The ARRL Letter
Electronic Update
April 5, 1996
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IN THIS UPDATE:

* At Deadline: Barrett quits FCC; new Delta
   Division vice director named
* HR 3207 seeks to protect ham volunteers
* SAREX QSOs canceled; Lucid on the air
* Teachers see SAREX close-up at NSTA convention
* Good news, bad news on WI PRB-1
* Grand jury indicts in Teetson case
* Hams prepare for Boston Marathon
* In Brief: N4KSO resigns as VA SM, Wright named;
   DXCC Desk progress report; Palm attends NVOAD
   annual meeting; SETI League to kick off sky search.

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At Deadline:

* FCC Commissioner Andrew Barrett has stepped down from the FCC after 
serving for seven years on the Commission. During his FCC tenure, Barrett 
was recognized for his role in Commission decisions involving personal 
communications services, universal service, price caps, equal employment 
opportunity, cable television rate regulation and broadcast ownership. He 
said he was leaving the FCC "with mixed emotions," but looking forward to 
"the new professional challenges that lie ahead." FCC Chairman Reed Hundt 
said Barrett's contributions "will be long remembered and long valued." 
Barrett was nominated by President Bush in 1989.--FCC

* Henry R. Leggette, WD4Q, of Memphis, Tennessee, has been named by ARRL 
President Rod Stafford, KB6ZV, to serve as vice director of the Delta 
Division through the end of 1997. He fills the vacancy created in January 
when Rick Roderick, K5UR, became director upon the election of Joel 
Harrison, WB5IGF, as an ARRL vice president. Henry, who's 56, is a 
supervisor electronics technician for the Federal Aviation Administration. 
His team of 13 technicians is responsible for repairing the equipment and 
software used by air traffic controllers. A life member of ARRL, he 
previously served as vice director from 1989 to 1991.
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HR 3207 SEEKS LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR HAM VOLUNTEERS

Rep Bill Baker (R-CA) has introduced a bill to protect hams in the Volunteer 
Examination program and the Amateur Auxiliary of the FCC from frivolous 
lawsuits while they are doing their volunteer jobs. The bill, HR 3207, would 
afford amateurs engaged in statutorily defined activities with the VE 
program and with the Amateur Auxiliary the same liability as Federal workers 
enjoy under the Federal Tort Claims Act. When individuals who fall under 
such protection are sued for something they have done while performing their 
duties, the Federal government steps in to protect them. Baker introduced 
the measure, the Amateur Radio Volunteer Services Act of 1996 on March 29, 
1996.

"While the bill would not afford absolute blanket immunity, it does offer a 
fairly rigorous body of legal protection from the kind of malicious 
litigation that tends to frighten volunteers away from these activities," 
said ARRL Legislative and Public Affairs Manager Steve Mansfield, N1MZA. 
"This is an entirely non-partisan, non-controversial bill, but we're working 
against severe time pressure to get it passed before the end of the 
session."

Baker said that Amateur Radio volunteers "provide an invaluable service to 
all ham radio operators" by assisting in licensing and monitoring 
activities, thus saving taxpayer dollars. Those savings would dry up if 
volunteers "stay away for fear of lawsuits," Baker said in a letter to 
colleagues. Individuals and private organizations currently protected by the 
Federal Tort Claims Act include Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), 
the Peace Corps and the Job Corps.

Baker has enlisted members of both parties as original cosponsors of the 
bill. These include: Charles Wilson (D-TX); Bob Wise (D-WV); Edolphus Townes 
(D-NY); Mike Parker (R-MS); Toby Roth (R-WI); Charles Taylor (R-NC); Ron 
Dellums (D-CA); David Funderburk, K4TPJ, (R-NC); Ed Royce (R-CA); Norman 
Dicks (D-WA); Vern Ehlers (R-MI); Chris Cox (R-CA); Andrew Jacobs (D-IN); 
Harold Rogers (R-KY); Dennis Hastert (R-IL); Dave Weldon (R-FL); Anna Eshoo 
(D-CA); Ken Calvert (R-CA); Doug Bereuter (R-NE); Gene Green (D-TX); George 
E. Brown (D-CA); Eva Clayton (D-NC); and Sam Farr (D-CA).

ARRL members are urged to write their Members of Congress, urging them to 
sign on as cosponsors of HR 3207.--Steve Mansfield, N1MZA

SAREX QSOs CANCELED; ASTRONAUT LUCID OPERATING R0MIR

Astronaut Shannon Lucid, aboard the Russian Mir orbital complex, has been 
heard--and worked--on 2 meters! The Russians have approved her use of the 
Mir radio and the R0MIR call sign. She's been using the Mir simplex 
frequency of 144.55 MHz. Three young Indiana amateurs, 11-year-old Jessica 
Buszkiewicz, KB9KVQ, 13-year-old Jimmy Buszkiewicz, KG9DL, and 15-year-old 
Keith Price Jr, KB9MQA, and their parents Jim Buszkiewicz, KF9EB, and Keith 
Price Sr, N9TJH, were among those who talked to Shannon Lucid Saturday, 
March 30 during its 7:36 AM (EST) pass. All are members of the Studebaker 
Hill Amateur Radio Club In New Carlisle, Indiana. As one of the dads, Jim 
Buszkiewicz, KF9EB, put it: "I think all will agree that these random 
contacts were more exciting than any rare DX could have possibly been." 
KF9EB said Shannon was copied from coast to coast, approximately 1500 miles 
downrange each way, using a simple four-element 2-meter beam and az-el 
rotor. The antenna was only 10 feet off the ground.

Lucid is a prospective amateur who has not yet taken her license test. KF9EB 
said she's welcome to chat with his family's station anytime. "Thank you 
Shannon, and if you ever get homesick--I know I would after 5 months--you'll 
always have friends down here to talk to," he said. Lucid will remain aboard 
Mir for the next four and a half months. QSL cards for QSOs with Shannon 
Lucid as a Mir crew member using the R0MIR club station go to David G. 
Larsen, N6JLH,  PO Box 1501, Pine Grove, CA 95665. Include a business-size 
sase.

The STS-76 mission that brought Lucid to Mir officially ended March 31, but 
mission controllers landed the shuttle Atlantis at Edwards Air Force Base in 
California to avoid weather problems in Florida. The mission was to have 
ended March 30 as bad weather approached the primary landing site at Cape 
Canaveral. Unfortunately, the shuttle crew was too busy with primary payload 
activities to support scheduled SAREX operations. As a result, SAREX QSOs 
with five schools, planned for late in the mission, had to be canceled. Some 
individual, random QSOs were made, however. The SAREX team will work with 
these school groups to reschedule their contacts for a future flight. SAREX 
is a secondary payload aboard space shuttles, and primary payload concerns 
take precedence.--Jim Buszkiewicz, KF9EB; Frank Bauer, KA3HDO (SAREX Working 
Group)

TEACHERS SEE SAREX CLOSE-UP

Teachers experienced SAREX and ham radio first-hand at the National Science 
Teachers Association (NSTA) national convention in St Louis, Missouri, in 
March. They spoke with volunteers from ARRL, including Ken Chaffee, WA1QXR, 
of Ashaway, Rhode Island, and Tom Bingham, K9ZYW, of Collinsville, Illinois. 
Tom is an electrical engineering professor at St Louis Community College at 
Florissant Valley. Ken, who is also a member of AMSAT, explained 
satellite-tracking techniques used by amateurs to communicate with the space 
shuttles and the Russian Mir orbital complex. ARRL Midwest Director Lew 
Gordon, K4VX, and his wife, Terry, a retired school teacher, also assisted 
with this year's exhibit, organized by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, from the ARRL 
Educational Activities Department.

During the convention, teacher Sheila Perry, N0UOP, a recent ARRL 
Professional Educator of the Year, presented a workshop on including Amateur 
Radio and space-related science in the classroom. The exposition of science 
teaching materials at NSTA is the largest school exhibit in North America. 
The exhibit space was provided to ARRL by NASA's Education Division.--Bob 
Inderbitzen, NQ1R

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS ON WISCONSIN PRB-1

Two state lawmakers in Wisconsin have introduced legislation to codify the 
Federal preemption law, PRB-1, into Wisconsin law, but its future for this 
legislative session hangs by a slender procedural thread. Rep. Ben Brancel, 
a Republican, and Sen. Richard Grobschmidt, a Democrat, are sponsors of the 
identical companion bills. The good news is that the Senate bill, SB 544, 
was voted out of committee, brought to the Senate floor, and passed on a 
voice vote. The bad news is that the Assembly bill, AB 900, never made it 
out of committee. However, the Assembly can vote on the Senate bill because 
they were companion bills with identical language. An effort is under way 
among Wisconsin hams to convince the Rules Committee chairman, Rep. Scott 
Jensen, to bring the bill to the Assembly floor for a vote during a brief 
May floor session.

Brancel's office is said to be optimistic about the bill's success. If it is 
approved by the legislature, it still needs Gov. Tommy Thompson's signature 
to become law.--Jim Romelfanger, K9ZZ

GRAND JURY INDICTS IN TEETSON MURDERS

A grand jury in Louisiana indicted 18-year-old Kevin Coleman March 28 on two 
counts of first-degree murder in the February 21 killings of Floyd Teetson, 
W5MUG, and his wife, Winnie, WN5YTR. The district attorney handling the case 
will ask for the death penalty against Coleman, who, authorities say, has 
confessed to the murders.

Although police have said robbery was the motive--some of the Teetsons' 
belongings were recovered from the accused man after the slayings--only 
jewelry and a few dollars were taken from the couple's bodies after they 
were beaten and stabbed.

The Teetsons' friend, Troy Ballard, W5AU, is among those having a hard time 
understanding why Coleman would turn on the Teetsons, whom he described as a 
high-school dropout. "They really had tried hard to help this young man," he 
recalled. "They both had stressed the importance of getting an education, 
and even offered to pay a tutor to help him get his GED (general educational 
development) diploma. They were probably the only true friends this person 
had."

Ballard and two other hams went ahead with plans--laid mostly by the 
Teetsons--to operate during the ARRL International DX Contest from Little 
Cayman Island. The group used Floyd's Caymans' call sign, ZF2FT. "Floyd had 
planned everything perfectly," Ballard said. "I felt we did well, 
considering that we had never operated the contest from the other side. I 
think Floyd and Winnie would have been proud, and we missed them a lot."

HAMS PREPARE FOR BIGGEST BOSTON MARATHON EVER

Steve Tolf, K1ST, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, says 250 hams are preparing 
to provide communication for this year's running of the Boston Marathon, 
April 15. "This year is bigger than ever," said Tolf. He reports 37,500 
runners have signed up for the annual Patriots Day event, and the sponsoring 
Boston Athletic Association expects as many as 50,000 (including so-called 
"bandits" or unofficial entrants) to turn out. In addition, it's anticipated 
that 1.5 million spectators will line the 26-mile route. Tolf said three 
groups are handling communication tasks, each with different areas of 
responsibility. One group will handle the starting line, a second the 
marathon route and the third the finish line. Tolf is heading up the 
starting line communication team, which has 60 hams. The others include Bob 
Salow, WA1IDA, of Natick, Massachusetts, whose team will handle 
communication along the route, and Bob Taylor, NA1Q, of Hubbardstown, 
Massachusetts, whose team will work the finish line. Tolf said the hams will 
have links with fire and police department personnel and will play a crucial 
role in helping to maintain race and crowd safety.

__________________________________

In Brief:

* Edward "Ted" Dingler, N4KSO, of Chilhowie, Virginia, resigned March 22 as 
Virginia's section manager because of his increasing business commitments. 
ARRL Field Services Manager Rick Palm, K1CE, has appointed Assistant Section 
Manager Chris N. Wright, KD4TZN, of Rocky Mount, Virginia, to complete 
Dingler's term. Wright will serve until March 31, 1998. N4KSO became 
Virginia's section manager April 1, 1990.

* The ARRL DXCC Desk announces that the number of unprocessed applications 
at the end of March was 148 (12,392 QSLs). The desk received 326 
applications (29,394 QSLs) for endorsements and new awards during the month. 
The DXCC Desk is now accepting cards for Scarborough Reef, BS7, and Pratas 
Island, BV9P. There are now 329 countries on the DXCC list. It now takes 320 
current (ie, not deleted) countries to attain Honor Roll status.

* ARRL Field Services Manager Rick Palm, K1CE, represented the League at the 
National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) annual meeting 
March 25-26 in Washington, DC. During a meeting of the Communications 
Committee, Palm cited the League's success with its presence on the World 
Wide Web and proposed that that NVOAD develop a home page and post it on the 
Web, with links to individual member-organizations' home pages, FEMA, the 
National Hurricane Center and others. Palm offered the League's assistance 
to NVOAD members with their on-site radio-communication needs during 
disaster recoveries. Palm also attended the Atlantic Division cabinet 
meeting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, March 23-24, chaired by Director Kay 
Craigie, WT3P.

* The nonprofit, membership-supported SETI League Inc kicks off its 
long-awaited Project Argus survey of the heavens on Earth Day, April 21, 
1996. Project Argus is a survey of microwave signals of possible 
intelligent, extraterrestrial origin. A special event station using the call 
sign of SETI League President Richard Factor, WA2IKL ("I keep listening"), 
will operate on 20-meter SSB starting at 1600 UTC. SETI League Executive 
Director H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, describes Project Argus as "perhaps the most 
ambitious radio astronomy project ever undertaken without government 
equipment or funding." The effort will deploy and coordinate some 5000 small 
radiotelescopes around the world in an all-sky survey for microwave signals 
that could suggest intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. For more 
information, call 800-828-7384 (800-TAU-SETI).

===========================================================
The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main 
St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J. 
Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.

Electronic edition circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail 
kcapodicasa@arrl.org.
Editorial, Rick Lindquist, KX4V, e-mail rlindquist@arrl.org.

The purpose of The ARRL Letter is to provide the essential news of interest 
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and readable in our reporting.

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