NEW COORDINATING BODY ESTABLISHED IN ARIZONA!

In Arizona, a new coordinating body has been established; the name of this group is the Arizona Spectrum Mangagement Association. The ASMA's founder is Rick Wiglesworth, N0NKU, of Apache Junction, Arizona.

The new group came about as a result of the continued corruption and political games being played in the state of Arizona. Many repeater owners, including Rick, have had a very difficult time obtaining frequency coordination for their repeaters. After a long period of trying to work positively and effectively with ARCA coordinators, Mr. Wiglesworth began his own coordinating group, which is quite legal under Part 97 of the FCC rules.

We, the NOWARE group and it's affiliated repeater clubs, commend Rick on his fine work in circumnavigating the stumbling blocks, and MAKING IT HAPPEN! This should be a good example to any other state which is experiencing similar difficulties. Arizona's amateur community is in good hands now.

If you would like to get more information on the ASMA or have YOUR Arizona repeater coordinated by the ASMA, contact Rick Wiglesworth N0NKU. He can be emailed at "n0nku@juno.com".

TOWERS MOUNTAIN REPEATER INSTALLATION NEWS

Despite all of the corruption and difficulties faced in this ongoing process, I am glad to finally say that we have won the battles that we and our group members and friends have had to deal with over many years. As you know, Larry KI7AX finally received all paperwork from the coordinators that he had been waiting on, and so after two years of waiting, things had finally been resolved. It was about time!!

At this time, I am happy to say that Rick N0NKU, who has faced many challenges along the way in getting his Towers Mountain repeater up and running, has finally won his battle for Towers Mountain. Rick has fought the ARCA coordinators AS WELL as a particular amateur radio operator who has caused difficulties in the past at repeater sites.

Recently, Rick's 440 repeater (of the Southwest Intertie System) was FINALLY installed atop Towers Mountain. However, due to technical problems, it was pulled out after 12 hours of operation. This problem should be solved within a few weeks, commented Rick. BUT, the point is that it was INSTALLED, and his stumbling blocks have been overcome.

Congratulations Rick, from the gang!

Here is some information directly from Rick, regarding Towers Mountain:

Tuesday the Towers Mountain transmitter was installed on the hill and ran for about 12 hours. I noticed that the Cactus link transmitter is causing spurs (Spurious Emissions) this was measured prior to my installation. It is not a major issue at this time. The radio quit after approx 12 hours and I retrieved it today to discover a malfunction on the audio squelch board. Was not processing DTMF or audio properly. I have pulled the radio and am going to order another pair of channel elements for another radio and am going to install 2 repeaters on the same frequency. 1 will be a "hot" standby and can be used if the other radio dies. The reason for this is because the drive to the site is one hell of a long way 3 hours minimum. Hopefully everything will continue as planned and we will have Towers up in a few more weeks.

------------THAT'S ALL FOR THIS WEEK! TUNE IN NEXT WEDNESDAY FOR UPDATED NEWS ON "COORDINATION IN ARIZONA"; I'LL BE OUT OF TOWN FOR FOUR DAYS AND WILL HOPEFULLY GATHER SOME ADDITIONAL NEWS IN MY TRAVELS-----------------

73, Matt "The Editor"