If you have any events you would like to see posted here, please email or
mail them to the Editor for inclusion in the June newsletter. Deadline is
May22nd.
ARRL and GHRC W7ED Out Going QSL
Service For Members
Don’t forget to get your outgoing DX QSL cards to Lyndel N7LT for
inclusion in the next shipment of cards to the ARRL outgoing DX bureau. The
club is picking up the shipping costs so save some money and get your DX cards
in!
Mics and Manuals Needed
K7BZN Sacajawea Middle School Ham Club needs power cords and hand mics for
their Kenwood TS-430s and a TS-120S. The TS-430S uses a standard 8 pin mic
connector and the TS-12S uses a standard 4 pin mic connector. They also need a
service manual for the TS-430S.
Montana Amateur Radio History
10 years ago – May 1990
Pete Peters W7OW was the Section manager. No Montana report. The Anaconda
ARC gets it’s picture of the 147.02 "Lady of the Rockies" repeater
site in the "Up Front" section of QST. The "Dove"
Satellite is being received with handhelds. Packet Cluster is just beginning
to take hold. RG-213 costs $0.39/foot. Butternut HF6VX costs $160. ARRL
subscription was $30. MFJ 1278-9 mode TNC was $280.
20 years ago – May 1980
Bob Leo W7LR was the Section Manager. Prairie Electronics ARC sets June 14
& 15 for hamfest at Lewis & Clark Bridge south of Wolf Point. N7ANR
and WB7WFY made a snowmobile expedition to Steamboat Mtn to get WR7ANC
repeater back on air by shoveling snow from the building. Bozeman club
provided 2 and 40 meter communications for the annual Bozeman to W.
Yellowstone snowmobile race.W7HAH 6 meters WAS award. Glacier-Waterton hamfest
at Ft. McLeod Alberta July 18-20th. CDE Ham IV rotor was $175, Dentron
GLA-1000B amp was $279, ICOM IC-255A 25 watt., 5 channel mobile was $389, 100
plain QSL cards cost $14, Cushcraft A3 was $170, Kenwood TS-120S HF rig was
$700, Yeasu FT-901DM cost $1535
50 years ago – May 1950
Fred B. Tintinger, W7EGN was the Section Manager. The Butte Club paper, T1’R
is good for plenty of chuckles. MHQ and ED were in QSO with KUX in Manhattan
when a terrific explosion shook the shack at KUX. Erv (KUX) ran outside in
time to see a fast freight train piling up. Thirty-four cars were derailed and
emergency procedures for amateur traffic were immediately set up but none was
necessary. However, the net did supply rapid on–the-spot news reports of the
wreck to the local b. c. station. Ed is the EC for that area and an emergency
drill had been run just few weeks prior to the wreck. The Gallatin Valley
Amateur Radio Club is conducting a novice class in radio. Montana State
College Navel Reserve Unit is licensed with the call K7NAV. CAL has abandoned
n.f.m. and is back on a.m. The RCA WR-67A signal generator costs $50. A 6 volt
Dynamotor costs $10. The Johnson Viking 1 costs $210. The WRL 400 Globe King
costs $300. The Precision Series 40 multi-meter costs $25. The Millen 90651
Grid Dip Oscillator costs $55.
News From Around The State
Capital City Amateur Radio Club
The 2000 Governor's Cup Races will be held Saturday, June 3 here in Helena.
CCARC has again been asked to provide amateur radio support for health and
safety aspects of the event. Using voice and packet, we will be needing about
30 operators to cover the races and the tasks that we carry out. If any Butte
hams are interested in helping out, have them contact me by e-mail k7hln@mtnet.net
or by telephone at 442-6118. We start radio work at about 0600 on a limited
basis, and then really get busy after 0700 until about 1400, depending on the
particular operator assignments.
Best always..73 Bob
Northern Rockies Weak Signal Group (NRWSG)
Bob, N7CZ of Great Falls has organized a new group dedicated to weak signal
work on the VHF/UHF bands. They hold a net on 144.200 USB at 8:30Pm local
time. Their web page can be viewed at:
http://www.qsl.net/nrwsg/
Yellowstone Radio Club
Vince, KB7ADL and Bob, WB6EHV, gave a packet demonstration for the club and
answered questions about the clubs linked repeaters.
From Jackson Hole WY
Wayne Mills, N7NG, to Join ARRL HQ Staff
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 14, 2000--ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner,
K1ZZ, has announced that noted DXer Wayne Mills, N7NG, will join the
Headquarters staff as Membership Services Manager, effective May 2. He
succeeds Bill Kennamer, K5NX, who retired from the League last month.
First licensed in 1953 at age 10, Mills has served as the Rocky Mountain
Division DX Advisory Committee representative since 1996 and as chairman of
the ARRL DXAC since March 1997. He also served on the DXCC 2000 Committee. He
is best known for his operating on DXpeditions over the past 15 years, most
recently from the Chesterfield Islands TX0DX DXpedition.
Mills holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of California-Davis
and just sold his two-way radio communication sales and service business in
Jackson, Wyoming.
Hamfests & National Amateur Radio Events
HAMFEST
The 3rd ANNUAL GALLATIN HAM RADIO CLUB
HAMFEST
OCTOBER 14, 2000 IN BOZEMAN, MT.
Talk in: 146.88/146.52/447.7
Hours 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Contact Don Wilson, KC7EWZ for more information
HAMFEST
The 66th ANNUAL WATERTON-GLACIER
INTERNATIONAL HAMFEST
JULY 14, 15, & 16 2000 Essex MT.
Talk In: 146.520
Hamfest Registration:
HAMFEST REGISTRAR c/o P.O. Box 253
Florence MT 59832
406-273-2894
Fathers Day Picnic
Fort Peck, MT
June 18th. 2000
May 19-21 ARRL National Convention, Dayton, OH
June 3 Governor's Cup
June 1-4 NW Division Convention, SEAPAC,
Seaside, OR
June 24-25 Field Day
Oct 14 GHRC Hamfest
Prizes Pledged in Frequency
Promotion Competition
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 13, 2000--An ICOM IC-746 HF-VHF transceiver is among the
prizes pledged by manufacturers for the club that does the best job of
promoting Amateur Radio at a local theater screening the movie Frequency.
The ham radio-related sci-fi thriller debuts April 28. Local show schedules
could vary.
Other prizes and donors--to date and in no particular order--include a Heil
Sound GOLDLINE studio microphone from Heil Sound; a KT-36 tribander from M2;
an AR-147+ 2-meter mobile transceiver and PMC-100 desk mike from ADI; coaxial
cable from Cable X-Perts; a Delta 4C desktop console coax antenna switch and
video/book, Basic Technology for the Amateur Radio Enthusiast from
Alpha Delta; a 40-meter double bazooka antenna from International Antenna
Corp; and a DJ-V5TDC (clear-blue) dualband H-T from Alinco.
In addition, the ARRL will donate the choice of a 2000 edition of The
ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs or Handbook CD-ROM to each
participating club.
Premier/ADI Marketing Director Ken Collier, KO6UX, is enthusiastic about
the movie's promotional potential. "As an Amateur Radio operator, it is
exciting to see our hobby so prominently featured in a major studio movie like
Frequency, and I see it as an incredible opportunity," he said.
Winners of the competition will be selected based on each club's written
description of its promotional activity. The awarding of the prizes will be
determined by a panel consisting of representatives of the manufacturers and
suppliers who donated to the prize pool. The League has agreed to receive
submittals for the competition.
The activity descriptions must be submitted no later than 5 PM Eastern Time
on June 30, 2000, to Marjorie Bourgoin, KB1DCO, Field and Educational
Services, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Clubs are encouraged to
include a letter from their local theater attesting to how many people may
have been reached through the promotion, but this is not an absolute
requirement. Decisions of the awards panel are final.
Some clubs also may be able to get free passes to a sneak preview of the
film. A field publicity representative for the film's distributor, New Line
Cinema, said that select clubs in the top 50 markets where early screenings
are being held will be offered the opportunity to get passes to sneak preview
during the week of April 24. Clubs contacted may also be asked about their
promotional activities for the weekend of the movie's release.
Clubs selected to attend a Frequency sneak preview will be contacted
during the week of April 17. If available, passes would be distributed on a
first-come, first-served basis, at the discretion of New Line Cinema.
Clubs are being urged to contact their local theaters to inquire when Frequency
will show in their area and about the possibility of on-site promotion on
behalf of Amateur Radio. ARRL Public Relations Manager Jennifer Hagy, N1TDY,
says some clubs are exploring or already have arranged promotional events. She
notes that theaters sometimes don't have more than a week's notice of when a
movie will be coming to town and advised clubs to be "geared up and ready
to go" if an opportunity presents itself.
Frequency was directed by Gregory Hoblit. The movie uses ham radio as a
plot device that lets a long-dead father (Dennis Quaid) and his adult son
(John Caviziel) meet up on the airwaves--during the mother of all sunspot
cycles. Eventually, father and son conspire in efforts to change the past. The
ARRL was consulted in the interests of accuracy, but no League representatives
have viewed the film.
For more information on "Frequency," visit http://www.frequencymovie.com.
No Partial Calls Anymore (Newsline report)
Submitted by Mal Goose, N7GS
United States hams may not identify using only the suffix of their callsign,
even if it is in the heat of battle trying to work a rare and exotic DX
station. So says FCC ham radio rules enforcer Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH.
Newsline's Bill Burnett, KT4SB, in Miami has this report:
"Our position is that the practice of stations ID'ing with only the last
two letters of their callsigns is not legal under Part 97." - Riley
Hollingsworth, K4ZDH.
The not so gentle reminder of how the FCC expects United States hams to
identify their transmissions comes in a letter to Alan Strauss, WA4JTK, of
Carol City Florida. Strauss is a regular net control operator for the 14.247
MHz DX Group.
Hollingsworth recently wrote Strauss concerning complaints the 14.247 DX
Group. The FCC has received complaints that this net monopolizes that
frequency and interferes with ongoing communications when starting its net
operations.
Hollingsworth's letter was primarily to tell Strauss that the case will remain
open, and that the FCC will continue to monitor operations of the net.
Hollingsworth also reminded WA4JTK that Amateur frequencies are shared
spectrum and a net has no greater rights than any other licensed operator on
any given frequency. As such, a net has no right to take over a frequency from
legitimate ongoing communications unless the frequency is voluntarily
relinquished. If the frequency is not so relinquished, and the net changes
frequency, it must exercise good Amateur practice in choosing an adjacent
frequency that does not
disrupt the existing communications.
But it was in closing his letter to Strauss that Hollingsworth
has set the stage for another major change in the way all United States
licensed hams operate. Since the advent of DX spotting nets in the 1970's, it
has become common practice for hams to use only their callsign suffix when
getting onto net list or contacting a DX station. This is especially true in
pile-up conditions and most contest operations. Speaking on the RAIN
Enforcement Log report, Hollingsworth and the FCC are saying no more:
"The problem with identifying by the last two letters of the callsign is
that if the station is not acknowledged and the contact made with the DX
station, then you have the station making a transmission, or maybe several
transmissions, without a full identification." Hollingsworth
Hollingsworth says that the practice of identifying using only the last two or
three letters of an Amateur callsign is a violation of Part 97 of the
Commission's rules. That a station identifying by only part of its assigned
callsign is not complying with the clearly written rules regarding station
identification, and such practice must not be condoned by Strauss or his
group.
In other words, the FCC is ordering Strauss, and by inference, all other net
operators to ignore any station that identifies by using only his or her
callsign suffix. The FCC is also telling the rest of the ham community that
there could be severe penalties if this warning is ignored.
>From Miami, Bill Burnett, KT4SB reporting for Newsline.
Hams Needed For Sweet Pea And Bridger Ridge Run
Submitted by Kay Newman, N7ZHN
The Big Sky Wind Drinkers will again be asking Ham Operators for help with
communications in their upcoming summer events. The sweet Pea Run will be held
Saturday, August 5th. Your help would be needed from 7 AM until about 9:30 AM
or whenever the last runner gets in. About 4 operators would be sufficient.
The Bridger Ridge Run is August 12th and most positions involve a longer
period of time. Six operators are probably enough. Some of the Bridger Ridge
Run volunteers will have to do some hiking. Call Kay, N7ZHN, at 586-5543 if
you can help.
News From The ARRL
ARRL Web Access Disrupted by Cyber-Vandal
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 25, 2000--Access to the ARRL Web site (http://www.arrl.org/)
was disrupted early Monday by an unknown individual when those attempting to
connect to the site were shunted to another site, apparently in Canada. Some
who attempted to access the site today were greeted by an obscene message and
the statement "Pirate radio 4 life baybee."
ARRL Information Services Department Manager Don Durand said the League's
"arrl.org" domain name was illegally modified at Network
Solutions--which registers domain names--and redirected to the bogus site.
"Network Solutions was promptly notified of the illegal change, and they,
in turn, returned our record to the correct settings," Durand said.
While Network Solutions was alerted to the problem yesterday morning,
Durand said it takes up to 48 hours for the various name servers on the
Internet to update their records. "At this time, we're simply waiting for
that propagation to be completed," he said.
The ARRL Web site itself was not "hacked," and no ARRL files were
damaged as a result of the vandalism. "Our domain was hijacked at Network
Solutions," Durand emphasized. "At no time was our Web server
compromised."
The vandalism did disrupt e-mail service to League staff and officials,
however. Mail service was returning as servers were updated. The ARRL E-Mail
Forwarding Service was not affected.
ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, said the League intends to investigate
the disruption through all possible means. Haynie promised that the
perpetrators, if caught, would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
FCC Invites Closer Partnership with Official Observers
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 5, 2000--ARRL Official Observers will be encouraged to
play a more regular role in Amateur Radio enforcement, now that the FCC has
established a credible Amateur Radio enforcement presence.
"It's really up to the Amateur community and to the OOs as to how much
we want them to come in and start playing a role," Special Counsel for
Amateur Radio Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth said.
His remarks this week followed a discussion on the role of Official
Observers during a recent meeting of the ARRL Enforcement Task Force. The
League invited Hollingsworth to attend the meeting to compare notes with him
and to stress that the League wants enforcement to remain an important FCC
initiative.
Since taking over the amateur enforcement helm some 18 months ago,
Hollingsworth has said he first wanted to re-establish the FCC's enforcement
credibility before encouraging greater participation by the OOs. Hollingsworth
told the Task Force that when the ARRL felt the FCC's credibility was
re-established, the FCC would be ready to ask the OOs for more help. The Task
Force concurred that the time was right to gradually fold the Official
Observers back into the enforcement blend.
"The FCC is in this with them--we're all in the same boat,"
Hollingsworth said this week. He said he's been able to make good use of
information supplied by Official Observers in amateur cases and described one
recent submittal as "the best-prepared complaint that I've seen in 10 or
15 years."
Hollingsworth has told the Enforcement Task Force that OOs can often help
him to fill the gaps in cases he's already familiar with. He said he plans to
more actively seek OO information and expects to further supplement his
efforts with assistance from the FCC's High-Frequency Direction Finding
facility in Columbia, Maryland.
"Those out there who insist on violating the rules are starting to
realize that 99.9% of the amateur community want it straightened out and they
want a good solid, healthy enforcement program," he said
Newsletter Articles Needed!
As your newsletter editor, I’d like to ask the age old plea for articles
and information. Anything you might have that would be of interest to other
hams is what I’m looking for to include in our monthly newsletter.
If each of you could contribute just one thing once a year, I’d have
enough material to fill every page of this newsletter.
Some of the things you could write about are: Antennas, Dxing, Emergency
Services, Public Service, License upgrade experiences, Operating experiences,
Contesting and the list goes on.
Contributions from magazines and other electronic media are also welcome.
If you find something that you feel would be of interest to our club from the
Internet, please forward it to me and I’ll see if we can get it in the
Newsletter for everyone to enjoy.
Please send your newsletter articles and information to:
Newsletter Editor,
Lyndel Thiesen N7LT
Email:
n7lt@arrl.net
New GHRC web page host found
After a short look for a new web page host, one has be located! Ron
Schimpf, KD7FVR, has graciously accepted the title of "The Gallatin Ham
Radio Club, W7ED, web page host."
Ron, who is also the secretary for the club volunteered to learn how to do
web pages! We should all be so generous to the club! Vise President Cory,
KC7MRQ, has volunteered to help Ron create web pages and give pointers along
the way as Ron learns all about designing web pages for the first time. Thanks
Ron for stepping up to such a large task!
For all of you who are wanting to know where the April issue of the
newsletter is? It was printed and mailed to those who request paper versions
of the newsletter a long time ago. Due to the changing of the guard on the web
page, it’s going to take some time for all of us to adjust to some new
changes. Please be patient with us as we get the electronic version of the
newsletter back on line. Keep checking the clubs web site, it’ll show up
soon.
73 Lyndel, N7LT
FCC to General Licensees: Stay Out of Advanced Subbands!
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 19, 2000--The FCC says a lot of newly upgraded General
class licensees have begun asking if they may operate in the current Advanced
class subbands now that the new amateur rules are in place. "The answer
is: Absolutely not," said the Bill Cross, W3TN, of the FCC's Public
Safety and Private Wireless Division. "No privileges changed for any
license class."
Cross pointed out that the Advanced class license did not cease to exist
under restructuring, which went into effect April 15, although the FCC no
longer accepts applications for Novice or Advanced class licenses. He said
current Generals do not earn Advanced class privileges until they upgrade to
Amateur Extra class, at which point they earn both Advanced and Extra
privileges.
The FCC also says General class operators may hold only Group C (1x3) or
Group D (2x3) call signs, as it was under the old rules. Generals are not
entitled to apply for or hold Group B (2x2) call signs under the new rules.
Cross cautioned newly upgraded licensees to check the revised Part 97 rules
carefully to make sure they're not operating beyond their privileges.
"Now that they've gotten the license, it's time to look at the real
rules," he said.
Amateurs further are reminded that in order to apply for upgraded volunteer
examiner privileges or for a vanity call sign reflecting new license status, a
licensee first must have been issued an upgraded license grant by the FCC.
Interim privileges conveyed by a Certificate of Successful Completion of
Examination--or CSCE--are insufficient for these purposes.
Revised FCC Part 97 rules are available on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/field/regulations/news/part97/.
The FCC today released the Errata to its December 30, 1999, Report
and Order on restructuring. The Errata incorporate minor errors
contained in the original R&O and already made in the version of the new
rules that appeared in The Federal Register earlier this year.
NET CONTROL
May
2 N7ODN July 4 (open)
May 9 KC7EWZ July 11 KC7EWZ
May 16 WA7U July 18 (open)
May 23 KC7PEM July 25 (open)
May 30 W7OIQ
June 6 (open)
June 13 KC7EWZ
June 20 WA7U
June 27 (open)
If you’ve not signed up as a net control operator yet, please do so! As
members of the GHRC, each of us should take at least half an hour each month
to help run the net. This is a very small sacrifice of time which greatly
enhances the quality of our net and club.
If you’ve never run the net before, contact either KC7EWZ, Don or N7LT
Lyndel for an outline on how to run the net. All you have to do is substitute
your call sign and you’re ready to be net control. Running the net is a
great experience which will help prepare you for participating in emergency
communications.
The net is every Tuesday evening at 8PM on 146.88.
