THE 4X6KJ REPORT

The AGM (Annual General Meeting) of the IARC is going to occur on 18 May 2006. The place the all familiar Lev Auditorium in the Tel Aviv University. Invitations will reach IARC members at least three weeks before the event, as instructed in the IARC Constitution.

As a result of the Extraordinary General Meeting, held in December 2005, the Executive is now busy to modernize and change the IARC Constitution, it will be ready in time for the next AGM. Final approval of the changes have to be voted on at the AGM by the IARC membership according the laws for non-profit organizations

Concerning the “Electromagnetic Radiation Law” a number of steps are being taken by the IARC Executive. It is yet too early to report on results in this field.

The 7 MHz (40 meter) band… IARC members are eagerly waiting for the answer from the Ministry of Communications, concerning the use of the extension of the band 7.100 to 7.200. Reliable sources tell me that we are waiting for the written permission of one of the users. Verbally we have receive the agreement but - the trick is to get it in writing.

It is this time of the year again that we kindly ask you to remember to send your membership contribution to the treasurer for the year 2006.

This year we will supply you with a sticker, to place over the year 2005 on your membership cardand which will indicate that you fulfilled your duty.

The IARC is looking for a reliable volunteer, to take it upon himself to represent Israel and the IARC at the Ham Radio Exhibition in Friedrichshafen (Germany) at the end of the month June. (23, 24, 25 June 2006) Prospective candidates for this all important task, should be in touch with 4X6KJ, who this year will not be going there.

DXCC: A reminder to all active HF amateurs, DXCC cards can now be “field checked” at home (in Israel). Contact Joseph 4X6KJ, P.O.Box 873, Kiriat Ono. Or you can contact him by way of: telephone; e-mail; Skype; or any other means of communication.

ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION LAW

The last issue of HaGAL has a four page article in Hebrew by Eli Stern 4Z5IS. Reading through this text left me with an anxious sinking feeling. While I can’t do complete justice in these few paragraphs to Eli’s eloquent article, I’ll give my understanding of his treatment of the subject.

First of all, a few words about Eli. He’s a lawyer and enthusiastic radio amateur who for a few years at the end of the 90’s was IARC chairman. Until the last General Assembly, Eli has served as IARC legal advisor.

Eli Stern 4Z5IS

Eli worked hard for our organization, organizing the gala 50^th Anniversary Celebration of the IARC at the Center for the Performing Arts in Tel-Aviv, an evening not to be forgotten. Amongst many of his other accomplishments was securing funds bequeathed to the State of Israel to be made available for purposes of educating and forwarding the cause of amateur radio. Eli, making good use of his extensive legal knowledge and experience, did much work in the field dealing with the legislation governing our licensing.

Now for the “Non-ionizing Radiation Law of 2006 – TMA 36A”: This law was passed in December 2005, and was published in January 2006. It will go into effect in January 2007.

The law essentially states that all installations producing radiation, such as transmitters and antennas for cellular telephone, the military, broadcast, the electric transmission, and amateur radio, must be checked tested for radiation as a prerequisite condition for their operation.

For amateur operations, an exemption was received only for equipment for the VHF and UHF bands limited to 20 watts output.

The amateur station must has pass a radiation check from an authorized radiation inspector as being within the allowed limits for an authorization from the Ministry of the Environment which will be good for five years. He must also have a permit for the erection of an antenna tower from the National Zoning Committee which can be given only after the installation has been proven not to cause harmful radiation. The authorizations must be renewed every five years. Furthermore, there is an inference that operation of an installation without the proper permits (not only a valid radio license!) will be considered a felony!

Radiation testers charge 400 to 1500 shekels (at writing time there are 4.7 shekels to the US dollar.

In short … a real bureaucratic nightmare.

It seems that all this has come about from the public near-hysteria over the presence of cellular telephone installations in residential areas which have popped up like mushrooms after the first rains.

The IARC still remains hopeful that maybe some more exemptions can be received for hams, yet do we really have the power to do something? Is this another threat to the continuation of our hobby? Will many of us have to resort to stealth operations to remain on the air?

More will follow….

2005 HOLYLAND CONTEST WINNERS

The following are the some exerpts from the total results appearing on the IARC website, www.iarc.org under the “contests” section in the main menu. Here we have reproduced the top five stations in each category.

SSB stations: 1. LY3BH 34,060 points, 2. UT7DK 24,054 points, 3. DL3AAF 23,115 points 4. UA4FRL 19,250 points 5. ON9CGB 17,120 points.

QRP: 1. DL1MDU 12,096 points 2. HA1ZZ 8,556 points, 3. UT2AB 4,480 points 4. YO4AAC 4,224 points 5. M3VZT 2,898 points

MULTI-OP: 1. DL0AS 35,239 points, 2. IK6XEJ 25,625 points 3. 9A3B 12,800 points, 4. SP9KRT 12,160 points, 5. IQ2VA 5,185 points

MIXED MODES: 1. DL5WW 51,357 points, 2. OM4JD 49,876 points, 3. HA7UG 42,228 points, 4. YL2CZ 29,646 points, 5. OO4JZ 24,510 points

CW: 1 YL2PQ 18,228 points, 2. S59ZZ 16,200 points 3. YL2CV 15,106 points, 4. HA8VK 13,600 points, 5. YU7LS 10,626 points

THE MAGIC BUS

Uzi 4X4CP has sent us some photos of his bus-mobile station. Uzi can be heard on the bands often doing long-haul charter rides, and on one of these drives from his home base in Haifa to the Negev, Uzi dropped in at the shack of your scribe 4X1MK.

A compact FT-857 all band transceiver sits on the bus dashboard, with the HF mobile antenna clamped on the mirror bracket on near the front door (see the first photo

REST IN PEACE

THE INDEPENDENCE DAY CONTEST

Alas, the IARC Council meeting in February voted (8 in favor, 2 opposing) to cancel the Independence VHF-UHF contest “due to lack of interest”. This contest, for the last 20 years or so, ran for 3 or 4 hours in the late morning of Israel Independence Day with stations within Israel contacting each other. Some of the highlights over the past years were hilltop mobile and portable stations, rare Holyland Squares, and a high flying aeronautical mobile station two years ago.

In the past few years, participation has been falling off, yet there were still quite a few amateurs who really took up the challenge and did some really interesting and exciting operations.

What was nice about this contest was that it didn’t have to kill a whole weekend, just took a few hours, and it could be combined with the traditional Independence Day picnics in the heart of nature.

This fun contest will be missed by many of us.

NEWS BRIEFS

The Netanya Repeater (145.400 MHz, input minus 600 KHz) has moved east to a higher location at Kokhav Yair for netter coverage. Special thanks go to Aaron 4X6AS and Yehiel 4X6YA. At one point, a municipal inspector requested certain authorizations. The matter is being taken care of as a test case.

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The last stumbling block to opening up the 7.1 to 7.2 MHz segment of 40 meters is obtaining the agreement of the military authorities. Three other parties have already given their OK’s.

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THE ANTENNA FEST is slated for Saturday the 6^th of May at the Ilanot forest between 0900 to 1500 local time. The IARC will be funding two busses to bring hams from the north and south

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Don’t forget:

SATURDAY 15 APRIL 2006 FROM 00.00 to 23.59 UTC

The 2006 Holyland DX Contest.

The rules were printed in the previous issue of HAGAL, and of course may be found on the IARC website.

73 de Ahron and Ron

HAGAL INTERNATIONAL

March - April 2006

SATURDAY 15 APRIL 2006 FROM 00.00 to 23.59 UTC