CAN RF
CAUSE CANCER? or CAN RF CURE CANCER!
By Bob Wexelbaum, W2ILP
Effective on
In recent news reports, including an exciting segment
on the CBS TV program, “60 Minutes”, we learn about an Extra Class ham radio
operator, who has been working on attempting to cure cancers, by using RF
waves. He has had no formal medical
training,, nor has he had any formal electronics training…nor has he a
bachelors degree of any kind. His
initial introduction to being an RF tinkerer is based on his basic efforts studying
for a ham license and building his own radio transmitters. He has succeeded as far as owning his own
commercial television station. His QRZ
QTH is listed as
PRESIDENT’S NOTE by ED GELLENDER,
WB2EAV
Things
seem to be looking up. The problems we
have had on 146.745 MHz have recently broken our way. To summarize, when we were off the air for a
while when Northrop Grumman moved our repeater, MetroCor gave our frequency
allocation to NB2A without following due diligence. When we yelled, they eventually realized that
they had put themselves in a real pickle and offered a compromise to see if
coexistence is possible. As soon as NB2A
got wind of this, he turned off his repeater PL and virtually started jamming
us. Nothing worked until we filed a
complaint with the FCC (Riley Hollingsworth and I are now like this – said with
fingers crossed). When the FCC politely
asked NB2A to turn on his PL, he complied…notably without the bluster we had
become used to. By this point, MetroCor
was apparently suitably embarrassed that several of their members couldn’t take
it anymore and actively worked to support us.
The NB2A repeater then had its frequency coordination pulled. We have withstood the ordeal and done well,
but we must thank those who have helped.
We couldn’t have done it without their support. For once, nice guys didn’t finish last.
Northrop
Grumman declared unilaterally that all company affiliated clubs MUST have at
least 15 employee members. The fact that
we don’t have 15 hams working here was not their problem. I called in some favors and we now have
several new members (on paper) who do not know anything about ham radio. This
now puts us in full compliance with company guidelines…until their next bright
idea comes along.
As
part of Northrop Grumman’s new policy for clubs, they have these spiffy new
release forms for members, especially employee members, to sign and absolve
them from liability. I have spoken to
people active in other company clubs and one went so far as to discuss it with
a lawyer friend…Poor fellow laughed so hard that he couldn’t catch his
breath. Now you know why we are shopping
for insurance.
FIELD DAY –
Ray, W2DKM has located a
terrific site for Field Day. It is in
The Field Day site is at
GRUMMAN
AMATEUR RADIO CLUB MINUTES OF GENERAL MEETING 4/16/2008
Karen KC2OPX,
secretary.
The
meeting was called to order by Ed at 5:45 PM.
TREASURERS REPORT – Ed, WB2EAV REPEATERS Gordon, KB2UB
Finances continue to be in good shape. 146.745 is back up again.
VE REPORT –
Bob, W2ILP NET
REPORT- Zack, WB2PUE
2 Applicants applied; one passed Tech, one 7:30 Sunday net was excellent.
upgraded to Extra.
5 VEs were present:
8:30 Thursday net was good and
AB2NT, KA2GVD, KB2QFT, KC2OPX, .745 is now usable.
And W2ILP
OLD BUSINESS
Gordon and Ed checked the
NEW BUSINESS
We’re
looking for liability insurance for FD.
The club members voted and agreed to buy insurance, not to exceed $350.
PROGRAM
We
are continuing to make plans for FD. It
is now certain that FD will be at the Dix Hills golf course. Ray, W2DKM, got a commitment from the Town of
The meeting
was adjoined at
GARC NETS:
40 Meters: 7.289 MHz at 7:30 AM EST
Sundays.
2 Meters (via repeaters): 146.745 MHz (-.600)at
145.330
MHz (- .600) at
[Tone for
both repeaters is 136.5 Hz]
(ARES/RACES) Mondays
MEETINGS
General Meetings of the GARC
are held on the third Wednesday of each month, starting at 5:30 PM. The meetings are usually held at the
Ellsworth Allen Park in Farmingdale. Driving directions and maps can be obtained
from http://www.mapquest.com It is
suggested that the GARC Web Site be checked to be certain of meeting location,
which may change after this newsletter is distributed. Board meetings are held
eight days before the General Meeting.
GARC WEB SITE
The web site of the GARC can
be found at http://www.qsl.net/wa2lqo/ Webmaster
is Pat Masterson, KE2LJ. Pictures of
GARC activities, archives of newsletters, roster of members, and other
information about the GARC may be found there.
INTERNET LINK OF THE MONTH FOR INTERNERDS
Most of you guys might be familiar with Bill Pasternak,
WA6ITF. Bill writes a VHF column for
WorldRadio. He is an active promoter of
Amateur Radio Newsline. I had debated
with Bill about the elimination of CW exams and the dumbing down of technical
exams on the old rec.radio.amateur. policy group at a time when Bill only held
a Technician license. Now Bill is a
gadfly who seems to poke into many of my discussion groups from time to time
and we have discussed lots of stuff including the death of Princess Dianna when
it happened, our favorite TV comedians, etc. Bill had publicized my trip to
You guys know how we all joke about REAL HAMS. Those are the old timers, like most of us,
who built their own transmitters and who passed 20 wpm CW exams. Now WA6ITF had suggested that the flying hams
view a video that is called “REAL PILOTS”.
Real pilots flew Spitfires. They
weren’t just drivers of airliners. I am
going to make that video the internet link for this month. This is purely sexy entertainment, but I do
remember that the British take their Spitfires very seriously. They are revered for destroying German
bombers during WWII. Anyway the video
is:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXKUFSKc4Bw
I hope that this video is good for a laugh. It isn’t just a real watch commercial.
PUZZLE
Here is another
cryptogram: DZ UVO
CTMXHRLUO UWCGHRCT FZ H IMXXCIILUO
UN CZC
- UWCOCGI,
CHXP LOQUALOS RPC GCWMT LHRLUO UN
IUDC WGCQLUMIAZ PCAT
FCALCN.
–SCUGSC FCGOHGT IPHV---
Solution to April’s
Cryptogram: The solution to April’s cryptogram was unfortunately given away in
April.
As I continue to work on
these newsletters, I am constantly learning new dos and don’ts about MS
Word. It seems that there are often
invisible entries imbedded into this newsletter format that must be eliminated
in order to write over space where they once existed. This is not very obvious because…well
obviously they are invisible. You will
note that this NL has a new integrated heading, which was the only easy way for
me to solve a problem that would not allow me to use the whole front page
without messing up the top of the page or wasting the bottom of the page.. I am sure that there are other ways to solve
this dilemma…but my method seems to work for me.
I am also aware that many
typos still creep into the NLs. I am reminded of that fact by some
readers. I apologize for this, as it is
my responsibility to edit this NL and fix up all typos. spelling errors,
etc. I am however hopeful that those who
read my stuff, looking for errors, will savor some of the content before
discarding it into the round file.
Alas…perhaps they, like me, are handicapped in not being able to accurately
perform two tasks at the same time.
73,
Bob w2ilp (Inserting Lost
Paragraphs)
CQ de WA2LQO May 2008
VOL. 81, NO.
5
EDITOR
Bob Wexelbaum W2ILP
(631) 499-2214
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
All the members of GARC (we hope!)
CQ de WA2LQO is published monthly
by the Grumman Amateur Radio Club for its members and friends. Send articles
and amateur equipment advertisements to: W2ILP. Articles may be sent by e-mail
or postal mail. They can be in MS Word
format or simply in plain text. Articles
will only be edited when permission is granted by the author.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS
For insertion to the WA2LQO website,
information may be sent to Pat Masterson.
Pat Masterson’s e-mail
address:
Ed Gellender’s e-mail
address:
[email protected] or [email protected]
GRUMMAN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB OFFICERS FOR 2008
President Ed Gellender WA2EAV X02-14 516-575-0013
Vice President Gordon Sammis KB2UB
Retiree 631-666-7463
Secretary Karen Cefalo KC2OPX 631-754-0974
Treasurer Ed Gellender WB2EAV X02-14
516-575-0013
1Yr Board Member Zack Zilavy WB2PUE
Retiree 631-667-4628
1YrBoard Member Dave Ledo
AB2EF
1Yr Board Member Bob Christen W2FPF
2 Yr Board Member Bob Wexelbaum W2ILP Retiree
631-499-2214
2 Yr Board Member Jack Cottrell WA2PYK Retiree 516-249-0979
Trustee WA2LQO Ray
Schubnel W2DKM Retiree
STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN
FCC Exam Coord Bob Wexelbaum W2ILP
Retiree 631-499-2214
Webmaster Pat Masterson KE2LJ Retiree 813-938-4614
Please note that Pat’s phone number was incorrect in
previous issues.
GARC VE
EXAMS We
are continuing to proctor exams for all classes of ham licenses on the second
Tuesday of each month, starting at 5:00 PM. The
present exams are:- The Element 1 CW exam is no
longer required. Element
2: Technician Element
3: General Element
4: Amateur Extra Class The
fee for 2008 is $14.00 for all exams taken in one sitting. Applicants
for upgrades should bring their present license and a photocopy of it and
know their FRN number. New,
first time applicants should be aware that their Social Security number will
be required on their application form, unless they register with the FCC for
an FRN. All
applicants should bring picture ID such as driver’s licenses. Until
further notice exams will be given at:- Room:
Briarcliffe,
All
applicants should contact W2ILP to pre-register, so as to confirm
location. If no applicants apply, the
exam session will be cancelled. For
any information e-mail:- or phone- (631) 499-2214 Study material is available at the
web sites of the ARRL http://www.arrl.org or W5YI http://www.w5yi.org All VECs use the same Q &A pools. Since
the beginning of the VE program the GARC has provided opportunities to take
the ham exams monthly, during all 12 months of every year. Bob
Wexelbaum, W2ILP and the GARC VE team. |
The ARRL vs the FCC
on BPL
I
believe that the ARRL has never before sued the FCC. I also believe that the FCC has never before
been forced to admit that it has been at least partially wrong. I am referring to the case involving BPL which
has been reported in a recent ARRL bulletin.
I had to carefully read the bulletin in order to understand precisely
what it may mean to us hams and to the future users of any BPL system, if any.
On April 25th the
The
attorney for the ARRL observed that the FCC had been overly zealous in
advocating BPL and that the hams would have been better off had the FCC dealt
with the BPL interference potential in an honest and forthright manner at the
outset.
Banning
BPL entirely can be a state or local decision, as well as an FCC decision. On a separate positive note the state of
In
my humble opinion BPL interference should be dealt with on a case by case
basis, so as to best satisfy the general public as well as the radio
amateurs. I believe that the ARRL, as
well as the FCC, has been overly zealous.
Fighting BPL has been expensive for the ARRL and I dunno if it is or was
really worth all of the hoopla. Enuf
sed. AR K
73,
Bob
w2ilp