QRZ! Ham Radio 3/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 3.iso/digests/infoham/931521.txt

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Date: Wed, 29 Dec 93 14:28:54 PST
From: Info-Hams Mailing List and Newsgroup <[e-mail]>
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Subject: Info-Hams Digest V93 #1521
To: Info-Hams


Info-Hams Digest            Wed, 29 Dec 93       Volume 93 : Issue 1521

Today's Topics:
                         cw waivers (2 msgs)
               Disability Waivers for CW scam (3 msgs)
           FTP site for JESTER SSTV software, any & where?
                          Maxton and Newwell
                          Repeater database?
                     RFI into telephones (2 msgs)
            UK scanner listeners arrested; called (2 msgs)
               who sells good HT battery replacements?

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Problems you can't solve otherwise to [e-mail].

Archives of past issues of the Info-Hams Digest are available
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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: 29 Dec 93 20:46:51 GMT
From: att-out!cbnewsj![e-mail]
Subject: cw waivers
To: [e-mail]



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

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 21:04:43 GMT
From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsrelay.iastate.edu!news.iastate.edu![e-mail]
Subject: cw waivers
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (The QRPer) writes:
>From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Gary Coffman):
>> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (The QRPer) writes:
>>>CW is still alive among contesters BECAUSE IT'S FUN!
>> Oh, I'll concede that some people have outre senses of whats fun. Why
>> there are people who consider it fun to lie on a bed of nails, or
>> flagellate themselves with birch wands, or stick hot needles in their
>> flesh, or operate manual Morse. I don't fall into that group of masochists
>> who find Chinese water torture a pleasant passtime.
>Nor do I.  Nor anyone else I know who operates CW.
>
>I fail to understand how anybody could equate operating CW with
>lying in a bed of nails.  Unless they've been smoking the Christmas
>wreath.  Some day you must explain this to me, Gary.  Do you really
>think that people torture themselves just to get awards?

Smoking the Christmas wreath?  THAT's what was missing this year!  No wreath
to smoke.  <HI> <HI>

>Incredible.

>Wise up, Gary.  Hundreds of thousands of amateurs throughout the
>world think CW is fun.  They are not being tortured.

I know I am one of them.  So are all the other hams in my family.  (Three
generations and growing...)  Using voice is too much like talking to someone
on the telephone.  CW is much different, and that makes it more enjoyable for
me.

[By the same toke, I feel code-exams are outdated.  They should be replaced by
something more meaningful...]
--
Will Turner,  N0RDV      ---------------------------------------------
[e-mail]     | "Are you going to have any professionalism, |
[e-mail]    | or am I going to have to beat it into you?" |
[e-mail]    ---------------------------------------------

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

Date: 29 Dec 1993 14:10:32 -0600
From: usc!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Disability Waivers for CW scam
To: [e-mail]

I have a question concerning the newest type of license "scam."   Our VE group just
had a guy come through with a disability waiver which was signed by his doctor
indicating that his blindness prevented him from copying CW.

After reviewing the VE rules concerning this, I had to accept the waiver and pass it
along to the National VEC and the FCC.  I trust they review these carefully.

What makes this incident so interesting is the fact that at the same VE session,
another blind man came in without a waiver and passed a 13 WPM code test with
flying colors.

The question to the net is how can blindness prevent a person from copying CW?  Is
blindness a handicap which should be on the list of acceptable disabilities for a CW
waiver?  Currently, the acceptable list is those severe handicaps defined by congress
(I don't recall the detailed reference, but remember reading it in my VE rules manual).

Are we as amateurs leaving ourselves open for scams where anyone with a doctors
signature can weasel out of a code test?  Let's re-think this!

Leonard Popyack WF2V
[e-mail]

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

Date: 29 Dec 1993 14:26:39 -0600
From: usc!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!bga.com!bga.com![e-mail]
Subject: Disability Waivers for CW scam
To: [e-mail]

I mailed the following to the original poster, and thought that I'd share it
with the 'net at large. Hopefully someone else will find use in it...

To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Disability Waivers for CW scam
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]_popmail/pc_3.2.2>
Organization: Real/Time Communications - Bob Gustwick and Associates
Cc:
Bcc:

The answer to both questions is a very loud and emphatic NO!!!!

I am a blind ham and have been for the past 6 (count 'em) years. I've enjoyed
cw the whole time, and can copy it in my head at upwards of 25 wpm (30-35
on a really good day). I passed my 20 wpm when I was 14, 3 months after I
passed my novice class license. If you ever run into this loser again, tell
him he is full of shit for me, will ya? I just absolutely cannot _stand_
people who will do anything for a free ride--including selling themselves
short. He needs a clue. If he gets the waiver, I will be mightily displeased
(like that has anything to do with it). At any rate, blindness has absolutely
*no* bearing on one's cw copying ability. If he's not skilled enough to either
copy cw on a laptop computer, typewriter, braille writer, slate and stylus,
or, for that matter, orally, sham on him--but it's his blindness skills, and
likely his attitude about blindness, that's keeping him from that 13- or 20
wpm test, *not* his blindness.

73, from disgruntled bug user :)
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV       | God is love.
Riff-Raff #4                | Love is blind.
Internet: [e-mail]   | Buddy is blind.
[e-mail]   | Buddy is God.
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV       | God is love.
Riff-Raff #4                | Love is blind.
Internet: [e-mail]   | Buddy is blind.
[e-mail]   | Buddy is God.

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

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 20:55:51 GMT
From: library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsrelay.iastate.edu!news.iastate.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Disability Waivers for CW scam
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]_POPMail/PC_3.2.2> [e-mail] (Leonard J Popyack, Jr.) writes:
>Currently, the acceptable list is those severe handicaps defined by congress
>(I don't recall the detailed reference, but remember reading it in my VE rules manual).
>
>Are we as amateurs leaving ourselves open for scams where anyone with a doctors
>signature can weasel out of a code test?  Let's re-think this!

That's all they need?  A "severe handicap"?
Anybody seen anyone with a CW waiver because they are paralyzed from the waist
down?  Maybe I should be the first and use it for my 20wpm...
<HI> <HI>


--
Will Turner,  N0RDV      ---------------------------------------------
[e-mail]     | "Are you going to have any professionalism, |
[e-mail]    | or am I going to have to beat it into you?" |
[e-mail]    ---------------------------------------------

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

Date: 29 Dec 93 21:43:15 GMT
From: news.tek.com!gvgpsa.gvg.tek.com!gold.gvg.tek.com!gvgadg![e-mail]
Subject: FTP site for JESTER SSTV software, any & where?
To: [e-mail]

Is there a FTP site that has the JESTER software for the SSTV project in
Jan QST?

Randy
WA2AGE

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

Date: 29 Dec 1993 20:56:38 GMT
From: library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!astro.as.utexas.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Maxton and Newwell
To: [e-mail]

[e-mail] (Kok Chen) wonders:

>[e-mail] (Carole L. Hamilton) writes:

>>In article <[e-mail]>,
>>William J Turner <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>>
>>>Maxwell's equations?!!  Why even start *that* far advanced?
>>>Start with Newton's three laws and go from there!!
>>>
>>>(Yes, you can derive Maxwell from Newton (and a few others, too). It just
>>>takes a while.  :-)
>>>
>>You don't need Newton's equations to derive Maxwell's equations.
>>Maxwell's are much more fundamental!!
>

>Ummmm, ahhhh....
>
>Eh?  Has someone finally solved the Unified Field Theory problem
>while I was asleep?

  Yes!  See, Newton says that everything continues in a straight
  line unless acted on by a force.  This explains why radio waves
  travel in a straight line, see? - it's only when you apply a
  force to them with the transmitter that they change direction and
  curve around the earth's surface.   This curving motion is called
  the "curl" in Maxwell's equations.

  And if you hear a slight "thump" whenever you key your transmitter,
  that's Newton's Third Law - action and reaction.  When you push the
  radio waves out of the transmitter, the transmitter actually gets
  pushed back a little bit.  This is why the most powerful transmitters
  are actually bolted to the floor, to prevent their migrating across
  the room after repeated transmissions.

  I'm surprised you didn't know all this, what with your being an
  Extra class ham and all that,


Derek "Isaac" Wills (AA5BT, G3NMX)
Department of Astronomy, University of Texas,
Austin TX 78712.  (512-471-1392)
[e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 17:44:37 GMT
From: galaxy.ucr.edu!library.ucla.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!emory!kd4nc!ke4zv![e-mail]
Subject: Repeater database?
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>
>Anybody with $7 can buy a copy of the ARRL repeater directory.
>Presumably groups that don't want their repeater publically known
>don't list it in the directory. ARRL makes a couple of bucks on each
>sale (okay, they aren't an individual, so lets say the money goes back
>to the good of hamdom).

:-)

>Suppose I write a geographical database with a really whizzy graphical
>front end, searching and planning capabilities, made to run on a
>laptop or PDA. It includes the ARRL repeater directory database. Just
>what I want while travelling, and maybe others as well... For every
>copy of this program I sell, I license one copy of the repeater
>database by sending ARRL four bucks or whatever they think is fair.  I
>could sell yearly updates in sync with the ARRL directory (always
>licensing each copy with the ARRL).
>
>Of course, someone could pirate a copy of the program, or steal the
>database for their own program without licensing it from the ARRL. But
>those would be criminal acts. Maybe my program could encrypt the data
>to prevent casual lifting of the database.

The ARRL doesn't own the database, you can't copyright tabular data,
only it's presentation format.  That was settled years ago in a case
regarding phone books. If anyone owns the data, it's the coordinating
bodies, and they protect it by keeping it confidential. Most release
parts of their database to the ARRL, though there have been recent
fights about that.

>The only money I'd be making would be from the program itself - the
>ARRL would make the same amount as if it had sold a paper copy of the
>directory.
>
>Would any groups object to this? Would it require constitutional
>amendments and not happen in my lifetime? It sounds good to me, but I
>don't understand the arguments in the first place.

The problem is with the coordinating bodies. Their database is their
bread and butter. It's what allows them to do their jobs. They don't
want to see others profit from their work. Secondarily, the database
contains more than frequency pair assignments. It also contains link
and control frequencies and codes. Many repeater owners want to keep
that information confidential to help prevent their machines being
hacked. Others want to keep the exact geographic location of their
machines confidential in order to reduce vandalism of the site.

Me, I'll tell you exactly where my machine is, and wish you luck
at getting to it. I'll tell you it's input and output frequencies,
it's CTCSS access tone, it's HAAT, and it's ERP, but I won't release
the control codes, or the control link frequency voluntarily. I expect
the coordinating body to keep that information confidential.

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: 29 Dec 93 13:33:17 CST
From: timbuk.cray.com!hemlock.cray.com!cherry10![e-mail]
Subject: RFI into telephones
To: [e-mail]

In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (David Dodell) writes:
|I have a G5RV type antenna in my attic which is only a few feet in
|places from my telephone wiring.  This causes RFI into my telephone
|system.
|
|Any suggestions on minimizing this?
|
|David wb7tpy
|
|---
|Editor, HICNet Medical Newsletter
|Internet: [e-mail]                 FAX: [phone]
|Bitnet  : ATW1H@ASUACAD

Move the phone?

Ok, Move the antenna?

---

Sourdough and Ham  AA0PV

--David C. Adams     internet:  [e-mail]
  Statistician          uunet:     uunet!cray!dadams
  Cray Research Inc.    packet:    kg0io@tcman.#msp.mn.usa.noam

 "Who hath believed our report?"
       (Isaiah 53:1.)

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

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 14:11:44 GMT
From: netcomsv!netcomsv!bongo![e-mail]
Subject: RFI into telephones
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Dodell) writes:
>I have a G5RV type antenna in my attic which is only a few feet in
>places from my telephone wiring.  This causes RFI into my telephone
>system.
>
>Any suggestions on minimizing this?

 There are many ways to handle this problem. Not all will work.
It depends on several factors. You say "Telephone System". Do you mean
you have a large PBX that is getting rfi? Or do you have a couple of
cheap phones sent to you for renewing your subscription to Time
magazine?

 Often the RFI can be whipped by treating the phone sets. The
standard Bell type 500 (rotary) and 2500 (touchtone) phones are
relatively immune to RFI. Should they be picking up RFI, they can
often be cured by placing 250 Volt 100nF or 10nF capacitors between
Tip and Ring. Tip and Ring is the name for the two wires that carry
the phone signal.

 In most residential installations, the wire carrying the
signal around the house is prone to interference if it is not twisted.
If the wire is Red & Green with Black & Yellow, it is not twisted.
This wire is called "quad". It should be replaced with "twisted pair".
Twisted pair is more immune to QRM.

 There are special filters sold for telephones. The guy that
makes them advertises in QST. But most WRM problems can be fixed with.
1. decent phones - throw out the nasty junk. 2. decent wire - put
twisted pair in everywhere.

 There are some documents that may help in fixing telephone
RFI. They are Bulletin FO-10 from the FCC and Bell System Practice
(BSP) Section 500-150-100 (JAn 1974). There may be later documents,
but this si what I have. I have ascii copies of these docs and will
mail them to anyone who wants them, along with a dreary artice I wrote
for Popular Communications magazine on the subject.

 Now, if you do have problems with a large PBX, it may require
more work, but can usually be beaten.

--
Julian Macassey, N6ARE  [e-mail] Voice: [phone]
Paper Mail: Apt 225, 975 Hancock Ave, West Hollywood, California 90069-4074

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

Date: 29 Dec 93 13:11:33 CST
From: timbuk.cray.com!hemlock.cray.com!cherry10![e-mail]
Subject: UK scanner listeners arrested; called
To: [e-mail]

In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (Milt Sanders) writes:

snip, snip...

|This might be a good test
|here in the US to see who might be attracted by such an announcement <HI>

Well I have recently heard news accounts where federal agents sent announcements
in the mail to the last known addresses of a list of criminals saying,
"Congradulations, you are the lucky winner in our drawing..."  A whole swarm
of these guys showed up, produced ID, and were immediately handcuffed.

There is something in all this that really bothers me about a system that
would allow it's police force, those we hire to enforce laws dealing with
honesty, to lie, to commit fraud, to do what ever beyond the law, in order
to catch criminals, or even to pursuade people to commit a crime so that
they can be arrested.

---

Sourdough and Ham  AA0PV

--David C. Adams     internet:  [e-mail]
  Statistician          uunet:     uunet!cray!dadams
  Cray Research Inc.    packet:    kg0io@tcman.#msp.mn.usa.noam

 "Who hath believed our report?"
       (Isaiah 53:1.)

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

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 93 20:11:05 GMT
From: mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!nyx10![e-mail]
Subject: UK scanner listeners arrested; called
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>,
David Adams <[e-mail]> wrote:
>There is something in all this that really bothers me about a system that
>would allow it's police force, those we hire to enforce laws dealing with
>honesty, to lie, to commit fraud, to do what ever beyond the law, in order
>to catch criminals,

I don't have a problem with luring a fugitive in with whatever means, fair or
foul, they can come up with. Otherwise, we simply allow someone to evade
capture.

> or even to pursuade people to commit a crime so that
>they can be arrested.

This is entrapment, and I have real problems with that.

>Sourdough and Ham  AA0PV
>  Cray Research Inc.    packet:    kg0io@tcman.#msp.mn.usa.noam

Congratulations on the new call...now, shouldn't you reprogram your TNC? :-)
--
Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL | Never ascribe to malice that which can
[e-mail]      | adequately be explained by stupidity.
        "A good flame is fuel to warm the soul." -- Karl Denninger

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

Date: 29 Dec 1993 13:28:29 -0800
From: sdd.hp.com!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!caen!uwm.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!cyber2.cyberstore.ca!nwnexus![e-mail]
Subject: who sells good HT battery replacements?
To: [e-mail]

[e-mail] (Steve Holland) writes:

>MY HT power pack no longer will hold a charge over a reasonable time
>and I am planning on replacing it.  What mail order venders makes
>reliable battery packs that offer good value?  I am looking for
>something that will fit an ALINCO DJ500T HT.

>Steve Holland
Steve - Periphex has what seems to be an on-going sale of battery packs
for Alinco ($40.00 for 7.2 v @1500 mah, rechargeable nickel cadmium battery).

Their # is 800-634-8132.

73's

Ted, KB7ZQQ

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

Date: 29 Dec 1993 20:13:20 GMT
From: galaxy.ucr.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!nigel.msen.com!caen!crl.dec.com!crl.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!wile.lkg.dec.com![e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

References <[e-mail]>, <2fpklm$[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>.l
Reply-To : [e-mail] (Carl G Heinzl)
Subject : Re: Where are all the young enthusiasts?



I've heard several stories about younger hams not being recognized as
piers by older hams.  I must say that my experience was quite different.
As a young ham (13 yrs old) back in '73 in Pittsburgh, I was quite
readily accepted into the two clubs that I joined in the Pittsburgh
area, the Pittsburgh ATA - amateur transmitter association, and the South
Hills Brass Pounders and Modulators.  Not once did someone brush me
aside because of my age.

The ATA wasn't a very active club but we had some interesting speakers at
the monthly meeting at the Buhl Planetarium.  I was active enough in this
club that at the age of 14 I became one of the club directors!  The SHBP&M
was a great club to work field day with at South Park (I'll never
forget my experiences there), something that no young ham should be
without!

-Carl- WA3UEN
President - Very Versatile Business Computer Company of New England

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

Date: (null)
From: (null)
Nor do I.  Nor anyone else I know who operates CW.

I fail to understand how anybody could equate operating CW with
lying in a bed of nails.  Unless they've been smoking the Christmas
wreath.  Some day you must explain this to me, Gary.  Do you really
think that people torture themselves just to get awards?

Incredible.

Wise up, Gary.  Hundreds of thousands of amateurs throughout the
world think CW is fun.  They are not being tortured.

Sheesh.

Gary, we all really appreciate you sharing your technical expertise
with us.  However, you really do need to understand that, when it
comes to operational matters, your perceptions are way out there.

Oh yes, you do understand that DXing and contesting are two very
different things, right?  Your original post seemed somewhat confused
about that.

73,
Bob K2PH

--
----------------------------------------------------
Bob Schreibmaier K2PH  | UUCP:     ...!att!mtdcr!bob
AT&T Bell Laboratories | Internet: [e-mail]
Middletown, N.J. 07748 | ICBM:     40o21'N, 74o8'W

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

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 21:06:31 GMT
From: usc!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!att-in!cbnewsm![e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

References <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>p
Subject : Re: cw waivers

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
>
>Oh, I'll concede that some people have outre senses of whats fun. Why
>there are people who consider it fun to lie on a bed of nails, or
>flagellate themselves with birch wands, or stick hot needles in their
>flesh, or operate manual Morse. I don't fall into that group of masochists
>who find Chinese water torture a pleasant passtime.

Subtle as always Gary. 8-)

>Someone using manual Morse is like someone who prefers 300 baud modems
>when 9600 baud units are cheap and available. I frankly don't understand
>the affinity for slow torture. Why not use drums and smoke signals if
>you're trying to recreate the past?

Kind of hard to hold a conversation at 5 wpm...  8-)

Jeff
--
 Jeff Jones  AB6MB         | Vote out those who voted for the North American
 [e-mail]   | Free Trade Agreement!
 Infolinc BBS 510-778-5929 |

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

End of Info-Hams Digest V93 #1521
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