November 2000 President's Message This October the club participated in the PA QSO Party held on October 14th and 15th. I hope you had the opportunity to work the contest and add to the club score. Members who logged 100 or more contacts are entitled to a mug, personalized with your call sign, paid for by the club. Don't forget to bring your logs to the next club meeting to submit to Marty, NR3Z, so he can compile the scores. We also provided support for the Columbus Day golf outing sponsored by the Warminster Parks and Recreation department. Thanks for your participation. November marks our annual ARRL night. Our special guest speaker will be Kay Craigie, WT3P. Kay has been our guest at ARRL night for the past several years as the Director of the Atlantic Division. She now holds a position as ARRL Vice President. We are privileged to have Kay take the time out of her busy schedule to attend our meeting and inform us on the leagues latest activities. Kay is a dynamic speaker and always provides an interesting program. Please make every effort to attend to make a good showing of our club membership. Other November events include the rescheduled Craven Hall 5K run on Saturday, November 11 and the annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot. Please do your best to help out with these activities. Don't forget to your calendars for the November 4th Adopt a Highway program. Our club has adopted a section of Jacksonville Road in Warminster as part of this program. This commitment gives us the opportunity to get some fresh air, perform a needed service, and gain club recognition in the community. Please contact Hugh, N3SOQ, for more information. The board is working on a club calendar of events to help with your planning of participation in club activities. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please contact any board member or attend a board meeting held on the last Thursday of the month at the Ben Wilson Center at 7:30 PM. We are considering incorporating the club picnic into a special events station. What do you think? The club is also seeking a nominating committee chairperson to organize a committee to find candidates for Director position elections in January and the officer elections in June. Please consider volunteering for this important function. Jim, WA4YWM, has offered to take over for Rich, N3HSV, as Feedback editor. Rich has been doing a great job, but is unable to continue due to work travel requirements. Please try to support Jim by submitting articles/info of interest to the club or Amateur Radio in general. Please feel free to contact me with any club problems or concerns. You can reach by phone (215-572-5330) or e-mail (n3fkr@arrl.org). See you at the meeting. 73, Rocky, N3FKR This is my last issue as Editor of the FEEDBACK. When I started in April of 1996, I committed to a three year stint, so here I am four and a half years later. It's been a fun way of giving something back to ham radio, from which I have derived a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction. Along the way, I've worked on the Hamfest slogan buttons, the Hamfest flyers, Election ballots and holiday dinner menus. I've occasionally added a touch of humor and judging from the E-mails it was well received. Now it's time for some fresh ideas. Jim Elmore, WA4YWM, Ph: 215-538-1889 E-Mail: wa4ywm@comcat.com volunteered to fill the FEEDBACK Editor position. I wish him the best of luck and hope the entire membership will support him with articles, timely information and assistance at the monthly FEEDBACK mailing party. Reality check: "Without volunteers there would be no Club." 73, N3HSV; Rich Maialetti Our next scheduled adopt a highway pickup is Saturday 04/Nov/00 at 9:00 AM. Breakfast is at 8:00 AM at Warminster West diner. Having the club's name and call sign up on two different sign post is free publicity for the club, but also having a small army of volunteers out there in force between those two signs not only gives back to the township which supports us in so many ways. But also has a strong impact on every traveler who passes us that morning. With a significant number of volunteers we can get it all done in about an hour or two, and still have the rest of Saturday to enjoy. I hope to see you there. Adopt-A-Highway offers Pennsylvania citizens the opportunity to show their pride in our beautiful state by caring for the environment. We all know that a more attractive Pennsylvania is more attractive to our tourists and to businesses. Food wrappers, aluminum cans, newspapers and cigarette packs. From the city to the countryside, this is the trash that many careless people leave on Pennsylvania's highways. It's not a pretty sight, and it certainly does not make a good impression for the people who are traveling through Pennsylvania. Adopt-A-Highway is an effective way to reduce litter and the overall cost of litter removal in Pennsylvania. By volunteering to clear a two-mile section of state highway four times a year, you are caring for the environment and helping to minimize our maintenance cost. The Adopt-A-Highway Program in Pennsylvania has had more miles adopted than any other state in the Nation! Thousands of caring citizens have given their time to help in our quest to keep Pennsylvania beautiful and litter-free. With your help, we can continue our commitment to leave our children a cleaner, healthier and more beautiful Pennsylvania. Hugh-N3SOQ Frozen golf outing. On Monday, October 9, 10 members of the WARC supplied communications and security for the Warminster "hole in one" golf competition at the 5 Ponds golf course. Ellen AA3AI, Bob WC3B, Burt N3YVH, Randy N3LJE, Bob K3SRO, Bill K3ZMA, Hugh N3SOQ and his daughter Elizabeth braved the high winds and frigid temperatures and help make the outing a success for the Warminster Parks and Recreation department. The event was delayed an hour due to frost on the golf course and did not start until 9:00 am. None of the golfers scored a hole in one, so the first prize of a new car went back to the dealership. After the golfers completed the course, a hot lunch was served to all of the hams and golfers. I gratefully want to thank all the hams that helped make the event go so well and gave up their warm beds and day off to go out and freeze in the great outdoors. 73' n3hbt@juno.com George Brechmann Y2K complacent WARC Upcoming Public Service Events Craven Hall 5K Run - Rescheduled for Nov 11 (was Oct 14) On Saturday, Nov 11, a 5K run will be held at the Craven Hall on Street road and Newtown road in Warminster. The event will run from 9:00 am until about 12:00 pm and will benefit the Craven Hall. I will need 12 operators to staff this event. If you can help out with either of the above public service events, please contact George Brechmann N3HBT at n3hbt@juno.com or call 215-443-5656. Warminster Amateur Radio Club http://www.voicenet.com/~k3dn ARES/RACES TOUR CO. RADIO ROOM Bucks Co. ARES under the enthusiastic leadership of WARC's own Mike Patton, Bucks County ARRL Emergency Coordinator, toured the Bucks County Radio Room in Doylestown on 9/21. Steve Reichman, Assistant Director of Bucks County Radio Room, first gave us a detailed description of how the 911 system worked, complete with slides from actual dispatcher training classes. The highlight was the tour of the room where 911 calls are received and dispatched to the appropriate authority in the County. What made the greatest impression upon me was the stress of the jobs of those who work there, with 12-hour shifts and lots of overtime. The second greatest impression was that the computer location reporting system appears to be most suited to buildings and road intersections, a system, which works best in an urban area like a city, not a county with so much rural area like Bucks County. For example, if an automobile broke down on a road in the middle of farmland, far from any street addresses or intersections, the system wouldn't work as efficiently as it could. I wonder if mile markers or similar designations (like they do use on I-95) or latitude and longitude (with the proliferation of GPS receivers) would also be useful geographical data to go by. One concern was about quality control of the information that exists in the database. They assume that only 80% of the address information (street address associated with a telephone number) is correct (although Steve thought that the accuracy was actually closer to 95%). Since the big advantage of "enhanced 911" is that emergency personnel could identify the location of a caller even if the caller could not speak, I feel that this is unfortunate. I wonder if the telephone companies could be asked to provide, say, an annual mailing to each telephone subscriber or an insert in the phone bill asking them to verify the information that's on file for each subscriber in the 911 database. The cost of this would be recoverable through telephone rates, and would be well worth it in my opinion. Another concern was that the 911 call center (as opposed to the Emergency Services facility) is located on the top floor of the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown. A tornado touching down there could blow the roof off and destroy the facility. Although two backup facilities exist in other locations, they would be out of commission for a period of time during a crucial situation. In contrast, the Montgomery County facility is located underground in Eagleville. And a final concern was that their computer facilities don't provide any coordination with Montgomery County and other adjoining jurisdictions. If an automobile accident occurred on County Line Road and was called into the Bucks County facility, it would certainly be more efficient if that call would be automatically passed on to the Montgomery County dispatch computer so that police and fire services could also be dispatched from that side. I once observed a fire on County Line Road on the Montgomery County side, and the nearest pay phone was across the street in Bucks County. I knew what was going on, and specifically asked the Bucks Co. dispatcher to patch me over to Montgomery County, but how many others would have thought to do this. Emergencies and natural disasters don't pay attention to political boundaries, and it behooves the State to set standards so that information can pass across them seamlessly. Some of us gave Steve a very hard time with our questions, but I'm sure that he realized that it was only because of the importance of the service he and his dedicated staff provide. I highly recommend the tour to all interested hams and other interested people if and when it is repeated. Russell L. Tobias KB3UI 1680 Huntingdon Pike, Apt. 309 Huntingdon Valley PA 19006 215-947-0829 For Sale! Alinco Dual band 2 meter/440 mobile radio with manual and mounting bracket in good operating condition. Model DR-570 Price $250.00. For information call George Brechmann N3HBT at 215-443-5656 or E mail at n3hbt@juno.com. SOLAR UPDATE Propagation prognosticator Tad Cook, K7VVV, Seattle, Washington, reports: The rise in solar flux that was predicted this week in last week's Solar Update did not happen. Last week we stated that by October 18 and 19 we should see a short term peak in solar flux around 220. Instead, solar flux rose slightly over the weekend, then dropped below 160, and on October 18 and 19 it was 151.1 and 157.8. The current outlook is for a slowly and modestly rising solar flux, with the values for Friday through Monday at 160, 160, 165 and 170. The latest best guess is for solar flux to peak for the short term at only 190 on October 29 and 30, then decline to 145 around November 5. Geomagnetic conditions are expected to remain fairly stable on Friday and Saturday, but planetary A index my rise to 20 and 25 on Sunday and Monday. Geomagnetic indices are expected to calm down after that, but become unsettled to active around October 30 through November 1. Sunspot numbers for October 12 through 18 were 187, 167, 157, 99, 109, 130 and 128 with a mean of 139.6. 10.7 cm flux was 162.7, 168.1, 163.3, 161.1, 160.9, 154.1 and 151.1, with a mean of 160.2, and estimated planetary A indices were 8, 27, 42, 8, 8, 9 and 8 with a mean of 15.7. Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter US call signs issued for space station operation: Two new call signs have been issued for US Amateur Radio operations as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program. The FCC granted vanity call signs NN1SS and NA1SS to the International Space Station Amateur Radio Club on October 11. The ARISS initial station equipment plus supplies that the ISS Expedition 1 crew will need later this year were delivered to the ISS last month by the space shuttle Atlantis. The gear has been stowed aboard the ISS until the Expedition 1 crew of US astronaut Bill Shepherd, KD5GSL, and Russian Cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, and Yuri Gidzenko comes aboard sometime in early November. A Russian call sign, RZ3DZR, and a German call sign, DL0ISS, also have been issued for use aboard the ISS. For more information, visit the ARISS Web site, http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter PHASE 3D NOW SET TO LAUNCH NOVEMBER 14 The next-generation Phase 3D Amateur Radio satellite is scheduled to go into space Tuesday, November 14, from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Launch agency Arianespace announced the revised launch date for the Ariane 5 Flight 135 this week. The launch was delayed from a tentative October 31 launch window opening after another payload aboard the flight was late in arriving at Kourou. AMSAT-DL Executive Vice President Peter Gülzow, DB2OS--who's heading up the Phase 3D launch campaign--says Phase 3D has passed all of its pre-launch inspections, testing, and preparation and is "ready to fly." Gülzow has been filling in for Phase 3D Project Leader Karl Meizer, DJ4ZC. AMSAT News Service reported this week that Phase 3D was being moved into the final assembly building at the European Spaceport, where it will remain "on hold" until the launch date. Once the other Flight 135 payloads arrive, all will be mated to the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. In addition to Phase 3D, the Ariane 5 will attempt to orbit the PanAmSat PAS 1R communications satellite and two British Space Technology Research Vehicle microsatellites, STRV 1C and STRV 1D. Phase 3D will be the largest Amateur Radio payload ever put into space. Once in space, Phase 3D will be nudged by its onboard thrusters into an elliptical orbit that will put it some 2500 miles from Earth at its nearest point, and nearly 30,000 miles at its farthest. After Phase 3D is in its intended orbit, it's expected to be a few months before it's commissioned and ready for general amateur use. Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter KENTUCKY HAMS HELP IN COAL SLUDGE SPILL DISASTER Amateur Radio operators in eastern Kentucky this week helped their neighbors to cope with a lack of drinking water in the wake of a coal sludge spill that cut off water supplies. More than 200 million gallons of coal waste flooded waterways without warning October 11 after a coal plant retention pond near Inez gave way. The resulting pollution--described as being the consistency of wet cement or molasses--has forced communities in the path of the spill to close water intakes and rely on existing water supplies. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service has not yet been activated, but ARES remains on stand-by to provide emergency communication, if needed. Section Emergency Coordinator Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, says the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management requested Amateur Radio assistance in Martin County, where the spill originated. In Lawrence County, Emergency Coordinator Fred Jones, WA4SWF, says hams were helping to supplement communication among the different agencies involved whose radios operate on a variety of different frequencies. But Jones says the primary need was making sure affected residents had water to drink, cook, and bathe with. While the cleanup is under way, fire is a big concern, according to Jones. "That is the big thing they're worrying about. Our storage tanks are low," he said. "If we have a fire here, we're going to have a pretty big problem." He says water can't be pumped from the contaminated river for fear the sludge will stop up the pumps on the fire equipment. Another worry is the possibility of bad weather. "If we have a big rain right now, it will back that river up big time and flood all these people," Jones predicted. Kentucky Gov Paul Patton declared a state of emergency October 16 in a large portion of northeastern Kentucky. Affected are the counties of Boyd, Bracken, Carter, Fleming, Greenup, Lawrence, Lewis, Martin, Mason, and Robertson. Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter SHARED AMATEUR ALLOCATIONS UNAFFECTED BY WHITE HOUSE ORDER A White House announcement directing federal agencies to work with the FCC and the private sector to identify spectrum for next-generation wireless services will not likely have any impact on amateur allocations. The October 13 Executive Memorandum issued by President Bill Clinton follows the path agreed to during the World Radiocommunication Conference earlier this year to make frequencies available for so-called 3G (third-generation) or IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications)-2000 portable wireless devices. The announcement sparked alarm among some members of the amateur community that a government-industry spectrum grab was under way. Some expressed fears that spectrum amateurs now share with the US Government, primarily the military, could be lost. Breathless media accounts referring to the White House announcement as "extraordinary" didn't help matters. "It's nothing for amateurs to get excited about," ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, said. Sumner points out that the memorandum merely implements previously announced plans to reallocate frequencies spelled out at WRC-2000. As reported in August QST (see "World Radiocommunication Conference" starting on page 51), IMT-2000 proponents sought at least 160 MHz of spectrum for handset-to-satellite applications. Amateur Radio dodged a bullet at 2.3 to 2.4 GHz when delegates were able to find the needed spectrum elsewhere. The bands identified at WRC-2000 for IMT-2000 terrestrial use are 862-960 MHz in Region 1, 806-902 MHz and 928-960 MHz in Region 2, and 806-960 MHz in Region 3, in addition to 1710-1885 MHz and 2500-2690 MHz. Some mobile-satellite service bands also have been identified for the satellite component of IMT-2000. According to ARRL Technical Relations Manager Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, not all of the frequency bands identified at WRC-2000 are destined for reallocation for 3G users in the US. The President's order calls on the Secretary of Commerce to "work cooperatively with the FCC" to develop, by October 20, a plan to select third-generation wireless system spectrum. An interim report due by November 15, 2000, would spell out current spectrum uses and the potential for reallocation or sharing "of the bands identified at WRC-2000 that could be used for third generation wireless systems." "Time is of the essence," Clinton said in a statement accompanying the memorandum. Spectrum reallocations plans are to be firmed up by next July, with auction licenses issued to competing applicants by the fall of 2002. In an unrelated matter, the FCC transferred government spectrum at 3.6 GHz to nongovernment commercial use. The FCC allocated 3650 to 3700 MHz forfixed and mobile commercial wireless services. Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter BACK