Hams in Space!

Number 3 on your Feedback c.rd
RX. • •
EDITED BY LINDA RENEAUKA 1UKM
Bill to Protect Amateur
Radio
On January 3, Rep. Jim Cooper (o-TN)
introduced H.R. 73, a bill to prevent the loss
of radio spectrum by the Amateur RMlio
Service. Cooper is a member of the House
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and
Finance. where the bill is likely to be sent for
consideration. H.R. 73 is also known as the
Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 1991.
The legislation proposes that "the Federal
Communications Commission shall not diminish
9lt:isting allocations of spectrum to the Am.
ateur Radio Service after January 1, 1991 .
The FCC shall provide equivalent replacement
spectrum 10 the Amateur Radio Service
lor any frequency reallocation afterJanuary 1,
1991."
AARl President Larry Price W4AA welcomed
Rep. Cooper's support of the Amateur
Radio Service and expressed the hope that
many congressmen will join him as co-sponsors
.
Says Cooper: "I've come to believe that
amateur radio operators are a valuable national
resource, and I hope to see that they keep
the necessary radiO spectrum to enable them
to be around for many years to come."
Congress found that (1) there are more than
490,502 licensed amateurs in the U.S.; (2) the
amateur operates with a solely personal, nonpecuniary
interest; (3) one olthe basic purposes
of the amateur Is to assist in emergency
communications; (4) amateur radio operators
have reliably provided emergency communications;
and (5) the FCC has taken actions
(see the next news item) which resulted in the
loss of over 100 MHz of spectrum to amateurs.
TNX ARRL via MC/mailo' HAMNEr; and W5YI
Report .
220-222 Bailie Lost
The fight to keep the lower two megahertz
of the 1.25 meter band from reallocation
appears to be over, and ham radio has
lost. On December 5, 1990, the U.S. Court of
Appeals lor the District of Columbia Circuit
denied the ARAl petition for review of the
FCC order reallocating 220-222 MHz to the
land Mobile service. In rendering its decisiOn,
the Court concluded that by law it had to
give great deference to the views 01 the Commission.
It also stated that it could not say that
the Commission did not arrive at a reasoned
decision abou t the best way to advance the
public interest, convenience, or necessity.
The ARAl and the amateu r community
have no other legal recourse open to them
other than clear legislation by Congress. Editor
Art Reis K9XI of 220 Notes spoke with
ARRl General Counsel Chris Imlay N3AKD,
and learned that the appeals court was the last
stop in the legal process. The FCC is now in
the position to set a date when hams must
vacate 220-222 MHz.
Meanwhile, UPS is going to have to share
the "new" 220-222 MHz " land mobile" band
with the military. The Army requested and was ,
granted an experimental license permitting its
use 01 the entire 1.25 meter band . The Army
plans to conduct basic research in buried
mine detection in the Arizona desert using
2.918 megawatt ERP transmitters and sensitive
receivers mounted in helicopters. loral
Corporation has developed the new system
and will be overseeing the tests under the
callsign KA2XAV, which expires on May 1,
1992. The signal bandwidth will be 10 MHz
with a 100 nanosecond pulsed CW duration.
Before the 1979 WARC, the military informed
the FCC that it would not require access
to the 1.25 meter band aher January
1990. Recent developments in tne Middle
East may in part be responsible for the military's
decision to retain access. The type of
research, and the geographical conditions under
which it is being performed, make this
appear very likely. TNX Wesllink Report,
Numbers 591, 592.
U2MIR On the Air
Soviet Cosmonaut Muss Manarov U2MIR,
one of the first operators who brought
amateur radio to space two years ago, is
back on the air from Mir. During his last tour of
duty, lasting 366 days, he spent much of his
free time operating primai rly on 145.55 MHz
simplex FM.
A new packet radio selup is now operational
on Mir. You can connect to Musa's BBSbythe
command C U2MIR-1 when he is not operating
live packet on 145.55 MHz. Also included
is a voice synthesizer to transmit bulletins in
Russian, German, and English. The Mir station
uses a higher power multi-mode amateur
transceiver than the one in SAREX operations,
and the antenna is mounted outside of
the space vehicle. These two items, plus Mir's
51 degree orbital inclination, make U2MIR's
station accessible to most hams worldwide.
TNX Westlink Report, Number 592, and
N6BVU.
WAC with 50 mW
After building the FIRE-BALL transmitter
from the November '90 issue, Mike Mayer
W5ZPA of New Orleans set out to work as
many countries as he couio on 10m . Using
just 50 mW on 28.060 MHz, Mike worked all
continents in under 10 days! He now has a
total 0116 countries and 20 states. Included in
his list was a contact with the ZS9Z DXpedition
at Walvis Bay, proving that you don't need
muttikilowatts to wOfk those rare ones! TNX
K7fRK and WA6YPE.
Half aBillion Miles •••
On September 27, 1990, a new record
for low power comm unications was set.
Bill Brown WB8ElK, operating from the
W2NSD/1 ham shack at 73 headquarters,
successfully copied a 2.89 IJW CW message
on 28.638 MHz transmitted by Bob Moody
K71RK in Palestine, Texas . Bob was using a
keyed HP-608D signal generator hooked up to
a 3-element beam. Based on a distance of
1502 miles. this works out to over 519 million
miles per watt .
Young Speakers Wanted
Carole Perry needs good speakers and
presenters under 18 years of age for the Dayton
Hamvenlion this April. She will be presenting
" Youth in Ham Radio." She also urges
every ham to bring a nonham child or young
person to the Hamvention. Carole's address
is at the top of her co lumn, "Hams with
Class," in this issue.
Satellite News
AMSAT-oSCAR-10 is supporting Mode B
transponder operations. Apparently it is receiving
sufficient solar panel illumination. The
transponder may be used carefully at all
points of the orbit except MA 254-006 when
eclipses occur. If beacon or transponder signals
show Signs of FMing, users should cease
all transponder use immediately.
Both of Fujl-oSCAR-20'S transponders,
JA and JD, have been turned on by the
command stations. It was determined that
transponder operation has little effect on the
internal battery temperature.
Since mid-August, FQ.2O has been in a noneclipsing
orbit. which means it has been constantly
in sunlight. The battery temperature
has risen to abou t 40°C. For normal operation,
the battery temperature should be between
0 and 5 degrees. The command team
for FD-2O will be moni loring the lelemetry, and
if they judge it necessary fOf the satellite's
well-being, they may, withOU1 warning, tum
off the transponders. TNX Westlink Report,
Number59r.
TNX •• •
. . •to all our contributors. You can reach
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73 Amateur Radio Today . March,1991 7