the Salami Merchant - September, 1997

If you were not at the August SARA meeting, you missed a busy and productive meeting. At the meeting:

All of this took place in a meeting that lasted less than 1 1/2 hours!

 There are several articles in this month’s newsletter that detail the various happenings from the Augist meeting.

Steve attended SARA’s 1996 Ham Radio License classes, and earned his Technician class license. Steve has been an active participant in the technical committee for the past two years, and is one of the club’s questionably sane tower climbers.

Steve also accepted the position of club license trustee, meaning he will be responsible for proper operation under the club’s W8WKY callsign. The club license trustee position was previously held by John, N8CD, who resigned the position officially at the August meeting.

At the August SARA Meeting, John, N8CD, proposed to the membership that SARA’s interest in the two UHF repeaters (442.275 and 442.375) be sold to the people that originally constructed the repeaters. The proposal was voted on, and passed with a nearly unanimous voice vote.

The proposal cited the following justification for SARA giving up the machines:

As of the August meeting, SARA had paid a total of $867.84 towards the repeaters, and still owed $1044.01 towards the machines. As a result of the vote, SARA debt towards the machines will be erased, and SARA’s treasury will receive a total of $867.84 back that has already been paid.

Both UHF repeaters will be privately owned, by a few individuals, and for the foreseeable future will remain open repeaters. Both repeaters will cease operating under the club callsign.

To SARA, this means that the club will no longer have the on-going costs of these two additional repeaters, and will receive a boost to the treasury to the tune of $867.84

 August 20, 1997

WASHINGTON — Representative W. J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-LA), chairman of the House commerce subcommittee on telecommunications has introduced a bill to outlaw listening to all non-broadcast radio transmissions. Dubbed the Wireless Privacy Enhancement Act of 1997 (H.R. 2369 I.H.), the bill would also prevent the manufacture of non-broadcast band, general coverage radios, and possibly make possession of existing radios prima faci� evidence of a crime. If enacted, U.S. restrictions on radio reception would become some of the most repressive in the world.

The bill makes the mere act of intercepting a radio communication illegal. Unlike present regulations, no attempt to divulge or publish the content of the communication is necessary.

The proposed law and another bill (H.R. 1964) sponsored by Representative Edward Markey (D-MA), also directs the Federal Communications Commission, which reviews all electronic devices sold in the U.S., to refuse certification of radios capable of receiving Commercial Radio Service frequencies. Such frequencies are interspersed throughout the radio spectrum, making it all but impossible for manufacturers to make certifiable equipment for unaffected frequencies.

Scanners are affected, along with amateur and shortwave radios equipped with general coverage receivers, business and police band radios, even some car radios.

As written the law makes no provision for existing radio equipment. It remains unclear whether the millions of existing receivers would become illegal to possess or be "grandfathered" in.

Virtually everyone who owns a receiver is affected. Members of the press, businesses, hobbyists, and the public at large will be completely banned from listening. Amateur radio operators, the Military Affiliate Radio Service, the Civil Air Patrol, shortwave listeners and weather spotters may find themselves unable to modify or legally use their equipment. Police officers and fire fighters, who makeup the vast majority of scanner owners, would no longer be able to monitor other agencies as they have in the past, and over time will be unable to purchase inexpensive receivers, even if they are authorized to possess them.

Critics charge that the committee has been unduly influenced by contributions from the telecommunications industry, citing Federal Election Commission reports for 1995-96 which show that Tauzin and other committee members accepted a total of $467,000 from individuals and organizations who stand to benefit from this legislation.

The law has also sparked civil liberty concerns. In other countries, similar laws have set precedents that eventually led to bans or restrictions on broadcast receivers. Already, this bill would violate congressional assurances made in the precedent-setting Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, that reception of public safety and private land mobile frequencies would never be prohibited.

House Bills 2369 and 1964 are currently in committee. Hearings on the bills will be scheduled after the committee returns from break September 2, 1997. Industry watchers believe that, barring public intervention, both bills have an excellent chance of passing. Concerned citizens are encouraged to contact their representative immediately and let them know how you feel about this legislation. While you are at it, let the committee members know too. It may still be possible to stop the bill in committee.

By Barry - KI8BS

 Many of you have heard others on the repeater talking about 6M "openings" or working DX on 6M and have wondered what it's all about and what 6M is like. Six meters has long been called the "magical band" because of its unique propagation properties. At times 6M is good only for local contacts in the range of 20 to perhaps 100 miles. At other times you can quite literally work the entire world with 5 watts of power. Band openings (enhanced propagation conditions) can occur for several reasons and can appear at any time and stay for any period of time. Most good band openings however typically last for a few hours although meteor scatter propagation can appear suddenly and fade out in less than a couple of minutes.

Few of you have 6M radios and haven't had the chance to experience the "magic" of 6M, or even been able to hear the wide area 6M repeater we use for the backbone radio link of the Cleveland NWS Skywarn System. If you don't want to spend $400 or more for a 6M mobile radio but still would like to experiment with 6M Ten-Tec has an answer for you.

Last year Ten-Tec introduced two low cost (under $100) 6M transverters that will let you fully explore 6M on a budget. What's a transverter? Good question! a transverter acts as a "converter" for your existing 2M or 20M radio. It converts 6M received signals to another band such as 2M so your HT for example can listen to 6M. However it doesn't stop there, it also converts your 2M transmission to 6M. So by using the transverter you can transmit and receive on 6M! 

The Ten-Tec transverter is an all mode design which simply means that all modes available on your 2M radio are available to you on 6M. If you are fortunate enough to have an all mode 2M radio you can operate on FM, CW, and SSB on 6M. 

If you have an HF rig with 20M you can purchase Ten-Tec's 20 to 6M transverter and operate with all the modes of your HF rig. Many Technician class license holders have an HF rig they use just to listen until they upgrade their license. You can legally operate the 20M band in conjunction with a transverter to operate on 6M. The 20M radio in this case serves only as an intermediate or "IF" frequency to drive the 6M ransverter. Since no radiation occurs on the 20M band you are permitted to use the HF rig in such manner. 

I have built and used both of Ten-Tec's transverters. They are well designed kits and are easy to build and operate. If you can solder you can build either of these two kits. The instructions are very clear and the parts are packaged so you only work with the parts your are using at a particular stage of construction. Intitial tuning is straightforward and doesn't require extensive test equipment. 

Both units require 5 watts of drive from the IF radio and provide 8 to 10 watts of output on 6M. No modifications are required to the 2M or 20M radio. The only connection is the coax from you 2M or 20M radio to the transverter and to your 6M antenna. Does 10 watts seem too little to do much? Don't bet on it! Ten watts is plenty to work all of the northeast Ohio FM repeaters and during a band opening 10 watts will let you work anything you can hear. I used 10 watts on 6M for a year and worked 39 states and 207 grid squares! 

A switch on the front panel of the transverter lets you switch between normal 2M or 20M operation and 6M operation. The 2M version covers the entire 50 to 54 MHz 6M band as you tune your 2M radio from 144 to 148 MHz. The 20M version will cover as much as your HF rig can operate in the 14 to 18 MHz range. Many of the newer "no-tune" HF rigs have modifications that permit them to operate beyond the upper 14.350 MHz 20M band limit. 

FM simplex and repeater operation in the 6M band is basically from 52 MHz to the top of the band. SSB operation an other weak signal operations take place primarily from 50 to 50.4 Mhz so even if your 20M rig can't operate outside the band edge you will be able to enjoy all of the SSB activity on 6M. 

Ten-Tec sells these transverters as kits for $95 or fully assembled and tested for $159. They both work exactly as advertised and are easy to use. If you have wanted to try 6M FM simplex, one of the local 6M repeaters, or want to try your hand at 6M SSB DX these transverters offer an excellent way to operate on 6M without spending a lot of money.

Barry - KI8BS

 In the August edition of the Salami Merchant, a set of proposed changes to the club by-laws were published. Those changes were voted on and accepted by the membership at the August SARA meeting. Below is a summary of the items that were changed. In a future issue of the Salami Merchant, the by-laws will be printed in their entirety.

Compaq Contura Aero 4/33C sub-notebook computer. 7.8" dual scan color display. Upgraded to 810MB hard drive, 20MB RAM. 1 PCMCIA slot, 2 power adapters, 2 batteries, car adapter, PCMCIA 14.4 Data/Fax modem, mini-port replicator, EXTREMELY small & light, 4.2 pounds, 1.7 x 10.25 x 7.5 inches. Right screen hinge has been repaired, and could probably be done a little better if you have time. Otherwise works & looks perfect, has Windows 95b installed, and all the latest drivers, patches & BIOS updates installed. About 2 hour battery life. Asking $550 obo.

Yaesu FT-11HP 2 meter mini-handheld. 99 alpha-numeric memories. PL encode, Includes one 5 watt battery, one 2.5 watt battery, slow charger, manual, box, etc. Looks & works great. Asking $200 obo.

 Contact John, N8CD for any of the above items, at 330-745-6081, or [email protected]