IN THIS UPDATE . . .

FCC COMPUTER GLITCHES PUT GATE 2 ON HOLD

Once again, the word from Gettysburg is "next week." Maybe it was early Halloween gremlins, but unexpected problems that have plagued the amateur computer system at the FCC's Gettysburg office all week have all but eliminated any chance that Gate 2 vanity call signs will be issued in time for this weekend's ARRL November Sweepstakes CW contest. Hams antsy to learn when they'll get one of their vanity requests have besieged the FCC with phone calls this week. A spokesman at Gettysburg said Thursday, however, that he doubts that the FCC will be ready to issue any vanity call signs until sometime next week. "I'm 90% sure it's not going to make it this week," he said.

Some optimism flared when October 30 grants appeared in some call sign databases, leading to speculation that the vanity call signs might soon follow. However, the FCC has announced that any grants dated after October 24, 1996, are invalid because many of them were erroneous.

The unspecified computer problems are not related to the vanity call sign program. FCC personnel in Gettysburg already have entered data from the more than 4500 first-day Gate 2 applications, and are poised to start granting licenses once the computer problems are resolved, the spokesman said. The FCC anticipates that event could happen "by the end of next week." It's not known how long it will take to process all of the first-day applications, since this will be the first time the FCC has run the program using "live" data. Before processing, however, the FCC wants to "be sure everything is going to work well," the spokesman said. In the meantime, hams are asked to be patient and to refrain from calling the FCC to inquire about the status of their vanity call sign applications.

ARRL SEEKS TO DELAY RF SAFETY REGULATIONS

Meeting in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, October 24 and 26, the ARRL Board of Directors agreed to ask the FCC to extend the compliance date of new RF safety regulations--released in ET Docket 93-62--from January 1, 1997, to January 1, 1998. The League says the additional time is needed to draft acceptable implementation guidelines. Among other things, the new guidelines require hams running more than 50 W PEP to conduct routine RF radiation evaluations to determine if RF fields are sufficient to cause human exposure to RF radiation levels in excess of those specified. The League already has asked the FCC to delay the effective dates to include new RF safety questions in Amateur Radio license examination question pools.

The Board also authorized ARRL President Rodney Stafford, KB6ZV, to sign a formal agreement with the National Frequency Coordinators' Council. The agreement puts into effect the so-called single-point-of-contact concept outlined in a memorandum of understanding that the ARRL Ad Hoc Repeater Committee negotiated with the NFCC board at the ARRL National Convention in September. The ARRL Board accepted the memorandum with minor changes and voted to have Stafford sign it after the NFCC Board agreed to accept the changes. The changes will allow consultations on other than an annual schedule and will establish the National Frequency Coordination Official (NFCO) as an ARRL administrative office that will act on behalf of the NFCC.

President Stafford characterized the agreement as "the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship among the ARRL, the NFCC and all amateurs interested in improving the process of repeater coordination." The ARRL and the NFCC now will discuss how best to implement the new agreement.

In other Board actions:

  • In view of the congressional mandate imposed on the FCC to auction the 2305-2320 MHz band for commercial purposes, ARRL will seek a change in the amateur service allocation status, from secondary to primary, in the 2300-2305 MHz segment.

  • The ARRL will petition the FCC to relax the rules governing the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) to permit stations operating under RACES to communicate with non-RACES amateur stations actively engaged in an emergency or drill. The League also will seek an increase in the time limit on RACES drills to five hours per week.

  • The Board adopted revised legislative positions for the 105th Congress.

  • The Board's WRC-99 planning committee will study an ARRL Industry Advisory Council recommendation to extend HF digital privileges to Novice and Technician Plus licensees and report back to the Board.

  • Effective July 1, 1997, the Board voted to increase ARRL dues of full and associate members by $3 to $34 annually. The senior dues rate will be increased from $25 to $28. Present or new members may renew memberships or join the League before July 1, 1997, at the current rates. The move to raise dues is related to a discouraging financial report presented to the Board. During 1996, League expenses will outpace income by approximately $500,000. The dues increase is only part of a multifaceted effort to improve the League's financial picture in future years without affecting essential services.

  • The Board declared the theme of the 1997 ARRL National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, to be "Public Service." The Board also declared 1997 as the "ARRL Year of Public Service," in recognition of the critical importance of public service activities in the amateur community.

  • The Board commended retiring West Gulf Division Director Tom Comstock, N5TC, for his long-time dedication and service to the ARRL.

Details on the October special Board of Directors meeting will appear in January QST.

LITTLE LEOs BATTLE CONTINUES QUIETLY BUT FIRMLY

Following the initial furor, the "Little LEOs" threat to 2 meters and 70 cm has slipped from the headlines, but efforts continue to thwart the inclusion of their commercial activities in our popular VHF and UHF bands.

Little LEO allocations for the mobile-satellite service below 1 GHz include uplink and downlink frequencies on both sides of 2 meters. Proponents of the technology claim these existing allocations are inadequate. At a May meeting of Informal Working Group 2A (IWG-2A)--where the needs of the low-earth-orbiting satellite industry were addressed in preparation for the 1997 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-97)--the Little LEOs sought, over League objections, to include 144-148 MHz and 420-450 MHz on their list of "candidate bands," proposing to share the spectrum with hams. That prompted a call to action by ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, who urged a letter-writing campaign that yielded thousands of responses opposing the inclusion of 2 meters and 70 cm.

While the Little LEO proponents have not backed off, neither have they submitted any technical documentation to show that sharing with the wide variety of amateur uses could actually work. As a participant in IWG-2A, the ARRL submitted a 42-page technical rationale in late September that details why the League believes sharing to be unworkable. So far, the Little LEO industry had not responded with a technical basis in favor of sharing, and with the IWG-2A final report due November 15, the clock is running out to include any sharing studies involving amateur bands. Unless an attempt were made to short-circuit the process--a possibility that cannot be completely ruled out in the present Washington climate--a US proposal for sharing could not be made in the absence of such a study. Also, under the procedures announced for WRC-97, any US proposal must first be subjected to an FCC notice and public comment process and must be accepted by the US Department of State and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

If other countries are working on such sharing studies, these were expected to surface at a meeting of International Telecommunication Union ITU-R Working Party 8D October 29 to November 8 in Geneva, Switzerland. ARRL Technical Relations Manager Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, and ARRL International Affairs Vice President Larry Price, W4RA, are attending the session, Paul as a member of the US delegation and Larry representing the International Amateur Radio Union. The US provided no input to the 8D meeting to suggest possible sharing between Little LEOs and amateurs. The output of Working Party 8D goes to the Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) in May 1997, and the CPM report will provide the technical basis for WRC-97 decisions. Without a technical basis in the record, Sumner said, WRC-97 would be "hard-pressed" to agree to a shared allocation but added, "The Little LEOs still might look for a way to get their camel's nose into our tent."

LEAGUE FILES TO LET ADVANCED CLASS VEs ADMINISTER GENERAL EXAMS

The ARRL has asked the FCC to change its rules to permit Advanced class volunteer examiners (VEs) to administer the General class license examination. Under current rules, Advanced class VEs can administer Novice, Technician and Technician Plus examinations.

When implementing the original 1983 legislation creating the VE program, the FCC interpreted it to mean that an eligible VE must have passed the next higher telegraphy and written elements, if they exist, to administer tests for a particular license class. In 1985, the FCC denied a petition filed by Gordon Girton, W6NLG, requesting that Advanced Class hams be allowed to administer, among other thing, exam element 1(B), the 13-wpm code test. (A reconsideration petition reversed the ruling, but the FCC did not change the rules because the reconsideration petition did not address the rules change, only the statutory interpretation.) The League did not support Girton's proposal at the time because it was more concerned about the integrity (and perceived integrity) of the then-new VE program. It also appeared that there were enough Amateur Extra VEs to provide exam opportunities--something that's no longer the case in all geographical areas.

The League's filing says that allowing Advanced class VEs to administer General class examination elements will help to create "additional opportunities for operator license class upgrading" by current Technician and Technician Plus licensees and would "take additional pressure off" Extra class VEs. The League estimates more than 15,500 additional elements could be administered each year if Advanced class VEs could administer exams up to the General class level.

The ARRL/VEC--the largest VEC--has nearly 24,000 accredited VEs--18, 500 Extra class and 4700 Advanced class operators.

SOLAR ACTIVITY RISES

Solar seer Tad Cook, KT7H, in Seattle, Washington, reports solar activity was up slightly last week, and geomagnetic disturbances were down. Solar flux remains right around 70, however, where it has been for a long time. Flux values are expected to dip slightly below 70 until November 14, and then go back up around 70 through the end of the month. Geomagnetic indices should remain stable except around November 15 and again around November 19.

G0CAS of the RSGB comments: "The emergence of a single sunspot on the solar disc on the 20th brought an end to a 36-day period with a spotless sun. The last spotless period of this length was observed back in 1944!" The DK4LI 30-meter propagation beacon is operating on 10.144 MHz, identifying as DK0WCY. A magnetometer built by DK4VW provides the K indices. The beacon is in the town of Kiel, near the Danish border.

Sunspot numbers for October 24 through 30 were 0, 13, 26, 11, 11, 0 and 0 respectively, with a mean of 8.7. The 10.7 cm-flux was 69.9, 69.9, 71, 72.1, 68.4, 70.4 and 70.7 respectively, with a mean of 70.3. Planetary A indices for the same period were 11, 8, 5, 4, 10, 11, and 10 respectively, with a mean of 8.4.

Conditions look good for the ARRL November Sweepstakes CW contest this weekend. Some path projections: From the east coast to the west coast looks good on 80 meters from 2330 to 1300 UTC; on 40 meters from 2100 to 0100 UTC and again around 0730 to 0930 UTC and also 1300 UTC. Check 20 meters from 1630 to 2030 UTC. From Dallas to Chicago, 80 meters looks good around the clock, with strongest signals from 2330 to 1230 UTC; 40 meters should be open from 1300 to 0030 UTC.

APRS HELPS RECOVER HAM'S STOLEN CAR

Scotty Liekette, W8KXX, of San Diego, California, made one of those mistakes that paid off big time! While calling the police to report his car had just been stolen, he remembered he had accidentally left his new project--an APRS car tracker--turned on inside the car. Using his home computer and the WB4APR Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) software, he located his car on the local San Diego map, still sending current GPS position beacons from a location on the other side of the city. Liekette told the police dispatcher he'd spotted his missing car, but the police had a hard time understanding how he could "see" the vehicle across town. When an officer showed up at his door, Liekette showed him the stolen car's symbol with its unique amateur call sign on an APRS city map and the officer relayed the location to police department units.

As Liekette later learned, the stolen car and a police unit stopped at the same red light at that time. The thieves were still in the car! Surprised at the officer's attention, the thieves made an illegal left turn at the light, and the chase was on. Unfortunately, the thieves abandoned the vehicle in the middle of a nearby street and got away. The recovered car had suffered only minor damage. --Tuck Miller, KC6ZEC

HAM RADIO EXPLORER SCOUTS AID RESCUE

A ham radio team from Explorer Post 80 of Alexandria, Virginia, helped to locate a missing 11-year-old who had gone off exploring on his own during a mid-October Boy Scout Camporee in the Blue Ridge Mountains at New Market, Virginia. The team coordinated a search effort involving six hams, who located the youngster about 20 minutes after he'd been reported missing. However, that wasn't the end of the tale. The boy was stranded on a ledge about 75 feet down the side of a cliff, some 100 feet above the bottom of a stone quarry. He couldn't climb back up, and he couldn't continue down. As sub-freezing temperatures approached, the Scouts called in the local rescue team, which successfully had the youngster out of the quarry and on his way to a local hospital in less than two hours. He was treated and released. The Explorer Post 80 net, presided over by Richard Harmon, KE4POK, continued to monitor the activity and report on its progress until the rescue was completed. For his role, Harmon got a big hug from the missing boy's mother. --Jim Wilson, K4BAV

ATWATER KENT TIME CAPSULE OPENED

Some vintage radio collectors in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area got a treat last Friday (October 25) when A. Atwater Kent III, grandson of the famous radio manufacturer of the 1920s and 1930s, opened a time capsule that had been sealed and buried at the Atwater Kent factory in Philadelphia in 1929 by his father and grandfather. Using a huge soldering iron, Ralph Williams, Atwater Kent collector and historian and Kent family friend, undid the soldered seals from the copper box after it was removed from the granite cornerstone. Inside were newspapers of the era plus notes from the senior Kent's speech at the dedication.

But the real "prize" was an Atwater Kent Model 55 radio chassis and instruction manual, still in mint condition, in the bottom of the time capsule. (The Model 55--a weighty, top-of-the-line set--was installed in a number of different cabinet configurations in its day.) The Model 55 used 10 Cunningham "globe" tubes and a separate speaker (not included in the time capsule). The General Services Administration now owns the old factory, which is being razed to make way for a new building. The contents of the time capsule will initially be displayed in a new structure nearby, housing the Department of Veterans Affairs. Later, the artifacts are to be loaned to the Atwater Kent Museum.

Several members of the New Jersey Antique Radio Club attended the historical event. For more information and photographs of the occasion, check the NJARC Web at http://www.eht.com/oldradio. --John Dilks, K2TQN

In Brief . . .

  • H-T user works Mir: Tony Gosset, XE2JHS, in Chihuahua, Mexico, had been trying to work John Blaha, KC5TZQ, aboard the Mir space station (and earlier when KC5TCQ was aboard the shuttle Atlantis) without success until October 17. Tony finally snagged KC5TZQ on 145.55 MHz using just his Realistic HTX-202 hand-held running 5 W into a mobile antenna mounted over an air cooler about 18 feet above ground. Tony reports 59 reports on both ends of the brief contact.

  • Welcome aboard! Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS, is the latest addition in the ARRL Educational Activities Department, where she works part-time. She will handle material requests for EAD's volunteer instructors, recruiters, teachers and folks interested in SAREX contacts. Jean's husband, Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, and their son, Dan, also work at HQ.

  • Ham Radio & More is back: The Ham Radio & More radio program--on the commercial bands for more than 5-1/2 years--is again live on shortwave via WWCR. Starting November 3, the show will air Sundays at 2300 UTC on 5.07 MHz. Host and producer Len Winkler, KB7LPW, thanks all the loyal listeners that contacted WWCR and requested the show again be aired live. The toll-free listener call-in line is always open during the show for comments and questions at 800-293-5366. Many local radio stations also air the show, which also is available via RealAudio on the Internet. WWCR rebroadcasts the show Mondays at 1000 UTC on 3.21 MHz. --Len Winkler, KB7LPW

  • Youngest Extra?: Thomas Coffee, AC6XC ("alfa charlie six xtra class"), of Torrance, California, could be the youngest Extra Class operator in the US, according to his dad, Peter, AC6EN. Young Thomas, born in September 1985, passed his code and written tests "between piano camp and soccer camp" this summer to receive his Extra a few weeks before his eleventh birthday. His dad reports that, in addition to VHF contesting and family activity coordination, Thomas has used his license as a starting point for science fair projects on antenna gain and directivity at UHF wavelengths. Thomas' 6-year-old brother Daniel is already working on Ohm's Law problems so he can get his own license, while 4-year-old sibling Brian has been heard to ask, "Do you copy?" during playground games. --Peter Coffee, AC6EN

  • Grove Communications Expo: The seventh annual Grove Communications Expo, October 18-20 in Atlanta, Georgia, emphasized satellite communication as well as more traditional terrestrial monitoring activities. Astronaut Ron Parise, WA4SIR, keynoted the banquet, which drew more than 170 people. Ron's slide show mentioned SAREX activity aboard the space shuttle, and he even brought along a tape recording containing SAREX communications that clearly demonstrated just how difficult it is to copy narrowband FM signals on the shuttle under "high-volume" conditions. For more information on the event, check the Grove Communications home page at http://www.grove.net. --SpaceNews/John A. Magliacane, KD2BD

  • Yaesu warns about NiMH batteries: Yaesu is advising customers not to use nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries in any of its Amateur Radio hand-held transceivers, and warns that such use could invalidate the warranty. Yaesu says the NiMH batteries--while they look the same as NiCd batteries on the outside--are "completely different" internally. Yaesu says the NiMH batteries "cannot be charged by any Yaesu wall or desk chargers, since these chargers do not prevent overcharging, and nickel-metal hydride batteries become very unstable." Yaesu also says NiMH batteries do not perform well when they are repeatedly discharged at high current rates.

  • Operation Grecian Firebolt '96: Members of the Military Affiliate Radio Systems of the Army, Air Force, and Navy-Marine Corps and "civilian" hams cooperated with the US Armed Forces and the Federal Emergency Management Agency this past summer during Operation Grecian Firebolt '96. The June test of global communication capability involved 23 active and US Army Reserve units in 11 states and three countries. The exercise was sponsored by the US Army Information Systems Command, Fort Huachuca, Arizona. During the exercise, civilian volunteers throughout the country helped to establish an emergency communication network by providing personal radio equipment. Ham radio volunteers operated on MARS frequencies, initiating or relaying emergency message traffic. Grecian Firebolt '96 was an effort to test and evaluate worldwide communication capability to support two regional military operations while also responding to a natural disaster. --Carnotes, the newsletter of the Office of the Chief, United States Army Reserve; submitted by Ross M. Boyer, N2ISU

The ARRL Letter

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.

Visit the ARRLWeb page at http://www.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.