Club News

HOSARC membership dues are due. If you have not paid your 2005 dues then please download the applicaton form here and send your dues to:

HOSARC
PO Box 150131
Kew Gardens, NY 11415

Note: Dues received after March will be calculated using the new rate.

Peter Penta NA2P will be the guest speaker at the next meeting. His topic will be “Satellites”.

One of the few remaining projects we face at HoSARC is recommissioning our satellite antenna array on the roof, and once the good weather returns, we expect to be able to communicate via any of the amateur satellites in earth orbit, and perhaps even one day, hold a QSO with the International Space Station, NA1SS. Join Pete as he explains just what's involved in tracking satellites, and with any luck, we'll be able to add a couple to our logbook in the months ahead!

Our own Felix Lam KC2KHV won First Place in the ARRL VHF/UHF 2004 January Contest. Felix's station consisted of: Yeasu FT-847 and a Diamond x-200 vertical antenna. Congratulations Felix.

We had a good turnout of club members at HRU 2005. Thanks to all who attended. Thanks to Peter Dougherty W2IRT and Dave Ellenberg WA2KWP for running their urban operating seminar and representing the club. Thanks to Sidney for putting together a new photo display for the club.

We still have all of the donated equipment from last month. If you are interested in an item, please contact Tom Golero, Allan Koenigsberg, or Steve Greenbaum. Items that are not sold to club members by March will be listed on EBAY.

2005 HOSARC Committee List

Station: 
  Peter Dougherty W2IRT
  Bernie Stein K2ZIR

Public Relations: 
  Bernie Stein K2ZIR

Website: 
  Peter Dougherty W2IRT

Hamfest: 
  Steve Greenbaum WB2KDG

Newsletter: 
  Ted Bicking KC2HEV

VE/Exams: 
  Lenny Menna W2LJM

Constitution & Grievances: 
  Dave Ellenberg WA2KWP

Activities & Field Day: 
  Tom Golero KC2CBA

Repeater: Sidney Ko KC2GEC

Membership: 
  Al Levine KC2SDX
  Ilda Schnieder KC2JOM

Historical: 
  Ilda Schnieder KC2JOM

Interferance: 
  Jim Schnieder WA2UTR

Technical: 
  Art Breen WA2YQV
  Tom Tumino N2YTF

Good & Welfare:
  Howie Weissman WB2HLW

If you are interested in participating in a particular HOSARC committee then please contact the committee chairman.

President's Corner

Allan Koenigsberg AE2J

e-mail: ae2j@earthlink.net

On January 15 I attended the Director's semi-annual meeting for HudsonDivision officials and club presidents in Paramus New Jersey. Frank Fallon the division director spoke at length about several topics.

BPL - The issue is far from settled. There is a distinct possibility that will fail. The problems of RFI, affecting the system and other spectrum users is not going to be easily overcome. Many of the other services, such as emergency communications, are now becoming alarmed at the potential for disruption. In one field experiment, a 5 watt amateur transmission brought the BPL system down. Such a fragile technology isnot likely to succeed in the marketplace. The ARRL has filed for reconsideration of the FCC approval. The Commission has 30 days in which to respond. Not much is expected from the commission at this point. At best, we may get an order that BPL system avoid using amateur frequencies. Whatever the response, amateurs are going to have to deal with theBPL service providers, as it is certain that we will be interfering with them. The ARRL is going to take some of the providers to court. Itwill be costly, but the strategy at this time seems to be to cast a cloud over BPL, discouraging its use. There does not seem to be any economic or technical advantage of BPL over other technologies, and newer enhancements to existing systems (Wi-Fi, DSL) will make BPL an even less attractive choice.

Regulation by Bandwidth - The League is ready to petition the FCC to change the method of frequency allocation to bandwidth rather than the current system of mode. Some of the newer digital modes are rather wide(Pactor-3, etc.) and should not be operating in the CW portion of the bands. The idea is simply to regulate the frequency usage so that the narrower modes are towards the bottom of the bands, while the wider modes are at the top end. WinLink 2000 which is the connection of email tothe amateur bands requires a higher speed connection than is presentlyavailable via RTTY and PSK31. The emergency services are going to require a wider bandwidth digital mode. The present use of Pactor-3 is an example. The problem with Pactor-3 is that it is a proprietary method that is too expensive for the average ham. The German company which has the patented the mode is currently charging $1500 for the modem. . It is safe to assume that a different digital system will eventually be used, but it probably will use a wide bandwidth to move data quickly. Thefuture structuring will probably see CW, Digital and voice portions for each band, with the wider modes prohibited in portions reserved the narrower ones.

License Restructuring - It will probably be made public this year justbefore the Dayton Hamvention. Implementation will take longer, maybe a year or more. The code requirement will most likely be lifted. The reason it was retained in the last restructuring was because the FCC did not want to violate what was generally accepted as an international regulation. With so many countries dropping the code requirement, the FCC does not feel bound to continue it. So good news is on the horizon for those who struggle with the code.

Kitbuilding Nite - April is the annual kitbuilding evening. This yearI would like to suggest something a little different, an antenna building evening. This would be an evening devoted to the construction of antennas, HF, VHF or UHF. I would suggest that those of you interested in constructing a dual band 2 meter/ 440 J pole take a look at Arrow electronics website. If we purchase in quantities of more than 10 we can save 25%. That is a $40 J-pole would cost $31 including shipping. This might be a very handy project for the many VHF/UHFers among us. The antenna looks very useful as a permanent or emergency skyhook. Please let me know if you want tobuild this and we can order a large volume as a group.

73, Allan AE2J