Announcements

Action Communications is looking for a two-way install technician. Check this link for more information.

The Port of Seattle has openings for Systems Engineer (IT), Police/Fire Communication Specialist (Lateral), E911 CAD/GIS Systems Engineer, Sr. Network Engineer (IT). Check this link for more information.

Communications Site Program Manager for DNR in Olympia. Closes August 31. Check this link for more information.

WSP is recruiting for two technical positions, a Senior Telecommunication Specialist (microwave field tech) and a Microwave Design Engineer. Check this link for more information.

The City of Bellingham is seeking an Electronics Technician/Specialist. Applicants must be able to perform skilled troubleshooting and repair work on a variety of electrical and electronic systems. Performs regular maintenance, diagnose problems and repairs equipment and systems including radio communications equipment, audio-visual equipment, fiber networks, and other electrical and electronic equipment as assigned by the supervisor. The Electronics Technician is an entry-level position designed to provide training and experience in the maintenance, troubleshooting and repair of a variety of electrical and electronic systems used throughout the City. The Electronics Specialist is differentiated from the Electronics Technician by exhibiting full mastery of the essential functions and the ability to perform advanced levels of work. This position is represented by a union; union membership is required in the first 30 days. Salary Range is $4,683-$5,707 per month.

IF YOU NOTICE SOMEONE TRYING TO PEDDLE ANY OF THIS GEAR CONTACT nu7z@aol.com or the Snohomish County (WA) Sheriff's Dept.

Rick NU7Z -- reports his vehicle broken into -- and all of his radio equipment stolen. A police report has been filed, but any help that the hams of Snohomish County can
provide would be appreciated. Here is a list of what was stolen

ICOM IC-901A ,2m, 440, 6m, 220, with all the cables, control head, fiber optic module, mic
TPL 75 watts 6 meter ampllifier
500 watt all HF band Worthmore Amplifier
7 TenTec Scout modules, 80, 20, 15, 30, 17, 12, 10 meters
500 watt power converter, 12Vdc to 110Volts AC
Sirius radio receiver
Garmin color fish finder - new
2 May West PFD's from Cabela's
Rain gear
Motorola, M1225 2 channel UHF mobile radio
Electronic trailer brake

If you spot any of the following equipment please contact Dave Zehring, AA7L at dzehrung@cde-goldbar.com

Yaesu FT-817. Microphone got left behind in truck. The power plug on the back has been replaced with a short cable with 2-pin Molex connector. Has short ground wire attached, terminated in a Molex pin.

Yaesu VX-7R (silver). Worn, but fully functional. Had speaker/mic accessory and adaptor. 12VDC charger was taken, too.

MFJ "Mini-bug-catcher" mobile antenna with dual tap selector switch box... makes it very unique.

Nikon auto-focus compact binoculars in case.

12V Auto battery in plastic case, equipped to connect to truck wiring with 12-pin Molex connector. Also taken was a black plywood outlet panel with 3 cigarette style and 4-pin power connectors.

Garmin e-trex (green) GPS with "bean-bag" dash mount, 12V. power/data (RS-232) cord.

HP Mini-notebook computer in vinyl case with "Q-Drive" written on it.

The following person is seeking employment on the radio communications field. Please check this link for more information. Posted 3/28/11.

The FCC has expanded the number of 800 MHz channels and changed some of the channel numbers. To see them click here.

The FCC has designated some new frequency bands for BPL. To see them click here.

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The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to take its broadband over power line (BPL) Report and Order (R&O) (Docket 04-37) back to the drawing board. In a Petition for Reconsideration filed today, the Leaguecalled on the Commission to "reconsider, rescind and restudy" its October 14, 2004, adoption of new Part 15 rules spelling out how BPL providers may deploy the technology on HF and low-VHF frequencies. Asserting that the R&O fails to adequately take into account the technology's potential to interfere with Amateur Radio and other licensed services, the League called the FCC's action to permit BPL "a gross policy mistake." The R&O, the ARRL said, "represents a classic case of prejudgment" by an FCC that knew better but ignored evidence already at its disposal.

"It is readily apparent that the Commission long ago made up its mind that it was going to permit BPL without substantial regulation, no matter what the effect of this flawed application of old technology is on licensed radio services," the League's petition declares. The ARRL accuses FCC Commissioner Michael Powell and his four colleagues of deliberately authorizing "a spectrum pollution source that has, time and again, been demonstrated to be incompatible with existing licensed uses of the limited and unique high frequency spectrum."

The ARRL said BPL's interference potential makes BPL "a bad method" of providing broadband services to homes and businesses. While expressing appreciation for Commissioner Michael Copps' concerns regarding BPL's potential to interfere with Amateur Radio and his call for quick complaint resolution, the League said his admonition "has not been heeded by either the Enforcement Bureau or the Office of Engineering and Technology." The latter has "inexplicably taken control of BPL interference investigations and has adjudicated not a single one to date," the ARRL added.

Pilot BPL projects have demonstrated that interference to licensed services is "extremely difficult or impossible to eliminate," even with close cooperation by the BPL provider. "Not a single interference complaint has been resolved except by termination of the BPL test," the League's petition maintains, and the Commission has "swept all interference complaints under the rug." In its eagerness to satisfy a policy goal, the Commission covered up "the bad news" about BPL that it already had in its hands, even before it released its Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the proceeding, the ARRL charged. "The Commission wanted nothing to contradict its enthusiasm about BPL," the League said, and its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) saw to it that evidence of the "fundamental incompatibility" between BPL and incumbent HF radio services "was suppressed, ignored or discredited" by ad hominem arguments aimed at the messengers of the bad news, principally the ARRL.

In the filing, which included several technical exhibits to bolster its major points, the ARRL further argued that Powell--a self-described "cheerleader" for the technology--should have recused himself from voting on the R&O. The chairman, the ARRL says, violated the FCC's own ex parte rules by attending a BPL provider's demonstration October 12, after the FCC had released its agenda for the October 14 meeting. Powell "tainted this proceeding" by taking part in the demonstration, and that alone is sufficient to have the Commission vacate and reconsider its action.

The League also said the FCC's "late and incomplete" responses to ARRL's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests fail to show any support for FCC's conclusions regarding interference to licensed services from BPL. The ARRL filed FOIA requests in 2003 and again last year calling on the Commission to produce tests and other documentation that the agency said it had used in developing its new BPL rules. The highly redacted information release contained nothing that supports the FCC's conclusions about BPL's interference potential and suppressed negative recommendations from its own technical investigators, the petition says. "The released information establishes that the Commission failed to conduct impartial, reasoned rulemaking."

The ARRL also said the R&O falls short in substantively evaluating BPL's interference potential. Beyond that, the Commission used an unlawful "balancing test" that weighed BPL's purported benefits against its interference to licensed services. "Worse, it has done so in a way as to create a hierarchy of licensed radio services and characterized them by how much interference each service deserves," the League's petition asserted. The ARRL called the approach untenable under the Communications Act, and its marginalization of the Amateur Service "discriminatory and unreasonable." The Communications Act, the League's petition points out, requires an objective determination from the outset that the likelihood of harmful interference from a proposed unlicensed service is virtually nil.

"There is no statutory underpinning for the application of a 'balancing test' between interference from unlicensed facilities to licensed radio services based on the FCC's preconceived conclusions about the social or economic benefits of the unlicensed service," the ARRL concluded. The FCC's statements and action in the proceeding suggest the agency doesn't believe Amateur Radio is very important and does not deserve protection from interference to the same extent other licensed services do, according to the ARRL.

The interference mitigation rules the R&O incorporates are both ineffective and inequitably applied, the ARRL's petition further argues. Noting the new rules do not require BPL systems to shut down in the event of interference except as "a last resort," the League said the practical effect is "that systems will never have to shut down, even though the BPL operator may have proven ineffective at remedying serious, ongoing harmful interference to the Amateur Service." The petition says the R&O marks the first time in history that the Commission has authorized an unlicensed service with significant and demonstrable potential to interfere with licensed radio services while not requiring its immediate shutdown if it does interfere. The League says the new rules accord priority to unlicensed BPL, "regardless of the preclusive effect" or the duration of interference.

The Commission's "business as usual" attitude flies in the face of its own admission of BPL's higher potential to interfere when compared to other Part 15 systems, the ARRL says. In its unanimous BPL decision, the Commission, the League says, has abandoned its fundamental obligation to avoid interference in telecommunication systems, instead requiring complainants to initiate contact with BPL providers and "beg for resolution." Precluding interference by so- called "notching" techniques is not the answer either, the petition asserts. Notching has proven difficult to implement effectively and "has not been successful generally in remedying BPL interference at test sites," the ARRL contended.

Even more absurd, the League says, is that the R&O doesn't require BPL systems deployed before a date 18 months after its publication to comply with the new rules unless the system causes harmful interference and the operator fails to take necessary steps to eliminate occurrences of harmful interference. "As the result of this holding, it is apparent that the BPL facilities installed before July 7, 2006, never have to come into compliance with the new rules," the ARRL maintained. BPL systems not yet in operation "cannot be allowed to skirt the rules limiting interference potential" that long, according to the petition. The League's petition also faults the Commission's adopted measurement standards.

(Enter 04-37 in 'Proceedings' box; click 'Retrieve Document List' at bottom of page)