Vol. IV Issue 3
West Texas Connection
Newsletter
MAY - JUNE 1998
The WTC Newsletter is available on a bi-monthly basis
for a subscription/donation of $12 per year. Subscribers also receive
new maps of the system twice a year. Send $12 to: WTC, P.O.
Box 7033, Odessa, TX 79760 After postage, all money goes toward
maintenance of the West Texas Connection. Editor - Les Blalock, N5KOA
email: LCB911@apex2000.net
WTC Sunday Morning Net
The WTC Sunday Morning Net meets at 0900 (Central) every Sunday morning. The net is informal and open to all. Check in for local ham news and events.
The West Texas Connection homepage is at:
www.apex2000.net/nonprof/wtc
WTC News
On Sunday, April 26th the capable team of Mark (N5SOR), Tom (KC5ETW),
Pat (KB5MBK) and Ronnie (N5SVI) along with Ronnie England and Jimmy Whitt
made an assault on the Dark Canyon site. The site performance
had become marginal several weeks before due to damage to the antenna and
feedline there. Mark suspected the antenna damage was due to wind
and/or a recent commercial installation at the site and the radio had taken
a few lightning hits. The crew replaced the radio, antenna and feedline
but still have a little work left. Mark plans to return to do some
more tweaking and try to eliminate some de-sense but better performance
can be expected until Mother Nature next decides to wreak her wrath again.
While they were at Dark Canyon, Mark reported
they saw sun, rain, wind, sleet and SNOW! The same conditions were
claimed by Tom so I guess we'll report it as true. What fun it is
to maintain remote sites, huh?
Pat, KB5MBK also reports that King Mountain is back in service after a visit the weekend of April 25th-26th.
Rick, KK5RIC reports that the Alpine radio is almost ready.
All he needs is a little time so he's hoping by the time you get this Newsletter,
the installation will be complete. The new repeater will be on 146.940.
MISC
Several West Texas hams converged on Colorado City on Saturday, April 18th at the invitation of Clayton, N5IJD. Clayton had arranged a room and tables for those wanting to buy/sell/swap ham gear.
Attendees made up for the lack of a large selection of equipment with fellowship and story-telling. There were a few items of ham equipment and actually a lot of transacting for the few pieces.
I doubt anyone was disappointed in their trip to C-City. If they
were, they kept it to themselves because everybody I've heard and talked
to reported they really enjoyed the get-together. Thanks to Clayton
N5IJD, and his XYL Sharlynn for the hospitality.
Some Major Changes For Field Day!
from the ARRL Letter
Some new rules go into effect this year for Field Day. A major
change this year is the elimination of bonus-point credit for packet and
VHF/UHF contacts. Field Day stations no longer will be allowed to count
contacts via digipeaters, packet nodes, or similar arrangements. Class
2A and higher Field Day stations still may operate a "free" transmitter
exclusively for VHF or UHF operation (ie, above 50 MHz) without changing
their basic entry classification, but not for bonus points. As in
the past, crossband and repeater contacts other than via satellite do not
count for Field Day credit. Field Day stations now can earn point credit
for digital (ie, non-CW) contacts on each band. The phone, CW, and non-CW
digital segments are considered separate "bands" in the Field Day rules.
This means, for example, that you now may work the same station for point
credit on 40 meters three times: once on SSB, once on CW, and once on RTTY,
packet, or one of the TOR modes. SSB contacts count one point, and CW and
non-CW digital contacts count 2 points apiece, so adding non-CW digital
capability presents a real opportunity to rack up substantial additional
points!
FCC Proposes Rules Changes Affecting Hams
In a sweeping Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the FCC has suggested several
rules changes that could affect Amateur Radio, including replacement of
the venerable FCC Form 610. NPRM Docket WT 98-20, "To Facilitate the Development
and Use of the Universal Licensing System in the Wireless Telecommunications
Services," seeks comments on proposals to replace Form 610 with FCC Form
605; to permit automatic reciprocal licensing of foreign hams wishing to
operate in the US; to privatize the issuance of club station licenses;
and to require applicants and licensees to supply a taxpayer identification
number (TIN) and to file electronically. The FCC also plans to consolidate
the application procedures for all Wireless Telecommunications Services
into a single set of rules. All of these proposals are part of the FCC's
efforts to implement the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Universal
Licensing System (ULS).
The new Form 605 would apply for Amateur Radio and other services "not
presently required to submit extensive technical data to receive a license."
For club station licenses, the FCC proposes to accept the services of VEC-like organizations as volunteer club station call sign administrators. Prospective organizations would have to complete a pilot autogrant batch filing project before being authorized as call sign administrators.
Under the ULS, applicants or licensees would have to supply a TIN, usually
a Social Security number, or "its functional equivalent." The FCC says
this is "consistent with the requirements of the Debt Collection Improvement
Act of 1996." To allay fears of misuse of TINs, the FCC says the ULS would
be designed so that TINs will not be available to the public and "only
a small number of Commission employees would have access to TIN information
in conjunction with their work." The FCC says a Privacy Act submission
would be published in the Federal Register "to obtain the requisite public
and Congressional comment and Office of Management and Budget approval
prior to implementation of the ULS."
Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Bill Introduced
At the request of the ARRL, a bill has been introduced in Congress to
ensure the availability of spectrum to Amateur Radio operators. The bill,
HR 3572, the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 1998, would protect
existing Amateur Radio spectrum against reallocations to or sharing with
other services unless the FCC provides "equivalent replacement spectrum"
elsewhere. The bill was introduced March 27 by Rep Michael Bilirakis of
Florida, a Republican, with the cosponsorship of Rep Ron Klink of Pennsylvania,
a Democrat.
Vanity Fee Could Drop Drastically
The fee to obtain an Amateur Radio vanity call sign would drop drastically under the FCC's proposed fiscal year 1998 fee schedule. If adopted, the new fee will be $12.90 for the ten-year term, payable at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstated license.
The new fee is contained in an FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, MD
Docket 98-36, Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year
1998, released March 25.
The current vanity call sign fee is $50 for the ten-year term. The
FCC says it has no plans to refund the difference between the current fee
and the new fee for applicants who submit applications before implementation
of the FY 1998 fee schedule.
The FCC has calculated the new fee based on an expected 10,000 applicants
during FY 1998. The FCC says it will announce the effective date for the
new fee either in the Report and Order that terminates the fee schedule
rulemaking proposal or by a public notice.
Andy Thomas Suggests We're Not Alone
US astronaut Andy Thomas, KD5CHF/VK5MIR, thinks we may not be alone. Speaking from the Russian Mir space station via Amateur Radio April 8 with high school students in Roswell, New Mexico, the self - proclaimed UFO capital of the world-Thomas said in response to a student's question that he believes there is extraterrestrial intelligent life. "Yes, I think there probably is, when you consider the scale of the universe," he said during a scheduled Mir-school contact with students at Goddard High School and Roswell High School.
Thomas described life is "a very tenacious thing," that could exist beyond the bounds of Earth. But he said he very much doubts that space beings ever visited Roswell, as some assert happened in the late 1940s. Tourist attractions in Roswell have since capitalized on the UFO talk.
The high schoolers asked 11 questions during the approximately 10-minute
chat with Thomas, which took place via a telebridge with VK5AGR in Thomas'
native Australia. Some 120 people, including fellow students, parents,
teachers and the news media, were on hand for the occasion. Mir-school
contacts resumed earlier this year after a one-year hiatus. They are being
arranged through the SAREX program, a joint effort of NASA, the ARRL, and
AMSAT, in cooperation with the Russian space program. Other contacts are
set for this month with schools in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
New W5 and Alaska QSL bureaus:
Effective immediately the addresses and managers for the ARRL W5 and Alaska Incoming QSL Bureaus have changed. The ARRL W5 QSL Bureau now is the Magnolia DX Association, PO Box 999, Wiggins, MS 39577-0999; manager, Floyd Gerald, N5FG, e-mail floydgee@datasync.com. The new Alaska QSL Bureau is at PO Box 520343, Big Lake, AK 99652; manager, Roger Hansen KL7HFQ; e-mail rkh@alaska.net. The ARRL thanks former managers Les Bannon, WF5E, and John Bierman, KL7GNP, for their years of service to the amateur community.-Martin Cook, N1FOC, ARRL QSL Service Manager.