ARRL Hudson Division
March 2003
Hudson Division Beacon -- e-mail edition
By Frank Fallon, N2FF, Director, Hudson Division, ARRL
30 East Williston Avenue, East Williston, NY 11596
516) 746-7652
n2ff@arrl.org
Hudson Division Home Page http://www.hudson.arrl.org
ARRL Members
Please continue to spread the word to others that may want 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.
***** Alert: This is issue 24 of the Beacon. We have been sending
it out monthly for two years and we hope that you have found it
interesting and informative. We would like to have all Hudson Division
ARRL members receiving it. Please spread the word.
******* Cherryville Hamfest, Saturday March 15th see list at the end
of bulletin.
****** Our legislative agenda is in high gear on both the federal and
state level. We will shortly have two entirely different bills in
Congress. Rumor has it that Congressman Israel will reintroduce his
CC&R bill in either late March or early April. I do not remember a time
when we have had two different federal bills working at the same time.
So please do not get confused about these two important bills. There is
also an effort to get antenna bills in both New Jersey and New York.
We need your help letters, e-mails, faxes and phone calls supporting
these efforts. The bills will NOT be successful unless you get
involved. It the American way! We have the division web site set up
help make the job easier. Please participate.
> HUDSON DIVISION AWARDS APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR 2003
The Hudson Division will present awards to outstanding amateurs residing
in the division in 2003. 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
W2ML by May 15. The seven-member committee, composed of assistant
directors from each section, will announce the results in late May.
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.
> NEW JERSEY ANTENNA BILL STILL LOOKING FOR COSPONSORS
Matt Ahearn. KB2PNN, New Jersey Assemblyman continues to work toward
passage of our Bill in the Assembly - Bill A-3065! He is looking for
co-sponsors for the bill. Have you asked your New Jersey Assemblyman to
be a co-sponsor?
We need your help to get action on our New Jersey antenna bill.- A 3065
which was introduced last year by Assemblyman Matt Ahearn, KB2PNN, an
ARRL member and NJ Assemblyman from Fair Lawn. Matt has informed us that
we need to quickly send letters to Assemblymen Jerry Green chairman of
the Housing and Local Government Committee and Speaker Albio Sires to
get them to have a hearing on the bill and release it for a vote. Please
get other hams who may not be ARRL members to write also. Please write
to:
Assemblyman Jerry Green,
The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly and Housing and Local Government
Committee Chairman
District Office: 17 Watchung Ave., Plainfield, NJ 07060 telephone
(908)-561-5757
Assemblyman Albio Sires, Speaker of the General Assembly
District Office: 303 58th Street, West New York, NJ 07093 telephone
201-854-0900
We had a note from Marc Colton, K2WEB, Treasurer of the Splitrock
Amateur Radio Association saying, "Last night at our club meeting we
held a letter writing session. We generated 16 letters to Green and
Sires in support of the NJ Antenna Bill." Thanks to Marc and the
Splitrock club. Well done!
We still do not have a sponsor in the Senate. Thanks to Bob Bedard,
KA8SAF, of Woodbridge for contacting us after he set up an appointment
to meet with Senator Vitale. W2UDT, W2ML, KA2SAF and I met with the
Senator and his chief of staff in Woodbridge to discuss the need for the
bill. Thanks to Bob for providing the opportunity to "sell" the bill to
the senator. We thought it went well, but we will have to wait and see
what develops here. We could use more introductions to senators and
assemblymen in New Jersey. Legislators want to hear from their
constituents.
The bottom line is, we need your help to do this. Please E-mail me if
you have any NJ Senate or Assembly contacts.
> NEW YORK LEGISLATIVE SESSION A 2662 and S 63 introduced in late
January
Thanks for your letters and phone calls to the Local Government
Committee in the Senate. The bill was reported out and is now on the
Senate calendar for a vote by the entire Senate. We hope that will
occur in the next few weeks. Please check the division web site for
more information. If your senator is on the list of 19 who voted
against the bill last year please contact them and ask them NICELY to
please not do that again and let them know how important amateur radio
is for the state and the nation. I am aware that we have been able to
turn at least two of those negative votes around. We hope to be able to
turn to the Assembly after the Senate vote and say, "Look, the vote was
almost unanimous in the Senate. What is holding up the Assembly?" We
need your phone calls, letters and e-mails to make that happen. Please
act ASAP.
> SPECTRUM PROTECTION ACT REINTRODUCED AS HR 713
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 7, 2003--The Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of
2003 now has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. Idaho Sen
Michael Crapo introduced the Senate version of the bill, S 537, on March
6. Florida Rep Michael Bilirakis put the latest House version of the
bill, HR 713, into the legislative hopper on February 12. The measures,
an ARRL initiative, have been introduced twice before in Congress. ARRL
President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, believes this third time could be the
proverbial charm.
"Actually, this is the best opportunity that we've ever had to get this
bill through, because more members of Congress than ever before are
paying attention to ham radio now," said Haynie, who's been in
Washington this week to speak about Amateur Radio issues with lawmakers
and regulators. In addition, Haynie pointed out, the House and Senate
will be considering major spectrum reform bills, and the Amateur Radio
Spectrum Protection Act could serve as an amendment to that sort of
legislation.
HR 713 and S 537 are aimed at ensuring the availability of spectrum to
Amateur Radio operators. The legislation would protect existing Amateur
Radio spectrum against reallocations to or sharing with other services
unless the FCC provides "equivalent replacement spectrum" elsewhere.
Bilirakis and Crapo, both Republicans, have twice before sponsored
similar legislation at the League's recommendation.
Haynie encouraged members of the Amateur Radio community to contact
their senators and representatives to urge their cosponsorship, which
lends support to legislation while it's in committee. The House bill has
been referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce; the Senate bill
will be considered by the Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Committee.
In addition, although more members of Congress than ever understand and
appreciate the benefits of Amateur Radio, some may remain reluctant to
sign onto a technical piece of legislation without some indication of
support from their own constituents.
"The League is doing all it can, but we know the success or failure will
be in the hands of the amateur community," said Haynie, who pledged the
ARRL's continuing efforts in Washington to get the bill enacted.
"Letters and e-mails are the key to getting legislation passed."
A sample letter is available on the ARRL Web site. Those writing their
lawmakers are asked to copy their correspondence to the League via
e-mail at specbill03@arrl.org.
The measures would amend the Communications Act to require the FCC to
provide "equivalent replacement spectrum" to Amateur Radio and the
Amateur-Satellite Service in the event of a reallocation of primary
amateur allocations, any reduction in secondary amateur allocations, or
"additional allocations within such bands that would substantially
reduce the utility thereof" to amateurs.
The text of HR 713 and S 537 is available (or will soon be available)
via the Thomas Web site.
> DEADLINE FOR ARRL AWARDS NEARS
March 31 is the deadline for me to receive nominations for the Hiram
Percy Maxim Award. These nominations must come through ARRL Section
Managers. Section Managers may nominate a ham under 21 or others can
send a nomination to you (SM) for your review. You will find complete
information and a nomination form at
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/awards/hpm.html .
March 31 is also the deadline for me to receive nominations for 3
Technical Awards. Complete information, including links to the
nomination form, is found at
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/instructor/instructor/awards.html . The
nominations for the Technical awards can be sent directly to ARRL. They
do not need to go through the SM.
> QST INDEX NOW ONLINE
As some of you will probably have noticed there was no index in the
December 2002 QST. That information is available online in the "members
only" section on the web. You have the ability to search QST, QEX, NCJ
and Ham Radio. You can search QST from the first issue in 1915 to the
latest without getting dusty fingers. I think you'll find the
publication search feature in the arrl.org Members Only section to be a
far superior resource than the old annual index in the back of the
magazine. That's my opinion, you may not agree.
Go to http://www.arrl.org/members-only/qqnsearch.html And start
searching. You will have to log in, of course. Many articles are
available for download as pdf files, too!
> EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY MAILING PROBLEM Sorry we didn't use your
full name.
This morning we discovered that the recent campaign solicitation that
was mailed to 113,000 active ARRL members was not produced correctly.
The vendor who personalized the reply slips failed to include full names
and call signs of our members, in spite of our pre-approval of
production samples that reflected full names. This error is unacceptable
and we will determine the source of the error to ensure that it will not
happen for future campaigns.
Please be assured that this campaign does not reflect the high quality
of work we strive for every day.
Mary M. Hobart, K1MMH
Chief Development Officer
> HUDSON DIVISION LOOSES K1XV TO VERMONT
Government Laision for several years. In his professional life as an
attorney Ray has represented many NNJ hams in antenna cases over the
years. When I came on as Section Manager I looked to Ray as the source
for guidance to get our License Plate Bill passed. His counsel in our
meetings and during my presentation before the Transportation Committee
was invaluable. When we formed our PRB-1 Steering Committee Ray's input
helped us to finalize what is now A3065, New Jersey's Antenna Support
Structure Bill. For the past several months Ray has been building a home
and antenna farm in Vermont. Both are done and Ray is now a resident of
Vermont. I'll miss his counsel but wish him all the best in his new QTH.
(de W2UDT, NNJ SM)
Ray was also helpful four year ago in getting the New York antenna bill
off the ground and attended a number of meetings in upstate New York
locations during that process. Ray was very unselfish of his time and
expertise all the time knowing that he was eventually going to be moving
to Vermont and would not benefit from the tower legislation we were
seeking. We are going to miss this great guy. Thanks, Ray and good
luck in Vermont.
> THE SALVATION ARMY HONORS VOLUNTEERS
The Greater New York Division of the Salvation Army held a "Sixth Annual
Recognition Dinner" for Emergency Disaster Services volunteers on
Monday evening February 24th in Jackson Heights, Queens. In attendance
were SATERN and ARES members who were presented with 37 award
certificates and plaques for service some 1800 hours of volunteer
service in the 2002 calendar year. Support of SATERN and the Salvation
Army Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) continues to grow with over fifty
members in the GNY Division. Salvation Army officers, FEMA officials,
and NYC Fire Department officers were on hand to thanks the volunteers
for their help in the 2003 responses.
The ARES New York City District Emergency Coordinator (DEC), Charles
Hargrove, N2NOV, was also on hand to accept thanks for the support ARES
had provided in the last year. ARES worked with the Salvation Army on
the following events in 2002:
Metro North Disaster Drill - April 2002; Con Ed Fire and Blackout - July
2002 and the World Trade Center Memorial - Sept. 2002
The following NYC ARES members were recognized for their service:
AB2MH - Ryan Jairam
KA2WCB - Wally Ayres
KA2BRH - Joseph Carpentieri
KD2AU - George Donahue
KF2EO - Michael Bartmon
N2UJG - Les Sugai
W2MPL - Michael Lunetta
W2/8R1B - Julian Embrack
WB2SEB - Eusebio Rodriguez
KC2IXE - Charlie Gallo
The keynote address was given by Ken Curtin, Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) Voluntary Agency Liaison for New York City.
Ken who was born in Queens and who now resides in the Park Slope section
of Brooklyn has served in a number of disaster related jobs for a number
of agencies before going to FEMA, which will official become part of
Homeland Security within the next two weeks. During his talk he related
how most of the FEMA staff was in the Virgin Islands attending a
conference on hurricane preparedness when the World Trade Center was
attacked. He was part of the FEMA staff who were flown home by the Navy
to Virginia and then into Pennsylvania where New Jersey State Troopers
had a bus waiting to take them into New York City by 8 PM in the
evening. His message, "A BIG thanks for your help and stay vigilant."
Jeff Schneller, N2HPO, was head and shoulders above all the other
volunteers with an amazing total of 330 hours in 2002. In 2001 Jeff had
over 500 hours. That is a truly amazing total of public service for
one individual. He is easily the most active of the fifty SATERN
members in the Greater New York Division.
Bill Downes, N2KHP, a retired New York City teacher and SATERN member
received a certificate for 20 hours of service.
Three clubs BEARS, EVHFC, and KCRC were noted for their service, use of
their repeaters. Jerry Cudmore, K2JRC, was on hand to receive the
awards for the Broadcast Engineers Amateur Radio Society, and for the
Elechester VHF Club. Jerry, an ABC employee, is a member of both clubs
and maintains their repeaters.
Quote from N2FF, "It was great to see ARRL ARES members thanked so
publicly and repeatedly by not only The Salvation Army but also by FEMA
and the New York City Fire Department. This event was a good reminder
that there is more than one agency that our ARES members support. It
was very gratifying to realize that this agency - The Salvation Army -
is more interested in serving and helping people than in raising
funds."
For pictures see the ARRL web story at
http://www2.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/02/27/2/?nc=1
If your interested in learning more about SATERN or joining check the
SATERN Web site http://www.satern.org
> "MONSTER STORM" ACTIVATES 10-70 HAMS
After New Jersey Governor James McGreevey issued a State of Emergency,
shortly after 1700 hours on February 16, and a steady snow began to
fall, the SkyWarn Spotter Team from the 10-70 Repeater Association,
swung into action. Having run out of hyperbole and descriptive
adjectives, the National Weather Service characterized the approaching
severe weather system, as a "Monster Storm."
Mike Adams, WA2MWT, Bergen County SkyWarn Coordinator and Paul Beshlian,
KC2CJW, Passaic County Deputy SkyWarn Coordinator, decided to alternate
running SkyWarn nets over the next twenty-four hours. Readings would
also be taken from Essex and Hudson Counties and the results would be
forwarded to the National Weather Service's regional office, at Upton,
New York.
Since the brunt of the blizzard occurred on President's Day, there were
plenty of amateur radio operators willing to brave the elements to read
their snowboards and snow measuring sticks and check-in on the SkyWarn
call-ups. The 10-70 Repeater would be in "SkyWarn Mode" for almost
twenty-four hours and at one point, 26 hams joined the net. Timely data
was also given to the four major network's New York City television
stations.
At the 10-70 Repeater Association meeting, on March 5, Scott Reynolds,
KC2JCB, Senior Meteorologist at the National Weather Service and an
honorary member of the Bergen Emergency Communications Association,
presented the club with the first "SkyWarn Prepared&" Amateur Radio
Club, in the tri-state area. In addition, he also designated the 10-70
as a "SkyWarn Active" group, also the first recognition in the NY-NJ-CT
area.
In order to be a "SkyWarn Prepared" Club, a ham group must have 20 or
more active members, who are active SkyWarn spotters. The editor of the
club's newsletter must allow coverage of SkyWarn events, such as basic
and advanced class training and weather-related events, such as
Hazardous Weather Awareness Week.
To receive the higher "SkyWarn Active" status, a club must have twenty
five current Advanced SkyWarn spotters and the club's Board of Directors
must allow the group's repeater to be used for regularly scheduled
SkyWarn drills and SkyWarn-related announcements. The repeater must also
be available on an emergency basis for severe weather events.
In addition to 10-70 officers: President Paul Beshlian, KC2CJW;
Vice-President Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF; Secretary Pat Sawey, WA2PFS;
and Treasurer Carollee Ognibene, W2NLX; also taking part in the
presentation was Bill Hudzik, W2UDT, NNJ Section Manager and Steve
Ostrove, K2SO, NNJ Section Emergency Coordinator.
"During the Snowstorm of December 30, 2001, we ran fourteen SkyWarn
Nets, the beginning of our partnership with the 10-70," stated Adams.
"The group also supports Public Service Events and Public Safety
Emergency Management Emergencies. To say that the 10-70 is truly
committed to SkyWarn and other emergency nets is an understatement."
Submitted by Michael Adams, WA2MWT Wa2mwt@arrl.net
> FIELD DAY PINS AND SHIRTS AVAILABLE
Check out the Field Day pins and shirts for 2003 at
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/02/13/1/?nc=1
This year's design really honors our public service function. In
addition a GOTA pin is now available. Save the date now Field Day is
June 28th.
> WANT TO BECOME A SKYWARN Spotter?
The National Weather Service Skywarn Program is a network of trained
weather spotter volunteers who help provide real time hazardous weather
information to the National Weather Service (NWS) and Emergency
Managers. Storm spotters are an integral part of the NWS warning
decision-making process; their reports are invaluable in making accurate
and timely forecasts and warnings. Radar tells meteorologists about
rotation in thunderstorms, but spotters can tell them if it is a tornado
and precisely where it is.
The National Weather Service Upton, NY Office offers several spotter
training presentations across New York City, Long Island, the Lower
Hudson Valley, Northeast NJ, and Southern CT each year. A NWS
Meteorologist will provide material and teach for about 2 hours at a
location near you. These are free classes and open to all. You do not
need to be a resident of the county or state in which they are held.
If YOU would like to learn how to visually recognize specific cloud
types that form before severe weather like tornadoes and downbursts
occur and how to notify the NWS, WE INVITE YOU to register for one of
our Skywarn Spotter Training Sessions.
When Is There A Local Course? Where Is This Course? Wednesday Bergen
County Community Services Building March 26, 2003 1st Floor Auditorium
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM 327 East Ridgewood Road Paramus, NJ 07652
How Can You Get More Information On This And Other Training Classes?
Visit the BergenSkywarn Website - Full Information Including Driving
Directions www.bergenskywarn.org
How Can You Register for The March 26th Class?
Send An Email To:
register@bergenskywarn.org
Attention Amateur Radio Operators and Scanner enthusiasts, Bergen and
Passaic County SKYWARN Drills and Nets are held on the W2PQG Repeater of
the 10-70 Repeater Association. (146.700 Mhz, negative 600k offset, PL
141.3). More information is on the BergenSkywarn Website
www.bergenskywarn.org
> NJM NEED YOU
Extending an invitation to all to join us on New Jersey Morning Net,
each and every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 10AM on 3.695 mHz. Friday
is usually K2PB/ncs, Saturday is N2GJ (although I'm more than happy to
relinquish my NCS slot to a deserving ham), and Sunday is K2UL.
We could also use help with volunteers to go from NJM to 1:45PM 2RN
(7237 kHz - SSB)), if you would like a steady "job" that pays lousy, but
has few benefits, other than the thanks of a grateful nation!
Please spread the word, and forward this to at least 5 of your ham
friends in the region, please! More importantly, dust off your straight
key, keyer paddle, or Vibroplex bug, and JOIN us every weekend! If you
can originate a radiogram message once in a while, that's all the
better!
Help us keep NJM alive! Thanks!
Gerry Jurrens, N2GJ - Net Manager
> UPGRADE TO GENERAL ON AIR
WECA is offering a 12 week on-the-air general course. The repeater is
easy to hear and contact from NYC. Go to the following eham.net page
for further details! http://www.eham.net/calendar/details/2089
> NOTES ABOUT USING THE ARRL OUTGOING QSL BUREAU from K2WR
As you know you, you need to sort your outgoing cards before sending
them off to Newington for the trip overseas. Assistant Director Rich
Gelber, K2WR, consolidates the cards for the NJDXA club and sends them
up to HQ. (Note: That may be a nice service for your club to perform
for members.) Rich recently reminded club members of the sorting
process. His reminder may help you with the process and also help you
recognize some of the lesser-used prefixes you hear on the air. (Thanks
for the info, Rich!)
A couple of reminders:
1. Cards addressed to callsigns with portable designators get sorted
according to the main callsign, not the portable designator. Example:
F/DL1ABC goes with the DL's (and DF, DJ, DK, etc.), NOT with the F's.
2. It is not necessary to sort the cards within a country. By the time
I get done merging everybody else's cards for the same country, they
don't leave here sorted within a country anyway, even if you gave them
to me that way.
3. Many countries have a "parent" or "primary" prefix, and other
prefixes that are frequently (or infrequently) used. See the ARRL DXCC
list for the primary prefixes. The secondary prefixes should be included
with the primary prefix. (e.g. 3Z goes with SP, not between 3A and 4X).
There are lots of infrequently used prefixes that I wouldn't expect
anybody except lunatics like K2NJ and me to know (although you COULD
look it up, just like I do), but there are some common ones that I
really would expect NJDXA members, of all people, to know by now. If
you don't recognize most of the following, you've been letting your
computer or packet node do your thinking for you:
3Z is Poland (SP)
XQ is Chile (CE)
DS is South Korea (HL)
HF is also Poland (SP)
CY is Canada (VE)
AX is Australia (VK)
AM is Spain (EA)
AT is India (VU)
7J thru 7N and 8J thru 8N are Japan (JA)
7S and 8S are Sweden (SK)
4V is Haiti (HH)
M is U.K. (G) If this is a surprise, please report to detention.
Here are some obscure ones I wouldn't expect anyone to know without
looking them up:
C4 is Cyprus (5B)
D8 is South Korea (HL)
HM is North Korea (P5) (used to be an alt. prefix for HL, but not any
more. Don't think you'll be working any, though)
HT is Nicaragua (YN)
H2 is Cyprus (5B)
JZ is Indonesia (YB)
P3 is Cyprus (5B)
TD is Guatelmala (TG)
T6 is Afghanistan (YA)
VI is Australia (VK)
VX is Canada (VE)
>>>>>APPROVED HAMFESTS:
15 Mar 2003 + Cherryville Repeater Association
http://www.qsl.net/w2cra Clinton, NJ
Sect: Northern New Jersey
Contact: Barry Campbell, W2CGX
91 Old Croton Road
Flemington, NJ 08822
Phone: 908-788-9153
Email: w2cra@qsl.net
5 Apr 2003 + Orange County ARC
http://www.bestweb.net/~ocarc/ New Windsor, NY
Sect: Eastern New York
Contact: Ed Moskowitz, N2XJI
123 Harold Avenue
Cornwall, NY 12518
Phone: 845-534-3492
Email: n2xji@arrl.net
26 Apr 2003 + Roseland ARC (IRAC)
http://www.qsl.net/k2gq West Orange, NJ
Sect: Northern New Jersey
Contact: Harvey Moskowitz, W2YWC
7 Burlington Road
Livingston, NJ 07039
Phone: 973-994-0637
Email: harvmosk@aol.com
27 Apr 2003 + Mt. Beacon ARC
http://www.qsl.net/mbarc Poughkeepsie, NY
Sect: Eastern New York
Contact: Ken Akasofu, KL7JCQ
8C Hudson Harbor Drive, Apt. #8C
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601-5367
Phone: 845-485-9617
Email: kl7jcq@arrl.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Hudson Division
Director: Frank Fallon, N2FF
n2ff@arrl.org