QRZ! Ham Radio 3/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 3.iso/digests/infoham/931378.txt

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Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 10:32:53 PST
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Subject: Info-Hams Digest V93 #1378
To: Info-Hams


Info-Hams Digest            Tue, 23 Nov 93       Volume 93 : Issue 1378

Today's Topics:
                    CONELRAD-what was it? (3 msgs)
                             CW practice
           CW QSO's, New hams who need practice read this!!
                         Help with Icom W21AT
                       Is my Kenwood TH78 dead?
                           MAKE.MONEY.FAST
                       Reaching ham-radio buffs
               Using modified HT in emergency (2 msgs)
             WARNING: Potential Satellite Anomaly Warning
                         WEFAX and the KPC-3

Send Replies or notes for publication to: <[e-mail]>
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Problems you can't solve otherwise to [e-mail].

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: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 11:34:09 GMT
From: galaxy.ucr.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!kd4nc!ke4zv![e-mail]
Subject: CONELRAD-what was it?
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (arog on BIX) writes:
>[e-mail] (George W. Attallah) writes:
>
>>I have an early 50s bc reciever with triangular symbols at 640 and 1240 khz.
>>I have been told that these were for CONELRAD.  Are there any old timers
>>out there who can fill me in on this?  TNX.
>
>CONELRAD became EBS. The idea was to not provied attacking aircraft
>(bombers or ??) with domestic sources for DF. The process was that,
>on notice, all broadcast stations were to shut down and only those
>that were the local CONELRAD stations would return to the
>air and then only on either 640 kc or 1240 kc. They were also to
>reduce power when they did, so that there would be no real peaks
>in the RF for a DF system to find. The two freqs were so that
>all AM stations would have somewhere that they could go without
>a major re-tune of the transmitter.

It was a nice theory, but it didn't work in practice because most
AM broadcast antennas, especially at the low end of the band, are
extremely narrow banded. So in practice the only CONELRAD stations
were the stations that normally occupied the two channels. This meant
that they could still be used for navigation purposes by enemy bombers.
Once navigation techniques improved, and ICBMs became the primary
threat, the system was disbanded much to the relief of broadcast
engineers.

The new EBS system is different. It's primarily a defined network
method of disseminating emergency information to the public in a
formal manner. Each area has a Primary station with wireline or
radio links to command authority. All other participating stations
are Secondary and continously monitor the Primary station's transmission.
Note, EBS participation is voluntary, not all broadcast stations are
part of the system. When the system is activated by the Primary sending
a control tone pair, all the Secondary stations' alert receivers unsquelch.
They then determine that proper authenticators are being used to activate
the system, transmit their own alert tone, and rebroadcast all of the
Primary station's transmissions. There are also secondary alerting means
via the wire services' teletype networks, and via the broadcast networks'
transmission facilities. National alerts originate in the White House
communications office. State alerts usually originate from the State
Emergency Management Agency's facilities under authority of the Governor.
Local alerts can be activated by local EMA authorities working under
the authorization of a Mayor or County Executive.

At least that's the theory. Tests of the system are supposed to be
run once a week. In one test, the White House communications office
mistakenly loaded the actual nuclear attack alert tape instead of
the test tape. Very few of the network stations actually activated
and transmitted the attack warning. The broadcast networks didn't
activate the system, the wire services didn't activate the system,
and in the Atlanta area, WSB is the Primary, and they didn't believe
the warning and didn't activate. Those of us at Secondary stations
didn't know about it until the wire services printed a cancellation
notice a while later. If it had been an actual attack, the first
notice the public would have gotten would have been the bright
flash and loud noise. :-(

Gary
--
Gary Coffman KE4ZV          | Where my job's going,  | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
Destructive Testing Systems | I don't know. It might | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
534 Shannon Way             | wind up in Mexico.     | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary
Lawrenceville, GA 30244     |          -NAFTA Blues  |

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

Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 08:40:00 -0600
From: olivea!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!menudo.uh.edu!nuchat!cld9![e-mail]
Subject: CONELRAD-what was it?
To: [e-mail]

Quoting [e-mail].C to ALL concerning re:CONELRAD-what was it?:


+- [e-mail].C to ALL ----------------------------------------+
|                                                                          |
|I have an early 50s bc reciever with triangular symbols at 640 and 1240 kh|
|I have been told that these were for CONELRAD.  Are there any old timers  |
|out there who can fill me in on this?  TNX.                               |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 Similiar to the Emergency Radio Service of today. Tune to those two freqs
 for the latest emegency traffic, news, etc. in case of the "big one" during
 the "Cold War"!

Message written at 8:20am, on Monday, November 22, 1993.
---
 * [R2.00o] * Usenet * Nitelog BBS * Monterey CA * 408-655-1096

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

Date: 23 Nov 93 14:28:49 GMT
From: ogicse!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!darwin.sura.net!dtix.dt.navy.mil!oasys![e-mail]
Subject: CONELRAD-what was it?
To: [e-mail]

In rec.radio.amateur.misc, [e-mail] (George W. Attallah) writes:
>I have an early 50s bc reciever with triangular symbols at 640 and 1240 khz.
>I have been told that these were for CONELRAD.  Are there any old timers
>out there who can fill me in on this?  TNX.
>
>--
>GEORGE ATTALLAH-"THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE GROUP OF ONE"

CONELRAD was the forerunner of what is known as the Emergency Brodacast
System (you have probably heard the occasional test on your favorite
station).

One station in an area was designated as the control station.  Other
stations were required to continually monitor the broadcast output of
the control station for an alert tone.

A broadcast receiver in each non-control station was modified to have
its output sent to a tone-squelch detector (I forget the frequency,
but it was probably about 1 kHz).  If the control station transmitted
a tone for several seconds (signifying a test or actual alert), the
receivers at the other stations would come alive and ring an alarm bell
and unsquelch their audio.  If it was only a test, the monitoring station
would log the time and date of the test in their records.  In the event
of an actual Civil Defense alert, however, the stations would immediately
broadcast instructions to their listeners to retune their home radios
to 640 kHz or 1240 kHz for information (sound familiar??).  The stations
would then shut down for the duration with only the control station
remaining on the air, but transmitting on the CONELRAD (640/1240)
frequencies.

One of the initial ideas of this system was to minimize the targets
for enemy missile attacks, since the thought was that missiles might
be using radio direction finding techniques to zero in on target cities.
One way this could be avoided was to rotate the control station function
between stations in an area to confuse the RDF - Station "A" would transmit
for a few minutes, then drop their carrier as station"B" came on-line
for a couple minutes, and so forth.  Thereby the CONELRAD system.

With the advent of gyro and computer controlled guidance system, the
importance of the CONELRAD system downgraded, and now it's successor's
prime function is informing the public, thereby eliminating the need
for station rotations.


(I still remember running full-tilt from the control room at WBJC in
Baltimore, down a *VERY* long hallway to the transmitter room in order
to determine if there was an actual alert, just a test which had to
be logged, or whether a noise burst or line transient had tripped the
receiver squelch/relay system.  This happened about once each night.)

73.

Ken Stuart, W3VVN

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

Date: 23 Nov 93 13:44:51 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: CW practice
To: [e-mail]

I am listening most of the time on 80m between 3675 and 3725,  just call out
CQ and I'll get a hold of ya.  I had one fellow in Montreal that helped me out
when I started,  I know how you feel.

73's


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don Lafontaine                         | E-Mail (EMC2)  LAFONT02
Senior Programmer / Analyst            | Internet       [e-mail]
Communications and Environment Support | Packet         [e-mail]
Canadian National Railways (Montreal)  | Phone          [phone]
                                       | Fax            [phone]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 23:48:57 GMT
From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!a3bee2.radnet.com!cyphyn![e-mail]
Subject: CW QSO's, New hams who need practice read this!!
To: [e-mail]

I hang out on 80mtrs...so I'll keep an ear open for you all.

Best time to do this is JUST before dusk...before the mad rush begins.

Don't worry about sig strength ( it's always weaker then and picks up after
sunset...which is about when the whole world gets on)

Watch out for 3700.0 - 3700.7 khz as it's super full of people tuning up
blind, and a commercial station who is deaf.

When the going gets rough, keep repeating..then it's bound to get thru.

--
Idea...rather than send CQ..try this...you each know each others calls,
so, pick a freq free of use, and go on a marathon call-someone-you-know.

The other guy, if he tunes around, will eventually run across you and
have time to get lined up to answer, by the time you turn it over.

I'm up in Connecticut, and there's a ton of SSB on the CW portion, so
I may not get to hear ya...but will keep an ear open.

73's

--
Randy KA1UNW              If you get a shock while
                         servicing  your  equipment,         "Works for me!"
randy@192.153.4.200             DON'T  JUMP!                     -Peter Keyes
                     You might break an expensive tube!

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

Date: 23 Nov 93 14:22:51 GMT
From: meaddata![e-mail]
Subject: Help with Icom W21AT
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>,
 [e-mail] writes:

pmarsh> My goal is to put several "continuously on" frequencies into
pmarsh> the memory channels, and mark those memory channels as "skip"
pmarsh> channels.  These would be such as NOAA Weather, FAA ATIS, etc.
pmarsh> I can put them into memory, mark the memory channels as
pmarsh> "skip", and when the scanning function is working, the radio
pmarsh> stops and receives those channels.  Is this normal, or is my
pmarsh> radio defective?

   The IC-W21AT has two different memory scan modes.  One includes
channels marked as "SKIP", the other excludes them.  This can be quite
handy at times.

   To scan and ignore "SKIP" channels, use the "SCAN" keys, rather
than holding down the "Up Arrow" or "Down Arrow" keys (to select
"SCAN", hold down the "F" key, and press "Up Arrow" or "Down Arrow").

--
David Myers         "You guys listen to managers        [phone]
Mead Data Central          much too often."        Fabrication Systems
P.O. Box 933                 My manager               [e-mail]
Dayton, Ohio  45401    28      2/5/93      7   [e-mail]

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

Date: 23 Nov 93 10:31:11 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Is my Kenwood TH78 dead?
To: [e-mail]

pvh@ apple.com writes:

>I turned on my TH-78 last night to find it dead.  There was a brief moment
>of the entire LCD panel coming on and then nothing.  Subsequent attempts
>    at turning on the power only would bring up brief displays of the tiny
>    timer icon in the bottom right hand corner, is says "OFF".

>Since I hand't charged the thing in quite a while I suspected the battery.
>I went out and bought a new PB-13 battery at HRO this morning, but it
>    needs to charge before it'll do anything.  Though I connected it to
>    the cigarette lighter charger/adaptor on the way home thinking it
>    should work with full power, but now nothing happens.

>Does anyone have idea what's wrong?  Is it dead?

First - try a reset (hold down the memory key while powering up). You will
    lose all your memory programs, but it might fix the lock-up problem.

    Now - did you drop the '78, or have you been inside it? I have found
    that causing pressure on the control board can cause strange lock-up
    problems that require removing the battery and re-inserting it. If the
    processor is locked, shifting to external power does not help. Power
    switching is controlled by (guess what) the processor.

    If the reset does not do the trick - send it to Kenwood. They do a good
    job of customer support (at least they have for me.) :-)

    Good luck and 73.

_____________________________________________________________________
Wm. A. Kirsanoff              Internet: [e-mail]
Rockwell International        Ham: KD6MCI
[phone]
Alternate Internet: [e-mail]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Who are you? * I am number 2. *  Who is number 1? * You are number 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 23:38:24 GMT
From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!a3bee2.radnet.com!cyphyn![e-mail]
Subject: MAKE.MONEY.FAST
To: [e-mail]

Dennis Bradford ([e-mail]) wrote:
:



Where's all this money?  Must be Invisable!

:)


--
Randy KA1UNW              If you get a shock while
                         servicing  your  equipment,         "Works for me!"
randy@192.153.4.200             DON'T  JUMP!                     -Peter Keyes
                     You might break an expensive tube!

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

Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 08:40:00 -0600
From: olivea!sgigate.sgi.com!sgiblab!swrinde!menudo.uh.edu!nuchat!cld9![e-mail]
Subject: Reaching ham-radio buffs
To: [e-mail]

Quoting [e-mail] to ALL concerning Reaching ham-radio buffs:


RA>A friend of mine who is a member of the URI Ham Club
RA>wants to contact people in India via ham radio.
RA>He says that he has not been able to contact any
RA>one so far.  If you have been able to talk to people
RA>in India, he will be delighted to hear from you.

It's not that easy just to talk to people in India...I have heard so few VU
prefixes, in casual QSO's, in all the years that I've been hamming that I
could count them on one hand! You probably have to set up a schedule with a
known ham in India for a contact and hope that all goes well to make the
contact!

Message written at 8:31am, on Monday, November 22, 1993.
---
 * [R2.00o] * Usenet * Nitelog BBS * Monterey CA * 408-655-1096

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

Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 21:19:00 -0500
From: nntp.ucsb.edu!mustang.mst6.lanl.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!yeshua.marcam.com!news.kei.com!ub!galileo.cc.rochester.edu!ee.rochester.edu!rochgte![e-mail].
Subject: Using modified HT in emergency
To: [e-mail]

 > From: [e-mail] (Rick Nimtz)
 > Organization: Univ of Notre Dame

 > wasn't so lucky. The sheriff department had him state that he used the
 > police frequency illegally and persuaded him to surrender his modified
 > HT. It was not mentioned if the FCC got involved or not.

    Oh, no, not this again.  :-)

    It is unfortunate that hams who take chances like the above aren't
familiar with the laws under which we operate.  For example, the Sheriff had
no business confiscating a radio.  That is Justice Department jurisdiction.
They most especially had no business confiscating property if they filed no
criminal charges.  That is "unreasonable search and seizure".  And, ref the
above statement, they can't file criminal charges because violations of FCC
regulations are a Federal prerogative.

    Somebody should advise this ham to get a lawyer and sue for the return of
his transceiver.  The only regulations violated were use of a
non-type-accepted transmitter on a Part 90 channel, and transmitting without
the proper license for the frequency used.  Neither of those violations can be
prosecuted by a local police agency.  Also, he could make a case in his own
defense for "emergency" use of the frequency for a bona fide emergency.  (He
should have notified the FCC Engineer in Charge of his radio district of the
emergency asap after it happened, to protect himself.)

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

Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 17:02:21 GMT
From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!library.ucla.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso![e-mail]
Subject: Using modified HT in emergency
To: [e-mail]

> I hope this information is useful.

It is certainly one (sobering) data point.

> Does anyone have any comments?

1.  I doubt the sheriff had the authority to confiscate the modified HT.
    Probably the FCC could levy such a penalty, but not the sheriff.
    Personally I would have asked the sheriff to show me the chapter and
    verse authorizing him to confiscate, or for that matter even to
    arrest someone for use of a radio on his band.  I think he was out
    of his jurisdiction on both points.

2.  It is legal to modify a radio.  It is only the out-of-band use of it
    that might be illegal, and then only for transmission (except for
    listening on cellular phone freqs).  Again, confiscating the HT
    seems inappropriate.

3.  Has your friend considered making a stink to the media?

4.  In an apparent emergency, time matters and it is reasonable to be
    conservative -- better to declare a false emergency than to ignore a
    real one.  Besides, it's a good drill for rescuers.  I would have
    done the same thing.  That's why I carry the radio and why it is
    capable of going out of band.  In Death Valley National Monument,
    for example, the rangers told me their freqs when I explained my
    situation (solo hiking) and requested to know them.  (It is a bit
    unnerving that I can't legally test my ability to reach them, but
    so it goes.)

5.  Two things I already decided I will do, should the need arise to
    transmit out of band in an emergency:

    a.  State clearly that I'm out of band because it is an emergency
 and I have no other reasonable options.

    b.  Ask "Is it OK if I proceed," or something like that.  I know the
 dispatcher or whoever is not authorized to grant me operating
 privileges, but it couldn't hurt to demonstrate awareness that I
 might be causing a problem, and that the other party was willing
 to continue.

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

Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1993 13:56:40 GMT
From: convex!convex![e-mail]
Subject: WARNING: Potential Satellite Anomaly Warning
To: [e-mail]

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Cary Oler) writes:

>     Geosynchronous satellites may suffer additional magnetopause crossings
>over the next 12 hours.

But what does it all mean?  Do you have an interpretation for us lay folks?
What causes this and what are the effects and consequences?  Ignorant minds
want to know.

David

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

Date: 23 Nov 1993 12:26:50 GMT
From: olivea!inews.intel.com!ilx018-bb.intel.com!ilx049![e-mail]
Subject: WEFAX and the KPC-3
To: [e-mail]

In article <2cqm8t$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Kenneth E. Harker) writes:
|>
|>      I am trying to decode some WEFAX transmissions on HF using my KPC-3
|> TNC.  I am currently on a DOS box, and I am using a program called AUTOFAX
|> written specifically for the Kantronics line of TNCs.  Basically, the KPC-3
|> can be sent the command WEFAX, which will cause it to start decoding the
|> audio it is receiving into black or white pixel values.  AUTOFAX is written
|> as a basic terminal program that can send the TNC the WEFAX command and jump
|> into a graphics mode of displaying the pixels.

Ah, I was wondering how this works.  (Funny, I don't think Kantronics
advertises that their TNCs do WEFAX.)  I have a DRSI DPK-2 TNC, which
is the classic TAPR clone.  Is it possible to get Eproms or whatever to
allow it to do WEFAX?  MFJ touts the ability of their base-model TNC to
do WEFAX, and I believe it's also a TAPR clone.

--

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Braun     Intel Israel, Ltd.      M/S: IDC1-41
               Tel: [phone]   [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 11:04:49 GMT
From: galaxy.ucr.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!kd4nc!ke4zv![e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

References <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>
Reply-To : [e-mail] (Gary Coffman)
Subject : Re: Miss Manners in the Novice Sub-bands?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>
>Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
>
>language - b (2): a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings
>                  by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures,
>                  or marks having understood meanings.
>
>By the above Morse Code fills the bill as well as Sign Language.

Well let's see what my Thorndike and Barnhart has to say about the
matter.

language n. 1 human speech, spoken or written
            2 the speech used by one nation, tribe, or large group of
              people
            3 a form, style, or kind of language; manner of expression:
              bad or strong language
            4 wording or words
            5 the special terms used in a science, art, or profession:
              computer language

Following is clarifying discussion re language, dialect, and idiom
appended to the definition of language.

"Language applies to the body of words, forms, and patterns of sounds
and structure making up the speech of a people, nation, or group of
people. Dialect applies to a form of speech peculiar to one locality
or district of the geographical territory of a language. Idiom applies
to a particular language's characteristic manner of using words in
phrases and sentences."

Now let's see what the entry under Morse Code says.

Morse Code, a system by which letters, numbers, punctuation, and
            other signs are expressed by dots, dashes, and spaces,
            or by wigwags of a flag, long and short sounds, or flashes
            of light. (See chart)

So we see that Morse is merely an encoding of alphabet, not a
language composed of words and structure capable of expressing
ideas. There's a footnote near the chart of Morse encodings noting
it's an obsolete form primarily used by telegraphers prior to modern
times.

Gary
--
Gary Coffman KE4ZV          | Where my job's going,  | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
Destructive Testing Systems | I don't know. It might | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
534 Shannon Way             | wind up in Mexico.     | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary
Lawrenceville, GA 30244     |          -NAFTA Blues  |

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

End of Info-Hams Digest V93 #1378
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