President Dick Bremer, WB6DNX 1664 Holly St. Brea, CA 92621 714-529-2800 rabremer@juno.com
VP Ken Halford, WB6DTA 2901 Joaquin Dr. Burbank, CA 91504 818-848-9059
Recording Sec Eric Fort KD6GLP 350 N Garey Ave #27 Pomona, CA 91767 909-899-3092 efort@clubnet.net
Corresponding Sec Johnston, K6HLH 16611 e. Valeport Ave Lancaster, CA 805-264- 4110 LarryJ@compusale.com
Treasurer Dick Kolbly K6HIJ 26335 Community Barstow, CA 92311 760-253-2477 rkolbly@compuserve.com
Editor Bill Burns WA6QYR 247 Rebel Rd Ridgecrest, CA 93555 760-375-8566 bburns@ridgecrest.ca.us
ARRL Interface Frank Kelly WB6CWN 1111 Rancho Conejo Blvd. #501 Newbury Park,CA 91320 805-499-8047 fk@event1.com
FCC Interface Dave Laag K6OW 11614 Indian St. Moreno Valley, CA 92557 909-924-1517
W6IFE License Trustee Ed Munn W6OYJ 6255 Radcliffe Dr. San Diego, CA 92122619-453-4563 edmunn@compuserve.com
The 6 August 1998 meeting tech talk is yet to be determined, but come join the discussions anyway. The SBMS meets at the American Legion Hall 1024 Main Street (south of the 91 freeway) in Corona, CA at 1930 hours local time on the first Thursday each month.
Last meeting- Doug, K6JEY talked about Rubidium frequency standards and their operation. Doug's handouts helped in understanding at the basic level. Thanks Doug. Mel, WA6JBD is the first to report a 100% copy of the CW message on the SBMS 2.3 GHz beacon in 23 years of the beacon being on the air. Congratulations Mel!!! SBMS will pay the American Legion dues for our two "key holding" members. Dave, K6OW filed comments with the FCC on the 450 MHz LMCC issue for the SBMS. 24 members present.
It was a sad note to hear that Phil Lee's (W6HCC) wife, Marilyn, was killed in a auto accident in Colorado. Condolences to Phil and his children. Phil and Marilyn moved from California to Colorado a year ago to be closer to their children. Phil has been a long time member of SBMS. Marilyn was along on most microwave outings to help keep log and support Phil's hobby.
The San Bernardino Microwave Society and the Microwave Group of San Diego scheduled a joint Microwave Picnic on Saturday July 25th in Orange County. The Picnic was held at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa. Activities began at 12:00 noon. Pete Bauer, W6DXJ to brought his 10.368 GHz antenna gain measurement setup with 0.6 watt source modulated at 1000 Hz, and a sensitive receiving detector and battery-operated HP VSWR indicator with calibrated reference antenna. Also, Kerry Banke, N6IZW brought his MDS/ERP measurement setup to check the complete operation of a station with its antenna at a distant sensing point. Several 10 GHz rigs were checked out and antennas measured. A list is to be printed soon of the performances. Chairman of the event was Derek Lassen, KN6TD, of Tustin, (714)-731-5620. Thanks to all who came out to check rigs and eat.
Scheduling
15-16 Aug. ARRL 10 GHZ and Up cumulative 1st half
3 Sept. tech talk TBD
12 Sept. ARRL VHF QSO Party
19-20 Sept. ARRL 10 GHz and up cumulative 2nd half.
Activity reported at 2 July meeting: Dick, WB6DNX had borrowed some measuring equipment and has "calibrated everything in the shack"; Chip, N6CA did some testing of the LO for the 1200 MHz repeater; Ken, WB6DTA operated in DM22 for the contest; Bob, W6SYA did some 1296 MHz brick work; Jim, K6ML now has a Wavecom 2 GHz rig; Dick, K6HIJ has a 100 ft pole mount 10 GHz rig; Mel, WA6JBD has a 4 ft dish and 10 GHz gunn on the air; Matt, KE6ALM is packaging his 2.3 GHz rig; Lloyd, AB6SM will be out for the August VHF contest; Kurt, K6RRA was out for Field day; John, WA6BFH has a 10 GHz data link design and is seeking review of it at "www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2775"; Larry, K6HLH has 10 and 24 GHz rigs on air; Bill, WA6QYR drilled holes in booms for the 1.2 and 2.3 GHz loop yagis; Chuck, WA6EXV reported on WA6JBD 100% copy of SBMS 2.3 GHz beacon message, the June/ July NTMS article on coffee can feed probe diameter is too large for proper match, measurements of the gain of the can feed and the WA3RMX triband (2-3-5 GHz) feed come within 0.5 dB of eachother at 2304 MHz, apparently there was an NTMS version of the triband feed some time back with improper board material that performed poorly, board material wants to be G10; Dave, K6OW reported that 24 GHz tests between Walts Point and Onyx peak failed to extend the record due to excessive moisture along the path although there was a contact with K6JEY looking south from Onyx to LA area, K6OW is to present a tech talk at SW ARRL Division conference on same weekend as the 10 GHz contest; Robin, WA6CDR filed comments with FCC on 400 MHz and 5 GHz actions, he proposed working the long haul contacts in September contest rather than August due to better conditions; Doug, K6JEY had a 10 GHz via the San Diego "repeater" with his early ham radio elmer WB6IGP and is rebuilding his 24 GHz rig; John, KJ6HZ received his "free" 18 inch DSS dish.
ARRL PACIFIC DIVISION UPDATE AUGUST, 1998 by Brad Wyatt, K6WR, Director, Pacific Division, ARRL
On March 27, Representatives Michael Bilirakis (R-FL-9th) and Ron Klink (D-PA-4th) introduced HR 3572, the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 1998. The operational portion of the bill is Section 3 which, if passed, would require the FCC to provide "equivalent replacement spectrum" if the Commission reallocates any primary or secondary Amateur Radio frequencies. You can look up the full text of the bill on the House THOMAS web site at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.3572: Our strategy is very straightforward - obtain as many House cosponsors as we can before the end of the legislative session and elections later this year. To date we have the following cosponsors in the Pacific Division - Patsy Mink (D-HI-2); Tom Campbell (R-CA-15); John Doolittle (R-CA-4). Let's get more of the Pacific Division House Members to be cosponsors! Cosponsors don't vote against their own bills!
- There are two current proposals before the FCC which could change the Amateur Radio usage of the 5 GHz band. One is Docket 98-95 (RM 9096) by ITS America to create a coprimary allocation for the Intelligent Transportation System. Comment deadline is Sept. 14, 1998; Reply Comment date is Oct. 14, 1998. Details are available on the FCC web site. In another ruling on June 24, FCC released a Memorandum Opinion and Order (Document No. 98-21) to increase power and antenna gain in this band for U-NII entities. These changes are over the objections of ARRL and not what the U-NII entities wanted, either. Details are available on the FCC WWW site.
- By letter, FCC, on May 22, 1998, refused to grant a waiver to EDAP Technomed, Inc., to allow them to sell unshielded Part 18 medical devices to operate in the Amateur Radio 1.2 GHz band. This decision is a
distinct victory for Amateur Radio.
- At the FCC Forum in Dayton in May, note was made of FCC sites concerning Amateur Radio - http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/amateur and hamcomm@fcc.gov. It was suggested that this latter address may be used
to offer comments to FCC on topics other than specific numbered dockets, petitions and rule makings. Please label all comments as "Amateur Service Review".
ARLB052 ARRL Proposes Simplified Amateur License Structure--The ARRL Board has agreed to propose a simplified Amateur Radio licensing structure with four classes. Lengthy discussion and debate during the Board's meeting July 16-18 led to majority support for a plan for four written examination elements to establish amateurs'
operational and technical qualifications instead of the present five, and two Morse code examination elements instead of the present three. Under the plan adopted by the Board, the entry level to Amateur Radio would be known as Class D and would convey the privileges of the present Technician license. The written examination would be at the same level of difficulty as that of the present Technician examination, but consistent with the privileges of the license. All amateurs now licensed as Technicians would become Class D.
The next step would be known as Class C and would convey the privileges of the present General license, but with phone subbands expanded by 50 kHz on 75 and 15 meters and by 25 kHz on 40 meters. Class C would be the entry level to high frequency (HF) operating privileges. To upgrade from Class D to Class C, an amateur would pass a written examination on the operational and technical qualifications required for HF operation and a 5 word per minute Morse code examination. All amateurs now licensed as General, Technician Plus, and Novice would become Class C. The expansion of the telephony sub-bands would result from ''refarming'' of the Novice CW bands that are no longer required for their original purpose.
The third step would be known as Class B and would convey the privileges of the present Advanced license, but with phone subands expanded by 50 kHz on 75 and 15 meters and by 25 kHz on 40 meters. To upgrade from Class C to Class B, an amateur would pass a more advanced written examination similar in difficulty to the present
Element 4A and a 12 word per minute Morse code examination. All amateurs now licensed as Advanced would become Class B.
The final step would be known as Class A and would convey the full privileges of the present Amateur Extra Class, with telephony sub-bands expanded by 50 kHz on 75 and 15 meters and by 25 kHz on 40 meters. To upgrade from Class B to Class A, an amateur would be required to pass the most difficult written examination in the sequence. Consistent with the practice in many other countries, no additional Morse code examination would be required beyond 12 words per minute. All amateurs presently licensed as Amateur Extra Class would become Class A.
In their discussions, Board members emphasized that the objective is to rationalize and simplify the amateur licensing structure without reducing the requirements for any class of license. Where reductions in Morse code requirements are proposed, there would be a corresponding increase in written examination standards. On the
other hand, Board members were adamant that simplifying the structure should not come at the expense of privileges already earned by amateurs. Therefore, present Novice and Technician Plus licensees, having earned entry-level HF operating privileges, would be granted the new entry-level HF license.
Adoption of the simplification plan marks the culmination of 30 months of work by the Board, during which time the input of literally thousands of ARRL members and other amateurs and prospective amateurs was considered. The Board debated a wide variety of options including both smaller and larger numbers of license classes, higher and lower qualification levels, and different privileges. Nine of the 15 Directors voted in favor of the plan, with six opposed. Following the meeting ARRL President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, observed, ''The debate was at times contentious and the result was not unanimous. Some Board members preferred greater simplification; others were uncomfortable with some of the changes being proposed. However, every Board member, without exception, left the meeting knowing that each of his or her colleagues did what they believe is best for the future of Amateur Radio.'' Members are urged to contact their ARRL directors to comment on this proposal. E-mail addresses are on page 10 of any issue of QST. Members also may comment on the proposal via the ARRLWeb site,
http://www.arrl.org or via e-mail at restruxarrl.org.
ARLB054 ARRL Board July meeting actions--The ARRL Board of Directors met July 16-18 in Rocky Hill,
Connecticut. Details of the Board's proposal to restructure Amateur Radio licensing are in ARLB052 and on the ARRLWeb site, http://www.arrl.org. Among the Board's other actions:
* The Board resolved that the League will seek to prevent additional nongovernmental sharing partners access to the residual segments at 5.650 to 5.725 or 5.825 to 5.850 GHz. The FCC has authorized Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices at 5.725 to 5.825 GHz with relatively high power and antenna gain. The FCC also has proposed to allocate 5.850 to 5.925 GHz on a coprimary basis for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems as part of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) architecture. The Board said the FCC's actions ''will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on the utility of the band 5.650 to 5.925 GHz.''
* In response to concerns about possible ''millennium bug'' (or Y2K) problems that could disrupt key services or communications, the Board asked the Volunteer Resources Committee to recommend to the Board at its 1999 annual meeting ''various options for Amateur Radio preparedness to provide emergency communication support during the year 2000 rollover period.''
* The Board asked Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, to develop and implement a marketing plan to recruit new League members, using the theme of the year 2000.
* The Board also agreed to make ARRL ''vanity'' e-mail addresses available to former League elected officials who request them and agree to abide by rules for such use.
"Wants and Gots" for sale
Want- 2 mtr SSB amp 10w in- ? out Kurt K6RRA 310-718-4910
Want- 10,368 MHz filter Eric, KD6GLP efort@fortconsulting.com
Got- Brick - 5855-6105 MHz, $25 Lloyd AB6SM 562-943-0772 or novakent@loop.com.
Got- HP 4935A manual - borrow/ rent for copying- Dick K6HIJ 760-253-2477.
Elmers- To help you get on the microwave bands, the following SBMS members are willing to assist you in assembly, test of equipment and mentoring as necessary:
Ken Halford, WB6DTA elmer group meets 3rd wed of the month 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. at 2901 Joaquin Burbank, CA 91504 818-848-9059.
Joe Saddler, WA6PAZ elmer group meets the last Saturday of each month following the TRW swap meet at 13909 Fidler in Bellflower, CA. Phone 714-704-7937 or 562-867-3294 to comfirm a couple of days in advance.
Dave Laag, K6OW in Moreno Valley, CA at 11614 Indian St 909-924-1517.
Dick Bremer, WB6DNX in Brea at 1664 Holly 714-529-2800.
Al Johnson, K6LJM (ATV) in Running Springs, CA 909-867-7511.
Dick Kolbly, K6HIJ 26335 Community in Barstow, CA 760-253-2477.
Chuck Swedblom, WA6EXV in Ridgecrest, CA 760-377-4972.
Bill Burns, WA6QYR in Ridgecrest, CA 760-375-8566.
73's Bill