METERS Newsletter - February 2007

A monthly publication of the Middle East Tennessee Emergency Radio Service, Inc.
METERS is a registered non-profit service organization based in Knoxville, serving all the surrounding area.
Club call sign: KG4NLF Website: www.metersinc.org

Meetings are held at 7 PM, the 4th Tuesday every month. Our February 27rd meeting will be at the Tennessee Technology Center, 1100 Liberty Street, Knoxville, TN 37919. (See the website for directions, or watch the Net Reminder.)
Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited to join METERS and assist in meeting the needs of our served agencies.
Members’ submissions are invited for this newsletter, in plain text formats, subject to space available and editing. Editor: John Randle, K9RSQ; e-mail to john.randle (at) tds.net; Phone (865) 675-1293, or mail to: John Randle, 10625 Summit Mtn Ct, Knoxville, TN 37922.

President's Statement for February 2007

It appears that this year will a very busy one for METERS. During our January meeting Colin Ickes, KEMA Operations Officer, gave an informative presentation about the potential hazards and targets in the Knox County area. We had a very good turn-out and if you missed it, you missed some very good, detailed information. Our featured speakers for the February membership meeting will be Darrell Sperry KA4TAR (OES) and Alan Azpurua KG4OAT (Sevier County EC). Darrell will show and tell about his emergency battery supply unit and Alan will talk about the current activities of our affiliate SCERS such as their project to build a communications trailer.

METERS is providing communications for the Strawberry Plains Half Marathon on Saturday February 17, 2007 and for the KNOXVILLE MARATHON on Sunday April 1, 2007. If you are interested in these public service events which are a good way of testing your equipment and operating in the field, please contact Jerry by email: af1p ( -at- ) arrl ( -dot- ) net.

METERS is sponsoring a SKYWARN class in cooperation with the Knox County EMA which will be taught by Harold Waldron of NWS. The class in at 10:00AM on Saturday March 10, 2007 at the Knox County EOC. Please attend this class to maintain your weather spotter certification, refresh your knowledge, and support NWS. You can sign-up for this class at the Feb METERS meeting or by email: ai4kg ( -at- ) metersinc ( -dot- ) org.

The Department of Homeland Security is offering an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Awareness Course to District 2. It will be an 8 hour course on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 (location to be determined). The purpose of this awareness level course is to inform responders, government officials, volunteers, agriculture employees, public health and private industry about identifying and reporting aspects concerning IEDs. If you would like to attend this course, please email jenny.holden ( -at- ) knoxcounty ( -dot- ) org by Friday, February 16, 2007.

We will be concentrating on the Bioincident Response Plan for the next few months. We will be reviewing the plan and practicing several aspects of it - activation via the call out tree, message handling using the METERS form and communications log, and other activities culminating in a late spring/early summer exercise.

Anyone with an interest in training in other areas or different types of emergency communications training, should contact Tyra: ai4kg ( -at- ) metersinc ( -dot- ) org or Dick: wi8x ( -at- ) metersinc ( -dot- )org.

-- Tyra Buczkowski AI4KG METERS President

Vice President's Statement for February 2007

This month I promised the second part of a series summarizing two presentations I made to the membership at our monthly meetings. If you haven't already read part one in my January 2007 column, please do so now. In part one I presented some statistics regarding how much we do for our community and for METERS. That was the "what" we do. This month I'll discuss the "why"; that is why we are so committed to public service and to METERS.

The First Why
To begin we must ask ourselves why we volunteer in the first place. There are several reasons, like the obvious one that we want to help our community. This is natural, since our community is an extension of our family. We owe much to our family for our successes in life, and we likewise owe much to our community. After all, we would not be able to focus on our jobs or skills if we had to grow our own food, and make all of our own belongings, such as our house, our cars, etc.

As we reach the middle age years we come to recognize that life is not just about ourselves. To put it simply, we grow to understand that life is much more meaningful when we serve others. A child's world is mostly limited to selfish pursuits, and rightly so. But later in life we realize that life is richer and more fulfilling if we let go of the self and fully become part of a cooperative community. We realize that we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

The world also teaches us that we can achieve much bigger goals when we are part of a team. As individuals we can do a lot, but it usually takes a dedicated team can to do something great. We grow when we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Being part of a team also gives us fellowship wherein we develop mutual respect, especially with those with whom we might not have known otherwise.

The Second Why
Why do we participate in METERS and not some other volunteer group? First of all we believe in the METERS emergency communications mission. We have an important role to play in our community and it is a well define one. To successfully complete our mission we must be properly trained and certified by government agencies. The training and certifications increase our sense of accomplishment, our standing in the community--our prestige.

Another reason is that in some small, but crucial way we can participate in the war on terror. I like to think of this one more broadly than simply providing communications when the next terrorist strike occurs; we can support the families of our servicemen and women during natural disasters. Soldiers in far off countries can take comfort knowing that their loved ones back home are being well looked after in any kind of communications disaster.

In very direct terms we give real meaning to our hobby by using our equipment and our skills to help others. Our training and meetings are fun, educational, and they get us out of the house. Perhaps equally important is that we now have a great reason to buy more radios and antennas!

What Comes Next
That's all for this month. Perhaps you'd like to add your own thoughts on what we do and why we do it. Some of what was discussed in this part comes from what you and your fellow members gave as reasons during my second presentation. Please send your comments to ag4xo ( -at- ) metersinc ( -dot- ) org.

Please join me next month for the third installment of this series on who we are. I promise that you will find the article surprising and very interesting. The fourth and final part will wrap it all up by discussing how we benefit from METERS membership.

-- Gary Buczkowski AG4XO METERS VP

Secretary's Notes - February 2007

Treasurer Talk!

We have had quite a few people re-up for their METERS 2007 Membership, by paying their new Dues ($15) and stepping up to get their photo taken, so we can order our new METERS ID Badges. If you haven't yet... there is still time... so make plans to step up this month!

I suppose you are wondering why the ID Badges haven't been ordered yet.. Well there IS a reason. We normally wait until at least the March meeting before declaring anyone delinquent on his or her renewal. but that isn't the only reason this year.

As most of you know, the FCC will do away with the Morse Code requirement as of February 23rd. which - I hope - will mean a lot of folks are will be planning to upgrade from Technician to General Class (or even to Extra). Now that code proficiency will no longer be a stumbling block.

With that in mind, we decided to wait until March to send in our request for ID badges. Hopefully, that will give everyone time to upgrade their license class, if they so desire. Remember: Your new ID Badge will display your Amateur Radio License Class on the FRONT. so it helps to be as up to date as possible.

Speaking of which, we also need to make sure everyone's files are updated, so we can credit you with the proper credentials on the back of the ID badge as well. Please make sure Larry (W8JYQ) has a copy of your certifications (EmComm - ICS, etc) so we may include that information on your ID badge.

Oh. and don't forget..We still have those nifty METERS Logo patches for sale. They are $3 each, or 2 for $5 bucks! (Great to put on a Baseball Cap or on a windbreaker jacket, to show your METERS Affiliation!)

Dave KE4YBZ

Recent and Up Coming Public Service Events:

Jerry Moore, AF1P, Special Events Coordinator.

METERS Members in the Spotlight: This month Jerry Moore AF1P.

"I’ve been interested in electronics and radio since I played with a granddad’s TRF receiver… when I was six!" A Henderson, Tenn., native (Chester County, half way between Memphis and Jackson, Tenn.), Jerry Moore AF1P grew up in a railroading family in a railroading town. In West and Middle Tennessee, he attended "almost as many grade schools as there are grades." He finished high school in Albuquerque.

Electronics has been the dominant interest in Jerry’s life. He got interested in radio while playing with his granddad’s broadcast radio, which led to his interest in amateur radio. Jerry took his first FCC licensing test in 1947. He got the theory right but struggled with CW. Frustrated by not completing the CW requirement in time, Jerry’s interests went to more pragmatic matters.

He joined the U.S. Air Force as a reservist and went to basic training after graduating high school. He applied for Air Force pilot training in 1955 and was accepted in 1956. Then he went to Lambeth College in Jackson, Tenn., while waiting to get into pilot training. Pilot training spanned 1956-1958 and he graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant with pilot’s wings.

He flew some hot rides: the T-33 trainer, the swept-wing F-84F fighter; and earned his multi-engine rating to fly KC-97 tankers as well as C-47s and other WW II aircraft. Jerry stayed in the USAF reserve many years and retired 1996. After going to several colleges, Jerry went to UT and earned his Electrical Engineering (EE) degree in 1963. He worked toward a Master’s; but did not complete that program.

His EE degree earned him employment at Southern Bell (later South Central Bell; then BellSouth) in Tenn., in 1964-65. He went to TVA in Chattanooga as an EE in 1965-66. Then, in 1967, he went back to the Air Force as an instructor pilot, and served from 1967-1975. He then became a combat engineer and commander in Shreveport, La, for three years: 1975-77.

Amateur Radio recaptured his interest, and he took his FCC license test again with his oldest son who was "maybe 16 or 17." Jerry and his son passed their license tests the same day in 1976 and Jerry was granted WD5EFE in Shreveport, La.

In 1978, now a civilian at Cape Canaveral, Jerry worked on missile programs, testing Army and Air Force missiles as an EE. He then went into the Space Shuttle program for the balance of his career. He became involved in the investigation of the Challenger disaster in 1986. NASA called Jerry to Washington, DC, as an EE (later Aerospace Engineer; he learned aeronautics, etc.) He worked in the Return-to-Flight program, getting space shuttles back flying. He continued involvement with Return-to-Flight until he retired in 1994. After he retired from NASA, he moved to East Tennessee (New Market). He has done computer work at Dollywood for two years, helping to install computer networks.

Jerry didn’t always have time to practice his amateur radio hobby from 1986 to 1994, but he got back into amateur radio after retirement, and earned his Amateur Extra license in 1996. He applied for and received his current vanity call sign: AF1P.

Jerry also is an accomplished presenter. He prepared a Space Shuttle program for RACK in 2003. He thinks that no-code may promote ham radio, probably in different ways. "Continuing pressure on our bands," Jerry says, "could cause us to lose all of the 2000 MHz band. NASA wants more telemetry spectrum, and wants all of the 13 cm ham band. I’m surprised we haven’t lost that band.

"I don’t think we have enough Elmers out there; there aren’t enough folk devoting time to teaching. Skilled people need to Elmer. Otherwise, when our generation dies out, ham radio might die as well. Too many people don’t understand how much ham radio applies to commercial radio and television, communications, and entertainment. Elmering is our way to keep our hobby with us.

"My experience with computers began at NASA. My first computer had an 8" floppy disc drive with 128k of memory!

-- Dick Wolf WI8X

Ed. Note: Talk about this being a small world, several years ago (20 to be exact) I had a young Air Force Captain named Andy Moore working for me in the Pentagon, replacing some twenty-odd “ageing” mainframes (to illustrate their age .. they used discrete components) with a multilevel secure network of state of the art processors. Andy was a USAF Academy graduate with an outstanding career potential who could handle any assignment .. and always did so with a smile. One day I was comparing Air Force backgrounds with Jerry and he mentioned that his son had gone through the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs and was in the Washington DC area .. well, the connections started to click .. and yes, it was the same Andy.

Notes from The ARRL Letter

==>AMATEUR RADIO STEPS IN FOLLOWING TELEPHONE SERVICE INTERRUPTION
When telephone cables were severed in two Texas locations January 29, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers activated to fill the communication gap during repairs, if necessary. ARRL South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Reimer, KK5CA, told ARRL Headquarters that the two unrelated incidents affected public 911 and regular telephone service from Midland to Alpine to El Paso.

"The site near Alpine was cut by a road construction crew, not detected, and buried," Reimer reported.

ARRL South Texas Section Manager Ray Taylor, N5NAV, says an ARES net stood by on 40 meters at the request of ARRL Brewster County Emergency Coordinator David Cockrum, N5DO, who was at the Alpine Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

"West Texas has a great 2 meter linking system, but it didn't work in some of the areas, so we activated HF on 7.285," Taylor explained. Volunteers also stood by on 2 meters and, Taylor said, stations at several other EOCs also checked into the net, with Roger Podsim, KD5OTH, serving as net control station.

At first it was thought the outage might last up to 18 hours, but the system was back up and running in a little more than 90 minutes, and the ARES net closed.

"I want to thank all those that turned out to help," Taylor remarked afterward. "One thing about ham radio operators -- they are always ready to help when needed."

Notes from The Web

Continuing the discussion on the American Red Cross and the potential for Background Investigations, the following update appeared in The ARES E-Letter dated January 17, 2007 edited by Rick Palm, K1CE.

I am amazed at the resistance to the Red Cross background checks and even more surprised to have heard and read how some state they intend to leave the emcomm community altogether in protest. The only people who have to be concerned are those with something to hide. On 9/11 we suffered great losses learning the lesson that people are sometimes not who or what they seem to be. Arguments about loss of privacy and identity theft are about as valid as Elvis sightings when such checks are done by qualified agencies. Now if the checks were done by Joe Volunteer on an old, donated laptop in the basement of some Red Cross field office, that would be a whole different story. But, they're not.

I speak as someone who has lived with background checks my whole life, starting with the Army and then as a Federally Licensed Firearms Dealer, having prints and my background checked every four years. And then again for my service as a Volunteer Patrolman and again when joining both my City and County Fire Department's RACES and ARES teams.

As for identity theft, how many times have you given full authority to the car salesman or shopping mall clerk to access your credit report? ID theft is more likely with them than the Red Cross. Personally, I want to know the guy next to me helping women and children in the shelter is not a rapist or pedophile in the same way I wanted to know the person I was selling a firearm to was not a criminal or had a mental or drug history.

Having processed a number of people for employment over the years, the most common revelations were personal vices like chronic speeding, DWIs and gross debt. However, one fellow gun dealer had a guy come back with eleven restraining orders from five different women over three years; needless to say the guy didn't get the job. And as for the credit checks, would you want to be working along side a guy who owes multiple thousands of dollars to various casinos and is way behind on all his credit card payments?

I don't want you working next to me or anyone else who isn't afraid to have their life and character scrutinized in exactly the same way we demand of the Guardsmen, Police and Firefighters we work shoulder to shoulder with.

If after reading this letter you are still bent on leaving your RACES or ARES team as a protest over the Red Cross background checks, let me say in conclusion, don't let the door hit you on the way out!

-- Jeff Sabatini, KI6BCX, Redlands, California

And from the ARRL Web Site (via email):

ZCZC AG07
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 7 ARLB007
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT February 7, 2007
To all radio amateurs

Code-free upgrades to General or Amateur Extra will not be available at volunteer examination sessions until the 5 WPM Morse code requirement disappears from the FCC's Amateur Radio Service rules on February 23. ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, N1ND, says that, judging from the questions he's been getting, many in the amateur community -- including some Volunteer Examiners (VEs) -- don't fully understand the new rules that resulted from the FCC's Report and Order (R&O) in the "Morse code proceeding," WT Docket 05-235. He stresses that VE teams may not accept upgrade applications in advance of February 23, then hold the paperwork.

"There will be no instant midnight upgrades February 23 for applicants advancing to General or Amateur Extra," Henderson explains. "You must make application." He further advises that a Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) valid for Element 3 (General) or Element 4 (Amateur Extra) credit does not confer any operating privileges and, lacking Morse code credit, is no good for an upgrade until the new rules become effective.

"Anyone holding or earning a valid CSCE for element credit must wait until February 23 to redeem it at a volunteer examination session," he says. "You may not operate as /AG or /AE until you have upgraded and have been issued a CSCE marked for upgrade." A CSCE is good for 365 days from the date of issuance, no exceptions.

Henderson further emphasizes that those who qualified as Technician licensees under the examination regime in place from March 21, 1987, until April 15, 2000, do not get General class Element 3 credit on that basis. That's because the "old" Element 3 is not the same as the current Element 3.

Applicants upgrading at a test session on or after February 23 on the basis of a valid CSCE must present the certificate for element credit, fill out an application and pay any applicable exam session fee, which most VECs charge. Between now and then, Henderson points out, upgrade applicants still have the option of passing the 5 WPM Element 1 Morse code test in addition to the General or Amateur Extra written tests.

Technician licensees who have not passed a Morse code examination automatically gain new privileges on February 23 without having to apply at an exam session.

The ARRL has posted all relevant information on these important Part 97 rule revisions on its "FCC's Morse Code Report and Order WT Docket 05-235" Web page, www.arrl.org/fcc/morse/.

Having previously reported that the FCC was not processing Vanity call sign applications, the following will be good news for those of you in search of the perfect call sign..:

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB008
ARLB008 FCC Now Processing Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Backlog

ZCZC AG08
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 8 ARLB008
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT February 9, 2007
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB008
ARLB008 FCC Now Processing Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Backlog

The FCC has resumed processing new Amateur Radio vanity call sign applications. An initial stab at whittling down the backlog began February 8 -- five weeks to the day after the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) issued the last vanity call sign prior to the resumption. The Commission stopped processing new vanity call sign applications received on or after December 18 while it readied the Universal Licensing System (ULS) vanity application software to accommodate a December 15 rule change to discourage the filing of multiple applications for the same call sign. The FCC has continued to accept new vanity applications and to process vanity renewals. A WTB staff member, speaking on background, told ARRL the Commission could be back on track by next week.

"We've resumed processing, and by next week we'll be caught up," said the staffer, who conceded that the FCC's ULS software had not been fully tested to ensure it could deal with the multiple-applications issue when the new rule's December 15 effective date rolled around. "We knew the date was coming, but the software wasn't quite ready." The Commission could complete processing of applications that have been sitting in the queue as early as February 12.

As of February 9, the WTB appeared to have granted some 125 vanity call sign applications submitted between December 18 and December 22. Another 500 or so applications remain in the queue.

The FCC this week also issued a public notice to announce the formal implementation of the multiple applications rule, 97.19(a)(1), effective February 8. The notice said the ULS would limit individuals to filing only one vanity call sign application on the same day.

"In the case where an applicant files multiple vanity call sign applications on the same day, only the first-filed application will be considered for the process, and the additional applications will be dismissed," the FCC said. "This new process will eliminate the possibility of an applicant having more than one application for the same call sign being considered on any one day."

The Commission is likely to receive an avalanche of new vanity call sign applications after February 23, when elimination of the Morse code examination requirement is expected to spur a massive influx of license upgrades.

The FCC is processing new vanity call sign applications now in the queue in the order they were received. Typically, it takes 18 days from the time the FCC receives a vanity application until the call sign is issued -- or the application is denied. The current vanity call sign fee, payable for new applications as well as renewals, is$20.80 for the 10-year license term.