Ham Radio/Ham Radio CD-ROM (Emerald Software) (1995).ISO/news/inham03/837

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INFO-HAMS Digest            Thu,  2 Nov 89       Volume 89 : Issue 837

Today's Topics:
                      airport security (3 msgs)
                   CB -> 10m conversion info wanted
                             IF Filters?
                  Phone Patch Construction question
                            QSLs and SASEs
                    Radio Direction Finding toys?
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Date: 2 Nov 89 21:31:11 GMT
From: rochester![e-mail]  (Ray Frank)
Subject: airport security

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>
>> You might be interested that my boss, who takes domestic flights quite
>> frequently, ALWAYS makes outgoing calls on his RS portable cellular phone
>> WHILE AIRBORNE..   and continues to do so, since to my knowledge he has never
>> been hassled.
>
>Then he has not been on any flight I have ever been on because he would
>get a big hassle from me real quick.
>
>Of course there is the problems he will be causing by accessing many
>multitudes of cells concurrently, but I don't care about that.
>
>What I do care about is an aircraft being mislead into the wrong airspace,
>not being able to see another airborne object, etc., and possibly being one
>of the very low statistics of airplane accidents.
>
>--Phil Howard, KA9WGN--
><[e-mail]>

Has it ever been verified that radios and hand held scanners, etc have
been responsible for some sort of electronic problems aboard an aircraft?
If this is true then how do they get safely over radio and TV towers that are
putting out many thousands of watts?  An aircraft flies over these all the
time at only a few miles distance from them.   And radios and scanners and
their local oscilators put out only a micro watt or two.  Cellular phones
and other transmitting devices of course put out much more.  But if these
can cause problems then again the more powerful transmitting cells on the
ground surely would be a problem too, wouldn't they?
I once took a computer chess set on a long flight.  Could the system clock
have wreaked havoc upon this huge jet aircraft's electronics.
Also, some people fly radio control aircraft near the local airport here.
These transmitters have enough power for line of sight control and real planes
come quite close on their approach and takeoffs.  Yet, I've never heard of a
problem.  What really is the story here???  Inquiring minds want to know.

ray

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Date: 2 Nov 89 21:56:41 GMT
From: atha![e-mail]  (Lyndon Nerenberg)
Subject: airport security

The only experience I've had with an HT in airports was the last time
I was in Toronto. I purchased a used FT-208R while on the trip,
and decided to carry it on the plan rather than pack it in one of
my bags. While clearing security at the Pierson Int'l Airport, they
ran my "cellular phone" through with no questions asked. What upset
them was the keychain I was carrying. The one with the five little
buttons you can push to get various starwars sounds effects? The one
that didn't work 'cause I pulled the batteries so it wouldn't go off
while I went through security? Anyway, the radio passed, but I spent
15 minutes disassembling my keychain before they would let me through.

(In the process of doing this, in was mangled beyond repair. Once he
said "OK, you can go" my first stop was at the nearest garbage can
to dump the now useless keychain. I *hate* Toronto :-)

--
Lyndon Nerenberg  VE6BBM / Computing Services / Athabasca University
  {alberta,decwrl,lsuc}!atha!lyndon || [e-mail]

                  The Connector is the Notwork.

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Date: 2 Nov 89 21:25:58 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!dover!darla![e-mail]  (Strawberry Jammer)
Subject: airport security

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
}
}> You might be interested that my boss, who takes domestic flights quite
}> frequently, ALWAYS makes outgoing calls on his RS portable cellular phone
}> WHILE AIRBORNE..   and continues to do so, since to my knowledge he has never
}> been hassled.
}
}Then he has not been on any flight I have ever been on because he would
}get a big hassle from me real quick.

Me too, and I fly VERY frequently too.

}Of course there is the problems he will be causing by accessing many
}multitudes of cells concurrently, but I don't care about that.

Agreed.

}What I do care about is an aircraft being mislead into the wrong airspace,
}not being able to see another airborne object, etc., and possibly being one
}of the very low statistics of airplane accidents.

Remember that celular phones are quite close in frequency to the radar
transponders that tell ATC all kinds of nice things about the aircraft. Then
think of the RFI problems, like extending the landing gear in flight. The
controls are all electrical on most airliners, better shielded than your
neighbor's Stereo but still subject to the same RFI!

At best a dumb stunt IMHO.

           *Mike Waters    AA4MW/7  [e-mail] *
What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away.

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Date: Thu, 02 Nov 89 15:57:56 CST
From: Rick Troth <[e-mail]>
Subject: CB -> 10m conversion info wanted

On Tue, 31 Oct 89 12:15:34 MST Gary Kendall said:

>     I remembered a fellow ham showing me (several years ago) an old CB
>that he had converted to work 10m FM ...

        I don't know about FM,  but converting a RS TRC-452 to 10m AM
was easy enough.  I've never completed the work to enable CW on it.
I need to add a BFO;  it transmits CW just fine.

        The digital PLL synthesizer (in the 452 anyway) is fed BCD from
the 40 position switch.  I fiddled with that some (it has like 8 or 10
MHz coverage!,  tho only about 1 MHz at a time;  ya have to tune it near
the range you want).  The PLL gives you 15360 KHz + the BCD number on
the input * 10 KHz as output.  Note that 15360 is a multiple of 512
(which is a power of 2;  binary comes into play).

        I also  "flipped the image"  on the receiver's front end.
(this is fuzzy for me ... it's been at least five years)  It does dual-
conversion,  with a 10240 KHz (another multiple of 512) stage and a 455
KHz stage.  455 KHz times 2 is 910 KHz.  The base of my new coverage is
910 KHz above CB,  plus 300 KHz,  which I got by tweaking the digital
input to the PLL.  I also get a little wider range (CH1 to CH40)
than the CB did from the same BCD fiddling.

 "Speculate, but only trust proven conclusions." - Cliff Stoll
 Rick Troth <[e-mail]> ------------- Rice ONCS VM Systems Support

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Date: 2 Nov 89 20:05:46 GMT
From: rti!sunpix![e-mail]  ( Sun Visualization Products)
Subject: IF Filters?

Where can I buy crystal or monolithic filters for an intermediate
frequency of greater than 30MHz?  I've seen articles about receivers
with 45MHz IFs using Piezo Technology filters (even giving part
numbers) but the person I spoke to at Piezo Technology said they do
custom high-volume work only.  I'm looking for something in the
40-75MHz range with 3kHz to 15kHz bandwidth.  Two poles would probably
be enough but 4 to 8 would be better.

Anybody know where I can get these things?

Gary Bishop wa4fut

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Date: 2 Nov 89 15:50:29 GMT
From: asuvax!anasaz![e-mail]  (John Moore)
Subject: Phone Patch Construction question

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bob Clements) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ken Thompson) writes:
>The legal means of control can be either a control link on
>another band, at or above 220 MHz, or it can be a phone line,
>obviously separate from the line that the patch is on.  Note that
>
>Very few clubs actually do this, of course.  It costs money to have
>two phone lines, for example.  But that's what it takes to really
>be legal.  The club I was most recently active in does it

We (Arizona Repeater Association) do this. Recently we were shopping
for a patch controller (I get tired of having to fix the one that I
built for ARA). ACC said they had NEVER had anyone ask for control on
other than the input frequency! Their RC-85 only has one DTMF controller
(although it may be switched to a control receiver on commant). This means
that there are a heck of a lot of illegal patches out there!
--
John Moore (NJ7E)           mcdphx!anasaz!john asuvax!anasaz!john
[phone] (day or eve) long palladium, short petroleum
7525 Clearwater Pkwy, Scottsdale, AZ 85253
The 2nd amendment is about military weapons, NOT JUST hunting weapons!

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Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 16:35:09 EST
From: Robert Carpenter <[e-mail]>
Subject: QSLs and SASEs

I usually send SASEs with my 6-meter cards, QSL managers generally require
them, and it seems to HELP on getting other responses. Many unsolicited cards
come with SASEs, but certainly not all.

Back in '83 I operated on 6-meters from FG7 for a couple of weeks.  As far as
I can tell, there had been no 6-meter activity from Guadeloupe for the
preceeding 10 years, and there hasn't been any since my operation.  I was
a new country for even Ed Tilton (W1HDQ) and Bob Billings (VE1YX-he now has
95 countries on 6).  I expected to be swamped with cards from all 180 stations
contacted (the VUCC grid system had started).
I got unsolicited cards from about 60-70% of the stations contacted; some had
to QSL me twice since I think the neighbor's dog ate some before I got back
home!  After a year or so I sent QSLs to all the rest, and asked for cards
in return.  VERY few replied.

Just another data point.
73, Bob W3OTC

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Date: 2 Nov 89 19:03:32 GMT
From: mips!prls![e-mail]  (Gordon Vickers)
Subject: Radio Direction Finding toys?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (C.E. Piggott) writes:
>Did anybody see the new toy for little ones, called "Hide n Seek" ?
> {lines deleted -gpv}
>Sort of a high tech version of a very old game, that ham-parents
>will love :-)

  OR a new tech version of an old tech toy.  I remember seeing an aritcle
 in a late 1950's edition of "T.V. and Radio" (or some similarily titled
 magazine) of a similar toy.
  The transmitter was a simple one or two transistor RF oscillator.  The
 recievier was any portable AM radio (they are directional ya' know).
 Didn't beep and probalby wouldn't look as nice as today's "store bought"
 version but certainly cheap to build and prehaps even interesting enough
 for the kids to "help" with.

Gordon Vickers 408/991-5370 (Sunnyvale,Ca); {mips|pyramid|philabs}!prls!gordon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earth is a complex array of symbiotic relationships:
Every extinction, whether animal, mineral, or vegetable, hastens our own demise.

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End of INFO-HAMS Digest V89 Issue #837
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