SOME MORE THOUGHTS ..
In our last issue we reported about the youngster, students at the Mikve Israel School, who had
passed their ‘Technical License’ exams and are learning the Morse Code to become full fledged ‘B’
Class (or General Class) Radio Amateurs license holders, permitting access to all the ham bands.
In the class there are at the moment 10 of these guys with the edition of two ‘Grown ups’ who hold
the same license class. Starting off, teaching how to write the various capital letters, required in
Israel, in an efficient, clear and easy to read way.
For the outset it was clear for me, that I wouldn’t have any problems with the adults and two of the
youngsters who’s parents were also fully licensed amateurs. Those four knew exactly what they are
aiming for. The others were still a big question mark. To my big surprise, only one started a
discussion on the necessity of learning the code at all. Many arguments against this requirement were
produced. We, who do hold licenses for many years, have heard those arguments time and again.
The counter arguments, I brought up, didn’t convince him. The net result - to this day he lags behind
the others and I wonder if he will finish at all. The only reason that he keeps on going is the fact that
his school mates will hold a valid ‘B’ class license in a few weeks while he will have to look on and
just ‘listening’ to the QSO his co-students will have on the HF bands. This would, probably, have a
degrading effect on him. Realizing this fact he now makes a bigger effort to cope with the Code. In
any case he is, unfortunately, the bad apple in the basket, who spells the notion around that in 2003
the CW will be dropped from the official requirements. But will it?
This discussion is probably raging in all member societies of IARU. But then, are we going
willingly to annihilate ourselves, if not by other causes, and value us down just to become a CB
community operator were nothing is holy and nothing has to be done to receive a radio amateur
license? We ‘Old Timers’ do definitely not consider ourselves to be an ‘elite’. But than each of us
had proved over and over again that we are worthy holders of our ‘piece of paper’. Hopefully, one
day in the not too far future, our new friends will realize that amateur radio is some thing quite
different then ‘Web surfing’, without the daily upsets on the Internet, receiving Junk Mail in ever
increasing volume. Some of them, lately offering me to be bestowed with any requires document
proving my proficiency in any field! Might be one even can apply to get a ‘genuine’ Radio Amateur
License - who knows?!....... (de 4X1AT)

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
At last. We waited for this to happen quite a few years, but now it has become a reality. Our
American fellow hams are now, after the FCC accepted and joined in with the CEPT regulations
regarding Amateur Radio, and finally they do not need any special permits to operate in any country
who is a member of that CEPT regulation TR60 - 1. Neither do their next door neighbors our good
friends from Canada. So welcome to Europe and 6 other non- European countries like Israel, New
Zealand and Peru and happy hamming in our countries. If you come to Israel you just have to bring
along your valid licence (not a photocopy) and add a 4X/ in front of your own callsign and you are in
business.
The Israeli amateurs are welcoming you. For years you had to apply for a reciprocal license and
even had to pay for it. During the last three years there was still the need to request such a license but
it was free of any charge (like we Israelis never had to pay a dime for a license in the States). But
now, at last, all this is behind us. If you would like to get full info about our repeater system in
Israel, just drop us a line or by E-Mail, either to Joseph Obstfeld 4X6KJ <josepho@shani.net> or
<4x1at@ibm.net>. In any case do remember - in 4X you need a subtone of 91.5 Hz. to access any of
our repeaters. We hope to hear you! Info also on the IARC web site: www.iarc.org
 

TECHSAT – WHERE ARE YOU ?
A few months ago Assi Ben Shalom 4X1KX wrote a piece in the Hebrew HAGAL magazine
bemoaning the fact that the Techsat satellite, Israel’s first “hamsat” now about a year since its
successful launch had not yet been released for amateur use. He took to task the Technion Institute
chiefs of this project, and suggested the world amateur community condemn them for using amateur
frequencies for non-amateur use.
Shlomo Menuhin 4X1AS, IARC liason officer to AMSAT, told us that soon the satellite will be
commissioned for the amateur radio digital communications use that it had been intended. We
eagerly anticipate that happy day.

REPEATER NEWS
Repeaters R3 and R78 have had voice cards installed in order to record and automatically
transmitvoice bulletins on these machines. Itzik 4Z4ZH gave an informative talk at the Haifa Bet
Miller club in which he explained the intricacies of the IARC repeater network.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 33 YEARS
On December 26, 1965, the 4X4HK radio club made a QSO. Many of us know this callsign very
well. We’ll tell the rest of you that this is the call of the communications and electronics school of the
Israel Defence Forces’ signal corps. As a result of this on the air contact, a QSL card was sent out to
Germany. This year, finally, it came back, stamped “UNKNOWN”. The wonders of the sojourns of
QSL cards in the world. (Thanks to 4X6LM, HAGAL magazine for this as well as the subsequent
items.)

A LETTER OF THANKS
Ronen Pinchuk 4Z4ZQ received a letter from the Royal Palace in Amman Jordan. Ronen had sent
a letter of condolence when he learned of the passing of King Hussein JY1. The reply was warm and
very touching. The web site of the Israel Amateur Radio Club www.iarc.org which is managed by Ronen
and Tidhar 4Z5CA was of the first in the world to update its home page with a picture of King
Hussein and an obituary.

A FIELD DAY was held in the Silent Keys’ Forest, sponsored by the Internet provider “Netvision”.
Two stations were set up on the site, transmitting both in Morse and voice. As well as warming the
ionosphere, the already hot summer air was further warmed by the barbecues of the 15 families of
radio amateurs present.

IN JERUSALEM a science exhibit is to be held, and one of the activities to be featured is a ham
station. This is an opportunity to make ourselves known to the young lovers of science in the
nation’s capital city. Ziv 4X1UK is co-ordinating the activity and invites Jerusalem hams to man the
station.

IN NETANYA the radio club 4X6EU is active. The club’s aim is to prepare the “white-caners”
(sightless and visually impaired) for the amateur radio examinations. The club is on the air on
Saturday nights between 8 to 10 PM, during which time its members may be heard on the air. Some
of them already have their own licences and can be heard here on the repeaters.