
The electronic publication of the Amateur Radio Newsline is distributed
with the permission of Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, President and Editor of
Newsline.  The text version is edited from the original scripts and
transcribed from the audio reports by Dale Cary, WD0AKO, and is first
published in The Radio & Electronics Round Table on the Genie Online
System.

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All other information and disclaimers are in the text header below.
 - - - - -
Sorry for the delay.  Had some hardware problems over the weekend.  Thanks
for your patients...
 
NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #123 - POSTED 05/09/94
 
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   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
 
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             Electronic Hardcopy Version of Newsline
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     The Midwest Connection BBS............. (701) 239-2440
       In bulletin number 6 of the ham radio conference
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Some of the hams of NEWSLINE RADIO...
 
WA6ITF WB6MQV WB6FDF K6DUE W6RCL N6AHU N6AWE N6TCQ K6PGX N6PNY
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 and many others in the United States and around the globe!!!
 
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[873]
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                      The following is a QST
 
   From ham radios greatest show on earth, the 1994 Dayton
 Hamvention, this is Newsline.  This weeks top story is the
 Hamvention itself.  Newsline has several reporters here on the
 scene.
 
(*****
                         10 WPM CW PROPOSED
 
   The biggest news out of Dayton involves a plan being hatched by
 amateur radio equipment manufacturers and magazine publishers.
 They want easier licensing requirements for access to HF spectrum.
 Amateur Radio Industry Group members say the 13 word per minute
 Morse Code requirement for HF access should be lowered to 10 words
 a minute and they plan to work toward that goal.  At their April
 28th meeting, group members discussed the plan, including
 petitioning the Federal Communications Commission.  Giving advice
 to the group is former FCC official Ray Kowalski.  He tells group
 members the timing for such a move is excellent, since
 Washington's political climate is so heavily geared toward
 emerging technologies.
 
   "What's good for amateur radio is good for America.  This is
 where the technicians and the bright young minds get their start.
 This is the fertile ground where they are planted.  And if we
 don't nurture that and keep it growing and going, comes the next
 time we need engineers maybe we will rent them from Taiwan or some
 place, we will not have them home grown."  Ray Kowalski, former
 FCC official.
 
   The hottest selling ham gear lately has been VHF and UHF
 equipment.  That reflects the strong growth in codeless technician
 class hams.
   But equipment manufacturers are frustrated by marginal profits
 from sales of big ticket HF items.  Some manufacturers say current
 code requirements act as a barrier to hams who would otherwise
 populate the HF bands.  Ray Kowalski, currently a Washington
 lawyer dealing in communications issues, tells group members they
 should act on their wishes before the year is out.
 
   "There is a window of opportunity that is now open.  In
 Washington, when a new administration comes in, it takes them a
 year to get their act together, and by the fourth year they are
 hunkering down for the election.  They don't want to do anything
 that will make anybody mad.  So there is that two year window of
 opportunity in any administration where everything gets done.  We
 are in that window now.  So this is a great time to be thinking
 about what changes are necessary and natural for this service,
 this hobby, what ever you want to call it."  Ray Kowalski, former
 FCC official.
 
   One of those attending the amateur group meeting is Yaesu USA's
 Kevin Karamanos, WD6DIH.
 
   "I think in the long term the industry is going to try to get
 together and promote the technician to move up to general class
 and hopefully populate the HF bands.  We need to do what ever we
 can to get more folks up there and move up." Kevin Karamanos,
 WD6DIH, Yaesu USA.
 
(*****
                           THE RAINS CAME
 
   The hottest selling product at this year's Hamvention '94 just
 may have been the 2 dollar poncho.  The skies opened up over Hara
 Arena, dumping nearly an inch and a half of rain on tens of
 thousands of hams.  The plastic sheets covering acres of flea
 market spaces soon carried small rivers of water.
   Some flea market vendors say the torrents of water killed their
 business.
 
   "It's wet and it's cold today.  Yesterday it was at least
 warmish rain.  This one is not nearly as much fun."
 
   "If it'd quit rainin', it'd be nice."
   "Has the rain hurt you?"
   "Yes it has."
 
   A flea market vendor from St. Joseph Missouri knows that lousy
 weather is a Hamvention tradition.
 
   "It's bad weather.  We have had bad weather for the fourth year
 in a row now.  It's defiantly the biggest and the best ham
 convention that there is in the United States or in the world but
 the weather has not cooperated.  The gods are not favoring us
 right now."
 
   But enthusiasm still manages to run high.  The Hamvention is,
 after all, one of the world's ultimate trips down the electronic
 information superhighway.  As Tracy Douglas from Akron, Ohio,
 learns, the Hamvention means money.
 
   "I'm a retired computer scientist that did fifteen years of
 computer work.  And I became a ham radio operator last year.  this
 is my first time selling at the Dayton Hamvention.  I do repairs
 on all types of computers and peripherals.  I had five dealers
 come in here and wipe out a hundred and six hard drives.  I
 grossed over five thousand dollars in an hour."
 
   Money changes hands inside Hara Arena, too.  With thousands of
 flea market shoppers forced inside by the rain -- and the
 thousands of people already there crowds are 15 deep at some
 booths.  Huge masses of people move along at a snail's pace.
   "There are so many people and so little space!"  Yaesu USA's
 Kevin Karamanos.
 
   Despite the weather, Hamvention '94 draws widespread praise.
 It's an opportunity to learn, spend and socialize.  Hamvention '94
 is quickly drawing to a close.  Regardless of the weather,
 everyone we have spoken with says that this years Dayton
 Hamvention will be a show that will be very hard to beat.  More on
 Hamvention '94 in future reports.
 
(*****
     UNLICENSED BROADCASTER LOOSES COURT CHALLENGE TO FCC BAN
 
   In other news, a protest to the Federal Communications
 Commission's ban on so called low power micro broadcasters has
 been dismissed by a San Francisco federal appeals court.  That
 court says the case belongs in a lower court first.
   The FCC's refusal to license radio stations less than 100 watts
 is being challenged by William Dougan of Phoenix, Arizona.
 Dougan's half-watt transmitter was shut down by the commission
 back in 1992.
   Dougan's lawyer said his client broadcast for about a month to
 the 600 residents of his mobile home park before the FCC ordered
 him to stop.  Dougan was also fined $17,500.
   In his filing to the court, Dougan argued that the ban on
 low power radio stations is unneeded for orderly regulation of
 broadcasting.  He also claimed that it violates his freedom of
 expression and reserves the airwaves for the wealthy.  But the
 FCC responded by saying it was acting within its legal authority
 to apportion the limited number of frequencies available.
   Without discussing those arguments, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
 of Appeals on Wednesday April 20th said suits challenging FCC
 forfeitures, such as Dougan's fine, can be filed only in a U.S.
 District Court.  The District Court ruling can then be appealed
 back to the 9th Circuit.
   Dougan filed his suit in the appeals court, which directly
 reviews rulings by a number of federal agencies.  But the court,
 in a 3 to 0 ruling by Judge Cecil Poole, said it had no
 jurisdiction in the case.
 
(*****
         FCC URGED TO RAISE FINES ON INDECENT BROADCASTS
 
   In the nations capitol members od Congress are telling the
 Federal Communications Commission that it should impose higher
 fines on broadcasters who use indecent language on the air.
   The FCC has already fined shock jock Howard Stern and the
 company that broadcasts his programs over $1 million for using
 indecent language in his programs.  Stern and the company are
 appealing the fines, saying they violate free speech protection.
   But FCC Chairman Reed Hundt is saying that even if higher
 monetary forfeitures are mandated, the commission lacks the
 resources to handle all its responsibilities.  Hundt told a House
 of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Monday
 April 18 that a staff shortage was hindering efforts to handle
 license and merger applications and to increase competition in
 telecommunications and cable TV.  Hunt added that FCC resources
 are not sufficient to achieve the agency's goals.  He would like
 another 200 full time staff to join the 2,050 now on staff.  The
 Office of Management and Budget must approve any such staffing
 request.
 
(*****
                       KY1T FIRED BY ARRL
 
   Another story making news here at Hamvention '94 is the firing
 two weeks ago of Luck Hurder, KY1T, Deputy Manager for the ARRL's
 Field Services Department.  No specific details of the
 circumstances leading up to Hurder's dismissal been made public by
 the American Radio Relay League.  The unofficial word on the
 convention floor is that his firing was over a directive by his
 superiors at headquarters for Hurder to first consult with them
 before posting information or responses on various public bulletin
 board and Electronic Mail systems he was assigned to operate for
 the League.
   In his last year of service in Newington, Hurder devoted a
 considerable amount of time answering questions on various
 commercial e-mail systems like Genie, Prodigy and America Online.
 He even serves as the assistant SySop on the America Online ham
 radio board in addition to having been the operations director of
 the ARRL's own public access board.
   No successor has yet been named to replace KY1T.
 
(*****
                          900 MHz PAGING
 
   The FCC has released the text of a rule making order that
 grants channel exclusivity to several classifications of 930 MHz
 paging systems.  Under the new rules, paging system licensees may
 qualify for channel exclusivity by constructing systems consisting
 of a specified minimum number of channels.  There are three sub
 categories that fall under the new rules. These are local,
 regional and national.
   The commission says that it intends to protect qualified local
 and regional applicants from interference by applying minimum
 separation standards of co-channel national systems. It will also
 act to prevent the hoarding of frequencies by limiting applicants
 to one exclusive frequency assignment at a time.
 
(*****
                            DL HACKER
 
   On the international scene, word that German police have
 cracked down on a nationwide ring of computer hackers who found a
 way to telephone around the world without being billed.  The
 regional criminal office in Munich said U.S. telephone companies
 alone had suffered millions of dollars in lost revenue because the
 ring had used computers to tap into networks illegally and make
 phone calls.
   In a coordinated search, police raided the homes of about 60
 suspected hackers all over Germany. Some were identified as being
 ham radio enthusiasts, though no call signs were given.
 
(*****
                           HUNGARIAN TV
 
   Commercial TV may be just around the corner in Hungary -- if
 the political and legislative embargo that has kept the broadcast
 sector hamstrung since 1989 finally comes to an end.  Executives
 at the long suffering TV Channel 3, a Budapest regional station
 with a license but no frequency to broadcast, has yet to receive
 word as to when a frequency will be allocated.  Up until now,
 Hungary's private TV and radio industry has been stymied by a ban,
 imposed by parliament in 1989, on the issuance of broadcast
 licenses.  Parliament has vowed not to lift this nationwide ban
 until the government formulates acceptable post communist
 legislation regulating the nation's electronic media sector --
 something Hungary's ruling coalition has yet to do after four
 years in power.  Parliament did agree last year to partially lift
 this moratorium and permit the establishment of private radio and
 TV stations in local and regional markets.  It was during this
 period that Channel 3 received official sanction to begin
 broadcasting in Budapest.
 
(*****
                              DX
 
   In DX, look for Saint Marten on the air from May 24th to 30th.
 VP2ML, and AH0W will be signing PJ7/WB2CHO and PJ7/OH2LVG
 respectively.  They will also team up to operate in the CQ WPX CW
 Contest as PJ8X.  QSL PJ7 via K1RH.
 
(*****
                       RAFFERTY MEMORIAL
 
   Closer to home, word that the memorial fund raising by the
 Northern California DX Foundation for Jim Rafferty, N6RJ, who died
 in June of 1993 raised nearly $8,000 from 125 individuals and
 organizations.  The donors' call signs or organizational names
 were inscribed on a plaque presented to Jim's widow, Shirley
 Rafferty.  The plaque will eventually be displayed at the Anaheim,
 California Ham Radio Outlet store where the Jim worked.
 
(*****
                        RCA TO THOMPSON
 
   Finally, do any of you know the name of the dog listening to
 the phonograph in the old RCA Logo?  We will have that piece of
 information in a moment.  But first this related story about a
 well known midwest radio club has decided to change its name to
 reflect the corporate image of the company that it is allied to.
   The RCA Radio Club of Indianapolis, Indiana has been re-named
 the Thompson Amateur Radio Club for two reasons.  First, it is the
 French owned Thompson that actually manufactures RCA brand label
 consumer products in North America.  Even more important is the
 fact that the General Electric Company owns the rights to both the
 RCA name and the well known RCA dog and phonograph logo which for
 a long time have adorned the masthead of the club newsletter.
 Some club members were reportedly concerned over the possibility
 of legal action by General Electric.  As far as we can determine
 GE never said a word but rather that take a chance the RCA name
 was dropped and replaced by Thompson.
   And oh yes.  The name of the dog in the old RCA logo was
 Nipper.
 
(*****
 
   For this week, that is all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.
 You can write to us at Post Office Box 463 in Pasadena, CA
 91102.
 
(* * * Newsline Copyright 1994 all rights are reserved. * * *
