Amateur Radio Today - Free and Open Source Software

NEVER SAY DIE
Another Extra Class
Convicted!
Of course it's just coincidence !hat
the hams who have been arrested and
convicted of crimes have all been Extra
Class. We all know how bad the language
on CB can gel. Well, two people
have been arrested and convicted lor
the outstanding use ofloullanguage on
CB and both were EKtta Class hams.
Now I see eet NS3K has been arrested
lor lransmitling lalse diStress Si!J'IaIs on
14.313.
So much lor th e baloney about
Morse code keeping the riffraff out 01
our hobby. More likely II's keeping out
good guys, Ofherwise we'd be seeing
some of our fhousands 01 no -code
Tachs gettWlg into trolble.
Now, lor you knee-;erk Uberals, I'm
not putting ttown the code as a fun aspect
of the hobby. It only seems to he~
unbalance a smal percentage of us, so
it's probably a reasonable trade-oll. I
believe NS3K might be able to make a
goo d delens e II he pl eads that the
Morse code so scrambled his brain that
he was unable fa tcncucn wifhin accepted
limits.
And I'm not saying that au Extra
Class hams are crazy. Not all. But I'd
sure ~ ke
to hear Irom any Extras who
think they can round up at least wee
non-hams who know them and who wi'
attest to their possible sanity. I don't expect
much mail.
Number 1 on your FIIll'dbKk c.n:l
Wayne Green W2NSD/1
new SOU'OB of revenue whch coukl sIgnificanlly
~ the Treasury balance 011
some ollhe pork barrel waste we can't
stop OUt c:ongre$Stn&n lrom passing jo.
to law. Sock It to 'em, Charlie.
Wayne Green Fall s Again -
Totally!
It's alm ost enough to di scourage
someone •• . at least someone oot afflicted
With a Never Say Die comple x.
No doubt a genetic 1YIishap. I'm talking
(well, writing, actua lly) about my
abysmal laikJre to get you to keep notes
when you buy a new piece 01ham gear
and let me know how It does lor you. I
want to know about any problems you
have; any successes; how much fun It
~; and so on.
I happen to know you're buying ham
gear. I know you're buying new
transceivers, new antennas, stull lor
packet. RTTY, and so on. What I don't
know is how much trouble you've had
gelling it going. I don't know what modi-­
lications you'\'e cooked up. I tton't know
hOw your dealer has done In helping
you. or how the manufacturer has been
about helping you. I'm not up here in an
ivOf}' towe r in New Hampshire, so let
me know what's going on.
Other than the us ua l crapola on
14.313, what!rustrabons have you with
the hobby1l.oolt, vrte don't have a part
01 the ham exams designed to el mioate
the insane, so we're going 10 have to
deal With a level 01 lrultcakes. As I've
explained, our school system guarantees
eet we'lI have a disturbingly high
Did KV4FZ Polson 14.313?
percentage of people who are uncre-
There is strong evidence that 14.31 3 ative, angry. subseMerft, and prone to
has been infected with a debilitating religious causes such as erwironmenvirus
lor whic:tl no known cure has yet talism.
been discovered. There seems little Worse, there's more than enough
queslion but that Herb SChoenoohm evidence to ronvince me ItIaI Itlere's a
KV4FZ is the ham responSible lor te- real possibility that the Morse code itleasing
the virus. He Is, by the way, an sell may be contributing SignifICantly 10
Extra Class ham. You've probably read unbalancing those without a tight grip
about his conviction for phone service on realily. I wish the ARRL would coop.
theft.
erate with researchers in fields like this,
Almost everyone who tunes up on but of course, as a true-blue dedicated
14.313 seems to come down with the CW organIZation, Ican understand their
virus. The best bet is to not even Isten reluctance to let this can of worms be
to the frequency. Perhaps Dick 'MVIen
WB20TK can get his $10,500 line lor
jamming 14.313 reduced il he pleads
temporary insanity caused by Herb'S
VIruS.
If the FCC is actually able to collect
anything on fines for outstandingly bad
operating on 14.313, they may have a
4 73 Amafeur Radio Today · June, 1993
opened.
We don't know how much the code
damages us via just hearing it, and how
much may be due 10 the sharp squar.
wave pulses 01 high energy RF Irom
our mears. I guess the best approach
is just to deny the whole thing and not
worry about it, and to heck with the re-
searctl already done. SCientiSts are always
being proven wrong. right? Just
remernbet a short while back to the nuclear
Wimer, acid rain, ozone depletion,
and carbon dioxide paniCS. Oh yes, and
Afar. And weren't we running out 01 oU
pretty soon?
A Ton of Revlews
II you're Interested In buying a new
piece 01 ham gear, you sure want to
know What you're getting into belore
you run up your MasterCan:! account.
That means you want to check out a
product review. wen, guess whid1 ham
rag has the most reviews? And has 'em
lirst? You probably guessed.
In 1992 we ran 33 reviews. and not
one of these products was reviewed in
CQ or OST before we published ours.
Not one' Heck, we beat QS T on the
AEA FSTV system by 21 months, the
Ameritron linear by 10 months, the
Command Tech zm tin ear by 19
months, and so on. How abo ut the
Drake RS? We beat 'em by 16 and 17
months on that one ! These are supposed
to be new equipment reviews,
not old eqcrpment reviews. The other
two magazines reviewed only 25 products
each J'l 1992.
n you've got the backgroood and enjoy
wriMg, you can do worse than v0lunteer
to do new product reviews lor
us. The preslige is avrtesome; the pay
"""'.
I started on asking lor you to let me
know your reac tion to any thing new
you've bo ught. This holds even more
lor kits. I've had a couple grumbles
about some kits, but then I've gone n
enthusiastic ierters from others about
the same kitS. II you put together a kit
please Iel: me know how it eces tor you.
I want 10 know if it's a good bargain.
Does It do what it claims?
In these days when parts lor building
are almosl impossible to lind and circuit
boards are lull of ICs, we're very dependent
on kits lor our building tun.
Having spent many years at the workbench
and stil having a bIMW:h 01 my
old homemade stull out J'l the bam, I
want kl do all I can to help newcomers
to the hobby to lind out how much !un it
is to bu~d stull. I'd love to knoclI. together
some klls. but every time I start to
buy one I get honest with myseR. I look
at my desk, willl a stack of unanswered
mail. I look at the homework I need to
do to put out my Dedat'e War Update
ne wsletters lor the New Hampshire
Economic Development Commission
and 0tJ' legislature. Sigh. Plus, I want to
get to Dayton lor a couple days, and I
have talks scheduled with a growing
number 01 chambers of commerce and
Rotary Clubs. SO, I tell you what, I'll ec
my Don Quixote bit, railing against the
poIiticaJ windmills, and you put the kits
logelher ard tet me know how they've
oone lor you.
Cellular and Calncer
As a radio expert you're expected to
be able to advise people on how serious
this cancer business Is lor people
usin g cellular te lephones . I li ke the
statemen t by a Motorola researcher
thai he would not use one for more than
30 minutes a day.
Yes, there is a lot more to be
learned, but that doesn't mean that
there isn't convincing evidence 01 the
connection. The weasel-words are that
we don', yet know how this happens.
That's the same excuse the tobacco
companies' paid scientists are using to
say they've not yet seen evidence that
convinces them of the Iobacco-canoer
connection, II I were being paid as
much as they are I'd probably have
troWIe being convinced 100.
If you've kept up with Ross Adey
(K6UI) and hiS experiments, you know
he's proven a connection between 450
MHz RF and cell growlh c hanges.
We're sti ll learning ab ou t hOw cells
wo rk and how they ccmrncn tcate.
There are both che mical and electric
communications, either (or both) 01
whic:tl COIAd be alfected by magnetic or
radio fields. Thefe coukl even be other
c:cmrnt.ncatioos systems.
II you watched the PBS program on
sharks you know that some species 01
sharks can Irack usn by their electric
fields . .. and this is in sa"waterl Now,
il this system Is built into sharks. which
have been aroood lor hl.Wldreds 01 mil·
lions of years, we mighl wart to lind out
more about how this wor1