ARRL East Bay Section

It is with extreme sadness that I report that my friend since elementary school, Paul J. Parker, WB6DHH became a silent key on April 13, 2008. Paul succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

Paul was first licensed in January 1963, WN6DHH He was a life member of the ARRL and was elected Section Communications Manager for the East Bay Section of the ARRL in 1969. He was an active member of the Mt. Diablo Radio Club for nearly 40 years where he served as an instructor and volunteer examiner, as well as assisting with the operation of the W6CX repeater and Pacificon.

Paul loved the Morse code.

Paul’s memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 10th at 1:00 pm at East Bay Fellowship in the UTurn auditorium (youth building), 2615 Camino Tassajara, Danville , CA 94506 (map) . The church phone number is (925) 736-5100.

If you wish, in lieu of sending flowers, gifts to the American Cancer Society in Paul’s memory would be appreciated.

Paul’s ashes will be spread in the Pacific Ocean under the Golden Gate Bridge and in the Sea Otter Sound, Alaska

Jack Cooper, KG6LV
ARRL Pacific Division Assistant Director

Thanks to Ed Richie for again coordinating ham radio support for the Devil Mountain Run on Sunday May 4, 2008.

Here are some photos from that event:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11636522@N06/sets/72157604898725177
After going to the link, click on “Slide show” in upper right of screen. Then click on large arrows on right or left of photo to navigate.

Pete Harris
KE6ZIW

John Stuart, KM6QX continues to be a treasure to MDARC, and to ham radio. Among the many ham-related things that John does is to organize and coordinate ham radio support for several great community service events each year. He has coordinated such things as world-class bike race events up Mt. Diablo, marathon running events out of Castle Rock in Walnut Creek, Police Olympics in Briones Park, various thrilling Trail Adventure Triathalon events in local regional parks, and various horse trailride events that require hams to go off road with 4-wheel vehicles to reach checkpoints. When you do an event that John has organized, it’s alway exciting, challenging, and you usually experience something you remember for a long time. There have been several incidents in which John has coordinated rescue services to injured or lost event participants. He has been intimately involved in setting up state-of-the-art radio equipment in the San Ramon Valley Emergency Services Communications Command Vehicle, for the San Ramon Fire District. He continues to provide great service to the community, and great learning experiences for hams. Best of all, the events he organizes are just plain fun!

This past weekend John coordinated the 50-mile Concord Mt. Diablo Trailride event that he has helped organize for close to 20 years. This included hams driving 4-wheel drive vehicles over beautiful back country trails on Mt. Diablo, trails that are usually closed to public auto access. It was a fantastic day on the mountain, the hills were bright green, the wild flowers were blooming and the views were spectacular. Hams traveled from one P&R station to another (horse pulse and respiration check stations), bringing race judges, vets and event organizers to the stations before the horses arrived there. Hams provided coordination of information to help assure the safety of horse riding participants.

Here are a few photos of this weekend’s Concord Mt. Diablo Trailride event:

Photos of trailride event:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11636522@N06/sets/72157604898029367
After going to the link, click on “Slideshow” in upper right of screen. Then click on large arrows on right or left of photo to navigate.

Pete Harris
KE6ZIW

from ARRL News:

L. B. Cebik, W4RNL, ARRL Technical Adviser and antenna authority, passed away last week. He was 68. An ARRL Life Member, Cebik was known to many hams for the numerous articles he wrote on antennas and antenna modeling. He had articles published in most of the US ham journals, including QST, QEX, NCJ, CQ, Communications Quarterly, Ham Radio, 73, QRP Quarterly, Radio-Electronics and QRPp. Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, QEX Editor, called Cebik “probably the most widely published and often read author of Amateur Radio antenna articles ever to write on the subject.”

I noticed a number of bulletins have passed around this link http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/dl208_03cell_phone.pdf as proof positive that the hands-free driving law that will go into effect July 1st does not apply to amateur radio.  And in fact, when this page first went up on the DMV site, I recall passing it on to you as an indication that the matter was settled.  Unfortunately, there has been a turn of events that gives me pause.

At the time the page cited above was put up by the DMV, it was linked from this page http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/ (the link was named something on the order of “FAQs about the new hands-free laws” and if you searched on the DMV site you would find both pages.  Sometime subsequent to that, the FAQs were placed directly on page http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/ and the link to the old page (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/dl208_03cell_phone.pdf) was removed.  The text now on the main page says nothing about an exclusion for two-way radio use except for specific exclusion “for those operating a commercial motor truck or truck tractor (excluding pickups), implements of husbandry, farm vehicle or tow truck, to use a two-way radio operated by a “push-to-talk” feature”.  The page we have seen passed around is ***not*** linked to or from any other page on the DMV site and it does not show up when you search the DMV site (there is a search tool anchored in the upper right corner of every DMV page).  And the text on the published page reads to me like anything with a push-to-talk switch cannot be operated by the driver of a vehicle except for the exclusions for emergency workers, tow truck drivers, commercial truckers, and so forth.

So what happened?
*  Did a web developer at the DMV attempt to merge the two pages and inadvertently put the old text on the main page, and leave the old pdf out there for us to find (assuming we know the exact URL)?
                                                          — OR —
*  Was there an official change of interpretation and the result is this republication of the FAQs on the main page with the example that excluded two-way radios deliberately removed?

We don’t know!  And so far our attempts to find out have not yielded an answer.

The root of the problem is the law uses the term “wireless telephone” without defining it.  This leaves the definition up to the DMV and CHP and eventually to the courts when someone gets cited and starts the process of challenging it.  Changing the law is a 2 to 3 year process, so that’s not an immediate remedy.  Asking legal authorities such as the State Attorney General for a definition of “wireless telephone” is risky because there is no assurance we would get a favorable definition, and thus might get stuck with the unfavorable one.

We’re working the issue with our contacts in Sacramento.  In the meantime, I strongly advise against making any statements that the issue is resolved or pointing people to what amounts to an orphan document on the DMV web site.  It’s too bad, because this was so promising — now we just don’t know.  Bob and I will update you the minute we hear anything official.  And if you happen upon any developments, please share them with all of us.
 
73,
Andy Oppel, N6AJO
Vice Director, Pacific Division
American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
The National Association for Amateur Radio