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NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #890 - POSTED 09/03/94
 
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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
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 NETWORK.  For current information updates, please call
 
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             Electronic Hardcopy Version of Newsline
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        In bulletin number 36
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        In bulletin number 6 of the ham radio conference
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        In 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
 KU8R N8DTN W9JUV KC9RP K9XI KB5KCH KC5UD KC0HF G8AUU WD0AKO DJ0QN
 and many others in the United States and around the globe!!!
 
(****************************************************************
 
[890]
 
   Newsline report number 890, for release on Friday, September
 2nd, 1994 to follow.
 
                    The following is a QST
 
   As the dollar continues to slide in value against Japan's yen,
 the price of buying a rig goes up.  An in-depth report on Newsline
 report number 890 coming your way right now!
 
(*****
                YEN VS. DOLLAR AFFECTS HAM GEAR
 
   If you've priced new ham gear lately, you already know that
 getting that dream radio takes a bigger bank account than ever.
 Since you're paying more, that means equipment manufacturers are
 laughing all the way to the bank, right?  Not necessarily.
 Industry leaders are caught in a financial squeeze of their
 own.
   One of the Southeast's most popular ham radio conventions is
 the Huntsville Hamfest.  Many of amateur radio's major
 manufacturers attend, setting up booths and showing their latest
 products.  At this year's Hamfest the weekend of August 20th, one
 big company many hams expected to see did not show up.  Others
 companies that did attend brought smaller contingents of people
 than has been common.  Evelyn Garrison, WS7A, is President of
 Evelyn Garrison and Associates.  She sez these are the kinds of
 changes hams can expect to see more of in the future.
 
   "One thing you're going to see is a lot less show
 participation, a lot less manufacturers events being held at
 dealer levels.  And when you go to a show you see a lot few hats,
 bags, and things people expect as freebies and promotional items
 from the manufacturers because they because they can't afford it.
 Yesterday one of the major manufacturers came here at about 4:00
 o'clock in the afternoon to start setting up, because they flew
 all the way from the west coast to setup last night so they didn't
 have an extra day at the hotel.  They had two people working the
 both, where they used to have four or five."  Garrison, WS7A.
 
   The amateur radio industry general sales slump continues.
 Getting most of the blame is the dollar's constant fluctuation
 with the Japanese yen.  Sales of so called big ticket items, HF
 rigs, which bring the most profit are off sharply.  It's not
 enough to counter the much smaller profits made from sales of
 handheld radios.
 
   "In the past when the yen was 250 yen to the dollar, it wasn't
 much of a change when 10 or 15 yen either way in fluctuation.  Now
 days it is about a 100 yen to the dollar, when the yen changes 1
 or 2 either way it makes a big difference on radios.
 Unfortunately the manufacturers and dealers have been making a
 little less margin and I think in the very near future the prices
 will have to correct themselves.  Unfortunately they will probably
 have to go up slightly."  Kevin Karamanos, WD6DIH, with Yaesu USA.
 
   Sales are off so sharply that some dealers are selling below
 cost.  Again, Evelyn Garrison.
 
   "They're takin' their fast pay discount or if somethings are
 fairly old product and has sat there for a while, and haven't paid
 the manufacturer they are definitely turning it around on a cost
 or below cost.  Which means the one trying to make a little profit
 to stay in business has to sell at that price too."  Garrison
 
   That may seem like good news if you plan to buy, but Garrison
 warns about long term consequences.
 
   "Well it's great for them today, but what's going to happen
 next year when they have no radio dealer in business to talk to?"
 Garrison
 
   So how is the industry getting by for now?  The industry is
 staying afloat thanks to the no-code ham.
 
   "They're buying the handheld and luckily staying in business,
 but we need to upgrade those people so they buy the hf units."
 Garrison
 
   While American sales are hurting, some dealers notice a
 pleasant side effect.  Martin Jue is president of MFJ Enterprises.
 
   "I don't have any hard numbers but I know that were selling
 more into Japan now."  Jue, President of MFJ Enterprises.
 
   Despite the hard times, industry leaders still think
 positively.  With the holidays getting closer, manufacturers
 believe sales will pick up.  What they hope for most of all, is
 that new hams will upgrade and head to the low bands with shiny
 new HF rigs that continue to climb in price.
   The bottom line.  We've reported it before.  As the dollars
 value declines relative to the yen, the price of all equipment
 made in Japan, including ham gear, will continue to climb.
 
(*****
                      MAGNOLIA REPORT RIP
 
   As if to emphasize the problems of surviving in todays Amateur
 Radio marketplace, word that another ham radio publication has
 called it quits.  After six years in the business, editors of The
 Magnolia Report ham radio newsletter are shutting down.  Editor
 Hank Downey, K5QNE, says the newsletter's August edition is The
 Magnolia Report's final issue.  In a message to readers Downey,
 cited declines in readership and advertisers coupled with rising
 production costs as the primary reason for the Magnolia Report
 going away.
   The Magnolia Report was based in Jackson, Mississippi and had
 readers in nearly two dozen states.  It's also the second major
 publication to go under in the last twelve months.  Less than a
 year ago the Miami based Amateur Communications Magazine ceased
 publication after a four and a half year run.
 
(*****
                       POLICE INTERFERENCE
 
   The FCC has been busy tracing down interference problems.  In
 Texas, it teamed up with the Baytown Police Department to solve an
 interference problem to the police repeater station.  Commission
 engineers out of Houston tracked the interfering signal to a
 nearby dock where a cement manufacturer was using a radio control
 device to operate a crane loading concrete onto ships.  The FCC
 inspectors discovered that the vendor of the crane control was a
 Swedish company that had no equipment authorization for marketing
 its radio control system in the United States.  The crane operator
 ceased use of the device, but he also warned the FCC that the
 Swedish equipment was finding wide-spread albeit unlicensed use
 here in the U.S.A.
 
(*****
                         911 INTERFERENCE
 
   The Ferndale Washington FCC Office has solved a strange
 complaint that 911 emergency telephone service and communications
 to fire department units in the Skagit County, Washington, area
 were being blocked by Canadian truckers.  In years past, the FCC
 has had problems with Canadian truckers using frequencies not
 authorized in lower British Columbia near the city of Vancouver
 that interfere with U.S. stations.
   But in this case the truckers were not the problem.  In fact,
 FCC engineers drove 300 miles to the problem area.  Using mobile
 monitoring they did not detect any interfering signals from the
 trucks.  Later they located the interference problem as
 originating in the fire departments own radio equipment.
 
(*****
                  EMERGENCY LOCATOR TRANSMITTER
 
   The Federal Aviation Administration enlisted the assistance of
 the FCC after an interference problem to two aviation distress
 calling frequencies turned up in the area of the Detroit City
 Airport.  Engineers from the local office, using mobile
 direction-finding equipment, were able to determine the source of
 interference on both frequencies were coming from the same hangar
 on the airport property.  Using hand held receivers, they were
 then able to pinpoint the offending transmitter mounted aboard an
 unattended, single engine Grumman American aircraft.  The problem?
 A malfunctioning emergency locator transmitter they was quickly
 shut down.
 
(******
                          PIRATE APPEAL
 
   A legal defense organization has come to the aid of an
 unlicensed broadcaster.  One of its lawyers says that the
 government does not have the right to control the activities of
 so-called micro-broadcasters.
   Another unlicensed broadcaster who has already been fined
 $20,000 says that the government has no right to regulate his
 operations.  Attorney Louis Hiken of the San Francisco based
 National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communications says
 that the FCC punitive action taken against Stephen P. Dunifer is
 grossly disproportionate given the nature of his clients alleged
 offenses.
   About a year ago, Dunifer was dinged with the fine for
 operating a so-called pirate station known as Radio Free Berkley.
 Dunifer is a strong advocate of what he calls low power micro
 broadcasting.  These he describes as local stations running ten
 watts of power or less.  So he operated his own micro broadcast
 station until he was put off the air by the FCC.
   Now his attorney says that the FCC policies on which the
 forfeiture to Dunifer was assessed are illegal.  This is because
 he believes they constitute prior restraint which he says is
 prohibited by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the
 United States.  He also claims that the regulations on which the
 fine is based violate both Due Process and Equil Protection.
 This, because they discriminate against minorities and the poor,
 and do not provide for adequate representation of counsel or
 opportunity for a hearing or administrative review.
   Attorney Hiken says that the policies involved exceed the
 FCC's constitutional authority and are inconstant with the FCC's
 established guidelines and functions.  He wants the fine levied
 against Dunifer rescinded at once.
   According to news reports, the National Lawyers Committee on
 Democratic Communications is prepared to fight the Dunifer case
 all the way through the federal courts.
 
(*****
                      NEW 10 GHZ DX RECORD
 
   WB6CWN reports that he has set a new North American 10 GHz DX
 record.  That contact took place on August 25th over a path of 698
 miles to N6XQ portable XE2 who was operating at 2000' in the
 Sierra Los Indios Mountains on the Vizciano Peninsula of Baja
 California, Mexico.  WB6CWN was in the Central California coastal
 range on 5200' Santa Rita Peak.
   The record breaking path was approximately 1/3 over land and
 2/3 over water.  The communications methods employed included both
 troposcatter and ducting.  For equipment WB6CWN ran 15 Watts from
 a Traveling Wave Tube amplifier into a 4' dish.  On the other end,
 N6XQ's rig put out 1 Watt into a 4' dish.  The CW contact took
 place at sundown and took about 2 hours to complete.
   The previous North American 10 GHz record of 635 miles was held
 between N6XQ portable XE2 operating near the same location in
 Baja and WA6CGR near Pt. Sal on the California Coast.
 
(*****
                   TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP PLANNED
 
   Amateurs in the Washington, DC area have announced an ambitious
 plan to sponsor a second World Radiosport Team Championship in
 July of 1995.  The event will be patterned after the games held in
 Seattle in 1990.  This time, instead of being a stand-alone radio
 event, WRTC '95 will be held in conjunction with the IARU High
 Frequency World Championship contest held annually in July.
   Competitors will be two operator teams with both members of a
 team must live in the same ITU zone.  The administrators of the
 event will accept applications from interested competitors, both
 individuals and teams, until December 31, 1994.  Selected teams
 and alternate operators will be notified by the Administration in
 the spring of 1995.  The organizers also hope to be able to
 accommodate alternate teams and additional zone teams in some
 manner.
 
(*****
                   RADIO FREE EUROPE TO MOVE
 
   Word that Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, two pillars of
 Cold War-era broadcasting, will move to new quarters in the former
 parliament building in Prague.  President Clinton says that he has
 accepted an offer from Czech President Vaclav Havel's for use of
 the building.
   The two stations have had their headquarters in Munich,
 Germany, for four decades, beaming their broadcasts into the
 communist world.  President Clinton says that the change eastward
 symbolizes the transformation to democracy that has come with the
 collapse of communist governments and the end of the partition of
 Europe between West and East.  President Clinton noted that his
 acceptance of President Havel's offer is subject to final
 congressional approval.
 
(*****
                          DXAC VOTE
 
   In DX, word that the League's DX Advisory Committee has voted
 to reject a proposed revision of the DXCC Rules to reinforce
 rules against the unethical action of making a contact for DXCC
 purposes with a call sign other than that issued to the operator.
 The majority felt that this could adversely affect club and other
 multi-operator stations including DXpeditions.  The minority felt
 that this rule change was necessary to prevent observed abuses.
   The DXAC also rejected a petition for new DXCC country
 status for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.  DXAC members
 stated that the TRNC did not meet DXCC Criteria Point 1.  That
 criteria concerns Government.
 
(*****
                          UK RESCUE
 
   Our congratulations to ham radio hero Ron Oswald, G7PIP of
 Hastings, England.  Back on July 17th, Oswald intercepted a
 distress call from a yacht of the coast of Great Britain.  The
 Captain of the vessel Aoda informed G7PIP that he had lost the
 ships rudder.  Oswald immediately contacted the Coast Guard
 Station in Dover.  It came on frequency but was not able to hear
 the stricken craft.  So G7PIP stayed on frequency to relay
 information.  The Coast Guard launched a rescue helicopter that
 located the crippled yacht.  All on board were rescued and the
 yacht was safely towed to shore as a result of the efforts of Ron
 Oswald, G7PIP.
 
(*****
 
   And for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.
 You can write to us at:
                        NEWSLINE
                        P.O. Box 463
                        Pasadena, California
                        91102
 
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