The AARC Beacon NEWSLETTER
Vol. One No. Three
September 5, 1996
The Official Newsletter of the Alger Amateur Radio Club
INSIDE
Late Breaking News 1
Alger County Ham Roll Call 1
Swaps 1
Exams 1
Vanity Calls Gate 2
FCC Saftey Standards 3
AES Coupon/Equipment 3
ARRL News in Brief 4
On The Home Front 4
Late Breaking News
Please excuse the mess, and read between the line, CUZ, a writer, I AIN'T no writer.
Greg, KC8BAN lost his computer to lightning damage, so it will be a few weeks before he is back in Business.
Bill, WB8Q
QST de W1AW
From ARRL Headquarters
September 5, 1996
SB QST ARL ARLB058
ARLB058 Comm emergency declared
The FCC has issued a voluntary communications emergency declaration:
All amateurs are requested to cooperate by recognizing the existence of a voluntary communications emergency in North Carolina and therefore relinquishing the use of frequency 3923 kHz plus or minus 5 kHz, for handling emergency traffic resulting from Hurricane Fran.
The FCC also issued a voluntary communications emergency declaration for South Carolina, recognizing 3993 kHz plus or minus 5 kHz for emergency traffic.
SB QST ARL ARLB056
ARLB056 Hurricane Edouard 1
At 11 AM EDT, or 1500Z, the center of Hurricane Edouard was located near latitude 37.3 north, longitude 70.2 west or about 275 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. A hurricane warning remains in effect from Watch Hill, Rhode Island to the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. The storm is moving toward the north near 16 mph. Hurricane conditions could reach Southeastern New England shortly after midnight.
ARRL officials in affected areas report impending activation of Skywarn, ARES and other nets. In Connecticut, nets will be activated on 147.09 mhz, 145.29 mhz and 145.49 mhz repeater systems this evening. In Eastern Massachusetts, nets will convene on 146.76 MHz and 146.64 mhz repeaters.
Hurricane Watch Net Manager Jerry Herman, N3BDW, reports that the net will be activated in conjunction with the activation of the National Hurricane Center Station W4EHW in Miami as the storm approaches landfall. The net will convene on 14.325 mhz.
Joe Schmidt, W4NKJ, coordinator, reports likely activation of W4EHW at the National Hurricane Center later today. The ops at W4EHW will accept the following MET data from amateurs in the storm track:
measured wind speed as sustained for one minute, gust speed and barometric pressure. Send info with time and origin of report to w4ehw@fiu.edu, http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/w4ehw, via the Hurricane
Watch Net or other nets.
Amateurs are advised to monitor storm nets but not to transmit on net frequencies unless directed to do so by net control stations.
Roll Call
The list of the Alger county operators and their calls.
Bill Gibson W9UJC
Mike Lester N8WRP
Miracle Lester N8WRM
Peter Norman N8VYV
Pam Rieli N8TNN
Ken Rieli N8TNM
George Harwick KA8URB
Carlene Harwick KA8URA
Ed Lindeblad WD8RZO
Gerald Beecham WA8QXW
Harold (Chuck) Cook KA8LAA
Daniel De Shelter N8OSD
Dave DeShetler KI5OJ
Charlotte DeShelter N5TKY
Lester " Bud" Flake K8KIR
Jess Wilder K8QHB
Phillip Ford WD8IOQ
Gerald Krieg K9MZJ
Angela LeVeque WA8I
William LeVeque WB8Q
David Nelson WD8RMV
Bob Nelson K8PMD
Beverly Thomas KB8GDC
Gregory Revord KC8BAN
Raoul Revord KC8CVT
Linda Ritchie WD8MIB
Albert Seccia NK8G
Terrance Sergeant KA8GYL
Jim Ittner WA8QQG
Steve Wolfe WD8RJQ
Paul Genaw K8PG
Gerald Melchiori KA8PDS
Mike VanDenBranden WA8UTB
Upcoming Events
Sept 15 L'Anse Creuse ARC - MtClemens
(810) 731-6760
Sept 22 Adrian ARC - Adrian
(517) 265-1537
Oct 12 Thunder Bay ARC - Alpena
(517) 354-2469
Oct 20 Utica Shelby ECA - Warren
(810) 772-8082
Exams
08/10/96 Ann Arbor Claybourne Mitchell 313-663-4625
08/10/96 Flint Rodney Brown 810-639-7646
08/11/96 Jackson Richard McGuire KI8C 517-782-1430
08/17/96 Flint Bill Coale 810-634-6077
08/17/96 Monroe W Paul Trouten 313-854-2224
08/24/96 Allegan Bryan Lane 616-673-5340
08/25/96 Stevensville Larry Schrader 616-429-7574
09/07/96 Detroit Dennis Mills 810-471-6010
09/07/96 Mount Clemens William Chesmey 810-468-8345
09/07/96 Petoskey Floyd A Davis 616-526-5503
AMATEUR STATION VANITY CALL SIGN SYSTEM
FILING GATE 2 OPENS SEPTEMBER 23, 1996
Amateur operators who meet the following eligibility standards may request a vanity call sign on or after September 23, 1996. File your request on FCC Form 610-V. Legibility is critical! If the information on your application is not legible, you could experience a delay in processing, lose the opportunity to obtain a requested call sign or even obtain a call sign different from what you want.
You must hold an unexpired amateur operator/primary station license grant of the proper operator class, as described below, to request a vanity call sign for your primary station. To request a vanity call sign for a club station, you must also hold an unexpired club station license grant listing you as the license trustee. Refer to the licensee data base to verify that the call sign you are requesting is not
already assigned. A call sign is normally assignable two years following license expiration, surrender, revocation, set aside, cancellation, void ab initio, or death of the grantee. See Fact Sheet PR5000
Number 206-V AMATEUR STATION VANITY CALL SIGN SYSTEM . For explanations of Groups A, B, C and D and the geographic Regions, see Fact Sheet PR5000 Number 206-S, AMATEUR STATION SEQUENTIAL CALL SIGN SYSTEM.
NOTE: A separate Public Notice will be released providing guidelines for the implementation of electronic filing procedures for FCC Form 610-V.
REQUEST BY LIST (PRIMARY OR CLUB STATION) - Provide a list of up to 25 call signs
in the order of your preference. The first assignable call sign on your list will be assigned to your station. When so requesting for your primary or club station:
The call sign must have been unassigned for at least two years.
If you are an Amateur Extra Class operator, each call sign must be in Group A, B, C or D.
NOTE: Advanced, General, Technician Plus, Technician, and Novice Class operators are not yet eligible to request by list. Advanced Class operators will be eligible at Gate 3. Others will be eligible at Gate 4.
Each call sign must be one designated for the Region of your mailing address as follows:
One of the contiguous 48 states - Regions 1 to 10.
Alaska - Regions 1 to 11.
American Samoa - Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having numeral 8.
Commonwealth of Northern Marianna Islands - Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having
numeral Ø.
Guam - Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having numeral 2.
Hawaii - Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having numeral 6 or 7.
Puerto Rico - Regions 1 to 10, or Region 12 having numeral 3 or 4.
Virgin Islands - Regions 1 to 10, or Region 12 having numeral 2.
REQUEST BY FORMER HOLDER (PRIMARY STATION) - Opened May 31, 1996. For your primary station, you may request a call sign that was previously assigned to your primary, secondary, repeater, auxiliary link, control, or space station. When so requesting for your primary station:
You may request your former call sign even though it has been unassigned for less than two years. The two year requirement does not apply to an otherwise eligible primary station if the call sign was previously assigned to a station of the requestor.
You do not have to hold a class of operator license required for the Group (A, B, C, or D) for the call sign requested. A call sign request by former holder may be from any Group in the sequential system.
Your mailing address does not have to be in the Region designated in the sequential system for the call sign requested. A call sign requested by former a holder may be in any Region.
REQUEST BY CLOSE RELATIVE OF FORMER HOLDER NOW DECEASED
(PRIMARY STATION) - Opened May 31, 1996. For your primary station, you may request a call sign that was previously assigned to the primary, secondary, repeater, auxiliary link, control, or space station of your now-deceased spouse, child, grandchild, stepchild, parent, grandparent,
stepparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or in-law. When so requesting for your primary station:
You may request the former call sign of a close relative now deceased even though it has been unassigned for less than two years. Upon the death of the holder, a call sign is assignable immediately to an otherwise eligible primary station of a close relative.
You must be an Amateur Extra Class operator to request a Group A call sign.
You must be an Amateur Extra or Advanced Class operator to request a Group B call sign.
You must be an Amateur Extra, Advanced, General, Technician Plus, or Technician Class operator to request a Group C call sign.
You must be an Amateur Extra, Advanced, General, Technician Plus, Technician or Novice class operator to request a Group D call sign.
Your mailing address does not have to be in the Region designated in the sequential
system for the call sign requested. A call sign requested by a close relative of former holder
now deceased may be in any Region.
You must show your relationship to the deceased person exactly as listed in the instruction, i.e., child, niece or in-law.
The license grant of the former holder now deceased must have been deleted from the licensee database. That is accomplished by a relative of the deceased submitting a signed request to have the license grant cancelled accompanied by a copy of an obituary or death certificate. The request for cancellation must be submitted to the FCC, 1270 Fairfield Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325-7245 prior to filing the application for a vanity call sign.
REQUEST BY FORMER HOLDER (CLUB STATION) - Opened May 31, 1996. For the
club station for which you are the license trustee, you may request a call sign that was previously assigned to that station. When so requesting for a club station:
You may request your club station's former call sign even though it has been unassigned for less than two years. The two year requirement does not apply to an otherwise eligible club station if the call sign was previously assigned to the club station for which the requestor is the license trustee.
You do not have to hold a class of operator license required for the Group (A, B, C, or D) for the call sign requested. A call sign request by former holder may be from any Group in the sequential system.
Your mailing address does not have to be in the Region designated in the sequential system for the call sign requested. A call sign requested by a former holder may be in any Region.
REQUESTING MEMORIAM (CLUB STATION) - Opened July 22, 1996. If you are the license trustee for your club station, you may request in memoriam for your club station the call sign previously shown on the primary, secondary, repeater, auxiliary link, control, or space station license of a deceased person who was a member of the club. When so requesting in memoriam for your club station:
The club must have held a club station license grant on March 24, 1995, or you must be an Amateur Extra Class operator.
You may request the call sign even though it has been less than two years following death of the club member. Upon the death of the holder, the call sign is assignable immediately to an otherwise eligible club station.
You must have in your station records a written statement (do not send to FCC unless
requested) from a spouse, child, grandchild, stepchild, parent, grandparent, stepparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or in-law of the deceased confirming the deceased person's association with the club and showing consent of the relative to your request.
You must be an Amateur Extra Class operator to request a Group A call sign.
You must be an Amateur Extra or Advanced Class operator to request a Group B call sign.
You must be an Amateur Extra, Advanced, General, Technician Plus, or Technician Class operator to request a Group C or D call sign.
Your mailing address does not have to be in the Region designated in the sequential system for the call sign requested. A call sign requested in memoriam may be in any Region.
You must enter the relationship to the deceased person giving consent exactly as listed in the instruction, i.e., child, niece or in-law.
The license grant of the former holder now deceased must have been deleted from the licensee database. That is accomplished by a relative of the deceased submitting a signed request to have the license grant cancelled accompanied by a copy of an obituary or death certificate. The request for cancellation must be submitted to the FCC, 1270 Fairfield Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325-7245 prior to filing the application for a vanity call sign.
A $30.00 fee is required with your FCC Form 610-V application. Payment of fees may be made by check (payable to "FCC"), bank draft, money order or credit card. If paying by credit card, you must also complete and submit FCC Form 159 with your FCC Form 610-V. Do not send cash Send your application package to:
Federal Communications Commission
Amateur Vanity Call Sign Request
P.O. Box 358924
Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5924
If you do not qualify under the forementioned eligibility standards, your application will be dismissed. A future public notice will announce Gate 3 which will have expanded eligibility standards.
New FCC RF safety standards that become effective January 1, 1997, could affect the way some hams operate. As a result of a Report and Order adopted by the FCC on August 1 (ET Docket
No. 93-62, Guidelines for Evaluating the Environmental Effects of Radiofrequency Radiation), Part 97 will require hams running more than 50 W PEP to conduct routine RF radiation evaluations to
determine if RF fields are sufficient to cause human exposure to RF radiation levels in excess of those specified. "Measurements made during a Commission/EPA study of several typical amateur stations in 1990 indicated that there may be some situations where excessive exposures could occur," the FCC said in ending the blanket exemption for Amateur Radio. Although all amateur
operation must comply with the new regulations for Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE), amateur operation at power levels of less than 50 W PEP is "categorically excluded" from the
requirement to perform a "routine evaluation" of station operation before operating. Where routine evaluation indicates that the RF radiation could be in excess of the limits, "the licensee must take action to prevent such an occurrence," the Report and Order stated. The FCC said this could mean altering operating patterns, relocating the antenna, revising the station's technical parameters--such as frequency, power or emission type--or "combinations of these and other remedies." Although thenew exposure criteria will apply to portable and mobile devices in general, at this time routine evaluation for compliance will not be required of devices such as "push-to-talk" portable radios and
"push-to-talk" mobile radios used by Amateur Radio operators. These transmitting devices will be excluded from routine evaluation.
With the purchase of any radio, transceiver or scanner from AES, you can get the Percon Spectrum FCC CD ROM database for only $9.95. This is a nationwide database of over 3 million records of police, fire, hospitals, state and local governments, businesses, airlines, broadcasting and more. 6
Diffferent kinds of searches. Just say you saw it on the AES Web site.
MIKE, KE8IL
Has 2 Hand Held 2-meter radios that he is looking to sell so he can get on the 70-CM (440 MHz) band. Give him a call on the 146.970 Repeater if your interested.
Debco KITS !!!
DC Voltage Monitor
If battery status is important in your project, you may need this kit! Build this kit to monitor 12 volt power supplies in 1/4v, 1/2v, or 1v steps. Also monitor 5 or 8 volt power supplies in 1/4v steps. Great for
monitoring model plane or race car batteries.
VM-1-----------------------$7.95
110 volt AC Line Monitor
Protect your computer and other electronic devices from power problems! Build this kit and plug it into any standard 110 VAC wall socket to monitor
the voltage. Seven LEDs indicate from 100 - 132 volts.
VM-110--------------------$10.95
ARRL News In Brief:
* Avoiding vanity confusion: Some hams have questioned the application requirements contained in the recent FCC announcement that vanity call sign Gate 2 opens September 23. The confusion arose over the FCC's statement that
"each call sign must be one designated for the Region of your mailing address." FCC Fact Sheet PR-5000, Amateur Station Sequential Call Sign
System, defines the regions and the types of call signs you may properly select. Briefly, here's how it works: Those living anywhere that the FCC
issues ham licenses (all 50 states plus US territories and possessions) may apply for a call sign from any of the 10 call districts (regions 1 to 10).
This means a ham in Missouri, for example, could apply for a call sign with a K1 prefix. He or she would not be restricted to a call sign containing a
numeral 0. In addition to regions 1 to 10, applicants with mailing addresses in Alaska also may apply for call signs from region 11, while hams in Hawaii
also may apply for call signs from region 13 having a numeral 6 or 7 in the call sign. See Fact Sheet PR-5000 for additional information.
* SAREX flight set: The next SAREX flight, STS-79, is set to launch September 12. John Blaha, KC5TZQ, will be delivered to the Mir space complex for a long-duration mission. While on board, he'll share Mir duties with Cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri, U8MIR, who first used that call sign in 1992; plus Valerij Korzun who'll use the R0MIR club call sign, and Claudi Andre-Dechays, using F6MIR. Mir astronauts get audio linkups with their families every week and video linkups every two weeks. Family members report that the video doesn't work half the time, and the audio, while acceptable, has bad echoes and isn't as good as ham radio!--Rosalie White, WA1STO
* Are they hams? The title of rock group Pearl Jam's latest album is No Code.
* QSL the QSLs: Hams from all over have showered QSLs upon DeKalb County, Georgia, police officer Dave Harvey, KE4VDP, who was recently shot and
wounded while on the job. Harvey's friend and colleague, Jim Sheppard, KT4FD, reports the recovering officer--a Technician licensee for about 18 months--has received more than 150 cards--26 on one day alone--in the wake of a recent report in The ARRL Letter requesting that hams send cards to
Harvey to cheer him up. One card even showed up from Pakistan! "He really has enjoyed getting the cards, and it has had a great effect on cheering him
up," said Sheppard, who recently put up a 2-meter antenna for Harvey so he could keep in touch with his friends from his house.
* Media play: Past ARRL Professional Teacher of the Year Sheila Perry, N0UOP, of Bloomfield, Missouri, was featured in the August edition of
Learning magazine (a journal for teachers). The article highlighted her SAREX work and cited ARRL's Educational Activities Department as the place to get more information.
* Vanity tally: As it prepares to handle the expected deluge of applications when vanity Gate 2 opens September 23, the FCC reports it had received
nearly 3800 Gate 1 and Gate 1A vanity call sign applications for processing as of August 20, 1996.
CURRENT FCC FORM 610 IS STILL GOOD
Unlike the expiration dates on perishable food items in the grocery store, the expiration dates on the FCC Form 610 can be safely ignored. A lot of hams have asked about them, however, because an "expiration date" of August 31, 1996, appears in the upper righthand corner of current FCC Forms 610 that were issued in November 1993 and in March 1995 (as shown in the lower righthand corner).
ARRL/VEC Manager Bart Jahnke, KB9NM, says the August 31, 1996, expiration date is an internal FCC reference date only, and it is not a date to instruct the public when to stop using the form.
The FCC says the November 1993 and March 1995-issued FCC Forms 610 are okay to use and will continue to be acceptable for use until further notice.
HAM ASTRONAUTS LAWRENCE AND WOLF TO TRAIN FOR MIR MISSIONS
Astronauts Wendy B. Lawrence, KC5KII, and David A. Wolf, KC5VPF, have been selected to train for stays aboard Russia's Mir space station. They were scheduled to arrive at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, in mid-August. Lawrence, 37, is a US Navy commander. She'll begin a four-month stay on Mir in September 1997. She will launch aboard Atlantis as part of the STS-86 crew, and become a member of the Mir 24 crew, which will be replaced by the Mir 25 crew during Lawrence's tour on the Mir. Wolf, 40, will replace Lawrence on Mir, arriving aboard Discovery during the STS-89 mission, currently targeted for early 1998. Wolf, a medical doctor, will be a member of both the Mir 25 and 26 crews during his four-month tour in orbit.
NEW ARRL SCOUT HANDBOOK AVAILABLE
The ARRL Educational Activities Department has published a new booklet, the ARRL Scout Handbook, for use with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. The book is about Scouting and Amateur Radio and is available free from EAD. Send an 8-1/2x11-inch self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with 78 cents of postage, to ARRL, Educational Activities Department, 225 Main St, Newington,
CT 06111.
The booklet includes information on the Boy Scout Radio merit badge and tells how to become a Boy Scout Radio merit badge counselor. It also has a suggested proposal for a Girl Scouts Amateur Radio Patch. Other sections explain how to get involved with the annual Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), which will be October 19-20, 1996, as well as general information on ham radio and ideas on how to recruit Scouts to Amateur Radio.
The ARRL Scout Handbook was made possible through contributions from generous hams like yourself through a grant from The ARRL Foundation. Please consider a donation to the ARRL Scout Handbook Fund to make future booklets possible. Every tax-deductible contribution helps, regardless of the amount.
Send contributions to :
The ARRL Scout Handbook Fund, The ARRL Foundation Inc,
225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. The ARRL Foundation is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extend permitted by the IRS.--Glenn Swanson, KB1GW
ENCOURAGING DEAF YOUNGSTERS TO GET INTO AMATEUR RADIO
John Rothert, KC4IYO, of Orlando, Florida, reports he's working with a group of deaf students in central Florida called "New Friends," a nonprofit organization for deaf and hearing impaired children. The function of the organization is to provide an atmosphere where deaf children can meet to socialize and share learning experiences.
Amateur Radio offers several modes that are accessible to those with hearing impairments, including RTTY, AMTOR, packet, PACTOR, TV and even CW. Rothert says he's been involved with the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) program since STS-35, and he hopes to see New Friends get in on the fun.
Last year, the group submitted an application to ARRL and the SAREX community to schedule a packet contact during a future mission. NASA is said to be interested in this project, and the group may get its chance on a future mission.
ON THE HOMEFRONT:
Good News Gang !!! We have been in contact with the Local Government Agency, and they are EXCITED about giving us a grant to assist them with some local communications. With the recent Bomb Threat to the Local School and a Telephone Brown out, the agency realized that a better system is needed to keep things operating smooth, and have asked us to be a part of their plan to make that happen. We are currently getting a site for our new repeater, and securing the necessary paper work to get some grant monies, as well as a Frequency coordination from UPPARA. Come to the next meeting and find out whats really happening in the AARC !!!
Don't forget, we are still collecting GLENS GREEN SLIPS to help us build up the treasury.
THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH AT 7:00 PM UPSTAIR AT SYDNEYS RESTAURANT. THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO LABOR DAY FALLING ON OUR REGULAR MEETING NIGHT.
