wheatley@inuxi.UUCP (Steven Wheatley) (12/17/85)
/\
/ \
/ A \
/ \
===============/ \==============
THE / R R \ LETTER
VOLUME 4 \ / NUMBER 25
===============\ /==============
\ /
\ L /
\ /
\/
December 05, 1985
The ARRL Letter is published bi-weekly by the Information
Services Department of the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main
St., Newington, CT, 06111; (203) 666-1541. Larry E. Price, W4RA,
President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President; Dave
Newkirk, AK7M, Editor; Debra Chapor, Circulation Manager.
Information from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole
or part in any form including photoreproduction and electronic
databanks, providing credit is given to The ARRL Letter and to
the American Radio Relay League.
The ARRL Letter is available in printed form from ARRL.
Subscriptions, limited to ARRL Members, are $19.50 (U.S. funds)
per year for First-Class Mailing to the U.S., Canada, and
Mexico. Overseas air mail subscriptions are available at $31
(U.S. funds) per year. Sample copies are available for an
s.a.s.e.
In this issue:
o U.S. Korea Third Party Holiday Traffic OK
o Will Canada Restructure Its Amateur Radio?
o Spread-Spectrum Communications In Amateur Radio
o ...and much more!
WILL CANADA RESTRUCTURE ITS AMATEUR RADIO?
Canada's Department of Communications recently released a
paper outlining proposed amendments to the regulations, policies
and procedures concerning radio amateurs. If implemented, the
new policies would update the requirements for becoming a radio
amateur given today's technology and operating environment.
DOC's paper addresses amateur examination and certification
from its inception in 1914 to the present, the regulation of the
amateur service, and cur-rent issues affecting amateur operation
in today's environment. Touched upon are amateur certification
without knowledge of Morse code, incorporation of
digital/computer technology in amateur equipment and their
effects upon amateur practices and procedures, the trend toward
experimenting with different modulation techniques and the trend
away from home- built equipment.
DOC proposes a new practice of certifying individuals as
Amateur Radio operators. The examination for a basic certificate
will shift from the current emphasis on technical knowledge to
the practical knowledge required to operate a modern amateur
station. A knowledge of the regulations governing the amateur
service would still be required. The new basic certificate would
allow the individual to operate a 250-watt station on frequencies
above 30 MHz. Anyone wishing to use frequencies below 30 MHz
would require another certificate, obtained by passing a Morse
code test at 12 words per minute. A third certificate, which
would allow the individual to operate with a "home built"
transmitter and with a maximum power of 1000 watts, is also
proposed.
The Department of Commerce is asking for comments from the
general public, especially those who are not yet amateurs but
would like to become one. A copy of the DOC paper, "Discussion
Paper on a Possible Restructuring of the Amateur Radio Service in
Canada," is available from any regional or district office of the
Department or by writing to: Director General -- Radio Regu-
latory Branch, Department of Communications, Journal Tower North,
300 Slater St, Ottawa ON Canada K1A 0/C8.
Detailed DOC Proposals for a Restructured Amateur Radio Service
in Canada (extract)
The examination to certify a candidate for the operation of a
basic, modern amateur station (Certificate "A") would consist of:
1) installation and operation of modern amateur stations;
including proper interpretation of meter readings such as
Automatic Limiter Circuit [sic] (ALC) and Standing Wave Ratio
(SWR) and the adjustments necessary to prevent interference;
proper grounding techniques; and correct installation practices
from transceiver to antenna, including auxiliary devices such as
low-pass filters and antenna tuners;
2) basic electronic theory, safety practices when working with
simple circuits; tracing and correcting interference problems
such as audio rectification and receiver front-end overload;
3) antenna and propagation theory, including types of antennas,
feedlines and characteristics of propagation phenomena; and
4) international and domestic regulations applicable to the
amateur service.
It is estimated that approximately 40 hours of instruction
would be required to obtain the basic knowledge necessary to pass
this examination. Successful candidates would be issued Amateur
Certificate "A" and would have the following privileges and
restrictions:
1) the transmitter portion of the station, from the microphone
or keying input of the transmitter to the final output, would
have to be commercially built and marketed specifically for use
on the amateur frequencies. All other components of the station,
such as the receiver, filters, antennas, computer interfaces,
etc., could be home-built;
2) no emissions would be permitted below 30 MHz, but all would
be permitted above 30 MHz;
3) stations would be limited to a maximum power input of 250
watts d.c.; and
4) licensees would be limited to operating stations under
their physical control, but not repeaters or remote base
stations.
The examination to certify a candidate for operation in the
spectrum below 30 MHz (Certificate "B") would consist of a Morse
code examination at a speed of 12 words per minute.
Successful candidates would receive Amateur Certificate "B"
and, providing they held Certificate "A", would operate under the
same conditions as those granted by that certificate, except that
they would be allowed all types of emission on any amateur band.
The examination to certify a candidate to construct and
operate any station or to be the licensee of a repeater or other
non-standard station (Certificate "C") would consist of:
1) advanced electronic theory, to augment that required for
Amateur Certificate "A", with a degree of difficulty somewhere
between the present Amateur and Advanced Certificates.
This would accommodate the many amateurs who are more
technically oriented and wish to construct their own stations.
Successful candidates would be given Amateur Certificate "C" and,
provided they held Certificate(s) "B", or "A" and "B", would be
permitted to:
1) construct their entire stations;
2) sponsor and operate repeaters
and remote base stations; and
3) operate their stations with a
maximum of 1000 watts d.c. input
Implementation
Candidates writing examinations under this structure would be
allowed to write any or all of them at one sitting. However, the
minimum qualification for a station license would be Amateur
Certificate "A".
Existing amateurs holding either an Amateur Radio Operator's
Certificate or Amateur Radio Operator's Advanced Certificate
would be deemed by regulation to have all the privileges of the
three proposed certificates, and those holding the Amateur
Digital Operator's Certificate would be deemed to have all the
privileges for Amateur Certificates "A" and "C".
SPREAD-SPECTRUM COMMUNICATIONS IN AMATEUR
RADIO
When we go on the air with conventional AM and FM emissions,
the energy in each resultant signal is concentrated narrowly
around a center frequency. Signal bandwidth increases with
information rate. The hassle with such compact signals is that
they're quite vulnerable to other similar signals at or near the
same center frequency. (We bet you've already experienced
somebody else calling CQ, or a "test pest," right atop the
station you're working, for example.)
Spread-spectrum signals don't follow this rule of
concentrating signal energy around a center frequency. Their
bandwidth is not necessarily tied to data rate. The whole idea
of spread-spectrum work is the intentional spreading of signal
energy over such a wide bandwidth -- both in frequency and over
time -- that the signal's energy isn't very great in any one
place for very long. What's the point? Great immunity to non-
spread signals -- like CW, SSB, RTTY -- for one thing, and little
likelihood of "collision" with other spread-spectrum signals
spread according to differing binary sequences. And these
techniques really work: spectrum-spreading is a popular anti-
jamming technique used by the military, for instance, because
it's hard for anyone to interfere with a spread-spectrum signal
who doesn't have its binary-sequence "key."
Radio amateurs are going to have their shot at spread-
spectrum work as of June 1, 1986. That's when the rule
amendments specified in FCC's Report and Order in GEN Docket 81-
414, "Amendment of Parts 2 and 97 of the Commission's Rules and
Regulations to authorize spread-spectrum techniques in the
Amateur Radio Service," go into effect.
FCC had some ticklish questions to address in allowing us
spread-spectrum operating privileges. For instance, since one of
the main uses of spread-spectrum techniques has so far been the
hiding of signals (implicit in the anti-jamming use of spread-
spectrum techniques by the military), we couldn't just bring up
our spread-spectrum rigs under present rules without
transgressing prohibitions against use of codes and ciphers. FCC
has specified the methods to be used in amateur spread-spectrum
work closely enough so that the Commission is assured of being
able to perform its monitoring and enforcement duties even when
an amateur spread-spectrum station might be inaudible to those of
us listening with "conventional" receivers. We will have to
reaquaint ourselves with our old friend the logbook; FCC wants
complete documentation of how and what we'll be doing.
There was also the concern that since authorized spread-
spectrum signals might appear as broadband noise, spread-spectrum
work should be limited to amateur bands offering plenty of "wide-
open spaces," to keep intra-service interference possibilities to
a minimum -- especially while we're getting our feet wet with the
new techniques. FCC concurred, and limited spread-spectrum work
to bands 420 MHz and above.
We'll still have to identify our spread-spectrum
transmissions with narrowband emissions, as FCC puts it, "so that
CW, SSB and/or narrow-band FM receivers, which might be victims
of interference, can receive the station identification."
Frequencies used for such IDs will have been chosen to minimize
interference to, while facilitating identification by, other
operators.
Right off, spread-spectrum work will be limited to domestic
communication (not international work), as other national
administrations will have had to satisfy themselves of the
achievement of proper safeguards against encryption and intra-
service interference before their amateurs jump into the spread-
spectrum swim.
This is really new ground for Amateur Radio -- so new, in
fact, that we have a number of decisions to make about exactly
how to go about spread-spectrum work in ways guaranteeing
station-to-station compatibility (see "Interoperability," below).
FCC has not limited our choice of spread-spectrum options so
narrowly that we can just press the button and go, although the
final rules limit spreading methods to frequency hopping and
direct sequence only. This does offer the opportunity for a
modern jibe, though: when spread-spectrum really takes off, the
bands will be jumping!
Part 97 updates relating to amateur use of spread-spectrum
techniques will appear in a subsequent Letter.
AD HOC COMMITTEE ON SPREAD-SPECTRUM
INTEROPERABILITY
At Minute 50 of its July meeting in Hartford, the ARRL Board
of Directors authorized an Ad Hoc committee to write the
necessary interoperability standards for spread-spectrum
operation in the Amateur Radio Service. In granting amateurs
spread-spectrum privileges (see previous item), FCC specified
only what it thought necessary to guarantee its ability to
monitor such transmissions, and to avoid encryption. Standards
to be considered by the committee include: frequencies of opera
tion, chip rate, the code, code rate, spreading function,
transmission protocol(s) including the method of achieving
synchronization, modulation type, type of information
transmitted, and method/frequency(ies) for identification.
The seven members of the committee, chosen by ARRL President
Larry Price, W4RA, are: David W. Borden, K8MMO, Chairman; Hal
Feinstein, WB3KDU; William J. Howard, K1LNJ; John R. (Dick)
Bingham, W7KWR; William E. Sabin, W0/IYH; Frank Butler, W4RH,
Board Liaison Member; and Charles Hutchinson, K8CH, Staff Liaison
Member.
FCC CLOSES LOOPHOLE IN THIRD-PARTY
PARTICIPATION
On November 20, the Commission released a Report and Order PR
Docket 85-51, amending the amateur rules to prohibit amateurs who
have had their operator licenses suspended and station licenses
revoked from participating in Amateur Radio communications as
third parties. The Commission said that without such an
amendment, a former licensee could continue to engage in the
types of communications that had necessitated enforcement in the
first place if permitted by operate as a third party by a current
licensee. It is important to note that the amendment does not
change present rules provisions pertaining to third-party
participation. It simply precludes disqualified persons from
attempting to circumvent enforcement sanctions by participating
in third-party communications.
To update your copy of the FCC Rule Book, amend Section 97.79
of the Rules for Amateur Radio Service by deleting paragraph (d).
Section 97.114 ("Third-party traffic") is revised to read as
follows:
a) Subject to the limitations specified in paragraphs (b) and (c)
of this section, an amateur radio station may transmit third-
party traffic.
b) The transmission or delivery of the following third-party
traffic is prohibited:
(1) International third-party traffic except with countries
which have assented thereto;
(2) Third-party traffic involving material compensation, either
tangible or intangible, direct or indirect, to a third party, a
station licensee, a control operator or any other person;
(3) Except for emergency communications as defined in this
part, third-party traffic consisting of business communications
on behalf of any party.
(c) The licensee of an amateur radio station may not permit any
person to participate in traffic from that station as a third
party if:
(1) The control operator is not present at the control point and
is not continuously monitoring and supervising the third-party
participation to ensure compliance with the rules;
(2) The third party is a prior amateur radio licensee who
license was revoked; suspended for less than the balance of the
license term and the suspension is still in effect; suspended for
the balance of the license term and
relicensing has not taken place; surrendered for cancellation
following notice of revocation, suspension or monetary forfeiture
proceedings; or who is the subject of a cease and desist order
which relates to amateur operation and which is still in effect.
PROPER CREDITS FOR THE CHALLENGER VIDEO
If you heard W0ORE's signals transmitted from the Space
Shuttle Challenger last August, you'll want to see the videotape
on SAREX, the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment. Executive
Producer/Writer, Roy Neal, K6DUE; Producer/Editor, Frosty Oden,
N6ENV; Field Producer/Technical Supervisor, Bill Pasternak,
WA6ITF; Production Assistant, Paul Courson, WA3VJB. The 18-1/2-
minute SAREX videotape documents all the excitement of this
history-making Ham-in-Space mission, including the slow-scan
pictures Tony England transmitted to Earth during the mission.
It's available from the ARRL Publication Sales Department;
postpaid prices are $25 for VHS format and $35 for U-matic, and
it's available on loan to anyone who can have it shown to an
audience of prospective hams -- ask for VT-36 from the ARRL Film
Library.
US/KOREA THIRD-PARTY HOLIDAY TRAFFIC OKAY
The usual US/Republic of Korea agreement to allow phone
patches from HL stations to the US will be in effect from 0001Z
20 December 1985 until 2359Z 4 January 1986.
CLUBS SOUGHT TO SPONSOR DX TEST PLAQUES
Your club should consider sponsoring a plaque for the 1986
ARRL International DX Contest -- sponsorships in several
categories are still available. Here's an excellent chance to
publicize your club's commitment to DX and contesting in the
pages of QST. Contact the ARRL HQ Contest Branch for details.