wowed the critics with her album Long Stretch of Lonesome, Patty Loveless, KD4WUJ, was rewarded with three Grammy nominations. In addition to best album, she was nominated for best female country vocal performance for "The Trouble With The Truth" and best country vocal collaboration for "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" with the legendary George Jones. Loveless' three nominations make her country music's leading Grammy contender. The Grammys will be awarded February 25.

  • Great Lakes Division 1998 Convention hot line: A 24-hour telephone hot line has been set up for vendors and others seeking information about the Great Lakes Division 1998 Communications and Computer Convention (formerly Cincinnati ARRL 1998). The number is 513-661-0201. Faxes may be sent to 513-531-3834. This marks the convention's 17th year. Upwards of 3000 are expected to attend.

  • Raft /mm station active: HLØJQT/mm aboard a research raft in the East Korean Sea will continue to be active a few hours per day until the end of January on 40, 15, and 10-meter SSB (7.085, 21.220, and 28.220 MHz respectively). QSL to HLØBLA, PO Box 93, Pusan 600-600, Republic of Korea. The raft, which has a sail but no engine, is attempting a voyage from Vladivostok, Russia, to Che ju Island, South Korea, as part of historical research into the ancient Barhae Dynasty.--HLØBLA

  • Winter Games special event: Special event station 8NØWOG will operate from February 7 through February 22 during the XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano Japan. The station will be sponsored by the Japan Amateur Radio League and will be available for operation by amateurs from any country. If you're planning to be in Nagano for the games, don't forget your Amateur Radio license. 8NØWOG will be at the Nagano City Warm-Hearty (Fureai-Fukushi) Center, 1714-5, Midori-cho, Nagano. Operating hours will be 0930 until 2100 JST. HF bands will include 160 through 10 meters, SSB and CW. The station also will operated on VHF and UHF. For more information, contact Kimihiko Koyanagi, JAØTBJ, e-mail ja0tbj@mx2.nisiq.net.--The JARL News

  • Omani ham radio stamp issued: The Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones of the Sultanate of Oman has issued a commemorative postage stamp to commemorate the silver jubilee of The Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society. First-day covers are available from the Society for collectors at $3 each and an SASE to Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society, PO Box 981, Muscat 113, Sultanate of Oman.--Royal Omani ARS

  • LF band sought Down Under: A Wireless Institute of Australia-Australian Communications Agency liaison team plans to submit a new proposal for a ham band in the low-frequency spectrum below 200 kHz. The move follows the European allocation of 135.7-137.8 kHz by the Conference of European Post and Telecommunications (CEPT). General class hams in New Zealand have been allowed to use 165 to 190 kHz on a non-interference basis since 1990. Australian hams have had to get special permission to operate there. Contacts over distances of more than 150 miles have been made between ZL hams and experimental licensees in VK.--QNews

  • AMSAT-UK Colloquium: The 13th AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, July 31 to August 2, 1998. AMSAT-UK invite authors to submit papers about amateur radio space and associated activities. Papers for presentation at the colloquium and for the conference Proceedings are welcome. Submissions should be sent only to Richard Limebear, G3RWL, 60 Willow Rd, Enfield EN1 3NQ, UK; e-mail g3rwl@amsat.org. G3RWL also invites program topic requests.--AMSAT News Service