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ARRL Hudson Division 
April 2001
Hudson Division Beacon - email edition
By Frank Fallon, N2FF, Director, Hudson Division, ARRL
30 East Williston Avenue, East Williston, NY 11596
(516) 746-7652
n2ff@arrl.org
Hudson Division Home Page - http://www.arrlhudson.org

ARRL Members

By now plans for Field Day 2001 should be in full swing. See page 113 of
May QST for details for ordering Field Day pins and shirts. Perhaps you or
your club might want to order the shirts early and wear them at Dayton or
get a vendor there to put your call on the back. Field Day is a great fun
event we all look forward to for many reasons. I wonder if this year you
might not consider inviting a few non-ham friends or work colleagues to
visit your FD site and join the fun. It's a chance to show off the wonders
of ham radio. Use Field Day as an opportunity to turn someone on to ham
radio. It's something you can do to increase our ranks. Some of us need to
do that if ham radio is going to prosper in the 21st century.

Please continue to spread the word to others who may want to receive this
information that they will need to access the ARRL members only web site and
after becoming a member they must elect to receive bulletins from the
Section Manager and Director.

DAYTON NEXT WEEK

W2ML and I will be in the Dayton crowd this week. I will be driving out on
Wednesday and visiting the Air Force Museum on Thursday. For the second
year in a row I will be moderator of the "Digital Forum" on Saturday
morning. I'll be attending the RTTY Dinner Friday night and the Contest
Dinner on Saturday night. I hope to meet some of you in the crowd.

NEW YORK TOWER LAW EFFORT CONTINUES - Assembly bill A.1565 and Senate bill
S.2893.

On Tuesday, April 18th, we traveled to Albany and met with the Local
Government chairs where our bills are presently located. Details were
covered on the ARRL web site. There is a link to the story and pictures
from http://www.arrlhudson.org . Four of us spent almost five hours
meeting with sponsors, committee chairs or their aides. We met with
Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee,
and our sponsor Assemblyman Ron Tocci. A week later DiNapoli's committee
reported the bill out and it is now in the Ways and Means Committee. See
page 19 of June 2001 QST for a picture of Tocci at K2GBH, Herb Sweet's home
at a January meeting before the bill was introduced earlier this year. (You
will also see some folks from the Orange County Radio Club in the picture
below.) We made our presentation detailing the importance of the bill in
enabling amateur radio operators to continue their emergency communications
services to citizens of New York State. We pointed out that we believed
that restrictive ordinances had reached a point where they were hindering
recruitment into amateur radio. We stating that while many hams spent a
great deal of time providing community service within the state; it was
usually the lure of communication with the rest of the country and
internationally which drew most to the ranks of amateur radio. We also met
with Governor Pataki's assistant counsel, Greg Allen, and learned his father
in law was a ham. We all felt very positive about the reception we had
from the legislators and their staff people. In all we met with some 12
different people.

A few days later we sent the Governor a gift ARRL membership with the
message, "Governor Pataki, we want you back in ham radio. It's our hope
that in the 21st Century you may do for Amateur Radio what Barry Goldwater
did in the last century." The governor has repeatedly said that he is still
interested getting back into ham radio. We are currently working to get a
tutor for him and to arrange a possible Field Day visit. These items are
covered in the current web "In Brief."

Albany insiders, read "Jimmy the Newsagent, " reports that the Senate bill
will be reported out of Local Government on May 15th and sent on to the
Rules Committee. From there it will go to the floor for a vote. Just when
and if that will be we cannot predict. My fingers are crossed. We need to
keep both bills moving so they get voted on and then sent to the governor by
early July when the legislative session ends. We expect no problem getting
the governor's signature.

If you have not yet written please do so. Letters to Farrell, Bruno and
Silver are crucial at this point. A sample letter and addresses are on
http://www.arrl.org.

To recap: Our PRB-1 Task Force has again been able to get bills introduced
into the Assembly and Senate in the State of New York. The Assembly bill is
A.1565 and the Senate Bill is S.2893.Last year our bill cleared all the
necessary committees in the Assembly and was awaiting a move to the floor
for a vote when the session ended in early July. We expect this year to the
able to again get through the Assembly committees and hope that A.1565 will
receive priority and a vote in the 2001 session. The Senate bill, S.2893,
has four sponsors - Volker, Larken, Maziarz, and McGee - which indicates a
very good support level for the bill.

Members of the task force are planning another trip to Albany in late May or
early June to meet with key Senate legislators.

We need thousands of letters, e mails and phone calls to get passage of both
bills. The division web site, http://www.arrlhudson.org has more
information, a copy of the bill, sample letters and a means of looking up
the addresses of state legislators. Please help us achieve this important
goal so that more NY amateurs may have a chance at an effective antenna
system. NY clubs may want to arrange letter writing nights. Please help.

NEW JERSEY "Hands Free" GROUP MEETS AGAIN 

As a prelude to an effort next year to get state tower legislation on the
books in New Jersey a group has been meeting to make sure that amateur radio
operators are exempted from any "hands-free" cell phone legislation that
might be introduced in New Jersey. Nutley recently introduced hands free
legislation which does not clearly exempt Amateur Radio. I would not advise
using your HT while driving through downtown Nutley. Our "New Jersey Hams
for Safe Driving" group did not hear about the legislation until a month
after it was enacted and by then it was way too late to do anything about
it. Our goal is get an exemption for ham radio in any statewide legislation
that will be enacted in Trenton and which will supercede legislation like
that enacted in Nutley.

On May 1, 2001 the group again met in Paramus. In late May Bill Hudzik,
W2UDT, and John Bergio, W2JT, will meet with key aides in Trenton. As a
result of an uncertain governor's race in New Jersey; it is felt there will
be little movement on the bill until much later in the year. The group
continues to monitor the situation and check with key legislators in Trenton

The consensus was that no letter writing campaign need be conducted at this
time but NJ ARRL members will be alerted if that becomes necessary.
Lobbying efforts with key legislators will continue but we are told that
there will be no movement until October or November.


NEW JERSEY HAM RADIO LICENSE PLATE BILL

There has been some progress here! Outgoing NNJ Section Manager Jeff
Friedman, K3JF reported in his 
May QST column, page 128, that the New Jersey Senate passed the bill S -1341
on a 40 to 0 vote. While that is great news indeed, we still must make a
big effort to get passage in the Assembly and a vote by the acting governor.
Jeff reports, " We are only half way there. Thanks to Senator Bruno, the
first hurdle is complete. Unfortunately, we still have the Assembly to deal
with and the bill A-1593 still has not cleared the committee stage." Jeff
goes on to point out that NNJ SGL Ray Makul, K1XV, has made it easier to
make you feelings known to the committee. Ray has developed a sample
letter available on the NNJ web site http://www.arrlhudson.org . The
letters are also available via email at k1xv@arrl.net or k3jf@arrl.org.
Please help make this happen in New Jersey. 

Background again: A-1593 was introduced into the New Jersey State Assembly
by Assemblymen Nicholas R. Felice (District 40 - Bergan and Passaic) and E.
Scott Garrett (District 24 - Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris) and will
modernize the law concerning Amateur Radio call sign plates. This is the
second year that NNH SM Jeff Friedman, K3JF, and ARRL State Government
Liaison Ray Makul, K1XV, have been working on passage of the bill. The bill
would allow plates on leased vehicles, add the words "Amateur Radio" to the
plates. There will be a $10 to $15 charge for the new plates which is in
line with fees charged in neighboring states for such plates. 

These new plates will help our recognition when we respond to emergencies
and it will also make Amateur Radio more visible. Many non-hams believe
that Amateur Radio has gone away now that the Internet and cell phones are
here. These plates will give us a little needed publicity. To my way of
thinking, there is no use having a call letter plate unless folks know what
we are. Plates in New York have the words "Amateur Radio" and also a logo
of a radio tower. We point out at tower hearings that Amateur Radio
antennas and support structures are so important to the emergency service we
provide that the state pictures them on our license plates. Fuzzy logic
perhaps, but good public relations.

TIMONIUM HAMFEST PLUS ATLANTICON: Some real ham radio fun in Maryland

See pages 102 and 103 "QRP Power" in the June QST for pictures and another
write up.

The Greater Baltimore Hamboree and ARRL Maryland State Convention in
Timonium March 30-April 1, was an outstanding success this year. Despite
occasional rain showers, the flea market was crowded with both vendors and
buyers. Attendance estimates range from 7000 to 10,000. There are inside
and outside flea market areas and plenty of commercial vendors. While not
held in the Hudson Division, this is an event that many of us travel to and
enjoy each year. I discovered Timonium back in the early 1980's and attend
whenever possible. As usual there were many New Jersey and New York hams at
the event this year, probably the largest East Coast Amateur radio event of
the year. The event also enabled me to network with Atlantic Division
Director, Bernie Fuller, N3EFN, about our legislative efforts in New Jersey
and New York and speak to Harold Smith and Lloyd who run the Rochester about
letter writing in the WNY Section.

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, spoke at the ARRL forum on Saturday
afternoon. Haynie described the Big Project--ARRL's education initiative--to
a receptive audience. He also emphasized how the
responsibility for promoting Amateur Radio rests with each individual ham.
Jim spent most of Saturday and a good part of Sunday morning at the ARRL
booth meeting ARRL members before flying home to Dallas. FCC Special
Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement, Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, appeared
at a forum where he fielded questions concerning various amateur enforcement
issues. Of particular interest was the FCC's position regarding the
increasing interference on 10 meters. The FCC recently sent out enforcement
letters regarding suspected illegal operation on that band. 

Also present at the convention were ARRL Vice President Kay Craigie, WT3P;
ARRL Atlantic Division Director Bernie Fuller, N3EFN; ARRL Atlantic Division
Vice Director Bill Edgar, N3LLR; Delaware Section Manager Randall Carlson,
WB0JJX; ARRL Honorary Vice President Hugh Turnbull, W3ABC, and QST Editor
Steve Ford, WB8IMY. Ford hosted a well-attended PSK31 forum on Saturday
afternoon.
I met Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML, Hudson Division Vice Director in the outdoor
flea market late Saturday morning with his new girlfriend, Kay.

As if the Hamfest were not enough, the New Jersey QRP Group held their
annual convention, Atlanticon, at the nearby Holiday Inn. Here again were
many familiar faces From New Jersey and Long Island at an event combining
two of the big interests in ham radio today - QRP and PSK. I broke down and
bought
an 80 meter warbler kit that I hope to complete over the summer.

>From the ARRL Letter - Vol 10, No. 14 
==>QST EDITOR WITNESSES "WONDERFUL CRAZINESS" AT QRP GATHERING

New QST Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY, was a featured speaker during at
Atlanticon. More than 130 QRP enthusiasts turned out March 30-31 in
Timonium, Maryland, for the two-day Atlanticon QRP conference, sponsored by
the New Jersey QRP Club.

After an introduction by QST "QRP Power" editor Rich Arland, K7SZ, Ford
discussed the benefits of PSK31 with the overflow crowd. Using a CD player
and a laptop computer running DigiPan software, Ford displayed a recording
of actual PSK31 activity heard on 20 meters just a few days before. Ford's
presentation offered an opportunity for audience members to come up and
experience how easy it is to receive PSK31.

PSK31 was the star of Atlanticon's Saturday evening activity session as
well. More than 40 individuals had assembled PSK31 "Warbler" audio
beacons--in just about every enclosure imaginable. Their work was judged for
innovation and overall construction. The competition culminated with the
activation of all the Warblers held aloft and waving from side to side while
aiming for the decoding microphone It was a deafening chorus. With a laptop
DigiPan display projected onto a large screen, the individual Warbler audio
signals--picked up by the laptop microphone--were judged for modulation
purity and signal strength. Points were given by the order in which the
signals were decoded.

***
Neil Heft, KC2KY, described the construction and competition of the
"Warbler" PSK beacons in his "Builder's Corner" column in the Radio Central
Amateur Radio Club April newsletter, "RANDOMOCillations." It was great
reading! Neil detailed how he and Emil, KD1F, and Mark, N2JTW, teamed up to
design, etch, and drill a printed circuit board for the project and then
construct the kits which were included with the registration fee - $10. The
kits, included a programable microcontroller chip and audio amp I.C.,
arrived in the mail a week before the competition. The trio decided not to
use "Manhattan Style" construction technique, but rather to design and
fabricate their own printed circuit board for the project. In very
interesting detail Neil described the process involved in getting the three
kits operational. It seemed a miracle they made it in time. Each came up
with their own idea for speaker and enclosure. Neil used a tuned tube cut
from and old Diamond antenna shipping tube, but it was Mark who was to
become the first of the trio to have his beacon decoded and he was one of
the few to be decoded without any errors. His unit took third place overall
in the competition.

As an outsider watching the competition I thought I had come upon some male
religious cult performing a ceremony complete with weird music. "Wonderful
craziness" was how QST editor Steve Ford described the scene. This was one
enthusiastic group! I can't wait to see what they come up with next year.
Anyone who attended the NJ QRP Atlantic during the Timonium Hamfest sure had
their $10 worth and then some. Check their site at http://www.njqrp.org.

John Cawthorne, KE3S, took first prize for a beautiful construction job and
for being one of the earliest and cleanest signals to be copied. Prospective
amateur Mike Korejwo captured second prize with his superb construction and
next-in-line signal to be received.

Thanks to George Heron, N2APB, for information concerning the beacon contest
winners. Congratulations to LIMARC member Dave Gwillim KB2TQX and his two
children, Christine and Marcus, who won an honorable mention in the
"Warbler" kit-building contest at Atlanticon. Both Christine and Marcus are
ever present at LIMARC events and meetings, whether it's a QRP camping trip,
the holiday party or selling LIMARC raffle tickets. 

Also in attendance at Atlanticon were WJ2V, W2 WW2W, N2GRT, N3FDR, N2TO,
K2EL and KA2FXR. I hope I did not leave anyone out. I also made two new
British friends in the form of G4WIF and G3MFJ, who are also K4WIF and
W3MFJ, who were attending Atlanticon and were British enough to let me sit
with them at breakfast.

NJ DXER BECOMES WORLD RADIO AUTHOR

I read through and article titled "Mobile Dxing can be fun" in the May
"Worldradio," page 12 and 13, about using the Icom 706 MKIIG with a mobile
whip after reaching your destination with great interest as I do take my own
706 on trips. It was only after finishing the article that I realized the
author was our own Mike DiPersio, KC2Q, of Dayton Bus and Jersey Cost DX
Association and Garden State Amateur Radio Association fame.
Congratulations Mike! I enjoyed the article and discovered a possible
mounting trick for the whip at my destination.

NEW SECTION MANAGERS IN HUDSON DIVISION SECTIONS

The ARRL Eastern New York Section has a new Section Manager. Rob Leiden,
KR2L, who had served since March 1996, has stepped down because he is soon
moving to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. On March 1, Peter A. Cecere, N2YJZ, of
Woodstock, New York, was appointed by ARRL Field and Educational Services
Manager Rosalie While, K1STO, to complete Leiden's term of office which
expires March 31, 2002. 

At the ENY Section Convention at Fishkill (Beaconfest) on April 29th it was
my pleasure welcome Pete and to present a plaque to Rob from the Hudson
Division for his four years of service to ARRL members in the division. Rob
has been a key participant in the Hudson Division PRB-1 Task Force from day
one and was instrumental in writing a justification and rational for the
bill. We wish Rob well in his move to Cape Cod but we will miss his
assistance and advice. 

Meanwhile NNJ SM, Jeff Friedman, K3JF, has decided not to run for another
term. Jeff cited increased business travel as the reason for his decision,
but Jeff wants to stay on until his term expires on July 1 to help push the
license plate bill through in NJ. Let's help him reach that goal!

Bill Hudzik, W2UDT, who had filed a petition by the March 7th deadline will
therefore become the Northern New Jersey Section Manager on July 1. Bill,
who works for Johnson and Johnson Corp is a resident of Gillette, New Jersey
and is past President of the North Jersey DX Association, and a member of
the Raritan Valley Radio Association. He holds an appointment as an
Official Emergency Station. 

DUES INCREASE - You have until the end of June to lock in multi year
membership rates.

A reminder: ARRL dues go up effective July 1 to $39 for regular members and
$35 for senior members. You still have time to take advantage of the option
for 3 and 5 year memberships before the deadline. You can renew on line
with a credit card or see page 6 of April QST for details. Now may the time
to consider life membership in ARRL. Life membership is set at 25 times the
current dues. Right now that fee is $850, but after July 2001 it will move
to $975. You have a chance to lock in the old rate of $850 and pay it eight
quarterly installments over two years. Look at it as a life insurance
policy. Knowing how tight fisted most hams are I guarantee that were you to
become an ARRL Life Member you would immediately begin to take much better
care of yourself. You would stop smoking if you had not already, loose
weight and watch the saturated fat intake to say nothing of doing regular
exercise. You would want to make sure you got your money's worth. When you
look at it this way, a Life Membership can be a real lifesaver.

At the May 5th ARRL Executive Board meeting in Dallas we approved some 122
new life members who have paid their full fee. An additional 322 members
are currently making quarterly payment and we expect that eventually they
too will become full Life Members. We have nearly 20,000 Life members, a
real indication member dedication to Amateur Radio and ARRL. The average
age of the newly elected life members was 46.75 years. You may find it
interesting to know that 37 of the 122 were over 50, 13 were over 60, and 3
were over 70 years old. In fact, one new life member was 83 years old.
Dave Nardo, W2UQ, of Levittown was one name and call that jumped from the
list. We testified a few years ago at Dave's successful tower hearing.
Other two calls on the list were K2SZ, W2UV, N2VU, KC2HGO, N2SJZ, K2AD,
KW2S, and N2ROQ. Thanks for your loyal support. May all the new Life
Members have a happy long life as ARRL members!

NEW ANTENNA ZONING BOOK - I am really excited about this book.

I get a lot of e-mails and telephone calls asking for zoning information.
This new ARRL book is a MUST read for anyone planning to put up a tower.
Get the book and read it before you even look at an antenna catalog. 

Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, a communications lawyer and contester, has written a
truly fine book designed to save the serious amateur a lot of money, time
and grief. It is a must read for any ham who plans to buy a house and put
up a dream antenna system. Even before you buy the house or begin looking
at tower and antenna catalogs you should get a copy of the book. There is
practical advice on selecting a real estate agent, dealing with a town
clerk, and getting a copy of the local building codes. Fred covers every
subject you can think of and then adds quite a few you didn't think of but
should have. Don't be put of by the $49.95 price tag as it will be the best
money you will spend on the entire house and antenna project. Your initial
reaction may be that this is way too much for a book that is only 286 pages
long, but be aware that you also get a CD-ROM crammed full of precedent
setting cases, sample letters and documents designed to help you and your
lawyer prepare you zoning application and or appeal. Director Jay Bellows,
K0QB, a Minnesota lawyer who serves on the Tower Assistance Committee with
me, feels that the CD-ROM is the best part of the book as you or your lawyer
can edit the PDF files using Word and tailor them to your needs. Even for
an old veteran of many tower battles this a truly invaluable book. Fred
takes us through the entire process providing detailed guides along the way
with tips on how to talk to town officials and what not to say. These are
very important things easily forgotten. He makes the point that you should
at all times be the good guy in the white hat who lets the town know what he
is doing an why. It is surprisingly easy to read which is a real
accomplishment with a subject as detailed and complicated. The book is
designed to give you a view of the entire process and help you avoid the
pitfalls that others have fallen into along the way. It is a college course
in the subject at a graduate level. Some few may discover after reading it
that they came across the book too late in the process and would be better
off changing their plans or looking for a second dream house. It will save
me hours on the telephone when a local ham calls for advice. But even for
them the book may be helpful in making that decision possible. The best
advice I can now give is before you even begin to look for a house, read
Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur. Failure to buy and read it is almost
certainly guaranteed to cost you many times more in money and time wasted.


ONLINE QSLING COMES CLOSER

The ARRL Membership Services Committee (N2FF is Chairman) is developing a
plan to implement electronic QSL verification for all ARRL Awards including
DXCC. Dave Patton, NT1N, QST cover-boy for April 2001 and Assistant to Dave
Sumner, is the staff person detailed to implementing the project is
currently working with consultants to specify the software that will need to
be written to implement the program. While exact details are still to be
worked out there are NO plans to accept laser or ink jet printed QSL cards
for ARRL awards. When implemented ARRL expects to be able to accept logs
from expeditions and DX stations the way it currently accepts contest logs
via e mail. Those wishing credit for awards such as DXCC will eventually be
able to check the status of their QSOs and apply for awards on line. The
project has been dubbed "Log Book of the World." No firm date has been yet
set for implementation as the software still has yet to be written and
tested but it could happen within a year. 

AMATEUR RADIO SPECTRUM PROTECTION ACT OF 2001 INTRODUCED

The Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 2001 in now officially HR 817.
Representative Michael Bilirakis of Florida introduced the bill on March 1
in the US House of Representatives. About a week later ARRL President Jim
Haynie, W5JBP, and ARRL First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, visited
the Congressman's office to thank him personally for his continuing interest
in protecting Amateur Radio frequency allocations. Earlier S 549 was
introduced in the Senate.

NEW FIELD DAY RULES for 2001

Field Day 2001 will run from 1800 UTC June 23 to 2100 UTC June 24 - as
always, the fourth full weekend in June. The ARRL Contest Branch has
complied a 24-page Field Day 2001 Information packet,
http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms/01fdpacl.pdf . This document is
available hard-copy format by sending a SASE with four units of postage to
Field Day Package, ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111.

Again, a reminder that there have been a number of rule changes, including
an added 100 point-bonus if an invited local government official or
representative of one of the agencies that ARES serves in an emergency
visits your Field Day site. To earn this bonus, the invited official must
actually visit the site, not just be invited. This last change came about
at my urging. I feel, not enough clubs are taking advantage of the
opportunity to use Field Day as a public relations tool. Rewarding that
behavior with points may help. Here is a chance to get local legislators or
even federal congressional representatives and senators at Field Day and
show ham radio in action in a simulated emergency. 

AREA HAMFESTS

May 12, 2001 Orange County ARC
Contact Ed Moskowitz, N2XJI
123 Harold Avenue
Cornwall, NY 12518-18-701
Phone: 845-534-3492 (after 7:30 PM)
Email: emoskowitz@bear.com

May 20, 2001 - Radio Central ARC
Contact Frank Peppe, KB2WQU
Phone: 631-289-7757
Email: frank.peppe@verizon.net

June 2, 2001 - Bergen ARA (BARA)
http://www.bara.org
Contact: James Joyce, K2ZO
286 Ridgewood Blvd. North
Township of Washington, NJ 07676
Phone: 201-664-6725
Email: jjoyce@cybernex.net

June 3, 2001 - Hall of Science ARC
http://www.qsl.net/hosarc
Contact: Stephen Greenbaum, WB2KDG
85-10 34th Avenue
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Phone: 718-898-5599 (eves only)
Email: wb2kdg@bigfoot.com

June 10, 2001 - Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club
http://www.limarc.org
Contact: Eddie Mauro, K2EPM
PO Box 392
Levittown, NY
Phone: 516-520-9311
Email: hamfest@limarc.org

June 16, 2001 - Raritan Valley Radio Association
http://www.w2qw.com
Contact: Dough Benner, W2NJH
1020 Laurel Trail
Martinsville, NJ 08836
Phone: 732-469-9009
Email: wb2njh@aol.com

July 15, 2001 - Sussex County ARC
http://www.scarcnj.org
Contact: Dan Carter, N2ERH
8 Carter Lane
Branchville, NJ 07826
Phone: 973-948-6999
Email: n2erh@email.com