FARS - The FARS Relay -- Volume 26, Number 7

Site Map

Volume 26, Number 7 July, 1996

Copyright © 1996 by EMARC

JULY MEETING

Indians, Earthquakes and Nuclear Wars

Dr. Alan Lindh - USGS Seismologist

Dr. Lindh is one of USGS's top seismologist on earth quake prediction. He recently presided over the meeting on Earthquake Prediction at the general assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), a gathering of world famous geologists, geophysicists and seismologists at Boulder, Colorado.

Dr. Lindh is a world-class scientist and we should be excited he is willing to present at our club meeting. Please spread the word.

-Andy, AC6GN

FIELD DAY

This was the fourth and best Field Day with satellite operations for EMARC. We were set up to work four birds, and indeed worked all four (AO-27, FO-20, AO-10, AO-13). We had a total of 21 contacts (compared to just 2 last year); most of the operating credit goes to Jurgen, AC6HQ, who stayed up all night and worked Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and Canada on the late-rising AO-10 and even later AO-13. Special thanks to Andy, AC6GN, who generously lent us his antennas and az-el rotators. The rigs, preamps, computer and coax were on loan from Omri, AA6TA.

Between satellite activity, Omri, AA6TA, ran the station in packet mode. As usual, packet activity was very slow, but still we managed 20 QSOs, almost as good as last year's 22.

de Omri AA6TA

CLUB STATION ACTIVITY

SPACE SHUTTLE CONTACT

Our club station, WB6WSL, succeeded in having a voice QSO with Astronaut Charles Brady, N4BQW on the Space Shuttle Columbia during its recent STS-78 mission. WB6WSL operator on this QSO was Omri, AA6TA.

SILENT KEYS

Beverly Vanderbeek, WH6ZM -Wife of Herb, WY6G

Louis Weber, KJ6SC

PACKET & TCP/IP BOOKS AVAILABLE

Through a generous donation from the Northern Calif. Packet Association (NCPA), EMARC has received a quantity of two excellent booklets: Introduction to Packet Radio by Larry Kenney, WB9LOZ; and The TCP/IP Primer, by Gary Ford, N6GF, et.al. These books normally sell for $5/copy. Some of these copies will be raffled off at our monthly meetings; others will be available ($1 or more donation to the Club appreciated!) at meetings from Omri, AA6TA.

2 METER/70 CM REVISITED

The "Little LEO" folks who proposed taking over the VHF/UHF ham bands are now crying about the letters they are receiving from outraged hams. They are even accusing the ARRL of unfair tactics. This is the big lie technique. When you are pulling some sneaky trick on someone, accuse them of being unfair . The FCC is asking that all comments be sent to the FCC, not to the individual members of the FCC or to the members of the LEO conspiracy (See August QST, page 72 and the Pacific Division Report and Newsline in this Relay).

WRONG! This is a good way to lose your voice in spite of the assurance from the FCC that "All comments will be given prompt consideration". Yes, send comments to the FCC as requested, but also send copies to the "Little LEO" people, politicians and anyone else involved. Remember to keep your letters firm, but civil and to the point.

Diatribe de David, KD6WRG

EMARC announcement mailing list is moderated, so you cannot reply directly to the list. To subscribe, send the word "subscribe" to: emarc-request@ham.yak.net; For help, send the word "help" to majordomo@ham.yak.net; For human assistance, email to: human@ham.yak.net.

The EMARC Relay is the official monthly newsletter of the Electronics Museum Amateur Radio Club. Club meetings are held at 7 PM on the fourth Friday of each month except January (Winter Banquet); and 3rd Friday in June, Nov. & Dec. Annual membership $20; family $25. Visitors are always welcome! Directions on the back page. Talk-in: W6APZ (145.23-, 100Hz) or W6ASH repeater (145.27- or 224.36-).

Contributions to the newsletter from members, family, and guests are earnestly solicited! Contributions subject to editing and/or compression. ASCII files via packet, Internet or diskettes preferred; but all readable forms welcome. Here are the various ways to reach the editor:

WRTC REPORT

The World Radiosport Team Championship competition took place on Saturday, July 13, from 5 AM to 11 PM PDT, coinciding with a portion of the IARU DX contest. Fifty-two 2-person WRTC teams, representing some of the world's leading DXers, set up stations around the Bay area and competed for maximum contacts and multipliers. The stations had specially-issued 1x1 calls (K6A thru K6Z and W6A thru W6Z). We volunteered our club station to host one of the teams, who turned out to be Dave Pruett, K8CC and Stan Stockton, K5GO. The referee assigned to "our" team was Steve Morris, K7LXC. Visitor Anne Judson, KC7RN completed the crew. The team (callsign W6P) brought with them their own equipment, including two ICOM 765 rigs (one for operating and another for scanning other bands for activity), filters galore, custom-made antenna switch, headphone/boom mike combination with foot control, and a computer with a special contest logging program (written by Dave, K8CC) and a special interface that allowed either the computer or the paddle to key the rig. When they were finished setting up, nothing of our club station's original equipment remained, save the antennas! Things got off to a shaky start when the visitors discovered a bad SWR situation on the 40 meter wire antenna. Luckily this was Friday afternoon, well ahead of the contest start time. After much roof work and experimentation by the visitors and by Arv, WA6UUT, the 40m BALUN was replaced by the one from the 80m wire, and the latter wire was taken down altogether. That worked, as evidenced by a very substantial amount of Q's on 40m CW the team racked up. Another problem that plagued our team was occasional keyboard lock-up, which Dave felt may have been due to RF interfering with keyboard functions. There was nothing to be done but reboot; luckily, information was not lost since the program logs each QSO to hard disk immediately on entry. Still, some valuable time was lost, which no doubt affected the score. When it was all over, our team placed 10th among the 52 WRTC teams! The few EMARC members who dropped by got to watch these two world-class contesters in action, a truly rare treat. They operated mostly CW (at 40 wpm!) but spent enough time on sideband for me to work them on three bands. I managed to work only 33 of the WRTC stations, and even that took most of the entire day. QRP Bob, KD6VIO, did better: he worked 47, all on QRP. Our team's official score was: 568,435 points, 2370 QSOs, 149 multipliers. The first place team, W6X, scored 761,829 points, 2457 QSOs, and 183 multipliers. To help our visitors relax, we brought over the Red Cross trailer (thanks, Eddie, KE6YPI, for towing it; and thanks George, K6OG, for arranging the use of it). Arv took some videos, as did Mike, KE6MDW; we will get to see them at the next club meeting.

de Omri AA6TAM

ARRL PACIFIC DIVISION

ARRL PACIFIC DIVISION UPDATE
SPECIAL EDITION -- AUGUST, 1996

by Brad Wyatt, K6WR, Director
Pacific Division, ARRL
18400 Overlook Rd. #5
Los Gatos CA 95030-5850
(408) 395-2501 (Phone and FAX)
Packet: K6WR@N0ARY.#NOCAL.CA
Internet: K6WR@arrl.org
Web: pacific.arrl.org

More On the 2m/70cm Band Challenge:

The challenge to the 2 meter and 70 cm bands by LEO interests has received a great deal of publicity in recent weeks. The bare-bones facts are contained in the QST editorial for July 1996, which has been widely distributed already, including in the July Pacific Division Update. Little has been available so far, however, on the WHO, WHAT, and WHEN of the matter. This Update will attempt to fill this gap. In this edition are details that were not available when the news first broke. All this information has been obtained from public sources.

1. WHO are the "Little LEO" folks? In 1993, the FCC allocated several bands to the Non-Voice Non- Geostationary (NVNG), low-Earth orbit ("Little LEO") Mobile Satellite Service, which uses small satellites at 650-1300 miles altitude to provide data communication services. The NVNG service is based on small satellite technology pioneered by the Amateur Satellite Service. Approximately 13 million commercial NVNG user terminals are expected to be in service by the year 2000. Orbcomm (Orbital Communications Corp.) is a joint venture between Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, VA and Teleglobe Canada. They have two satellites in orbit (launched April 3, 1995) with plans to launch the remaining constellation, for a total of 36 satellites, beginning around the end of this year. Satellites are being built by Orbital Sciences in Germantown, MD (former Fairchild facility) and launched on Pegasus XL launchers. Uplinks are 2400 bps FSK in the 148- 149.9 MHz band, user downlinks are 4800 bps FSK in the 137-138 MHz band, with beacons in the 400-401 MHz band. Their two satellites are the only little LEOs actually in orbit. Starsys (Starsys Global Positioning, Inc.) of Lanham, MD, is now owned (80%) by GE American Communications. They were previously owned by NACLS (the US subsidiary of a French company that operates System Argos). They will most likely begin launching their constellation in early 1998. The satellites are being built by Alcatel (Toulouse, France). Launch services have not been announced, but likely candidates are Cosmos or Roket (Russia), Pegasus, LLV (Lockheed Martin) or Delta. They plan to use the same frequencies as Orbcomm, using spread-spectrum technology. VITA is a non-profit development organization based in Arlington, VA. They were teamed with CTA Incorporated, but suffered a launch failure in August 1995 (the first LLV-1 launch). The VITA-CTA agreement ended and VITA is now partnered with Final Analysis, Inc. of Greenbelt, MD for the ownership of a single transponder on the FAISAT-2v satellite. This satellite is a hybrid US-Russian effort, and should be launched in the September time frame on a Cosmos from Plesetsk, Russia. VITA's uplinks are the same as Orbcomm and Starsys, with the downlinks in the 400-401 MHz band. VITA's uplinks are not from mobile terminals but rather are from a few fixed gateway stations. Final Analysis has an experimental license for the remainder of the satellite that allows for a limited number of user terminals to uplink at data rates from 1200 - 19200 bps GMSK in the 455-456 and 459-460 MHz band. Downlinks are in the 400-401 MHz band, ranging from 1200-38400 bps GMSK. Those are the only little LEO companies that presently hold licenses. The remaining companies that have applied for licenses are GE Astro Space, Princeton, NJ; Final Analysis Inc. (FAI), Greenbelt, MD; E-Sat Corp., Denver, CO, a subsidiary of Echostar Corp.; LEO One USA, a subsidiary of LEO One Panamerica of Mexico City; and CTA Corp., Rockville. MD.

2. WHO are the consultants who introduced the "candidate bands" at the May 7, 1996, meeting of the Informal Working Group 2A (IWG-2A)? Mary Kay Williams, Final Analysis, Inc., 7500 Greenway Center, Suite. 1240, Greenbelt, MD 20770. Leslie Taylor, President, LTA, 6800 Carlynn Court, Bethesda, MD 20817.

3. WHAT are the "candidate bands" introduced at the May 7 meeting? The "candidate bands" proposed by these consultants to IWG-2A on May 7, 1996, are the following (listed in MHz): 138-144, 144-148, 216-218, 380-400, 401-406, 406.1-410, 410-420, 420-450, 450-460, 460-470, 790-862, 890-902, 1427-1432. Obviously, there are "incumbents" (such as ourselves) using these bands. Bands that would be technically suitable but were not included are the VHF TV bands (notably 174-216 MHz) that the broadcasters eventually will be relinquishing when digital TV has been fully implemented in the UHF band. Research in the "Spectrum Guide: Radio Frequency Allocations in the United States 20 MHz-300 GHz" by Bennett Z. Kobb, ISBN 0-9641546 indicates that the "Little LEO" folks currently have the following allocations: 137-138, 148-150.05, 312-315, 387-390, 399.9-400.05, 400.15- 401 MHz.

4. WHAT is the future planned meeting schedule for IWG-2A? It appears that publicly scheduled meetings of IWG-2A will be held about every three weeks. The last such meeting was June 18, 1996.

5. HOW does this all get resolved? This part of the problem is very unclear as Warren G. Richards, Chair, IWG-2A, Department of State, CIP 2529, Washington, DC 20520, has stated that he does not have the authority to change any of the candidate bands listed at the May 7, 1996, meeting.

6. WHEN does it get resolved? This problem is likely to be with us until at least November 1996 before resolution. The various Informal Working Groups have a target date of November to complete their preliminary work and to have their data and positions ready for the Advisory Committee. So WHAT do we do now? There are a series of important actions for all interested hams to do --

1. Monitor the progress of this unfolding drama! For the latest news on this volatile issue, read QST, ARRL Letter, Pacific Division Updates in hard copy. Read ARRL Letter and Pacific Division Update on e-mail. Visit the ARRL Home page at www.arrl.org and click on "Band Threat News."

2. Join ARRL! The ARRL is the only effective national organization fighting for YOUR 2 meter and 70 cm. hand held operating privileges. It is easy to join and help us win this battle to preserve our privileges.

3. Then write. Right now--and continue through Summer and Fall! As it appears there will be no early resolution to this conflict, it is important that every interested ham write --- Comments by e-mail should be sent to: wrc97@fcc.gov. Hard copy written comments, with an original plus one copy, should be sent to: Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC 20554. Each comment should include at the top, "Reference No. ISP-96- 005" and "Advisory Committee Informal Working Group 2A." We must keep up this activity consistently throughout the Summer and Fall until November.

Former Ft. Ord MARS Station Now Marina City Amateur Radio Club Station:- Culminating a major effort by Pat Barthelow, AA6EG, and colleagues, on June 21, 1996, the dedication ceremony of the first former MARS station in the Pacific Division and U. S. to civilian use was held. The fenced 7 acre site, antennas, towers, and building are now owned by the City of Marina and available to all hams in the area. If you want to learn more about this effort and how to do it for your locally closed base, I am sure that Pat will be happy to tell you about the process if you send him e-mail at AA6EG@tmx.com.

Amateur Vanity Calls - Gate 1 Opened May 31, 1996; Gate 1A Opens July 22, 1996:- This gate is for those who want to retrieve a long lost call, obtain the call of a deceased close relative or for retrieving long lost club calls. Gate 1A is for a club station trustee to request, in memorial, the call sign previously shown on the station license of a deceased person who was a member of the club. The club must have held a club station license grant on March 24, 1995. Note: ARRL has established a one-stop vanity call sign page at: www.arrl.org/fcc/vanity.html.

Bill Introduced to Protect OO and VE Volunteers:- On March 29, 1996, Congressman Bill Baker (R-CA 10th - East Bay Section) introduced H.R. 3207, a bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate utilization of volunteer resources on behalf of the amateur radio service. Contact your Congressional Representatives to urge them to become co-sponsors of the bill.

New Assistant Director Announced: It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of Dewayne Hendricks, WA8DZP, of Fremont CA, as an Assistant Director. Dewayne, as a member of the ARRL Future Systems Committee, has been providing excellent insight and understanding on the technology of the future for the Amateur Radio Service to ARRL and to the Pacific Division. Welcome, Dewayne!

Coming Events:- SNARS (Reno) Hamfest - Saturday, Aug. 10, 1996 at the Stead Airport Facilities 10 miles north of Reno off Highway 395. Gates open at 7:00 AM. Talk-in is 146.61- PL 123. Contact Bob Davis, KG7IY, at (702) 856- 2826. -

Pacific Division Convention - Pacificon96 Oct. 18-20, 1996, at the Concord Hilton Hotel in Concord CA. Details can be found on the Pacific Division Home Page at pacific.arrl.org or by calling (510) 932- 6125;

e-mail Pacificon@designlink.com or at www.mdarc.org. The Mt.Diablo ARC (MDARC) is the sponsor again this year.

[Advertisement]

DeLong Consulting
Internet - Firewalls - E-Mail - UNIX

Bridging the gap - Your net Internet

Owen DeLong
Consultant

3251 Firth Way, San Jose, CA 95121
408-322-3741 - Fax: 408-532-9362
Email: Owen@DeLong.COM

T HUNTS

From: KN6FW@WH6IO

FREMONT - PLEASANTON T-HUNTS Sponsored by LARK-SBARA- SF Bay Hunt 6:00 pm Sat July 27 Talk-in WA6SBJ 442.625+ PL 94.8 Ron N7TVE will be the fox. Signal will be heard at Fremont. SF Bay Hunt Rules: The Fox will be within 15 miles of the SF Bay or the top of the ridge which ever comes first. The SF Bay ends at the Golden Gate and Richmond San Rafael Bridges. The Fox must state at which start point the signal will be heard. This is a cooperative hunt. Hunters are expected to work together by exchanging bearings and other information. Hunters may start anywhere as long as they "sign in". For directions please call Rich KN6FW.

BOB McKIBBEN, KC6RRW

BOB McKIBBEN, KC6RRW joined the 'Silent Keys' 09 June 1996, following a brief illness. Bob is probably best remembered by his congenial manner and eager participation in many of the club's activities. He and his wife Ruth attended most of the club's recent banquets. Bob survived the sinking of the Astoria during the battle for Guadalcanal. His interest in sailing endured throughout his very active retirement. This past spring he was the organizing chairman for a regatta with over one hundred participants with small sailing crafts. He was also an avid photographer, using his talent to highlight some EMARC events.

Steve, KN6BV

EMARC Calendar of Events

Regularly-scheduled events:

EMARC Monthly Meeting: Fourth Friday of the month (except for possible changes in June, Nov. & Dec.) at 7 PM; Business Meeting, 7:30 PM; Program starts 8 PM. At the Covington School in Los Altos; directions on last page. See specific date listings above . EMARC events are also listed on packet (to EMARC@allscv); on the N0ARY event bulletin board (type EVENT or List Clubs); and on the automatic enunciator on the W6APZ repeater (145.23-). Note: The 4th Friday is not necessarily the last Friday.

The Station Open House program for 1996 is expanding! Omri, AA6TA, will host open houses on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 PM local time on an "as available" basis. The emphasis in the Tuesday open houses will be satellite operations and HF digital modes (RTTY, AMTOR, etc.). Please check with Omri (he is available virtually anytime on the W6APZ repeater, 145.230-, 100PL before coming. This is in addition to the Wednesday open houses, typically hosted by Bob, KD6VIO. The station open houses are for EMARC members and their invited guests only. Please do not discuss on the air the exact location of the station.

EMARC NET is held every Thursday at 8 PM on the W6APZ repeater, 145.230-; the 100 Hz PL is off for the net.

10 AM net. Weekdays at 10 AM on W6APZ, 145.23- (100Hz PL). A very informal rag chew net with mostly EMARC members.

Foothill Flea Market: 2nd Saturday (starts pre-dawn), March thru September. Bring 4 quarters for the parking meters. At Foothill College, just west of I-280 at the El Monte/Moody Rd. exit in Los Altos. Talk-in: 145.27-

Project OSCAR meets following each Foothill Flea Market about 11 AM at Harry's Hofbrau in Mt. View, 399 El Camino Real at Bonita St., north of Grant and south of Castro, on the west side of the street.

No formal program - just get to know each other and (if you wish) have lunch together

PS There is a Project OSCAR / AMSAT net every Wednesday evening at 19:30 local time on the W6APZ repeater, 145.230-, 100 Hz PL. All hams welcome - you do not need to be active on the satellites to participate.

Livermore Flea Market: 1st Sunday (starts 7 AM) year round, rain or shine. At Las Positas College, Airway Blvd. exit off I-580 just west of Livermore. Talk-in 147.120+ or 145.35-(100Hz PL). Parking is free.

The NorCal QRP Club meets following the Livermore flea market at 11 AM at the California Burger in Pleasanton, about. 2 miles from the flea market.

T-hunts: See the February, 1995 RELAY under Carrier Detect (page 6). Difficulty Levels: 1 - very easy; 2 - simple; 3 - average; 4 - hard; 5 - very hard; 6 - "never find it". For latest info and directions, call Rich KN6FW via packet at KN6FW@WA6YHJ. #NOCAL

Amsat net. Wednesdays at 19:30 on the WA6PWW repeater, 147.015+, as well as the W6APZ repeater, 145.230-, 100 PL. Net control: Bill, AA6PA.

10-10 Net. The local net for 10 meters enthusiasts meets every Monday at 8 PM on 28.475 MHz; net control: Neal, WA6OCP.

August 10 + Foothill Flea Market. Sunrise 'til Noon. Sponsor: EMARC.

October 19-20 + Boy Scouts Jamboree On The Air (JOTA). Contact AA6PZ, Paul for more information.

[Advertisement]

Fee-only
Investment Services
(No Commissions)
14 Years Industry Experience
Individuals, Trusts, Retirement Plans
No-Load Mutual Funds
Personal Account Statements
Peter W. Johnson, Jr., PFP (KN6MO)
Registered Investment Advisor
408-747-1222

www.greenjungle.com

AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE

TRANS ATLANTIC CHALLENGE To assist in the study of transatlantic VHF propagation a test beacon began operation from the South West coast of Ireland in early June. It will be on the air for a period of approximately 3 months under the call sign EI3DP/P on the frequency of 144.48 MHz. The beacon runs 25 watts out into a eight element Quagi antenna beaming toward North America. Any station in USA or Canada that hears the trans-mission and wants to attempt a two way QSO is invited to telephone a paging receiver number by using international access plus 353 1 2032371. This will contact a bureau service with Alphanumeric message service. Paging receivers will be carried during the test period by EI4DQ and EI4HT. They will be available on a 24 hr basis and in normal circumstances will be ready within 30 minutes of alert. Reports from stations who may monitor the transmission are also appreciated. All QSN reports go by e-mail only to Larry Murphy, EI3FJ at: lmurphy@iol.ie

DX In QRP DX, word that 16 year old N5ZGT of Albuquerque has qualified for the QRP-ARCI 1,000 miles per watt Certificate. Using a NorCal 49er transceiver into an inverted vee, he had a nice QSO with W7SQT in Cheyenne, Wyoming, confirmed on 40 meters CW. Brian was running 250 milliwatts. In other DX news, DXCC approval has been given for 5A1A operations from Libya that were conducted by Ukrainian and Libyan nationals. And a commemorative station with a special prefix will be on the air from July 6, starting at 00:00 UTC and continuing through to July 10th from 24:00 UTC to celebrate the 28th Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization Anniversary. The callsign will be YB28AR, transmitted from the venues of 6th ORARI National Convention in Yogyakarta.

LEO FILINGS CONTINUE Opposition to an attempt by the Low Earth Orbiting satellite industry gaining a foothold on the 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands continues to grow. This, as hams the world over are ignoring a call by the FCC and ARRL to direct comments on the issue to a special electronic mail address and continue to bombard committee members instead. The Little LEO Working Group is tired of hearing from angry ham radio operators, but we just won't go away. In fact, the initial outpouring of comments directed to individuals prompted the Chairman of the Industry Advisory Committee Scott B. Harris to ask the League to call off the campaign. In a June 5th fax, Harris accused the League of unfairly targeting private industry representatives on the committee. Harris said that the ARRL has chosen to use in this process is neither necessary nor appropriate. Harris criticism brought a sternly worded response from the League's Executive Vice President Dave Sumner, K1ZZ. Sumner wrote that Harris was misinformed about the ARRL's intentions. "Our campaign is not to protest the work being conducted in IWG-2A. Rather, it is an educational campaign," wrote K1ZZ. Meanwhile, the FCC's Cecily C. Holiday who directs the WRC-97 Preparatory Team has again expressed assurances to the Amateur Radio community that no amateur bands have been selected for reallocation. At least not yet. In a June 5 letter to the League's Dave Sumner, Holiday said that the list of bands generated at the IWG-2A's May 7 meeting represents only the committees initial efforts to study spectrum use below 1 GHz in order to assess the feasibility of proposing world-wide MSS allocations in that range. Holiday said that, before recommending preliminary proposals for consideration by the Commission, committee participants must first conduct sharing studies among a range of services using frequencies below 1 GHz. This to find out if it's feasible to share among services and to recommend specific frequency bands. Holiday says that all written and electronic comments from Amateur Radio operators received at the Commission have been included as part of the public record on WRC-97. But even this assurance is not enough to curb the mountain of electronic mail an faxes being received by every committee member each and every day. With word out worldwide, there appears to be no way to turn off the flow of complaints to the individual Leo committee members. Each will probably be getting e-mail and faxes from angry hams for a very long time.

HAMSAT PIRATES Unlicensed Lebanese operators are now showing up on frequencies used by ham satellites and their pirate signals are playing havoc with these birds. This, according to Ben-Shalom Assi who writes that there are pirate stations on the ham satellite uplink frequencies of 145.850, 145.900 and 145.975 MHz. These are the published frequencies of UO-22, KO-23, KO-25. The Lebanese stations have also set up a new wide area high power communications network on 435.100 MHz. This system is on FM and has a tone generator that transmits time signals except when the repeater is in use for voice communications. Nor are the Lebanese unaware that they are jamming ham satellite signals. Ben-Shalonm Assi says that the time signal was added to the communications system after official complaints about the interference were made. With the chaos in Lebanon it is unknown what action can be taken to stop the illegal operations on all, of the ham bands. The situation will be discussed at length at the upcoming Ham Radio Space Colloquium in England next month.

QRP TECHNICAL PAPERS AVAILABLE The QRP Amateur Radio Club International is offering Technical Papers from its Four Days in May forum held in Ohio in conjunction with the Dayton Hamvention. Technical Editor Bruce Muscolino, W6TOY, says the complete set includes the full texts of all papers presented except those of George Dobbs, G3RJV, and Dick Szakonyi, WA3ZOW. For pricing and availability contact: Bruce Muscolino P.O.Box 9333 Silver Spring, Maryland 20916

MILITARY ON 6 METERS While radio amateurs continue to express concern over possible shared use of the 2 meter and 70 centimeter ham bands with a commercial satellite service, non-ham users have already set up shop on another amateur band. These uninvited users are already causing interference to amateur systems. For nearly two months, Ron Arant, N4PHP, has wondered about the source of mysterious interference to his six meter FM repeater. Arant says he frequently heard bits and pieces of audio, 'though he never could identify the sounds. But on June 18th, when band conditions opened up, the input to Arant's repeater came alive with heavily armed non-amateur users. For most of the day, 52.750 MHz was filled with the sounds of an apparent military exercise using live fire. A Federal Radio Frequency Management Manual specifies conditions for military use of amateur spectrum. In the words of ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, if amateurs are simply hearing the transmissions but no harmful interference to them is occurring, they should smile and be glad they are witnessing a reason why the ham bands should be kept non-commercial, and, Sumner, adds, why the military are allies in the fight to achieve that goal. Exactly who and where the signals are coming from is still not confirmed. Arant says propagation on June 18th was coming from the FM-16 grid which is split by Virginia and North Carolina. Arant says he believes a military base somewhere in that area may be the source. He urges other hams to scan and monitor the 6 meter band in case more non-amateur users show up. The ARRL on the other hand appears to be welcoming Military sharing of the amateur bands as one of the best methods hams have to protect their home turf.

Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF

Amateur Radio Newsline.

NEWSLINE P.O.Box 660937 Arcadia, California 91066

NEWSLINE E-MAIL ADDRESS CHANGE Please use only our America On-line electronic e-mail address until further notice. That box is simply: billwa6itf@aol.com

FOR SALE

Kenwood TS-1 80-S Transceiver w/WARC bands, DF-180 Memory Unit, VFO-180, Speaker SP-18O; Power Supply PS-30, Shure 444 Microphone; and rnanuals--$650.00

Packet System- IC-2AT HT Transceiver, BP-3, BC25-U, DC-1, Manuals, and Kantronics KP-3 TNC, cables, connectors and manuals--$200.00

Sangean ATS-803A Short Wave Receiver w/ AC adapter (15 bands)--$125.00

Sears Road Talker-40 CB Transceiver-SSB, AM, and FM wi power mike-$100.00

Astron Power Supply RS20M 13.8 V 20 A--$75.00

Antenna Tuner Kenwood AT-130--$I00.00

Antenna, Cushcraft R-5 Vertical 1/2 Wave, 20/17/15/12/10 Meters, Manual--$180.00

Antennas, Coax, VOM, Dummy Load, Amateur publications, etc.

Contact Arv Hamer

FIELD DAY PARTICIPANTS

On behalf of EMARC, I would like to acknowledge those members who made Field Day a success:

My apologies to any that have not been included in this list. With so many willing hands, it is hard to keep track of everyone.

Bill Ogilvie, KQ6FY

SECRETARY'S REPORT

The EMARC Director's Meeting was held at Andy Fu's office on July 10, at 7:30 PM. Present were: Mikel Lechner KN6QI, Pres.; Andy Fu AC6GN, Vice Pres; Bill Ogilvie KQ6FY, Secretary; Shel Edelman KN6GV, Treasurer; David Wilkes KD6WRG, Relay Editor; and Hans Neumann KE6TGA, Director. There was a unanimous vote to grant honorary membership to Jack Priedegkeit W6ZGN, for his generous contributions of equipment to the club. The excellent results attained by EMARC during Field Day, and the effort of individual members who helped make this happen were discussed. An expenditure of $50.00, to pay for food and drinks for the World Radio Sport Team that was going to use the EMARC station was voted on, and approved. The Treasurer gave his financial report and gave a projection of the cash outlay required for EMARC's sponsorship of the August Foothill Flea Market. Since this event is the number one fund raiser for EMARC, some discussion followed on how to best capitalize on this investment.

Bill Ogilvie KQ6FY

EQUIPMENT DONATION

I am very pleased to report the EMARC club received a generous donation of the following equipment from Jack Priedigkeit, W6ZGN:

Kenwood TS830S all-band HF xcvr, s/n 2041246, with MC30S hand mike, 3 spare tubes (2x 6146B, 1x 12BY7A), reference manual, and maintenance manual.
Kenwood VFO-240 Remote VFO, s/n 2030239, with connecting cable to the TS830S and a ground cable.
(A bunch of other items)

All this stuff is already in the club station.

Over the last year or so Jack donated to EMARC a significant collection of valuable ham gear, including most recently a complete Kenwood TS830S transceiver with a second VFO; the 830 was used with great success by the Novice/Tech station during Field Day.

In view of Jack's numerous, valuable donations to the club, I would recommend we give him an honorary, lifetime membership and RELAY subscription. I hope someone on the Board makes this motion.

de Omri AA6TA