MARA W1/GaZetteMARA W1/GaZette October 2003 Montachusett Amateur Radio Association Vol 46 No. 2 In This Issue... Next Meeting 1 BPL Threat to Amateur Bands 1 Watt's Happening 2 LEMA Training 4 VE Team Report 4 MassJam'03 5 ARES Assistance in Isabel 6 Space Station Contacts 7 Contributors To This Issue: N1UZ, AA2T, KD1YH ---- Next Meeting Wednesday, 8 October 7:30PM Fitchburg Central Fire Station 2nd Floor Meeting Room For the remainder of this year, we will be meeting in the second floor meeting room rather than in the Community Room in the basement. From the lobby, go up the stairs. At top of stairs turn left and left again just before the Chief's door. The October meeting will include a tour of Fitchburg's new tower truck. If the tower truck is not available we will get a look at the equipment that is available at Fitchburg's OEM. The Fitchburg Central Fire Station is located directly behind Dunkin Donuts on lower Main Street. Turn up North Street next to Dunkin Donuts and proceed past the fire station to the visitor's parking area at the rear of the station. Please do not use the visitor spots near the entrance except to unload gear for a presentation. From the parking area, walk back down North Street to the front entrance on North Street at the flag pole and Fire Station sign. ---------------- BPL an Unprecedented Threat to Amateur Radio Citing the potential for interference to and from Amateur Radio, the ARRL has called on the FCC to "take no steps" to permit Broadband over Power Line (BPL)-a form of power line carrier (PLC) technology. The League has filed a 120-page response- including studies-in response to the FCC's BPL Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in ET Docket 03-104, published May 23. The ARRL has strongly objected to FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy's suggestion that Broadband over Power Line (BPL) technology will contribute to what she described as "broadband Nirvana." Addressing the United Powerline Council's annual conference September 22 in Arlington, Virginia, Abernathy expressed unabashed enthusiasm for BPL and recommended a combination of regulatory restraint and the elimination or substantial modification of existing rules as steps along the "path to Enlightenment," as she put it. In a terse response faxed September 25 on behalf of the League's 155,000 members, ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, asserted that Abernathy overlooked some significant issues in her Nirvana analogy. "Nightmare is more like it," Sumner declared. "The technical showings submitted by the ARRL and others in response to the Commission's Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in ET Docket No. 03-104 clearly establish that BPL is a significant source of radio spectrum pollution. It cannot be implemented without causing harmful interference to over-the-air radio services." Sumner told Abernathy that while BPL industry groups, such as the one she addressed this week, prefer to deny the evidence, the FCC is obliged to work to a higher standard. In its comments in response to the FCC NOI, the League characterized BPL as "a Pandora's Box of unprecedented proportions" and said the Commission's Part 15 rules "should be modified so as to prevent interference to users of the HF and low VHF spectrum" from the outset. Abernathy's speech, "Reaching Broadband Nirvana," never broached the topic of BPL's potential to interfere with other radio services. Recently, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) <-which"http://www.ntia.doc.gov>-which regulates spectrum allocated to federal government users-expressed "broad concerns" about interference to government users and launched an extensive modeling, analysis and measurement program for BPL. In his letter, Sumner reminded Abernathy that the radio spectrum is a precious natural resource. "To squander that resource simply to add a redundant, unnecessary, and relatively poorly performing 'last mile' connection for consumers, is unconscionable," he said. Sumner expressed the hope that Abernathy will give the League an early opportunity to explain its BPL concerns to her in person. In her remarks to the UPLC gathering, Abernathy contended that it's been regulatory restraint rather than heavy-handed regulation that has allowed nascent platforms such as direct broadcast satellite (DBS) to become competitively viable. "When the Commission completes this rulemaking," she said, "I expect that we will eliminate many existing rules and substantially modify others; the central question is the degree of regulation that will remain during the transition to a more robustly competitive market." Individuals may e-mail Abernathy via her FCC Web site or directly . The text of her prepared remarks also is available on the FCC Web site . The League's initial 120-page package of comments and technical exhibits and its reply comments are available on the ARRL Web site. Additional information and BPL video clips are on the ARRL "Power Line Communications (PLC) and Amateur Radio" page . To support the League's efforts in this area, visit the ARRL's secure BPL Web site . To date, more than 4600 comments--many from the Amateur Radio community--have been filed in response to the FCC's BPL NOI. They are available for viewing via the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) . from The ARRL Letter Vol. 22, No. 38 September 26, 2003 ---- Watt's Happening Sundays, 0830 local 3937 Western Mass Emergency Net. Alternate frequency is 3942 in case of QRN, QRM, or frequency in-use. Also a good idea to scan up and down 10kHz if you cannot find the net. Sundays, 0900 local 145.45- Montachusett Emergency Net Tuesdays, 2030 local 145.37- Templeton Emergency Net Wednesdays, 2100 local 28.341 Harvard Repeater Club 10 meter sideband net "Activity Night" Nightly, 2100 local 146.97- Central Mass Traffic Net Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 1800 local 3942 MHz Western Mass Traffic Net (phone) Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 1900 local 3562 MHz Western Mass Traffic Net (cw, slow) First Monday, 1900 local 3943, 7245 RACES Net First Wednesday, 2000 local 3915 K1ARC Red Cross Net http://www.qsl.net/k1arc/ Sunday, October 19 Flea at MIT Sunday, November 2 Framingham ARA Hamfest, Walsh Middle School, 9am. Saturday, November 15 Waltham ARA & 1200 Society Auction, Newtonville Mason's Hall, 10am ---------------- LEMA Training Exercises de Jerry AA2T On the morning of Saturday September 27 a training event was held. The scenario was a mass causality event. The event was an unknown release of a chemical agent in Boston and victims were transported by train to Leominster and then by bus to the north end of Leominster Hospital. Actually for this training event, they just had victims go from the bus to through a quick decontamination area (fire department set up wash areas) and triage area. Once into cool zone, people moved into hospital as needed. Leominster OEM supported communications for the event via our regular commercial frequencies as well as an ARES callup which was done from the OEM HQ. If this had been a real event, we would have used the ARES callup for off loading of communications between towns as well as health and welfare traffic. Also, for the Johnny Appleseed parade on the 20th, Leominster OEM again provided communications for the whole event including for the organizers. We had a 2M FM setup and used 145.45 to make a few contacts including the folks from the Groton festival under the WC1LEO callsign. I did have some signs up for NTS traffic if anyone needed it. K1JHC, KM3T, K1NX,W1BYH and myself attended at part of Leominster OEM. ---------------- VE Team Report The September VE session in Shirley was canceled as we had no candidates pre-registered. We will only hold the session if we know that there will be at least one person coming to take a test. The October session is scheduled for Wednesday, October 22. MARA and the Harvard Repeater Association co-sponsor Amateur Radio license exam sessions on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Pre-registration is required, as the session will be held only if we know by the weekend prior to the fourth Wednesday that at least one candidate will be attending. Walk-ins will be accepted as long as the session is being held, however we still prefer to receive some advance notice. Paul Upham KD1YH is the pre-registration contact. Paul can be reached at kd1yh@arrl.net. ---------------- MASSJAM'03 de Paul KD1YH ATTENTION: Ham Radio Operators Bring your HTs to MassJam; We need your help for on-the-spot emergency communications. BSA (PVC) Venture Crew 510 is sponsoring a Ham Radio demonstration at MassJam. There will be many different modes on display, including HF (SSB & CW), VHF, SSTV, ATV, and RTTY/PSK31. We wil be operating under Crew 510's club callsign NE1C (New England's #1 Crew). We will also be running a low power (~10w) 2m repeater on 146.790(-). By using this repeater, you should be able to keep your HT power to a minimum to save battery, yet have fairground-wide communication ability. Though the use of the repeater for casual use is encouraged, we would like you to be our eyes in the field for on-the-spot emergency communication. The repeater will be actively monitored throughout MassJam, and we will have a direct connection to emergency teams from our location. Regular nets will be held on the repeater beginning at 11:45AM on Saturday morning. Please check in and let us know you're out there! MassJam'03/NE1C QSL cards will be available for all licensed hams that we make an on-the-air QSO with (including VHF). For more information, please contact Crew DX Advisor, John Pise, KX1X, at kx1x@arrl.net. MassJam Ham Frequencies: HF: 7.270, 7.030, 14.290, 14.230 (SSTV), 21.360, 28.390 VHF: 146.52 (please make contact then move off freq) MassJam (NE1C) low-power repeater: 146.790/146.190 MassJam simplex: 146.550 VHF SSTV (50w): 145.520 ATV demo (100mW): 439.250 (Cable Channel 60) More than 9,600 Scout and their leaders will set up camp at MASSJAM 03 on the Barnstable Fairgrounds on Cape Cod in Falmouth, Massachusetts to test their scout craft skills on Columbus Day weekend, October 11-12, 2003. This Boy Scouts of America event will bring scouts together from 9 councils in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Scouts will participate in the traditional skill events such as first aid and lashing. Competition events such as compass course and challenge will also be featured. Sport competition will include a fitness area where the Scouts will test their physical endurance. In their spare time, Scouts will visit a midway that will have a variety of exhibits and demonstrations by organizations such as Massachusetts Audubon Society and US Coast Guard. A favorite spot will be the area set aside for patch and souvenir trading. ---------------- ARES Assistance in Isabel RED CROSS UNIT COMPLIMENTS AMATEUR RADIO ASSISTANCE DURING ISABEL Amateur Radio assistance in the Hurricane Isabel relief and recovery stage has continued this week in the Southeast. Ham radio's role has drawn compliments from the American Red Cross of Central Maryland, which praised the amateurs' dedication. "I want to thank the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the amateur radio community for coming out and supporting the American Red Cross over the critical 72 hours when Hurricane Isabel passed over Maryland," said Frank M. Eilbacher, KC0EKL, a Red Cross disaster communications lead. "We recognize you took time away from your families and, for some of you, your own personal disasters to support us." During the storm's peak on September 18, Eilbacher said, electrical power and telecommunication problems abounded, but ham radio operators "filled the gap providing a crucial communication link between Red Cross chapters and shelter locations." Amateurs in the storm-struck region staffed state and county emergency operating centers and shelters, as well as the Maryland/Delaware American Red Cross Hurricane Watch Center. The Salvation Army also has responded to affected areas including North Carolina, where Hurricane Isabel came ashore September 18. Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) volunteer Carlos Varon, K2LCV, from Flushing, New York, this week accompanied two Salvation Army canteen units from New York City to Morehead City. Varon, who took along his "orange box" portable ham station, reports the Salvation Army has been operating up to a half dozen field canteens. Carteret County Emergency Coordinator Rich Wright, KR4NU, and his ARES team have been supporting the SATERN operation. Operators were deployed this week to provide communication between the canteens and the local command post. The Salvation Army is providing relief to affected residents and emergency response workers in North Carolina, Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland, as well as in smaller communities. Earlier this week, ARRL North Carolina Section Manager John Covington, W4CC, reported that some ARES teams were providing communication support for localities--most in the hard-hit northeastern portion of the state--that still lacked power and telephone service. Covington said hams established point-to-point communication between shelters and emergency operations centers in affected counties. In one community, hams helped a fire dispatch center that lost its antennas in the storm. Venture Crew members helped support communication at the Alexandria and Fairfax EOCs, at the Alexandria American Red Cross chapter house and at Red Cross shelters in both communities. While distributing bulk bottled water to homes lacking running water, crew volunteers got to meet Virginia Gov Mark Warner, who was visiting a shelter to thank volunteers. Members of the Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club and the Alexandria Radio Club also provided communications support to Alexandria and Fairfax operations. Repeaters operated by both clubs were used during the emergency response. "Things are still messy down here, and some of us are still recovering," said Bill Stewart, W2BSA, a Venture Crew 80 chartered organization representative and committee member. "Most of Northern Virginia has power. The biggest problem we have had is flooding." Power has begun returning to the half-million or so residents who still had none at the new week began. ARRL Virginia Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Gregory, N4NW, reports commercial power finally returned to his home September 24. He'd spent 141 hours running his home from an emergency back-up generator. Gregory, who lives in Stafford County, lost power September 18. This week he strongly advised amateurs involved in public service communication to have a supply of emergency power available for such situations, so they can remain on the air. from The ARRL Letter Vol. 22, No. 38 September 26, 2003 ---------------- Space Station Contacts Students from second grade through high school at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, quizzed NASA International Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu, KC5WKJ, on September 15 about how he's faring aboard the ISS. The early morning contact between NA1SS on the ISS and WH6PN in Honolulu marked the 115th Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group contact. Lu told the students that living in space makes him appreciate life on Earth. In responding to another question, Lu pointed out that ISS crews are quarantined for about a week before launch, in part to make sure they are not sick or coming down with something. But the quarantine period also provides some needed quiet time, "to keep you away from all of the hullabaloo that surrounds the launch," he said. "At that point you just need to study and prepare and think about your mission and get ready." Without the quarantine period, he said, "you wouldn't have any time to yourself." Handling Earth station duties for the contact was Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN, who operated from the Sacred Heart Academy station. ARISS School Contact Coordinator Tim Bosma, W6ISS, moderated the contact. Two-way audio for the QSO was provided by an MCI-WorldCom teleconferencing link. ARISS is an international project with support from ARRL, NASA and AMSAT. from The ARRL Letter Vol. 22, No. 38 September 26, 2003 [Beltronics] tell them you saw it in the W1/GaZette The MARA W1/GaZette is published by the Montachusett Amateur Radio Association just prior to the monthly meeting. The newsletter is distributed free to members and friends of Amateur Radio. Contents copyright 2003, MARA. Permission to use in other Amateur Radio publications with credit to MARA is hereby granted. NEWSLETTER STAFF: Editors: Ralph Swick KD1SM kd1sm@arrl.net Bill Wornham NZ1D Webmaster: KD1YH MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION: Club Secretary: Bill Wornham, NZ1D Annual Dues: Regular $25 Family $30 Fixed income $15 Meetings: 2nd Wednesday, 7:30pm September to June Mailing address: MARA PO Box 95 Leominster, MA 01453 Web site: http://www.qsl.net/w1gz/ OFFICERS: Gary Busler K1YTS President Paul Upham, KD1YH Vice President kd1yh@ziplink.net Bill Wornham, NZ1D Secretary nz1d@juno.com Gordon LaPoint, N1MGO Treasurer Charlie Cayen, KT1I Trustee MARA owns and operates the W1GZ repeater providing emergency autopatch service on 145.45 (CTCSS 74.4) in Fitchburg. Montachusett Amateur Radio Association PO Box 95 Leominster MA 01453