THE 4X6KJ REPORT

DXCC: As mentioned in previous issues, QSL cards can be “field checked” at home (in Israel). For more information: 4x6kj@iarc.org

New 2008 Membership Dues:

The IARC Council has decided that as of January 1^st 2008, the membership fee is 250 shekels for an individual and 300 shekels for a family of two or more call signs and clubs.

The CW – Decision The Council has forwarded a number of proposals concerning cancellation of the CW requirement for the General “B” level to the Ministry of Communications. We are anxiously awaiting the Ministry’s answer.

The AGM

The date for the Annual General Membership meeting has been set for 27 March 2008. The place will be most likely be the large dinning room at Motorola’s HQ. This year promises to be a most important gathering as a new council will have to be elected. Most members from the outgoing council are not standing for re-election. I myself will be leaving the council. By the time the AGM rolls around I will have filled 25 consecutive years in the Va’ad (IARC council), and it is time for others to take over.

73 de

Joseph 4X6KJ

Welcome 4Z5SW – Our Jerusalem Scribe

Shlomo Bauer, 4Z5SW, has volunteered his services as our Jerusalem correspondent. Ham activities in the Holy City have been in the doldrums for the past few years. Your scribe remembers a very vibrant amateur community in past years, and hopefully Shlomo will be instrumental in seeing Jerusalem hamdom renew its past glories. Slomo writes:

Attention Jerusalem Amateurs:

Shlomo Bauer 4Z5SW and Geoff Mendelson, 4X1GM are sponsoring a "Build a 2 Meter J-Pole" antenna night. The antenna is based on 300 ohm ladder line and is described in a QST article. Please contact Shlomo, 4z5sw@iarc.org for details.

Shlomo is also organizing a 2M "Greater Jerusalem Information Net" to encourage the making of new friends, continue current friendships and to promote amateur radio activities. A portion of the net will be set aside for buy-and-sell of amateur radio and related equipment. Shlomo proposes to run this net on the second Tuesday of every month at 8 PM on R1, the Jerusalem VHF repeater. Please email Shlomo with your comments and suggestions.

Veteran Jerusalem hams are prompted to get back on the air and enjoy a new lease on their ham radio existence!

Mazal Tov (congratulations) to Shlomo on the birth of his son last month.

HEBREW HAGAL HIGHLIGHTS

So, dear reader of the English tongue (in the American spelling) – what have you missed from the Hebrew pages of this magazine? Our intrepid editor, 4X4KF, is always busy writing and spurring us on to write and keep to the deadline of the 20^th of every second month so he can continue to produce this fine little journal that you now grasp in your hands. Here are a few items that were in the last issue:

First of all, many of us have heard of the elusive EH Antenna – the supposedly miraculous invention whose existence seemingly demands revising the laws of physics. Eli 4X4LH laboriously goes to great length explaining this wonder with diagrams, formulae and a photograph, all packed into five full pages of print. Wonder of wonders – the next two pages contain an article by 4Z1PF about this self-same antenna, describing his efforts and pains to build one for the 40 meter band. Alas a dismal failure and frustration. Moshe ends by asking if there’s anybody out there who has met success with this small wonder.

Elsewhere we find a six page section from the Council outlining how one goes about filling in the questionnaire for a radiation permit for your antenna installation. (See our reference to this issue in the previous issue.)

4Z5DF and 4X4IO relate the story of Company Two of the Royal Signals Corp and ZC6AQ at the Sarafand base, during the British Mandate of Palestine/the Land of Israel.

4X4OA tells about DECT – Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications and 4X1GE goes into the mysteries of the Software Defined Radio. 4X1EG writes about Linux and amateur radio, and 4Z4UR warns of the dangers of the ungrounded antenna and how to make a proper earth connection.

HaGal editor Michael Barak 4X4KF

Editor 4X4KF shows an SWL report QSL received from Daniel Rosenne 4X4-SWL-719 (today 4X1SK) from 1962 hearing an AM 40 meter roundtable between 4X4’s GT, JW and KF. I remember reading Dani’s SWL reports from Israel in “Popular Electronics” when I was in VE3-land in those same years.

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THE YATIR REPEATER, the link to Israel’s southland is still silent. Last issue we reported that we no longer receive free hosting on the commercial repeater sites, and the financial side of this is no small issue for the IARC. In the meantime, the amateurs of Beersheva and the northern Negev can be found on 145.250 MHz (S10) simplex. If you’re passing through the area, give a call on the frequency. You just might get a response. _ . . . _

The next IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) convention is coming up. It looks like the IARC will be sending a letter of complaint about the discrimination against Israeli stations by DXpeditions to YK (Syria) and 5A (Libya). A draft is in the works in which we ask to disqualify these operations for DXCC and other certificates. Please see the excellent article “5A7A -- the Untold Story” by Hal Turley, W8HC quoted in these pages in our September-October issue.

We weren’t all that lucky in the last World Administrative Conference. Hopeful for an amateur allocation in the 60 meter slot (5MHZ), this was turned down for amateurs in Region I. This prime electromagnetic real- estate would have been great for us this winter at the sunspot lull when the MUF (Maximum Useable Frequency) drops below 7 MHz. Well, as our good friends in 5A and YK lands say, “Ma’alesh” (What can you do?).

By the way, Spain got some expansion of 6 meters and the 40 meter band up to 7.2 MHz. I believe we’ve legally been entitled here in the land of Canaan to the second 100 KHz of the 40 meter band for a year now. Wonder if anybody in these parts has been able to squeeze out a QSO between the horrendous broadcasting stations in that segment?

To carry on with this topic, we have heisted the following for your reading edification:

From the IARU Newsletter by Colin, G3PSM :

The Region 1 President LA2RR, ERC Chairman PB2T and myself supported the IARU team during WRC-07 which ended on November 14th. Despite our best efforts we were unable to make any progress on the 5 MHz question due to the determined opposition of administrations outside of the CEPT block. All is not lost however as this question will again be raised at the forthcoming CEPT WGFM (Working Group Frequency Management) meeting scheduled in February. As the 5 MHz proposal was included within a European Common Proposal concerning the HF bands between 4 and 10 MHz it is hoped those administrations within CEPT will again support the Amateur Service in a bid to find a segment between 5260 and 5410 kHz, even if it is only within the CEPT group.

An example of how this works can be seen by the fact that the 136 kHz band has now been accepted as a worldwide Secondary allocation within the Frequency Allocations of the Radio Regulations. It will be remembered that this first became a Secondary allocation within CEPT early in the 1990s following representations by IARU Region 1. It narrowly missed being accepted as a worldwide allocation during WRC-03 when certain administration insisted on further research being carried out A band around 500 kHz is the subject for a proposal placed on the WRC-11 agenda as item 1.23 (I

seem to remember this was also the agenda item number for the 7 MHz proposal at WRC-03).

Preparation for this has already started with Paul Rinaldo W4RI of the IARU HQ team attending the Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM11-1) which was held immediately after WRC-07. WRC-11 is scheduled to be held in March 2011 with Dubai offering to act as host for this conference.

Operating Disciplines

The subject of operating disciplines was discussed during the Vienna interim conference earlier this year and the concerns were passed on to the Administrtive Council with a recommendation that IARU issued operating guidelines for all Societies to adopt and publish. John ON4UN and Marc ON4WWhave just completed an excellent document which is currently being proof read in English and could be used as the official guidelines. I hope to be able to give you more news on this very soon.

On an associated subject IT9RYH continues to think he owns 14195 kHz and as a result causes great problems at times. I am told that the Italian regulator has twice inspected his station and found everything to be in order. While the station setup might be in order there is little they can do about the operating tactics without continuous monitoring.

Regulators are not willing to spend time and money these days on amateur radio matters and it is really our problem to try and sort out. Why DX stations continue to use this frequency I do not know and it asks for trouble. The recent 3B7C DXpedition avoided this frequency and thus suffered very few problems. The answer maybe to remove the reference to 14195 kHz from the bandplan? This is after all only a historical reference which was associated with the US licensing restrictions. - 73 Colin, G3PSM

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HAGAL INTERNATIONAL

January - February 2008