Date: Sun, 13 Feb 94 08:02:03 PST From: Info-Hams Mailing List and Newsgroup Errors-To: Info-Hams-Errors@UCSD.Edu Reply-To: Info-Hams@UCSD.Edu Precedence: Bulk Subject: Info-Hams Digest V94 #146 To: Info-Hams Info-Hams Digest Sun, 13 Feb 94 Volume 94 : Issue 146 Today's Topics: Amateur Radio Newsline #860 4 Feb 94 Antenna Erection Aids - Thor's socks Golf Causes Cancer! Looking for LOGIKEY keyer Need SW + AM?FM unit Operating in Canada? Vertical Antennas Send Replies or notes for publication to: Send subscription requests to: Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu. Archives of past issues of the Info-Hams Digest are available (by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/info-hams". We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 03:33:14 MST From: mvb.saic.com!unogate!news.service.uci.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!gumby!destroyer!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!alberta!ve6mgs!usenet@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Amateur Radio Newsline #860 4 Feb 94 To: info-hams@ucsd.edu The electronic publication of the Amateur Radio Newsline is distributed with the permission of Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, President and Editor of Newsline. The text is transcribed from the audio service by Dale Cary and is first published on Genie. Editorial comment or news items should be E-mailed to 3241437@mcimail.com or B.PASTERNAK@genie.geis.com. Voice or FAX to +1 805-296-7180. Notes: 1- The regular transcribed version was not available this week, so I'm doing it myself. Pardon the typos. 2- Because of earthquake related mail delays, this weeks audio report, (860), that this version is made from, was to be aired the previous week. For that reason, one of the stories which was outdated, is not included here. ************************************************************* From around the world, this is NEWSLINE. Amateur Radio's independent, on the air, bulletin service. ************************************************************* Edition #860, Reporter: Roy Neil, K6DUE Closed Circuit Advisory A reminder. The address for the NEWSLINE Support Fund is; Newsline, C/O Dr. Norm Chalfin, K6PGX, Post Office Box 463, Pasadena, CA 91102. Remember, we need your support to keep NEWSLINE, online. ***** Headline The following is a QST Ham Radio ticket, and a court says a Ham does have a right to a tower, and antenna. ***** ARRL Suggests Lifetime Ham License The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to make Amateur Radio operator licenses valid for life. In its petition, the League says that there in nothing in the Communications Act of 1934, that would prevent such a license term for radio amateurs. It wants a lifetime operators license to allow inactive amateurs to return to the service at the same class of license without the necessity of retesting. This proposal would apply only to operator licenses. Amateur radio station licenses would, by law, still be limited to a 10 year term. A person with a lifetime operator license, but no station license, would not be permitted to operate a station of his own, but would be able to operate from the station of another amateur. The League says that nothing in this proposal should have any effect on the FCC's call sign issuance program as it currently exist, or as proposed in the vanity callsign program. The ARRL says at this time it is not proposing to make this rule change retroactive, rather, it suggests the easiest way to implement it, is simply to extend currently held operator licenses from 10 years to life. No rule making number has yet been assigned to this ARRL regulatory change request. ***** ARRL Asks For Vanity Comment-Date Extension Word from Newington, CT., that the ARRL is asking the FCC for an extension to the Comment Cutoff deadline, on the Commission's proposal to establish a Vanity callsign system. The FCC's notice of proposed rule making, known as Personal Radio, Docket: 93-305, was released December 29, 1993, it has a comment deadline of March 7, 1994. The League said that it immediately decide to publish the text of the rule making proposal, in it's entirety, in the Feb. 1994, issue of it's QST ARRL says it also is asking its members to make their views on the matter, made known to their elected representatives, but in its request for an extension of the filing deadline, until April 21st, the ARRL says that because the matter of issuing preferred call signs involves a scarce resource, the question of maintaining fairness in all aspects of the program must be addressed. The League also says that the March 7th comment deadline, simply does not allow enough time for ARRL members to express their views on the proposal. Nor will it let the ARRL board formulate a position, based on membership input, as to what position it should take. It's now up to the FCC to decide on this ARRL time extension request, we'll let you know when the Commission decides. (Reported by David Black, KB4KCH) ***** Court Finds In Favor Of Ham Antenna A federal appeals court has found in favor of a Minnesota ham in the latest round of a 3 year battle to install a tower and antenna. Back in January of 1991, Sylvia Pentel, N0MRW, applied to the city of Medota Heights for a zoning variance for a 68 ft. crank-up tower. At the time she was using a roof mounted vertical, which, she was unaware, violated the city's zoning rules. The city denied her application for a tower, but did grant Pentel a special use permit to allow here to keep the vertical, but that did not satisfy N0MRW. Pentel sued the city in U.S. district court. Her attorney, John B. Bellows Jr., K0QBE, argued that the ordinance restricting her tower and antenna was preempted by federal law. A law known as PRB-1, which requires a reasonable accommodation of radio amateurs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for The 8th Circuit, has ruled that in establishing PRB-1, the FCC was attempting to strike a balance between the interests of municipalities and ham radio operators. The court noted that granting a special use permit for Pentel's vertical was not an acceptable accommodation to the radio amateur under the terms of PRB-1 and ordered the city to try again. The court did put some limit on it's decision. It said the finding does not mean the city must necessarily grant Pentel's application for a tower. Rather it stated the Mendota Heights, MN, must make a reasonable accommodation to insure her interests as a radio amateur are protected. ***** Ham Convicted of Harassing McDonalds Customers A United States district court in Texas has written an end to the story of Terry VanSikle, WB5WXI, by sentencing him to 90 days of home confinement, 3 years probation, fining him $1000, and ordering that he undergo a group counseling program as directed by the probation office. VanSikle is a TV news cameraman at station WFAA who had been accused by the FBI of harassing customers at a McDonalds restaurant drive-through window in the Dallas area. He initially protested his innocence last summer. One newspaper even ran a 2 column feature about VanSikle, quoting him as saying that the frequencies used by McDonalds are posted on computer bulletin boards, and anyone could have been responsible. But on the 18th of October, Terry VanSikle changed his story. He pleaded guilty to one count of violating Title 47, section 333 of the U.S. code by willfully and maliciously interfering with radio communications. Sentencing was set for early January, and that time he faced a maximum term of 1 year in prison and $100,000. fine. The lighter sentence of 90 days home confinement and probation falls under federal sentencing guide lines. It's mitigated by the fact that VanSikle has already has lost some $15,000. worth of scanners, two way radios, and other gear confiscated when he was detained. Still, VanSikle's troubles may not be over. There's a likelihood of FCC administrative action to strip him of any federally issued radio licenses. And also there's the possibility of civil action against him by the McDonalds Corporation to recoup any losses incurred as a result of his jamming their radio system. ***** ARRL Reacts To NJ RF Fee Proposal Officials of the American Radio Relay League have told the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy that a State proposal to register and impose fees on radio transmitters, and other sources of RF, was contrary to federal law; at least as the law is related to radio amateurs. The New Jersey proposal exempted amateur radio stations at this time, but leaves the door open for future regulation of hams and imposition of fees. But ARRL general counsel, Chris Imlay, N3AKD, says that only the FCC has the power to license and regulate radio transmitters. Imlay says that applying the proposed regulations to amateurs would effectively preclude amateur radio communications in New Jersey. The NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection And Energy has extended the deadline for comments on the proposal until February 22nd. Hams in NJ, and the surrounding States, are being encouraged to write the NJ Legislature in opposition to the radio tax proposal. ***** DXpediton In DX, word that the LAMBDA Amateur Radio Club, LARC, will sponsor it's 3rd expedition from March 5th to the 10th. LARC members are planning to operate on HF and OSCAR 13, mode "B" and mode "S" from the Caribbean Island of Anguila in the British West Indies. The operators making the trip will be Jim Kelly - KK3K, Don Bledsoe - WB6LYI, Mark Wilcox - KC3XC, Tom Hendrix - KI4ZN, Howard Wyman - W9BVD, Norm Gray - KF7IK, James Keis - AF9A, and Wayne Shuller - AI9Q. A QSL for all operators is direct to their current call book addresses. This may well be the first OSCAR 13, mode "S" expedition for the record books. ***** Free QRP Info Two QRP nets, located in the Pacific Northwest, are now available to help you meet other low power enthusiasts throughout the country. The Northwest QRP Club meets every Monday evening at 0300 UTC on 10.123 Mhz. The Northwest QRP Club Saturday Morning Net can be found at 0730 UTC on 3.561 Mhz. If you're interested in receiving a free copy of their NWQ newsletter, please send an SASE to Bill Todd, 4153 49th Ave. S.W., Seattle, WA 98116. ***** Exam Dates Set Two ARRL national exam days have been set for 1994, May 14th and October 29th. Details will be in the February Issue of QST ***** Marathon Ham A ham who ran in the New York City Marathon last November, to raise money for Cancer research, will be doing it again soon on the West Coast. Fred Dube, AA8FQ, has announced that he will run in the March 6th Los Angeles Marathon and will be on the air before and during the race. With backing from ICOM America, Dube says that he will hold as many QSO's as he can while running the course. He says he plans to use repeaters on 145.200Mhz, 146.925Mhz, 445.325Mhz, and 447.235Mhz. Fred also will try his luck on the national SIMPLEX calling frequency, 146.52. His frequency coordination is being handled by the Baldwin Hills ARC. If band conditions warrant, he also plans to try some 20 meter remote base operations. Look for him on 14.295Mhz. AA8FQ's participation in the New York City Marathon raised about $2500. that was donated to the Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center. This time the proceeds of sponsored miles will benefit the Los Angeles Childrens' Cancer Research Fund. That organization is considered one of leading pediatric cancer research organization in the country. Ham's interested in sponsoring miles to be run by Fred can contact him at (216) 721-2466. Meanwhile we at NEWSLINE wish Fred Dube, AA8FQ good luck in his next run to save lives. ***** For this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at Post Office Box 463, Pasadena, CA 91102. * * * Newsline Copyright 1994 all rights are reserved. * * * ------------ < ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> < "Big Steve" Coletti > < Shortwave Listener, Broadcaster, Computer Consultant > < and all around nice guy > < Internet: bigsteve@dorsai.dorsai.org ==== S.COLETTI2@genie.geis.com > < UUCP: Steve_Cole@islenet.com ==== steveny@lopez.marquette.mi.us > < Fidonet: 1:278/712 US Mail: P.O. Box 396, New York, NY 10002 > < Voice: +1 212 995-2637 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 21:21:25 GMT From: netcon!bongo!julian@locus.ucla.edu Subject: Antenna Erection Aids - Thor's socks To: info-hams@ucsd.edu In article <2jdef0$hus@cronkite.nersc.gov> Greg@epitome.er.doe.gov (Greg Chartrand) writes: >The sock wins my vote for most creative, low cost, easy to transport >solution. Now I have a reason to save my old sox! Of course the appliance operators will buy ready knitted socks. The real hams will knit their own - no doubt from recycled sweaters. Many hams prefer the Wigwam brand of socks. Some users report good results with military surplus socks, but they often require modification before use. -- Julian Macassey, N6ARE julian@bongo.tele.com Voice: (310) 659-3366 Paper Mail: Apt 225, 975 Hancock Ave, West Hollywood, California 90069-4074 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Feb 1994 20:20:00 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!srgenprp!alanb@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Golf Causes Cancer! To: info-hams@ucsd.edu Steve Coletti (bigsteve@dorsai.dorsai.org) wrote: : In article , Alan Bloom wrote: : > to investigate the death rates of golf course managers. The study : > found that golf course managers have death rates from several kinds : > of cancer that are significantly higher than the national norm. The : > : > Sounds exactly like the famous Milham study of amateur radio operators : > which implied that exposure to RF radiation causes cancer. I wonder : > what the cause is for the golf course managers: too much fresh air? : I'd venture a guess that the death rate is probably due to the exposure : to chemicals and insecticides used in grounds keeping. I suppose, although I doubt they use much insecticide on golf courses. (They're mostly grass, aren't they?) I'm beginning to wonder if there is anything that DOESN'T cause cancer. A local best-selling Doctor claims that milk causes leukemia. If I remember his reasoning, it goes like this: A high percentage of milk cows have bovine leukemia. Bovine leukemia is caused by a virus. Human leukemia can be caused by the same virus. While Pasteurization kills the viral organisms by breaking them into particles, those particles are still capable of causing leukemia in humans. Sounds like an awfully dubious string of assertions to me, but lots of people buy the good Doctor's book. When it comes to cancer, reason takes a back seat to fear. AL N1AL ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 19:19:15 GMT From: netcon!bongo!netcomsv!netcom.com!slay@locus.ucla.edu Subject: Looking for LOGIKEY keyer To: info-hams@ucsd.edu Hannes Hogni Vilhjalmsson (hhv@rhi.hi.is) wrote: : Can anyone tell me the present address of the Logikey Company, : or any other outlet for their LOGIKEY microprocessor based morse : keyer? If I'm not mistaken, the LogiKey is the commercial version of the CMOS Super Keyer II which was first described in the November 1990 issue of QST. That keyer is available in Kit Form (i.e. parts, pcb, but no switches, boxes, or batteries) from: Idiom Press Box 583 Deerfield, IL 60015 When I bought mine (it is a WONDERFUL keyer), I paid $45 + $3 for domestic USA shipping. Foreign orders were $45 + $5. Sorry, that's all the info I have. 73 de Sandy WA6BXH/7J1ABV slay@netcom.com WA6BXH@N0ARY ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Feb 1994 06:30:30 GMT From: mentor.cc.purdue.edu!mace.cc.purdue.edu!narla@purdue.edu Subject: Need SW + AM?FM unit To: info-hams@ucsd.edu [Please excuse me if I posted this to an inappropriate news group.] I am looking for a good receiver to integrate into my system. I want a receiver that will have a good bandwidth SW PLUS AM & FM in one unit. Unlike in Asia (and probably Europe), such units are hard to find here in the USA. I have inquired at a number of stores and they don't carry them. Any information regarding where I can find such units, approx. pricing, alternatives (I am an absolute amateur putting together my sound system for purely personal pleasure), obstacles to importing (if that's an option) will help me greatly. PL. E-MAIL ME. Many thanks in advance, Gowri Narla narla@mace.cc.purdue.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 18:36:08 GMT From: mvb.saic.com!unogate!news.service.uci.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!news2.uunet.ca!xenitec!mks.com!richw@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Operating in Canada? To: info-hams@ucsd.edu David Tucker and Luis Nadeau disagreed as to whether a US ham licensee is required to follow US (FCC) rules while operating in Canada under Canadian reciprocal permissions. Peter Hardie wrote: The regs clearly state that a U.S. amateur who is a U.S. citizen AND resident and who is qualified to send and receive Morse code at a speed of at least 12 wpm has all the privileges of the Basic, 12wpm, and Advanced quali- fications. Which means they can operate all modes on all bands, just like I can. Those are the Canadian regulations. But what about the US regulations? Do the US regulations permit a US amateur, operating under his US call outside the US, to operate in any mode or band permitted by the country he is operating in, even if such operation would be illegal in the US? Or, is there some specific provision in the FCC regulations that permits such extra privileges specifically for US hams in Canada? To take a simple example, Canadian rules require station ID's every 30 minutes, and the ID can be in either English or French. US rules demand a station ID every 10 minutes, and it must be in English. If a US ham in Canada were to ID himself every half hour, and only in French, this is perfectly OK as far as Canada is concerned, but is it OK as far as the FCC rules go? Even without bringing up issues of extraterritorial jurisdiction, the FCC could presumably sanction an American amateur operating abroad in violation of US rules -- e.g., by revoking his US ham license. So this question is hardly moot. -- Rich Wales (VE3HKZ, WA6SGA/VE3) // Mortice Kern Systems Inc. richw@mks.com // 35 King Street North +1 (519) 884-2251 // Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2W9 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 23:03:16 GMT From: mvb.saic.com!unogate!news.service.uci.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Vertical Antennas To: info-hams@ucsd.edu In article alanb@sr.hp.com (Alan Bloom) writes: >Gary Coffman (gary@ke4zv.atl.ga.us) wrote: >: In article alanb@sr.hp.com (Alan Bloom) writes: >: >Gary Coffman (gary@ke4zv.atl.ga.us) wrote: >: >: In article alanb@sr.hp.com (Alan Bloom) writes: >: >: >Consider a vertical dipole in free space. You could insert a horizontal >: >: >infinite ground plane at the feedpoint without changing the radiation >: >: >pattern. Now you have two verticals, one pointing up, one pointing down. >: >: >Each vertical radiates half the power of the original dipole. >: > >: >: True because each has half the current that flows in the entire dipole. >: > >: >No, the current is the same, but the power is halved. There are (at least) >: >two ways to see this: 1) Only 1/2 the voltage is applied to each 1/4-wave >: >element. Since power = voltage times current, the power is 1/2. >: >2) The element is only 1/2 as long. So the same current results in >: >only 1/2 as much power radiated. > >: Dipole split by infinite ground plane. > >: | >: | >: -------/\/\/\/\---o | o---/\/\/\/\------- >: E1 | E2 >: | >: | > ^^^ 36.5 ohms ^^^ 36.5 ohms > ------------ 73 ohms ------------ > >: If we apply drive to E1-E2, equal currents are driven into each element's >: impedance. So the halves of the dipole have equal currents flowing in them, >: but 180 degrees out of phase. With the infinite ground plane isolating the >: halves, one half has half the total current flow. > >Let's call the voltage applied between E1 and E2 "V". Since there are >equal and opposite voltages on the two terminals, the voltage applied >to each is V/2. > >If, for example, V = 73 volts, the current in the dipole is 1 A (since >the radiation resistance is 73 ohms.) With the ground plane, the >impedance of each 1/4-wave element is 73/2 = 36.5 ohms. Since you have >half the voltage (37.5 V) applied to each half, the current is still 1A >in each 1/4-wave element. Yes, yes, I understand that, but look at what you're saying, "the current is *still* 1A in *each* 1/4-wave element." Since the dipole has *two* elements, 1+1=2, it's instant flow is twice the current of a single element. (I understand what phase does to *net* current at the *feedpoint*, but that's really a different issue. When the barrier of the infinite ground plane comes into play, it *isolates* the two branches so we can treat them separately. Hence we can see the individual 1 ampere flows at the feedpoints of the two halves without phase combinations.) Let's examine *why* an antenna radiates for a moment to see what I'm getting at here. Radiation occurs when an electric charge is accelerated. The relevant factors are the amount of electric charge, RF current, the accelerating potential, RF voltage differential over the charge path, and frequency, the rate of change of voltage along a current path. These three are all intimately related, but in most antennas, the instanteous current is a key to predicting radiation field shape, and hence gain. The 1/4-wave monopole in the example has half the instant current of the dipole, and half the total end to end electrical potential. So crudely it would seem to have 1/4th the field strength, but it's length is 1/2 as great (frequency effect) so the accelerating gradient is the same. That leaves the *signs* of the current flows that make the field of a free space dipole. These vector sum to the same field strength as the monopole over an infinite ground plane. The dipole's currents generate fields which vector sum in a way that makes 1+1 appear to equal 1. The ground plane should be seen as a *shield* to prevent this summing, not as a mirror. >The resulting field is the same for the ground-plane case as for the >dipole in free space. It is as if the other half of the dipole were >still present. That's where the concept of the "image" antenna >extending below the ground plane comes from. Uh huh, but an "image" antenna extending below the ground plane is not reality. It's a visualization trick that's sometimes useful, but the currents that actually flow are induced currents flowing along the surface of the conducting plane. They are *not* the same as the currents that would flow in an "image" antenna. They are the currents a *field* generated by the image antenna would induce in a perfect conductive sheet. This is important to understanding the effects of *real* ground planes which are neither perfectly conducting, nor infinite in extent. And is the reason *real* 1/4-wave monopoles over *real* ground planes have less gain than vertical dipoles, or 1/2-wave vertical monopoles. Gary -- Gary Coffman KE4ZV | You make it, | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary Destructive Testing Systems | we break it. | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary 534 Shannon Way | Guaranteed! | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary Lawrenceville, GA 30244 | | ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 18:14:28 GMT From: mvb.saic.com!unogate!news.service.uci.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!news2.uunet.ca!xenitec!mks.com!richw@network.ucsd.edu To: info-hams@ucsd.edu References , , <06FEB94.12030322.0075@unbvm1.csd.unb.ca>uunet Reply-To : richw@mks.com (Rich Wales) Subject : Re: Operating in Canada? David Tucker wrote: I have also been told by Rich, who went through the process, that you can get credit for code and theory and will only have to pass the rules exam. to which NADO@UNB.CA replied: . . . there is no such thing as a Rule exam. There is a Basic exam and an Advanced exam. The Basic has 100 questions, with multiple choices, and covers rules, basic theory, propagation, interference, etc. You need 60% to pass. Yes and no. (I was the "Rich" referred to in David's article, BTW.) When I applied for my Canadian amateur license last spring, I was required to pass a 26-question subset of the Canadian "Basic" exam, consisting only of questions on rules, regulations, and operating procedures. I was =not= required to do the entire 100-question Basic exam, because I had a US Advanced-class license. I received credit for the Canadian "Basic", "Advanced", and "12 WPM" qualifications on the basis of my US license. -- Rich Wales (VE3HKZ, WA6SGA/VE3) // Mortice Kern Systems Inc. richw@mks.com // 35 King Street North +1 (519) 884-2251 // Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2W9 ------------------------------ End of Info-Hams Digest V94 #146 ****************************** ******************************