HAM Toolkit/HAM Toolkit.iso/text/arrl/letter9.27

Text File | 1993-11-17 | 16KB | 658 lines

The ARRL Letter

Vol. 12, No. 18

September 27, 1993


FCC lauds amateurs for interference resolution;

L.A. office finds drop in TVI/RFI complaints


    Interference complaints are down significantly in

Southern California, according to the FCC's Los Angeles

office of the Field Operations Bureau, and amateur

volunteers are cited as the prevailing reason for the

decline.

    The FCC said that it has "noted a significant

decrease in the number of complaints involving amateur radio

operators causing interference to consumer electronic

equipment." A  July survey of interference case data

conducted by the Commission's Los Angeles office showed a

42% decrease in amateur-TVI/phone interference complaints,

the FCC said.

    The survey compared complaints from January 1989 to

June 1993.

    "This significant decrease," the FCC said, "is

primarily due to the exemplary work of the local volunteer

amateur auxiliaries (of the ARRL, see Editor's note) which

intervene when TVI or telephone interference occurs. The

auxiliary members volunteer their time and expertise to

inspect amateur radio installations and offer technical

advice as well as helping troubleshoot the problem with

method(s) of shielding, filtering, grounding, etc.

    "The effort of the auxiliary is significant," the

FCC said, "because of the recent change in FCC policy where

field offices no longer routinely investigate individual TVI

or telephone interference complaints on a one-to-one basis.

The auxiliary is commended for continuing to work on these

complaints even though the FCC no longer requires them to

work on these interference cases."

    The Commission, reacting to budget constraints, now

provides self-help information for individuals to use in

resolving interference, and works with consumer groups in

solving problems on a larger scale.

    "The Commission is redirecting its resources to

attack interference problems at their roots. The continuing

work of the auxiliary has resulted in fewer complaints

reported to the FCC.

    "This voluntary work of the auxiliary," the FCC

said, "should be applauded by amateur operators everywhere.

They continue to make the Amateur Radio Service more self-

sufficient and promote goodwill between amateurs and all

parties involved.

    "It should also be noted," the FCC said, "that the

auxiliary continues to accept complaints of amateur-to-

amateur interference cases. The Los Angeles FCC Field Office

is fortunate to have some of the finest auxiliary volunteers

in their area and amateur operators are encouraged to take

advantage of their expertise," the FCC said.

    (Editor's note: The FCC in this case has used the

term "amateur auxiliary" in a somewhat generic form. The

ARRL Amateur Auxiliary exists primarily to assist the FCC in

enforcement actions. But FCC Field Offices are often most

familiar with local ARRL Amateur Auxiliary members and call

on them for assistance in resolving interference cases;

Amateur Auxiliary members are, according to ARRL Field

Services Manager Rick Palm, K1CE, generally ready and

willing to assist in such matters even though they do not

fall directly within their responsibilities.

    Other ARRL volunteers who often assist in

interference resolution include Technical Advisors and

TVI/RFI committees of ARRL-affiliated clubs.

    A detailed description of the ARRL Amateur Auxiliary

is in *QST* for December, 1992, page 55).



Town honors Headquarters on A.R. Awareness Day


    ARRL Heaquarters is well known in the town of

Newington, the office building having been a prominent

fixture at 225 Main Street since 1965; the 120-ft tower

erected in the spring of 1978 doesn't hurt, either!

    This year in conjunction with Amateur Radio

Awareness Day on Sept. 18 the town recognized Amateur Radio

with the following proclamation:

    "WHEREAS the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the

backbone of Amateur Radio in the United States, has declared

September 18, 1993 as "Amateur Radio Awareness Day"; and

    "WHEREAS, the Town of Newington is the national

headquarters location of said ARRL; and

    "WHEREAS, 'ham radio operators' are often the first

to get word out of an area hit by a hurricane, earthquake,

or other major disaster; and

    "WHEREAS, amateur radio organizations, in

cooperation with those in public service, also provide much

needed communications and assistance for local events such

as Newington's Memorial Day Parade and provide additional

'eyes and ears' for the Newington Police Department on

Halloween Eve, as well as conduct free classes by volunteer

instructors to teach the public how to become a licensed

amateur operator; and

    "WHEREAS, there exists in Newington a local club

entitled 'Newington Amateur Radio League (NARL)' which

provides the above and other services; and

    "WHEREAS, amateur radio operators licensed by the

Federal Communications Commission are forbidden by federal

law to charge for services, and organizations that require

their services may call on them for assistance within the

limits of NARL's available man and woman power;

    "Now, Therefore, I, Rodney B. Mortensen, Mayor of

the Town of Newington, do hereby proclaim Saturday,

September 18, 1993, as AMATEUR RADIO AWARENESS DAY in the

Town of Newington."


FCC FINES RETAILER FOR

OFFERING MODIFICATION



    The FCC has ordered Amateur Radio Supply of Seattle

to pay a fine of $5,600 for selling an Amateur Radio

transceiver and offering to modify it to be able to transmit

and receive in the Private Land Mobile and Marine Radio

Services.

    According to the FCC, the sale took place in

December, 1991, and in July of 1992 the Commission's Seattle

office issued a Notice of Apparent Liability, followed by a

response from Amateur Radio Supply. The FCC said it reviewed

the response and then issued a Notice of Forfeiture for

$5,600.

    The Commission said that reasons given for the

store's actions -- training of a new salesperson and many

years in the business of serving the Amateur Radio community

-- were not persuasive, although the FCC considered the

store's "clean record" in mitigating the amount of the fine.


PROPOSED TOWER STIRS

CONCERN IN ARIZONA TOWN


    A commercial FM station in Arizona is trying to get

around strict "beautification" rules by proposing to

disguise a new transmitting tower as a saguaro cactus.

    KXLL told officials of Paradise Valley, a bedroom

community north of Phoenix that does not allow commercial

operations of any kind (not even a gasoline station) that it

would like to build the tower at the crest of Mummy

Mountain, in the center of the town; the ersatz saguaro

(which is the symbol of Arizona) would house both the tower

and transmitting antenna itself.

    Because the transmitter site has no real saguaros

nearby, KXLL co-owner Katherine S. Klein told the Tempe-Mesa

*News Tribune*, "the station would place up to three real

cactuses around their artificial cousin.

    "You wouldn't be able to tell them apart," Klein

told the newspaper.

    According to Harry Hyder, W7IV, of nearby Tempe,

Paradise Valley's most distinguished citizen is former U.S.

Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, who has a tall "Christmas

tree" of Yagi antennas.

    "Perhaps he was 'grandfathered,'" Hyder said.


AEA NAMES CALIF. WOMAN

1993 AMBASSADOR WINNER


    Advanced Electronics Applications has named

Catherine Gunderson, N6OOS, its 1993 Amateur Ambassador

Award winner. Gunderson, 41, of Santa Cruz, California, is

director of the Redwood Youth Foundation, a non-profit youth

education program.

    In September 1992 Gunderson organized a contact with

shuttle astronaut Jay Apt, N5QWL, during a SAREX flight.

Students at Del Mar Middle School managed a six-minute

contact with the crew. According to AEA, the feat was

accomplished with "only a small radio and a home-made

antenna they adjusted every 20 seconds."

    Gunderson's name will be engraved on the Amateur

Ambassador Award trophy which permanently resides at ARRL

Headquarters. {photo requested but not here yet}.


POLICE FEAR FOUL PLAY IN

YOUNG HAM'S DISAPPEARANCE


    A 13-year-old Gardner, Massachusetts amateur has

been missing since August 27 and police suspect foul play.

    Nathan A. Taylor, WZ1W, is believed to have traveled

to the Houston area, possibly with an adult, according to

Gardner police. He was described by his parents as very

bright but hyperactive and moody. Although an Extra Class

ham, his most recent interest has been in computers.

    Both the Houston Police Department and the FBI have

become involved in the case, which is being treated as more

serious than just a "runaway," according to Gardner police.

    Nathan Taylor is 5 ft, 5 in tall and weighs about

105 pounds, with blue eyes, light brown/blonde hair, and

wears eyeglasses.

    Anyone with information on Nathan is asked to call

Detective Bill Grasmuck of the City of Gardner (Mass.)

Police Department, at 508-632-5600.

    Nathan was still missing as of September 23, 1993.



CANDADIANS CALLED TO ARMS

OVER PROPOSED NEW LAWS


    The Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) has issued an

"urgent notice" for its members to react to a proposed

government rules change that could adversely affect

amateurs.

    In a September 13, 1993, news bulletin from RAC

headquarters in Kingston, Ontario, Canadian amateurs were

told that

    "Industry, Science and Technology Canada, the

government department replacing Communications Canada," RAC

said, "has just released TRC-86, a draft document entitled

'Criteria for Resolution of Immunity Complaints Involving

Fundamental Emissions of Radiocommunications Transmitters.'

    "This document suggests and proposes," RAC said, "to

make ministerial determinations, as provided by law in the

Radio Communications Act, by a measurement of the following

values of field strength, quote 'measured in accordance with

accepted engineering practice, at the site of the equipment

being affected by harmful interference:


    "'a) for broadcast receivers and associated

equipment .... 1.83 volts per meter, equivalent to a 125 dB

above a microvolt per meter;



    "'b) for all radio sensitive equipment .... 3.16

volts per meter, equivalent to 130 dB above one microvolt

per meter.'


    "Radio amateurs should not accept this one-sided

technical solution," RAC told its members, "which further

obligates the transmitter owner and inequitably places no

mandatory requirement whatsoever on the manufacturers of

such radio equipment....

    "There is further ambiguity in the definitions of

the two classes of equipment mentioned above, that VCRs and

compact disc accessories may qualify to be deemed broadcast

receivers if they are attached to equipment capable of

receiving broadcast signals.

    "Over 80% of these cases involving Amateur use of

the spectrum 1.8 to 30 MHz have been resolved by reducing

the conducted interference on any cable entering the

affected equipment. External shielding is not remedial nor

necessary in these circumstances. A radiated measurement

does not account for random localized re-radiation,

household wiring resonance effects or place any obligation

on the manufacturers of the devices to meet any requirement

for radiosensitivity.

    "The EMC Committee of RAC will respond to the

proposals of this document .... this is an URGENT MATTER as

the paper will be published in the Canada Gazette in early

1994 and can become law."


*220  MHz band in jeopardy*


    In other news from Canada, according to the RAC,

Industry and Science Canada (formerly the Department of

Communications) has invited public discussion on a newly

released paper on spectrum allocation and use in the range

30-960 MHz. The amateur primary allocation at 220-222 MHz

(which U.S. amateurs already have lost to commercial

interests) is under review.

    "Canada's amateurs must get behind RAD in an all out

effort to retain this important VHF segment," RAC said,

citing growth in amateur licensees of more than 55 per cent,

to 40,000, since 1990.



BRIEFS


    * The launch of SAREX flight STS-58 has been pushed

back again, to October 14 at 1453 UTC for a 13 day mission.

On board are William S. McArthur Jr., KC5ACR, and Martin J.

Fettman, KC5AXA. Flight information updates will be

available on W1AW as the launch date nears.

    SAREX flight STS-60 is tentatively scheduled for

November 10, 1993, but likely will be delayed into 1994.


    * The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information will

hold its Second Annual Training Workshop for

Telecommunications Regulators November 15-19, 1993, in New

York City. Among events scheduled is a welcoming overview as

well as the closing address by Eli Noam, KE2PN, a Columbia

professor of telecommunications. More information is

available from the Institute at 212-854-4222 (fax 212-932-

7816).


    * Amateur licensing processing times at the FCC's

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania facility have been running at near

their desired maximum of 90 days; both a continued large

amount of applications and inadequate staffing are cited.

    Recent examinees can expect to wait 12-14 weeks for

their license to arrive from the FCC.


    * Peter Chadwick, G3RZP, president of the Radio

Society of Great Britain, represented the Society in July at

a garden party at Buckingham Palace. HRH Prince Phillip is a

Patron of the RSGB.

    And the RSGB recently reported that their new Direct

Debit Payment Service, allowing members to spread their

annual dues payment over several months, has "proved to be

extremely popular with existing members ... and has

attracted many new members following the advertising

campaign: 'It's Never Been Easier to Join.'"


    * The newest DXCC country may be Eritrea, which has

been recommended by the ARRL DX Advisory Advisory Committee

but still faces approval by the League's Awards Committee.

    Eritrea was a DXCC countty after World War 2; it was

conquered by British Forces in 1941, became federated with

Ethiopia in 1952, and was made a province of Ethiopia in

1962. At that time it was deleted from the DXCC list.

    The DXAC was convinced that Eritrea now has emerged

as an independent country but was split on a recommended

effective date for valid contacts with the new country.

    *DO NOT* send QSL cards to the DXCC Desk until the

announcement that Eritrea has officially been added to the

DXCC list and a date for acceptance of cards has been set.


    * As of September 13, 82 members of the U.S. House

of Representatives had become co-sponsors of The Amateur

Radio Service Joint Resolution (H.J. Res. 199); 12 senators

were co-sponsors of the Senate version, S.J. 90. A full list

of co-sponsors of the resolutions is scheduled for November

*QST*.


    * The newest call sign among the Headquarters staff

is N1QDO, sported by Educational Correspondent Tracy

Bedlack, a veteran of the Educational Activities Department.


    * The Montserrat Amateur Radio Society will operate

station VP2M from its new clubhouse November 14,

commemorating both the 15th anniversary of the Society and

the 500th anniversary of the naming of the Island by

Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to the West

Indies in 1493.

    A story about Montserrat by Stu Stevens, K8SJ,

appears in October *QST*.


    * The 1993 Boy Scouts of America Jamboree-on-the-Air

will be held October 16 and 17, the 36th running of this

event. W1AW will carry more information as the date nears.

    Contact the ARRL Educational Activities Department

of see September *QST*, page 45, for information on how you

can get involved.