ARRL Hudson Division August 2003 Hudson Division Beacon

ARRL Hudson Division
August 2003
Hudson Division Beacon - e-mail edition
By Frank Fallon, N2FF, Director, Hudson Division, ARRL
30 East Williston Avenue, East Williston, NY 11596
516) 746-7652
n2ff@arrl.org
Hudson Division Home Page - http://www.hudson.arrl.org 

ARRL Members

Please continue to spread the word to others who may wish to receive this information that they will need to access the ARRL members only web site. After becoming a member they must edit their profile and elect to receive bulletins from the Section Manager and Director. If you are already a member on the ARRL site (http://www.arrl.org) from the "Members Only" box click on "members data page" and then under email notification options set "Division/Section notices" to YES. You will receive the next bulletin sent. Past Bulletins are available at http://www.hudson.arrl.org * THERE IS HOPE FOR HAM RADIO! We hear much about young people not joining our ranks. But they are there. Some times we just do not see them. Certainly we would like to see more of them. Take a look at the September 2003 QST soon to arrive in your mailbox. The article "An Easy to Build, Dual-Band Collinear Antenna" on page 28 was written by an Extra who is a seventeen-year-old high school student licensed for three years. I'm considering building the antenna and taking it to England next time I visit my daughter. I think I can fit it in my luggage provided I wait to purchase the PVC pipe and glue it together after I arrive. I hope it will do well from the third floor bedroom. * ARRL JULY BOARD MEETING Items about the July ARRL Board meeting will appear in the August issue but you can read the minutes in their entirety at http://www.arrl.org/announce/board-0307/

WORLD RADIO CONFERENCE 2003 - The Board reviewed progress made at WRC 2003 and started the planning cycle for the next WRC in 2007. One key item on the 2007 agenda is a review of 4-10MHz frequency allocations (Recent amateur gains at 7.0 - 7.2 MHz are excluded from this review.) There is a six page article by K1ZZ in the August QST. BAND PLANNING - The Board conducted an in-depth review of the amateur bands from 902 MHz to 24 GHz, with emphasis on defense strategies and deployment (usage) levels. Board action was taken to create an ad-hoc committee to recommend updates to the ARRL band plans. BAND SEGMENTATION - The Board received an interim report detailing technical studies of amateur frequency band segmentation based on emission bandwidth rather than mode. This study is necessary because of the emergence of new digital modes, including digital voice and voice-bandwidth digital data modes. This study could lead to replacing the familiar CW/Phone segmentation with Narrowband/Voiceband segmentation. ELMERS TO THE FORE - What changes in licensing structure are in store for Amateur Radio in the USA? How will the Morse Code testing issue be resolved? Is there a new entry-level license in our future, perhaps modelled after the UK Foundation License? Regardless of how these issues are resolved, Amateur Radio needs a corps of Mentors (or Elmers, if you prefer) to help guide newcomers through the early rites of passage in Amateur Radio - especially the oft daunting transition from license study to on-the-air communications. In recognition of these concerns, the Board commissioned its Volunteer Resources Committee to develop a national mentor (Elmer) program for consideration at the ARRL Board's January 2004 meeting. FIELD ORGANIZATION ENHANCEMENT - The Board approved the following measures intended to strengthen the League's Field Organization: a) Provide leadership training for Section Managers b) Develop and release Section Emergency Plans c) Improve long-haul ARES communications capability d) Implement other actions per the Board Report SO WHAT'S THE FIELD ORGANIZATION? - The ARRL Field Organization consists of regional cadres of volunteers under the leadership of Section Managers. In the Hudson Division, our Sections are:

Eastern New York (ENY), Northern New Jersey (NNJ), New York City Long Island (NLI) Section Manager contact info is listed on page 16 of QST. What to Do About Morse? Code Requirement Remains on the Books in US, Canada (Jul 22, 2003) -- World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) made optional the requirement to prove the ability to send and receive Morse signals to operate below 30 MHz. While a Morse code exam element remains on the books in the US, Canada and elsewhere, some countries already have moved to drop their Morse requirements. In the US, however, Morse will not go away that easily, since the FCC appears unlikely to act on its own motion to make that happen. See http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/07/22/1/?nc=1

Just in case you aren't aware, the UK has dropped the Morse requirement for access to the HF bands as from the 26th July 2003. The ARRL Directors will begin to develop a position on the issue at a Strategic Planning meeting to be held in Saint Louis, MO in September. * HUDSON DIVISION AWARDS DINNER November 8th in Paramus The Hudson Division Awards Dinner is again being sponsored by the 10-70 Repeater Association and will be held on November 8th in Northern New Jersey at Biaggio's Resturante in Paramus, NJ by popular request. The food is good, the camaraderie is great and there are plenty of door prizes for all. Tickets are limited to the first 100 at $38 per person. Send ticket requests to 10-70 Repeater Association, Inc., 235 Van Emburgh Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450-2918 2003's Technical Achievement Award winner is Len Signoretti Jr, N2LEN, of Brooklyn, New York. The specific achievement Len was recognized for was the unique Echolink repeater/internet linking system he has implemented, one of the first in the New York City area. The 2003 Grand Ole Ham is Jim Joyce, K2ZO, of Washington Township, New Jersey. A 30 year member of the Bergen Amateur Radio Club, Jim has devoted most of his free time to the club and to making Amateur Radio operators more knowledgeable in the hobby. He has spent two decades as an Elmer, founding the club's "kit night" in which hams could learn the basics of building electronic equipment, how to solder, or how to troubleshoot and repair their own equipment. The 2003 Hudson Division Amateur of the Year is Bruce Lordi, N2XP, of Flanders, New Jersey. A well rounded Amateur, Bruce has been described as "Mr. Fixit". From HTs to Mobile equipment to repeaters, Bruce is always ready to help hams with their technical problems. Bruce gives countless hours to helping hams and teaching others about technology. He Elmers local Amateurs on the technology behind packet, PSK31, APRS, HF, VHF and UHF techniques. Please join with us to honor these outstanding Hudson Division hams. You will also have a good time and perhaps take home a door prize. Plan on being with us on November 8th in Paramus. * WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT THE BLP THREAT: On Saturday, August 9th Frank Fallon, N2FF attended a meeting of the Ocean Monmouth ARC in Bradley Beach, NJ and spoke on a number of current issues that the ARRL have been dealing with including the Broad Band over Power Lines (BPL) issue. Frank detailed the threat and gave examples of what ARRL is doing to fight the FCC effort to change Part 15 regulations. After N2FF's talk a motion was made by Ron Oleander, WA2HZT, OMARC President regarding an OMARC donation in the sum of $150.00 to the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund specifically for the BPL fight that was unanimously approved by all the club members present. After the meeting members gave N2FF a tour of the Diana Site where the first moon bounce signals were transmitted in the 1940's and presented a check to assist in the this effort against BPL. See N2FF thanked the club for its generosity and encouraged all members who had the ability to also consider a personal contribution. "It's important that we get squarely behind this effort," he said. "BPL has the ability to change the HF bands as we currently know them by filling them with noise and at the same time puts us in the position of having a great potential for interfering with our neighbors who use the new technology. It's a double whammy and a very bad idea. I sure would like to shake a little sense into Chairman Powell." Here is what one group in the division has to say about the problem. Special Edition, Newsletter, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service of the Chathams August 2, 2003 BPL potential serious threat to Amateur Radio Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) is a very serious threat to Amateur Radio. BPL is a proven technology to bring broadband Internet service to homes and offices on AC power lines. It could very inexpensively replace DSL, cable, WiFi and other broadband services. Sounds like a "natural" for inexpensive broadband, right. But now get this . . . BPL uses the spectrum from 2.0 MHz to 80 MHz for broadband signals on the power lines going to homes and offices. This just misses our 160M band but includes our, 80-to-75M, 40M, 30M, 20M, 17M, 15M, 12M, 10M, and 6M bands. In other words, all our prime long-distance HF bands. BPL would likely kill all weak-signal contacts on these bands. What can you do about this? Learn more about BPL The best source is the ARRL web site <http://www.arrl.org>. On the home page click on either "Band threats," or on the first item titled "Attention all Amateurs." In addition the site has the 120-page package of comments the ARRL filed with the FCC by the original deadline of July 7 at http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/et03-104

File you own comments The FCC just extended the deadline for comments to August 20. For details go to <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-2590A1.doc>. I just managed to get my comments to the FCC by the original July 7 deadline. Donate to the ARRL fund to fight BPL. The goal is $300,000. By the end of July 3690 hams had donated $193,000, which included mine. For details on donations go to <https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/> Please do your part to fight this serious threat to our HF bands. de O. Paul Schreiber, W2UH, w2uh@arrl.net (A BIG THANKS, Paul, for helping spread the word!) Here is an email about Ed Hare's efforts: Gentlemen,

As I had mentioned previously, Ed Hare W1RFI and ARRL Lab Manager, was stopping over in the Lehigh Valley, PA on Wednesday as part of a three state sweep to monitor and collect data about BPL. I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Mr. Hare on Wednesday morning and had the opportunity to witness the effects BPL has on the Amateur HF bands. On Tuesday night, my cell phone rang and when I answered, it was Mr. Hare. He was in the Valley, in Dorneyville, and wanted to touch base with me before our meeting the following morning. I was in West Chester at the time visiting my son, but Mr. Hare had mentioned that he had already swung through Emmaus that evening to make a preliminary assessment of the area. On Wednesday morning, I met Mr. Hare at the Comfort Suites in Dorneyville. After the introductions, during which he presented me a copy of the "ARRL RFI Book", we discussed a rough agenda, then loaded into his well-used Subaru wagon replete with measuring equipment and a Buddi-pole portable compact dipole strapped to the roof rack, and headed off towards Emmaus. The area in Emmaus that is being used by PPL for the BPL test is in the area of Pine St. just behind Emmaus High School and the East Penn School District Administrative building. We drove around to find a spot were we could setup to do some measurements. Mr. Hare had selected a spot the previous evening that he thought might be a good area to listen to and measure BPL's radio signature. We parked outside a residence and he began setting up his equipment. Mr. Hare is using a very simple set-up in order to make an estimate of the field strength of signals that he is interested in. Strapped to the back seat of the Subaru was a wooden palette that contained a deep cycle battery, an inverter, a step RF attenuator, an ICOM PCR-1000 receiver, and his laptop computer running custom data acquisition and processing software that Mr. Hare authored. As mentioned before, he used a Buddi-Pole compact loaded dipole mounted in a tripod strapped to the roof rack as the antenna. The

measurement process involves using the sound card in the laptop PC as an audio voltmeter. It is first desirable to calibrate the system by first measuring the noise generated by the soundcard and the receiver without the antenna attached. The antenna is attached, and the attenuator is adjusted until the desired signal is audible just above the noise floor. The software is then used to sample the audio an that is processed to determine the RMS value based on the 9 kHz bandwidth that the FCC specifies for emissions from Part 15 devices in the HF band. A calculation is then performed against this value taking into account the parameters of the receiver system (radio, feed line, and antenna) to determine the dbuV/M fields strength of the signal. It is a simple and elegant system that Mr. Hare feels will produce the consistent and high quality data that will be needed to address the Amateur Radio communities about BPL to the FCC. The real eye-opening part of the day was to listen to BPL in action on the HF bands. Mr. Hare disconnected the PCR-1000 and replaced it with a Kenwood TS-440 and we listened to several amateur bands. The type of BPL used in the Emmaus area (there are several "flavors" which Mr. Hare showed later) creates an impulse type noise on the bands. It sounds very much like a Geiger counter. The noise generated is very broad banded and can be heard continuously up-and-down the bands. It seemed to be strongest on 21 MHz and faded below 5 MHz and a little above 24 MHz, but this may have been due to our receive antenna not being optimized for those frequencies. BPL created a consistent S5 to S7 noise level on the bands. We listened for a while to 14.060 Mhz to hear what it would sound like on a popular frequency. Some faint CW stations in the background could be heard, but the opinion was that they would be "un-copyable" under the circumstances. We then got back in the car and began driving around the area listening to the radio and the noise. As we got farther away from the test area, the noise faded dramatically. A few blocks from our initial location, the noise level had dropped dramatically to S1 to S2, the typical "quiet band" conditions. We then drove to an area that had BPL, but had it's electrical service delivered through underground feeds. In this case, we pulled up outside a residence that was owned by an engineer Mr. Hare had contacted about BPL and who had an Amateur Radio operator living near him. In this case, the noise generated was somewhat reduced, but still around the S5 level outside the residence. It was clear from this example, that if you were a ham living next door to this person, your operating conditions would be greatly compromised. Later, we drove around again to attempt to find a "hot spot". In the areas that had BPL, it was interesting to note the changing profile of the noise as we roved around the area. Every time we passed a utility pole, the noise level peaked dramatically. We arrived at one area that exhibited a significant increase over neighboring areas. This area happened to be a pole that contained a BPL injection point. The noise present at this location was unprecedented. On the Kenwood, I noted a consistent S9 to S9+10 noise level. I tuned up to around 14.200 and found a 5 call area station in QSO with CY9A. The five was copyable, but CY9A was much weaker, and the noise would have rendered a QSO with the station unmanageable. Mr. Hare then disconnected the TS-440 and made some field strength measurements. His measurements revealed field strengths well in excess of FCC limits. We then packed up and stopped for lunch. During lunch, we discussed the ARRL ARIA project and BPL. Mr. Hare explained that while the aim of the ARIA project is much broader than BPL, it will be instrumental in gathering evidence to support the ARRL's position on BPL. He also touched on some ancillary issue regarding BPL. On of the interesting points regarded the limits on conducted signals versus radiated signals from BPL. He explained that some BPL systems are looking to use very high power levels and that these levels could exceed the design limits of other devices plugged into electrical outlets. Another point was that the FCC mandated field strength levels were specified under certain conditions. The vagaries of the various BPL schemes and implementations can provide "wiggle room" for BPL implementers pass the FCC requirements while still creating systems that will adversely affect amateur communications. As Mr. Hare pointed out, an overhead electrical line is just a large radiator of an arbitrary size. The radiation pattern developed by such a line could take the main lobe outside of the test measurement area, but still present a significant problem for amateur radio signals. Therefore, an integral part of the project is to gain "real world" experience about the affects of BPL on amateur ommunications. Still another question is how BPL will affect other users of the HF radio spectrum. Right now, the Amateur Radio community is the only organized response to BPL. Mr. Hare hopes that when the data he and others are gathering is made public, other organizations will come on-board and voice their concerns about BPL. After lunch, we went out to the parking lot of the hotel and talked some more. Mr. Hare showed me a video tape he had made of his visit to Briar Cliff Manor, NY (near White Plains), another BPL test site. In that video, he is shown driving around with the TS-440 tuned to the 20m amateur frequencies. As he drives around the area, he tunes around the band. It can be heard clearly that on frequency after frequency, block after block, the band is filled with extremely loud "birdies". It almost made the Emmaus experience seem bearable. The frightening thing about what I saw was that the situation will only get worse. The interference that I heard in Emmaus is directly related to the amount of internet activity. As more and more users come on-line, the crackling of the "Geiger counter" will get more and more persistent. We saw BPL in the day at low usage levels. I can only imagine what it might be like at peak usage hours. All-in-all, it was on of the most enlightening experiences I have ever had. I am extremely thankful to Mr. Hare for inviting me along. I hope that in the near future, I can organize my material for the purposes of making a presentation to the DLARC and possibly the LARC. If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time. Regards, Joel M. Gilly AKrion, LLC. If you are interested in reading all or part of ARRL's 120 page comments filled with the FCC on this issue check http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/et03-104/

* FIELD DAY COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS If you want to have the world see you 2003 Field Day comments and pictures visit http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/editsoap.html?con_id=49 and click on " Add your 2003 ARRL Field Day Soapbox comment." Rich Gelber saw a familiar call sign in the write up and sent the following: W2KN was the callsign of Buddy Robins, who was a friend of Bill Hellman, John Burgio and others. I knew Buddy when he lived in Riverdale (the Bronx) in the 1960's and one of his sons was a classmate of mine (Buddy's callsign at the time was W2JKN). Buddy was in the sweater importing business and a member of the Explorer's Club and had many articles published in WorldRadio. He was also a regular on the 3840 Sapphire Net Much later, Buddy and his son Tony, who was not a ham, moved into a building on West 67th Street that is literally next door to ABC. About every 10 years, I would run into Buddy either on the street, or stopped at a traffic light, or (once), on a DX trip. I once heard Buddy operating on the French side of St. Maarten (FS) while I was on the Dutch side (PJ7), so I went over to visit. (NA2M pointed out that Buddy use to operate mobile while there and give out the FS and PJ7 while on the road.) That was over 20 years ago. Once or twice I drove him to an NJDXA meeting to see his friend Burgio and others. But Buddy was around 80 by then and not doing real well. He died about 3-4 years ago. Buddy owned a house on the Isle of Man, and had a GD0 callsign as well. I think his other son, who lives in San Francisco, has a long-disused Novice license, but didn't do anything about the callsign. (NA2M points out that Buddy's son in San Francisco now has Buddy's original call - W2JKN (ex KA2MLM - Donald Robins.) We had some errors in the report of The Cherryville ARC site. It appears that we picked up some "old info" from the club website. Sorry about that! The prime movers this year were NJ3A, Charile, Club Pres., and W2CGX, ex club pres., and the food was handled by a group of people. Thanks to W2GD for setting the record straight. * Deadline Nears for Filing Ground Zero-Related Compensation Claims Many former Ground-Zero volunteers who have developed health conditions as a result of their efforts may not be aware that there is Federal and New York State financial assistance available for their care, even care that is long-term or chronic in nature. VOLUNTEERS, as well as employees, are specifically included in these programs. Nobody should have to be out-of-pocket, or exercise the claims procedures for their private or employer-provided medical insurance as long as government funds are available. Please give this information the widest possible dissemination among the amateur radio volunteers. NYCOSH has already done the heavy lifting as far as getting these programs set up; there's no good reason for anyone to suffer in silence. de Rich Gelber, K2WR, Assistant Director, Hudson Division If you sustained an injury or illness as a result of working or volunteering in the vicinity of Ground Zero in 2001, you may qualify for medical care and/or compensation. There are two distinct programs that offer compensation for injuries, illnesses and ill-health resulting from work or volunteer work in the vicinity of Ground Zero. One is a state program, New York State Workers' Compensation. The other is a federal program, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Workers and volunteers who are eligible for compensation from one program may also be eligible for compensation from the other. Anyone who may be eligible should consider the eligibility requirements of both programs, as explained in a new NYCOSH fact-sheet posted on the Internet, before deciding where to apply, or call NYCOSH for assistance. Anyone with the symptoms of an illness that was caused by exposures in the vicinity of Ground Zero may be eligible for compensation. Many medical conditions may result from World Trade Center exposures, including respiratory, nasal and sinus, gastrointestinal and psychological conditions. For a comprehensive NYCOSH factsheet concerning both compensation programs, visit http://www.nycosh.org/911WorkersCompGZ2.pdf

Jonathan Bennett, the Public Affairs Director, New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, 275 7th Ave., New York, N.Y. 10001 jbennett@nycosh.org Tel: 212-627-3900 ext. 14 Fax: 212-627-9812

NYCOSH is a non-profit provider of occupational safety and health training, advocacy and information (including technical assistance and industrial hygiene consultation) to workers and unions throughout theNew York metropolitan area. Our membership consists of more than 250 union organizations and 400 individuals: union members, health and safety activists, injured workers, healthcare workers, attorneys, public health advocates, environmentalists and concerned citizens. > DRIVING PROBLEMS From time to time we get reports of someone who gets into problems with the local police in New York State over having a radio capable of listening to public service frequencies or for violation of the new hands free law. Although these reports are few and far between they are bothering. There is really little we can do to protect ourselves from a "poorly informed local police-officer." But it would be wise to have a copy of your FCC license and both laws in your glove compartment should the need arise to explain your legal activities to the local police. Be aware that while it is legal to have a ham radio rig which can listen to public services (police) frequencies it is not at all clear that you may posses a separate scanner for those frequencies nor a radio capable of transmitting on those frequencies.

You can find PR Docket 91-36 in two different formats on the ARRL Web at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/additional.html. This states that amateurs can possess a transceiver which has "extended receive", but not transmit capability. This docket does not appear on the FCC Web page. For the NYS law go to http://www.senate.state.ny.us/ and select bills and laws and then select VAH and scroll down to section 397 which is the specific law and print a copy. You will need to do the same for the hands free bill.

* SHOWING OFF HAM RADIO - Roseland ARC does it Getting exposure for ham radio is vital to recruiting new hams of all ages. Here is a note from one division club. Just a note to let you know about the Club's recent activities with the Roseland Recreation Department. The Club put on a demonstration of Ham Radio before about 60 participants (ages 6-12) in the Borough's summer recreation program. We demonstrated repeater operations and had them talk one of the members who was standing by at home on the repeater. We also brought them into the shack in groups of about 10 and worked Hams in Maryland and Ohio, letting them talk to hams and giving names, ages and schools. Very exciting for them. Finally, we had many of them send their names in CW, on a monitor. Lots of fun for all. de Harvey, W2YWC, President, Roseland (NJ) Amateur Radio Club * QSL ADDRESSING THE EASY WAY It's nice to see someone you know well appear as a writer on the ARRL web with an interesting tip on QSLing. Long time LIDXA member Lou has beaten me out in all too many RTTY pile ups. As the blurb says: Lou Dietrich, N2TU, of Massapequa, New York, was first licensed in 1962 as WN2RNW and then WA2RNW, but marriage, kids and a career in the telecommunications industry curtailed his hamming. He got back into the hobby in the early 1980s and later became an avid and expert DXer, concentrating on Morse and RTTY operating. See Lou's article at http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~blagger/the_duel.html

* ARRL/TAPR DIGITAL CONFERENCE IN SEPTEMBER IN HARTFORD The 22nd annual ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference will take place September 21-23 in Hartford, Connecticut. Guest speaker is Alex Mendelsohn, AI2Q, senior technology editor at ChipCenter and the author of "NASA, NORAD, Amateur Radio, and Me". His article notes how amateurs are the movers and shakers in many levels of industry, from top-level management to engineers and technicians. Many on Long Island will remember Alex from the early days of packet radio and the POLI organization before Alex moved to Maine. In the 1980's Alex helped me get a TAPR One board going to get on packet. Introductory seminars will include "Intro to WSJT" by Del Schier, K1UHF; "Intro to EchoLink and VoIP" by Jon Taylor, K1RFD; "Intro to PSK31" by Steve Ford, WB8IMY; and "Intro to APRS" by Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, who also will moderate an APRS networking mini-seminar. Matt Ettus, N2MJI, will lead a four-hour Software Defined Radio Sunday Seminar. This might warrant a trip to Hartford in September. The program looks interesting - http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/07/30/2/?nc=1

>>>>>APPROVED HAMFESTS: 16 Aug 2003 + Ramapo Mountain ARC Oakland, NJ Sect: Northern New Jersey http://www.qsl.net/rmarc Contact:Bob Anderson, K2BJG 69 Page Drive Oakland, NJ 07436 Phone: 201-337-6945 Fax: 973-962-6210 Email: rmarc@qsl.net

6 Sep 2003 + Saratoga County RACES Assn. Ballston Spa, NY Sect:Eastern New York http://www.capital.net/~lake/ Contact:Darlene Lake, N2XQG 314 Louden Road, #84 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phone: 518-587-2385 Email: lake@capital.net 7 Sep 2003 + Long Island Mobile ARC Bethpage, NY Sect: New YorkCity-Long Island http://www.limarc.org Contact:Brian Gelber, WB2YMC 46 Forest Drive Plainview, NY 11803 Phone: 516-822-0673 Email: hamfest@limarc.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Hudson Division Director: Frank Fallon, N2FF n2ff@arrl.org -------------------------------------------------------------------