January Meeting: The January Club Meeting will be held at the American Red Cross Building located at 608 East Franklin
Street in Monroe on January 17th beginning at 7:30 PM. Hope to see you all there.
From The President's Desk: I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. As I sit here at the PC writing this on Friday
January 3rd we have about 8 or 10 inches of snow on the ground. Thank goodness my office decided to shut
down so I didn't have to drive in the mess.
Since my long dissertation (1500+ words) in the last NL,I really don't have all that much to say this time
around. Just that this upcoming meeting will be the first of 2002 and it's time to get serious about what
direction we're going to take UCARS. I've asked Steve WA3RTC to do a short program on ARES for the Jan.
meeting and the rest of the time I would to discuss plans for the upcoming year. I mentioned in the last NL
my idea for a program to introduce the Union County public officials and the public to Amateur radio. If we
decide to do this it will most likely take several months to put it together, but I think it would be a great project.
Some other projects for the upcoming year are:
Field Day
Fox Hunts
Ham Fest
Ham Radio displays at the mall, Blooming Arts Fest.
Provide comm. support for walk-a-thons, and running events etc.
Club cookouts
Club table at Charlotte HamFest
VEC test sessions
If you have any ideas for other projects or would like to help with any of these, PLEASE come to the January
meeting.
Ralph W4ZO, Jerry N2HV and George N4NGC have done a GREAT job of getting the club's repeater
controller back on line and working good. Thanks a bunch guys.
Ralph has applied for and gotten our club call sign and now is waiting for our vanity call to be approved. We
hope to get NC4UC.
Mary K4MDV is doing a great job of updating the clubs web page. You can find it at http://ucars.trellis.net.
Looking forward to seeing a good crowd at the Jan. meeting.
73, Ron KC4YOY
Treasurer's Report: Hey, folks!!
No meeting to report on this month, but we had a great time at the Christmas party!
We chowed at the Sagebrush, and generally enjoyed the evening. Wil, KF4AMU, was the least recognized of
all the attendees-man does he look different!! He's home for the holidays from Embry Riddle in Daytona
Beach. You'll have to ask everyone what they ate, for I failed to write it down. The Ham Radio pig
was passed on, as is tradition from Rick, KD4FXA to Bob, K4RLD, after much discussion of the exploits of
previous pig holders. In case you're not up to date on pig lore, she's a pig-shaped plaque demonstrating the
finer side if Real Ham Radio which has for years been an award for dedicated club service. It is passed on
each year to the person thought most deserving by the previous pig holder. That said, congratulations, Bob,
you do a great job-and there will be surprise ham shack inspections to insure the proper display of this icon!
Well, I lost my list of who was there, and though I probably remember them all, I don't want to miss anyone,
so attendance list will follow .
Wish you all had been there, see you next month!!
'73 de KA4YIG
TREASURER'S REPORT
George reports that the balance is unchanged from last month.
UCARS NET CONTROL SCHEDULE
As you know, we have been searching for net control stations for the UCARS Nets. We are pleased to
announce that beginning tonight (January 7th) George N4NGC and Mary K4MDV have agreed to host the
nets for the first week of each month. Also, Ron KC4YOY will serve as NCS on the third Monday of the
month. The schedule then for the remainder of the month is:
January 7th & 9th, George N4NGC & Mary K4MDV
January 14th & 16th, Bob K4RLD
January 21st, Ron KC4YOY the 23rd Bob K4RLD
January 28th & 30th, Bob K4RLD
If you are interested in serving as a NCS on a regular or backup basis, please call me at 704 289-2122 or
e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks! (Editor)
UCARS "GENUINE HAM RADIO" Pink Pig:
At the December meeting, as was mentioned above, the Editor was "blessed" to receive the "beloved"
UCARS Pig. With a great deal of relief on his part, it was surrendered by Rick KD4FXA who has been its
keeper for the past year. I promise to display it always in a prominent position in my hamshack. (Editor)
Past "Pig" recipients include:
YEAR: CALL: NAME:
1986 N4EOF JACK STEGAL
1987 AB4DG RICKY SIMS
1988 WB4OOA RON DURIE
1989 N4QIN HENRY KILBOURNE
1990 WD4LTB JIM MONCRIEF
1991 KJ4DE DAVE REAMS
1992 ?
1993 ?
1994 KC4YOY RON LAWRENCE
1995 N4ZVN ED HELMS
1996/1997 KE4IHU GEORGE CHAKHTOURA (NOW N4NGC)
KE4IIA MARY VERKUILEN (NOW K4MDV)
1998 KD4FXA RICK CRIDER
1999 KF4MJY TIM HUNTER
KF4MJZ LOIS HUNTER
KF4RAP JOSHUA HUNTER
KF4PHK JEREMIAH HUNTER
KF4TUX DAN HUNTER
2000 KF4OYT JOHN BARNES
2001 KD4FXA RICK CRIDER
2002 K4RLD BOB DEWITT
THE WAYBACK MACHINE #2 BY BILL CONTINELLI, W2XOY
Monday, April 15, 1912, 12:30 AM. The Wayback Machine is over the North Atlantic, at 41 degrees 46' North,
and 50 degrees 14' West. Down below is a majestic ship, the largest and most luxurious ship in the world,
on its maiden voyage.
In the wireless room is a 5kw Marconi station, and before it sit two tired operators, who make $20 per month,
not as employees of the shipping line, but rather as employees of the Marconi Company. The in basket is
still full of messages, everything from personal telegrams to stock market quotations. They are so busy
working Cape Race, Newfoundland, that they didn't even notice the slight grinding jar 30 minutes earlier. As
the two wireless operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, passed the routine traffic, the Captain came in,
said the ship had struck an iceberg, and told them to send a distress call at once. The blue spark jumped
across the gap as Phillips sent "CQD" (come quick danger). "Send S.O.S." Bride said, "It's the new call and
it may be your last chance to send it".
Thus began the moment in history that changed radio. Two hours later, Jack Phillips and over 1500 others
were dead, the "Titanic" lay at the bottom of the ocean, and 713 survivors huddled in half filled lifeboats
waiting to be rescued. The tragic errors in the story of the "Titanic" pointed out the need of wireless
regulation.
The first ship to answer the distress call was the German Liner, the "Frankfurt". While the "Frankfurt"
wireless operator was informing his captain, the "Carpathia" and Cape Race chimed in. When the
"Frankfurt" operator came back to get more information, Phillips tapped back "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, YOU FOOL. STAND BY AND KEEP OUT".
While this would seem bizarre by our standards, it made perfect sense
to the operators of 1912.
The "Titanic", "Carpathia", and Cape Race were equipped with Marconi operators and stations, while the
"Frankfurt" utilized the services of Marconi's German competitor, Telefunken. This commercial war was
extended down to the individual operators. No routine traffic would EVER pass from a Marconi station to a
rival, and, even in an emergency, if Marconi stations were available, the others would be shut out.
The wireless controversy would continue after the "Carpathia" picked up the survivors. A wireless message
was received, allegedly from the "Carpathia", which said "ALL PASSENGERS OF LINER "TITANIC" SAFELY
TRANSFERRED TO THIS SHIP AND "S.S. PARISIAN". SEA CALM. "TITANIC" BEING TOWED BY ALLEN LINER
"VIRGINIAN" TO PORT". Other wireless messages appeared, also stating that ALL passengers were
safe, and the ship was being towed in. There was just one problem--these messages were not coming
from the "Carpathia". For one thing, her wireless had a maximum range of 150 miles. For another,
the "Carpathia" wireless operator had made only a few transmissions to the "Olympic" (sister ship of the
"Titanic" and another Marconi operation), in which he tapped out the list of survivors, some coded messages
from Bruce Ismay, President of White Star Lines, then shut down his station. So complete was the radio
silence from the "Carpathia", that they refused to answer the calls from Navy cruisers sent to the scene by
President Taft.
The White Star Line, owners of the "Titanic", were still insisting that everyone was safe and the ship had
not sunk. But even as they made these claims, they had all the horrific details from the "Olympic". And so would
the rest of the world, thanks to a 21 year old operator named David Sarnoff, who managed to detect the faint
signals of the "Olympic", and broke the story. Faced with the truth, and hounded by thousands of reporters
and outraged relatives of passengers, the White Star Liner officials finally broke down and revealed all.
Meanwhile, the "Carpathia" steamed towards New York City. When she passed within range of shore
stations, there were "frenzied attempts by amateur wireless operators which formed a hissing mixture
from which scarcely a complete sentence was intelligible". It didn't matter, because the radio silence continued.
At the Port of New York, the "Carpathia" was met by Senator William A. Smith of Michigan, a no nonsense
Populist who was the Chairman of the committee investigating the shipwreck. He immediately slapped
subpoenas on everyone possible, including Harold Bride and Harold Cottam, wireless operator on the
"Carpathia". Marconi himself, who was in the U.S. at the time, (and had planned on taking the "Titanic" back to England), was also summoned to appear.
The hearings revealed the information given above, plus the disturbing fact that the "Californian" was just 10
miles from the "Titanic". Not only did the "Californian" not have a full time wireless operation, but the ship's
captain ignored the eight distress rockets sent up by the "Titanic". As to the origin of the false messages
concerning the saving of the ship and passengers, no answer was ever found. However, Senator Smith
sarcastically noted that, in the interim, the "Titanic" was quickly reinsured, and stock in the Marconi Company
jumped from $55 to $225 per share. The Senator DID find out the cause of the "Carpathia" radio silence--it
was Marconi himself. He had sent wireless messages to Bride and Cottam stating "MARCONI COMPANY
TAKING GOOD CARE OF YOU-KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT-HOLD YOUR STORY-YOU WILL GET BIG
MONEY-NOW CLEAR". It turned out that Marconi had an agreement with the New York Times for an exclusive
story. Thus, essential information for desperate relatives and official inquiries from the President of the
United States took a back seat to Marconi's interest.
When Marconi got on the stand, Senator Smith pounced on him with astonishing vehemence. Marconi had
been lionized by the nation, and now the Senator was treating him like any other entrepreneur who put profit
above the public. Senator Smith was warned that his attack on a man as popular as Marconi was political
suicide, but he didn't care. In his obsession with his belief that the unregulated wireless spectrum was
partly to blame in the "Titanic" disaster, he painted Marconi as a man willing to subordinate the public good
to his goal of a complete wireless equipment AND spectrum monopoly. Senator Smith used the "Titanic"
hearings to condemn the laissez-faire status of the wireless, and appeal for the international regulation of
radio.
On May 18, 1912, Senator Smith introduced a bill in the Senate. Among its provisions:
1) ships carrying 50 passengers or more must have a wireless set with a minimum range of 100 miles;
2) wireless sets must have an auxiliary power supply which can operate until the wireless room itself was
under water or otherwise destroyed; and
3) two or more operators provide continuous service day and night. In response to the interference
generated over the years, and especially when the "Carpathia" was within range, a provision was added that
"private stations could not use wavelengths in excess of 200 meters, except by special permission".
To avoid "ownership" of the spectrum by the Marconi Company, licenses would now be required, issued by
the Secretary of Commerce. Each Government, Marine, or Commercial station would be authorized a
specific wavelength, power level, and hours of operation.
The initial legislation had considered the elimination of all private, non commercial (i.e. amateur) stations,
but Congress realized that would be difficult and expensive to enforce. Therefore, since it was a "well known
fact" that long wavelengths were the best, and anything below 250 meters was useless, except for local
communication, it was decided to compromise and give the amateurs 200 meters, where they could work 25
miles maximum and would die out of their own accord in a few years.
How the amateurs coped with 200 meters will be our focus next month. Hope you'll join us for another trip on
the Wayback Machine.
Copyright 1996, 2001 by William Continelli, W2XOY
All rights reserved.