Massasoit Amateur Radio Association Founded January 6, 1962 PO Box 428 Bridgewater, MA 02324 September 1995 A LETTER FROM SAM Last month, MARA elected Sam Pope, W1KGU, as an Honorary Lifetime Member. Sam was pleased to receive this award (to say the least) and sent this letter. Thought you would like to read it; Dear fellow MARA Members; Thank you very much for the kind words and the honor of being a Life Club Member of MARA. Believe me, that whatever I did was a great pleasure at all times. I have many memories of pleasant happenings of our club. We always had a very cooperative membership going back to the 1970's. We were holding Field Day on Great Hill in Plymouth. I was working 40 and 75 meters SSB. My partner was "Pee Wee Hunt", the band leader, also a MARA club member. His call, K1AYA. On Field Day, Pee Wee was working his band in Hyannis. He finished work at midnight, came back to Plymouth, and finished the night calling "CW Field Day" with me. Also, we always held a yearly banquet at well known spots. One I recall where I was MC was at the now-gone Blacksmith Shop in Whitman. Another incident when Don Benecchi, W1WLZ (now K1DC) was president. We were meeting at the GAR Hall in Hanson, thanks to Ernie Miller, W1AUU. On this particular meeting night, Don brought his entire RTTY station including a Model 19 Telegraph that weighed 100 lb., a SX101 receiver, and with a long wire, received RTTY signals on 20 meters and printed them. This old Hall had many historic flags and old guns on display. On one meeting night, Bob Parker, W1CUX, happened to be out back and noticed the kitchen, where we used to gather, had no foundation and was held up by four 2x4's. Well, we deserted that place in a hurry. The kitchen was 12 feet up. We had many well known speakers and members in the past years. My efforts in the past were always well rewarded. I have a nice wall plaque, a set of pens, and a D104 mike all engraved with MARA that I treasure. Thanks again. I have slowed down a bit at 84, but I will still try to help MARA all I can. 73, Sam, W1KGU THANK YOU FROM YANCEE, N1MHY The following letter also arrived from Yancee's family, thanking MARA on his behalf. The letter reads: To the members of the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association; On behalf of Yancee and family, we send our deepest gratitude and appreciation to the club members in electing Yancee an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association. THANK YOU!! When I read your letter to him, his response was 'WOW'. He just came home from the Embassy House Nursing Home on July 21st and is doing well. He attends the Conant Center Day Care during the day fro 8:00 to 3:30 in Bridgewater. I am in the process of trying to help him with his Morse code, in hopes that he will be able to eventually communicate through his radio. He does understand and is aware of things around him. we are all hoping he recovers well enough to pursue and continue some of his activities. Thank you again for considering and accepting Yancee as a Lifetime Member of the Club. Yours very truly, Mrs. Sandra Marchando & family NEWS FROM NANCY, N1RAG Hi Bob et al! Lots of great news from the Left Coast. First, Aaron is now 3 1/2 months old and weighs 22 lb.!! He's healthy and smiles CONSTANTLY, such a happy boy. Second, we've moved into a great new house out in the country, about 4 miles from a little spot called Joyce, WA. New address is 70 Vert Rd., Port Angeles, WA 98363-9624. New phone (360) 928-9588. The new house has 3 bedrooms (at last!) and acres of land. Today we're putting up a long wire from two of the 100+ foot high firs in the front yard. Third...I got my EXTRA Class ticket yesterday [Ed note; July 22] with flying colors (missed 4 questions - I guess that's flying...). Both Athan and I are now Extra Class VE's and we will soon be running our own sessions on a regular basis, rather than sporadically, as we have been. There is a definite lack of regular sessions out here on the Peninsula. So that's the news! By the way, thanks for sending me the club newsletter. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy receiving it. Helps with the homesickness. I still miss you all. Gotta run, as usual! 73 es 88 QRO, Nancy and Athan. WHITMAN NOTES The Whitman ARC has completed a successful special event station at the Marshfield Fair..The exact count at the time of this writing is unknown but amounts to several hundred contacts world wide. We had an 80 meter dipole on the grandstand with an R5 vertical. A Ringo Ranger, a four element yagi and a (K1HTN) home-brew 5 element quod completed the array. Th club operated two HF rigs (cw & phone) and 2 meter voice and packet. Over 1000 flyers were distributed promoting amateur radio...The club even operated an aeronautical mobile with three operators going up in hot air baloons. The weather cooperated and we had two perfect weeks. Also the Labor Day flea market at saftlers in Whitman was a great success. The Whitman ARC wishes to thank all who participated, GOOD JOB!!! AMTRACK VHF FREQ Art Fontes, N1VEG, who joined MARA in last July, gave this VHF freq to MARA members. Try listening to 160.920 Mhz for AMTRACK traffic. How did Art come across this freq? Ask him! He'll have an interesting story to tell you. Classified Ads Space is available to list your items for sale or items wanted. Let us know. WEFAX SOFTWARE UPLOAD Whitey Doherty, K1VV, mentioned over the air that he and Pi Pugh, KM1Y, are building the WEFAX converter from the January 1994 QST article "AN INEXPENSIVE SSTV SYSTEM" (pp 27-29). There is something you should know about Whitey. He has this annoying habit of corresponding with the author of any project before he tackles it, just to find out if anything has been improved, modified, or corrected. Guess what? Ben Vester, K3BC, the author, said the software had been updated since the article was published and sent Whitey a copy; Revision G. By the way, Ben has authored several books and articles on Weather Fax. This Revision G software is newer than that available from the ARRL BBS. Whitey made it available to MARA, and it has been uploaded as a single ZIP file to SANCTUARY and the HAM SHACK. Look for WEFAX.ZIP on Sanctuary, and look for WEFAX2.ZIP on HAM SHACK (the name had to be changed for the HAM SHACK file because of a file-title conflict). Other than that, the two files are identical, and newer than the ARRL software which may have already been uploaded to one or both of these BBS's. The converter itself is small and parts should cost approximately $25, including the Printed Circuit Board from FAR Circuits, and other incidentals. All of the items are available from your local electronics emporium except for the 510-ohm resistors. These are probably available from You-Do-It Electronics in Needham. The only other items needed are a PC (with BASIC or GWBASIC) with a free serial port, an HF receiver tunable to WEFAX freqs. 8.080 MHz USB is popular in this area. With MARA's recent interest in weather nets and SKYWARN, this could be a very convenient way of getting started in satellite imagery. There is little to no hocus-pocus to downloading weather photos. In this area, the best frequency is 8.080 MHz USB, from Norfolk, VA. If your receiver can tune to this freq, all you need is the converter from the QST article to go directly from your PC to your rig, and you're in business! NEW RFI BOOK FROM THE FCC ARLB073 New RFI book from the FCC The Federal Communications Commission has released a new Interference Handbook for consumers. The 24-page, full color book will be stocked by FCC field offices around the country to provide people experiencing interference to home electronic equipment with information and solutions to interference problems. The book deals not only with interference to televisions from radio transmitters, but also illustrates and describes interference caused by poor antennas (weak signals, ghosting); electrical interference from home devices such as hair dryers; electrical interference from power lines; and interference from home computers and low power radio devices such as garage door openers. In addition to interference to televisions, the handbook describes solutions to interference to hi-fi systems, telephones, and video cassette recorders. Techniques for solving problems include the use of ferrite cores, improving receiving antenna systems, checking cabling, and isolating interconnected units to find the one that is at fault. The book lists addresses and phone numbers for sources of high pass filters, common mode filters, band reject filters, ferrite's and beads, ac line filters, telephone filters, and interference resistant telephones, as well as an extensive list of manufacturers of home electronic equipment Page one of the new FCC Interference Handbook says ''Many interference problems are the direct result of poor equipment installation. Cost-cutting manufacturing techniques, such as insufficient shielding or inadequate filtering, may also cause your equipment to react to a nearby radio transmitter. This is not the fault of the transmitter and little can be done to the transmitter to correct the problem. If a correction cannot be made at the transmitter, actions must be taken to stop your equipment from reacting to the transmitter.'' ARRL Laboratory Supervisor Ed Hare, KA1CV, says, ''This is the statement from the FCC that hams have been waiting for. The book takes a fair and honest approach to explaining responsibilities and cures for interference problems. The FCC team that put this together has done a fine job with a complex technical and emotional subject.'' FORM 610 COPIES OKAYED ARLB074 Form 610 copies okayed The Federal Communications Commission now accepts Form 610 amateur applications on white paper, two-sided copies of the form. This is a result of the FCC adding the Form 610 to its ''fax-on-demand'' service, at 202-418-0177. Since official FCC forms are color coded, submitting applications on official, buff colored Forms 610 may result in more expeditious service. The ARRL/VEC will continue to use buff colored ''official'' Forms 610 for its exam activities. FLEA MARKETS COMING UP Framingham Flea Market and Exams, September 24. Early Bird admission (9:00 AM) $5. Regular admission (10:00 AM) $2. All code exams start at 11 AM. All written exams start at 12:00. Preregistration only. Send a completed FCC Form 610, copy of current license, list of exams you plan to take, and a check for $5.90 to Dick Marshall, WA1KUG, 37 Lyman Rd, Framingham, MA 01701 no later than 1 week in advance. Directions: From Rt 128/I95 take Rt 9W. Take Rt 126N about 1.3 miles. As you pass under the Mass Pike, the High School is straight ahead on "A" Street (Rt 126 continues to the right). Take the second left into the parking lot. Talk-in 147.15. Door prizes. Tables $10 ($14 at door) Contact Lew, KA1EZE at 508-879-7456. Rochester/Hosstraders Flea, Rochester NH. October 6,7. Rochester fairgrounds, exit 13 off Rt 16 in NH. $20 between 9AM and 3PM on Friday. $5 after 3PM. Look for further info from Joe, K1RQG, on packet. EASTERN STATES EXHIBITION by Bob Mandeville, N1EDM This letter was received from Larry, K1HEJ, in Connecticut. Larry is organizing the amateur radio exhibition that the ESE puts on every year. If you are planning to be in the area during the time, you might think about doing a little 'special event' work to show off ham radio. And admission is FREE! Hi Bob! Its that time of year again, time to start planning the Eastern States Exhibition ham radio booth. Your name was given to us last year as the contact person to remind your club that they can participate in manning the booth this year. We run two six hour shifts, one from 10 AM to 4 PM, and the other from 4 PM until 10 PM every day from September 16 through October 1 this year. In addition, we are very excited that we have been asked to participate in the MAJOR exhibit that Eastern States is bringing in this year. Those of you familiar with last year's event will no doubt recall the huge 'White House' exhibit, Well, this year, it looks like we've hit the big time. Contact me for details. Please bring this reminder to your club and let them know we will be happy to schedule them for a day. Contact Larry, K1HEJ by phone at 203-223-0778 (home) or 203-832-2029 (work) or via packet to K1HEJ @ N4GAA.CT We all look forward to your clubs participation, and remember, once your shift is over, your complimentary pass will allow you to see all the general admission events and displays FREE. 73, Larry K1HEJ HANSON PARADE HELP Hanson is celebrating its 175th Birthday with a parade in town on September 26th. Glenn Howard, K1GVM, is helping to establish communications for its smooth operation. Glenn says there will be floats, antique cars, and some curiosities from the Museum of Antiquated Technology in the parade. Contact Glenn on 147.180 to volunteer. Everyone loves a parade - and this lets you play radio at the same time! MUSEUM OPEN AGAIN On September 30, the Mark Vess' Museum for Antiquated Technology will be open for probably the last time this season. Everyone who has ever been here has wanted to come back. And every time you come back, you find something new. We are not sure of the hours as of this writing. Contact Glenn for more information regarding time. SECRETARY'S NOTES The August meeting was a bit of a novelty. It opened at 8PM with 14 members and guests present - in the church hall parking lot. Father Murphy apologized for the conflict, but he had thought that out meeting was for the following week and had started to refinish the gymnasium floor - with resulting fumes making the hall uninhabitable. No Problem!!! The meeting was a tailgate affair with donuts and cold soda. Charlet xxxxxxx , N1VQZ, was elected into the club. Welcome Charlet! The treasury has over $1200, after paying approximately $250 for club liability insurance. Bruce Beaman, K1HTN, spoke of the need for volunteers to man the ham radio booth at the upcoming Marshfield Fair. Bob McGuire, N1HKV, spoke of doing his annual J.O.T.A. at a weekend campout in Carver where there will be approximately 700 scouts in attendance. Bob Mandeville, N1EDM, spoke of a recent conversation with Nancy, N1RAG. See Nancy's letter elsewhere in this issue. Club calls were discussed. The FCC has approved the Form-610V but has not released it to the public, nor released any information on opening dates. Carl Aveni, N1FYZ, discussed upcoming EOC training. There was no 50-50 raffle at this meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00PM. Electromagnetic Fields and Your Health Are the electromagnetic fields generated by power lines, TVs ham radio gear and hundreds of other devices bathing us in damaging radiation? The jury is still out, but you can take steps to protect yourself from danger--real and potential. By Wayne Overbeck, N6NB 14021 Howland Tustin, CA 92680 Part 1 There is a growing public debate about the safety of electric power lines and the electrical equipment that we use every day in our homes and workplaces. Not long ago, a lawsuit was filed alleging that a Florida woman's brain cancer was caused by electromagnetic radiation from a hand- held cellular telephone. Although the filing of a lawsuit proves nothing (thousands are filed every week, and this one was promptly dismissed by a court), the lawsuit made national headlines for weeks and caused cellular telephone industry stock prices to decline on Wall Street. The news media regularly cover many facets of the controversy over the possible health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs). In addition to stories about lawsuits, there have been numerous media accounts of medical research concerning EMFs--some of them confusing and seemingly contradictory. And there have been news stories about activist groups fighting the construction of new power lines or cellular telephone towers in their neighborhoods. This intense publicity has alarmed many people, prompting them to worry about the safety of their homes, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. There is a growing concern that the electromagnetic fields produced by power lines and everyday household appliances may be hazardous. As the tension mounts, more and more hams are faced with this difficult question: Is your Amateur Radio station hazardous to our health? Fortunately, enough research has now been done that we know most Amateur Radio activities are quite safe. In fact, scientists from the Federal Communications Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a field survey of EMFs at typical Amateur Radio stations in 1990. They concluded that most amateur operations do not produce EMFs strong enough to pose any health hazard. And for many years, the American Radio Relay League's Board of Directors has also been monitoring the ongoing research about EMFs and health through a board-appointed Committee on the Biological Effects of RF Energy. There is extensive coverage of the issue of EMFs and health in both The ARRL Handbook and The ARRL Antenna Book--with recommendations for safe Amateur Radio operating practices. Amateur Radio is a hobby that can be pursued safely, provided everyone observes a few simple precautions. This article was written to summarize what we know about EMFs and health, and to suggest safe operating practices. Scientific Background When scientists talk about electromagnetic fields, they're talking about several very different forms of energy. Low frequency or "power-line frequency" fields are produced by electric power lines and appliances, typically operating at a frequency of 60 Hz. Much research is now underway concerning the health effects of 60-Hz fields--the kind of EMFs found in virtually every home and workplace. Additional research is being done to investigate the possible health effects of radio frequency (RF) energy, which is much higher in frequency than the electric energy in power lines. RF energy is produced by radio and television transmitters, radar installations, cellular and cordless telephones, microwave ovens and even remote controls for garage door openers. Low-frequency and RF energy are forms of nonionizing radiation: The frequency is too low to produce enough photon energy to ionize atoms. In contrast, ionizing radiation-- which is not produced by power lines or radio transmitters-- can cause severe and well-documented health hazards. Nuclear weapons produce enormous amounts of ionizing radiation, while small, carefully controlled doses of ionizing radiation are used in medical X-ray equipment, for example. The present controversy concerns nonionizing radiation, including power-line frequency and RF energy. Much is now known about the biological effects of this kind of energy, but there is much more that we do not yet know/ know. Before World War II, scientists knew that non-ionizing radiation could produce thermal (heating) effects. At sufficiently high power levels, EMFs can cause body heating, which may result in health hazards such as blindness or sterility. Most ordinary household appliances and transmitted radio signals produce EMFs far weaker than those required to produce thermal effects. On the other hand, microwave ovens do generate EMFs strong enough to produce thermal effects: That's precisely why they can heat and cook food. The trick is to keep the EMFs safely inside the oven--away from people. For obvious reasons, microwave ovens must meet strict safety standards. In recent years, a new element in the debate over EMFs and health has been the finding that even at thermal levels--energy levels too low to cause body heating-- electromagnetic energy appears to have various effects on the human body. The first scientists whose work in this area gained widespread media publicity were epidemiologists-- medical researchers who look at the health patterns of large groups of people, using statistical methods. Over the last two decades, a number of epidemiological studies have found that electrical workers have higher-than- normal death rates from certain cancers, including leukemia, lymphatic cancer and brain cancer. Other epidemiological studies have shown that children living near some types of power lines have higher-than-normal rates of leukemia. Still other studies have concluded that persons exposed to certain chemical agents such as solder fumes in addition to high EMFs have up to 10 times the normal rate of certain cancers. All of these studies involved groups of people who were not ordinarily exposed to EMFs strong enough to cause body heating. Thus, their health patterns suggested that low- level EMFs may pose health hazards. There have been other epidemiological studies, however, that did not confirm some of these findings. And still other researchers have concluded that environmental factors such as the alignment of the earth's natural magnetic field may interact with man-made EMFs to alter these health effects. (The earth's magnetic field is stronger than many man-made fields, but it is a static, direct-current field. Most man- made EMFs are alternating-current fields operating at a variety of frequencies and power levels.) There are other dimensions to this problem, too. Some of the research that failed to confirm a correlation between EMF exposure and health was funded by industry groups that have a financial stake in the outcome of the research. Critics have challenged the credibility of some of the research for that reason. Moreover, epidemiological research only reveals health patterns; it does not prove what caused those health patterns. If electrical workers have an abnormally high rate of certain cancers, that may result from their occupation or it could result from something else. In short, the work of epidemiologists shows correlations without proving causation. That raises troubling questions without providing definitive answers. Responding to the questions raised by epidemiologists, a number of medical researchers have launched laboratory based studies of the effects of EMFs on living tissue. There has been an explosion of knowledge about molecular biology and the related field of genetics in recent years, and one of the focal points of this research has been the role of electromagnetic signals at the molecular level. Among other things, there have been studies suggesting that certain types of electromagnetic fields may alter the body's genetic makeup, causing chromosome damage. It is also known now that some EMFs may disrupt the flow of vital chemical and electrical signals between cells in the human body. EMFs appear to alter the passage of chemical and electrical signals through the cell membrane (the thin layer of material that covers each cell). This has caused some scientists to conclude that EMFs may sometimes affect the work of the body's imm une system in fighting cancer. If the body's cancer-fighting T-cells fail to detect that a particular cell has become cancerous because cell-to- cell communication is disrupted by EMFs, that would increase the risk of a tumor developing. There is also laboratory research indicating that EMFs may inhibit the body's cancer- fighting ability in other ways. Researchers have found that certain EMFs reduce the activity of messenger enzymes called protein kinases and also affect the way cell growth is regulated. There is also evidence, now confirmed through research in several countries, that EMFs sometimes work together with cancer- promoting chemicals to increase the risk of cancer beyond that associated with either the chemicals or EMFs alone. EMFs also appear to change the body's rate of production of certain hormones that have cancer-inhibiting effects, such as melatonin. Some studies have found that persons sleeping under electric blankets have lower-than- normal levels of melatonin production when the blanket is operating, but their melatonin production returns to normal when the blanket is switched off. Some scientists think the effect of EMFs on melatonin production may explain many of the apparent health effects of exposure to low-level fields. As with the epidemiological studies, laboratory research has raised questions and stirred controversy. Some laboratory studies have been difficult to replicate: Other researchers have not always observed the same results when they attempted to repeat some experiments. There appear to be other variables that affect the outcome of research on the biological effects of EMFs. ..... Part 2 Next Month 73..Lenny N1MII