ARRL Hudson Division May 2004 Hudson Division Beacon - e-mail edition - # 38 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 * BARA HAMFEST THIS SATURDAY - May 29th * HUDSON DIVISION CABINET AND PRESIDENTS MEETING SET FOR JUNE 12th Saturday June 12th there will be a joint Hudson Division Cabinet and Club Presidents Meeting starting at 9:30 at the Paramus Congregational Church. Bagels and coffee will be served at 9 AM. Assistant Directors and Club Presidents or their representatives are invited to attend. Please let Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, Hudson Division Vice Director know you are coming. Send e-mail to: ka2anf @arrl.org Coffee and bagels will be provided and I plan to start the meeting promptly at 9:30. We will provide pizza for lunch. The meeting will end by 2 PM. Please bring your ideas and input. If you have any items for the agenda please send me an e-mail at n2ff@arrl.org All division affiliated clubs should send a representative if the president is unable to attend. Paramus Congregational Church Entrance is the basement on the side of the church.205 Spring Valley Road Paramus, NJ 07652 1) From New York City GWB to NJ. Take Route 4 West to the Paramus area. Exit at the Spring Valley Road Exit (go right, toward Oradell/River Edge). Go through the light and the church is the second one on the left almost across from the Middle school. Entrance is the basement on side of the church. 2) From Route 17 North and South, Take the Century Road Exit and go East toward River Edge. Go up hill through light, down hill to next light and turn Left. Paramus High School is on your left. Go to second church on the left. * DID YOU WRITE TO WASHINGTON ABOUT BPL? I know many of your did as you sent me copies of the letter. Thanks. This will help us get some protection or "notching" when the technology is implemented. It's important that the President and legislators hear from you on the issue of BPL interference to our emergency communications. If you did not check these sites for info: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/cta/ http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/cta/grassroots.html Sample letter can be accessed from the sidebar on the above page. Please personalize your letter. Also, the following report from the NTIA regarding BPL needs to be read by all: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/2004/bpl/index.html KEEP THE ARRL INFORMED * ARRL Hudson Division Awards NOMINATIONS EXTENDED TO JUNE 15th We have not received enough nominations so far and the deadline is near. Here is a chance to nominate a deserving Hudson Division member. Official Hudson Division Special Award Nomination Form AVAILABLE at http://hudson.arrl.org Awards applications are still be accepted for AMATEUR OF THE YEAR, GRAND OLE HAM and TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT. Please let us know if you have a candidate. We do not keep a file of past nominations, so please file again if your candidate did not make it in past years. * WHITE HOUSE GIVES ARRL DELEGATION ASSURANCES ON BPL INTERFERENCE ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, headed an ARRL delegation during a May 20 White House visit to discuss concerns about broadband over power line (BPL). Haynie, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, and Chief Technology Officer Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, met with Richard Russell, the White House associate director for technology in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The ARRL officials asked the Bush administration to heed its own experts at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and back away from its support of BPL in favor of less troublesome technologies. The NTIA's Phase 1 BPL study acknowledged BPL as an interference source. Haynie said the meeting was both revealing and encouraging. "He assured us that based on the NTIA report, the interference issues would be addressed," Haynie said. "That was one of our main purposes for being there." Haynie said, however, that he remains "absolutely" convinced that a political agenda is driving the BPL proceeding. Russell told the ARRL contingent that the administration is "very excited" about BPL and is committed to finding ways to make it work. Imlay said the League's problems were not with broadband access but with the "rush-to-judgment" approach the FCC seems to be taking in the BPL proceeding. As one example, he cited the timing between the release of the extensive NTIA study and the comment deadline on the BPL proceeding just a few days later. The Commission denied requests from the ARRL and others to extend the comment deadline. While somewhat sympathetic, Russell suggested that his office was in less of a position to influence the FCC than it was the NTIA. After Rinaldo presented some of the ARRL's BPL interference test findings, Russell asked the League to provide a breakdown of the BPL systems and providers manifesting both lesser and greater degrees of interference. Rinaldo also told Russell that representatives of the BPL industry have been double-talking their way around interference claims. Imlay pointed out that the FCC has yet to address dozens of BPL-related interference complaints from amateurs. The administration does not want a flawed technology to result from the BPL proceeding, Russell said at the session's conclusion, and he offered assurances to the League visitors that the NTIA would work to address the interference. "We did get listened to," Haynie said afterward. "Did I leave there feeling euphoric? No, I didn't, but at least I have a better feeling now of the overall big picture, of where BPL's coming from, and I hope that I can take to the bank the fact that they're going to address and continue to address aggressively the interference issues." The ARRL already has asked the FCC to put its BPL proceeding on hold to allow more thorough research of its interference potential. The League contended in its comments on the February 23 Notice of Proposed Rule Making in ET Docket 03-47 that the FCC's "overly aggressive timetable" to proceed with BPL deployment will effectively preclude the development of cooperative interference avoidance and resolution mechanisms. ==>BPL INDUSTRY OFFICIAL DISPUTES NTIA REPORT IN CONGRESSIONAL HEARING A BPL industry witness this week told a House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing that the extensive National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) broadband over power line interference study draws "generalized conclusions," some of which are "inaccurate." Jay Birnbaum, vice president and general counsel of BPL provider Current Communications Group LLC <http://www.currentgroup.com/> was among those answering lawmakers' questions during the May 19 hearing, "Competition in the Communications Marketplace: How Convergence Is Blurring the Lines Between Voice, Video, and Data Services." ARRL CEO David Sumner called it "interesting" that a BPL spokesperson would try to downplay the significance of the NTIA's findings. "Clearly, the report has the BPL industry worried--as well it should," Sumner said. "Anyone who gets past the introduction and actually reads the body of the NTIA study can only conclude that NTIA's findings are devastating to the case for BPL." Among other observations, the NTIA acknowledged that BPL signals "unintentionally radiate" from power lines, but said there's "substantial disagreement as to the strength of the emissions and their potential for causing interference to licensed radio systems." The subcommittee members questioning Birnbaum included Oregon Republican Greg Walden, W7EQI, one of two amateur licensees in the US House. Walden asked Birnbaum to address the BPL interference issues that the NTIA report and the amateur community have raised. Birnbaum responded that he thinks interference concerns about BPL are unfounded and that the FCC agrees. BPL emissions from power lines, he asserted, are at very low levels and dissipate very quickly with distance. Current Technologies is field testing a BPL system in Potomac, Maryland and has a 50-50 partnership with Cinergy to deploy a full-blown BPL system in the Cincinnati area. The Maryland system employs the HomePlug Alliance standard, which notches all HF amateur bands except 60 meters. The ARRL documented a visit to the Potomac test area on its Web site <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/#Video>. The Potomac site is identified as "Trial Area #1" under "Video showing results of ARRL testing in MD, VA, PA and NY." BPL interference heard outside amateur bands at the Potomac site sounds like severe, irregular pulse-type noise. Birnbaum also told Walden that BPL is "literally undetectable" tens of meters away, although he indicated that there's disagreement on the issue. Walden said he just wants the interference addressed technically--"especially driving under power lines." The NTIA, which conducted measurements at three different BPL field trial sites, said that while radiated power "decreased with increasing distance," the decay was not always predictable. At one measurement location with a number of BPL devices, the NTIA said, "appreciable BPL signal levels (ie, at least 5 dB higher than ambient noise) were observed beyond 500 meters from the nearest BPL-energized power lines." The NTIA study further calculated that interference "is likely" to mobile stations in areas extending to 30 meters and to fixed stations in areas extending to 55 meters from a single BPL device and the power lines to which it's connected. Interference to systems with "low to moderate desired signal levels," such as those common in ham radio, is likely within areas extending to 75 meters for mobiles and 460 meters for fixed stations, the NTIA study said. Responding to a question from New Hampshire Republican Charles Bass, Birnbaum said the BPL industry would be pleased if Congress could provide tax or financial incentives, especially for improving the power grid. Birnbaum suggested that while utilities have been slow to act on BPL, they will begin to deploy BPL systems over the next year or two. The biggest issue, he said, is the incentive for utilities to invest in broadband technology. > 10-70 DOES ITS PART TO STOP BPL INTERFERENCE At tonight's 10-70 Repeater Association Meeting (Wednesday, May 5, 2004), we had our own "Call to Arms", so to speak. The Officers and Committee members of the 10-70 Repeater Association, Inc. called this meeting a half hour earlier to give it's members an opportunity to participate in a "letter-writing" campaign to support ARRL President Jim Haynie's request for the White House to withdraw their support for BPL technology. Using the ARRL information Package supplied, we were able to draft several letters to our Congressional representatives and senators. In attendance were 55 club members and guests of 10-70 along with (me) Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, ARRL Hudson Division Vice Director. Also, our Guest Speaker for the evening, Mitch Kosofsky, W2MSK and Bergen Amateur Radio Association - President, Jim Jackson, NS2K were on hand as well. Thanks to 10-70's President, Paul Beshlian, KC2CJW, 10-70's Secretary, David Kozinn, K2DBK and 10-70's Newsletter Editor, Howie Holden, WB2AWQ for working hard at the last minute to pull this together. The 7-Oh even supplied envelopes and postage! Way to go! * FCC Chairman Responds to Request to Support ARRL Restructuring Plan (May 25, 2004) -- FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell has assured US representatives Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), and Mike Ross, WD5DVR (D-AR), that the Commission will act "as expeditiously as possible" on Amateur Radio restructuring. Walden and Ross wrote Powell a month ago to urge adoption of the ARRL's restructuring Petition for Rule Making (RM-10867) "in its entirety" along with rules changes needed to put it into place. Powell said the League's petition was one of many. See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/05/25/1/?nc=1 for details. * NEW PROVIDENCE CLUB RECEIVES ARRL GRANT In response to our request to ARRL, made a few months ago, I've been notified that a Grant of $375 is being made for the purpose of constructing and distributing the Morse Code Oscillator Kits at the Salt Brook School. This, with the $100 we previously rec'd from the PTA, will more than cover the direct costs of the 50 kits which we have made, and will reimburse the Club for all cash advances on the ARISS Project to date. This is only the beginning. A grant of $1000 has been requested from a New Providence bank, and I am confident that it will also show up. This Grant is for tee shirts and ARISS antenna construction. Those NPARC members who are on this mailing list, but who have not really taken an active part in the Salt Brook Statics Radio Club or in the ARISS Project are urged to "get with the program!" We have a very small Cadre who are carrying the whole load. We will soon start designing the School Program for next year which may be more specific for the ARISS activities. There will probably be more meetings of smaller groups of kids next year, so there will be plenty of opportunity for all of us to get directly involved. 73/88 de Barry G. Cohen K2JV ==>LOGBOOK OF THE WORLD TO INAUGURATE DXCC CREDITS SYSTEM MAY 5 The ARRL's Logbook of the World (LoTW) <http://www.arrl.org/lotw> secure contact database debuts its DXCC credits system Wednesday, May 5. As of week's end, the credits system was undergoing some final testing. ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, says the long-awaited LoTW component will permit users to apply contact "matches" in Logbook's 41.4 million QSO and growing database to their DXCC records. To date, Mills reports, more than 2.5 million QSO matches already exist in the system. "It's a pretty straightforward process," Mills said of crediting LoTW QSO matches to DXCC. "What participants need to do first is go to the LoTW site and read the instructions." Information available will include a list of frequently asked questions--FAQs. Before doing anything else, LoTW newcomers will have to obtain a Logbook of the World digital certificate and download the software. Since LoTW launched last September, it has validated nearly 10,000 digital certificates from approximately 7000 individual users. Obtaining a digital certificate, which authenticates each user under a particular call sign, is free. The Logbook of the World database is a repository of individual contact records submitted by users in the US and abroad. When both QSO participants submit matching contact records to LoTW, the result is a "virtual QSL" that--while it bears little resemblance to a paper QSL card--is good for DXCC credit. LoTW accommodates Windows, MacOS and Linux RPM users, and several logging software developers have incorporated LoTW components into their programs. DXCC is the first and only award for which LoTW users will be able to apply their credits. Mills says plans already are in the works to make the system available to apply LoTW credits to other ARRL and possibly some non-ARRL awards. Getting the DXCC credits system up and running has involved a considerable amount of programming--much of it by ARRL Web/Software Development Manager Jon Bloom, KE3Z--followed by extensive testing. LoTW users already holding digital certificates just need to click on the "Awards" menu tab to access the new system that lets them apply QSL credits to their DXCC records. While the software and obtaining a digital certificate are free, it will cost users to apply LoTW QSL credits to DXCC. The application fee for a basic DXCC certificate remains the same, however, and users will only be charged on the Logbook side of the system. Individual credits can cost as much as 25 cents apiece, but users can save money by buying credits in bulk. Purchasing more than 500 credits will drop the per-QSL cost to just 15 cents, Mills pointed out. "The fees are much more economical than the postage and other costs associated with collecting traditional paper QSL cards," he added. The application fee for a basic DXCC Award is $10 and includes up to 120 card credits. Applicants pay 15 cents per each additional card applied. A similar fee structure applies for those going the LoTW route, Mills says, and you won't have to pay any additional fees on the DXCC side. The site provides for secure payment via credit card. One first: LoTW will be able to query the DXCC system and display an individual's DXCC record. In the past, members have had to request their DXCC records via e-mail. "This was actually an unintended consequence of offering the DXCC credits system," Mills said. For more information, contact the Logbook of The World staff <lotw-help@arrl.org>. MT BEACON HAMFEST See http://www.qsl.net/mbarc/gallery/fest04.htm for some 36 pictures of the event. You may want to be there next year The weather was great. It was a great day for a drive. The site was beautiful - Tymore Park in Lagrangeville, New York. And there were loads of friendly people and things to buy. Take a look at the site above and see the pictures taken at the event. One tailgater had a truck full of wavegides and another had some solid state Techtronics dual trace scopes which I almost bought. It was very tempting. New York City SATERN, ARES cooperate in major disaster drill: With the help of local Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) operators, New York City Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) members on March 14 participated in the largest NYC Office Of Emergency Management drill in the city's history. "This was a multi-agency drill involving almost every agency in the metropolitan area, along with 50 hospitals," said SATERN Liaison for Greater New York Jeff Schneller, N2HPO. "The scenario was an explosion and fire in Shea Stadium while a ballgame was in progress, resulting in multiple casualties and a power failure." Schneller said some of the "injured" had been instructed to purposely obstruct rescuers to make the drill seem as realistic as possible. "The stadium parking lot looked like a used emergency vehicle lot with over 100 emergency vehicles, mostly large trucks," he said. Calling in ARES members as operators allowed SATERN and ARES teams to get to know each other better, Schneller explained. Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services was active with two canteens and two support vehicles throughout the day-long drill. "We always simulate a communications problem and use Amateur Radio for drills as the main source of communication," he said. Schneller thanked NYC ARES for its support and the Electchester VHF Club for the use of its repeater. Seven ARES and two SATERN operators participated in the drill. See picture at : http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/04/21/102/?nc=1#New2 Here is another idea for a grab and go, radio in a box. I personally think it is impressive, yet do not care for it for a few reasons. There is a lot of things (components) to go wrong (I like to keep it simple), it is not water tight, I think the carry handle may fail with the weight as built, and there are things popping out of the front and back that may get damaged (antenna, power connectors, the radio face). Take a look, we can always learn and improve on our "ORANGE BOXES" at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wx2nj/aresbox.html Submitted by Jeff Schneller N2HPO of SATERN HAMFESTS: 29 May 2004 + Bergen ARA North Washington Township http://www.bara.org Contact:Jim Joyce, K2ZO 286 Ridgewood Blvd. North Washington Township, NJ 07676 Phone: 201-664-6725 Email: k2zo@arrl.net 6 Jun 2004 + Hall of Science ARC Quenns, NY http://www.qsl.net/hosarc Contact:Stephen Greenbaum, WB2KDG 85-10 34th Avenue, Apt. 323 Jackson Heights, NY 11372 Phone: 718-898-5599 Email: wb2kdg@arrl.net 13 Jun 2004 + Long Island Mobile ARC Bethpage, NY http://www.limarc.org Contact: Brian Gelber, WB2YMC PO Box 392 Levittown, NY 11756 Phone: 631-286-7562 Email: hamfest@limarc.org 11 Jul 2004 + Sussex County ARC Augusta, NJ http://sussexhamfest.org Contact: Dan Carter, N2ERH 8 Carter Lane Branchville, NJ 07826 Phone: 973-948-6999 Email: hamfest@scarcnj.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Hudson Division Director: Frank Fallon, N2FF n2ff@arrl.org