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NOTE: To accommodate the editor's travel schedule, The ARRL Letter and ARRL Audio News are being distributed a day earlier than usual. The Solar Update from Tad Cook, K7VVV, will be available from W1AW and posted on ARRLWeb Friday, September 18.--Rick Lindquist, N1RL
Amateur Radio will enjoy a high degree of visibility when the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference convenes next month in Minneapolis--even though ham radio frequency allocations are not on the agenda. ARRL Technical Relations Manager Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, has been appointed to serve as a member of the US delegation to the international gathering, October 12 to November 6. ARRL International Affairs Vice President and International Amateur Radio Union Secretary Larry Price, W4RA, will attend under United Nations auspices. Price will serve as senior advisor on Emergency Telecommunications for the UN Office of Humanitarian Aid. The longtime former director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, Richard Kirby, W0LCT, also will attend on behalf of Amateur Radio.
ARRL President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, and Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, are expected to visit the conference but will not participate as delegates.
While Amateur Radio matters are not specifically slated for discussion at the conference, "there are items on the agenda that have the potential to affect us," said Price.
Two special event stations will be on the air during the conference. W98ITU will be set up in the conference center at Minneapolis, run by operators from the Twin Cities area. The primary W98ITU operating position will control a remote Kachina transceiver and antenna site some 15 miles from the conference center. A second operator position will use a Ten-Tec OMNI VI Plus, solid-state amp, and an Explorer 14 beam at the conference site. W98ITU is expected to be on the during the day on weekdays and for entire weekends. A full-fledged satellite station also will be on the air, according to ARRL Dakota Division Director Tod Olson, K0TO, who's coordinating the operating activity. Also during the conference, the W0AIH multiop station will use the call sign N98ITU during the CQ Worldwide Contest (SSB) October 24-25. Separate, special event QSL cards will be available for those working either W98ITU or N98ITU.
The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference--held every four years--is the organization's top policymaking body. It sets general ITU policies, adopts five-year strategic and financial plans, and elects the senior management team.
One good sign for the hobby in terms of its international presence is the fact that the current director of the Radiocommunication Sector, Robert W. Jones, VE3CTM, is the only one of the three incumbent sector directors who is unopposed for re-election.
The Minneapolis "plenipot" marks the first time in more than 50 years that a Plenipotentiary Conference will be held in the US. The last one on American soil was in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1947.
The ARRL has asked the FCC to hold the line on current conducted emission limits below 30 MHz from unlicensed consumer electronic, industrial, scientific, and medical devices operating under Parts 15 and 18 of the Commission's rules. Interfering devices include such common household appliances as computers, TV sets, and microwave ovens. Conducted emissions result from RF voltages imposed on the a.c. power line, which can, in turn, act as an antenna. In general, the current conducted emission limit is 250 uV.
In comments filed in response to a Notice of Inquiry on conducted emission limits below 30 MHz in ET Docket 98-80, the League said the proliferation of Part 15 and 18 devices over the past decade as resulted in what it called "a marked increase in RF noise from conducted emissions generally." The ARRL said it "wholeheartedly agrees" with a tentative FCC conclusion that some limitations continue to be necessary to control interference to licensed radio services in the HF range.
The League said that current Part 15 and 18 limitations are "not sufficient" to prevent interference to hams from conducted emissions. The League said it would be "most inappropriate" to consider relaxing the limits "unless and until the consumer electronics industry is provably able to properly respond to the interference problems."
The League concluded that because most interference from Part 15 and 18 devices to licensed HF services results from conducted emissions, "it is especially important that the Commission retain what minimal protection exists from the present regulations."
The League has already called on the FCC to not relax line-conducted emission limitations at 2.4 GHz and has recommended a 300-meter distance limitation from residential areas if the FCC adopts the relaxed conducted and radiated emission limits it proposed in a separate proceeding (WT Docket 98-42). That proceeding focused on updating regulations for Part 18 RF lighting devices.
An Arizona toddler is safe, thanks in part to help provided by the Cochise County ARES/RACES unit. The team was activated around 8:45 PM on September 8 to assist the Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue unit in locating the lost 2-1/2 year old boy who had wandered away from his home earlier in the evening.
The unit deployed the County Emergency Response Van (ERV) to an area near the Cochise/Graham county line north of Willcox, Arizona, to assist in the search. Elements from several other public safety units--more than 75 people in all--also turned out.
Bob Hollister, N7INK, and Ron DeWillers,W1YYO, spent the night manning radios in the emergency response van and helped to keep track of the search teams as the vigil wore on. Just as the ERV relief team showed up to take over the day shift, the little boy was located by a county search-and-rescue dog team some two miles from his home in a cornfield. "Other than being tired, hungry, a little dehydrated, and thoroughly intimidated by the experience, the young man was fine," reports Arizona Section Manager Cliff Hauser, KD6XH. The youngster had spent about 15 hours in the fields trying to find his way back home.
Hauser said that eight amateurs were involved in the search effort.--thanks to Arizona SM Cliff Hauser, KD6XH
The ARRL says the FCC is proposing too much spectrum at 5.9 GHz for deployment of Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) systems for intelligent transportation system (ITS) applications. The League's comments follow a June 11 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ET Docket No 98-95) in which the FCC proposed setting aside 75 MHz--5.850 to 5.925 GHz for use by ITS on a coprimary basis. The Amateur Service has a secondary allocation at 5.650 to 5.925 GHz, sharing with government radars and nongovernment fixed satellite service uplinks.
The League said the FCC should compensate for the DSRC incursion by elevating the remaining Amateur and Amateur Satellite allocations at 5.650 to 5.725 and 5.825 to 5.850 GHz to nongovernment primary "to insure against future preemption by nongovernment services with higher allocation status."
The ARRL said it's not apparent from the FCC's NPRM that 75 MHz of spectrum is necessary. The DSRC allocation at 5 GHz in Europe is only 10 MHz wide, the League pointed out, and the FCC Notice does not account for the disparity "between that bandwidth and the claimed need for 75 MHz for unspecified future DSRC applications." The League said the Commission ought to explore the opportunities of frequency reuse and the availability of the 902-928 MHz band for some DSRC functions.
In earlier comments, the League questioned whether the 5.9 GHz band was appropriate for DSRC and urged the FCC to look into frequencies above 40 GHz, where DSRC systems could avoid interference from other users.
The League also recommended that the Commission mandate prior coordination between ITS America (a nonprofit ITS promotional organization) and the League or restrict DSRC facilities to those using "listen-before-transmit protocols and frequency-agile transmitters with roaming channel selection."
Possible ITS applications include various highway safety systems, including traffic control, automated roadside safety inspections, enroute driver information systems, and systems where DSRC-equipped vehicles could be equipped to more quickly detect traffic congestion and dispatch emergency personnel or take other actions.
ITS DSRC transmissions would be "narrowly focused and rapidly dissipating signals," according to ITS America. The FCC has proposed a maximum of 30 W EIRP for DSRC systems.
A copy of the League's comments is available at http://www.arrl.org/announce/RM-9096-cmt.html.
Nominations are open for the 1998 ARRL International Humanitarian Award. The award is dedicated to those amateurs who, through Amateur Radio, are devoted to promoting the welfare of mankind. The prize goes each year to truly outstanding Amateur Radio operators in areas of international humanitarianism and the furtherance of peace.
Any radio amateur or group of amateurs worldwide who has provided extraordinary service through their Amateur Radio skills for the benefit of others in times of crisis or disaster is qualified to receive the award.
The ARRL International Humanitarian Award recognizes the hobby's international communication role and that hams regularly help people in need throughout the world. Amateur Radio is one of the few media where average people throughout the world can meet to talk to each other and spread goodwill across otherwise impenetrable political boundaries. The Award is intended to promote positive efforts toward international understanding and peaceful communications.
The award recipient is selected by a committee appointed by the League's President. The committee will accept nominations from a licensed radio amateur, governmental or any other organization that has received the benefits of the radio amateur's extraordinary service. Nominations must include a summary of the nominee's actions that qualify the recipient for the award, and statements from at least two references--including names and addresses--for verification.
All nominations and supporting materials for the 1998 award must be submitted in writing in English to ARRL International Humanitarian Award, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 USA. Nominations must be received by December 31, 1998. In the event that no nominations are received, the committee itself may determine possible recipients or decide to make no award.
The award winner receives an engraved plaque and is profiled in QST.
A major player in the Russian Amateur Radio satellite scene, Leonid Labutin, UA3CR, died September 10 at his summer residence near Moscow. He reportedly suffered a heart attack. He was 70.
Labutin was directly involved in various RS satellite projects and helped bring ham radio into the Russian Mir space station. AMSAT-DL's Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, says he worked with Labutin on the first Russian/German AO-21/RS-14 project. Guelzow says Labutin also helped with the Phase 3D project, and he remained active in the amateur satellite field until his death.
"I personally lost a good friend and will miss him," Guelzow said in a posting to the AMSAT Bulletin Board.
Georgia Section Manager Sandy Donahue, W4RU, recalls that Labutin was a guest at the 1988 AMSAT National Conference, among the first Soviet hams to visit the US. After the convention, Labutin was given a complete set of ARRL license manuals. The next day, he passed his Extra, very likely the first Soviet citizen to acquire a US Extra ticket, AB4LZ, which expires in December.
Services were September 12 in Moscow.
The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.
The ARRL Letter offers a weekly summary of essential news of interest to active amateurs that's available in advance of publication in QST, our official journal. The ARRL Letter strives to be timely, accurate, concise, and readable. The ARRLWeb Extra at http://www.arrl.org/members-only/extra offers ARRL members access to late-breaking news and informative features, updated regularly.
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