ARRL Hudson Division April 2004 Hudson Division Beacon - e-mail edition - # 37 By Frank Fallon, N2FF, Director, Hudson Division, ARRL 30 East Williston Avenue, East Williston, NY 11596 516) 746-7652 n2ff@arrl.org Hudson Division Home Page - http://www.hudson.arrl.org ARRL Members Please continue to spread the word to others who may wish to receive this information that they will need to access the ARRL members only web site. After becoming a member they must edit their profile and elect to receive bulletins from the Section Manager and Director. If you are already a member on the ARRL site (http://www.arrl.org) from the "Members Only" box click on "members data page" and then under email notification options set "Division/Section notices" to YES. You will receive the next bulletin sent. Past Bulletins are available at http://www.hudson.arrl.org HAMFESTS This weekend - Roseland Saturday in West Orange and Sunday, Mt. Beacon in Poughkeepsie. See info at the end of this issue * ATLANTICON A BIG SUCCESS More than 200 hams attended Atlanticon held in conjunction with the Timonium Hamfest on March 26 through 28 sponsored by the NJQRP Group. Registration is only $10 and includes a kit of parts for the Saturday night contest event where the projects are judged in a number of categories plus a printed 95 page version of the proceedings. This is a quite a bargain especially when you add in the free coffee, friendliness and high level technical topics discussed. This year the project was a low cost L-C Meter dubbed the Elsie, as in Elsie the cow. Talks, which went from 9 AM through 5 PM Saturday, included "Software Defined Radios" with Bob McGwier and Gerald Youngblood, AC5OG, of Flex Radio Systems. In addition Wayne Burdick, N6KR, Elecraft designer of the KX1 was on hand most of the weekend to discuss the design philosophy behind his products. There was a great deal to see and learn at this event. If you are interested in QRP, new technology and kit building Atlanticon should be on your list for March 2005. A number of Hudson Division members were in attendance. Here is a list of some: KB2TQX , his son Marcus, KC2MLN, who won an award for "Creativity Under Fire"; KD1F and KC2KY from Radio Central and Howard Brier, N2GOT, of KCRC. See the following sites for more information: http://www.njqrp.org http://www.flex-radio.com * Scott Redd, K0DQ, named Coalition Provisional Authority deputy administrator This story showed up on the ARRL web just as I released the March "Beacon" for distribution. See http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/03/11/4/ I first worked Scott just after he had graduated from the Naval Academy when he was on a Fulbright Scholarship program in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1967. I ran phone patches for him back to the homes of some of the other students who lived in NYC. I was fortunate enough to renew our radio acquaintance with Scott and his lovely wife in Dayton last year. She was interested in hearing about some of the lovely coeds Scott ran patches for. That was all before she and Scott met of course. It was also thirty-seven years ago. Stay safe in Iraq, Scott! Retired Vice Admiral Scott Redd, K0DQ, has been appointed deputy administrator and chief operating officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad, Iraq. Redd, an ARRL member who lives in Marietta, Georgia, is one of two deputy administrators reporting to CPA Administrator L. Paul Bremer. Redd will direct the CPA's programs for the reconstruction of Iraq's infrastructure. That task includes awarding $18.4 billion in contracts through the project management office for major improvements to Iraq's electricity, oil, transportation, water resources, education, housing and construction, and communications networks, a CPA news release said. He also will be responsible for policy affecting Iraq's security programs. Those include the new Iraqi Army, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, Iraqi Border Patrol and Facilities Protection Services. Redd retired from the US Navy in 1998 as director of strategic plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During 36 years of active duty, he commanded eight organizations, founded the Navy's Fifth Fleet--the first new US Navy fleet in more than 50 years--and served in several senior Pentagon positions. Redd also led all U.S. Naval forces in the US Central Command from 1994 until 1996. After retiring from the Navy, Redd served as chairman, president and CEO of NetSchools Corp, a high-tech startup. He's a 1966 graduate of the US Naval Academy and a Fulbright scholar. Last year, Redd was the keynote speaker for ARRL's second donors' reception held in conjunction with Hamvention. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/05/23/100/ * FCC Okays RF Identification Tags at 433.5 to 434.5 MHz (Apr 15, 2004) -- The FCC has adopted a somewhat limited proposal to permit deployment of RF Identification (RFID) tags in a segment of the 70-cm band at much greater duty cycles than current Part 15 rules permit for such devices. Among other applications, RFID tags are used to track shipments and packing containers. A Third Report and Order (R&O) in ET Docket 01-278--approved today but not yet released--follows a 2000 proposal by SAVI Technology to revise its Part 15 rules to accommodate such devices in the vicinity of 433 MHz. The ARRL has consistently opposed the proposal, but FCC just as unfailingly has gone along with it. FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) Chief Ed Thomas said RFIDs provide important public benefits. For more details see: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/04/15/103/?nc=1 * FCC Proposes Wide-Ranging Changes to Amateur Service Rules (Apr 15, 2004) -- The FCC has released an "omnibus" Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) that seeks comments on a wide range of proposed Amateur Service (Part 97) rules changes. The FCC also denied several petitions for rule making aimed at altering portions of the Amateur Radio regulatory landscape and ordered minor changes in Part 97. Comments on the proposals put forth in ET Docket 04-140 are due by Tuesday, June 15, with reply comments by Wednesday, June 30. Among other changes, the FCC has recommended adoption of the ARRL's "Novice refarming" plan. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/04/15/102/?nc=1 for more details. AMENDMENT OF PART 97 OF THE COMMISSION'S RULES GOVERNING THE AMATEUR RADIO SERVICES, ET AL. Proposed to revise operating privileges for amateur radio service licensees as well as to eliminate obsolete and duplicative rules in the Amateur Radio Service. (Dkt No. 04-140). Action by: the Commission. Comments Due: 06/15/2004. Reply Comments Due: 06/30/2004. Adopted: 03/31/2004 by NPRM. (FCC No. 04-79). WTB FCC-04-79A1.doc <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-79A1.doc> FCC-04-79A1.pdf <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-79A1.pdf> FCC-04-79A1.txt <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-79A1.txt> * THANKS TO W2VU - Rich Moseson, editor of CQ Magazine for BPL letters and articles A special thanks this month to former ARRL NNJ Section Manager and long time ARRL member Rich Moseson for his continuing efforts to help ham radio. Rich is also a long time member of the ARRL PR Committee which will be holding a forum at the Dayton Hamvention. Rich has a great editorial supporting the ARRL restructuring position in the April issue of 'CQ Magazine" and also spent time writing a response to the recent Wall Street Journal article on BPL. Some of you may have seen that piece on some ham radio reflectors. It was a great answer to the flaws in the WSJ article and the FCC's bad decision. Unfortunately the WSJ choose not to print it and other letters sent by knowledgeable hams on the subject. Hopefully Rich will print his response to WSJ in an upcoming "CQ" editorial. Keep it up Rich! AND THANKS! * HUDSON DIVISION AWARDS APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN Please start thinking about who should get an award. Make a nomination, Please. Forms available at http://www.hudson.arrl.org The Hudson Division will present awards to outstanding amateurs residing in the division in 2004. 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 June 1. The seven-member committee, composed of assistant directors from each section, will announce the results in late June. An Awards Dinner will be held in Northern New Jersey on November 13 with ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP in attendance. Please plan to be there. 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. > COMMENT PERIOD OPENS ON FCC BROADBAND NPRM Dateline Washington DC where CQ reports that the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making Broadband over Power Lines -- ET Docket 03-104 -- has been published in the Federal Register. This starts the clock on the comment deadline. Comments are due by May by 3rd. Reply comments due by June 1. Comments may be filed electronically via the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System at http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload. More information on BPL and its potential impact on hams and other HF spectrum users is available on the ARRL website at www.arrl.org. Also see the "VHF-Plus" column in the April issue of CQ magazine. (CQ) * ARRL Requests Filing Deadline Extension in BPL Proceeding (Apr 13, 2004) -- The ARRL has asked the FCC to extend the deadline for comments and reply comments by 45 days in the Broadband over Power Line (BPL) Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in ET Docket 04-37. Comments now are due by May 3 and reply comments by June 1. Although the FCC does not routinely grant such extensions, the League said it wants to allow time for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to conclude its study at BPL field trial locations. The ARRL said it anticipates the NTIA's report to go public on or around April 16, thus allowing only a couple of weeks at best to evaluate the study's results and incorporate the study's findings into comments in the proceeding See http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/04/13/2/?nc=1 for more details and a link to the text of the filing. * HAM RADIO ARTICLES IN NEW YORK TIMES The Thursday April 15th New York Times "Circuits" Section has two articles concerning ham radio. The first on page G3 of the section is "@ Issue: Long Code for a Small Symbol." The article quotes both Rick Linquist and Larry Price and Hudson Division member Herb Sweet. Herb gave me a heads up concerning the article after a NYT photographer visited him last week and took over fifty pictures. Well, Herb's right hand and his J38 key is having its fifteen minutes of fame in today's Times. The only negative about the article is the slant the reporter chose to give at the end that a 78 year old W.W.II operator says, "Now that I have a computer, I'm not active." Well a lot of 78 year olds are a little tired and not too active. This may not have anything to do with the decline of ham radio. Oh well ! The second article on page G4, "A Man, a Plan, A Can: Boosting Wireless Signals" is more troubling for hams in the 2.4 Gig band. The article lets the genie out of the Pringles can. It's almost a how to construction article as there are enough references for the curious to try rolling their own. The Times does say below the can, "... But experts warn that some homemade antennas may violate FCC regulations and cause interference with other Wi-Fi systems." I think "may" is probably the wrong word here. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/15/technology/circuits/15comm.html?8dpc > THANKS TO PUMPKIN PATROL VOLUNTEERS Once again Sgt. Shawn Garrison of the NY State Police attended the last Mt. Beacon Amateur Radio club in-person quarterly meeting on Sunday, 28 March. He handed out the Pumpkin Patrol 2003 participation certificates for those in attendance from the October public service event. You'll remember we had 35 participants this past Halloween eve and Halloween night covering 27 of the 28 bridge assignments in Dutchess County. Again, here were the participants in 2003: John (son of K2ROB), K2CSS, K2ROB, KB2TJJ, KB2WGC, KC2AFK, KC2CPO, KC2EKI, KC2HEE, KC2HUT, KC2HUV, KC2LIV, KC2LXY, KE2FI, KL7JCQ, Keith (father of N2XUB), N2CS, N2DXL, N2FTR, N2JBA, N2JOM, N2LLS, N2MWE, N2OBY, N2SGT, N2SPF, N2TTO, N2XE,N2XUB,N2ZKX, N2ZON, W2AWX, W2PTF, WB2UWU, and WN2Y. Thanks for your public service! Laissez les bon temps rouler! - Andrew, N2FTR@arrl.net > NPARC AUCTION date Changed!! New Providence ARC Annual Club Auction. Friday, May 7, 2004 7PM-10PM. Location: Salt Brook School Cafeteria on Maple St., New Providence, NJ 07974 Details and directions on club website http://qsl.net/nparc/ Thanks es 73 Al Hanzl K2AL k2al@arrl.net > TATA SKIRMISH COMING UP Just a friendly reminder that the "TARA Skirmish" - Digital Prefix Contest is coming up on April 17. I hope as many of you as possible will join us for TARA's first running of this contest and I really think you'll enjoy this contest a lot. Don't forget, this is the final contest for this year's "Four Season's Tour'ney." It's going to be interesting to see who is going to take top honor's in this year's Tour'ney. The results so far can be seen at: http://www.n2ty.org/seasons/tara_tourney_results.html If you want to learn more about the Tour'ney please go to: http://www.n2ty.org/seasons/tara_tourney.html Below I have sent you the official announcement for the TARA Skirmish, please review if carefully!=20 73 de NY2U Bill Eddy President of Troy ARA0 _ny2u@n2ty.org_ (mailto:ny2u@n2ty.org) TARA Skirmish--Digital Prefix Contest--sponsored by Troy ARA,0000Z-2400Z April 17. Frequencies: 160-6 meters, work stations once per band. Categories: High, Low (<100 W), Great (<20 W), QRP (<5 W), SWL. Exchange: Name and Prefix. Score: QSOs =D7 WPX prefixes =D7 power multiplier. (High =D70.5, Low =D71, =Great =D72, QRP =D73) Multipliers count once per band. For more information:=20 _http://www.n2ty.org/seasons/tara_dpx_rules.html (http://www.n2ty.org/seasons/tara_dpx_rules.html) or _skirmish-manager@n2ty.org (mailto:skirmish-manager@n2ty.org) Logs due May 15 via the contest score entry form at=20 _http://n2ty.org/seasons/tara_dpx_score.html_ (http://n2ty.org/seasons/tara_=dpx_score.html) > OPERATING TID BITS PICKED UP ON THE WEB You might also consider SpotCollector, which is free via www.qsl.net/dxlab . SpotCollector can connect to up to 4 telnet clusters, the DX Summit cluster (via the #CQDX IRC channel), and a local packet cluster (via a TNC). Duplicate spots are automatically discarded, and spots of the same DX station in the same mode on the same frequency are combined into a single entry with "first heard" and "last heard" times; you can specify what "same frequency" means. Filters for Callsign, DXCC entity, Band, Mode, Continent, and Origin (spotter location) are available, and can be used in combination. See http://www.qsl.net/spotcollector/spotdatabase.jpg for a screenshot. SpotCollector automatically interoperates with other members of the DXLab Suite. It color-codes spots based on award progress in DXKeeper, it will QSY your transceiver via Commander when you double-click on a spot and will rotate your beam to the correct SP or LP heading via DXview, it will plot spots on DXView's world map, it will set WinWarbler to the correct digital mode (PSK31, PSK63, or RTTY) and audio offset, and it will perform QSL route lookups via Pathfinder. 73, Dave, AA6YQ The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is the best 16 bit sound card I have ever tested. What did I mean when I posted this sentiment? I meant that as a tool for the transfer of analog signals using 16 bit A/D and D/A 1) It had the highest SNR of any tested 2) It had the lowest IMD of any tested 3) It had the lowest stereo cross-talk of any tested 4) It had the least disparity between published A/D, D/A rates and reality of any tested 5) It had the largest total dynamic range of any tested. I have used it repeatedly and for extended periods of time as my RTTY card. I do not do SO2R and never considered the lack of a mute on the SHARED !! Line In/Mike circuit to be a problem since I only use hard keyed FSK. There are separate plugs for Microphone and Line/In, but they different only by the Microphone plug is followed by a microphone amplifier. I will put the results for this card on my home web page and then publish the link here. Bob McGwier, N4HY * RARITAN BAY RADIO AMATEURS CELEBRATE 50th YEAR Hudson Division Director Frank Fallon, N2FF and Hudson Vice Director Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, attended the April meeting of the Raritan Bay Radio Amateurs which is celebrating its fiftieth year in 2004. Some thirty members were on hand at the Perth Amboy Yacht Club when RBRA president "Skip" Gracon, K3GNZ, presented a fifty-dollar check to the ARRL Foundation earmarked for the W1AW Fund. Many thanks to the club members and our hosts at dinner Skip and Marian K Gracon, N2NQW for a lovely evening. * BUS TO DAYTON ANYONE? Bus Leaves THURSDAY MAY 13 - SUNDAY MAY 16, 2004 VIA - Jersey Coast Chapter of the North America DX Assoc. (WR2DX) 14th Annual BUS Trip To Ham Mecca! 3 days of Hamming, Talks, Demos & forums Ham Radio & Computer gear - Old, New & what's coming Thousands & thousands of dollars worth of door prizes 250 different companies manning 650 Exhibit Booths, Indoors, 2,000 Flea Market & Tailgating spaces, Outdoors. Included in this Bus Trip for one Price : Round Trip transportation, to and from Dayton, Oh. + breakfast each morning. All Local transportation to and from Hara's Arena. Motel for the 3 nights and 4 days. With use of hot tub jacuzzi & pool. Admission Tickets to the Hamvention for the three days. Other meals (lunch and dinners) NOT included. $335.00 pp/dbl.occ. (if needed, we will book U with a roommate) $475.00 one person, own room $575.00 OM & XYL + (Family) Special (NADXA members & Last year (2003) Bus Trip Participants, Deduct $ 20.00 Previous years Bus Trip attendees, Deduct $ 10.00 ) Bus leaves: NJ - Thurs. May 13th 2004 7:00 AM from GSPky. Rest Area 100. Leave, Bordentown, NJ 8:00 AM Ramada Inn Rt. 206. just off exit 7 of NJ Tpk. Leave, Downingtown, PA. 9:30 AM Chester Sprg. Inn, formerly (Best Western Motel) Rt. 100 = mile South off Exit 312 (old 23) of the PA Tpk. Return Sunday night, late (approx. 1:00 AM) May 16, 2004 Reservations: Contact: Mike DiPersio, KC2Q P.O. Box 357 Bradley Beach, NJ 07720 Telephone: (732) 774-1095 - cell # (908) 415-6162 e-mail kc2q@arrl.net or nadxa@juno.com . HAMFESTS: Reminder - DAYTON is May 14, 15, and 16 17 Apr 2004 + Roseland ARC http://www.qsl.net/k2gq Contact: Harvey Moskowitz, W2YWC 7 Burlington Road Livingston, NJ 07039 Phone: 973-994-0637 Email: harvmosk@aol.com West Orange, NJ Div: Hudson Sect: Northern New Jersey +++++++++++++ 18 Apr 2004 + Mt. Beacon ARC http://www.qsl.net/mbarc Contact: Ken Akasofu, KL7JCQ 8C Hudson Harbor Dr., Apt. #8C Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Phone: 845-485-9617 Email: kl7jcq@arrl.net Poughkeepsie, NY Div: Hudson Sect: Eastern New York +++++++++++++++++ 22 May 2004 + East Greenbush ARA http://www.com-tech.org/EGARA.html Contact: Chris Linck, N2NEH 6 Park Avenue East Greenbush, NY 12061 Phone: 518-477-6915 Email: n2neh@arrl.net Rensselaer, NY Div: Hudson Sect: Eastern New York ++++++++++++++++++ 23 May 2004 + Great South Bay ARC http://www.gsbarc.org Contact: Walter Wenzel, KA2RGI 373 15th Street West Babylon, NY 11704 Phone: 631-669-3714 (days) or 631-957-0218 (eves until 10 PM) Email: ka2rgi@arrl.net Massapequa, NY Div: Hudson Sect: New York City-Long Island +++++++++++++++++++++ 29 May 2004 + Bergen ARA http://www.bara.org Contact: Jim Joyce, K2ZO 286 Ridgewood Blvd. North Washington Township, NJ 07676 Phone: 201-664-6725 Email: k2zo@arrl.net Washington Township, NJ Div: Hudson Sect: Northern New Jersey -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Hudson Division Director: Frank Fallon, N2FF n2ff@arrl.org