FM, Repeaters & VHF

(This article ran in Worldradio, May 1998)

Mandatory bandplan adherence 

Strict adherence to what are now voluntary bandplans may soon be federal law. This as the ARRL Board of Directors faced the growing problem of FM incursion into what is traditionally non-FM spectrum during its first of three annual meetings held in 1998.

Last month we pointed out that weak signal and other non-FM interests on VHF and UHF are finding it all but impossible to deal with the torrent of FM simplex operators who ignore established voluntary bandplans and set up anywhere in the bands that they please. Rather than let the problem reach epidemic proportions, the Board of Directors said that the ARRL will ask the FCC to put teeth into the voluntary band plan concept. The League wants the Commission to issue a 'declatory ruling' that says any operation that conflicts with established, voluntary band plans and causes interference or adversely affects others operating in accordance with applicable band plans is not good amateur practice. As such it should be considered a rules violation. 

But such a ruling would go way beyond protecting weak signal and other VHF users from being harassed by FMers. It could also be applied to problems on the high frequency bands where specialized modes tend to collide with SSB and CW. It is also a flexible plan since it does not cast any current specific set of frequencies into lega-lese 'concrete.' Ra-ther, it codifies the ARRL approved band-plans for each amateur band as they are now, and as they might evolve in the future as technology advances and spectrum users adopt new modes and interests. 

Whether or not the FCC is willing to issue such a ruling and how it will be enforced is unknown as this is written.

Repeaters vs. remotes vs. digipeaters 

I do not think that there is any Ham alive who better understands the Part 97 rules and regulations, as they apply to FM and repeater operation, than my longtime friend Chris Boone, WB5ITT. Chris originally hails South-East Texas not far from Beaumont where he was one of the state's youngest pioneers in FM relay technology. These days you can find him in Dallas where he currently serves with the coordination arm of the Texas VHF FM Society. He is also with the Louisiana frequency coordination board - the only Texan to ever serve on the Louisiana board and serve on both councils at the same time. 

Like me, he is a Broadcast Engineer, albeit he specializes in sound (as in radio) while I do pictures (as in television). Most of all, Chris is a Ham who really understands FM and repeaters and is eager to help anyone in need of information or advice. 

Chris and I met many, many years ago thanks to Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP. When Jim started the original Westlink Amateur Radio News back in 1978, Chris - then barely out of his teens - was one of the first reporters. His specialty was matters dealing with FM, repeater, and repeater deregulation. Those of you around back then will remember that deregulating repeaters was a big item back then. 

Over the last two and a half decades Chris and I have managed to keep in touch, albeit there have been long periods when we would not hear from one another. One of the mediums that has helped to bring us back together once again is the Repeater Owners Reflector on the Internet. When a question comes up regarding the application of FCC Amateur Service Rules to relay communications, Chris is usually among the first to respond. His answers are always clear, concise, accurate and educational to read. Such was the case when another Ham on the remailer asked for an explanation of the "legal" differences between repeaters, remote-bases and digipeters. Chris says that all of the information is in Part 97 itself" 

"A repeater retransmits other amateur signals at the same time on another frequency and is bound by Part 97 to specific subband allocations." (See Section 97.3 Definitions and Section 97.205 for repeater operation.) 

"A repeater is not limited to voice. Any mode can be used in repeater mode. Traditionally it is voice, but there are other modes with ATV and RTTY repeaters being the most common. The system is usually mode specific (though a similar device known as a Linear Translator is not). 

"A Remote Base is not defined in the amateur rules, but a 'Remotely Controlled' station is. The term Remote Base is a Ham Radio shortened or 'hamspeak' name to describe one, but the FCC Rules do not use 'hamspeak' terms. 

"A Remotely Controlled station can be controlled by wireline (telephone, etc.) or radio. If by radio, it must be controlled by an Auxiliary Station. (See Section 97.213 for Tele-command of an amateur station and Section 97.201 for an Auxiliary station.) 

"A DIGIpeater is any amateur station using a specified set of digital codes that 'store' and 'forward' a message for delayed from real time delivery. (See Section 97.219 and 97.221 for rules that apply specifically to DIGIpeaters.) 

"Any rules that address DIGI-peaters override other rules that may conflict. IDing is still required as there are no rules written that specifically address DIGIpeater identification. 

"Frequencies of operation and forwarding of third party traffic for DIGIpeaters is covered in 97.219 and 97.221. These override any other rules which pertain to 'repeater' operation." 

Chris adds that the ways the rules are written, an amateur station could be used as any of the three at any time but not at the same time. Also,restrictions on who can do what based on a given amateurs class of license do apply.

6 Meter 10 Meter intercom channel 

Should the 6-meter DX alert frequency of 28.885 MHz be changed to accommodate Technician Plus hams with privileges on 10 Meters? Several Hams are pushing the idea of moving the monitoring channel down to a frequency between 28.3 and 28.5 MHz so that Tech Plus Hams can join in. They say this would permit more people to take an interest in 6 Meter DXing, act as an encouragement to the No Code Techs' to at least pass a 5 wpm code test and, hopefully, decrease the gap of hostile feelings between Technicians and higher class licensees. 

While the plan has received the support of long time users of 10 Meters, it is under attack by those who would eventually benefit the most from it, these being the codefree Technician class Hams. 

While this should be a discussion limited to spectrum use, it's not happening that way. Instead there have been numerous postings to "rec radio" on Usennet and the various VHF Internet remailers by people identifying themselves as codefree Techs. Most say that the plan is totally unacceptable because it still requires them to learn the Morse code. They say that this is a waste of time and they simply will not do it.

Want to link? 

Don Trynor, VE9NZ, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada asks if there is anyone who might be interested in doing some repeater linking using the Internet. Don tells me that he currently has the VE9BSQ UHF repeater on 448.700 MHz connected to I-Phone using RptrLink. He says that he is looking to do a 24 x 7 connection with another repeater or network of repeaters. If anyone is interested in such a project, please contact him by e-mail to trynor@nbnet.nb.ca.

Timecode by radio 

Ever hear of SMPTE Timecode? Unless you work in the broadcast industry this term is probably unfamiliar. For those who have never heard of Timecode, it is a method of putting frame numbers onto videotape so that a video editor knows where he is when editing a television show. The reason you have never heard it on the air is that until now nobody has ever thought to use radio to transmit it. 

Now a company called Pro Source has introduced a new device called the Scriptboy. The system consists of a miniature UHF transmitter operating near 418 MHz that connects to the studio timecode source. A miniature receiver and timecode reader is attched to a clipboard. This lets a person taking production notes see the timecode numbers without being restricted to one place where there is a wireline connection. 

While timecode will be a new signal for monitoring enthusiasts, it won't mean much even if you buy or build a timecode reader. All it will be is a bunch of numbers that tell the hour, minute, second and frame of a TV show as it's being taped.

VHF changes in the U.K. 

A number of major changes took place in the United Kingdom's VHF and UHF allocations during the past twelve months. The main adjustment was that part of the 10-Gigahertz band, from 10.150 to 10.300Gigahertz, was withdrawn from that nation's Amateur Service. 

Changes were also made to the identification requirements when operating on a repeater. In this case, the simplified U.K. identification requirements for net operation no longer apply to operation through repeaters. Rather, the call signs of all stations involved in a QSO or repeater net must be given at the start and end of communication with each station, as in normal operation in the U.K. (Via GB3RS)

RAC on spectrum usage 

The Radio Amateurs Canada VHF/UHF Spectrum management committee chaired by Ontario South Director Dana Shtun, VE3DSS, has released an interim version of bandplans covering the microwave spectrum from 3 GHz to 250 GHz. According to their report, there are eight (8) amateur bands in this part of the spectrum, five of which contain allocations in which amateur radio has primary status. 

RAC believes that there is strong competition from powerful industrial interests for most of the spectrum below 75 GHz, so we will not retain our primary status long unless we make good use of it. The RAC bandplans suggest how the frequencies can be (and are being) used by Canadian amateurs. 

The society says that these bands represent a total of nearly 23,000 MHz of spectrum that we now have access to. Please look at the new interim band plans, and send comments to Dana Shtun at ve3dss@aracnet.net .

From the e-mail box 

From: kb7aqd@heber.ampr.org
To: billwa6itf@aol.com 
Bill: Thank you again for reprinting my packet bulletin about the Wilderness Protocol back a number of issues ago in Worldradio. 

I've printed up some articles for the Arkansas QRP Club bulletin promoting Hams working VHF-FM DX as unique records. Your suggestions about the $20 6M AM DXer sounds great, and I will make periodic calls on 50.4 MHz AM with my newer DX70t Alinco and hope to hear some new Hams on our Magic Band. Sounds like a neat idea for a Special Event! At an antique show, bring along a 6M tube AM classic rig, and make up special QSL cards. 

Read about the MFJ 6M FM and SSB rigs! Looks like a neat way for no-code Technicians to work ionospheric DX. 

Ever consider an AM/FM-only VHF contest? Pick a weekend that's not used by other VHF contests... and establish awards for new grids, distances, states and even DX countries on 6M and above running these wideband modes. 

Or, who will be the first 6M AM WAS winner? Or 2M AM VUCC? 

I've got my AEA Halo hanging from the ceiling...and know there's gotta be some local 6M DXers! They just need to know that they need to turn on their rig and listen for band openings. 

Robert Homuth, KB7AQD

Water height vs. SWR 

Recently, Joe Szczech, K1IKE, posted a rather interesting question to the repeater owners remailer. Joe says that he had a conversation with a local repeater organization member. The group had mounted a 2-meter antenna on the local town wa-ter tank for a repeater installation. 

It seems that the level of the water in the tank, over a course of time, varied the VSWR of the repeater antenna system, so much that they had to abandon the site.    Joe says that the tank was metal. He is curious as to how water inside a metal tank could affect the SWR of an antenna mounted on the outside of the structure. If you have any ideas, please send them to Joe via e-mail to joecheck@snet.net.

A 10-4 complaint

Has anyone heard the story about the unlicensed stations now labeled as "outbanders" complaining furiously in Spanish last December? This, following a series of openings, lit up 10, 6 and 2 Meters. 

To be honest, I did not hear them personally. But several Internet postings say that these interlopers into our 10 Meter band were bent out of shape: "... over all the CW signals garbaging up 28.000 to 28.040 this past weekend." A 'loose' translation of one commenter even suggested that: "... Hams should move their CW frequencies up the band so we won't interfere with South American business operations." 

  Well, I have a better idea. Keep in mind that we are Hams and they are not. We have licenses and they do not. We are supposed to be there and they do not even belong on the air. So, how about we amateurs doing a lot more CW when 10 Meters is open and concentrating our signals between 28.000 to 28.040 MHz, beaming South. And that's a "Big 10-4!"

See you in Dayton and Rochester 

This is another of those months when I will be living on airplanes. In addition to some business trips, the Dayton Hamvention is the weekend of May 15-16-17. As usual, my "Newsline" organization will be sharing a booth with Hap Holly, KC9RP's "Radio Amateur Information Network" and Vern Jackson WAØRCR's "160 Meter Gateway Net." 

Newsline will also be hosting the 2nd Annual Hamvention Ham Radio Town Meeting. And once again this session will be carried live on the world-wide-web in RealAudio by Tuscon Amateur Packet Radio at www.tapr.org. The weekend of May 29-30-31 I will be at the Rochester Hamfest in upstate New York. Two sessions are planned for Saturday the 30th. "Dealing With the TV Broadcast Media" will take you step by step through understanding the way that various types of television new stories are built. I will also attempt to explain what a TV news crew expects from you when they show up at your front door during a time of crisis. 

Later in the day we will present "This Is Newsline," - a slide and sound presentation detailing how we put a Ham Radio newscast together and deliver the latest infor-mation to the Amateur Radio public.

There are two things I'm hoping for. The first are flights that are'nt tight as a can of sardines. More important, I hope to meet or QSO many of you along the way.