ARRL Hudson Division April 2005 Hudson Division Beacon - e-mail edition - # 48 THE HUDSON DIVISION TEAM Frank Fallon, N2FF, Director, Hudson Division, ARRL 30 East Williston Avenue East Williston, NY 11596 (516) 746-7652 n2ff@arrl.org Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, Vice Director, Hudson Division, ARRL 235 Van Emburgh Avenue Ridgewood, NJ 07450-2918 (201) 455-5924 ka2anf@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 * HUDSON DIVISION AWARDS APPLICATIONS DEADLINE NEARS for 2005 It's time to start thinking about who should get an award. Nominations must be received by May 15th. Make a nomination, please. Forms available at ttp://www.hudson.arrl.org/hudawd05.htm 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. * FIELD DAY INFO AVAILABLE ON LINE.... And please remember to make sure your club has a map to the Field Day site available on line so folks can visit if they want. Suppose a Non-ham reads something in a local paper about field day and wants to visit a site. ARRL is holding "Bring an HT to Work Day" the week before Field Day in hopes of stirring up interest in our emergency communications and field day operations. More information will be in the next issue. Will interested folks find a map to the event on your club site. Why have a GOTA station if you are not getting visitors? See http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms/05-fd-packet.pdf for the 35 page Field Day package or http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms/index.html#FD if you just need forms. * ATLANTICON 2005 A SUCCESS AT TIMONIUM If you are interested in QRP this was the place to be on April 1, and 2, 2005. AmQRP.ORG, the American QRP Club, formerly the New Jersey QRP Group, again sponsored the event at the Timonium, MD Holiday Inn across the road from the Timonium Hamfest. It is undoubtedly the largest QRP event on the East Coast with more than 150 attendees and some of the biggest names in the QRP world. For $10 you get a printed copy of the proceedings, a snazzy nametag, the forums, a box lunch with a soft drink and unlimited coffee. But the best value is a printed circuit board kit with parts shipped out weeks before the event to participants so they can build it and enter the contest build around the circuit at the event. This year's project was a 10Mhz oscillator that was judged for accuracy and stability. See http://www.njqrp.org/atlanticon/ At http://www.njqrp.org/atlanticon/Atlanticon%202005/index.html you will find a report of what transpired this year and soon there will be pictures. As one guy said during the weekend: "How on earth can you guys provide all this for just the $10 registration fee??! We have incredible facilities, outstanding speakers flown in from all corners of the country, a free lunch provided for everyone, printed proceedings of all the papers, and even a kit!" It really is an amazing high-powered event for QRP enthusiasts. You are not too late to plan for 2006. * SNOWED IN AT DENVER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Perhaps you read about the storm that dumped two feet of snow on Denver on Sunday April 10th? Well that's part of the reason I was not at the Mt. Beacon Hamfest. I was in Denver attending the the ARRL Executive Committee meeting so there was no way I could be at the Mt. Beacon Hamfest. I thought I had seen all the snow I was going to see for this season, but that was not to be. We finished the EC meeting on Saturday evening knowing that we were in for a big storm that would start early Sunday morning and probably strand most of us at the hotel. Denver TV stations had been preparing the locals for the worst for days. By 7 AM Sunday morning there was plenty of snow, sleet, wind, ice and stranded cars surrounding the hotel and a closed airport. The weather was much better at the Mt. Beacon Hamfest. Instead of getting home at 6 PM Sunday night I made it home a little after 1 AM on Tuesday morning. But the EC meeting was very interesting and historic in a number of ways. We discussed our BPL strategy and came to consensus on a "regulation by bandwidth" proposal that will be filed later this year by ARRL, if the full ARRL Board votes to do that at its July meeting. If enacted by the FCC, after hearings, in about three years it will shape the future of how we view and use our Amateur frequencies. There are five votes on the EC, only the directors set policy, and I was proud to be one of those five votes. We have been dealing with this issue for almost three years at this point. We have vacillated and changed our minds a few times on detailed issues after member comments but the general consensus of the fifteen directors is that this is a good idea that we need to do. But we will not move forward until after the July Board meeting. We have asked twice for member comments on the issue. The proposal entails regulating by bandwidth rather than mode as we currently do and comes about as a result of the growth of digital modes and the threat this poses to legacy modes such as CW, which most of us still love and use. Under current regulations digital modes, no matter how wide, are confined to frequencies shared with CW operations. On twenty meters digital operation is permitted between 14.000 and 14.150. Through gentleman's agreements digital operators usually stay above 14060 except during a contest. There is currently no FCC rule which forbids digital operators from going below any point in the CW band. Many FCC license holders do not realize this. With the growth of sound card software and some fairly wide new digital modes CW operation faces a real threat of digital expansion in signal width and frequency use. Regulation by bandwidth is an effort to structure this expansion and growth that will surely continue in future years. It means that you will have to paste a new chart at your operating position to tell you where you can operate. See http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/13/1/?nc=1 and the FAQ's at http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/bandwidth/bw-faq.html for more details. There is a lot of misinformation and half-truths floating around various places on the Internet concerning this proposal. The FAQ's are almost must reading for this reason. Here is what the ARRL Web had to say about the decision: "Acting on the premise that the amateur bands must have flexibly and comfortably accommodate present and future operating modes and technologies over the long haul, the ARRL Executive Committee has reached consensus on recommendations to the ARRL Board of Directors for a regulation-by-bandwidth proposal. Meeting April 9 in Denver, the panel adopted recommendations that will form the basis of a draft ARRL petition to the FCC seeking to govern the usage of amateur spectrum by emission bandwidth rather than by mode. The proposals remain only EC recommendations at this point. Nothing will be filed with the FCC until the ARRL Board of Directors gives its go-ahead. Five of the 15 voting Directors sit on the EC. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, says a key principle underlying the League initiative is that the amateur community must shoulder the responsibility for resolving conflicts among potentially conflicting modes and not expect--or wait for--the FCC to impose its own solutions." THE BPL SCENE...... Make sure you visit the ARRL Grassroots Booth at Dayton and pick up a few STOP BPL bumper stickers. From Texas comes news of a state bill to help BPL and utilities: As drafted, the bill establishes a state regulatory framework for electric utilities, municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives to develop and deploy BPL systems in Texas. It would allow utilities to lease their power lines to other concerns to operate BPL systems. The measure also would authorize a utility, should it chose to do so, to recover its BPL investment from ratepayers. A utility offering BPL would only have to consider 40 percent of its BPL revenues as income in rate proceedings. Texas ARRM members are working hard to stop this bill from being passed. See http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/26/1/?nc=1 for details. If you are not sure what BPL is all about visit http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/ for a wealth of information including video and audio files. You could spend all week digesting the information available there. Don't overlook the sidebar on this page. > WHAT'S THE HUDSON DIVISION VICE DIRECTOR BEEN DOING....... For the past four months I have been busy traveling throughout the Division. January started with a trip to Long Island where I took in Ham Radio University. What a wonderful time! This is not a hamfest, this is a day of learning. I truly enjoyed participating in the ARES forum and the Skywarn Forum. If you have never attended Ham Radio University, plan to do it next year. It's worth the trip! Thank you, to George Tranos, N2GA and Diane Ortiz, K2DO along with so many others for making this event a success! Also, in January, we had the Hudson Division Cabinet Meeting, which unfortunately for me, I had to leave early due to a flood in my basement caused by eager workers doing siding on my house! Representatives from every club in the Hudson Division were invited to this Cabinet/Club Presidents meeting along with three Section Managers, and the Assistant Directors. Your Director, Frank Fallon, N2FF, is one of the few ARRL Directors who holds these meetings. We are very fortunate in that respect. Logistics is also on our side in the Hudson Division. We don't have very far to drive, compared to the other Divisions. Following the Cabinet meeting, I was off to the ARRL Board Meeting in Newington, CT. Again, location is another plus for us in the Hudson Division. We are lucky to have the ARRL Headquarters pretty much in our backyard. Its only a 2 1/2 hour drive (even if the return trip from CT to NJ was during a Blizzard this year). February found me hitting the road again, traveling to Long Island for the LIMARC Hamfest. A perfect day for the first hamfest of the season! It was nice to socialize with everyone. The winter was definitely too long for most of us and the attendance showed that everyone was ready to get out and see what goodies awaited them at the hamfest tables! March found me in New Jersey, traveling to the Split Rock Hamfest in Parsippany, NJ. Familiar territory for me, and it was wonderful, again, to see so many eager hams all in one place. What a nice turnout, Spring must be on the way! Then, on the very next weekend, I was off to the Cherryville Repeater Association Hamfest in Clinton, NJ. The morning started off in some areas of the Division with yet another blast of winter, and more snow! While I was able to brave the overnight snow that covered the ground in northern NJ (interesting to note was that at the hamfest in Cherryville there was NO SNOW to be seen!), there was enough to keep our Director snowed in out on Long Island that day. Winter just seemed to want to keep hanging on! On the evening of March 14th, I visited the WECA club in White Plains, NY as their evening's guest speaker. Familiar territory for me, as I had attended there before when they hosted the last Convention/Hamfest back a few years ago. It was good to meet and greet everyone there. Thank you for making me feel so welcomed! Public Service work has been popping up on many repeaters and frequencies as April has brought much in the way of rain.. Many of our friends in Oakland and Wayne, NJ had to be evacuated due to several days of flooding associated with over 6 inches of rain in a single week. All this occurred around the same time of the TOPOFF III Drill, in which local and regional ARES groups were active. By working with our served agencies, such as the American Red Cross, in times of local disasters, like flooding, we are able to bring the presence of amateur radio to those who might not know of us and our work within the community. A few radio clubs have recently hosted Auctions. In fact, some of them were almost back to back, with the 10-70 Repeater Association having one mid-week as part of their April Meeting, followed two days later, by one at New Providence ARC in New Providence. NJ. I was lucky enough to be able to attend both of these fun-filled events; I was also pleased to see such a nice turnout of people and equipment at both. In fact, not only was there a great collection of equipment at bargain prices to be found, the turnout at New Providence, was a record! There must have been close to, if not more than 100 folks in attendance! Congratulations!.(and thanks for letting me pick my own ticket for one of the door prizes (no, I didn't keep the prize!!!)). Today, as I write this, I have just returned from a wonderful Sunday outing, to the Mount Beacon Hamfest in Beekman, NY. Many thanks to everyone in the ENY Section, especially, Colleen Scalia - KC2HUT, for her hard work and dedication in making this Hamfest a success! She has a fine staff of dedicated volunteers helping her! Thank you all for your hospitality and friendship. After speaking with many of you at the Hamfest, I was lucky to have the perfect top off to a perfect Sunday Hamfest. That was a visit to the contest station of Ray, W2RE. Thank you to the Hudson Valley Contesters for making me feel welcome. Frank and I would love to come and speak to your club soon! Thank you to Ray, xyl, Lori KB2HZI and his family for putting up with all of us as we enjoyed gawking at his 3 Towers of stacked monobanders and tribanders. It's always a pleasure to spend time with you! As I look to the future, I'm glad to see that there is even more in the way of hamfests and club meetings on my horizon. It's always nice to travel throughout the Division, meeting people and making new friends. Remember, I am seeking nominations for the Awards we will be giving at the Hudson Division Dinner, in November 2005. I have had a few.but there's always room in my mailbox for more. I need some more nominations especially for Technical Achievement and Grand Ole Ham. Let me hear from you soon! As always, info on this can be found on the ARRL Hudson Division page www.hudson.arrl.org/ Also, in the coming months, there are many Skywarn Training Classes being offered throughout the Division. If you are even just slightly interested in Skywarn and/or Weather, now is a good time to take advantage of these free classes offered by the National Weather Service (the NWS is one of many officially served agencies of Amateur Radio). Not only are these classes fun to attend, they are highly informative, and you can bring your friends and entire family too, as even the non-hams among us can become Skywarn Spotters (and maybe see a side of Amateur Radio they never saw before)! And, as I found out last September, weather not only can, but it usually does, play a major role in our Public Service events. 73, Joyce, KA2ANF - ARRL Hudson Division, Vice Director * DXERS Visit NJDXA Web Site There is a wealth of information on the NJDXA site if your are interested in DX. See http://usats.com/ce-dx.html for NA2M's DX tips. Interesting stuff if you are chasing DX. For a picture of NA2M see http://www.njdxa.org/whats-new.php Want to get your DX cards, see http://www.njdxa.org/buro/paypal.php You have to join to get the cards sent to you. The bottom line is that http://www.njdxa.org/ is an interest site. It's also a great club to join if your are interested in DX and QSLing. HAMFESTS: 21 May 2005 + East Greenbush Amateur Radio Association Talk-In: 146.520 Contact: Thomas Scorsone, KC2FCP 1310 10th Avenue Watervliet, NY 12189 Phone: 518-272-1494 Email: kc2fcp@aol.com East Greenbush, NY East Greenbush Firehouse Dept. #3 Phillips Road Sect: Eastern New York =================================== 28 May 2005 + BARA Annual Spring Hamfest Bergen Amateur Radio Association http://www.bara.org Talk-In: 146.19/146.79 (PL 141.3) Contact: Jim Joyce, K2ZO 286 Ridgewood Blvd. North Washington Township, NJ 07676 Phone: 201-664-6725 Email: k2zo@arrl.net Washington Township, NJ Westwood Regional Jr. / Sr. High School 701 Ridgewood Road Sect: Northern New Jersey ================================= 5 Jun 2005 + Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club http://www.HOSARC.org Talk-In: 444.200 (PL 136.5); 146.52 Simplex Contact: Stephen Greenbaum, WB2KDG 85-10 34th Avenue, Apt. 323 Jackson Heights, NY 11372 Phone: 718-898-5599 Email: WB2KDG@arrl.net Queens, NY New York Hall of Science Parking Lot 47-01 111th Street Flushing Meadow - Corona Park Sect: New York City-Long Island ======================================= 12 Jun 2005 + LIMARC Outdoor Hamfair & Electronics Flea Market Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club http://www.limarc.org Talk-In: 146.85 (PL 136.5) Contact: Rick Bressler, K2RB c/o Sign-A-Rama 34A Hempstead Turnpike Farmingdale, NY 11735 Phone: 516-526-6975 Fax: 516-756-2921 Email: hamfest@limarc.org Bethpage, NY Briarcliffe College 1055 Stewart Avenue Sect: New York City-Long Island ================================= 18 Jun 2005 + W2QW HAMFEST Raritan Valley Radio Club http://www.w2qw.org Talk-In: 146.625 (PL 141.3) & 442.250 (PL 141.3) Contact: Jim Roselli, N2GMA 60 Perrine Pike Hillsborough, NJ 08844 Phone: 908-334-0197 Email: jrkr@patmedia.net Piscataway, NJ Piscataway High School 100 Behmer Road Sect: Northern New Jersey -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Hudson Division Director: Frank Fallon, N2FF n2ff@arrl.org