The Airwaves March 2006 SIERRA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB An ARRL Special Services Club -- RACES -- ARES -- P.O. Box 1442, Ridgecrest, California 93556-1442

BOARD	President	Bill Burns	WA6QYR	375-8566
	First VP	John Andrus	KC6UWM	371-2190
OF	Second VP	Fred Moses	KG6STR	371-4034
	Secretary	Lloyd Brubaker	WA6KZV
OFFICERS	Treasurer	Pam Evans	KC6UUS	375-4240

SARC Owned and Maintained Repeaters

Randsburg WA6YBN 145.34 MHz (-600 kHz), PL 100.0 Hz, Wide Area Coverage, Emerg. Pwr. Ridgecrest WA6YBN 146.64 MHz (-600 kHz), Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency Power Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.00 MHz (+600 kHz), PL 107.2 Hz, Autopatch, linked to 145.34 Ridgecrest YBNBBS:WA6YBN, 145.050 MHz, Bulletin Board, 1200 Baud Ridgecrest #YBNSW:WA6YBN-4, 223.580 MHz, Node, 1200 Baud Ridgecrest #YBNSW:WA6YBN-4, 439.025 MHz, Node, 9600 Baud

SARC Committees

Technical Assistance: Greg, WA7IRW 446-4383	Public Relations: John, KC6UWM 375-5324
Program: Fred, KG6STR 446-1315	Airways Editor: Mike, WA6ARA 275-5324
RF Interference: Bill, WA6QYR 375-8566	Emergency and Public Service: Jerry, KK6PA 446-2228

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THE AIRWAVES CALENDAR

Every Monday Night ARRL Audio News 1910 (7:10 PM) on 146.64 MHz IWV Emergency Net Visitors Welcomed! 1930 hrs (7:30 PM) WA6YBN Translator 146.64 MHz (-) East Kern County Emergency Net Visitors Welcomed! Rand repeater 145.340, pl 100 2000 hrs (8 PM)

March 8 SARC Meeting Heritage Inn -- WA7IRW, see details inside March 11 Hidden Transmitter Hunt See details inside! April 21 Boy Scout Camporall Demonstration June 24-25 FIELD DAY! AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE EXAMS Second Saturday, Even months April 8 Volunteer License Exam Sessions Kern County Library Ridgecrest Branch 131 East Las Flores Ave. Meeting Room Pre-register by 05 Apr. All must sign in at 9 AM. Code test 11 AM. Contact Elvy NØLV 760-384-3589 E-mail ehopkins@ridgenet.net

Wow! We just had January and now March is zooming in on us.

The horse ride events in January and February went well. More operators could have made things easier for all. People need to think if they are going to be ready to communicate when some event happens. They need to practice getting on the air. Being able to put that 2 meter rig in the car and operate with out a bunch of fix that and modify this stuff. Gee I need to get 12 volts and some 10 amps for this rig. Most cigarette lighter sockets are limited to about 10 amps. Where is the fuze for it located? How do I get the magmount antenna on the newer car than when I purchased the magmount? This is just some stuff you have to go through to put the radio in the car. But the event has happened and where did I stick that antenna anyway? Take the opportunity to get prepared to go mobile at one of these easy events, then you will be prepared for the bad one when it comes and you need to get out of the house.

Most of the horse ride events we have are more than just operating the radio. You get to meet some nice people riding those horses. They have to do some interesting things to get their horses to go around the trails for the 50 or 100 miles. They have to be prepared for their part of the event just like we need to be prepared to help them. Once in a while we do need to help them with a situation and it is nice to be prepared then too. We have some people from other countries come to ride and test their horse and both rider and horse endurance. Just like the bike rides we have helped on in the past, we are there to provide help getting help when needed. We are in the outdoors and get to see some areas maybe not seen before.

During this last ride there were hundreds of Snow Geese flying to the hills to the south for grass and then back home in Ridgecrest for other meals. It was interesting to watch them trying to fly into the wind. Lots of honking going on to encourage the flight leader and tell every one what is happening back in the line of birds. Come on out and try providing communications for these events. You will learn something and have fun at it too.

Bill WA6QYR

5 in attendance

Called to order by the President Bill Burns at 1900 hrs. A check was made with the board for any business. There wasn't anything that needed done with the upcoming activities. (See announcements below)

Minutes of the General Meeting
By Secretary Lloyd Brubaker (WA6KZV)

Membership (20 in attendance)

Bill passed out assignments and schedules to the 20 Mule Team horse ride participants. A 21 April Boy Scout demonstration announced. Mark your calendar. This will last from 11am to 12 am. More details later.

The speaker was Gene Brewer, KI6LO, on the nature of various digital systems in use and experimented with.

Meeting adjourned following the 50/50 drawing at 1830

The next meeting will be at 7pm for the board, 7:30 for general membership at the Heritage Inn on Wednesday March 8th. The speaker TBA

Treasurer's Report as of February 21, 2005:

Draft Account $ 1,166.69 
Share Account $ 5,072.76 
BALANCE:      $ 6,239.45 

We received a letter of thanks from the Valley Riders (Fire Mountain Fifty Horse Ride) and a check for $150.00 for the club treasury. Nancy Burton, ride manager, expressed her thanks knowing that we were keeping track of all the riders. Many of the riders themselves expressed that thanks individually as well. Good job guys and gals.

Each year we send out a February newsletter to all the hams listed in the FCC data base in the valley inviting them to join SARC. Every year we get a bundle of them back marked Not Deliverable. FCC rules require that the station address be kept up to date. Of course the station location and the mailing address may not be the same but each amateur needs to be aware of the problem and be sure the correct address is listed with the FCC.

March Meeting Program

Greg WA7IRW will demonstrate an HP E3238 spectrum surveillance system. The FCC has used these to monitor the spectrum usage, and tune in on possible violators. "It is basically a spectrum analyzer on steroids." It can search for signals from 2 MHz to 3 GHz in about 1.5 seconds. It can "drop" a receiver onto a signal that it finds so the signal can be demodulated and monitored.

Greg will set up the E3238 with a wideband discone antenna and a single receiver. The program will start with a 16 minute HP video that describes many of the features of the equipment, then maybe a few slides that discuss the differences between a regular scanner, a spectrum analyzer, and the E3238. For the demonstration of the equipment Greg will "tour" the spectrum, zoom in on some signals, such as a pager to show the modulation, and end with the grand finale of having someone key up a low power handheld, begin talking, and show how fast the system finds the signal and tunes the receiver onto it.
73
Fred KG6STR

It's time again for another hidden transmitter hunt! Also known as a T-hunt, fox hunt, etc. This month's hunt will be on 11 March, starting at the Heritage Inn parking lot at 9am. Usually these hunt last about an hour and everyone has fun. No equipment?, no problem. You can hook up with someone who does and ride along. Be sure to bring along your handheld, so you too can twirl around trying to find it in the end. The frequency is 146.565 Mhz. Everyone is encouraged to give it a try. For more info contact Mike, WA6ARA or Greg, WA7IRW.

Early on we had a rider that some how ended up off her horse and on to the ground with suspected broken collar bone and leg problems. Operators radioed for a horse taxi and the ladies' support car to get the horse back to the Fairgrounds and then the lady to the hospital. Most of the rest of the event was just trying to keep numbers of leaders and end horses straight for each group of riders.

The weather had been cool, sunny and breezy for most of the day. Snow Geese were in abundance (over 300) flying from the Ridgecrest Fields to the south mountain grass areas and back. Evening came with heavy cloud cover and cold wind, which kept every one inside vehicles. All in all it was a good communications event that the riders were very thankful for us being there.

Bill Burns WA6QYR

The Boy Scout Camporall is to be held April 21-23 in Keysville near Lake Isabella. SARC will be taking the tower trailer and Phelps, W6PTH will bring his portable station. The plan is to set up a station to demo for the Scouts what Amateur Radio iw all about and let them talk to someone. Kind of a promo for Radio merit Badge too. Others are welcome to come up for a day on Saturday and join in the fun of talking with the Scouts and demonstrating the radio hobby. The contact is Bill Burns, WA6QYR

I am in the process of upgrading the ARES/RACES Portable Packet stations(PPS). They need to be capable of sending email formatted messages to a local WL2K packet station for transfer out of the area to WL2K "mailbox".

Since the four PPSs are being changed over from 1-1/4 mtrs to 2m/70cm I needed a good antenna to run 9600 bd packet into the ELPASO node up on Laural Peak. I borrowed the Comet GP-3 antenna Gregg (WA7IRW) purchased for the RACES portable crossband repeater. With the antenna set up on one of the PPS supports at about 6 feet I tried hitting ELPASO at 50 watts. It seemed work quite nicely. I dropped the power to 5 watts and was amazed to get perfect communications without any rejected packets. I found that the 2mtr connection to the WA6YBN BBS at 5 watts was also excellent. The results on both bands impressed me. Especially having many rejects when using the original 1-1/4 mtr setup.

Gregg said he didn't really have any particular reason for choosing the Comet. I've previously had Comet antennas and was never overly impressed with them. I compared the specs of the Comet with a similar Diamond. The Comet GP-3 is a 5' 11" dual bander with gains of 4.5/7.2 dBi for 2/70. The Diamond X50A is 5' 7" long with the same gain and the same price.

Hum! Now what? The Comet proved it will do what I want. Do I buy four Comets or four Diamonds?

Gregg came to the rescue. He suggested I buy one Diamond and we'll compare the reception of it to the Comet. We set his Yaesu VR-5000 on his portable table in my driveway. Put the two antenna up on their own similar supports. Gregg went across the street with his 300 mw HT and we compared the signal strength between the two antennas.

Which one is the best one?? They are basically the same. The construction seems the same. In fact, the plastic sleeve they come in are the same, right down to the color. On two meters the Diamond was a 1/2 db better than the Comet. On 70 cm the Comet was a 1/2 db better. We checked Gregg's collinear (4X) against the Diamond's (3X) on 2 mtrs. As you would expect, Gregg's collinear was 2 db better.

It appears to boil down to personal preference. Since 70cm, 9600 bd packet needs the strongest signal possible, I'll probably buy the three Comets.

Jerry Brooks, KK6PA kk6pa@hotmail.com

ARRL Bulletin 3  ARLB003 
From ARRL Headquarters   
Newington CT  February 14, 2006 

"There really is no news," an FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) staffer told ARRL this week on background. ''We certainly hope to release WT Docket 05-235 sometime this year, but we're not making any predictions at this time.'' The WTB staffer indicated there would be no ''big announcements'' at the Dayton Hamvention FCC Forum either.

Beyond eliminating the Morse requirement, the FCC declined in its NPRM&O to go forward with any other suggested changes to Amateur Service licensing rules or operating privileges.

The proceeding began with 18 petitions for rule making-- many just calling for the elimination of the Morse requirement but some asking for more far-reaching changes in the Amateur Service rules. The various petitions attracted a total of some 6200 comments. The FCC subsequently consolidated the petitions--including one from the ARRL asking the FCC to establish a new entry-level license class and to retain the Morse requirement for Amateur Extra class applicants--into a single proceeding designated WT 05-235.

Worth noting is that the FCC did not propose in WT 05-235 to extend HF privileges to current Technician licensees who have not passed a Morse code examination. In its NPRM&O the FCC suggested that in a no-Morse- requirement regime, such ''codeless Techs'' would be able to gain HF access by taking the Element 3 General class written examination.

Before it releases an R&O on the Morse code proceeding, however, the WTB wants to wrap up action in another Amateur Radio-related docket--the ''Phone Band Expansion'' (or ''Omnibus'') NPRM in WT Docket 04-140, released last April 15. A dozen petitions for rulemaking, some dating back to 2001, were consolidated in the Omnibus proceeding. In that NPRM, the Commission proposed to go along with the ARRL's Novice refarming plan aimed at reallocating the current Novice/Tech Plus subbands to expand portions of the 80, 40 and 15 meter phone bands. The FCC also agreed with an ARRL proposal to extend privileges in the current General CW-only HF subbands to present Novice and Tech Plus licensees (or Technicians with Element 1 credit).

Any FCC decision to eliminate the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for HF access would have no impact on either the current HF CW-only subbands or on the CW privileges of Amateur Radio licensees. The Morse code proceeding neither put forward nor recommended any changes in CW allocations or privileges.

From The ARRL Web Site

NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 14, 2006--Calling the FCC-mandated BPL Interference Resolution Web site "woefully incomplete and improperly managed," the ARRL has called on the FCC to order database manager United Telecom Council (UTC) to fix it immediately or appoint "a competent database manager" to repair the problems. "The database management is either shamefully incompetent on the part of UTC or simply nonexistent," the ARRL said in a complaint today to the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET). "The database is merely 'garbage in, garbage out,' and in its present form cannot serve any useful purpose at all, much less a 'sufficient' means of addressing BPL interference." A copy of the complaint also went to the FCC's Enforcement Bureau as well as to UTC.

ARRL Denied Access

Error message ARRL received while trying to access BPL Interference Resolution Database.

In an apparently related development, UTC has terminated the ARRL's access to the BPL Interference Resolution Web site. The League plans to file a separate complaint to the FCC on that issue. The BPL database should be accessible from other ISPs, however, and the ARRL wants to hear from anyone else spotting discrepancies as well as from those whose database access has been curtailed or cut off altogether. A notice on the opening page of the BPL database declares that individuals are allowed "a limited number" of searches each month. "Individuals are advised not to conduct random searches of the database, or their access to the database may be further restricted," the UTC warns.

League efforts to access the database yielded this error message: "The system has determined that this line of searching constitutes unauthorized use of the database. Cease operations immediately." The ARRL already has complained about the UTC database's use of ZIP codes as a sole database access key and has requested that the FCC require UTC to provide a list of ZIP codes where BPL systems are in operation or going into operation to simplify searches.

BPL Database Required by FCC Rules

The FCC ordered creation of the BPL Interference Resolution database in October 2004, when it adopted new Part 15 rules to govern BPL systems.

"The primary intent of our notification and database requirements is to ensure that licensed users of the spectrum have a publicly accessible and centralized source of information on BPL operations to determine whether there may be Access BPL operations on particular frequencies within their local area so that any incident of harmful interference can be resolved should it occur," the FCC said in its Report and Order. FCC rules require Access BPL operators to provide certain information 30 days before commencing operations. The database is supposed to include the name of the BPL provider, frequencies of operation, postal ZIP codes served, manufacturer and type of BPL equipment, a point-of- contact telephone number and e-mail address for interference inquiries and resolution, and the proposed or actual date the system will start operation. The database manager has three days from the date of receipt to enter the information into the database.

Database of Mutual Benefit

Having correct and up-to-date information in the BPL Interference Resolution Database benefits both BPL providers and licensed services, the League has pointed out. For example, a radio amateur suspecting BPL interference might be able to rule out the possibility by consulting the database. ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI--the League's point man on BPL technical issues--says that while the BPL database has shortcomings limiting its usefulness, ARRL staff have until now made extensive use of it to help the Amateur Radio Service appropriately deal with interference questions and problems.

"In the past, when amateurs have reported BPL interference, one industry response has been to claim that the amateur station is hearing some other noise and thinking that it's BPL," Hare said "By locating these systems soon after they've appeared in the database, the League has been able to advise amateurs in affected ZIP codes that they should document current noise and noise levels. This way, when the BPL system becomes operational, it will be easy to tell whether there is any significant change in noise levels, or not, preventing erroneous reports that could have occurred otherwise." The ARRL's BPL Interference Database page provides more information about BPL systems than "the minimal database maintained by the UTC," Hare added.

Fox in the Henhouse

The ARRL said in its complaint that even assuming UTC intends its BPL database to be available to radio amateurs to determine the source of possible BPL interference, the FCC should require UTC "to revisit every entry in the database and verify independently the information provided." Alternatively, the League requested that the FCC relieve UTC as database manager and appoint a new one that will supervise it properly. "The fox, therefore, should be withdrawn from the henhouse," the League said.

Complaint Includes Database Discrepancies

Attached to the League's letter of complaint was a compilation of BPL database errors and omissions the ARRL discovered between January 27 and February 14, 2006. "There may be others," the ARRL noted. "The attached list includes eight BPL systems that are not in the database at all, which are clearly in operation in violation of the Commission's Rules. It includes two systems which were placed in operation prior to, or contemporaneous with, their listing in the database, rather than 30 days after their listing in the database."

One listing lacks contact information, systems operating in two ZIP codes contain no equipment information, and nearly three dozen systems said to be in operation and entered in the database lack FCC ID numbers or equipment model numbers, the League says. Three listings contain no frequency information, while another five contain incorrect, ambiguous, or incomplete information about the frequencies being used. Hare said the ARRL has a responsible program for dealing with other types of interference, and it wants to continue that with BPL interference and ensure that amateurs having problems properly identify and report it. "The UTC's escalating restrictions on access to the database will serve little other purpose other than to make it harder for amateurs to identify BPL interference correctly," he said.

Scofflaw Attitudes

In its complaint, the League said the FCC is obliged under its Part 15 rules to apply sanctions on BPL providers not complying with the database requirements. "The eight systems that are operating but which are not included in the database should be shut down immediately," the League added.

Most noteworthy are the Briarcliff Manor, New York, and Allentown, Pennsylvania-area BPL systems that have been the cause of substantial interference to Amateur Radio stations. The League recently asked the FCC to shut down the Briarcliff Manor system because of longstanding interference complaints to which the FCC has not adequately responded.

"Those BPL operators have no incentive whatsoever to comply with the database requirements, since their scofflaw attitudes about compliance with the few BPL regulations that the Commission has imposed to date, and with interference resolution obligations, have been rewarded by Commission inaction on the complaints filed," the ARRL complaint said.

Download the Membership Application (PDF) print, fill out and mail to SARC. Members who fail to renew by March will be dropped from the roll.

Updated Sun Mar 19 14:29:42 PST 2006