The ARRL Letter Electronic Update August 2, 1996 You can email this page's content administrator at rlindquist@arrl.org. IN THIS UPDATE . . . Hams continue to support Flight 800 recovery Phase 3D could launch in early '97 SAFEX repeater operational New low-power radio service authorized Speedy FCC? Polar Bear Express Sunspots in hiding Another Kentucky "scanner" case Richard Egbert, W8ETU, SK In Brief: KA1RWZ injured; vanity call sign update; W1AW aids celebration; Friedrichshafen gets good grades; new DX Bulletin, DX Magazine publishers; new ham radio novel; ham scholarship winners; donation; ZL1RH turns 100. HAMS CONTINUE TO SUPPORT TWA FLIGHT 800 RECOVERY Andy Feldman, WB2FXN, reports that approximately 115 hams have contributed upward of 2000 hours to support recovery efforts of the American Red Cross and other agencies in the wake of the TWA Flight 800 disaster earlier this month. Feldman, of Coram, New York, is the Suffolk County (New York) RACES radio officer, the DEC for Suffolk County and the American Red Cross Suffolk County chapter disaster communications chairman. The Red Cross is providing mental health counseling, health services and meals for families, friends and emergency workers affected by the July 17 crash. Feldman reports that ham radio volunteers have come not only from Suffolk County but from Nassau, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, as well as from New York City and Northern New Jersey. PHASE 3D COULD LAUNCH IN FEBRUARY ON ARIANE 502 AMSAT says the Phase 3D international satellite could launch as early as mid-February, 1997, as a passenger on the next European Space Agency (ESA) Ariane 5 mission, AR 502. ESA said the launch will come "within the first six months of 1997" in any event. AMSAT officials now are completing all integration and testing efforts for the Phase 3D satellite in time for the launch, which had been set for this fall. However, the failure of the first Ariane 5 mission in June set back the launch schedule. An ESA board of inquiry blamed a software glitch for the Ariane 501 failure. The latest announcement came July 27 during a joint AMSAT-Germany/AMSAT-North America presentation on Phase 3D's status to the 1996 AMSAT-UK Colloquium at the University of Surrey in England. The decision reaffirming the use of the Ariane launch vehicle followed a series of high-level meetings between AMSAT and ESA officials July 23 and 24. Phase 3D project leader Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, AMSAT-DL president, was upbeat about the announcement. Meinzer said AMSAT had been assured that ESA is taking the inquiry board's recommendations to heart "and are now rolling up their shirtsleeves to correct those deficiencies in time for the Ariane 502 launch next year." Meinzer said he's "very confident" that ESA will do all to insure a successful launch. AMSAT-NA's Keith Baker, KB1SF, was equally positive about the latest developments for Phase 3D's launch. "The fact that the investigators were able to use recovered debris and subsequent laboratory analysis to duplicate the exact sequence of events that caused the AR 501 failure gives us renewed confidence for the prospects of a successful launch on AR 502." AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan, W3XO, also viewed the latest launch developments for the Phase 3D satellite as good news. "However, this still places responsibility for completion and testing of Phase 3D firmly in our court," he said. "We must still finish final integration and testing of the satellite by year's end, conduct the launch campaign, and insure the necessary funds are secured to do so." Tynan said even if the launch comes off as planned, the unanticipated delay of a year or more "translates directly into a critical need for additional funding to insure Phase 3D is compete and flight-ready when ESA tells us it is time to launch." The Phase 3D satellite, now under construction by AMSAT, will be the largest, most complex, and most expensive Amateur Radio satellite ever built. For more information, contact AMSAT-North America, Keith Baker, KB1SF, executive vice president, 1324 Fairgrounds Rd, Xenia, OH 45385- 9514; tel 513-429-5325; e-mail 75070.331@compuserve.com or kb1sf@amsat.org. SAFEX REPEATER OPEN; FIRST CONTACT LOGGED The 70-cm FM Space Amateur Funk (Radio) EXperiment--or SAFEX--voice repeater operating on the Russian space station Mir is now open for general use! The repeater operates with an input frequency of 435.750 MHz and requires a CTCSS tone of 141.3 Hz for access. The repeater output is on 437.950 MHz, and the call sign is RR0DL. The first ground-to-ground QSO involved DF0VR, IV3WLQ and LY3BH. Dave Larsen, N6JLH, worked the first North American two-way ground-to-ground QSO with Scott Avery, WA6LIE. Both stations are in California. N6JLH has been working the repeater with 25 W into a 35-element Yagi. He has not been able to operate through the repeater with a mobile transceiver and a 5/8-wave whip antenna, even on a 75#161# elevation pass. Joerg Hahn, DL3LUM, and Thomas Kieselbach, DL2MDE, of the SAFEX team (club station DF0VR) report the spacecraft's attitude is very bad and that working via SAFEX is "more or less difficult," at least for the time being. SAFEX II is a project of the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC), and managed by the Ham Radio Group, DF0VR, at the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen. The project is supported by DARC, DLR, NPO Energia (Russia's equivalent of NASA) and Russian radio amateurs. Mode 2, 9600-baud (G3RUH-compatible) packet operation, is not yet ready for use. It will use a downlink of 437.975 MHz and an uplink of 435.775 MHz (no CTCSS tone). Mode 3, the SAFEX voice recorder beacon, was expected to be in operation this week using a downlink frequency of 437.925 MHz and an uplink of 435.725 MHz (no CTCSS tone needed). Mir is a rapidly moving spacecraft, so all SAFEX contacts should be as short as possible. Also be sure to consider the 10 kHz of Doppler shift that is typical of LEO satellite operation on the 70-cm band. The SAFEX II team is very interested in reception reports, and any technical measurements or oscilloscope plots of the repeater's signals. Send reports to Joerg, DL3LUM, e-mail joerg.hahn@dlr.de or, via packet, DL3LUM@DB0AAB.#BAY.DEU.EU. The new equipment was powered-on by the Mir-21 crew, which currently includes US astronaut Shannon Lucid and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Onufrienko and Yuri Usachev. Lucid can occasionally be heard making two-way voice contacts on 145.55 MHz from Mir. Other 2-meter frequencies used for Mir (preferably in split-mode operation) are 145.800 MHz (uplink) and 145.200 MHz (downlink). Lucid recently made a contact with a mobile station in Florida. Russian rules have historically permitted unlicensed Mir crew members to operate using the Russian club call sign R0MIR. This imposes some limitations for US hams, however, since the US does not have a third-party traffic agreement with Russia. This means that Amateur Radio stations in the US may talk to Russian licensees aboard Mir, but they may not involve unlicensed third parties in these communications. This agreement does not affect Mir crew members, but it does affect US hams. N6JLH is the Mir QSL manager in the US for contacts made with R0MIR and R0MIR-1. QSL cards must include date, time, and mode of contact. N6JLH does not handle SWL reports, however. If a contact is made with the Mir packet radio personal message system (PMS), include the message number issued by the PMS on your QSL. QSLs must be sent along with a business-sized self-addressed stamped envelope (the card will not fit in a regular-sized envelope). Send QSLs to: David G. Larsen, N6JLH, PO Box 1501, Pine Grove, CA 95665.-- AMSAT News Service FCC CREATES NEW LOW-POWER RADIO SERVICE The FCC has created a new Low Power Radio Service (LPRS) in the 216- 217 MHz band. The Part-95 service will be authorized on a secondary, noninterference basis for short-range communication to include auditory assistance devices for persons with disabilities; health-care assistance devices; law-enforcement tracking systems; and point-to- point network control communications for Automated Maritime Telecommunication Systems (AMTS). LPRS transmitters will not require individual licenses. Transmitters must be type-accepted. Maximum ERP is 100 mW. Bandwidths may range from 5 kHz to 50 kHz, although the rules permit AMTS wideband emissions up to 250 kHz in the upper portion of the band. SPEEDY FCC? Remember the days when you took your test, then waited weeks for the FCC to process your application and mail your ticket? The FCC says long waits now are a thing of the past. Processing times in the Amateur Radio service have dropped "from 75 days to overnight" as part of the FCC's effort over the past several months to improve Commission processes. The FCC's recently announced electronic filing initiative is part of that effort. The FCC has opened its new toll-free national call center in Gettysburg. The number is 888-322-8255. POLAR BEAR EXPRESS DXPEDITION SET >From the Great White North comes word of the Polar Bear Express DXpedition, which plans to depart Saturday, August 3, from Cochrane, Ontario, to the James Bay region aboard the Polar Bear Express, an Ontario Northland Railway excursion train. "What sets this trip apart from the normal daily excursion is that it will have an additional passenger car attached that will have a team of nine amateurs aboard," says Laird Solomon, VE3LKS, the team spokesman. The group plans to have HF stations set up in this car and will operate en route. Once at the train's destination of Moosonee, Ontario, one group will set up a station in the Moosonee train station for DXing until "the early hours of August 7." A second group hopes to activate several of the freshwater islands between Moosonee and the shores of James Bay in Ontario. A third island crew will attempt to activate Akimiski Island, a never-before-activated IOTA island, which is part of the Northwest Territories (Akimiski does not yet have an IOTA number). Team members include VE3WFS, VE3VGI, VA3DXE, VE3TIG, VE3LLE, VE3NSZ, VE3XN, VE3WTI, VE3KBL and VE3LKS. On Akimiski Island, the crew will operate SSB using the special call sign VE8A on 3810, 7260, 14260, 21260 and 50110 kHz; aboard the trains and at the train station in Moosonee, operators will use the special call sign XM3P; the freshwater islands crew will use the special call sign CI3O. SSB frequencies will be 3740 to 3780; 7060 to 7250; 14120 to 14250; 21250 and 50125 kHz; CW frequencies will be 3535, 7035, 14035 and 21035 kHz. The team plans to be active on 2 meters on the trip up and back. The Polar Bear Express will pass through EO90 and EO91 into EO92, where the Moosonee train station is located. Solomon said the group will try to be active on 6 meters from 2000 to 2100 UTC every day. Durham Radio of Oshawa, Ontario, and Alinco have provided equipment for the occasion. Durham Radio has a section on the DXpedition on its Web page at http://www.durhamradio.ca. Solomon offers a link from his own home page at http://www.osha.igs.net/~lsolomon. Send QSL with an SASE (or enclose one IRC or $1) to Fred Bengel, VE3TIG, 679 Aruba Cr, Oshawa, ON L1J 6B7, Canada. You may also QSL via the RAC Incoming QSL Bureau, PO Box 157, Downsview, ON M3M 3A3, Canada. SUNSPOTS STILL IN HIDING Solar prognosticator Tad Cook, KT7H, in Seattle, Washington, reports solar flux was down an average of 4 points the week of July 14, relative to the previous week. Except for July 19, there were no sunspots visible for 11 days in a row. The return of old region 7978 on the Sun was expected over this past weekend; that could bring a small rise in solar activity. Look for solar flux to gradually rise to near 80 by today, and then fall below 70 next week. No geomagnetic upsets are expected from this region. Sunspot numbers for July 18 through 24 were 0, 0, 12, 0, 0, 0 and 0, respectively, for a mean of 1.7. The 10.7-cm flux was 66.8, 64.9, 66.1, 65.4, 65.1, 66, and 66.7, respectively, for a mean of 65.9. ANOTHER KENTUCKY "SCANNER" CASE Another Kentucky teenager has run afoul of authorities there who apparently are not thoroughly familiar with the Bluegrass State's scanner law (KRS 432.570), which contains a specific exemption for Amateur Radio operators. David Schaefer, KE4YBH, of Latonia, Kentucky, was stopped in mid-July by Covington, Kentucky, police for carrying a radio capable of scanning police frequencies. According to David's mother, the officer followed her son--who was on his bike and had his H-T and scanner on his belt--for five blocks before stopping him. ARRL Volunteer Counsel Harry Riggs Jr, KM4CS, reports that David, who just turned 14, got his scanner back after his uncle, John Schaefer, N4BIK, also of Latonia, contacted Covington Police and explained the statute to the assistant chief, William Dorsey, who happens to be N4BOP. The Kentucky scanner law also exempts tow-truck operators, rescue personnel and medical and hospital personnel. Police did not take David's Amateur Radio H-T, which he also was carrying at the time. Meanwhile, a similar case involving Greg Godsey, KF4BDY, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, still has not been completely resolved. A scheduled July 25 court date was canceled. He was arrested in May and charged with having a radio capable of scanning police frequencies. A judge subsequently dropped the charge and ordered his Radio Shack HTX- 202 returned. The 17-year-old still faces charges of impersonating a public official and disorderly conduct that stemmed from his arrest on the scanner charge. RICHARD A. EGBERT, W8ETU, SK Richard Egbert, W8ETU, of Columbus, Ohio, died on June 16. He was 72. Dick served the ARRL as director of the Great Lakes division from 1973 until 1980. In Brief . . . Injured: Donna Rothberg, KA1RWZ, wife of former New England Vice Director Warren Rothberg, WB1HBB, has been hospitalized following an auto accident July 25 in Florida where they recently moved. At last word, she was reported in stable condition with multiple injuries. She is expected to remain in the hospital for several weeks and likely will require surgery. Write Donna and Warren Rothberg, 9A Waterford Way, Delray Beach, FL 33446; e-mail: wrothberg@emi.net. Vanity call sign applications: The FCC's Larry Weikert in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, reports 3427 vanity call sign applications to date since the program began May 31. A small surge in applications followed the opening of Gate 1A on July 22. Weikert notes that the two-page Form 610 on white paper is acceptable since the FCC is allowing people to receive applications via the Internet and fax-on- demand. W1AW helps celebrate Newington's 125th: The Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, W1AW, became a special event station July 20 as the town of Newington, Connecticut, celebrated its 125th anniversary. More than a dozen operators from the Newington Amateur Radio League worked 560 stations in the six-hour effort. Visitors to W1AW included Connecticut State Rep. Dominic Mazzoccoli, who said he was "deeply impressed" by the operators' abilities to communicate despite the adverse HF conditions at the time. Europe's "Dayton" gets high marks: More than 20,000 attended the international Amateur Radio exhibition Ham Radio Fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the last weekend in June. The biggest hamfest in Europe also attracted nearly 300 exhibitors from 44 countries and, according to its organizers, "proved once again that radio hams will always be able to get their message across and that this classic form of communication is being cultivated with increasing enthusiasm." A visitors' poll indicated that more than 70% of those questioned bought products at the event, and 95% said they'd be back next year (June 27-29, 1997, in case you're making reservations). New DX Bulletin, DX Magazine publishers: Paul and Nancy Smith, AE4AP and KB4RGW respectively, will take over the DX Bulletin and the DX Magazine from Chod Harris, VP2ML. The changeover is supposed to happen within a few weeks. The Smiths already produce The GOLIST, QSL Manager List and The DX Reporter. The Smiths have a new e-mail address: dxpub@midwest.net. Write DX Publications, PO Box 2306, Paducah, KY 42002-2306; tel 502-898-8863 (voice); 502-898-8864 (DX BBS); fax 502-898-8865. Ham radio novel: Wizard of the Wind, the second novel by Birmingham, Alabama, author Don Keith, N4KC, is set in the world of radio broadcasting, but has elements of Amateur Radio as well. The book, due out this fall, tells of a young man who's fascinated by the magic of radio and eventually builds a broadcasting empire. One of the book's main characters is a ham radio operator who uses old-fashioned fox-hunting techniques to help track some bad guys. Excerpts from Wizard of the Wind and from Keith's first novel, The Forever Season are available at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/donkeith. Ham scholarship winners: The Central Arizona DX Association (CADXA), an organization of over 100 hams in Phoenix, has announced the winners of its 1996 scholarships. Awards of $500 went to John Steenis, KI7LX, 18, of Phoenix, Arizona, and to Sarah Laurel Brown, N7XYR, 18, of Page, Arizona. The CADXA offers scholarships of $500 annually to graduating Arizona high school seniors who hold a Technician Plus or higher license. The club holds a raffle each year to raise money for the program they administer. For more information about the CADXA scholarship program, contact Gary Capek, K8BN, 5403 West Dobbins, Laveen, AZ 85339; tel 602-237-4314; e-mail gcapek@getnet.com. Donation: The Nutmeg Hamfest Alliance of Connecticut has donated $200 to the ARRL Foundation. The Alliance includes the Meriden Amateur Radio Club, the Middlesex Amateur Radio Society and the Shoreline Amateur Radio Club. The Alliance sponsors the Connecticut State ARRL Convention, which takes place this year on October 13 at the Durham, Connecticut, fairgrounds. For information on supporting the ARRL Foundation, call Mary Carcia, N7IAL, 860-594-0230; e-mail mcarcia@arrl.org. World's oldest ham? Roger Claridge, ZL1RH, of Taupo, New Zealand, turned 100 years old on June 14, 1996, and remains active, nearly 70 years after he got his first ham ticket. A World War I veteran, Claridge was originally licensed as ZL2GV in 1928. Once active on HF, he limits his hamming these days to 2-meter FM. The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J. Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President. Electronic edition circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail kcapodicasa@arrl.org. Editorial, Rick Lindquist, KX4V, e-mail rlindquist@arrl.org. Visit the ARRL's Web site at http://www.arrl.org/. The purpose of The ARRL Letter is to provide the essential news of interest to active, organizationally minded radio amateurs faster than it can be disseminated by our official journal, QST. We strive to be fast, accurate and readable in our reporting. Material from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form, including photoreproduction and electronic databanks, provided that credit is given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League. Go to ARRLWeb's opening page #225# ARRLWeb content search. This page, copyright (c)1996 by the American Radio Relay League, Inc, was last updated at 7:15 AM Eastern time on August 2, 1996. Your communications about ARRL products and services are welcome at hq@arrl.org; about ARRLWeb, at webmaster@arrl.org.