SB NEWSLIN @ ALLBBS $NLIN.910 Amateur Radio Newsline #910 21 Jan 1995 Notes: 1 - This edition is a week behind. See the closed circuit advisory. 2 - Our copyright information will now be included only once a month due to it's bandwidth. 3 - We have not been able to fix the Fidonet posting problem from our local BBS. We are trying it again from an alternate site with a fix that we hope will work there. If it still doesn't get out properly, then we will be dropping the Fido feed for a while. Amateur Radio Newsline is produced as an audio service by Newsline, a service of the Westlink Radio Netowrk. The transcribed version is produced by Dale Cary, WD0AKO from materials provided by Newsline. and is jointly distributed to online services and bulletin board networks by Steve Coletti and Dale Cary. Editorial comment, news items and all other business should be directed to Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, Newsline's Producer and Editor-In-Chief. E-Mail - 3241437@mcimail.com or B.PASTERNAK@genie.geis.com Phone/Fax - +1 805 296-7180, fax senders wait for voice prompt. Text Version information: America Online - tstader@aol.com (Terry Stader, Sysop) or D.CARY@genie.geis.com Compuserv, Delphi, Genie - D.CARY@genie.geis.com Usenet - david@stat.com (David Dodell - Moderator rec-radio-info) FTP, (oak.oakland.edu) - wy1z@neu.edu (Scott Erlich, Boston ARC) Internet mailing list (individuals) - bigsteve@.dorsai.org Internet mailing list (re-distributors) - D.CARY@genie.geis.com BBS Networks - Steve Coletti (within the conference/echo) or bigsteve@dorsai.org via Internet. (RIME users can RO mail to ->35, Fidonet users can Netmail to 1:278/307) - - - - - - NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #910 - POSTED 01/26/95 (***************************************************************) (* *) (* * * ***** * * **** * ***** * * ***** *) (* ** * * * * * * * ** * * *) (* * * * *** * ** * *** * * * * * *** *) (* * ** * * ** * * * * * ** * *) (* * * ***** * * **** ***** ***** * * ***** *) (* *) (* **** * **** ***** *** *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* **** ***** * * * * * *) (* * * * * * * * * * *) (* * * * * **** ***** *** *) (* *) (***************************************************************) The following is late news about Amateur Radio for Radio Amateurs as prepared from NEWSLINE RADIO scripts by the staff of the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, INC. -- formerly the WESTLINK RADIO NETWORK. For current information updates, please call Audio Version of Newsline ========================= Los Angeles............................ (213) 462-0008 Los Angeles (Instant Update Line)...... (805) 296-2407 Seattle................................ (206) 368-3969 Seattle................................ (206) 281-8455 Tacoma................................. (206) 927-7373 Louisville............................. (502) 894-8559 Dayton................................. (513) 275-9991 Chicago................................ (708) 289-0423 New York City.......................... Temp. Disconnected Melbourne, FL.......................... (407) 259-4479 Electronic Hardcopy Version of Newsline ======================================= GEnie (RTC Bulletin Board)............. m345;1 GEnie (File Library)................... m345;3 Dallas Remote Imaging BBS (DRIG)....... (214) 492-7573 In bulletin number 36 The Midwest Connection BBS............. (701) 239-2440 In bulletin number 6 of the ham radio conference Delphi.....................In the ham radio conference CompuServe/HamNet.................... HamNet Library 0 Internet...............In the rec.radio.info newsgroup Internet FTP: oak.oakland.edu......................... In archive: pub/hamradio/docs/newsline Local BBS's............In the Ham Radio conferences on Fidonet, RIME, Intellec, I-Link and AR-Net For questions or comments about the text version, contact me at D.CARY@GENIE.GEIS.COM on the Internet. For the latest breaking info call the Instant Update Line listed above. To provide information please call (805) 296-7180. This line answers automatically and will accept up to 30 minutes of material. Check with your local amateur radio club to see if NEWSLINE can be heard weekly on the air in your area. Articles may be reproduced if printed in their entirety and credit is given to AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE as being the source. For further information about the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, please write to us with an SASE at P.O. Box 463, Pasadena, CA 91102. Thank You NEWSLINE (**************************************************************** Some of the hams of NEWSLINE RADIO... WA6ITF WB6MQV WB6FDF K6DUE W6RCL N6AHU N6AWE N6TCQ K6PGX N6PNY KU8R N8DTN W9JUV KC9RP K9XI KB5KCH KC5UD KC0HF G8AUU WD0AKO DJ0QN and many others in the United States and around the globe!!! (**************************************************************** [910] (* * * * C L O S E D C I R C U I T A D V I S O R Y * * * * (* * (* Explanation for the Delay * (* * (* You may have heard this in your newscasts, but here it * (* is from the scene. Phone service was cut off to a very * (* large part of northwestern Minnesota on Saturday, January * (* 21st do to an individual cutting through 19 large phone * (* cables and fiber optics at five sites around the Fargo, ND * (* Moorhead, MN area. This severed phone service to over * (* 25,000 customers in the area. Service is not expected to * (* be fully restored until this coming Saturday (seven days * (* later). This script was received while out on a service * (* call to another city. One doesn't realize how dependent * (* one is on phones, until you lose them for an extended * (* period of time. Please be patient while things are getting * (* back to normal. Thank you. * (* * (* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (* * (* The following advisory is not necessarily for trans- * (* mission over amateur radio. This is just a reminder that * (* the address for the Newsline Support Fund is Newsline, in * (* care of Andy Jarema, N6TCQ, Post Office Box 660937, Arcadia * (* California 91066. Again, and as always, we thank you. * (* This ends the closed circuit with Newsline report number * (* 910 for release on Friday, January 20, 1995 to follow. * (* * (* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The following is a QST A killer quake in Japan, floods in California and a missing yachtsman is found. All these ham radio stories and more on Newsline report number 910 coming your way right now! (***** JAPAN QUAKE Ham radio operators around the world are being asked not to try to send messages into the earthquake ravaged city of Kobe Japan. This is because these is no way to get these messages delivered at this time. For hams in the United States wanting to provide assistance the problem is even bigger. This, since no bi-lateral third party traffic agreement exists between the United States and Japan. As such, United States hams are barred from handling any form of health and welfare messages until and unless both nations declare a need for amateur radio to get involved. By way of background, on Sunday Morning January 16th here in the USA, the city of Kobe was rocked by a 7 dot 2 magnitude trembler. The devastation in that city is wide-spread. The casualty list as of Wednesday January 18th says that 3000 are dead and at least another 1000 are still missing. At least 40,000 are homeless and these figures are expected to rise as rescue efforts continue. As we go to air, CNN reports that much of Kobe is without public utilities. This includes telephones and electricity and the situation could remain that way for several weeks. As a result, most hams in the Kobe region are off the air. Those few who do have power and whose equipment survived the quake are probably involved in providing inter-city communications within Japan. They cannot be bothered handling health and welfare requests from outside the country until such time as the immediate emergency is past. Once again, if you live outside of the United States and you are being requested to send traffic to Japan, please hold all messages until such time as word comes from Japan that these messages can be delivered. If you live in the United States please wait until you are told by the FCC that a temporary third party agreement has been put in place to permit emergency traffic to Japan. As we go to air, no such order has been issued by the FCC. (***** YACHTSMAN FOUND Some good news. Ernie Nievera, N2MBC reports that missing yachtsman Tony Wee, WZ7B who left San Diego on December 1st has turned up safe in Hilo, Hawaii on January 7th. Tony was presumed missing after loosing regular contact with the Maritime Mobile Net. As it turned out, Tony had trouble charging his batteries and could not use any electronic equipment including his High Frequency ham transceiver. N2MBC says in his packet report that Tony has scrapped his voyage for the Philippines and selling the boat in Hawaii. Until he turned up in Hilo, boaters along the US West Coast had thought WZ7B was shipwrecked somewhere off Baja California, Mexico. (***** 2310 MHz REALLOCATED Word that the FCC has voted to allocate spectrum from 2310 to 2360 MHz for a new satellite digital audio radio service. This band is part of spectrum from 2300 to 2450 MHz, all of which is currently allocated to the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services in ITU Region 2 on a secondary basis. This, with the exception of 2310 to 2390 MHz which is restricted from use by hams. The FCC says the new audio service will allow direct satellite to ground radio to areas of the country and to minority and ethnic groups that are inadequately served by traditional, terrestrial radio. The Commission notes that service and licensing rules for the new allocation will be addressed in a later rule making. (***** OFF THE AIR Word that health and welfare station K4CG is shutting down due to federal budget cutbacks. K4CG is located in Alexandria, Virginia. It was formerly known as NMH and was the site of the Headquarters for the United States Coast Guard radio station. (***** BOY SCOUT NET The Boy Scouts of America has established a new net called BSA Net International. It meets every Sunday at 20:30 UTC on 14.290 MHz. KB8OCC will act as net control. (***** 10-10 CONVENTION The 10-10 International net Inc. will hold its convention in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on June 16th and 17th. Information is available from K4CIH for a business size SASE or packet from K4CIH at the KD4CIF packet BBS. (***** IRAQ HAM CONVENTION Also on the convention scene, Adel Aswad, YI1FC says that Iraq is planning to hold a world-wide amateur radio convention in March. He says his government wants invite all active radio amateurs around the world to attend the gathering. With Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein still running Iraq, it will be interesting to see who from outside that nation accepts the invitation. (***** AMSAT-NA JOINS WORLD-WIDE WEB Turning to the Newsline science page, word that the amateur radio space program has a new communications tool that will eventually benefit all hams. Here is what it is and how it works. AMSAT-North America has joined the World Wide Web service on the Internet. This new pilot project will make available a variety of hypertext documents, pictures, video, and audio materials related to the amateur satellite program. Users will need a computer with an Internet connection and a special browser program. The Web presents a very friendly, easy to use interface to a wealth of information on AMSAT's new server and on thousands of other servers worldwide. Graphical browser programs such as "Mosaic" are freely available for many popular computers, including the PC running Windows or OS/2, the Macintosh, and UNIX machines using the X Window System. Text mode browser programs, such as Lynx, are freely available for text terminals attached to host computers. The project also joins the AMSAT.ORG mailing lists as a service of the Electronic Publishing department of AMSAT-NA. More information on this World Wide Web project is available directly from Amsat North America or your local Amsat area coordinator. (***** TRAKBOX FIRMWARE FIX As most active satellite Trak Box users must know by now, here is a bug in firmware versions 3.30a through 3.30h. The problem relates to the clock settings now that we are in the year 1995 and became apparent at midnight on December 31, 1994. A new code to fix the problem is available from various sources for the benefit of those users who have programming capability. The code will be posted on the KO-23 and KO-25 satellites as soon as the birds are back in normal service. Meanwhile, Track Box users can also find the new operating code in DL5 of the HAMNET Special Interest Group on Compuserve. For those Track Box users not having programming capability, Tucson Amateur Packet Radio is taking orders for new ROMs for your Trak Box. Please contact that organization for more information on any charges and availability. (***** DX In DX word that Seborgia may soon be on the air again. This in a fax received by several DX newsletters from 3A2LZ who states he has received operating permission for 1995. Look for him as IK/3A2LZ/1P0D usually on weekends operating CW and RTTY until the battery in his laptop computer runs out. Also, DU9RG, has announced that plans are being made for a Spratley Island operation around April 10th to the 16th. The callsign that will be used is DU0K. No other information was made available as we go to air. Also a reminder that Spratly is a disputed territory and is claimed by several countries. (***** OMEGA RADIO MOVE This note to those who listen to Newsline by satellite rebroadcast over the Omega Radio Network. Word that Omega radio will be moving to a new satellite and transponder in two weeks. Effective February 1st, look for programming like the Friday Night Live TVRO Show, This Week in Amateur Radio and Spectrum on the Telstar 302 communications satellite on Channel 21. Again, the change in satellites and transponders for hobby radio programming of the Omega Radio Network takes place on February 1st. Look for it on Telstar 302 on Channel 21. (***** A CASE OF HONOR And finally, here is a sad tale as reported by Tony Breathmach, EI5EM over in Dublin, Ireland, which would leave a sour taste to any serious DX operator. A blatant request for a bogus QSL card for DXCC credit! According to a packet radio dispatch from the Irish Amateur Radio Association, EI5EM says that after a recent CW QSO with a European Station on 80 meters he received a package direct to his address. A correct QSL card was enclosed for the 80 meter contact, but also included was a card for a CW QSO on 160 meters that Tony says never took place. A blank third party QSL card was also enclosed for a special event Marconi Station QSO. Also included was a note specifically requesting a QSL card for the fictitious QSO on 160 meters. The note said it was needed for 8 Band DXCC as 160 meter QSO's with EI prefix stations are particularly difficult. But it gets worse still. EI5EM says that the operator also supplied a list of blank QSL's in addition to the special event one enclosed. Tony said it was obvious to him that these would become available if the 160 meter QSL was sent. But we can all be very proud of EI5EM. Tony filled out only the legitimate QSL card and returned the other two cards with appropriate comments. Among the rare cards available from the operator in question were HB0, IS0, 4U1ITU, UA0, 4K1, 7X2 and numerous others. But here is the real kicker. Tony says that printed in bold type on the rogue operators QLC card were the words "DXCC Honor Roll". (***** And for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at Post Office Box 660937 in Arcadia, California 91066. (* * * Newsline Copyright 1995 all rights are reserved. * * * -- * This is the official BBS distribution of Amateur Radio Newsline *