ARRL Hudson Division February 2005 Hudson Division Beacon - e-mail edition - # 47 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 that 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 * LIMARC Winter Hamfest on February 27 in Bethpage - This is the first division hamfest of the 2005 season. Can the Spring Thaw be far behind? OOPS!!!! We had the wrong date and number on the late January issue. Sorry about that!!! The date and number should now be returned to normal with the February issue. A few comments about our trip to England: I did bring along my trusty Icom 706 and get on HF while there and I did manage to work a few friends back in the Hudson Division. But it was very few. Conditions were not good. The day after we arrived was the ARRL Ten Meter contest, one of my favorites. There were very few stations heard and none from the USA. I worked a total of nine QSOs on Saturday and Sunday and did not bother to submit a log. There were even very few European stations heard. I worked one African and two south Americans. Had I a three element beam more than 30 feet high things might have been slightly better. I had only a ten meter sloping dipole at that point and it was slopping south west which is the correct direction to the USA from the UK. I heard the SA's and Africans as they worked the USA but I could not hear the USA. A week later things were better when I got up the High Sierra mobile antenna with radials attached which I leave in England. In the OK Sprint RTTY Contest I was able to work Tom, KA2D on Long Island. I made seventy one contacts and a good many of them with my six year old grand daughter sitting on my lap reading off the call signs and countries. There are about five or ten US stations in that log. After Christmas on the 31st I ran across John, WE2F with a big signal on 15 meter SSB and he was able to hear me and got Barry, N1EU on frequency. Nice to talk to some friendly ENY guys from the Albany area with big beams. We had a nice three-day excursion to France and Belgium before Christmas for some shopping. We took a car ferry across the English Channel from Dover to Dunkirk. It was a two and half-hour ride from Littlehampton to Dover early in the morning to catch a nine o'clock ferry. Sea conditions had the ferry an hour late but the crossing was calm. It's much like taking the Staten Island ferry. You drive on and drive off with almost no paperwork. Passports are checked only when you are getting on the ferry. Once in France in was less than fifty miles to our destination, Brugges (Brugge) in Belgium. Brugges is a medieval city, by passed by two world wars, with canals, horse drawn carriages, windmills, and beautiful old stone buildings very close to the border with Holland. See these sites for some pictures http://www.europebyphoto.com/brugge-tour.html http://goeurope.about.com/od/belgiumpictures/ss/brugge_colors.htm http://www.indiana.edu/~frithome/about/brugges-belgium.html and http://www.brugge.be/ As one of the travel writers points out, it's one of the most beautiful European cities. While December is not the best time of year to see it, we took a lot of pictures and enjoyed some great views and food. Belgian beer is great, as are the waffles and chocolate. The only food my year old granddaughter did not let fall to the floor during our entire month long visit was a sweet Brugges waffle she held on to for dear life as she sat in her stroller eating it in the town square. Almost all the residents speak English. It's their third language. One evening we had a nice meal in a local restaurant and met the woman who was the owner who introduced us to her daughter and her infant granddaughter. Very friendly people! My only regret is that I did not get to visit a ham radio store that exists in the town. I learned about it from my wife's cousin who has been living and working in Brussels for the past twenty years. Before getting back on the ferry to England we stopped at a French "hypermarket" in Dunkirk to buy champagne, wine and cheese for a few planned holiday parties. A French "hypermarket" is a unique experience. I noticed that a worker checking wine inventory was wearing roller skates. That tells the story. Hypermarkets are gigantic and sell everything from hardware to clothing, with all sorts of food mixed in. It's an entire mall in one very large building. You could spend all day wandering around and make a few stops for food and drink. All this enclosed on one level. It's great to be able to buy French wine for under a dollar a bottle! Needless to say we filled the nine passenger van with goodies for the parties and New Year's. There is no problem bringing any of it back to England as it's all part of the same European Union. Once again I did get to visit my ham friends at the Worthing and District ARC as I attended their Christmas Party at the British Legion in Lancing. Worthing is a town on the south cost of England a few miles west of Brighton. At their holiday event club members bring some cold dishes and the club buys some additional food from the two pounds (a little over 4 dollars US) collected from each attendee. There is also a cash bar. Prizes are awarded for a number of internal competitions the club holds each year such as the most DXCC countries worked in the year. Some of these have very nice cups or plaques the winner gets to hold for the year. The highlight is a series of raffles - books, CW keys, wine, and champagne, which club members, have donated. There are loads of prizes. Tickets are five for a pound. This year I was very lucky. I took three pounds worth of tickets and won four prizes. We kept only two bottles of wine. We were two very lucky Americans. Once a month the Worthing club has a Sunday breakfast meeting at a café on the beach just west of Worthing which brings together some thirty-club members out of total of about 110 for about a two-hour get together. The Worthing club is one of the larger UK clubs and like many of the ham clubs there they meet weekly in a local church hall. The RSGB monthly publication "Radcom" lists club meetings for the month and usually has a club contact person you can call for direction or more info. If you are planning a trip to the UK you might be interested in attending a club meeting. One of the highlights of this year's trip was a visit to Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes some fifty miles north-west of London. If you are planning a visit check the website at http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/page.cfm?pageid=159 You can find directions at http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/page.cfm?pageid=230 Don't use Mapquest or you will arrive in a local industrial park as we did. Having been a crypto repairman in the Army Reserve a long time ago I have long been interested in Bletchley and the story of Enigma and Ultra. While I wish my visit had been on a fine summer day rather than a few days after New Year's it was worth the journey to see where it all happened. There is a two hour long guided tour of the buildings and areas, which played such an important part in World War Two codebreaking. Along the way you will see a lot of old HRO receivers used at various British listening sites during the war and a number of old Lorenz teleprinters plus a lot of Enigma machines. There are plenty to of books and souveignors in the gift shop and there is also an Amateur radio station in the basement of one of the buildings. Luckily when we were there a member of the Milton Keynes and District ARC was working on the fast scan TV set up. He warned me that club members were usually only there on the weekends or as the English say, "at the weekend." In all we spent an interesting four hours wandering around the historic site. A few weeks prior to my visit I had read "The Secret Wireless War: The story of MI6 Communications 1939-1945" by Geoffrey Pidgeon, which is available from either ARRL or RSGB and is also on sale at Bletchley Park. (see page 114 of March 2005 QST. I wrote this section before the issue arrived in the mail.) The book is not about code breaking per say but rather about the interception of the radio messages and then transmission of the "Ultra" information or intelligence evaluation to Allied military units in the field. While far from a literary masterpiece the book has many pictures and maps plus a great deal of information about the transmission and reception of the "Ultra" story - the radio part if you will. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at page thirty six and discovered that an old English RTTY friend I had worked may times in the late 1960's and early 1970's on skeds and who actually visited my house a few times during that period while on business trip to the US, was a part of the story. I never imagined that I would actually know anyone involved. But there on page thirty-six was mention of Robin Addie who I knew as G8LT. Apparently he was "involved in designing some of the first aerial arrays and wireless transmitters at Hanslop" a site some fifteen miles from Bletchley. In the mid 1970's when I had last seen Robin I knew that he had been in India during the war and was involved with secret stuff using teleprinters. It would still be a few years before the Officials Secrets Act would be withdrawn from the Ultra story. Robin could not fully answer my question. All I knew was that he was doing some secret stuff involving teleprinters. What I did not know was the Robin was an MI6 Major in charge of the "Ultra" site at Dumdum Airport in Calcutta and the commanding officer of the author of the book. According to the author, "I worked for him in Calcutta where he had designed the Dum Dum relay wireless station." There are a few pictures of Robin in the book and a letter he wrote to the author's father at one point. I discovered all this less than two weeks before I set off for England and immediately looked up Robin on QRZ and found that he was still listed at his old address and sent off a letter proposing a visit as he lives only thirty miles from Bletchley. Unfortunately the story does not have a happy ending. When I arrived in England my daughter had a letter for me from Robin's wife telling me that he had passed away eight years ago. Apparently, the author of the book, like me, had lost contact with Robin. So my visit to Bletchley was bittersweet but interesting and another example of how small ham radio makes the world. * HUDSON DIVISION AWARDS APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR 2005 It's time to start thinking about who should get an award. Make a nomination, please. Forms available at http://www.hudson.arrl.org The 2005 Hudson Division Awards Dinner will be held November 12th in NNJ and will be hosted by the North Jersey DX Association. The Hudson Division will present awards to outstanding amateurs residing in the division in 2005. We hope many of you will make nominations and bring a deserving Hudson Division ham to the attention of the Awards Committee. Forms are available (or will be shortly) on the web site at http://www.hudson.arrl.org Please return completed applications to Hudson Division Vice Director Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF by May 15. The seven-member committee, composed of assistant directors from each section, will announce the results in late June. Awards will be given for the Hudson Division Amateur of the Year, Grand Ole Ham, and Technical Achievement. Please make a nomination for each of these Awards. If you have made a nomination in the past and your candidate was not chosen, please file again as the committee does not keep a file of past applications. * ARRL Tells FCC to "Reconsider, Rescind and Restudy" BPL Order (Feb 7, 2005) -- The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to take its broadband over power line (BPL) Report and Order (R&O) back to the drawing board. In a Petition for Reconsideration filed today, the League called on the Commission to "reconsider, rescind and restudy" its October 14, 2004, adoption of new Part 15 rules spelling out how BPL providers may deploy the technology on HF and low-VHF frequencies. Asserting that the R&O fails to adequately take into account the technology's potential to interfere with Amateur Radio and other licensed services, the League called the FCC's action to permit BPL "a gross policy mistake." The R&O, the ARRL said, "represents a classic case of prejudgment" by an FCC that knew better but ignored evidence already at its disposal. See http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/02/08/100/?nc=1 For the full petition see http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/et04-37/recon_petition/ * ARRL Board outlines ambitious legislative agenda Frigid New England temperatures and a major snowstorm failed to chill enthusiasm as the ARRL Board of Directors met January 21-22 in Windsor, Connecticut, to tackle a lengthy agenda. ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, chaired the gathering. Among the highlights of the session was the Board's unanimous adoption of positions on six initiatives for the 109th Congress. The list included a call for ''consistent application'' of the FCC's limited federal preemption policy--PRB-1--to Amateur Radio antenna systems. The League wants PRB-1 to apply to ''all types of land use regulations,'' public and private. That would include deed covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs). ''The American Radio Relay League seeks congressional instruction to the FCC to extend its limited preemption policy governing residential Amateur Radio antennas, so that private land-use authorities cannot preclude, but must reasonably accommodate, Amateur Radio communications in subdivisions and communities,'' the Board resolved. After the FCC declined to include CCRs under the PRB-1 umbrella, the League since 2002 has initiated bills in Congress to accomplish the same end. In addition, the Board expressed support for measures to improve federal management of telecommunications, including beefing up the FCC's ability to regulate transmitter, receiver and antenna issues and resolve electromagnetic interference. The Board also wants public service allocations, including Amateur Radio's, exempted from auction or commercial reallocation, and compensatory spectrum whenever the federal government reallocates existing public service spectrum to another service. The resolution reflected the essence of the ''Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 2004,'' HR 713. An identical bill will be introduced into the 109th Congress. Calling amateur frequencies ''the technological equivalent of a national park,'' the Board further resolved to support measures that ''preserve and protect'' primary Amateur Radio access to existing amateur spectrum ''as a natural resource for the enjoyment of all properly licensed individuals, and protect against interference from unlicensed transmitters such as Part 15 devices'' operating on amateur frequencies. Finally, the Board expressed support for requiring the FCC to develop effective, mandatory standards for radio frequency susceptibility of consumer electronic devices. And it expressed general opposition to expansion of current prohibitions against the reception of radio signals beyond those already on the books. In a related vein, the Board affirmed support for the ARRL Grassroots Legislative Action Plan and called for its immediate implementation. Hudson Division Director Frank Fallon, N2FF, says the Grassroots Legislative Action Plan will function mainly by direct contacts with lawmakers in their members' home districts and by motivating legislative support through letter writing by members. Additional details on the January Board meeting are on the ARRL Web site, www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/01/27/1/. The minutes of the Board meeting are on the ARRL Web site, www.arrl.org/announce/board-0501/. * Ham won the 2005 Jeopardy "Teen Tournament"? (Feb 9, 2005) -- ARRL member Michael Braun,K3LNT! Asked what he'll do with his $75,000 grand prize, he replied: "Most of my money will be in savings for college and future expenses. However, I may use a small fraction for radio equipment." Having won in the semi-final round, 16-year-old Michael Braun, K3LNT, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was among the finalists in the Jeopardy! Sony Pictures television quiz show's "Teen Tournament." A high school junior, Braun holds a General ticket, enjoys HF operating and is a member of the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club (MARC). > ARRL Expo 2005 to Highlight League's National Convention in Dayton (Jan 30, 2005) -- If you've never been to Dayton Hamvention, then this is the year. That's because Hamvention will host the 2005 ARRL National Convention May 20-22. A special feature of the event will be "ARRL Expo 2005," a separate area at Hara Arena that will highlight what the League means to Amateur Radio. It's NOT too early to start making your plans and reservations NOW! See http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/01/30/1/?nc=1 and http://www.hamvention.org/ for details. * Update on emergency communication Andaman &Nicobar Islands(January 5) (Editor's note: In case you are not aware, a major Dxpedition lead by Indian operators was underway from the very rare VU4 when the Tsunami struck. The expedition immediately switched to emergency communications which is actually not permitted under Indian radio regulations. Here is a report from one of the Dxpedition participants.) This is an update further to my last message. The district administration Chief Car-Nicobar Isdland spoke to me this morning to say even now it is only the ham communication that is aiding them for relief and rehabilitation measures and that he requested me to retain Mr. Rama Mohan VU2MYH and other 5 hams who are in Car-Nicobar the worst effected area. Even the Indian Air Force base had suffered severely and men lost in the tragic Tsunami. Mr. Charles Harpole K4VUD was in Port Blair, Andaman on the day of Tsunami and was residing just adjacent room to Bharathi in the same hotel Sinclair in the 5th floor at that time. Bharathi in fact was in communication with many USA/Japan hams minutes before earthquake and at the time of earthquake she was in contact with Thailand the most affected place where lot of foreigners also died. She could inform that there was severe earthquake before power went off. Immediately within half hour she forced the hotel management to start stand by supply generator and made contacts with my home as well many Indians and foreigner t o know about happenings and the rise of sea water minute to minute details. Rama Mohan rushed to the chief of administration and alerted them. This was at great risk to himself and other members as the road in which he had to travel was also hit by Tsunami waves later. Thus Ham could come to best rescue. We will acknowledge that the training he got from DERA in USA and certification by DERA has come handy in this major natural calamity in the world. Let every one know about it in the world please. Thanks to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi who helped our team to be present in the Islands since 3 rd December came to rescue thus she is the real saviour of humanity. You may write a letter in these words appreciating her and the role layed by NIAR and the Dera under your leadership. Our teams are still sacrificing a lot and NIAR at its best in the worst of situation providing emergency communications through Ham. Our Chief Minister of A.P is fortunately is a friend of ours and he in turn introduced me to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and made me to speak about the role played by us in the recent Tsunami. PM is all praise for Hams in India and the entire world who helped us in this hour of need. Many stories are appearing of Ham support all over the world and that is good. But these stories do not say how much risk Rama Mohan and others took and how they are communicating from the very affected remote places. If they are recognized properly for their work and sacrifices that is good also for further strengthening Ham movement by NIAR/DERA together in India. There are enough evidence with us to show in the form of e-mails received from some foreigners in Israel/Italy etc to suggest how they got the information of their loved ones and their safety from Rama Mohan and others in Car-nicobar and other Islands. Our staff member JOSE Jacob VU2JOS is in another remote Island hutbay and he is also doing very well. Only after 9 days other hams from the country could reach Islands. It was only NIAR and their team only was present initial 9 days. I myself was there till 23rd and had gone to Mumbai to attend a Ham vention and was to go back to Port Blair on 26th and Tsunami did not help me to go there. Incidentally many news papers in Islands published my lectures in A&N Islands to say how Hams help in disaster and how it is useful to A&N Islands. This was between 20th &23rd December and even Mr. Charles of USA was also present in these lectures which got published in electronic and press media of these effected Island. Thus these lectures also helped administration to take immediate help from NIAR team without further bureaucratic hurdles.. Otherwise it could have been big miss. I used to go on morning walk regularly while in port blair between 6-30 to 9.0 AM on the beach as that was very beautiful like in USA beaches. I feel that god prevented me not to return to Port Blair as Tsunami killed so many people. In fact I tried to go back on 25th itself and spent whole evening of 24th in Mumbai airport to get a confirmed ticket which I could not manage. Frustrated I returned to Hyderabad thinking I will manage for 26th a ticket with the influence I could command from Hyderabad administration and the airline agent. If I had flown on 25th I could also have been found either in dead or missing list. My family is not able to reconcile to this god's grace till today. More in next e-mail. Very best regards to you, your XYL and the harmonic, Suri. National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Somajiguda, Hyderabad 500082, INDIA Telefax: 91-40-2331 0287, E mail: niarindia@hotmail.com, Web site: www.niar.org Club station: VU2NRO 14160 kHz * HOW LONG SHOULD A LICENSE COURSE BE? See http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2005/02/01/1/?nc=1 for Dave Sumner's take on this issue. Some of us have set ideas on the subject and others of us, like me, don't think there is only one correct formula. Self study, a weekly course for fifteen weeks, a weekend course, or an eight hour marathon can all work. We don't all learn the same way or at the same rate. But the bottom line is that it frequently takes a combination of some or all of the above to get someone through the exam to get them on the air. Please, let's not be rigid about this. A survey ARRL took a few years ago showed that many who received the license never bothered to use it. Now that's a real shame. It also indicates the need for mentoring after one gets the license. Those initial radio experiences are vitally important. While I maintain that there is no one correct answer to the question, I am sure that we will all agree that we need more hams on the air and operating. We need to make sure new operators have good first experiences as they begin, we all hope, a lifetime in ham radio. (I feel better now that I got that off my chest!) * SECOND ANNUAL MID ATLANTIC QSO PARTY The (MAQP) is an old-fashioned QSO Party focusing on Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and DC. It runs from Saturday May 14th 2004 at 1600 UTC until 2400 UTC Sunday May 15th 2004 with a break from 0400 - 1100 UTC Sunday. Activity will be on all HF bands from 160 to 10 meters (except WARC bands) and 50, 144, 222, and 440 MHz. The MAQP seeks to provide a competitive challenge with a low-pressure atmosphere. In short, the purpose is to have fun, enjoy the event, and find your own desired level of participation. The committee will offer certificates and/or plaques, including categories such as Top Scorer in each Mid-Atlantic state, the entire Mid-Atlantic region, each DX country, state, or VE province from which an entry is received, and more. All stations are welcome - fixed, mobile, rover, single or multi-operator, clubs, QRP or standard power. Popular contest logging software modules for the MAQP are already available, and more are coming. Information will be published on our website as available. Please visit the MAQP website at http://www.qsl.net/maqso for full details, rules, maps, and all forms, available for downloading. If you or your group or company would like to sponsor a plaque, please contact us as soon as possible while there are still some opportunities left! Please contact: Walter O'Brien/W2WJO at w2wjo@earthlink.net, or at PO Box 4922, Clinton, NJ 08809 ----------------------------- We will end this month with a little poem from a former Hudson Division member now residing in Florida. The poem was published a few years ago in the NJDXA Newsletter. (thanks to NA2M for drawing our attention to it again and we hope W2OC stays nice and warm in Florida with or without his boxes. We know his wife is still there so the boxes must be gone.) EMPTY BOXES - by Bill Fisher - W2OC If you go down to my basement, you will stare in amazement, At the collection of boxes you'll see. From ceiling to floor, empty cartons galore, Every size, every shape there can be. There's one from a Kenwood that works really well, And one from a Yaesu that I'm trying to sell. There's a printer, a disk drive, a monitor too, And of course a computer, (the one called big blue). There's a microwave oven, and a wireless phone, And yes, another computer, (but this one's a clone). Three power supplies, one electronic key, Two VCR's and a color TV. There are many more boxes, the list doesn't end, And I better stop now, not to bore you my friend. But they're piling up higher and higher each day, And to walk in my basement, well there just is no way. Since these boxes are empty, I can hear you all shout, Why keep them around ? Why not throw them all out ? Well here is the fear that I live with each day, That compels me to keep on collecting this way. What if something should fail and be sent back for repair, What would I do if the right box isn't there ? I never could handle the pain and the stress, Of not being able to ship UPS. But I now have the answer to this worrisome plight, And it came from my spouse, as she told me last night, "The solution is easy and plain as can be, Get rid of those boxes, it's those cartons or me". HAMFESTS: ++++++++++++++ * LIMARC Winter Hamfest on February 27 in Bethpage Announcing the annual Long Island WINTER Hamfair & Electronics Show to be held at Levittown Hall, 201 Levittown Parkway, Hicksville, NY 11801 on Sunday, February 27, 2005. Sponsored by the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club, it features a large indoor location. Doors open to vendors at 8 AM and to buyers at 9 AM. Pre-Registration is required for vendors at this indoor hamfest! * See http://www.limarc.org/fest.htm for more information. 5 Mar 2005 + North Jersey Hamfest Splitrock ARA http://www.splitrockara.org Talk-In: 146.385/146.985 (CTCSS 131.8) Contact: Vincent Pisano, KC2LAV c/o Splitrock ARA PO Box 610 Rockaway, NJ 07866 Phone: 866-457-6687 Fax: 866-457-6687 Email: hamfest@splitrockara.org Parsippany, NJ Parsippany PAL Building, Smith Field Route 46 and Baldwin Road 12 Mar 2005 + Cherryville Repeater Association http://www.qsl.net/w2cra Talk-In: 147.975/147.375 (PL 151.4) Contact: Walter O'Brien, W2WJO c/o W2CRA PO Box 308 Quakertown, NJ 08868 Phone: 908-788-4080 Email: w2cra@qsl.net Clinton, NJ North Hunterdon Regional High School Route 31 10 Apr 2005 + Mt. Beacon Amateur Radio Club http://www.qsl.net/mbarc Talk-In: 146.97 (PL 100 or 123) Contact: Colleen Scalia, KC2HUT 170 Shore Drive New Windsor, NY 12553-5486 Phone: 845-497-3687 Email: kc2hut@arrl.net Unionvale, NY Tymor Park County Route 21 -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Hudson Division Director: Frank Fallon, N2FF n2ff@arrl.org