
The ARRL Letter
Electronic Update
March 22, 1996
__________________________________

IN THIS UPDATE:

* League suggests short-term suspensions for violators
* ARRL responds to spread spectrum petition comments
* Arrest made in murder of ham couple
* Hams help after Alabama tornado
* 1996 Hamvention awards announced
* DXpedition scores to count in club competition
* 10-GHz competition expanded
* Sunspots remain practically nil
* Leo S. Stafford, W0BLR, SK
* In Brief: KF2PJ is new ENY SM; Clarification of
   FD dates; AWA on the Web; N6TX to be
   Hamvention banquet speaker; another ham astronaut
__________________________________

ARRL TO FCC:  SHORT-TERM SUSPENSIONS AN ANSWER

The League thinks the FCC should have statutory authority to suspend ham 
licenses for up to six months, once the Commission has good reason to 
believe an operator has grossly violated the rules. In comments filed in 
response to an FCC Notice of Inquiry seeking ways to streamline the 
Commission's administrative activities, the ARRL said short-term suspensions 
would be one way for the FCC to address malicious interference and other 
serious rule violations "without delay and expense." The League maintained 
the suspensions would be a viable deterrent.

Under the League's scenario, the FCC also would be able to immediately 
modify an Amateur Radio license to preclude operation on certain frequency 
bands or at certain times of day, also for up to six months.

In its filing, the League said that most of the 650,000 hams in the country 
behave themselves on the air and obey the regulations, and the Amateur 
Service "requires little enforcement effort." The ARRL pointed to the 
volunteer examination program as a model of self-regulation. However, the 
League said that in recent years, the FCC--and especially its Compliance and 
Information Bureau--has been "completely ineffective" in providing a 
meaningful enforcement presence for the few who flout the law, and this has 
led to an increase in instances of malicious interference. "Since 1983, 
there have been virtually no enforcement actions taken by FCC in the Amateur 
Service," the League's filing states. In recent years, the League said, hams 
have viewed the FCC as a "paper tiger" that fails to act "in even the most 
egregious" cases.

"There is no substitute for Commission action in certain types of compliance 
cases," the ARRL said in urging the FCC seek authority for the reforms.

In other matters, the League criticized the FCC for continuing to "focus on 
the symptom rather than the cause" of home-electronic equipment 
interference, even though it has authority to do so. The League urged the 
FCC to require manufacturers to put notices on products indicating they are 
subject to harmful interference, and to provide interference-resolution 
information and contact representatives for RFI resolution. The ARRL said it 
was not optimistic that the pilot privatized interference resolution program 
would work, since it puts the burden of resolving the interference problem 
on the consumer, not the manufacturer.

The League also recommended establishing a cadre of volunteers who would use 
their skills to resolve interference problems involving other radio 
services, provided volunteers could be guaranteed some protection from 
lawsuits.

The League further suggested the FCC reduce its administrative burden by 
adopting the ARRL's Petition for Rule Making, RM-8677, which asks the FCC to 
implement the Inter-American Convention on an International Amateur Radio 
Permit (IARP). This could eliminate the burden of processing reciprocal 
license applications of hams visiting from elsewhere in the hemisphere. The 
ARRL also suggested that the US take advantage of the European Conference of 
Postal and Telecommunications Administrations' (CEPT) Recommendation T/R 
61-01 arrangements and issue a CEPT license that would be recognized by 
other participating administrations and valid for visits.

The League's comments conclude by observing that the Commission's NOI 
"signals to the League an intention to reduce the Commission's functions to 
the role of auditor and mediator, rather than regulator," and calling this 
"a positive trend for the Amateur Service."

LEAGUE RESPONDS TO COMMENTS IN SPREAD SPECTRUM PETITION

The ARRL says its petition to relax spread spectrum rules seeks to address a 
lack of SS experimentation by hams, not too much spread spectrum. Responding 
to comments filed in response to its December rule making petition, RM-8737, 
the League emphasized that Amateur Radio--as an experimental 
service--requires flexible rules and "some trust of the licensees carrying 
out experiments."

Noting that some commenters called for tighter rules on SS, the League 
sought to dispel fears that relaxing the rules on spread spectrum would lead 
to an increase in the noise floor in bands used by narrowband modes. The 
League said most opposing commenters "ignore the fact that some amateur 
bands already are occupied by Part 15 spread spectrum devices," many near 
ham stations. Additional constraints would hinder hams from keeping up with 
spread spectrum developments and prevent maximizing spectrum efficiency, the 
League's filing asserted. The ARRL said its petition "suggests only a modest 
deregulatory effort."

The League's Petition for Rule Making seeks relaxed restrictions on 
spreading sequences and greater flexibility in spreading modulation. The 
spread spectrum technique, which distributes information among several 
synchronized frequencies within a band at the transmitter and reassembles 
the information at the receiver, was first approved for Amateur Radio in 
1985 for bands above 225 MHz, and there has been some experimental amateur 
operation since then.

The petition proposes that the FCC permit brief spread-spectrum test 
transmissions and allow international spread-spectrum communication between 
amateurs in the US and those in countries that permit hams to use 
spread-spectrum techniques. The current rules allow only domestic 
communication. The petition also asks for automatic power-control provisions 
to insure use of minimum necessary power to conduct spread-spectrum 
communication and limit the potential for interference to narrowband modes. 
The petition does not ask for any changes in frequency restrictions on SS 
emissions, the 100-W power limit or logging and identification requirements. 
The League calls the proposals "the minimum necessary changes in order to 
foster SS experimentation in the Amateur Service."

Those filing comments supportive of spread spectrum included the Tucson 
Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR); Robert A. Buaas, K6KGS, and John 
Mock, KD6PAG. Commenting in opposition were the Indiana Repeater Council; 
Henry B. Ruh, KB9FO; the Wisconsin Association of Repeaters; the Mid-America 
Coordination Council Inc; the Southern California Repeater and Remote Base 
Association; the San Bernardino Microwave Society and the Southeastern 
Repeater Association Inc.

ARREST MADE IN MURDER OF HAM COUPLE

Authorities in Louisiana have arrested an 18-year-old man in the brutal 
slayings of former ARRL Delta Director Floyd Teetson, W5MUG, and his wife 
Winnie, WN5YTR. Webster Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff's Department Investigator 
Gary Valentine said Kevin Coleman of Heflin, Louisiana, who used to do yard 
work for the couple, was arrested March 18 and charged with two counts of 
homicide. "He's made a confession, and we have recovered some of the 
property that was taken," Valentine said. "He had been a suspect since the 
night the bodies were found." Coleman already was behind bars at the Webster 
Jail in Minden when he was arrested. He was serving a sentence on an 
unrelated traffic charge, a deputy said.

According to Valentine, robbery was the apparent motive in the killings. 
Authorities recovered jewelry and valuables that had been taken from the 
Teetsons' home. They also recovered a knife and a length of pipe believed 
used in the killings. Valentine said Coleman struck while the couple was at 
home, apparently hoping the Teetsons would tell him where they kept other 
valuables and money.

Coleman is being held without bond. The case is to be presented to a Webster 
Parish grand jury, which will decide whether to indict.

The couple's family had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to 
the arrest and successful prosecution of the couple's killer. The Teetsons' 
bodies were found outside their home near Heflin, Louisiana, February 23. 
Authorities believe the couple died two days earlier.

Valentine said the Teetsons' fellow ham radio operators helped authorities 
by offering what they knew about the Teetsons' activities. He said Coleman's 
arrest was a relief for both the community and authorities. The Teetsons' 
friend, Ernie Brown, W5FYZ, offered similar sentiments: "We are all relieved 
that this crime has been solved. Perhaps the community can begin to get back 
to 'normal,' even though it will never be the same without Floyd and 
Winfred," he said. People in the Teetsons' neighborhood "feel like a great 
weight has been lifted from their shoulders."

Floyd served as ARRL Delta Division director in 1962 and '63. Prior to that, 
he was the SCM of Mississippi (1960-61). He was an Honor Roll DXer and 
active contester and had been a member of several multi-op contest teams 
operating from various Caribbean DX sites. The Teetsons were active ARRL 
members.

Valentine said he did not know the Teetsons, but in the wake of the grueling 
investigation that led to Coleman's arrest, he said he felt "like I'm a 
member of the family." Valentine called the crime a tragedy all around, 
"even for this young man and his family."

HAMS HELP AFTER ALABAMA TORNADO

Ham radio was there when a bad storm hit Selma, Alabama, March 3. One person 
was killed and about 45 people were hurt by the storm, which spawned 
tornadoes, high winds and heavy rains. Violent winds ripped down trees and 
utility poles, peeled pieces off roofs and twisted an 800-foot broadcast 
tower into crumpled metal. The coordinator of emergency services for Dallas 
County, Alabama, told the media that ham radio operators assisted by 
reporting on damage to dwellings, including reports of mobile homes that 
exploded, overturned or were blown into nearby trees. Hams also reported 10 
other mobile homes destroyed at a 50-home park north of Selma.--Amateur 
Radio Newsline

DAYTON HAMVENTION ANNOUNCES 1996 AWARD WINNERS

William A. (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, has been named Hamvention 1996 Amateur of the 
Year by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association. Tynan, who now serves as 
president of AMSAT-NA, long has championed the cause of VHF/UHF enthusiasts 
worldwide. For 18 years, he was editor of QST's "The World above 50 MHz" 
column, where he helped nurture new communication techniques, encourage DX 
performance and improve contesting rules on the VHF/UHF bands. He also 
pioneered the establishment of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation 
(AMSAT). From the launch of OSCAR-6 to the present, Tynan has sacrificed 
much of his personal time, talent and resources to the promotion and 
development of the amateur satellite program. His vision continues with the 
advent of the Phase 3-D project, set for launch in December.

John Kraus, W8JK, is this year's Hamvention Special Achievement award 
winner. Kraus' contributions to advancements in antenna design continue to 
be enjoyed today by many Amateur Radio operators. Over the years, Kraus 
invented several antennas, but he's perhaps best known for the W8JK beam. 
Other Kraus designs include the helical antenna and his most-recognizable 
"Big Ear" antenna. In fact, with the building of the "Big Ear" antenna came 
the "Wow" signal, an apparently extraterrestrial signal that remains to be 
explained. During his tenure as a professor at Ohio State University, Kraus 
also authored many articles and textbooks.

William (Bill) I. Orr, W6SAI, has been named the Hamvention s Technical 
Excellence award winner. Orr has inspired new and veteran amateurs alike 
with his consistent encouragement and technical expertise. Among his 
publications that have become ham-shack standards are The Radio Handbook, 
The Beam Antenna Handbook, The Quad Antenna Handbook, and The UHF-VHF 
Manual. An EIMAC engineer, Orr has gone beyond the call of duty by 
personally answering technical questions and supplying schematics to curious 
Amateur Radio builders. Orr writes the "Radio Fundamentals" in CQ magazine. 
After he announced his retirement last year, hundreds of letters prompted 
him to reconsider.--DARA

DXPEDITION SCORES TO COUNT IN CLUB COMPETITION

The ARRL Contest Advisory Committee and the ARRL Awards Committee have voted 
in favor of adding DXpedition scores to the club aggregate competition 
totals for active affiliated clubs in the ARRL International DX Contest, 
starting with the 1997 event. The current rule requiring that single guest 
operators and the station licensee be members of the same club, has been 
waived for DXpeditions only. The requirement that at least 66% of the 
operators in a multi-operator entry be members of the same club for the 
club's score to count, remains in effect, as do all other club-competition 
rules.

10-GHZ CUMULATIVE CONTEST EXPANDED

The ARRL Awards Committee has voted unanimously to accept a Contest Advisory 
Committee recommendation to add the bands above 10 GHz to the ARRL 10-GHz 
Cumulative Contest, to encourage use of the upper microwave bands.

This year, the 10-GHz cumulatives run August 17-18 and September 21-22. In 
the past, entries have not been divided into categories. Effective this 
year, however, there will be two entry categories, 10 GHz only and 10 GHz 
and above.

Scoring is based on distance points and QSO points. Distance points are 
earned at the rate of 1 point for each km between stations for each 
successfully completed QSO. Count 100 QSO points for each different (unique) 
call sign worked per band.  (Portable indicators added to a call sign do not 
make the call sign unique.) Your total score is the sum of distance points 
and QSO points. There are no multipliers.

Details will be announced in June 1996 QST.

OL' SOL DEPRESSED, DISTURBED

Solar observer Tad Cook, KT7H, reports solar flux and sunspot numbers have 
held fairly steady during early March. March 11 was quite disturbed, with 
the K index as high as 6 and an A index of 28 for the day. Conditions are 
expected to become unsettled again on March 22-23 and April 6-7.

Expect solar flux values to continue to drift between 70 and 75 while we're 
at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. The latest projection from the NOAA 
Space Environment Service Center shows the sunspot number bottoming out 
between April and June of this year, and the solar flux reaching minimum 
between December, 1996, and February, 1997. For the solar flux, this is a 
bit sooner than any previously forecast. Two years out look for average flux 
values about 20 points higher than they are now, perhaps in the mid to high 
nineties.

Sunspot numbers for March 7-13 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 18, 27 and 24, with a mean 
of 9.9. The 10.7-cm solar flux was 67.8, 69.8, 67.5, 69.1, 71.8, 73.2 and 
71.3, with a mean of 70.1.

LEO S. STAFFORD, W0BLR, SK

Leo Stafford, W0BLR, of Pittsburg, Kansas, a VHF pioneer, ham radio veteran 
and broadcasting professional died February 18, 1996. He was 88. Stafford 
worked at KWTO and KGBX in Springfield, Missouri, and later at KOAM in 
Pittsburg, Kansas. He also supervised the construction of KOAM-TV (Channel 
7) in Pittsburg, and spent 35 years as KOAM-TV supervisor, before retiring 
in 1973. First licensed in the 1930s, he was a pioneer in VHF FM in Kansas. 
Stafford was a charter member of the Pittsburg Repeater Organization.-- H. 
Carrol King, W0WRQ

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IN BRIEF:

* Robert G. "Rob" Leiden, KF2PJ, of Glenville, New York, has been appointed 
section manager of Eastern New York to complete the unexpired term of Paul 
Vydareny, WB2VUK. In January, Vydareny was elevated to Hudson Division 
Director when Steve Mendelsohn, WA2DHF, was elected ARRL First Vice 
President. Leiden is employed by Lockheed-Martin and holds a degree in 
physics from Union College and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 
He's a member of the Schenectady Amateur Radio Association Board of Director 
and a former Chairman of the Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association. 
Leiden will retain the existing section staff. He's also appointed Elmer 
Sharp, WA2YSM, of Poughkeepsie, as Technical Coordinator for ENY. Sharp can 
be reached at 914-471-0946 or at 24 Walnut Hill Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603.

* Just so there's no confusion over the dates for ARRL Field Day this year: 
the competition is always the fourth full weekend in June, which means it's 
June 22-23 this time around, and thus will not conflict with Father's Day, 
which is Sunday, June 16.

* The Antique Wireless Association is now on the Internet. Point your 
browser to http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/. The AWA home page features a 
picture of the building housing both the Antique Wireless Association's, 
Radio Communication Museum and the Bloomfield, New York, Historical Society. 
Bruce Kelley, W2ICE, is the AWA museum's curator. The museum is devoted to 
research, preservation and documentation of the history of wireless 
communication. A wide range of historical communication equipment is on 
display, much of it still in working order.--James R. Frederick, K2GBR

* SETI League Executive Director H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, will be the banquet 
speaker at the Dayton Hamvention May 17-19 at the Hara Arena and Exhibition 
Center, Dayton, Ohio. The banquet is Saturday, May 18, at the Convention 
Center in downtown Dayton. Shuch, a professor of electronics at the 
Pennsylvania College of Technology, has turned his microwave expertise 
toward the search for intelligent life in space. A poet, songwriter and 
guitarist, Shuch can be expected to surprise his Hamvention banquet audience 
with a few new songs. The SETI League is a non-profit group set up to 
support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence without government 
funds.--The SETI League Inc

* Astronaut Carl Walz (Lt Col USAF), KC5TIE, an EVA specialist on Atlantis 
shuttle flight STS-79 set for launch in August, passed his Technician test 
in March. He and astronaut Jay Apt, N5QWL, will operate SAREX during the 
mission to ferry scientific equipment to the Russian Mir orbital complex. 
Carl, who studied for Elements 2 and 3A while on an airliner returning from 
training in Russia, said he found it much easier to grasp than the 
Russian-language training the crew has been taking for the past year. Jay 
studied for his VE certification on the same flight and participated in 
Carl's ARRL VEC test session along with Jim Heil, KB5AWM, and Ken Wood, 
KS5R. As Carl was leaving the test session, his comment, "Now we're 
talking," was well-received by the VE crew. More than 40 astronauts have 
become Amateur Radio operators.--Jim Heil, KB5AWM

===========================================================

The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main 
St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J. 
Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.

Electronic edition circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail 
kcapodicasa@arrl.org.
Editorial, Rick Lindquist, KX4V, e-mail rlindquist@arrl.org.

The purpose of The ARRL Letter is to provide the essential news of interest 
to active, organizationally minded radio amateurs faster than it can be 
disseminated by our official journal, QST. We strive to be fast, accurate 
and readable in our reporting.

Material from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any 
form, including photoreproduction and electronic databanks, provided that 
credit is given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.


