Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. (NIV)
I hope all of you had a great Christmas and will have a happy New Year. Our next meeting is on Tuesday the third at 6 pm at Red Lobster. Please come and join us; we would love to see you there. We will be discussing the upcoming field day event if we have enough to hold a meeting. Please pray for our local hams who are ill or in need of support, as we have many recovering or are still ill.
New 2017 MARC Officers / Members
Please welcome our newest MARC members: Billy Heblon (W5BRH) and CJ Caufield (KG5AVS).
President: Charles Grisham (KB5SZJ)
Vice President: Frank Buckley (KE5ETN)
Secretary: Donna Harrison (KD5GWM)
Treasurer: Ted Valentine (KG5IAX)
Treasurer Report
It's that time again; Please bring your dues to the Checker Board Restaurant on Saturday mornings or mail them to the address below. Thank you for your support. Dues are:
- $23.00 per Year per Member
- $25.00 per Year for Family
- $15.00 per year if 65 or older
Meridian Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 522
Meridian, MS 39302
Capital City HAMFEST 2017
January
27 & 28
2017
Friday 5 PM to 8 PM / Saturday 8 AM to 4 PM
Trademart on the Fairgrounds
1200 Mississippi St
Jackson, MS 39202
Admission: $10/person Children under 12 free
HAMFEST FLYER located here:
http://www.hamfest.msham.org/images/Hamfest%202017%20-%20flyer.pdf
William “Bill” Pinkston
This is not the obit but information that I have and thought you’d like to know.
Some of you did not know Bill but others may remember William “Bill” Pinkston (Ex-WB5EWM) that was the WHTV channel 24 station engineer back in the very early 70’s. His wife June called me this morning and said that he became a silent key last night after having fought a large number of medical problems. They were both in a nursing home in Delphos, OH where he passed. Bill was transferred from Meridian to Tupelo in the late 70’s to work at the Saltillo transmitter site there after the acquisition of 24 in Meridian. Some years later, they later moved back to Lima, Ohio to be with family. They have a daughter that lives in Cleveland, OH.
Also, on a side note, his uncle passed away two weeks ago…Astronaut John Glenn.
73, WA5WUX
Noise floor report does not inspire confidence
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
Last June, the FCC’s Technical Advisory Committee asked licensed and unlicensed users of the electromagnetic spectrum to answer some questions about the noise they were experiencing and whether or not it was affecting their services. Specifically, they asked:
* Is there a noise floor problem?
* Where does the problem exist? Spectrally? Spatially? Temporally?
* Is there quantitative evidence of the overall increase in the total integrated noise floor across various segments of the radio frequency spectrum?
* How should a noise study be performed?
Well, the results are in, and Radio World recently published a summary of the responses that the FCC received
(http://www.radioworld.com/business-and-law/0009/noise-floor-where-do-we-go-from-here/338242). The FCC received 93 replies from 73 (great number, eh?) different people or organizations, including:
* 23 companies/industry organizations
* 39 RF professionals (broadcast and wireless)
* 31 licensed radio amateurs
* 9 responders did not reply to the questions asked
Respondents included the ARRL, the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, ATT, and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. I found especially interesting comments from the Society of Broadcast Engineers. They include:
* Increased cooperation is needed between manufacturers of Part 15 devices and users of radio spectrum to identify noise sources and take appropriate remedial action.
* Radiated emission limits below 30 MHz in the FCC Part 15 rules for unintentional emitters should be enacted. There are presently no radiated emission limits below 30 MHz for most unintentional emitters.
* Reduced Part 15 limits for LED lights should be enacted to be harmonized with the Part 18 lower limits for fluorescent bulbs.
* Better labeling on packaging for Part 18 fluorescent bulbs and ballasts to better inform consumers of potential interference to radio, TV and cell phone reception in the residential environment.
* Specific radiated and/or conducted emission limits for incidental emitters, such as motors or power lines, should be enacted.
* Conducted emission limits on pulse-width motor controllers used in appliances should be enacted.
* Substantially increase the visibility of enforcement in power line interference cases.
Other organizations made similar comments.
While the report is encouraging, it won’t mean a thing if no action is taken on these issues. Given that the FCC is cutting back on its field offices, and our president-elect has said that he plans to reduce the number of governmental regulations, I’m not optimistic that we’ll see the noise situation get better before it gets worse. What do you all think?
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When he's not battling the noise floor at his QTH, Dan blogs about amateur radio at KB6NU. Com, writes the "No Nonsense" amateur radio study guides and teaches ham classes. You can contact him by e-mailing cwgeek@kb6nu.com.
Quote of the Day
Thoughtfulness for others, generosity, modesty and self-respect are the qualities which make a real gentleman or lady.
- Thomas H. Huxley
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