Once again, AMSAT-NA is pleased to sponsor Straight Key Night on OSCAR for enjoyment by all radio amateurs.

OSCAR SKN 2006 will run for 24 hours, 0000-2400 UTC, on 1 January 2006. It's very simple: no rules, no scoring, and no need to send in a log. Just operate CW through any OSCAR satellite using a straight hand key, working as many other SKN participants as you can. Contacts via the moon (OSCAR Zero) count too.

As in past years, all participants are requested to nominate one of the operators they worked for "Best Fist" recognition. Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, just of those you worked.

Please send all nominations to Ray Soifer via w2rs@arrl.net (Note the new address. My old address, w2rs@amsat.org, only works sporadically now due to ISP problems at this end.)

A list of those nominated will be published via the AMSAT News Service in early February, and in The AMSAT Journal.

The regular meeting of the SEMO Amateur Radio Club was called to order by President Willie Sandin at 7:30 P.M. in the meeting room of the Cape Girardeau County Administrative Building. The minutes were read and approved. The treasurer reported paying $27.62 for the Ham of the Year Plaque leaving a balance of $837.96 in the Treasury. She also reminded the membership that the dues are now due.

OLD BUSINESS:

Re the 146.685 repeater, the KZIM engineer was not clear on the function of MARTI so Jack Leverich was contacted to assist . A 4 port multicoupler is ordered and a discussion ensued as to what if anything to do until it was delivered.

In regards to changing the meeting date and time: A motion was made by John Clark and seconded by Dave Golightly to leave the date (First Monday) the same but change the time to 7:00 P.M. All except John Frye voted yea. Motion carried. Martha to notify paper of time change.

The Christmas party is to be December 18th at Delmonico's at 2:00 P.M.

Status on discussion by K9YP unknown.

NEW BUSINESS;

A slate of 2006 officers was announced:

President: Willie Sandin , 1st Vice President John Frye, 2nd Vice President Ernest Chiles Treasurer Irma Frye, Secretary Martha Vandivort Anyone wishing to run for an office please contact one of the current officers to be put on the ballot.

OTHER:

Richard Piper inquired about St. Louis County Skywarn.

Ernest Chiles made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Phyllis Chasteen. Motion carried and the meeting adjourned for social hour at 7:58 P.M.

Respectfully submitted ,

Martha Vandivort, Secretary.

The IARU Monitoring system has identified a major intruder on 7 086,5 kHz. The station, part of Global Link, illegally uses the frequency to provide email and fax services to shipping. The advertised frequency is 7 085 KHz, but the German telecommunications authority identified the exact frequency as 7 086,5 kHz.

The intruder was identified by the IARU Monitoring system. Collating reports from several corners of the world, the German IARUMS group lodged an official complaint with their Government who has taken up the intrusion with China where the station is operational. As China is now a member of the ITU, it is expected that swift action will be taken to get the station removed from the amateur radio allocation. Global Link is operated by Kielradio in Germany and uses Pactor III to provide a commercial email and fax service.

In the October IARUMS Region 1 report there are several intruders or illegal operators reporting to be using 7 056 kHz. Several operators were monitored with strong signals into Nairobi. The stations seem mobile and speak English with a strong South African accent. They operate around 08:00, 12:00 and 18:00 CAT, some times also later in the evening. Names like Jim, Ryan, Quentin, Jeff, Chris, and Lisa are frequently used to identify the operators.

The SARL IARUMS urgently request radio amateurs and short-wave listeners in South and Southern Africa to monitor the operations and report any additional information. Please make a concerted effort this week so that the SARL IARUMS group can request ICASA to intervene.

While in the process of setting up an IARUMS section and Email address on the SARL web please use armi@sarl.org.za for your reports. A copy of the form setting out the required format can be down loaded from www.amateurradio.org.za/iarumsreport or send an email to armi@sarl.org with a request in the subject line to have the form emailed to you.

The SARL IARUMS group will hold a teleconference on 13 December to discuss various monitoring and reporting procedures. If you would like join IARUMS as part of the SARL Divisional Advisors programme, please send the following details to hans@intekom.co.za: full names, club affiliation, email address, telephone numbers and if available on Skype your Skype ID. Please note that to take part in the teleconference a landline is required.

Another interference problem has been experienced in the Pretoria area. The interference seems widespread and sounds like a strong 50 hertz hum. The signal is extremely strong during the day but fades as the 40 metre band opens for DX during the evenings. The signal originates on 7 206 KHz but spreads far into the amateur segment of the 40 metre band. The ICASA Interference unit is investigating the source of interference. You can help by checking 7 206 kHz and report the signal strength at your location. Please mail your findings to armi@sarl.org.za. Please indicate your area, equipment and antenna.

Courtesy of The South African Radio League

Amateur radio operators played a vital role on Sept. 11, 2001, when all the cellular systems went down in New York City and the normal police and fire systems were overloaded.

Jeremy Muller, an amateur (ham) radio operator from Hudson, N.H., said amateur radio operators stepped in to assist the New York Police and Fire departments in handling communications.

"Many volunteer operators worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week, for almost a month following that disaster," he said.

Muller read the account in the Intelligencer about a ham operator in Maryville being asked to remove his radio tower and let us know that he was the subject of the New Hampshire Supreme Court case about amateur radio towers that along with other decisions in Federal Circuit Courts set precedents for protecting the rights of amateur radio operators.

He was perturbed by the Maryville mayor's statement that although he thinks ham radio operators are important he doesn't believe they belong in residential areas.

"I wonder if Mayor Gulledge is suggesting that ham radio operators be required to purchase separate real estate for their stations or if he is suggesting that ham operators not be allowed to live in residential areas," Muller said. "Either suggestion is ridiculous. Most ham operators are normal people who live in residential area like everyone else. Most of us can't afford to have a separate location for our stations."

He said they set up their radio stations in their homes and have to be ready in the event of a disaster to operate from their home stations to provide the necessary disaster communications to their communities.

"We also have to be ready to provide mobile and portable communications when disasters interrupt normal communications," Muller said.

He said if ham radio operators have to live in segregated areas or have to drive long distances to get to their stations, they will be severely limited in the services they provide. In addition, he said, if the radio operators have to fight the municipal governments in each and every case, it places an unacceptable financial burden upon them.

"If municipalities keep placing roadblocks in the way of amateur radio operators who wish to erect stations, sooner or later we'll give up trying," Muller said. "When that happens, your local agencies won't have hams to fall back on. Those who think that the normal communications systems can handle the load during a disaster will learn the hard way when those systems go down and amateur radio isn't there to take up the slack."

Muller said the entire purpose of the limited preemption of local zoning allowed by the Federal Communications Commission is to keep local governments from regulating hams off the air.

He said the New Hampshire Supreme Court decision in Marchand v Hudson may not carry the force of law in Illinois, but that decision and other decisions in federal and state jurisdictions should carry significant weight in determining how the law treats amateur radio in other cases..

Have you discovered the fun of hidden-transmitter hunting? ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, debuts a new column on this fascinating facet of Amateur Radio that you don't even need a license to play!

Four competitors, each in separate age/gender categories, await the starting tone for the 2-meter event at the 2005 USA ARDF Championships: (L-R) Emily DeYoung, K4MLE; Vadim Afonkin; Mike Cegelski, K8EHP, and Dick Arnett, WB4SUV. [All photos by Joe Moell, K0OV]

Whether you're young or old, a new ham or old timer, a techie or an appliance op, radio direction finding (RDF) activities can add hours of fun to your radio hobby time.

To hams, foxhunting isn't a sport for horses and hounds. Instead, it's the mystery of hide and seek with radio gear, with boundaries ranging from a small park to several states. Just like Field Day, foxhunting gets you out of the shack and into the great outdoors, where you join with your fellow hams in person to test your abilities and engage in friendly rivalries.

T-Hunting Any Given Weekend: Mobile or On Foot?

Every weekend across the country, hams gather to compete against one another, trying to improve their RDF equipment and skills. It began at ARRL conventions in the 1930s, when they used crystal-set receivers to figure out which room of the hotel contained the transmitter. In the 1950s, their cars with strange loop and ferrite rod antennas for 75 and 10 meters prowled the streets in the afternoon and evening hours. By the 1970s, most of the mobile "T-hunt" action had moved to the 2-meter band, where Yagi and cubical quad RDF antennas made for even bigger stares and exclamations from passers-by.

Visiting radio-orienteers from around the world are welcome at national and IARU regional ARDF competitions. Ready to start on 2 meters at the 2005 USA and IARU Region 2 Championships are (L-R) Jay Thompson, W6JAY, of California; Bryan Ackerly, VK3YNG, of Australia, and Karolina Sucha of the Czech Republic.

Mobile T-hunting continues to grow in popularity, with active groups everywhere from metro areas such as Los Angeles and Chicago to the plains of Nebraska. Hams are using the skills they learn on these hunts to find sources of intentional and unintentional interference, to aid in search and rescue, and to help wildlife researchers.

I have enjoyed doing all these things for many years, and now I've found another way to have even more fun chasing transmitters. This "new" way doesn't require a vehicle, so it's suitable for hams and potential hams of all ages. It presents the opportunity for competition not only among the hams of your town, but among hams from all over the world. This radio sport goes by several names, including foxtailing and radio-orienteering, but is best known as ARDF--short for Amateur Radio Direction Finding.

Hams go on mobile T-hunts in just a handful of countries, the most prominent being the US, Australia, and the UK. On the other hand, more than 30 countries are active in ARDF. It takes place large woods and parks, with everyone on foot using a map and compass to navigate. That makes this sport similar to orienteering, except that instead of locating the "controls" using marks on the map, the hunters are using an unmarked map and RDF gear to locate up to five "fox" transmitters in a period of two hours or so.

ARDF began almost 60 years ago in Scandinavia and spread across Europe. Competitions between nations soon followed, with the first World Championships taking place in 1980. International competitions required a standardized set of rules, which were developed and are revised as necessary by a committee of national ARDF coordinators organized by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).

In a clearing of the New Mexico forest, Jennifer Harker, W5JEN, of Texas stops to take a bearing. She's on the way to a gold medal finish in her category.

ARDF can be an activity for the family: Brian DeYoung, K4BRI, is about to cross the 2-meter finish line at the 2005 USA Championships (his daughter Emily is shown starting in a previous photo). On a championship course, each person must do his or her own RDF and navigating. No assistance is allowed. In contrast, informal local events usually permit pairs and small groups to hunt together.

At formal ARDF competitions, the hunters are separated by age and gender, with medals or other awards for winners in each category. Under IARU rules, only males between ages 20 and 39 are required to find all five "foxes." Those in other categories must only locate three or four. The object for each competitor is to be the first to punch in at all of his or her required "fox" transmitters and then get to the finish line.

ARDF began on the 80-meter band. Today's championships feature separate events on 80 meters and 2 meters. I will have more details of the present and proposed ARDF rules in future ARDF Updates. There's a lot more information on my Homing In Web site.

ARDF is both a mental and physical challenge. It takes skill to get proper bearings, plot them, set a course and navigate through the woods. It also takes physical conditioning to do it faster than your fellow competitors. Perhaps you or a fellow club member has what it takes to become an ARDF champion. Your children and grandchildren might, too. Remember, no ham license is needed to receive and track these fox signals.

You don't have to be a combination of rocket scientist and marathoner to have foxtailing fun. There is a lot of trotting, walking and pausing on the course, plus a lot of head scratching when the bearings don't make sense. There is also immense satisfaction for everyone who completes the course, no matter how long it takes.

Stateside hams have been competing in the ARDF World Championships since 1998, and we have had our own national championships every year since 2001. This year's event was put on by Albuquerque Amateur Radio Club (AARC) and was combined with the IARU Region 2 (North and South America) ARDF Championships.

The sixth annual USA Championships will take place April 7-9, 2006, in the North Carolina Piedmont, and you're invited! The competitive courses will be open to anyone of any age, with or without an Amateur Radio license. Radio-orienteers from all over the country plus visitors from abroad are expected to attend. Medals will be awarded in the IARU's five age categories for males and four for females.

After the foxes are found and the competition is over, it's fun to compare routes and techniques with the hiders and your fellow hunters. Silver medalist Marvin Johnston, KE6HTS (left), and course-setter Jerry Boyd, WB8WFK, look over a map of the 2005 2-meter championship venue near Albuquerque.

Matthew Robbins, AA9YH (right), won a silver medal on 2 meters and a bronze medal on 80 meters at the 2005 USA ARDF Championships. Awards were presented by New Mexico Section Manager Bill Weatherford, KM5FT.

"Piedmont" is a French word meaning "foot of the mountain." This region, in the foothills of the Appalachians, features rolling hills and beautiful forests. The 5300 acres of William B. Umstead State Park near Raleigh International Airport are ideal for orienteering of all kinds. Backwoods Orienteering Klub (BOK), which claims to make the best forest maps in the world, will supply recently updated course maps.

The Championships start on Friday at noon with an optional four-hour practice and equipment checking session, followed at 5 PM by an information and safety briefing. The 2-meter competition takes place Saturday, and the 80-meter event will be on Sunday. In addition to the ARDF competitions, there will be a picnic get together on Saturday night, and an award ceremony following the 80-meter hunt. It will end in time for those who must depart Sunday afternoon.

Event organizers are Charles (NZ0I) and Nadia Scharlau of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Both have been consistent medal winners at previous USA Championships. They attended the World ARDF Championships in 2002 and 2004, where Nadia was among the top six finishers in her category on one band each time.

The 2006 USA Championships take place early in the year to allow time for final selection of ARDF Team USA members, who will travel to Primorsko, Bulgaria, for the 12th ARDF World Championships from September 12-17. USA's team positions will be filled based on performances in last year's USA Championships in New Mexico and the 2006 events in North Carolina. A maximum of three competitors in each age/gender category may be on a nation's team.