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Ziv 4X1UK operating at the Field-Day at Ganei Yehoshua

September 20^th 2003 saw the last IARC event of the Hebrew year5763. At the Ganei Yehoshua Park on the banks of Yarkon River in Tel-Aviv 90 amateur radio callsign holders and their families convened, barbecued, operated HF and VHF stations (an HF beam was lashed to a eucalyptus tree).

Mark 4Z4KX passed out jars of honey (sporting the IARC emblem) to all those attending, a traditional symbol for a sweet New Year.

Distinguished visitors from abroad included W0DKA, WH1SKY, and B1ER.

Local “DX” hams were from points as far-afield as Beer Sheva in the south and Afula in the Jezreel valley.

The QSL bureau kept working during the Field Day, Maier 4X1OZ sorting the cards.Kuti, 4X6OM, incoming QSLs manager walked around distributing the cards.

The perennial young couple, 4X6KJ and 4X6CM, Joe and Ruth Obstfeld.

4Z8NN, 4X1MK, 4X6AB, MYL-4X6AB

Bernard 4Z5PB operates a remotely controlled Echolink station.

Photos by 4X1MK

PLC / BPL – ONGOING SAGA

Our attention was directed to a small item appearing in the Eham web site:

The Ministry of Communications this week granted a license to Main.net Communications to test its power line communications (PLC) access network solution. The test in the Krayot area will include scores of participants, who will not pay for the service. Main.net has an understanding with Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) on the subject.

The Israel Amateur Radio Club filed an objection to the test with the Ministry of Communications, claiming the use of the electricity grid for communications would disrupt ham radio communications.

Main.net high-speed Internet over power lines test approved

Main.net Communications has installations in over 25 countries worldwide.

Efi Landau13 Aug 03

This topic was discussed at length at the IARC Council meeting in August…

The tests authorized by the Ministry of Communications are to be conducted in Kiriat Motzkin.It was reported that the ARRL has filed a suit against the FCC for authorizing PLC activity in the USA.Reportedly, some countries including Japan and France have prohibited PLC activity, and Siemens has stopped using it as there have been too many complaints.Yet, there is a lot of money at stake, and it is not clear if PLC/BPL will win out and our HF bands will be trashed (see the article in our previous edition).A prominent ARRL official was quoted as saying that ultimately the only hope of the amateur community is, that a better technology will be developed making Power Line Communications already obsolete and saving the HF spectrum.

MORSE ????

With the World Administrative Radio Conference ruling that Morse code proficiency is no longer necessary for high frequency (HF) amateur radio licenses, uncertainty reigns.

A number of European countries (including England, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium) have already opened up the HF bands to the no-code licensees.

So what will be here in Israel? The IARC is studying the matter carefully and watching what is happening abroad.In the end, our being a member of the CEPT may clinch the HF in Israel for the no-coders, as we march in step with the CEPT countries.

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THEECHOLINKDILEMA

You’ve no doubt heard about one of the hottest items in ham radio these days…Echo Link.In Israel as in much of the world, hams are connecting their two meter rigs and repeaters to the Internet, and you can hear, for example, an American ham sitting at home at his computer in the USA having a conversation with another ham driving to work in Beer Sheva, by virtue of a station in Israel wired to an Internet and to an Internet-connected computer online.

This technology has been around and evolving for the past few years (see previous mention of it in our past issues), yet now its popularity is greater than ever.

This has led to complaints reaching the IARC Council, claiming that the two meter and 70 centimeter bands have become overrun with stations tied to the EchoLink system, having no regard for the band plan, emergency and weak-signal frequency allocations being ignored.

There are quite a few legal issues popping up:Our licenses don’t allow automatic, unmanned operation of our stations; only Grade A licensees are permitted to let others (under their own physical control!) operate their stations and as such there are limitations on third party traffic through phone lines.Private stations have not been authorized to set-up repeaters.

On the other hand, Echolink is a very popular mode of operation and is bringing new life to our very much under-used VHF/UHF bands.The IARC and Ministry of Communications don’t want to be just plain mean and forbid this important ham application.So, the matter must be reviewed and guidelines set up for its compatibility with the other ham activities on the bands.

In the meantime, the Council passed a motion from the IARC Repeaters Committee limiting Echolink activities to 144.600 to 144.675 and 432.600 to 432.700 MHz and the Tel-Aviv UHF repeater 4X4ARC is at the time the only machine with official authorization to be tied into the Echolink.

Without doubt, much more will follow in the months to come.Nobody is against Echolink, as far as we know…. It is just a matter of having everybody live together in harmony.

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN þ2003

As in the many past years, the IARC was well represented with a booth at the European Ham Radio fair in Friedrichshafen Germany.This year it took place in the new exhibition grounds there in a very futuristic setting (yes, the future is here!).17,000 visitors were there.Special thanks to Tommy DL2FDP, Shalom 4Z4BS, Amnon 4X1DF, Mark 4Z4KX, Jacques PA3AJW and Ronald PA3BMQ as well as everyone else who aided in the setting up and operation of the IARC booth.

Thousands came by the IARC booth (which was back to back with that of the ARRL), enjoying the wine donated by Ramat HaGolan Wineries, Dates donated by A. Sulema & Co. and other samplesof Israel.

On Saturday afternoon, our booth and thosein the area were quietly evacuated, as security warned of a possible terror threat.Fortunately, nothing happened, yet you can be sure that people really sweated for a while.

WARC GENEVA

The IARC was represented by Moshe 4X4PG, our delegate to the World Administrative Radio Conference in Geneva.Here are some of the highlights as he reported:

The expansion of the 7 MHz band to eventually include all the spectrum from 7.000 to 7.200 MHz has been authorized (We present have only the first 100 KHz in this part of the world.)

Amateur radio stations may now have a four letter suffix.

A new prefix (in addition to our only existing 4X and 4Z allocations) will be possible if some other country will be willing to forfeit one of its call-letter allocations in our favor.

Third-party traffic is authorized in the event of an emergency or disaster.

The Morse requirement for an amateur license is now rescinded, and every country is free to decide if it wishes to maintain the Morse requirement.

The IARC expresses appreciation to the Ministry of Communications for their support of the interests amateur radio throughout the conference.

HOLYLAND CONTEST

Mark 4Z4KX reports that 300 logs from abroad and 101 from Israel have been received this year from contest participants.

Vadim 4X4FJ has donated a trophy for the QRP category in the competition.

NEGEV NEWS

Isaac 4X1HJ from Beer Sheva conducts the weekly Southern Roundtable on the Yatir Repeater 145.325, Monday evenings at 8:30 PM, although the day and time may have changed by the time we go to press.

The amateur radio club and station at the Eshel HaNasi high school, on the Mishmar HaNegev junction, should be re-activated this fall.(The school also sports a 500W FM station, Radio Eshel HaNasi on 106 MHz FM, operated by the students, under the auspices of Kol Yisrael educational network.There are a few FM stations in schools and colleges around the country operating in this framework.)

There is another club active at the Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva under the auspices of Youth for Science (Noar Shoharei Mada`).

The Beer Sheva local repeater operates on 145.300 MHz with a PL sub-tone of 192.8 Hz.Since the Haifa repeater swapped frequencies with the Jezreel Valley repeater and is also on 145.300, albeit using the standard IARC repeater sub-tone of 91.8 Hz, the Beer Sheva hams have been plagued by QRM from the Haifa machine during the summer months when 200 Km plus propagation on two meters is commonplace.

THE 2003 GULF WAR EMERGENCY NETWORK

Amnon 4X1DF received a certificate of appreciation from the Civil Defense Command; the same certificate will be awarded to the 124 amateurs who volunteered for the Emergency Network during the crisis.

Moshe 4Z1PF and Amnon will continue the work in the preparation of a permanent emergency network.

A TIP OF THE BEAM TO

4X6UO

HaGal International salutes Arie 4X6UO who took first place in Asia in the ARRL Worldwide RTTY Contest.

Arie is a serious RTTY Dxer who has confirmed 315 countries on this mode and is number 99 Worked All States on radio teletype.(Arie is also on the DXCC honor roll in the HF-mixed mode.)

MEMBERSHIP TERMINATION

Dani 4X1YMcompleted the task of contacting IARC members who have let their memberships drop, in an attempt to bring them back to the fold.

As of July 1^st 2003, those who have not paid their dues have been deleted from the IARC roster, no longer receive HAGAL magazine, have QSL bureau privileges, or have use of the IARC server for websites orE-mail addresses and mailbox service.

In the past, the IARC has been very forgiving to errant members, often continuing to grant membership services even a year and a half after the dues-paid period had expired.No more.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Shalom Barak 4Z4BS has taken the task of IARC secretary, and has gone into high gear organizing the IARC Office and minutes of the Council meetings and taking care of thecorrespondence with locals.

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Shalom is opening the IARC HQ on Monday evenings from 6 to 9 PM in addition to the other IARC activities that have been going on.

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Ministry of Communications ham license examinations were held at the IARC HQ on August 27^th.Congratulations to those passing the various elements and joining us on the bands.

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The IARC has authorized the donation of a VHF repeater to the radio amateurs of Albania.

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Arkady 4X1GA operated 4X 0 IS, a special call sign, for three weeks during the summer from the Scouts camp.

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In the youth village, Kfar Silver, 4Z5AG and 4Z5JU operated an amateur station.

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Responsibility for the 6 meter 5 watt beacon 4X4SIX’s operation has been passed on to the IARC.

The homebrew beacon was made by Yehuda 4X6ON and Yaacov 4Z5AY, is operating on 50.080.20 MHz.

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A representative of FIRST, the voluntary first aid and evacuation organization intends to present a lecture on the topic of earthquakes at the IARC headquarters. Many members of FIRST have passed their ham examinations and are incorporating amateur radio in their activities.

Efraim 4X6HO has made 70 tape recordingsof lectures at the IARC headquarters.This presumably means there have already been SEVENTY LECTURES presented there.Efraim is willing to put the material at the disposal of IARC members for educational purposes, and is looking for suggestions on copying the material to a media that can be easily distributed.

A HAPPY, HEALTHY, PEACEFUL NEW YEAR 5764 TO ALL OUR READERS !!!

73 de Ahron 4X1AT and Ron 4X1MK

HAGAL INTERNATIONAL

Autumn 2003 Vol. 7