Ham Radio/Ham Radio CD-ROM (Emerald Software) (1995).ISO/news/inham02/807

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INFO-HAMS Digest            Thu, 26 Oct 89       Volume 89 : Issue 807

Today's Topics:
                   ARRL 80: PART 97 & STATION I.D.
                       best deals on equipment?
                        callsign database????
                         Earthquake in SF!!!
                    Field Day... OK... A proposal:
      How Much Good Does Ham Radio "Emergency Preparedness" Do?
                info on Crystal Radio kit or schematic
                       PL259 connector assembly
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Date: 25 Oct 89 23:19:50 GMT
From: shelby!portia!jessica![e-mail]  (Paul Flaherty)
Subject: ARRL 80: PART 97 & STATION I.D.

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (BJ Backitis ) writes:
>If operating a club station, such as WD4EOG (Clemson Univ. ARC), how
>does operating as control operator work?  If I sign as WD4EOG, are my
>privileges limited to my OWN call (and do I need to give my own call
>in that case), or those of the station trustee?  Or should club calls
>only be given as information, to tell the station you are operating,
>but officially id-ing using your own call...

If you are fortunate enough to have a club call, here's how it works:

1.  The privileges of the club license are those of the trustee; for
    example, the trustee of W6YX is W2FRT, who has an advanced class license,
    so W6YX has advanced class privileges.

2. If an operator has a license with privileges greater than the club
   license, s/he must include his/her call along with the club call when
   using privileges greater than the club license.  For example, if WD8OML,
   an extra class licensee, wants to operate phone on 21.220, he must sign
   as "WD8OML operating W6YX".

3. Operators are limited to the privileges of their licenses, except when
   a control operator of greater privilege is present, at which time the
   "lesser" operator effectively becomes a third party, capable of using
   the control operator's privileges.

4. Finally, operators may use their own calls, operating portable.  Some
   clubs (like W6YX) prohibit this.


Caveat - I am not a lawyer.  Nor would I want to be one.


-=Paul Flaherty, N9FZX      | "I asked for a dissertation topic, and for my
->[e-mail] | sins, they gave me one."

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Date: 26 Oct 89 03:25:50 GMT
From: att!cbnewsh![e-mail]  (ron.saad)
Subject: best deals on equipment?

Hi.

I'm planning a trip that includes stops in Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Japan and am wondering if this would be a good opportunity to overhaul
the shack.

Anyone have information on where the best prices are (compared to
locally in the US) ?
How about detailed info on duty rates for ham radio and general computer
and electronic equipment ?
Does it pay to buy there and schlep it back ?

Please respond by email and I will summarize.

Oh yeah - assuming it all works out I'll be going in a couple of weeks,
so if you have any info for me, don't wait too long ...

Thanks much,
73 de
--
Ron Saad - WF2K                                 ...!att!feathers!ron
                                                [e-mail]

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Date: 26 Oct 89 00:37:35 GMT
From: pilchuck!ssc![e-mail]  (Tad Cook)
Subject: callsign database????

James Washer asked if there was a way of finding out about ham
calls before they arrive from the FCC.

You might try calling 312-234-8011, with modem set for 1200 bps
and 8 bits, 1 stop bit and VT-102 emulation.  This is a free
service from the Callbook that lists any new or updated info
that is not in the current Callbook or Callbook Supplement.

The info is only put in a couple of times per month, so it may
be possible to receive a license before it appears here.

It is useful for QSLing someone who is not yet in the book, or
who has changed addresses and the current book doesn't show it
yet.

73,
Tad Cook
[e-mail]
KT7H @ N7HFZ

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Date: 26 Oct 89 00:48:45 GMT
From: pyramid!leadsv!esl!esl.ESL.COM![e-mail]  (Denis Lynch)
Subject: Earthquake in SF!!!

I forgot one significant point in my last posting: by the weekend the
"old reliable" trained folks were *BURNED OUT*. They were therefore
getting over-involved, over-long-winded etc.

*If* they had had adequate backup of well-trained workers, they could
have gotten some sleep, and things would have sounded a bit cleaner.

One more reason for a trained corp. I hate to think what things would
sound like if this had been a *really* big one. With so few skilled
communicators, the good ones from the whole area would have gotten
burned out! There would be much more communication needed because
standard facilities would be longer in coming back, and a wider area
would need ongoing operations. (As it was, areas like Cupertino, Sunnyvale,
Mountain View, Palo Alto, etc. were able to make resources available to
harder-hit areas like Los Gatos and Santa Cruz.) On the flip side, I guess,
fewer of us would have had to be back at work!

I also forgot to add to my last posting
73,  Denis N2TI

------------------------------

Date: 26 Oct 89 00:11:00 GMT
From: mirror!frog![e-mail]  (John Woods)
Subject: Field Day... OK... A proposal:

[I've re-ordered the points he made to rebut in a more logical order]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Perry Scott) writes:
> I've only participated in one field day.  As an outsider, it seemed
> strange that field day was:
> o   you get points for putting out marginal signal (sorry QRPers) that
>     hardly anyone can hear.
If you are running from a 2KW generator, you can run one 1KW station or
10 100W stations.  When your generator runs out of gas, solar power will
let you run a QRP station--period.  If you can't communicate with one tube
tied behind your back, how are you going to manage when Nature ties it there
for you?

> o   home stations are frowned upon.  (In a real emergency, we all run to
>     the nearest mountaintop, where the emergency isn't ?)

Many classes of emergencies happen away from populated areas (forest fires,
plane crashes, etc.).  Knowing how to set up a field station is valuable.
Moreover, consider the damage from Hugo (or the REAL "big one" when it
finally hits San Francisco) -- there may not *be* any homes left to have
a nice, cozy station in.

> o   the antenna systems and radios are usually commercially-made.
>     (real hams roll their own stuff, right ?)

Perhaps Field Day needs a new category for radios soldered together out of
junk television parts the morning of Field Day (I'm not quite kidding).
However, for emergency preparedness, simply having spare radios in a safe
corner of the local ham club is more likely to be a winner than secreting
broken TV sets around the local area... :-)  (Note that one antenna
I used during a Field Day was a 1000' chunk of wire thrown down the
side of the mountaintop we were at.  It may not have been the most
efficient possible antenna, but it worked *real* well.  I suppose the
WIRE was commercially-made, but...)
>
> o   done in the summer.  (no emergencies happen in the winter, right ?)
> o   the exact start and stop time are known.  (planned emergencies ?)

Hey, real disaster-relief agencies plan their simulations ahead of time!
(Ah, I remember the time someone got up at the BEARS club and announced
"There will be a disaster at the beginning of next month...")  However,
there has been a proposal kicking around rec.ham-radio for a spontaneous
Field-Day-like thing, which might be a very interesting idea.

> o   more social event than communications (we hams do like to yak...)

What, you should get an extra multiplier if you didn't enjoy yourself?
Most hams do it because it IS a fun hobby -- the ability to be useful
once in a while is gravy.

Field Day is not a carefully designed emergency preparedness exercise.
However, when a disaster does hit, a lot of FD operators will be able
to think "Well, gee, now what do I do?", and somewhere, in the dim dark
recesses of their brains, the training Field Day and other contests gives
them will nudge forward and help out.

------------------------------

Date: 25 Oct 89 21:53:21 GMT
From: pyramid!leadsv!esl!esl.ESL.COM![e-mail]  (Denis Lynch)
Subject: How Much Good Does Ham Radio "Emergency Preparedness" Do?

Just to add one point to Steve's excellent observations: I'll bet you
didn't start hearing the "overhead" communications until the real
"emergency" situation was over. Because you probably weren't listening
in the first hour or two.

My experience with the earthquake disaster here was that by the weekend,
much of the communication was ham radio logistics rather than real
emergency traffic. But that isn't our fault, really. The main reason for
this was that the Red Cross etc. were able to ask for (and get) all the
support they wanted from us, even if they didn't really need it. That's
probably the way we want it to be: we want them to always want to come
to us, not to hesitate because we might get uppity or cut them off later.

In contrast, *all* the traffic I heard in the first couple of hours had to
do directly with the emergency, and was extremely well organized and
coordinated. All of Steve's points apply to what I heard.

Sure we got help from everybody with a radio, and that's great. But it only
worked because there were people who knew what to tell them to do. And they
didn't all come out Tuesday nigth!

------------------------------

Date: 26 Oct 89 01:26:08 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!ccssrv![e-mail]  (Sterling Huxley)
Subject: info on Crystal Radio kit or schematic

As a Christmas present I thought I would give my nephew a crystal radio kit.
I've looked around and can only find a cheap kit from Radio Shack.
I haven't been able to find any schematics either.

Does anyone know where a reasonable kit can be purchased?
Or, a reference to a schematic might help.

Thanks,

Sterling Huxley
...!tektronix!sequent!ccssrv!sterling

------------------------------

Date: 26 Oct 89 01:01:31 GMT
From: pyramid!leadsv!esl!esl.ESL.COM![e-mail]  (Denis Lynch)
Subject: PL259 connector assembly

There was a series in Hints and Kinks in QST a year or so ago on this
very subject.

The keys I've seen missed in this discussion are:
Use a BIG soldering iron (100W or so). That gets the connector heated up
without taking so long that the cable melts.

PL259's are not intended to be re-used. You can get them cheap enough
that is really isn't worth the trouble. (Obviously this means going to
hamfests, flea markets, surplus stores/catalogs etc. But you should be
able to get a PL259 for under a dollar. Why fool around with re-using
it at that price? Just cut the sucker off and start over.)

73, Denis N2TI

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End of INFO-HAMS Digest V89 Issue #807
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