November 2004 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[ARRL-ODV:11548] Re: Vanity callsign program question
by n3kn＠comcast.net 07 Nov '04

07 Nov '04

At the Michigan State Convention today, a ham asked me about something he saw on the FCC's ULS web site. I was not aware of it, and maybe others were not, either. I just checked it out on line from my hotel room, and the guy was right. If you go to the ULS web site, here's the message you see: 11/5/2005 The granting of Amateur applications has been temporarily suspended. We apologize for the inconvenience. What's up? (or down, as the case may be). 73 - Kay N3KN

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11547] A Different World...
by dick＠pobox.com 05 Nov '04

05 Nov '04

A college student challenged a senior citizen, saying it was impossible for their generation to understand his. "You grew up in a different world." the student said. "Today we have nuclear energy, jet planes, satellites, space travel, big color TVs, computers, cell phones, nano-technology..." Taking advantage of the pause in the student's litany, the old geezer replied, "You're right. We didn't have those things when we were young; so we invented them! What are you doing for the next generation?"

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11546] Re: More BPL
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 05 Nov '04

05 Nov '04

Yes. This is a firm in Virginia that is marketing BPL in its local area. The local hams are on top of it, and we are working with them. Dave K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: Woolweaver, David (Vice Dir, West Gulf) Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 10:08 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [ARRL-ODV:11545] Re: More BPL Does anyone know anything about this? David http://www.forcvec.com/bplcoop/faqs/index.html

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11545] Re: More BPL
by Dr. David Woolweaver 05 Nov '04

05 Nov '04

Does anyone know anything about this? David http://www.forcvec.com/bplcoop/faqs/index.html

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11544] Amateur Radio Community Education Project (CEP)
by Hobart, Mary K1MMH 04 Nov '04

04 Nov '04

Good afternoon. Recently ARRL was granted an additional $90,000 as part of our 3rd year grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, for a pilot program to educate Citizen Corps Councils and community organizations about Amateur Radio and its vital role in emergency planning, preparation and response. Operating under the leadership of Field Services Manager Rosalie White, CEP Coordinator Bill Barrett has been working with the DHS Citizen Corps office in Washington, ARRL's Steve Ewald, Norm Fusaro and Mark Spencer to identify 12 Citizen Corps Councils. In addition Rosalie has worked with Citizen Corps staffer Erika Rose to draft a letter of introduction from Citizen Corps leader Liz DiGregorio to pave the way for Bill Barrett's visit and presentation. I hope you share our excitement and enthusiasm for this special awareness project. 73, Mary K1MMH >From Rosalie White: Attached is the list of the twelve locales that Bill Barrett will work with via the ARRL Community Education Program one-year grant, and it has been sent to the Department of Homeland Security. Under each Citizen Corps Council's name/locale, Bill has listed our Section Manager and Section Emergency Coordinator. The Councils will soon receive a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, asking them to work with ARRL. Bill will soon contact the ARRL folks to let them know they are officially on the list. A Rhode Island Citizen Corps Council is a first alternate for possible later opportunities (but not included on this list)

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11543] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 04 Nov '04

04 Nov '04

IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No. 44 November 3, 2004 Upcoming Meetings Ballot Counting, Director/Vice Director Elections November 19th in Newington, CT A & F Committee November 20th in Newington, CT at 8:30am Board Meeting January 21-22, 2005 in Windsor, CT CEO Archivist Branch Perry Williams, W1UED is asking all staff to consolidate all paper copies of W5YI Reports in the Archives, for the convenience of all staff. If you know the whereabouts of any copies, please tell him now at ext. 413 or simply bring them up to the cage. The Archives has a broken run of the old pink paper W5YI Reports, between Jan 1, 1990 and January 1, 2000. At least two copies of each issue were circulated among different sets of Hq people. Development The 2005 Spectrum Defense campaign has topped $102,000 from more than 2300 donors. Today's receipts of more than $18,000 are lead by an individual contribution of $10,000. Returns from the follow up letter are beginning to appear. A letter has been prepared to reach out to affiliated clubs to create a 2005 Honor Roll of donating organizations on the web as was done in 2004. Development continues to work with Field & Educational Services on the CNCS EmComm grant and the new Community Education Project. ARRL Foundation Scholarship applications continue to arrive with eight in house so far. Media & Public Relations BPL issues continue to hold center stage. In the meantime, the "Hams Remember" toy drive for children displaced by the Florida hurricanes has already exceeded initial expectations and continues to grow. Multiple press releases and weekly updates have been sent to PIC/PIO's and I look forward to both the response and media stats from this activity. In addition, the monthly CONTACT page of PR tips and help for November is up on the website. Production/Editorial Rick Lindquist reports The ARRL Letter, Vol. 23, No. 43, distributed to 67,345 members on Oct 29, is up slightly from the previous week. Rick prepared and/or edited stories on the FCC's release of the BPL Report & Order, ARRL's participation at a state utility commissioners' meeting to discuss BPL, update on the ARISS/ISS Expedition 10 crew, The Amateur Amateur column, FCC enforcement letters, FCC fines to two entities (both involving amateur licensees), and several news briefs. Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for October 29. Sales & Marketing Since the January 2005 issue of QST has a "Vintage Equipment" theme, a targeted e-mail solicitation has been sent to current and potential advertisers who have products and services that would be a good match. Our general solicitation to all other advertisers will go out at the end of this week. We're pleased to report that Fry's Electronics publication ordering quantities and diversity of titles has picked up considerably over the last several months. They are now stocking all 29 outlet locations. The successful roll-out of the 2005 ARRL Handbook contributed to an exceptional month of product sales. October's sales reached $477,000--a record total among recent years of sales history. As part of the cooperative relationship initiated by the Sales and Marketing group between ARRL and the United States Power Squadrons (USPS), we are assembling some ham radio promotional materials for an upcoming USPS district conference. A brochure is being designed to address the benefits of including ham radio in boating activities. The materials also support ARRL membership and publications. This venue will serve as a test opportunity for us before our planned aggressive participation at their national conference in January. New fall/winter ARRL Publications catalogs have been mailed to 20,000 members and customers. Catalogs have also been supplied to publication dealers and they will be included with outgoing requests for hamfest and examination materials. Diane produced an electronic version of the catalog that can be viewed or printed from online, a great addition to our publications marketing tools. Another successful email enticement was sent to nearly 48,000 members, soliciting subscriptions to QEX and NCJ. The revamped Club Commission Membership Recruitment Program was unveiled this week. Clubs continue to earn $15 commissions for NEW memberships, and now also earn $2 for each RENEWAL they turn in. Details can be found on the web, www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/forms/club-commission-program.html. Cover material for The ARRL Emergency Communication Handbook and the 17th edition of Hints & Kinks for the Radio Amateur has been delivered to Sue Fagan for design. We are finalizing retail pricing for both books. We successfully negotiated better wholesale pricing on a couple of non-ARRL resale offerings, including the CQ calendars and Klingenfuss shortwave frequency products. Beginning December, the membership renewal notice will include a Diamond Club appeal. Diane worked tirelessly with members of our team and the Development group to carry the design of a form through several iterations. We will be tracking the results very closely in coming months. The Life membership program has remained at a constant level for the past year. We currently have 20,464 Life Members (paid in full and paying). At this time last year, we had 20, 467. Statistics show the average age of a Life member is 49.59. A year ago the average age was 48.28. Last year, 273 members were making payments at this point on the calendar on their Life Memberships. Now there are 231. Membership Services Awards Branch WAC QSL Cards Checked 108 WAC Certs. (276 QSLs F/C) 46 5BWAC (30 QSLs F/C) 1 Extra Class Certs. 67 A-1 Op. Noms. 5 LTMA Inquires 2 Filing Chores/LTMAs 76 VUCC Initial Apps. 7 Grids 858 Awards Mailed 13 Processing Status: Current or up to three weeks. For the coming week-WAS QSL card checking, Basic WAS awards for Oct., WAS/90th awards, and mail out all awards processed this week, including all the foreign WAC awards. Contest Branch During the last two weeks, the Field Day and June VHF Web articles were finalized and opened to the membership. We completed printing 2004 DX Contest certificates and prepared the mailing labels. We will begin stuffing envelopes and mailing in the next week. Data entry for the 10 GHz contest and September VHF logs continued. Two contest disqualifications were prepared for action by the ARRL Awards Committee. The 2004 August UHF results were received from the log checker, processed, and tables sent to the author. We received back the author's work and the QST results article for August UHF which were then sent to Production. Checked results for the 2004 September VHF QSO party were received and a small error detected. The log checker corrected the coding problem and the results are being reviewed. We have also started work on the EME database to incorporate the new categories. DXCC Branch For the week of: October 31, 2004 Beginning Cards 54,031 Cards Received 11,999 Cards Processed 15,134 Ending Cards 50,896 Applications Pending 394 Processing Time 5.2 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 477,689 Cards Returned 484,236 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on September 24, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on September 24, 2004. Logbook of the World QSO records entered into the system 52,297,826 QSL records have resulted 1,920,301 Logs Processed 75,775 Active Certificates 11,632 Users registered in the system 8,553 Current Applications 172 Ready Applications 74 Applications Awaiting Mail 98 QSL Bureau Processing time is 2 days. This week 120 pounds of cards were received from members. All cards received have now been processed. Cards mailed as of 10/31/04: 882,310. No cards were mailed this week. W1AW Joe uploaded W1AW/90 logs to LoTW. He finished with the input of HPM/135 entries (final total is 448). He created the texts for the November W1AW Qualifying Runs. He also processed two Qualifying Run certificates and one endorsement. Joe processed some older W1AW/90 QSL card requests and also updated the W1AW web code practice files. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the month of November. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the daily 5 PM to 8 PM time slots. Field & Educational Services Rosalie requisitioned Morse code study materials for Johnson Space Center -- several astronauts are interested in upgrading because the ARISS station will soon have HF capability. She pulled all required achievables from the CEP grant into a list, and spent Wednesday making plans with Bill Barrett on moving forward with his immediate tasks; she set up a skeleton timeline to be fleshed out. She listed possible byproducts from the grant that are desirable for ARRL beyond the grant's direct goals. Field Education Support Gail Iannone sent 7 hamfest approval letters and 1 convention approval letter to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of their events as ARRL-sanctioned. She processed 8 hamfest/convention material orders and 1 label request for upcoming events. She also sent Charter of Affiliation certificates to 15 new ARRL-affiliated clubs. Linda Mullally, who handles F&ES database work and departmental materials fulfillment, among other duties, has found other employment and we wish her well. Temporarily, Margie Bourgoin, KB1DCO, will be coming back soon to F&ES to fill the empty spot. Having previously done many of the duties, she will require only minimal training for the things that have changed in F&ES. Club/Mentor/Volunteer Instructor Program Norm Fusaro identified clubs for a cities list recommended by Citizen Corp for Bill Barrett to consider for our CEP grant. Norm received 300 club responses to his hamfest survey; he compiled the data and started a report for the clubs. He wrote a Web article with a survey for readers, about a club and their hamfest. He spoke with Austin ARC members about their 85th anniversary celebration (of ARRL affiliation), and made a certificate and plaque for them, contacting the SM and Director about a presentation. Norm fielded questions from, and aided, clubs not clear on the new rebate. He networked with the Director, Vice Director and SM about a STX club issue. CCE Jean Wolfgang finished drafting the write-ups for each of the online courses and sent these to Bob Inderbitzen. Potential students will now be able to find the course titles and descriptions in ARRL's online catalog. She noticed an increase in registrations sent in by mail this week. Jean processed 3 Field Exam packages, which represented 61 tests. She processed the weekly EmComm graduations and printed the required certificates and ID cards. Field Organization/Public Service Team Chuck Skolaut compiled ARRL's monthly contribution to the Monitoring System report. He has another report on hand that is likely CODAR interference on the 12-meter band. Official Observers have been documenting malicious interference cases on the 20- and 40-meter phone bands. Also, many reports of suspected illegal equipment for the 10-meter band advertised for sale on the Internet were received and forwarded to the FCC this past week. Leona Adams updated the Field Organization database with changes to records, appointment cancellations and fifteen new appointments as supplied by the Section Leaders. Section Manager Election ballot envelopes continued to arrive, and they may do so until the November 19 receipt deadline. She handled Section-related travel and administrative expense reports. Steve Ewald heard from EPA SM Eric Olena and his Section Leaders after the Section co-sponsored an emergency communications conference. Over 80 hams, state officials, and county emergency management officials took part with speakers and attendees representing 23 counties in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. Steve took part in the monthly Citizen Corps and Affiliate's telecon, updating listeners on our CEP grant. He reviewed material for possible use in QST's Public Service column. SMs have been discussing broadband over powerline issues and the 2004 SET activities in their section news and section-wide correspondence or Web pages. CEP Grant Project Bill Barrett is continuing with his research and learning. Goals were clarified, an initial road schedule was worked out, and individual meetings were held with S.Ewald, N.Fusaro and M.Spencer to refine and sort the evolving target cities list against existing ARRL known field resources. Bill met with Mary Hobart and Rosalie White to identify initial approximate delivery dates and plans for various items including the booklet, CD, and initial production design for his main presentation. He received two ham inquiries and one non-ham Citizen Corps Council inquiry from non-target cities; he'll supply useful interim material to them in return for results feedback. Regulatory Information John Hennessee made another round of last-minute corrections to the FCC Rule Book, researching FCC matters such as dockets affecting the amateur allocation at 75.5-81 GHz, certain government and non-government allocations between 28 MHz and 36 GHz and allocations above 76 GHz. He reviewed yet-to-be-implemented changes to Part 97, and decided which ones to hold until the next publishing of the book. When making these types of editing decisions for the Rule Book it's like trying to hit a moving target. He's also waiting on the Report and Order for changes in the sharing status of the amateur 2390-2395 MHz band. EmComm Grants Program Dan Miller has set up his last three trips for the 2004 year. The first is in Melbourne, Fla; then next is the in Dallas, followed by Los Angeles. Dan has contacted people about upcoming trips for 2005. He is pleased with the Marketing staff's work on the new Web banner ad for the CNCS Level l classes. He updated the survey he uses to better suit his next seminar. He prepared the tabletop exhibit material, and shipped it to a volunteer in Dallas who will assist with set up. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program Mark Spencer anticipates recommending 8 of the 10 school applications he received for one of our grants; deadline is Nov 1, and the EC will get them Nov 15. A nice compliment: Parallax has taken Mark's TV Remote Decoder kit concept and developed a course on that type of wireless technology; it starts with the foundation of our curriculum focus (wireless technology), and extends to computer programming to use wireless technology. Mark worked on a lesson activity for students to figure the speed of light from Doppler shift measurements off NOAA satellites -- for 20% he gets consistent results, not bad for measuring with a micrometer and cutting with an ax. He is developing a basic electronics course for students and new hams. 73, Sincerely, Dave Patton, NN1N Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer DCP: lk Staff Absentee List All Staff 11/25-11/26 Holiday Dave Sumner 11/9pm-11/10 Washington Robert Inderbitzen 12/2-12/3 Vacation Dan Miller 11/4-11/6 SSCA Melbourne, FL `` 11/7-11/10 IAEM, Dallas, TX `` 11/14-11/17 IACP, Los Angeles, CA Kathy Capodicasa 11/11-11/15 Vacation Scott Gee 11/8-11/10 Vacation Bill Moore 11/12 Ft. Wayne Indiana Convention Joe Carcia 11/19 Vacation Leona Adams 11/4 Vacation Rick Lindquist 11/5-11/7 GA State Convention, Lawrenceville 11/22-11/24 Vacation Mark Dzamba 12/24-12/30 Vacation Pam Dzamba 12/24-12/30 Vacation

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11542] We can hope...
by W5JBP＠aol.com 04 Nov '04

04 Nov '04

>From the AP news wire. Telecommunications Michael Powell is expected to step down as FCC chairman after leading the agency to deregulatory decisions that benefit the regional Bell telephone companies. Bush's replacements for Powell and a Democratic commissioner whose term is up will ensure a continuing GOP majority, leading to further deregulation with a goal of bridging the digital divide more quickly. In Congress, where there have been calls to replace the Telecommunications Act of 1996 with new legislation, it's not likely a stronger Republican majority will have a major impact, because most senators view the issues in terms of how they affect their urban or rural constituencies. For example, as revenues from traditional telephone services plunge due to competition and new technologies, so does the flow of taxes used to subsidize phone companies in less-profitable rural and poor areas. So while Republicans generally seek less regulation, senators from rural states may not be inclined to excuse the new Internet phone services from payments to the Universal Service Fund. At the same time, any attempt to rewrite the Telecom Act would likely seek to simplify the complex system of access fees paid to local phone companies that connect either end of a call, reflecting the emergence of cellphones and Internet phone service as popular conduits for calling.

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11541] Re: Excerpt from today's Communications Daily
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 03 Nov '04

03 Nov '04

Warren Communications gave us permission to post it after all. Dave

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11540] Re: Good news from Vice Director Fenstermaker
by Jim K8JE 03 Nov '04

03 Nov '04

Jim, Good news. Please give my congratulations to Shirley. It sure is good to add another, Midwest-origin ham to the roster. 73, Jim Weaver, K8JE Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL; http://www.arrl.org/ 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040 Tel.: 513-459-0142; E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio Is! MEMBERS: The reason ARRL Is! -----Original Message----- From: Hobart, Mary K1MMH [mailto:mhobart@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 8:40 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [ARRL-ODV:11537] Good news from Vice Director Fenstermaker Good morning! Jim asked me to share this good news with the Board family... I'm happy to announce that there is a new ham in the Fenstermaker house. My XYL, Shirley, received her tech license yesterday. She is KE7CBH. About 30 years ago, she was licensed as WN9RJW but that license lasped as we were without a station from which to operate from our apartment. She is looking forward to upgrading so she can also work DX! I already ordered many feet of new tower (but I might be living on one of them soon!). 73 Jim K9JF

1 0

[ARRL-ODV:11539] Re: Excerpt from today's Communications Daily
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 03 Nov '04

03 Nov '04

Small typos. The reference to 20 Hz was 20 MHz in the original. Also, there was a vagrant quotation mark at the beginning of the fourth sentence of the second paragraph. I've fixed both below. Dave _____ Procedural & Substantive Grounds Amateur Radio Operators Weigh Legal Challenge to FCC's BPL Order Expressing disappointment over the Bush administration's "failure" to prevent radio spectrum "pollution" by BPL systems, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) said it was weighing various remedies, including a legal challenge to the FCC's BPL order (CD Oct 15 p4). In a letter to Commerce Secy. Donald Evan [sic], ARRL Pres. Jim Haynie said that despite the "excellent" work done by the NTIA to "document the extensive harmful interference that will occur if BPL systems are deployed at the radiated emission limits permitted by the FCC rules, it appears that the NTIA concurred in the FCC's decision not to tighten those limits." The ARRL had lobbied the FCC in vain at the last minute to get the emission limits reduced. ARRL CEO David Sumner said in an interview that it was likely that the amateurs would file a petition for review of the FCC's rules on procedural and substantive grounds. On the procedural issues, he said FCC Chmn. Powell's attending a BPL event in Manassas, Va., on the eve of the Oct. 14 Commission meeting at which the BPL order was adopted (CD Oct 14 p2) was "clearly a violation." The FCC gen. counsel can "try to put whatever lipstick on it he wants after the fact," he said, "but it was clearly prohibited." Even if Powell's attendance was permitted, Sumner said, the Commission is required to reveal the information obtained from the Manassas presentation and hasn't done so. The other procedural issue is the Commission's refusal to release the results of its technical studies, on which it says it based its BPL decisions. Sumner said the NTIA's submission to the FCC noted that the probability of harmful interference to amateur radio was actually 100% within 200 m of a power line at 4 MHz and within 400 m of a power line at 20 MHz. Given that, it's "completely unreasonable" to expect amateur operators -- whose stations are invariably closer than that to power lines -- to deal with every instance of harmful interference, he added. Asked if he realistically expected the FCC to reduce emission limits, he said the amateurs knew it would be very difficult to persuade the Commission to do that: "There is a solid technical basis for a lower limit." In its discussions of notching, the FCC has acknowledged the desirability of reducing emission by 20dB, he said, although it needs to be closer to 30-40dB to bring the probability of interference down to a reasonable level. "They [FCC] clearly understand there is a problem here. But they also are trying to encourage BPL...so they can be seen as promoting competition in the delivery of broadband services." However, amateurs are "gratified" by the FCC's requirement for industry to set up a database and the need for certification, rather than verification, of BPL equipment, he said. As for whether amateur radio can co-exist with BPL, he said "it depends." "With the amateur frequency notched and with underground cable certainly the potential for interference is reduced." ARRL's concern is that the FCC's new rules don't require BPL operators to follow "best practices," he added. Ultimately, he said, the BPL operator would have to fix any harmful interference, and "they are beginning to understand how big a burden that is. We are anxious to work with the BPL industry toward that end." The BPL industry was long in denial that there was interference at all, he said: "Now they at least acknowledge that there is and we consider that to be an encouraging sign." Sumner said the FCC had failed demonstrate [sic] it was serious about tackling interference. That's evident from the agency's failure to order termination of a single BPL operation despite "extensive documentation of harmful interference," he said. In a few cases where BPL trials were abandoned, the operators took the initiative after interference complaints, he added. There are many ongoing trials where "we have had well-documented interference complaints on file for a couple of months and there has been no action" by the Commission, he said. Also, the FCC has limited resources for enforcement of interference complaints, he said: "They don't have the staff to deal with it." That was one of the ARRL's arguments why a lower emission limit was necessary. If the FCC has to deal with BPL deployments at existing limits, he said, "they don't have the resources to deal with the enforcement issues that will arise." -- Dinesh Kumar

1 0