The electronic publication of the Amateur Radio Newsline is distributed
with the permission of Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, President and Editor of
Newsline.  The text is transcribed from the audio service by Dale Cary and
is first published on Genie. Editorial comment or news items should be
E-mailed to 3241437@mcimail.com or B.PASTERNAK@genie.geis.com. Voice or FAX
to +1 805-296-7180. All other information and disclaimers are in the text
header below.
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    The following is late news about Amateur Radio for Radio
 Amateurs as prepared from NEWSLINE RADIO scripts by the staff of
 the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, INC. -- formerly the WESTLINK RADIO
 NETWORK.  The electronic version of newsline is posted on this
 CBBS twice monthly.  For current information updates, please call

      Los Angeles............................ (213) 462-0008
      Los Angeles (Instant Update Line)...... (805) 296-2407
      Seattle................................ (206) 368-3969
      Seattle................................ (206) 281-8455
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      Dayton................................. (513) 275-9991
      Chicago................................ (708) 289-0423
      New York City.......................... (718) 353-2801
      Melbourne, FL.......................... (407) 259-4479

    For the latest breaking info call the Instant Update Line listed
 above.  To provide information please call (805) 296-7180.  This
 line answers automatically and will accept up to 30 minutes of
 material.

    Check with your local amateur radio club to see if NEWSLINE
 can be heard weekly on the air in your area.

    Articles may be reproduced if printed in their entirety and
 credit is given to AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE as being the source.

    For further information about the AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE,
 please write to us with an SASE at P.O. Box 463, Pasadena, CA
 91102.

                                              Thank You
                                              NEWSLINE
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 Some of the hams of NEWSLINE RADIO...

 WA6ITF WB6MQV WB6FDF K6DUE W6RCL N6AHU N6AWE N6TCQ K6PGX N6PNY
 KU8R N8DTN W9JUV KC9RP K9XI KB5KCH KC5UD KC0HF G8AUU WD0AKO DJ0QN
 and many others in the United States and around the globe!!!
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 [852]

 * * * *    C L O S E D  C I R C U I T  A D V I S O R Y    * * * *
 *                                                               *
 *     The following is a closed circuit advisory and is NOT     *
 *  for air on amateur radio.  Repeat, not for broadcast. This   *
 *  is just a reminder that the address for the Newsline Support *
 *  Fund is Newsline, in care of Dr. Norm Chalfin, K6PGX, Post   *
 *  Office Box 463, Pasadena, CA 91102.  Again, and as always,   *
 *  we thank you.  That ends the closed circuit with Newsline    *
 *  report number 852 for release on Friday, December 10, 1993.  *
 *                                                               *
 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 *                                                               *
 *                     The following is a QST                    *
 *                                                               *
 *     Ham radio leads seventeen Cuban exiles to freedom in the  *
 *  United States and a New York suburb says it has the same     *
 *  power as the FCC.  Hempstead New York has ordered a ham to   *
 *  take down his antenna because of TVI.  These stories and     *
 *  more on Newsline report number 852 coming your way.          *
 *                                                               *
 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                       CUBAN HAM RADIO ESCAPE

    Ramon Batista, CO8BA, and sixteen other Cuban exiles are now
 free of dictator Fidel Castro thanks to the efforts of the
 Florida based Sociedad Internacional de Radio Aficionados --
 SIRA.  The story of Batista's escape began several weeks ago when
 he started to hold discrete contacts with stateside SIRA members.
 During these short QSO's he indicated his plans and requested
 information on frequencies used by maritime services.  SIRA's
 President, Rafael Estevez, WA4ZZG picks up the story from here.

    "He left on the Monday morning, early morning hours of that
 particular Monday.  It was a row boat, there were two row boats,
 14 feet each one.  Two of those carrying 17 persons including one
 five year old girl.  They rowed and when they thought they were
 far away from Cuba, ten international miles, actually they were
 about twenty to twenty two miles more or less.  Then he prepared
 a small amateur radio rig with ten watts and a special antenna
 that he designed.  With that antenna he called CQ, SOS, Mayday
 whatever you call in Spanish.  Then Edilberto Salas, WA2HNO who
 was living down here in south Florida picked up the signals and
 he called the Coast Guard.  Then the Coast Guard got into
 communications on that particular frequency.  He finally was
 picked up by a Panamanian freighter who was advised by the Coast
 Guard to pick them up.  Those two boats and they were taken to
 Jacksonville.  In Jacksonville they were processed there then the
 day before Thanksgiving Day.  Last Friday he arrived here in
 Miami.  He is now today in the process to ask for political
 asylum."

    Batista's heroic escape from Cuba is only part of the story.
 When he arrived, he brought with him some bad news about the fate
 of many radio amateurs still in Cuba. That story, next week.

 *****
                  LOS ANGELES TEST IRREGULARITIES

    The FCC has ordered the suspension of the accreditation of
 several Volunteer Examiners and has also invalidated the amateur
 licenses and license upgrades of twenty-one people.  This, after
 a three month joint investigation of alleged irregularities at
 four VE administered test sessions here in Southern California.
    The tests in question occurred in the Los Angeles area in June
 and August of 1993 and involved both the ARRL and W5YI VEC's.
    As we go to air, the ARRL VEC says that it has, at the
 request of the government, suspended the right to test of four
 Volunteer Examiners.  It has also unilaterally suspended the
 accreditation of another three VE's involved in another test
 session after finding other alleged irregularities in the records
 of the examinations administered at that test.
    Neither the FCC nor the VEC's assisting in the investigation
 have released the names of the testing applicants or the
 Volunteer Examiners under scrutiny, but the FCC has publicly
 thanked the ARRL and W5YI VEC's for their assistance in the
 continuing investigation.
    The FCC has stopped short of calling this a case of all-out
 license testing fraud, but Washington sources have indicated to
 Newsline that the results of the investigation may be turned over
 to the Department of Justice for further inquiry.  Should the
 Justice Department find that fraud is indicated and if it seeks
 seeks prosecution, a lot of want to be hams and those who tested
 them could face an unexpected fines and imprisonment.
    More on this breaking story next week.

 *****
                  LONG ISLAND ANTENNA DEFENSE FUND

    Amateur radio operators out on New York's Long Island are
 seeking national support to fight the local zoning board within
 the Town of Hempstead.  On October 6th the Zoning Board of
 Appeals denied amateur radio operator Mark Nadel, NK2T the right
 to maintain his 55 foot radio tower.  The reason for the denial
 was based on two neighbors had filed complaints about radio
 frequency interference to their home entertainment equipment.  In
 other words, the town of Hempstead is saying that it is taking on
 the jurisdiction of the FCC and the townships lawyers add that
 they have the right to do just that.  This, even if it means
 openly challenging the federal government and its communications
 control agency, the FCC.
    The decision against Nadel is precedent setting and reads in
 part as follows.  We quote:

    "The board finds that the proposed and existing height of 55'
 has had a devastating effect on several of the residents.  The
 transmission of applicants come over the telephone, television
 and electronic equipment of the neighbors and interfere
 substantially with those neighbors use of such facilities.  The
 Board has weighed the benefit to the applicant as against the
 detriment to the neighbors, and finds that the detriment far
 outweighs any benefit to the applicant." -- end quote.

    Word is that Hempstead is prepared to spend any amount of
 money to argue this case in all jurisdictions including the
 United States Supreme Court.  As a result, it now appears as if
 the only way that Nadel can have this decision overturned is to
 take it to court himself.  He and other hams in Hempstead have
 been given no other choice than to fight.
    In order to help NK2T overcome this unacceptable decision an
 organization has been formed know as RADIO.  This is an acronym
 for the Radio Amateur Defense & Information Organization.  Its
 sole purpose is that of helping amateur radio operators in their
 fights with town zoning problems.  Regardless of the final
 outcome, this will be a precedent setting case.  Perhaps the most
 important legal battle in the history of the United States
 Amateur Radio Service.
    For this reason it is very important to support NK2T in this
 oncoming battle through the courts.  The findings may well
 determine weather or not you can have a ham transmitter and an
 antenna, no matter where in the nation you may live.
    The address for contributions is RADIO, in care of N2FF,
 Post Office Box 343, Williston Park, New York 11596.

 *****
   NOVICE PRIVILEGES AND NEW 222 MHZ RESTRICTIONS ON REPEATERS

    The FCC has acted to expand privileges for Novice class
 licensees on the 222 MHz band as well as to create a subband
 protected for weak signal operators using the band.  The changes
 enacted under the Report Order in PR Docket 92-289 are very wide
 in their scope and include allowing Novice operation in the
 entire 222-225 MHz band.
    Novices currently have access to 222.10-223.91 MHz.  In making
 the privilege expansion proposal the American Radio Relay League
 said that improving the scope of Novice privileges to include the
 entire 1.25 meter band made sense.  This because Novices already
 are permitted to use SSB and CW on portions of the HF bands.
    But the FCC has denied another proposal to allow Novices to
 be licensees and control operators of repeaters on both the 222
 and 1240 MHz bands.  The Commission had in fact proposed such
 privileges in an Notice of Proposed Rule Making back in 1992.  At
 that time the ARRL argued against the idea.  It said that these
 privileges were not justified by the level technical proficiency
 demonstrated by Novices on their examinations.  The ARRL also
 argued that giving Novices the right to hold license to repeaters
 would blur the distinctions between the Novice and Technician
 class licenses.
    Finally, the ARRL and weak-signal advocates have been
 successful in gaining a special subband established on the low
 end of the 222 MHz band.  The League had proposed that a weak
 signal protected band segment be established from 222.0 to 222.15
 MHz, similar to what previously existed at 222.00 to 222.50 MHz.
 They said that a weak-signal subband, which could not be enforced
 through voluntary agreements or formalized band-planning by
 amateurs, was necessary to allow amateurs to carry on experiments
 in propagation and operating techniques.
    The FCC agreed that this proposal had merit and acted to
 codify it but in reality their action may have come to late.  In
 some cities, so called un-coordinated "pirate" repeaters are
 already setting up operations in this spectrum.  This, as it is
 vacated by coordinated systems that have been relocated elsewhere
 in the 1.25 meter band.  While the number of these uncoordinated
 systems is still small it will be a problem that the FCC rather
 than the Amateur Radio community will have to handle.  This is
 because those hams who have no respect for "gentlemen agreements"
 on band utilization are bound to ignore the FCC regulations as
 well.
    At airtime, no effective date for these new regulations to
 take effect has been announced.

 *****
               NEW YORK CABS GET CELLULAR TELEPHONES

    The alleged need for two meter radios in New York City taxis
 seems to have disappeared as a results of a plan to install
 cellular phones in may of the city's cabs.  According to a press
 release from Nynex, Mobile Communications, one of the city's
 cellular suppliers, some two hundred medallion taxi cabs have
 embarked on a three month pilot program to test the feasibility
 of having cellular pay-phones in the rider compartments of these
 vehicles.  Passengers are able to use these cel-tels for regular
 phone calls, and taxi drivers have a special push-button that
 allows instant access to police through the city's 911 emergency
 access number.
    As reported a few months ago, a small number of New York City
 taxi drivers had petitioned the Taxi and Limousine Commission to
 have two meter radios installed in every cab.  The commission
 turned the drivers down.  The new Nynex system seems to nullify
 the need for two meter radios to be installed in the city's cabs,
 while giving the drivers a better sense of security than any ham
 system could offer.

 *****
                    CHINA ON THE HAM SATELLITES

    In news about ham radio space operations, word that the
 Tsinghua University Amateur Radio Club of Beijing, China has
 announced that the Chinese Radio Sports Association has provided
 them with some OSCAR satellite ground station equipment.  The
 Radio Club says that it plans to use the gear for approximately 6
 months in an effort to become active on amateur satellites.
    The equipment consists of a Yaesu FT-726 dual-band
 transceiver, a circularly polarized crossed Yagi antenna, a 70cm
 amplifier, a receive preamplifier, and the elevation/azimuth
 rotor system.  OE2CAL, an Austrian amateur noted in Europe for
 his VHF and UHF activities, and DJ7BU are scheduled to join the
 radio club in their efforts to the antenna system which has been
 delayed due to snowy weather.  Both men are currently working in
 Beijing.

 *****
                      ST LOUIS RADIO HISTORY

    Closer to home comes this item from the world of broadcast
 band DXing.  Word that a piece of radio history has returned to
 the radio dial in St. Louis.  E.B. Stevenson, N0UIH has the
 story and the background on why it all came about.

    "The first weekend in October brought a major shock to
 listeners of St. Louis radio station KUSA.  Listeners expecting
 to hear the station at 550 on the AM dial with its CNN Headline
 News feed, instead were informed they were listening to KSD AM.
 The reversion to the KSD callsign was as a result of sale of the
 station along with classic rock formatted KSD FM 93.7 Mhz by
 Gannet Radio Division to EZ Communications, owners of KYKY 98.1
 Mhz with runs an adult top 40 format.  Gannet purchased KSD AM
 then the local NBC Radio Network Affiliate and what was then
 beautiful music formatted KCFM in 1979.  The FM adopted the KSD
 FM callsign in 1980, the same year KSD AM ended its 54 year
 affiliation with NBC.  The KSD calls were dropped from the AM on
 March 19th 1984 after being on the 550 spot since 1922.  KUSA was
 originally going to be adopted by what was then KPRZ in Los
 Angeles, now KIIS 1150 on the AM dial earlier in 1984, but
 Gannet ended up transferring the calls to their St. Louis AM
 property which was then running the country and western music
 format.  The KUSA call still reside on its television property in
 Denver, Colorado.  A piece of St. Louis radio history is back."

    Confusing yes, but talk about radio history repeating itself.

 *****
                             XMAS TV

    The television program titled There Really Is A Santa Claus
 will air on Saturday December 11th on the Discovery Channel cable
 television network.  There Really is a Santa Claus includes
 exclusive footage of the North Pole Network that each year
 permits hospital confined children to talk directly to old St.
 Nick thru the magic of ham radio an amateur radio TV.  The
 segment showing hams in action was filmed at the St. Judes
 Hospital Center in Fullerton, California and shows Rehab Radio
 Station WD6BPT in action.  Look for There Really is a Santa Claus
 at 4 PM eastern and pacific.  Consult your local cable company
 about finding the Discovery Channel on your cable box or TV dial.

 *****
                        COUNTRY MUSIC HAM

    You fans of country music know that entertainer Patty
 Loveless produces chart-topping hits.  But now it can also now be
 told that Patty can also hold her own in a morse-code roundtable
 QSO.  This is according to QST Magazine that reports the Kentucky
 born songstress is now the holder of the Amateur Radio call sign
 KD4WUJ.
    QST says that Patty, a cousin of singer Loretta Lynn is
 is married to Emory Gordy Jr., W4WRO and it was Gordy that got
 his wife interested in the two way hobby communications.  The
 Gordy's make their home in Dallas Georgia where Patty is
 reportedly active on 40 meter CW.
     Newsline knows that you join in welcoming Patty Loveless
 KD4WUJ to our world of Amateur Radio.

 *****

 * * * Newsline Copyright 1993 all rights are reserved. * * *
