The ARRL Letter
Vol. 13, No. 15
August 12, 1994

D.C. group plans world radio event

	Amateurs in the Washington, DC, area have announced an 
ambitious plan to sponsor a World Radiosport Team Championship 
in July 1995. It would be patterned after the WRTC held in Seattle 
in 1990 in conjunction with the 1990 Goodwill Games. This time, 
instead of being a stand-alone radio event, WRTC-95 would 
be held within the IARU HF Championship contest held annually 
in July. 
	The 1990 event provided a wealth of public relations for 
Amateur Radio and the 1995 Championship stands to do likewise, 
especially in the nation's capital.
	The Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC) will lead the 
organization of WRTC-95, and expects many other clubs and 
individuals in the Washington-Baltimore area to help. The PVRC 
is dedicating the event to Len Chertok W3GRF, who died in 1994 
after a distinguished career as a contester as well as an Elmer. 
	As in 1990,  the competitors will be two-person teams. This 
time, both members of a team must live in the same ITU zone. The 
administrators will accept applications from interested competitors 
until December 31, 1994, and applications will be accepted both 
from individuals and from teams. The administrators will then 
evaluate the applications and name a team for each ITU zone from 
which an application has been received. Operators will be 
responsible for their own travel and living expenses while in the 
Washington area. (The administrators plan to help competitors in 
locating appropriate local housing).
	In the same manner as WRTC-90, a number of local 
amateurs will open their stations to competitors; some 50 in the 
Washington area are anticipated to be needed. Selected teams and 
alternate operators shall be notified by the Administration in March 
or April 1995. The organizers also hope to be able to accommodate 
alternate teams and additional zone teams in some manner.
	Each team will enter the multi-single mixed-mode class of 
the IARU contest and will follow the contest rules. The stations 
will be chosen to have similar equipment and antennas, as in 
Seattle. This time, a PacketCluster connection will be available at 
each WRTC QTH for full use, and computer logging will be 
required. Also as in Seattle, teams will be assigned stations at 
random, after their arrival in the DC area, and call signs shortly 
before the 24-hour contest begins. 
	Co-chairmen for WRTC-95 are Eric L. Scace, K3NA, and 
Howard Leake, W6AXX . The administrative office is in care of 
Hayman Systems, 14700 Sweitzer Lane, Laurel, MD  20707-5905 
(fax: 301-470-1580).
IARU panel to weigh Morse code requirement
	The subject of the international Morse code requirement for 
amateur operation below 30 MHz has been making the rounds 
again, particularly in Europe, fueled in part by coverage in an 
independent publication called Morsum Magnificat, edited by
Geoff Arnold, G3GSR.
	The IARU has established an ad hoc committee on the 
Morse code, according to IARU President Richard L. Baldwin, 
W1RU, who wrote the following:
	In Article 32 of the Radio Regulations of the International
Telecommunication Union appears Regulation 2735, which has a 
mandatory requirement for competency in Morse code operating to 
be shown before a radio amateur is permitted to operate on the HF 
bands -- the DX bands below 30 MHz.
	There are some groups of radio amateurs who from time to 
time query the necessity for this mandatory Morse code 
requirement. On the other hand, many radio amateurs -- indeed 
possibly complete societies and even whole regions -- continue to 
support the continuance of this provision.
	As part of an ongoing review of the Amateur Service, the 
Administrative Council of the International Amateur Radio Union
(IARU AC) has established a CW Ad-Hoc Committee to produce 
a report for consideration by the IARU AC at its meeting in 
Singapore in September 1994. 
	The Committee comprises: Fred Johnson, ZL2AMJ, a 
Director of IARU Region 3 as Chairman; Dr John Allaway, 
G3FKM, Secretary IARU Region 1; and David Sumner, K1ZZ, 
from the IARU International Secretariat and the American Radio 
Relay League, as members. The Committee is thus drawn
from the three IARU Regions.
	It is expected that after consideration by the IARU AC, the 
Report of the Committee may be made available to the IARU 
Regional organizations for further study and comment.

FCC unveils reorganization plan

	The FCC has proposed to reorganize several of its bureaus 
and offices. A new Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is to 
have as a co-deputy chief Ralph Haller, who currently is chief of 
the Private Radio Bureau and is well known to amateurs.  
	Richard M. Smith, now head of the Field Operations 
Bureau,  is to be chief of a new Office of Engineering and 
Technology.  
	Beverly Baker, who is now deputy chief of the Private 
Radio Bureau,  is to become chief of the Field Operations Bureau.
	FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said, in announcing the 
proposed reorganization, that wireless and international matters 
were the areas calling for the biggest changes.  He said that 
personal communication systems and other emerging technologies 
made a Wireless Bureau necessary.
	Hundt said that an International Bureau will better meet 
the challenges ahead as the FCC continues its role in international 
telecommunications, working with the Department of State and 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA) in the promotion of the Global Information Infrastructure."
	Scott Blake Harris is to be chief of the new International 
Bureau. He currently is the chief of the Office of International 
Communications.
	The reorganization will become effective when formal 
Commission and Congressional approval has been obtained, as 
well as approval of the labor union representing FCC employees.

FOUNDATION FOR A.R. AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS	

	The Maryland-based Foundation for Amateur Radio has 
announced the 1994 winners of the 50 college scholarships that it 
administers. The top, $2000 winner was  Extra Class licensee Craig 
A. Gullickson, KC6CEX, 20, of Fresno, California. 
	Awarded a $1200 scholarship was 17-year-old Stefnee 
Lindberg, N0ONP, of Kansas City, Missouri, an Advanced class 
licensee.
	Twenty students received scholarships of  $1000, the rest 
receiving from $500 to $750.
	These scholarships are open to all radio amateurs meeting 
the qualifications and residence requirements of the various 
sponsors. The non profit Foundation represents more than 50 clubs 
in Maryland, northern Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
	For more information and application forms for 1995 
scholarships contact FAR, 6903 Rhode Island Avenue, College 
Park, MD 20740.

FULL HOUSE NEXT STEP FOR ARRL'S RESOLUTION

	ARRL's Joint Resolution (HJ Res. 199), incorporated into 
HR 4522, the The FCC Authorization Act, has passed the House 
Energy and Commerce Committee and now moves to the floor of 
the House. Congressional staff members indicate this may happen 
as early as August 15, prior to the August recess when House 
members return home for the annual "District Work Period," 
according to ARRL Legislative and Public Affairs Manager Steve 
Mansfield, N1MZA.
	The Senate version, SJ Res. 90, still awaits markup by the 
Senate Communications Subcommittee and the full Senate
Commerce Committee.
	HR 2623, also being promoted by the League, still awaits 
action at the  committee level. The bill currently has 82 co-
sponsors in the House. There is no Senate version.

MARCONI WIDOW DIES

	The widow of Guglielmo Marconi has died.  Marchesa 
M. Cristina Bezzi Scali died July 15, 1994, at age 94.
	The two were married in 1927. Marconi lived another 10 
years, dying in 1937 at age 63.
	The couple had a daughter, Elettra, who was baptized by 
Cardinal Eugeni Pacelli, who would later become Pope Pius XII.  
Elettra's godmother was Elena di Savoia, queen of Italy.
	According to Pat Ciancarini, I0KHP, Elettra will continue 
the family's work in preparing for 1995, Year of Guglielmo 
Marconi, the centennial celebration of Marconi's first wireless 
telegraph.
	The funeral was held July 18.  Among those attending were 
several bishops from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. 

MORE POWER TO UK HAMS; PACKET RULES REVISED

	Power restrictions in Great Britain have been lifted on parts 
of the 1.8 and 50 MHz bands, according to the Radio Society of 
Great Britain, and antenna and effective radiated power (ERP) 
restrictions no longer apply on 50 MHz.
	Holders of the amateur Class A license may use 400 watts 
(W) output from 1.81 to 1.85 MHz, removing the power restriction 
on 1.81 to 1.83 MHz.  The power limit for 1.85 to 2.0 MHz 
remains at 30 W.
	Holders of the full amateur Class A and B licenses may 
now run up to 400 W between 50 and 51 MHz.  The maximum 
permitted power between 51 and 52 MHz is still 100 watts.  The 
ERP and antenna height restrictions have been removed from the 
whole of the 50 to 52 MHz band, allowing the use of any antenna, 
and maritime mobile operation is now permitted on 50 MHz.
	In addition, all UK amateurs are now required to notify 
their local Radio Investigation Service office of unattended digital 
operation.  The RSGB said this additional restriction was necessary 
following "a number of problems" with unattended operation. "The 
procedure is far less onerous than that required for a repeater or 
beacon on a hilltop site, and requires only the agreeing of suitable 
emergency close-down procedures," the RSGB said.
	A few days after this initial bulletin, the RSGB said a 
number of packet operators were unsure of the implications of the 
new rules. It is now necessary, the Society said, for anyone 
operating an unattended digital station to notify their local RIS 
office of that operation, and to inform them of how the station can 
be closed down in an emergency. This could include the telephone 
numbers of neighbours, or the whereabouts of an external mains 
switch.

CONNECTICUT TO HOST EASTERN VHF/UHF MEET

	The 20th Eastern VHF/UHF Society Conference will be 
held August 26 to 28 at the Quality Inn and Conference Center in 
Vernon, Connecticut.
	A hospitality room opens at 4:00 PM Friday the 26th; 
registration and formal talks and demonstrations take place on 
Saturday, followed by door prize drawings, pre-amp noise figure 
measuring, and an evening banquet.  Sunday events include a swap 
meet and antenna measuring, beginning at 8:00 AM.
	Talks already scheduled include: Paul Wade, N1BWT, on 
parabolic dish design; Jeff Klein, WA2TEO, on VHF contesting 
strategies and results; Larry Filby, K1LPS, on low-cost 10-GHz  
wideband FM gear; Peter Traneus Anderson, KC1HR, on digital 
receiver design; David Upton, WB1CMG, on practical solid state 
amplifier design; and Emil Pocock, W3EP, QST VHF columnist.
	Registration at the door is $25.
	Proceedings of the conference will be published jointly by 
the society and the ARRL.
	Last year 120 interested amateurs attended the event, which 
included the conference's most successful flea market yet, with 
some 30 vendors. 

FCC RECEIVES AWARD FOR SPECTRUM AUCTIONS

	The Federal Communications Commission's Auction 
Team has received the Hammer Award for reinventing 
government initiatives.
	The Commission said that the award recognized that the 
auctions (which were for narrowband Personal Communication 
Service spectrum and interactive video allocations) served 
consumers by licensing new services faster, served the public by 
selling rights to the spectrum rather than giving them away, and 
served industry by awarding licenses to those who value them 
most highly.
	The FCC Auction Team includes employees who worked 
on allocation and auction rule makings as well as the team that 
organized and carried out the actual auctions in late July.
	After 47 rounds of bidding, the PCS auction earned more 
than $600 million for the 10 nationwide licenses being
auctioned.  An interactive video spectrum auction earned an 
additional $214 million for 574 licenses that will be
used for new broadcast services.
	Vice President Al Gore made the award presentation.  He 
said "Small and independent (government) agencies have been 
leaders of reinventing government.  At the FCC, which has less 
than 2,000 employees, reinvention efforts have moved the agency 
from red tape to real results.  Employees of the Commission have 
set a new standard for government performance, putting their 
customers, the American people, first," Gore said.

AMATEURS MONITOR NOISE FROM JUPITER

	According to the RSGB, British Broadcasting 
Corporation's TV show The Sky at Night reports that amateur 
observations of radio noise from Jupiter have shown a correlation 
between noise at 20.4 MHz and the impact of fragments of comet 
Shoemaker-Levy-9. Dave Sumner, G3PVH, presented a paper on 
his own observations of Jupiter noise at the AMSAT-UK 
Colloquium last week. There is much additional data from 
amateurs, which has yet to be fully analyzed, the RSGB said.
	On this side of the pond, three Pennsylvania amateurs 
report similar observations. Gene Pressler, W3ZXV, Kurt Magni, 
NN3C, and Walt Rauscher, N3EVV, built a radio telescope in 
Pressler's back yard to listen to Jupiter noise on 21 MHz. Their 
corner reflector, made of wood and chicken wire, measures 22 ft 
wide by 13 ft high. The three recorded Jupiter noise on audio tape 
as well as plotting it on paper with a strip recorder, and sent the 
data to the Society for Amateur Radio Astronomy in Atlanta for 
analysis, Pressler said.

50-YEAR FETE FOR CQ

	CQ magazine will celebrate 50 years of publishing in 1995 
with a special anniversary issue of the magazine, operating awards, 
and a variety of off-air events and special opportunities, said 
Publisher Richard A. Ross, K2MGA.
	The January 1995 issue of CQ will have a special section 
devoted to the anniversary, with articles on the past half-century in 
Amateur Radio as well as the real world, and of course, the 
history of CQ. 
	Special awards for operating during 1995 will be 
announced in CQ. Coordinator of the 50th anniversary project is 
Rich Moseson, NW2L. 

BRIEFS

	* Goings-on around Headquarters. Here's a summary of 
changes in ARRL Headquarters personnel over the last couple of  
months:
	QST Assistant Managing Editor Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z, 
has returned to Minnesota to pursue some opportunities in self-
employment. Good luck, Kirk! Assistant Technical Editor Steve 
Ford, WB8IMY, has become assistant managing editor of QST.
	Paul Danzer, N1II, has joined the staff as an assistant 
technical editor; Rich Morris, KB1LE, is a new contest assistant; 
Al Alvareztorres, AA1DO, is a new W1AW operator, and Kate 
Cook, N1ODI, has joined the staff as an educational activities 
assistant.
	Mary Carcia, N7IAL, has moved from the office of the 
chief financial officer to the Educational Activities Department; 
she retains her duties as Secretary of the ARRL Foundation. Gwen 
Arace has moved to the CFO's office as administrative assistant. 
Lisa DeLude has returned from maternity leave to resume her 
duties in the office of the executive vice president. And, finally 
(whew), technical illustrator Diana Roy has left for a similar 
position at a local graphics outfit.	
	* Astronaut William F. Readdy will replace Ken Cameron, 
KB5AWP (Colonel, USMC), as NASA manager of operational 
activities at Star City in Russia. Cameron, who returns to Houston, 
has flown twice on the shuttle, both times commanding Shuttle 
Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) operations, in 1991 and 
1993. NASA said Cameron is expected to command another 
shuttle mission in the near future.
	* To commemorate 60 years of Eimac tubes, the members 
of W6AY, the Eimac Radio Club, will operate on September 17 
from 1600 UTC to 2400 UTC, in the General class segments of the 
40, 20, and 6 meter bands, as well as locally on 145.60 MHz 
simplex. For a certificate, send your QSL and a 9X12-in SASE to 
Varian PGTP, W6AY, 301 Industrial Way, San Carlos, CA 
94070-2682.
	* Handling traffic, squared. QST Managing Editor Al 
Brogdon, K3KMO, has been checking into the Hit and Bounce 
Slow Net and the Connecticut CW Net with his motorcycle CW 
mobile station as he rides to and from work, respectively.  Al 
checks in and sends messages while under way, but stops by the 
roadside to copy message traffic. No, officer, it's not a radar 
detector. 
	* We're radioactive. Your editor (K1TN) finally got the 
last QSL (from Macedonia, no less) and has hung his Top of the 
Honor Roll plaque on the wall. HQ staffers Chuck Hutchinson, 
K8CH, and Paul Shafer, KB1BE, also have worked them all. EAD 
staffer Pete Budnick, KB1HY, needs only a card from Tunisia for 
his plaque. Other staffers on the DXCC Honor Roll are Bill 
Kennamer, K5FUV, Nao Akiyama, NX1L; Mark Wilson, AA2Z; 
and Dave Sumner, K1ZZ.

10 years ago in The ARRL Letter

	Two petitions for rule making to the FCC seek sharing of 
the 220-MHz band with land mobile radio services. Both petitions 
say that the band is lightly used by amateurs except in highly 
populated areas. The League says it is preparing comments in 
opposition to the petitions and that amateurs should begin to follow 
the example of California and populate the band as quickly as 
possible with a variety of amateur services, including wideband 
data transmission.
	The ARRL Volunteer Examining Office sends to all other 
VECs and Amateur Radio publishers 500 General class questions
and answers for them to use. Advanced and Extra Class question 
pools are in the works and will be mailed to the VECs and 
publishers as soon as they are ready. 
	ARRL signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) signifying each 
agency's recognition of the other and setting out basic tenets of 
working together in disaster relief. This agreement will be 
renegotiated and refined in 1993.

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