Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1573 - October 7, 2007

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1573 with a
release date of Sunday October 7, 2007 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. The U-S Postal Service
deals a blow to radio reading services -- even
some that help hams. Also, two life sentences
for the first convicted in the Hawks murders at
sea and the ARRL disqualification of Carl
Gardenias, WU6D, to run for Director leads to an
investigation backed by an on-line giant. Find
out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report
number 1573 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

ASSISTED RADIO LIVING: HIGH POSTAGE RATES COULD DOOM CASSETTE-CASTERS

If you are a visually impaired radio amateur and
get your ham radio news or any information from
radio reading services, listen up. A recent
postage increase in the United States may doom a
lot of the cassette based reading
services. Services that cannot mail using the
Postal Services Free Matter category, and which
do not have some other way to generate
revenue. Several tape based reading services
have hinted that they will close their doors in
December once there are no longer any funds for
postage. Fred Vobbe, W8HDU, has mo

--

Recently, we were dealt a great disservice by the
United States Postal Service. The cost to mail a
cassette tape has increased from 63 cents to $1.30.

According to the USPS, the issue is that the
postal regulations have changed. Any item
thicker than 1/4 inch is now subject to this new higher rate.

Ironically, its now cheaper to send a tape
Canada, the United Kingdom or even Kuwait, than
it is to someone right down the street from me. Go figure.

Now, I am a member of the Lions Club, and I have
talked to several other magazines-on-tape. This
postage increase has been hurting a lot of cassette tape magazines.

Those that are not sending "Free Matter" and are
not subsidized, either have to pass their costs
on to their subscribers, or they go out of business.

I'm Fred Vobbe, W8HDU.

--

Statistically 10 million people in the United
States are "legally" blind or visually impaired.
However, the number of people ages 15 and older,
with a limitation in sight, who use a computer
regularly is a bit under 1 million. This makes
audio distribution to this group of citizens a
problem to not for profit content
providers. Amateur Radio Newsline stopped its
cassette mail-out service almost 20 years ago. (W8HDU, NRCDXAS)

**

RADIO JUSTICE: WOMAN SENTENCED IN HAM RADIO YACHT SLAYINGS
A Long Beach, California, woman has been
sentenced to two terms of life in prison without
the possibility of parole. This, for her role in
a plot involving her husband and others to kill a
retired ham radio couple and steal their 55-foot yacht.
26 year old Jennifer Deleon was convicted last
November of two counts of first- degree murder in
connection with the November 15, 2004, slaying of
retired probation officer Thomas Hawks, KD7VWJ,
and his 47-year-old wife, Jackie, KD7VWK. A jury
also found special circumstances of murder for
financial gain and multiple murder, making
mandatory the life without parole sentences.
Mrs. Deleon was tried separately from her
husband, Skylar and three other men indicted in
the case. Skylar Deleon will be tried in January
along with John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Prosecutors
are seeking the death penalty against the two
men, describing them, respectively, as the brains
and brawn behind the murder for profit plot. (OC
Register and other media reports)
**

HAM RADIO POLOTICS: ARRL EXEC UPHOLDS WU6D DISQUALIFICATION

A follow-up to our recent story revolving around
the controversy in the ARRL Southwestern
Divisions race for Director. The League's
Executive Committee says that it has completed
its consideration of the appeal filed by Carl
Gardenias, WU6D, of the decision of the ARRL
Ethics and Elections Committee. That decision
disqualified him as a candidate for
Director.. The Executive Committee says that
based on its own independent review, it has voted
unanimously to affirm the decision of the Ethics and Elections Committee.

According to the ARRL Letter, this decision was
communicated to WU6D on October 1st, along with
detailed findings of fact and conclusions of the
committee. The Executive Committee is meeting as
we go to air and says that it will release
additional information after the meeting.

But it may not be over yet. At least not as far
as Carl Gardenias, WU6D, is concerned. He is now
taking the fight over his disqualification to the
ham radio community. WU6D has created a website
on which he has posted in chronological order all
communications on this matter between himself and
the ARRL. Also posted is the letter of complaint
penned by incumbent Director Dick Norton, N6AA,
that lead to Gardenias disqualification. It's
quite an interesting story for anyone who follows
ARRL politics. You can find it in cyberspace at www.wu6d.com (ARRL, others)

**

HAM RADIO POLITICS: AZ AND CA HAMS LAUNCH PROBE INTO WU6D DISQUALIFICATION

Meantime it appears as if the QRZ.com website and
its founder Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, are assisting into
an independent inquiry of the Carl Gardenias, WU^D, disqualification.

Writing on his website, Lloyd says that a small
group of hams in Arizona and Southern California
are conducting an independent fact finding
inquiry of their own. This, to determine whether
there is more to the WU6D disqualification story than has been made public.

Lloyd is asking anyone with credible information
about this event to please send an e-mail to the
investigatory team at
. He asks that you
include evidence or a statement as to why you
believe your information is factual and
true. Also, to please include your original sources when possible.

Lloyd ays that those what want their message to
be anonymous, put the word ANONYMOUS in the
subject line and Lloyd says that your identity will be kept confidential.

More about this independent inquiry into the
disqualification of Carl Garnenias, WU6D, to run
for ARRL Southwestern Division Director is on the
front page of www.qrz.com under the title of
"Trouble in River City." (QRZ.COM)

**

RADIO LAW: PALMDALE CA. ORDERS HAM ANTENNAS TAKEN DOWN

A Palmdale, California, ham has had his permits
to install an antenna on his property
revoked. This, after neighbors complained that
his ham radio operations were interfering with
their consumer electronic equipment and posed a threat to their safety.

Heeding complaints from these residents, the
city's Planning Commission voted unanimously
Thursday, September 27th to revoke the
minor-modification permits obtained in 2005 by
Alec Zubarau, WB6X, to erect a tower and
antenna. Asoka Herath, Palmdale's director of
planning says that the vote means Zubarau will
have 10 days to ask the City Council to overturn
the commission's ruling. The decision
also means that within 14 days, Zubarau must
cease using the tower and any antennas that now are considered illegal.

Zubarau will be allowed to re-apply to the city
for any permits he would need to legally install
and use other antennas. If the commission's
decision is appealed but upheld by the City
Council, Zubarau will have to dismantle the
antenna tower he constructed earlier.

Earlier this year, Zubarau's neighbors came to
the city alleging his radio transmissions were
interfering with the television, radio and
telephone reception. In response, Zubarau said
his radio equipment met all standards set by the
Federal Communications Commission and should be
having no effect on his neighbors. Zubarau's
attorney Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, is quoted in
news reports as saying that if interference were
a problem, it would be up to those neighbors to
find, acquire and install interference-eliminating equipment.

At least 10 people, including three attorneys,
spoke in Zubarau's defense. They advised the
planning commission any interference by the city
with the operation of a ham radio station could
violate federal regulations. Attorney Pamela
Royce, W6PNW, told the commission that it should
consider very carefully the cost of possible
litigation if Zubaru is forced to take his
antennas down or is forced off the air. (AV Press and others)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the
Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin
stations around the world including the Three
Rivers Amateur Radio Club repeater serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(5 sec pause here)

**

WORLDBEAT: IARU REGION 2 CONFERENCE COMPLETES BUSINESS

The IARU Region 2 Conference we recently reported
on has completed its work. According to a report
from Radio Amateurs of Canada, several
recommendations from the Region 2 Working Group
on Emergency Communications were adopted. These
include establishing an Emergency Communications
Committee that will be responsible to the
Executive Committee for carrying out planning,
training, and the maintenance of equipment and
personnel inventories for emergency assistance deployment.

Also, a Region 2 Relief Fund was established
with an initial transfer of US$5,000.00 from the
general reserve of Region 2, with additional
contributions to be solicited. The Fund will be
administered by the Executive Committee and will
be available solely to assist Region 2 member
societies whose club stations and buildings,
including antenna systems, are damaged by natural disaster.

Band-planning was another hot topic with a new
Region 2 band plan for 160 through 10 meters was
adopted. It becomes effective on January 1, 2008
and is modeled on one adopted previously by IARU
Region 1, with regional differences taken into
account. Steps were also taken to try to reduce
interference to national emergency nets,
including establishing an inventory of such nets
and calling their importance to the attention of the radio amateur
community.

An offer by Radio Club Argentino to be
responsible for translation into Spanish of the
IARU Region 2 electronic bulletin was
accepted. The Conference also accepted the offer
of the Club de Radio Aficionados de El Salvador
to host the 17th General Assembly in 2010.

The conference held in Brazil was attended by 40
delegates and observers representing 18 countries
in the Americas. 11 were there in person and 7 by proxy. (RAC)

**

RESCUE RADIO: THE ARRL GOES TO MARS

The ARRL now has a new Emergency Communications
tool in its toolbox. It's the Military Affiliate or MARS call sign
AAN1ARL.

The League's MARS station will be housed at W1AW,
the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial
Station. According to W1AW Station Manager Joe
Carcia, NJ1Q, the AAN1ARL call sign was requested
to reflect both the holder of the license and the
various MARS services. (ARRL)


**

RADIO LAW: FCC PROPPOSES UNLICENED DEVICES ON UNUSED DTV CHANNELS

The Federal Communications Commission is
considering allowing unlicensed radio devices to
operate on locally unused broadcast TV
channels. The proposals are intended to allow
what the Commission terms as the development of
new and innovative types of unlicensed broadband
devices and services for businesses and
consumers. This, by utilizing vacant spectrum
that the FCC says to be particularly well suited for these purposes.

The cable TV industry has expressed anxiety that
such devices could cause interference to
television receivers connected directly to a
digital cable TV service without the use of a
set-top converter box. The concern exists
because the portion of TV spectrum that is not
used for TV broadcast in a given local area is
still likely to be used within the cable-TV transmission system.

The cable industry says that depending on the
effectiveness of shielding of a TV receiver's
tuner, emissions within an unused broadcast
channel could potentially cause co-channel
interference to a TV receiver tuned to a digital
cable channel that overlaps that same
spectrum. The FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology recently published a report on tests
to investigate this issue. (FCC, RW)

**

RADIO TECHNOLOGY: CITADEL TURNS OFF IBOC

Citing many complaints from listeners, Citadel
Broadcasting, the parent company of ABC Radio
network, has instructed all 10 of it's A-M
affiliates who had already converted to In Band
On Channel or IBOC digital, to cease night time use of the modulation
scheme.

Some complaints came from listeners of the IBOC
modulated stations. Others came from listeners
of adjacent channel stations, that were being
interfered with due to the bandwidth required fot digital operations.

Citadel's Director of Engineering is Marty
Stabbert. He's quoted as saying that due to the
lackluster performance, limited benefit and
various reports of significant interference,
Citadel is suspending nighttime IBOC operations.
He then directed the stations to reinstate their
previous procedures for daytime-only
Iboc operation as soon as possible. Daytime
IBOC for the ABC network affiliates is not affected at this time. (CGC)

**

RADIO ACCIDENT: TOWER WORKER KILLED IN FALL

Tower worker Daniel Plants of Triadelphia, West
Virginia fell to his death on Sept. 24th. This,
while working alone to dismantle a storm damaged
radio tower in East Deer Township, Pennsylvania.

According to press reports, Plants was an
experienced tower climber who worked regularly on
sites in the Pittsburgh area over the past 30
years. He was about half-way up the 200-foot
tower when he fell. Although he was wearing a
safety harness and other rigging gear, it was
unclear if it was attached to the tower at the time of the fall.

OSHA is investigating the accident. The tower is
owned by gospel station WGBN AM based in a suburb of Pittsburgh. (CGC)

**

RADIO RULES: NEW US 500 KHZ LICENSE

Richard Dillman from the Maritime Radio
Historical Society reports a new United States
class 1A common carrier Morse code coast station
has been licensed by the FCC. Station KDR has
been licensed to James A. Dalke in Bellevue,
Washington. Dalke is a broadcast engineer who
just happens to have a 5kW Medium
Frequency transmitter. KDR is licensed for
operation on 500Khz and 482KHz at 5 kW. Two
people made applications. Dalke's was granted on September 24th. (Various)

**

RADIO ON LINE: BETTER AUDIO WANTED

More and more, the home audio experience is
happening via the family computer. This,
according to the Consumer Electronics Association
which says that almost three quarters of online
adults in the United States are using home
computers to listen to audio content,.

While most home PC audio users are satisfied with
the audio experience, more than a third want
better sound quality. When forced to choose
between having a quality audio experience and
owning a large number of audio files, almost half
of home PC audio users chose quality over quantity the research stated.
(RW)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: NEAR-FEST IN NH ON OCT 12 - 13

The New England Amateur Radio Festival is slated
for on Friday October 12th and Saturday October
13th at the Deerfield Fairgrounds in Deerfield,
New Hampshire. Convening in May and October, the
NEAR-Fest celebrates the wonderful art and
science of Amateur Radio. And as General
Chairman Michael Crestohl, W1RC, tells us this
years proceeds will be used to fund a very special project:

--

W1RC: "The proceeds from this one are going to
finance an Amateur Radio Station at the Christa
McAuliffe Planeterium in Concord New Hampshire."

--

Cresthol says that the planetarium staff are very
excited at the prospect of having a radio station
they can exhibit and operate. They also hope too
use it to communicate directly with the
International Space Station and other NASA
facilities. A local area radio club has offered
to represent NEAR-Fest and assist Planetarium
staff members become licensed and proficient in the use of the equipment.

Again, that's the NEAR-Fest slated for October
12th and 13th at the Deerfield Fairgrounds in
Deerfield, New Hampshire with the proceeds going
to the establishment of a new Amateur Radio
station at the Christa McAuliffe Planeterium in
Concord New Hampshire. More is on-line at http://near-fest.com (W1RC)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: AMADOR CTY ARC SWAP MEET OCT 13 IN CA

On the other side of the country, California's
Amador County Amateur Radio Club holds its Swap
Meet on Saturday, October 13th. The location is
thre Martel Jackson area with talk-in on the
146.835 MHz repeater. For more information e-mail (E-mail)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: THE THIRD ANNUAL PARIS TEXAS HAMFEST

Also on Saturday October 13th is the Paris, Texas
Hamfest. Its being held at the Red River
Fairgrounds in Paris beginning at 8 a.m. local
time. This one has free parking, an indoor flea
market, forums, ham radio testing and lots
more. Talk-in is on the 147.040 MHz
repeater. It requires a 100 hertz sub audible
access tone. For more information contact
Richard Lenoir, KI5DX, at hi callbook address. (E-Mail)

**

RADIO HONORS: DARA TO PUBLISH FALLEN MILITARY HAM MEMORIAL

The Dayton Amateur Radio Association is looking
to honor silent key operators who have died in
service during the conflicts in Afghanistan or
Iraq. According to the ARRL Letter, DARA is
looking to publish a memorial page in the
Hamvention 2008 program. One that will list
these fallen hams by name, call sign, branch of service, rank and unit.
(ARRL)

**

RADIO HONORS: ARRL INVITES NOMINATIONS FOR 2007
INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AWARD

Nominations are being solicited for the 2007 ARRL
International Humanitarian Award. The honor is
presented to a ham or group of hams who
demonstrate devotion to human welfare, peace and
international understanding through Amateur Radio.

Nominations should include a summary of the
nominee's actions that qualify the individual or
individuals, plus verifying statements from at
least two people having first-hand knowledge of
the events warranting the nomination. Nominations
should also include the names and addresses of all references.

All nominations and supporting materials must be
submitted in writing in English to the ARRL
International Humanitarian Award, 225 Main St,
Newington, CT 06111 USA. Nomination submissions
are due by December 31st of this year. (ARRL)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: WA4SXM NAMED AMSAT VO FOR USER SERVICES

AMSAT President Rick Hambly, W2GPS, announced the
appointment of Gould Smith, WA4SXM, to the
position of AMSAT Vice President of User
Services. In his new position Smith will serve on
the Executive Team and will be responsible for
the leadership of a team that will include the
management of the AMSAT Journal. He will also
oversee the AMSAT New Service, the AMSAT HF radio
nets, Field Operations, Awards and Contests, the
Dayton Hamvention display and other duties as may
be assigned by the President or the Board. (ANS)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: VE7UQ IS NEW MANAGER FOR INCOMING QSL BUREAU FOR BC

Ken Clarke, VE7UQ, is the new Incoming QSL Bureau
manager for British Columbia, Canada. With this
change, the new address is the VE7-VA7 Incoming
QSL Bureau, 12441 - 58A Avenue, Surrey B.C. V3X
1X6. Clarke replaces Dennis Livesey, VE7DK, who
served in that post for the past 19 years. (RAC)

**

BREAK 2

This is ham radio news for today's radio
amateur. From the United States of America, We
are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the
world from our only official website at
www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the
volunteer services of the following radio amateur:

(5 sec pause here)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: THE POWER OF THE SHOE

Inventor Trevor Baylis hand-crank radio made him
the toast of Africa. Now he wants to unleash
pedestrian power world-wide. We have more in this report from the WIA News:

--

Its an electric shoe capable of charging batteries by pedestrian power
alone,
this for cell phones, two-way pagers, MP3 players, or just about any other
low-power portable gizmo.

Baylis's spiel: Put away those plugs, chuck those re-chargers and cords -
'cause juicing up will soon be as easy as a walk in the park.
This man is an avid inventor, from the non drip tea-pot to the talking
potty, a
children's toilet trainer that barks congratulations each time its occupant
performs to order. I dont think that one charges batteries though ....

So, back to his shoes, the heel insert is fashioned from piezoelectric
crystal,
and this when bent, squeezed, or struck, produces a high voltage at a very
low
current - rather like the static electricity created by rubbing fur on a
balloon.

Trevor went on to explain "We then put that charge back through a little
electronic circuit, which sorts it out before squirting it into the battery
of
the mobile phone - or "can't live without" electronic toy, held in a pouch
sewn
on the back of the boot."

--

It appears as if the man who gave us the crank-up
radio is inspired, once again. (WIA)

**

RADIO TRENDS: NEW GUIDELINES FOR AM BROADCASTING

The AM Broadcasting Subcommittee of the The
National Radio Systems Committee has adopted a
new guideline titled Bandwidth Options for Analog
AM Broadcasters. The document is a standard for
broadcasters who wish to operate their AM
facilities with audio bandwidths below 10
kHz. It also offers an explanation of why
reduced AM bandwidth may be advantageous.

Additionally, the AMB Subcommittee adopted a
guideline titled AM Pre-emphasis/de-emphasis and
Broadcast Audio Transmission Bandwidth
Specifications," and another to be known as
"Emission Limitation for AM Broadcast
Transmission." These are revisions to previously
adopted standards, as a result of the group's
periodic standards review process. (RW)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: IS THE PRICE REALLY RIGHT?

Here's something to think about the next time you
go out to buy a new radio or station
accessory. According to a new study, the amount
of the discount may be less important than the
numerical value of the farthest right digit.

This theory is explained in a new study from the
Journal of Consumer Research. Keith S. Coulter
of Clark University and Robin A. Coulter from the
University of Connecticut are the first to
identify a visual distortion effect that may
influence how consumers look at sale prices.

The researchers show that "right-digit effect"
influences consumer perception of sale prices.
When the right digits are small, people perceive
the discount to be larger than when the right
digits are large. In other words, an item on
sale for $211 from the original price of $222 is
thought to be a better deal than an item on sale
for $188 from an original price of $199, even
though both discounts are $11. Got that so far? Well theres more.

The researchers also find that when consumers
view regular and sale prices with identical left
digits, they perceive larger price discounts when
the right digits are "small" -- less than 5 --
than when they are "large," or, greater than 5.

The study's authors say that when consumers
examine multi-digit regular and sale prices in an
advertisement, they read those prices from
left-to-right. If the left digits are identical,
consumers will pay less attention to those
digits, and instead will focus primarily upon the
disparate right-most digits in the price comparison process.

The authors say that their findings indicate that
comparative price advertising can distort
consumers' perceptions in ways unintended by the
seller. Then again, its doubtful either of these
two gentlemen ever spent time at a hamfest to see
what real bargaining is -- first hand. (Journal of Consumer Research)

**


HAM RADIO TECHNOLOGY: DFCWI BEACON ON THE AIR

A beacon using the newly created DFC Wi type
modulation is on the air from the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday September 19th, the 10 GHz GB3SCX
beacon located in Dorset began operation using
the new modulation technique to assist in evaluation of the mode.

The GB3SCX beacon modulation still carries a
normal on/off CW identifier followed by 15
seconds of carrier on its G-P-S locked frequency
of 10368.905 MHz. This is then followed by a DFC
Wi transmission with tones 400 Hz higher for a
Dot and 600 Hz higher for a Dash.

DFC Wi stands for Dual Frequency CW, with a
third idle tone. It is described in more detail
at www.scrbg.org/g4jnt/ (GB2RS, Southgate)

**

DX

In D-X, the 3B7C team on St. Drandons went QRT
on September 25th around 03:31 UTC. The operation
netted 135,500 QSOs. This total makes this
expedition 3rd only to D68C and 3B9C. QSL information is on the 3B7C web
page.

And word that Southgate Amateur Radio Club
member, G3RWL will be active as 8P6DR from
Barbados through October 14th. He plans to
operate CW and digital modes on 80 through 10 meters.
QSL via G3RWL, direct or bureau. E-mail requests
for bureau cards can be sent to g3rwl at amsat.org.

Lastly, FO5RK, reports that his planned
Dxpedition to Rotuma as 3D2AG/P is on
schedule. His operation will take place between
December 2007 and January 2008 with the actual
dates will be announced later. FO5RK will be
managing his own QSL requests upon his return
home. Upon his return home, he will have his logs available on-line.

(From various DX sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: T-HUNTING FOR THE BIRDS

Since 1998, hams and other VHF listeners have
been helping biologists by listening for pulsed
signals from radio collars and tags. This fall's
project involves another endangered
bird. Newsline's Joe Moell K0OV has the details.
--

Fall is here and North American birds are heading
south to find winter homes. Every year, Eastern
Loggerhead Shrikes leave nesting grounds in
Ontario, Canada, but fewer and fewer are
returning in the spring. Scientists want to know
what happens to these critically endangered
songbirds, and they're asking for our help.

Researchers at the University of Guelph in
Ontario have placed radio tags on 16 young
shrikes. They need assistance from hams and
monitoring enthusiasts in eastern states to find
out if the birds end up in Florida as expected, or
somewhere else. You can help from the comfort of
your hamshack by tuning in regularly to the tag
frequencies, which are between 172 and 173 MHz.

The complete frequency list is at my Web site,
along with articles to help you distinguish the
tags from other signals you may hear there. Get
started now, because these Loggerhead Shrike tags
will only be active into November. The
information is at _www.homingin.com_
(http://www.homingin.com) . That's homingin, as one word.

Thanks in advance for your help. From southern
California, this is Joe Moell, K0OV, for Amateur Radio Newsline.

--

Again that website is www dot homing in dot com. (K0OV, ARNewsline(tm))



NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the
CGC Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio
Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the
RSGB, the Southgate News and Australia's W-I-A
News, that's all from the Amateur Radio
Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is
. More information is
available at Amateur Radio Newsline's(tm) only
official website located at
www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or
support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), P.O. Box
660937, Arcadia, California 91066.

For now, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, fresh off an
Airbus 320 from Denver Colorado saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

In "William M. Pasternak" writes:

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1573 - October 7, 2007

[...]

ASSISTED RADIO LIVING: HIGH POSTAGE RATES COULD DOOM CASSETTE-CASTERS

If you are a visually impaired radio amateur and
get your ham radio news or any information from
radio reading services, listen up. A recent
postage increase in the United States may doom a
lot of the cassette based reading
services. Services that cannot mail using the
Postal Services Free Matter category, and which
do not have some other way to generate
revenue. Several tape based reading services
have hinted that they will close their doors in
December once there are no longer any funds for
postage. Fred Vobbe, W8HDU, has mo

--

Recently, we were dealt a great disservice by the
United States Postal Service. The cost to mail a
cassette tape has increased from 63 cents to $1.30.

According to the USPS, the issue is that the
postal regulations have changed. Any item
thicker than 1/4 inch is now subject to this new higher rate.

Ironically, its now cheaper to send a tape
Canada, the United Kingdom or even Kuwait, than
it is to someone right down the street from me. Go figure.

Now, I am a member of the Lions Club, and I have
talked to several other magazines-on-tape. This
postage increase has been hurting a lot of cassette tape magazines.

Those that are not sending "Free Matter" and are
not subsidized, either have to pass their costs
on to their subscribers, or they go out of business.

I'm Fred Vobbe, W8HDU.

[...]

I don't know a lot of detail about the economics of this, particularly
at the bulk/wholesale level, but I wonder if switching to CD-R's would
be a reasonable alternative at this point. At retail at least, I
observe that spindled CD-R's are about as cheap, if not slightly less
so, than cassette tapes. CD players with headphones are approaching
$10-$15 at box retailers, and CD-capable drives are ubiquitous in most
households that have either PC's or DVD players, so this shouldn't be a
hardship for the listeners, either. I recall a CBS "60 Minutes" piece
about NetFlix, where they determined that a DVD could be mailed in a
simple flat envelope inexpensively, and the odds of accidental breakage
was low enough, that it was cheaper over large quantities to send it
that way and just send a replacement for the occasional broken disc.
CD-R's mailed that way would at least be under the 1/4" limit, and would
save the extra postage.

There would be the need to set up CD burning equipment, but most
standard PC's seem to already come with CD burners, and are not that
expensive to buy separately. Whatever investment in new equipment by
both sender and receiver would appear to be quickly offset by the saved
postage multiplied over many bulk mailings.

Is one possible issue that the recipients like to reuse the cassettes?
If so, then going to CD-RW's might be an option if they are not
cost-prohibitive.

- --
Paul W. Schleck

http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/
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"Paul W. Schleck" wrote in message
...

[snip]

I don't know a lot of detail about the economics of this, particularly
at the bulk/wholesale level, but I wonder if switching to CD-R's would
be a reasonable alternative at this point. At retail at least, I
observe that spindled CD-R's are about as cheap, if not slightly less
so, than cassette tapes. CD players with headphones are approaching
$10-$15 at box retailers, and CD-capable drives are ubiquitous in most
households that have either PC's or DVD players, so this shouldn't be a
hardship for the listeners, either. I recall a CBS "60 Minutes" piece
about NetFlix, where they determined that a DVD could be mailed in a
simple flat envelope inexpensively, and the odds of accidental breakage
was low enough, that it was cheaper over large quantities to send it
that way and just send a replacement for the occasional broken disc.
CD-R's mailed that way would at least be under the 1/4" limit, and would
save the extra postage.

There would be the need to set up CD burning equipment, but most
standard PC's seem to already come with CD burners, and are not that
expensive to buy separately. Whatever investment in new equipment by
both sender and receiver would appear to be quickly offset by the saved
postage multiplied over many bulk mailings.

Is one possible issue that the recipients like to reuse the cassettes?
If so, then going to CD-RW's might be an option if they are not
cost-prohibitive.

One thought that occurs to me (because I have personal experience of it) is
that some disabled people may actually not be able to physically handle
CD's. I know this because my brother is one of them. He is severely
physically disabled, has cerebral palsy and simply cannot pick up a CD/DVD
from its case and put it into a player. He can just about, with a lot of
physical effort, put a cassette into a tape player and set it running, but
he has a lot of difficulty manipulating the controls and is always chewing
up tapes due to continually stopping/starting/winding them.

He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them
onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his
own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The trouble
is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Those
stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are exhausted
they won't be having any more.

What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?)
will do then is anybody's guess.

73 Ivor G6URP

Ivor Jones wrote:

He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them
onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his
own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The trouble
is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Those
stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are exhausted
they won't be having any more.

What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?)
will do then is anybody's guess.

Hi Ivor,

This might be a solution.

Radio stations now use "cart" software, instead of the cartridges of old.

I've seen some of this software, at least for the mac - I'm certain that
PC has them too. The sound or music is selected and played after being
digitized and placed on a hard drive. In this way, the CD's can be
digitized into MP3's, and he can select by pushing a key or use a mouse
if he is capable.

I don't know all the particulars of the situation, but maybe this could
help?

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

"Ivor Jones" schreef in bericht
...
"Paul W. Schleck" wrote in message
...

[snip]

I don't know a lot of detail about the economics of this, particularly
at the bulk/wholesale level, but I wonder if switching to CD-R's would
be a reasonable alternative at this point. At retail at least, I
observe that spindled CD-R's are about as cheap, if not slightly less
so, than cassette tapes. CD players with headphones are approaching
$10-$15 at box retailers, and CD-capable drives are ubiquitous in most
households that have either PC's or DVD players, so this shouldn't be a
hardship for the listeners, either. I recall a CBS "60 Minutes" piece
about NetFlix, where they determined that a DVD could be mailed in a
simple flat envelope inexpensively, and the odds of accidental breakage
was low enough, that it was cheaper over large quantities to send it
that way and just send a replacement for the occasional broken disc.
CD-R's mailed that way would at least be under the 1/4" limit, and would
save the extra postage.

There would be the need to set up CD burning equipment, but most
standard PC's seem to already come with CD burners, and are not that
expensive to buy separately. Whatever investment in new equipment by
both sender and receiver would appear to be quickly offset by the saved
postage multiplied over many bulk mailings.

Is one possible issue that the recipients like to reuse the cassettes?
If so, then going to CD-RW's might be an option if they are not
cost-prohibitive.

One thought that occurs to me (because I have personal experience of it) is
that some disabled people may actually not be able to physically handle
CD's. I know this because my brother is one of them. He is severely
physically disabled, has cerebral palsy and simply cannot pick up a CD/DVD
from its case and put it into a player. He can just about, with a lot of
physical effort, put a cassette into a tape player and set it running, but
he has a lot of difficulty manipulating the controls and is always chewing
up tapes due to continually stopping/starting/winding them.

He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them
onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his
own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The trouble
is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Those
stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are exhausted
they won't be having any more.

What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?)
will do then is anybody's guess.

!. there must be huge stockpiles of cassettes at institutions or private housholds
who used them. They are not blank, but can be used. The only problem is to find them
before they are thrown away.
In Holland you can find hundreds of them in recycling stores.

2. second solution is to find another way of packing the CD. No jewel box but paper
or plastic sleaves or something else?

MRE

"Ivor Jones" wrote in message
...

One thought that occurs to me (because I have personal experience of it)
is that some disabled people may actually not be able to physically handle
CD's. I know this because my brother is one of them. He is severely
physically disabled, has cerebral palsy and simply cannot pick up a CD/DVD
from its case and put it into a player. He can just about, with a lot of
physical effort, put a cassette into a tape player and set it running, but
he has a lot of difficulty manipulating the controls and is always chewing
up tapes due to continually stopping/starting/winding them.

He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them
onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his
own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The
trouble is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.
Those stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are
exhausted they won't be having any more.

What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?)
will do then is anybody's guess.

73 Ivor G6URP


Ivor ,
Here is a possible solution.
I use a Sony DVD "Disk Explorer". My old model holds 200 disks. It will play
audio CD's, MP3's, WMA, DVD, Video CD,s etc. They make/made a newer model
that holds 300 disks. I know these units can be cascaded via jacks on the
back of the units. I bet there are similar audio CD only units out there.
Once loaded with disks, the disks never need to be touched again.
73, Ace - WH2T


..

As I understand it -- at least here in the USA -- the Radio Reading
Services (RRS) are locked into cassette tapes for the foreseeable
future. This is because the players (and player recorders) are
specifically designed to be "blind friendly" as defined by the Americans
in Disability Act.

While many sightless people can manipulate CD players, there is no
established "standard" as there are for cassettes and no real impetus to
create one. Don't hold your breath waiting.

B-T-W: Most RRS tapes run at 15/16 IPS -- half the speed of the normal
1 7/8 IPS of cassette machines -- tho some like those my friend Hap
Holly KC9RP (Of RAIN fame) are dual speed.

At low speed a C-120 (2 hr) cassette will store 4 hours of voice quality
sound. Another reason that the cassette is so popular with the RSS.

de
Bill P. / WA6ITF


Ivor Jones wrote:
"Paul W. Schleck" wrote in message
...

[snip]

I don't know a lot of detail about the economics of this, particularly
at the bulk/wholesale level, but I wonder if switching to CD-R's would
be a reasonable alternative at this point. At retail at least, I
observe that spindled CD-R's are about as cheap, if not slightly less
so, than cassette tapes. CD players with headphones are approaching
$10-$15 at box retailers, and CD-capable drives are ubiquitous in most
households that have either PC's or DVD players, so this shouldn't be a
hardship for the listeners, either. I recall a CBS "60 Minutes" piece
about NetFlix, where they determined that a DVD could be mailed in a
simple flat envelope inexpensively, and the odds of accidental breakage
was low enough, that it was cheaper over large quantities to send it
that way and just send a replacement for the occasional broken disc.
CD-R's mailed that way would at least be under the 1/4" limit, and would
save the extra postage.

There would be the need to set up CD burning equipment, but most
standard PC's seem to already come with CD burners, and are not that
expensive to buy separately. Whatever investment in new equipment by
both sender and receiver would appear to be quickly offset by the saved
postage multiplied over many bulk mailings.

Is one possible issue that the recipients like to reuse the cassettes?
If so, then going to CD-RW's might be an option if they are not
cost-prohibitive.

One thought that occurs to me (because I have personal experience of it) is
that some disabled people may actually not be able to physically handle
CD's. I know this because my brother is one of them. He is severely
physically disabled, has cerebral palsy and simply cannot pick up a CD/DVD
from its case and put it into a player. He can just about, with a lot of
physical effort, put a cassette into a tape player and set it running, but
he has a lot of difficulty manipulating the controls and is always chewing
up tapes due to continually stopping/starting/winding them.

He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them
onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his
own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The trouble
is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Those
stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are exhausted
they won't be having any more.

What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?)
will do then is anybody's guess.

73 Ivor G6URP

Bill Pasternak wrote:

At low speed a C-120 (2 hr) cassette will store 4 hours of voice quality
sound. Another reason that the cassette is so popular with the RSS.

But this capacity pales in comparison to digital devices. I was amazed
to discover that some of those little hand-held digital recorders store
144 hours of "extra high-quality" sound. That technology sure has
changed since I last looked at it.

73, Steve KB9X