 
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 16, No. 41
October 17, 1997
__________________________________
Address Changes: Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail kcapodicasa@arrl.org.
Editorial: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, e-mail elindquist@arrl.org.
ARRL Audio News now is available at http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/
__________________________________

IN THIS EDITION:

* +APRS is focus of digital confab
* +WRC-97 begins this month
* +KC5VPF active on FM voice from Mir
* +KD5CHF to be last US astronaut on Mir
* No ham "victory" in Little LEOs pact
* Phase 3D likely to launch in '98
* +Virginia hams get ham radio zoning exemption
* +1998 Handbook announced
* Solar update
* Byron Kretzman, W2JTP, SK
* IN BRIEF: This weekend on the radio;
   JOTA reminder; +Vanity update; AMSAT
   annual meeting this weekend; League radio
   spot gets on MTV; Former Director recovering
   from surgery; October QST Cover Plaque
   winner; Space ham; A century of electrons

+Available on ARRL Audio News
__________________________________

APRS ACTIVITIES HIGHLIGHT DIGITAL CONFAB

The more than 150 hams attending the 16th ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications
Conference last weekend heard much about advances in Automatic Position
Reporting System (APRS) applications. The conference ran from Friday through
Sunday, October 10-12, in Baltimore, Maryland.

On Friday, the "father" of APRS--Bob Bruninga, WB4APR--held an all-afternoon
seminar covering present and future APRS developments. He had help from
Keith Sproul, WU2Z, Mark Sproul, KB2ICI, and Steve Dimse, K4HG. Several APRS
papers also were presented during the conference sessions on Saturday.

Other subjects covered prominently at the conference included
spread-spectrum systems--the subject of several papers and of a
well-attended Sunday morning seminar conducted by Phil Karn, KA9Q, Tom
McDermott, N5EG, and Dewayne Hendricks, WA8DZP. That session discussed a
900-MHz spread-spectrum radio that's in the design stage. In a Saturday
session, Tom Clark, W3IWI, explained in detail the Global Positioning System
(GPS), which is used by TAPR's "Totally Accurate Clock" (TAC) kit, which
Clark designed.

Winners of the second annual student papers awards were Matthew Ettus,
N2MJI, of Carnegie Mellon University, for his paper, "An All-Software
Advanced HF Modem for Amateur Radio," and Mamdouh Gouda, Ernest R. Adams and
Peter C. J. Hill, of Cranfield University in the UK for their paper,
"Detection and Estimation of Covert DS/SS Signals Using Higher Order
Statistical Processing." Ettus and Gouda attended the conference. Travel to
the conference by the student winners is subsidized by the award, funded in
part by a grant from the ARRL Foundation, which supports experimentation in
satellite, digital, APRS, spread spectrum, and other innovative
technologies.

The 1997 Digital Conference Proceedings are available from the ARRL or TAPR.
When ordering from the ARRL, ask for Item # 6362. It's $15.00 plus $4.00 for
shipping and handling. Credit card orders are accepted via the toll-free
order line, 888-277-5289, or via the ARRLWeb, http://www.arrl/org/catalog/.
You also may order by check, money order or credit card by mail to ARRL
Publication Sales, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111.--Jon Bloom, KE3Z

WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATION CONFERENCE 97 TO OPEN IN GENEVA

Four items of prime interest to Amateur Radio will be on the agenda when the
World Radiocommunication Conference 97 (WRC-97) opens October 27 in Geneva,
Switzerland. ARRL Technical Relations Manager Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, is a
member of the US delegation to the conference. Others attending include IARU
representatives Larry Price, W4RA, Wojciech Nietyksza, SP5FM, and Michael
Owen, VK3KI. Representing Canadian amateurs on his nation's delegation will
be Jim Dean, VE3IQ, of Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC).

WRC-97 delegates will discuss the so-called "Little LEO" issue during the
monthlong session. While the Little LEO industry's preliminary proposals to
share 2 meters, 1-1/4 meters and 70 cm generated quite a stir in the amateur
community last year, current US proposals do not include any plans for
sharing of amateur frequencies. Also of interest to hams is the specter of
increased interference on some amateur UHF allocations from Earth
Exploration Satellites (EES), used for mapping by synthetic aperture radars
(SARs) that are expected to be mostly active in the Southern hemisphere.
Amateur radio delegates will make known the needs of our service. WRC-97
will be asked to consider allocating the band 430-440 MHz to EES and
upgrading the status of EES at 1240-1300 MHz.

Wind profiler radar systems operating near 50, 449 and 1000 MHz also bear
watching because of the potential for interference to Amateur Radio. These
systems are used by weather forecasters to look at wind patterns in the
higher atmosphere.

WRC-97 delegates also will set the agenda for WRC-99, where the potential
exists to establish a worldwide 40-meter allocation. The current US concept
calls for a "harmonized" band at 6900 to 7200 kHz that would be available to
hams around the globe. This would mean hams would shift down by 100 kHz
while broadcasters moved 100 kHz up the band. Yet to be determined is how
fixed services would be handled in the realignment. The IARU is committed to
the goal of a 300-kHz worldwide exclusive allocation for 40 meters. Right
now, only 7000 to 7100 kHz is available in Regions 1 and 3, where
broadcasters dominate the upper 200 kHz of the band.

WRC-97 is scheduled to conclude November 21.

GEORGIA HAM WORKS KC5VPF ABOARD MIR

US astronaut Dave Wolf, KC5VPF, has settled in aboard the Russian Mir space
station to the point that he finally got a chance to get his feet wet on
2-meter FM last weekend.

Tom Crowley, KT4XN, in Atlanta, Georgia, reports he responded to Wolf's CQ
as the spacecraft passed over Southern Florida. "We talked for about 5 or 6
minutes on 145.985 MHz," Crowley said.

"Dave said they had just finished dinner and watching a movie. He said he
was trying to fix the CD player for music. Otherwise, just enjoying the view
and taking it easy on Sunday."

The contact between Wolf and Crowley was the first reported Mir-to-Earth FM
voice contact since Wolf joined the Mir crew in September. Wolf is a
relatively new ham and has little on-the-air experience. Before he returned
to Earth, Wolf's predecessor, Mike Foale, KB5UAC, gave him a quick course on
how to use the ham gear and packet system.

Incidentally, the SAFEX 70-cm FM repeater aboard Mir is not yet back in
operation.

NASA: KD5CHF TO BE NEXT--AND LAST--US ASTRONAUT ON MIR

It's now official: Astronaut Andrew S.W. Thomas, KD5CHF, will be the final
US crew member to live and work aboard Russia's Mir space station.

Thomas will launch aboard the shuttle Endeavour as a member of the STS-89
crew in January 1998 to begin a four month stay on Mir. He has been training
in Russia since January of this year as the backup to David Wolf, KC5VPF,
who began his tour aboard Mir on September 28.

"Andy's assignment to Mir provides a great deal of flexibility to support
crew activities on board," said David C. Leestma, N5WQC, director of Flight
Crew Operations. "I have every confidence in his abilities. He will be a
valuable addition to the crew."

Thomas, recently in the US for science training to support his Mir mission,
returned to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia,
outside Moscow in early October. Joining Thomas on the return trip to Russia
was astronaut James S. Voss, who will serve as Thomas' backup. Voss has been
training in Russia as backup to Michael Foale. Thomas will join previously
named STS-89 crew members Commander Terrence W. Wilcutt; Pilot Joe Edwards;
Mission Specialists Bonnie J. Dunbar; Michael P. Anderson; James F. Reilly
II; and Cosmonaut Salizhan Shakirovich Sharipov, a first-time space flyer.

Thomas' scheduled departure from Mir aboard Discovery (STS-91) next May will
conclude more than two years of continuous American presence on Mir, which
began in March 1996 with the arrival of astronaut Shannon Lucid.--NASA

NO HAM "VICTORY" IN RECENT LITTLE LEOS PACT

Several hams have touted a recent FCC announcement about Little LEO
allocations as a victory for ham radio. This is not the case, however. The
recent announcement simply formalized an agreement among the five remaining
Little LEO (low earth orbiting satellite industry) applicants over how to
divvy up VHF allocations the industry already shares with US government
services.

As noted elsewhere in this edition of The ARRL Letter, a request for
additional allocations (and the remote possibility of sharing on amateur
frequencies) will be on the table at WRC-97 in Geneva, which kicks off later
this month. This is not an issue for the FCC alone to decide, but the FCC
has had input to the positions of the US delegation to WRC-97. At this time,
there are no US proposals on the table at WRC-97 that involve Little LEO
sharing of Amateur Radio frequencies.

In reporting the new agreement recently, Wireless Week quoted Aileen
Pisciotta, attorney for Final Analysis (one of the remaining Little LEOs),
as saying: "It is agreed to with the expectation that additional spectrum
will be made available in the future." As most hams know by now, the Little
LEOs already have proposed sharing three of our VHF and UHF bands to obtain
that "additional spectrum" that Final Analysis is "expecting" to get.

The Little LEOs already have access to 148-149.9 MHz (uplink) and 137-138
MHz (downlink), plus some space in the 400 MHz band.

SEARCH CONTINUES FOR NEW PHASE 3D VEHICLE

Germany's AMSAT Vice President Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, this week expressed
confidence that the Phase 3D Amateur Radio satellite will get off the ground
in 1998. "We are certain that P3D will be launched next year on an Ariane,"
he said in a statement released by AMSAT News Service.

Guelzow's prediction concluded a lengthy statement in which he called on
hams to not "jeopardize the present negotiations by speculations and
expressions of bad tempers." Phase 3D had been scheduled to be launched
aboard an Ariane rocket in late September (the launch of the Ariane 502 has
since been delayed by another month until October 28 "at the earliest"). But
last-minute revisions in the European Space Agency's predictions of
vibration and stress aboard the flight meant AMSAT had no time to meet new
mechanical specifications and still stay on schedule. Guelzow called the
situation "very regrettable," but said AMSAT had to accept it.

Some hams were not as complacent, however and publicly took ESA to task for
bumping Phase 3D from the Ariane 502 launch. As the Phase 3D Program Board
had done just last month, Guelzow suggested that such actions were
counter-productive. He also said he's optimistic that the Phase 3D program
will learn and benefit from the Ariane 502 launch, once it happens.

"Immediately after the AR-502 launch, AMSAT and ESA will have enough facts
to search for an amicable solution which will guarantee an early launch of
P3D taking into consideration the actual Ariane flight-planning," Guelzow
said.--AMSAT News Service

VIRGINIA HAMS TELL "HOW TO SUCCEED IN ZONING"

Hams in Virginia's Rockingham County were rewarded earlier this month for
their efforts to get Amateur Radio towers excluded from a new zoning
ordinance being drawn up to deal with the proliferation of cellular
telephone towers. Teamed with an ARRL Volunteer Counsel and another
ham-attorney, the group quietly lobbied the county officials responsible for
drafting the ordinance, so they could head off any problems at that level
instead of waiting for a public hearing.

Paul Helbert, WV3J, is a member of the Massanutten Amateur Radio Association
of Harrisonburg, Virginia. "The most important thing we did, I think, was to
go to the board members, the county's attorney and planning staff during the
week before the meeting so that they had no surprise and no mystery as to
our concerns," he said. Helbert credits ARRL Volunteer Counsel Paul
Schwartz, KB2XX of Charlottesville, and Staunton attorney Charlie Garner,
WA4ITY, for coming up with the approach.

Helbert says he found out about the proposed ordinance almost accidentally
during a conversation with Bill Fawcett, WB4PWP, who's involved with
commercial radio. The draft ordinance placed restrictions on the placement,
erection, and maintenance of radio transmitting facilities, including
antennas,  towers, poles, and other support structures. The proposal was
especially hard-hitting to radio transmitting installations in residential
areas. The original draft made some concessions to ham radio by excluding
ham towers less than 50 feet tall. Other provisions would have made it
prohibitively expensive for most hams to erect a tower taller than that.

Helbert helped spread the word among area hams who, in turn, contacted
individual supervisors and the Board chairman. Garner helped draft a
resolution on behalf of the Valley Amateur Radio Association and the
Waynesboro Repeater Association. The Massanutten Amateur Radio Association
executive committee also presented arguments to members of the county board.


"At all times were the hams polite, courteous, and in no way
confrontational," a story in The MARA/VARA Monitor reported. "The purpose of
all this activity was not to appear adversarial [but] to simply remind the
government officials of the hundreds of hours hams had spent in emergency
communications support and to politely inform them that the de facto 50-foot
limitation on ham towers would inhibit some hams' ability to provide that
service in the future."

More than 40 hams--well identified with name and call sign badges--turned
out at the September 24 meeting of the Rockingham County Board of
Supervisors. Five, including Helbert and Garner, spoke on their behalf. The
Board commended the ham community for its public service and remanded the
proposed ordinance to the Planning Commission for a rewrite, this time to
include a complete exemption for ham radio antennas. The Planning Commission
adopted the changes October 9.

As an unexpected and unrequested bonus, the county Board of Supervisors also
struck an existing zoning law provision that required hams to obtain a
special use permit to erect a tower.

As ARRL Regulatory Information Branch Manager Tom Hogerty, KC1J, observed:
"This is a good example of how hams should interact with their city and town
governments when dealing with zoning issues."

ARRL ANNOUNCES 75th ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE HANDBOOK

The 1998 edition of The ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs is out and at a
new, lower price. This marks the 75th edition of this standard electronics
reference book, which will sell for $32. Over 6 million copies have been
sold since it was first published in the 1920s. Radio amateurs, electronic
experimenters, engineers and technicians all have reserved a prominent place
on their bookshelves for this essential electronics reference.

And the Handbook will continue to be available for years to come. Contrary
to information circulated in Great Britain and elsewhere, the ARRL plans to
continue the printed edition of the ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs. A
report in the November issue of Practical Wireless, a British magazine,
erroneously stated that the League planned to discontinue the printed
Handbook in favor of the CD-ROM edition. "The paper Handbook remains our
flagship technical publication, and we do not see that changing any time
soon," ARRL Publications Manager and QST Editor Mark Wilson, K1RO,
emphasized in a letter to Rob Mannion, G3XFD, the editor of Practical
Wireless.

The 1998 Handbook provides 1200 pages of radio communication and electronics
information--both theoretical and practical. A wide variety of construction
projects and examples illustrate basic and advanced theory, from dc to
microwaves. Schematics and photos help clarify principles, and several
hundred tables provide valuable reference data. The use of a PC for both
design and hardware control is integrated into many of the topics covered.

New projects in this edition include a high power, high efficiency antenna
tuner, a new superregenerative VHF receiver that automatically receives
several different types of modulation, and an integrated L-band antenna and
amplifier for satellite use.

The book's 30 chapters cover ac/dc theory and components, analog and digital
signal theory, test equipment and techniques, and other topics. Later
chapters are devoted to power supplies, modulation, transmitting and
receiving equipment, antennas, propagation and station setup. Chapters on
components, construction, safety and electromagnetic interference cover the
hobby's practical aspects.

To help make the book reader-friendly, each chapter has a printed thumb tab
and a mini-table of contents opposite the first page of most chapters.

Instead of bundling software with the handbook, all programs associated with
some projects will be available free of additional charge from the ARRLWeb
and the Hiram Bulletin Board (860-594-0306). All the software runs under
Windows, and most works under DOS as well.

The ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs is item number 1786. It's available
from Amateur Radio dealers or ARRL Publication Sales, 225 Main St, Newington
CT 06111-1494; tel (toll-free) 888-277-5289 or fax 860-594-0303. You can
also order publications via the Internet at http://www.arrl.org/. When
ordering from ARRL, include $6 for UPS shipping.

SOLAR UPDATE

Propagation prognosticator Tad Cook, K7VVV, in Seattle, Washington, reports:
Judging from the high solar flux and sunspot activity over a month ago,
recently we expected to see more of that same activity, since the sun
rotates relative to Earth once every 27.5 days. Unfortunately, by the time
the rotation was complete, most of those active regions were gone.

This week we saw solar activity go up only by a little. On five out of seven
days the solar flux was above the average for the previous 90 days.
Geomagnetic activity was up a lot though over last weekend, when the
Estimated Planetary K Index was up to six over several periods. This is a
very high value, indicating very stormy conditions with high absorption of
radio signals. The most recent forecast indicates a small rise in solar flux
into the low 90s next week, peaking around October 22 and 23, then dropping
back to the mid-80s before the end of the month. Look for unsettled to
active geomagnetic conditions around November 5 and 6.

The NOAA Space Environment Center reports that a panel of solar experts met
recently and fixed the probable date for the solar minimum around October
1996 and within a possible range from May through December. Panelists
believe that Cycle 23 should be a large cycle, but not as big as Cycle 19 in
the late 1950s. They expect it to peak around March 2000 and within a range
from June 1999 to January 2001. This places the peak in the very near
future, but sunspot cycles go up much faster than they go down.

Sunspot numbers for October 9 through 15 were 27, 44, 31, 60, 44, 44 and 47
with a mean of 42.4. The 10.7-cm flux was 83.5, 84.2, 86.1, 88.7, 88.3, 84.8
and 86.9, with a mean of 86.1, and estimated planetary A indices were 19,
27, 26, 7, 7, 5, and 4, with a mean of 13.6.

BYRON H. KRETZMAN, W2JTP, SK

Ham radio columnist and AM enthusiast Byron Kretzman, W2JTP, of Seattle,
Washington, died September 22, 1997. He was 79. Eric Nelson, WB2CAU, reports
that Kretzman was a very active AMer on Long Island, New York up until he
moved to Seattle in 1988. While still in New York, he served as the RTTY
columnist--and later as RTTY consultant--for CQ magazine from the mid-1950s
until the early 1970s. He also authored The New RTTY Handbook, published in
1962.--thanks to Eric Nelson, WB2CAU

__________________________________

IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: In addition to JOTA (see below), you can enjoy
the ARRL International EME Competition (see QST, Sep, 1997, page 120), the
QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party (CW), the RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest (CW); and the
Illinois QSO Party. A reminder, the YLRL YL Anniversary Contest (SSB) is
Wednesday, October 22, until Friday, October 24. See page 107 of October QST
for details on these and future operating events.

* JOTA reminder: The 40th annual Jamboree on the Air--JOTA--takes place this
weekend. This is a chance for Scouts and Guides around the world to get in
touch via ham radio. The Amateur Radio station of the World Scout Bureau,
HB9S, will be active from the place in central England where the first JOTA
was tried out in 1957 (the first "official" JOTA happened the following year
at the same location). K2BSA/6 will be on the air from Huntington Beach,
California, all bands and modes. For more information on JOTA, see "Jamboree
on the Air--JOTA '97," QST, Oct 1997, page 68.

* Vanity update: With the FCC yet to announce when it plans to open the last
vanity call sign program gate, the program continues to be popular. The FCC
in Gettysburg reports it received 601 vanity applications during the month
of September. More than 400 of them were filed electronically. Gettysburg
processed all vanity applications through August 29, 1997. There were 390
grants and 305 WIPs (work in process). The FCC said it expected to complete
WIPs processing for August this week. There's still no word on when Gate 4
will open.--FCC

* AMSAT annual meeting this weekend: AMSAT holds its annual meeting in
Toronto, Ontario, this weekend, October 17-19, the first time it's ever been
held outside the US. Featured will be more than 25 papers on amateur
satellites. One key talk will be a status report on Phase 3D Amateur Radio
satellite, which AMSAT now expects hopes to launch within the next year
aboard an Ariane rocket. AMSAT was incorporated in 1969. More than 30 OSCAR
satellites have been launched by worldwide AMSAT organizations and
affiliates. For more information, see http://www.amsat.org/ on the
Web.--AMSAT News Service

* League radio spot gets on MTV: Westwood One Radio Network staffer and ARRL
member Phil Micari, KB2VOE, reports that the ARRL's radio public service
announcement "They're All Hams" ran six times in August during an MTV (Music
Television) simulcast concert featuring popular rock group Fleetwood Mac.
The spot aired on 100 stations, including those in top markets such as New
York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Micari hopes to get the spot aired again
during another concert on November 28.--Jennifer Gagne, N1TDY

* Former Director recovering from surgery:  Former Hudson Division Director
Richard Sandell, WK6R, is recovering from heart bypass surgery he underwent
October 7. He was hospitalized in late September after complaining of chest
pains. Sandell also was hospitalized this past summer for gall-bladder
surgery. His wife Phyllis, KD2OG, says get well wishes may be sent to
Richard A Sandell, WK6R, 441 Central Ave, Box 1367, Scarsdale, NY 10583 (no
telephone calls, please!). Sandell says that he will not be able to reply to
e-mail messages for several weeks.--The Hudson Loop

* October QST Cover Plaque winner: Michael Nie, KB8VMX, won the October QST
Cover Plaque for his article "The Ohio River Flood of '97." Congratulations,
Michael!

* Space ham: Tom Daniels, N3CXP, has been following the space program and
Amateur Radio satellites for years. The South Whitehall Township,
Pennsylvania, resident recently attracted the attention of The Morning Call
newspaper of Allentown, which featured him as "Space ham" in its October 6,
1997, editions, complete with a picture of Daniels in his shack. In the
article, Daniels discussed contacting US astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC,
aboard Mir, as well as some of the challenges of space communication, like
Doppler shift.--thanks to Clarence Snyder, W3PYF

* A century of electrons: Dave Finley, N1IRZ, of Socorro, New Mexico, calls
the attention of his fellow hobbyists to an article in the October edition
of Physics Today. The special edition on "The Ubiquitous Electron" marks the
100th anniversary of J. J. Thompson's paper announcing his discovering of
this important entity. According to Finley, a series of articles looks at
the discovery and the subsequent multitude of applications that came from
this discovery.

===========================================================
The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main
St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J.
Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.

Circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail kcapodicasa@arrl.org.
Editorial, Rick Lindquist, N1RL, e-mail elindquist@arrl.org.

Visit the ARRLWeb page at http://www.arrl.org.

The purpose of The ARRL Letter is to provide the essential news of interest
to active, organizationally minded radio amateurs faster than it can be
disseminated by our official journal, QST. We strive to be fast, accurate
and readable in our reporting.

Material from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any
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