
SB NEWSLIN @ ALLBBS $NLIN.969
Amateur Radio Newsline #969 10 MAR 1996

The Newsline Information and Copyright Notice is now published seperately
every month.  Please read this notice before using any part of Newsline in
any manner.  For a copy of the notice e-mail bigsteve@dorsai.org or netmail
Steve Coletti @ 1:278/230 on Fidonet.

NEWSLINE RADIO - CBBS EDITION #969 - POSTED 03/10/96


   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.  Amateur
Radio Newsline is a audio news service distributed via telephone.

   This hardcopy version is produced by Dale Cary - WD0AKO from scripts
provided to him weekly by Newsline.  It is then distributed to on-line
services, bbs networks and internet user jointly by Dale Cary and Steve
Coletti.

   Editorial comments, news item and all other business should be
directed to:

                 Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF
                 Newsline Producer & Editor 

            Internet E-mail: 3241437@mcimail.com
                 MCI E-mail: WESTRADIO
                      Phone: (805) 296-7180
                        Fax: (805) 296-7180
                             (Fax senders wait for voice prompt.)


   Hardcopy comments or complements can be directed to:

                 Dale Cary, WD0AKO
                 Hardcopy Distribution for Newsline

            Internet E-mail: wd0ako@rrnet.com
                 MCI E-mail: DCARY
                      Phone: (218) 236-6324


   The audio version of Newsline can be recorded from one of the
currently operating lines listed below.  This list is kept as accurate
as possible.  If any changes are not listed, please contact Dale Cary,
WD0AKO at the above listed addresses.


                    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.......................... (718) 284-0752
     Melbourne, Florida..................... (407) 768-7447
     Houston, Texas......................... (713) 362-4650
     Conroe, Texas.......................... (409) 525-6250

             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
      MicroSoft Network.......... Amateur Radio File Library
      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, Intelec, I-Link, AR-Net and Fringenet.

                   True Speech Internet Site                          
                   =========================
                 http://www.scott.net/~wa4fat

   For the latest breaking info call the Instant Update Line listed
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is given to AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE as being the source.

   For further information about the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, please
write to us with an S.A.S.E. at: 

                      NEWSLINE
                      c/o Andy Jarema-N6TCQ
                      P.O.Box 660937
                      Arcadia, CA
                      91066

                                             Thank You,
                                             NEWSLINE

(*********************************************************************


Some of the hams of AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE:

WA6ITF WB6MQV WB6FDF K6DUE W6RCL N6AHU N6AWE N6TCQ K6PGX N6PNY KU8R
N8DTN W9JUV KC9RP K9XI KB4KCH KC5UD KC0HF G8AUU WD0AKO DJ0QN and many
others in the United States and around the globe!!!

(*********************************************************************
[969]

(* * * *   C L O S E D   C I R C U I T   A D V I S O R Y   * * * *
(*                                                               *
(*      The following advisory is not for transmission over      *
(*   amateur radio.  This is just a reminder that the address    *
(*   for the Newsline Support Fund is:                           *
(*                                                               *
(*                       NEWSLINE SUPPORT FUND                   *
(*                       c/o Andy Jarema-N6TCQ                   *
(*                       P.O.Box 660937                          *
(*                       Arcadia, California                     *
(*                       91066                                   *
(*                                                               *
(*      Again and as always, we thank you.  This ends the        *
(*   closed circuit with Newsline report number 969 for release  *
(*   on Friday, March 8, 1996 to follow.                         *
(*                                                               *
(* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                       The following is a QST

   The FCC now says that hams who work in the Amateur Radio industry
can become Volunteer Examiners, a bomb blast destroys the headquarters
of the United Kingdoms Radiocommunications Agency and bad news on HF
band conditions for at least another year.  These stories and more on
Newsline report number 969 coming your way right now!

(*****
                               VEC CHANGE

   Your favorite radio salesman may soon be giving ham radio exams. 
This is because the FCC has formally eliminated conflict-of-interest
provisions that had kept those involved in the manufacture,
distribution or sale of ham radio gear from taking part in the VEC
testing system.  The FCC action also conforms the ham radio rules to
the new Communications Act of 1996, recently signed into law by
President Clinton.
   The former provisions essentially precluded equipment manufacturers
and their employees and anyone who prepares or distributes ham radio
license study materials from administering Amateur Radio license
examinations.  The purpose was to prevent an employee from favoring
examines who had purchases manuals or equipment produced or
distributed by the VE or the VE's employer.  The FCC has concluded
that other rules provisions, combined with current Amateur Radio
license examination procedures, will protect against potential abuses.
   The Commission has also eliminated a requirement that volunteer
examiners and volunteer examiner coordinators maintain records of
out-of-pocket expenses and annually certify those expenses to the FCC.
 The FCC says that VEs and VECs still may recover actual out-of-pocket
costs from examinees.  The maximum reimbursement fee is six dollars
and seven cents for 1996.  
   The rules changes became effective February 28th. The FCC says that
because each exam is administered by three VEs and coordinated by a
VEC it would be highly unlikely for any examine to be favored by a VE
or VEC.  The agency notes that twelve years of experience with the VEC
system has shown that breaches of trust by VEC's and VE's can be dealt
with swiftly and immediately.  This, by disaccrediting the offending
VEs or rescinding the VEC agreement. 

(*****
                        FCC TO VEC'S:  COOPERATE

   The FCC has told the nations VEC's to stop bickering and to 
cooperate in all aspects of testing.  As reported last week, the
American Radio Relay League has asked that the commission declare the
current VEC mechanism to be null and void.  This, because the League
believes that a decision by most of the nations VEC's to incorporate
leaves those who do not want to join the new organization out in the
cold in maintaining the test question pool.
   It now looks as if the FCC is not going to heed the Leagues call to
create a new mechanism.  Probably because the FCC has new 
telecommunications legislation to implement and it cannot chance
getting itself involved in a protracted court battle should the new
National Council of Volunteer Examination Coordinators decide to sue
for restraint of free trade.
   But the FCC does at least appear to sympathize with the Leagues
position.  In the notice announcing the testing rules changes just
reported, the regulatory agency took pains to point out that Section
97.523 requires VECs to cooperate in maintaining a single question
pool for each examination element.  As a result, all exam materials
and manuals must draw from that same standard question pool, which is
widely available to the public. 

(*****
               NOVICE & TECHNICIAN QUESTION POOL REWRITE

   And speaking about the VEC Question Pool, Gordon West, WB6NOA,
informs us that June 30th is the cutoff date for the consideration of
new or deleted questions for the Novice and Technician class pools. 
As is always the case, the Question Pool Committee is inviting the ham
radio public to take part in revising the testing syllabus for exam
elements 2 and 3A.  New questions should center around the FCC rules,
operating practices and procedures, propagation, electrical
principles, practical circuits and circuit components plus signals
emissions and antennas and feedlines.  
   The Question Pool Committee will only review submissions on their
form titled Recommended Change to the Amateur Question Pool.  You can
get a copy by writing to the:

                         Question Pool Committee
                         c/o Ray Adams, N4BAQ 
                         5833 Clinton Highway
                         Suite 203
                         Knoxville, Tennessee
                         37912

   Forms are also available from:

                         Fred Maia, W5YI
                         P.O.Box 565101
                         Dallas, Texas 
                         75356

   If you don't want to wait for a form, Gordon West says that you can
drop him a note with your suggested question or change and he will
gladly submit a form for you.  Gordon's address is:

                         Gordon West, WB6NOA
                         2414 College Drive
                         Costa Mesa, California 
                         92626

   The finalized new Novice and Technician Class question pools will be
placed into public domain as ASCII files on December 1st.  Printed copies
will become available next January the 1st.  Testing using the revised
Novice and Technician question pool will begin on July 1st of 1997 -- about
16 months from now.

(*****
                       RETIRED ARRL DIRECTOR SLAIN

   One of the two hams found murdered in Mississippi on February 23rd
was a retired ARRL Director and a well-known DXer.  As reported last
week, Floyd Teetson, W5MUG, and his wife, Winnie, WN5YTR, were found
on February 23rd.  Police reports say that the couple had been killed
a day or two earlier. 
   From 1962 to 1963 Floyd Teetson served as ARRL Delta Division
Director.  According to an ARRL press release, W5MUG was an honor roll
DXer and active contester.  He had been a member of several multi-op
contest teams operating from various Caribbean DX sites.  
   A native of Wisconsin, Floyd Teetson was a retired electrical
engineer who had been employed by the telephone company in Jackson,
Mississippi.  The couple moved to Louisiana from Mississippi five or
six years ago.  
   The Webster Parish Louisiana Sheriff's Department and Louisiana
State Police are investigating, but no arrests have been made.  Nor
have authorities speculated on a motive for the brutal killings.  

(*****
          BOMB DESTROYS UK RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS 
                                   AGENCY BUILDING

   The new office the United Kingdoms Radiocommunications Agency has
been severely damaged in the recent bomb blast.  The GB2RS News
Service says that following the explosion on February 8th, the
Radiocommunications Agency was forced to move out of its headquarters
building.  At this time the Agency does not know where or when it will
be relocated.  
   The Radio Licensing Center at Bristol was unaffected and thankfully
none of the agencies' staff was badly hurt in the incident.  The
Radiocommunications Agency is Great Britain's equivalent of our FCC. 

(*****
                          BLIND HAMS NEED HELP

   Also from Great Britain comes word that an organization that aids
handicapped hams has added a new service for the visually impaired. 
The Radio Amateurs Invalid and Blind Club is looking to hear from
blind amateurs who would like to receive tape recordings of readings
from technical magazines.  On tape already are selections from Radio
Communications Magazine, Practical Wireless, Short Wave Magazine and
others.  The service is free in the United Kingdom but those making
requests will need to supply their own audio cassettes.  Visually
handicapped hams elsewhere should write for details to:

                            Shelagh Chambers
                            78 Durley Avenue 
                            Pinner
                            Middlesex
                            The United Kingdom
                            HA5 1JH

(*****
                    HAMS RESCUE ALZHEIMERS PATIENT

   A missing 87 year old Alzheimers patient has been found alive in
Indiana thanks to ham radio.  Jack Parker, NT9J of Amateur News Weekly
has more:

   "The Bartholomew County search and rescue team was activated.  They
assisted Brown and Barthlowmew County Authorities in the search for a
87 year old man with Alzheimers.  The man had walked away from his
home Helmsberg, IN on Monday.  He was found late Tuesday afternoon
about 1/4 mile from home suffering from frostbite on his feet.  The
Bartholomew Country Search and Rescue provided communications via
amateur radio for the search team."  NT9J 

   Hams have been praised for their efforts in this search.  

(*****
                    PHASE 3D SHOCK TESTS SUCCESSFUL

   AMSAT North America says a series of qualification shock tests have
been successfully completed for the Phase 3D specific bearing
structure.  That's the structure which will be used to carry the Phase
3D spacecraft into orbit during launch.   The tests in late January
and early February exposed the structure to the shock environment
expected to be encountered on the Ariane 5 vehicle during liftoff. 
Tests also successfully demonstrated the operational performance of
the spacecraft's separation system.  

(*****
     AMATEUR RADIO DEMONSTRATES NASA EMPHASIS ON 
                                  TELECOMMUNICATIONS

   The ARRL has made arrangements with two Amateur Radio volunteers to
represent the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment at the Technology and
Learning Conference in Dallas, in October.  The conference will be
attended by school administrators. NASA, which approached the ARRL
about the conference feels that SAREX should be included because it
helps reinforce the U.S. government's heightened emphasis on
telecommunications.  The presentation will also cover NASA Spacelink,
a telephone and Internet-accessible information system for school
teachers, and NASA TV.

(*****
                             BAD SOLAR NEWS

   Solar prognosticator Tad Cook, KT7H, reports via the ARRL that solar
activity has edged even lower.  Cook says that here have been no
visible sunspots since the beginning of the month, and the sunspot
number was zero for the period February 8th to 14th.  Solar flux was
at or below 70 each day also. 
   Cook says that we should expect more periods of no sunspots as the
current cycle bottoms out over the next year.  Unfortunately, the
geomagnetic field has been acting up a little.  The worst period was
around 09:00Z on February 13, when the K index was 5. 
   The 160 and 80 meter bands are really best when the solar flux is
low, but an active geomagnetic field can disturb those low bands
greatly but none seem imminent.
   The latest information from the Space Environment Laboratory at
Boulder, Colorado, agrees with Cook.  It has updated its forecast for
the sunspot minimum.  It is not now expected to occur until early
1997, with a smoothed sunspot number down to 8. 

(*****
                      TOP BAND CODE PRACTICE IN UK

   A new United Kingdom Morse practice station may be a good DX beacon
for Top Band operators worldwide.  The GB2CW Slow Morse practice
transmission is now being broadcast at 20:15 UTC on Sundays on 1850
KHz in the 160 Meter band.  The transmission is from the North
Cheshire Radio Club, operated by Gordon Adams, G3LEQ, and is primarily
intended for nationwide coverage in the UK.

(*****
                      80 AND 6 METER UK CW CHANGES

   There has also been a small change to the 80 and 6 meter GB2CW
transmissions from G3LEQ.  These are now broadcast at 9:45 UTC on
Sundays on 3640 KHz and 51.530 MHZ.  DX QSN reports on any of the
GB2CW transmissions are welcomed by the operators.  You can contact
the individual operators directly, or alternatively write to the
coordinator:

                            David Pratt, G4DMP         
                            11 Moorleigh Close
                            Kippax
                            Leeds
                            The United Kingdom
                            LS25 7PB

(*****
                                   DX

   In other DX, Melville Island will be activated by VK8NSB and VK8HZ
for four days starting on March 15th.  Australian DX sources say that
the operation has been finally given the go ahead after a lot of hard
work and negotiations from the aboriginal community.  The call sign
for this DXpedition will be VK8MI operating on all bands, including 6
Meters. 
   Also XV7SW, in Vietnam has reportedly put up an Inverted L antenna
for 80 and 160 meters and be adding an Inverted Vee for 40 meters. 
His location in downtown Hanoi is very noisy and he is limited to 100
watts on the TopBand.  The terms of his license limit him to specific
frequencies.  QSL direct to:

                             Rolf Salme
                             Embassy of Sweden
                             Box 9
                             Hanoi
                             Vietnam 

   or to his QSL Manager SM3CXS.   

      And Jim Smith, VK9NS, says that the VK0WH logs covering November
26th to December 31, 1995 have been received from Warren Hull via fax.
 Warren made slightly more than 200 contacts during that time.  Jim
anticipates receiving VK0WH logs on a monthly basis.  Jim also
received the VK0WH QSL cards from the printer and says that he will
QSL immediately upon receipt if he has the appropriate log in hand.  

(*****
                      YHOTY '96 NOMINATIONS SOUGHT

   A reminder that the nominating period for 1996 "Newsline Young Ham
of the Year Award" is now open.  The award program, now entering its
second decade, is presented annually to a United States licensed Radio
Amateur who is 18 years of age or younger and who has provided
outstanding service to the nation, his community or the betterment of
the state of the art in communications through the Amateur Radio hobby
service.  
   All nominations must be submitted before June 30, 1996 on an 
official application.  Application forms are available by sending a
self addressed stamped envelope mailed to the:

                   1996 Young Ham of the Year Award
                   c/o Newsline
                   28197 Robin Avenue 
                   Saugus, California 
                   91350

   These nominating applications are also available for electronic
download from several sites that provide Newsline materials over the
World Wide Web and from the Ham Radio Club BBS general interest ham
files area on America Online.
   And remember that the youngster chosen this year will get to spend a
week at Spacecamp Huntsville complements of CQ Magazine.

(*****
                     NEWSLINE PHONE SERVICE CUTBACK

   And finally, due to the lack of response to our funding requests,
and as a cost cutting measure, Newsline will soon shut down one of our
two Los Angeles outgoing lines.  Which line and the exact date has not
been decided.  We'll make that decision and announce it in a couple of
weeks.  
   We realize this may pose an inconvenience for some listeners, and
apologize in advance.  However, with a dozen other independently
sponsored lines across the nation and three audio sites on the World
Wide Web, we hope those affected will be few in number.
   This is the first cutback in outgoing voice service in over a
decade.  We hope it will be the last.

(*****

      And for this week, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.
You can write to us at:

                                NEWSLINE
                                P.O.Box 660937 
                                Arcadia, California
                                91066

   For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF at our editors desk, we at
Newsline say 73 and we thank you for listening. 

(* * *   Newsline is copyright 1996 & all rights are reserved.   * * *
-- 

