Newsletter of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club
| RADIOACTIVITIES
Newsletter of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club |
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| Volume XLIII, Number 9 | September, 2002 |
“What we’ve done is to review all cases that the League has worked on where we had no cooperation,” Hollingsworth said this week. “In at least three instances, the power company in question hasn’t cooperated as it should have.” Hollingsworth said these cases will “go to the next step,” which likely will entail involving the appropriate FCC field office for additional investigation and appropriate enforcement. In the future, initial letters from the ARRL and the FCC will impose a shorter compliance window and will be more firmly worded. In addition, a follow-up letter from the FCC will be sent to utilities that fail to respond appropriately to the initial inquiry.
The routine FCC letter to a power company cites the requirement to rectify problems with their equipment “if the interference is caused by faulty power utility equipment.” FCC Part 15 rules classify most power-line and related equipment as “incidental radiators.” This means the utility equipment does not intentionally generate any radio-frequency energy but may create it as an incidental part of its intended operation. The FCC urges a utility to locate sources of any interference caused by its equipment and make necessary corrections “within a reasonable time.”
Typical was a recent letter from the FCC’s Consumer Information and Governmental Affairs Bureau to Commonwealth Edison of Chicago citing radio frequency interference complaints from five Illinois amateurs. According to the FCC, the amateurs had attempted without success to work through the utility’s complaint resolution channels.
Utilities that appear unwilling to abide by Part 15 rules regulating unintentional radiation are in the minority, Hollingsworth said. By and large, utilities contacted by ARRL as a result of power-line noise complaints from amateurs have been extremely cooperative, and he had high praise for the League’s role in resolving complaints in the early going. Only a handful of cases — perhaps a dozen in all — have ended up being forwarded by the ARRL to the FCC for action.
“The League’s record is outstanding here,” Hollingsworth said. Cases necessitating FCC follow-up action have been minimal, he said, and most of those stem from the utility’s failure to understand its obligations under Part 15.
Over the past year, the League has worked with amateurs on behalf of the FCC to handle 72 complaints of suspected power-line interference. Hare, the ARRL Lab supervisor, says that the effort has had its successes, some cases may require more than an advisory letter from the FCC.
“Having the FCC field offices investigate those cases where a power company is not willing or able to assume its responsibilities is a good next step,” Hare said. “The League and the FCC both hope that continued cooperation will bring these cases to a satisfactory end without having to resort to drastic enforcement measures.”
9700 S. Cass Ave. Bldg. 222 - A253, Argonne IL 60439 —————
e-mail: w9anl@bigfoot.com http://www.bigfoot.com/~w9anl |
MEMBERSHIP is open to all who are interested in amateur radio. This club is sponsored by Argonne National Laboratory. Employees of ANL or DOE-Chicago are eligible for Full membership. Auxiliary membership is available to non-employees.
W9ANL/R is an open repeater, coordinated on 145.19 MHz (-600 input). The AARC repeater has been in operation on this frequency pair continuously since February 5, 1982. W9ANL Packet node runs MSYS on 145.09 MHz. CLUB NETS: 2 meter fm (1) Regular, every Monday evening at 9:00, and (2) the Night Patrol every night at 10:30, both on W9ANL/R. There is an open packet conference on W9ANL packet node every Monday evening at 8:00; type C at the BBS prompt. The Peanut Whistle Net (PWN) every Sunday at 1:30 p.m., and many evenings at 8:30 p.m. on 1932 kHz (cw/am/ssb), QRP. |
RADIOACTIVITIES is published monthly by the Argonne Amateur Radio Club as a nonprofit newsletter intended only for the use of its membership. Material appearing here does not represent the official position of Argonne National Laboratory or the U. S. Department of Energy. Please give credit to the author and to Radioactivities or the Argonne A.R.C., when using original material published here. Deadline for submissions normally is the fifteenth of the preceding month.
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Editorial
| August 13, 2002 | |
| Attendees: | |
| Bruce Epperson (KA9H), President, | |
| Joe Kilar (WB9THV), Secretary, | |
| Dale Travis (AG9H), Treasurer, | |
| Jim Specht (W9GBL), Director, | |
| Dennis Kelly (K9LJK), Director. | |
Joe noted that typically several times a year we are unable to conduct a formal board meeting because we do not have the 5 directors present that the constitution requires for a quorum. Joe made a motion that we amend the constitution to specify that four directors will constitute a quorum for a board meeting.
The motion was seconded by Jim and it passed unanimously. This change must be approved by the club membership. We will take the vote at the October meeting. Joe will write and forward an announcement article to Bruce for publishing in the September and October newsletters.
We discussed the situation with the new repeater antenna. Due to budget and/or safety issues, the technicians have not received approval to replace our antenna during the coming tower climb. Bruce and Loren will look into this further to determine why and what we may be able to do about it. We also discussed the use of the temporary antenna.
When asked by Bruce, Loren reported that there are approximately 30 packet node users.
We discussed the possibility of the loss of some amateur radio bands. Amateurs should remember that we tend to lose frequencies we do not use.
A member has repaired the club’s old Signal One CX7B Transceiver. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to sell the transceiver to this member for $100.00. Loren will inform the member.
HAM RADIO INSTRUMENTAL IN MOUNTAIN RESCUESixty-one-year-old Roger Kaul, K3TM, of Maryland and his 35-year-old nephew Clint Kaul of California — both seasoned climbers — were within 200 feet of the 12,799-foot summit of Granite Peak when a rock pulled loose, sending the younger man down an extremely steep-faced slope of jagged rock, injuring him. Stranded precariously on a ledge and without ropes some 35 feet above his nephew, Roger Kaul used his hand-held transceiver to call for help through a repeater in Billings.
Kaul’s plea was heard across Montana via the Montana Repeater Link Association system. Kent Grabau, N0SQM, a member of the Livingston (MT) Fire Department, established the initial — and only — communication link with the stranded climbers from the mobile unit in his pick-up truck, parked next to the Livingston Sheriff’s office. Later, Steve Longacre, AB7MV, of Longacre Communications Equipment Service, set up his company’s communications trailer as a command center. Fortunately, K3TM was running his radio off an external battery pack of 8 D-cells.
High winds on the mountain prevented an immediate helicopter rescue attempt, so two search-and-rescue teams began the arduous trek up the mountain (a third eventually headed in from the other side of the mountain). In the meantime, Roger Kaul was able to maneuver himself and his nephew to a more favorable rescue location.
Stuck on the mountain overnight in freezing or near-freezing temperatures and with dwindling food and water, the climbers maintained an hourly contact schedule with the command center in Livingston. A second helicopter rescue attempt early on August 1 proved especially frustrating. Although the climbers could see the helicopter, and K3TM was able to make direct radio contact on 146.52 simplex, the steep terrain prevented the chopper pilot from deploying a long-line extraction cable.
After the second failed attempt, a crack team of rangers from Grand Teton National Park was called in from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to take the pair off the peak. At around 6:30 PM on August 1, the rangers’ helicopter was able to land a rescue team near the stranded pair, remove them from the mountainside and transport them to medical treatment.
Clint Kaul suffered a sprained ankle and knee and had broken three bones in his right hand. From his hospital bed, he said he was very glad his uncle had his ham radio along. “The alternative was to wait for someone to stumble across us,” he said. Both climbers expressed their gratitude to the rescue workers and ham radio operators who had cooperated to get them off the mountain.
In all, 30 people from the Gallatin County Ham Radio Club, Park and Stillwater counties, and the National Forest Service helped in the rescue. — The ARRL thanks Lyndel Thiesen, N7LT, for contributing information used to develop this account.
The Last ½ Page — Mostly About UsREMINDERS:
02 AA9N Clarence Yorkville, IL 06 KV9Y Ed Burr Ridge, IL 07 NF9N David Orland Park, IL 09 AA9HV Bill Cntry Club Hill, IL 10 N9HOH Harold Minooka, IL 12 N9FPQ Raymond Lemont, IL 13 NU9B Donald Elmhurst, IL 13 N9TJW Larry Worth, IL 15 KB9CTJ Loren Minooka, IL 18 N9WQI Jim Hillside, IL 18 KB9KOD Peter Chicago, IL 25 KA9WLT Doug Broadview, IL 26 K9CZB Gary Dixon, IL 28 N9JPV Pat Westmont, IL