Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1971 August 7 2015

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1971 with a release date of
Friday, August 7, 2015 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Hams worldwide prepare for International
Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. The U.S. Navy tries to rein in a
satellite thats gone rogue. In Arizona, hams fine-tune their
emergency communications skills. And a trio of Australian DXers hits
the winter slopes, but not just for skiing. All this and more in
Amateur Radio Newsline report 1971 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)
Here is this weeks news with Anchors Don Wilbanks, AE5DW and Stephen
Kinford, N8WB:

EVENT: SHIPS A GUIDING LIGHT
As hams around the world prepare for the International Lighthouse
and Lightship Weekend on August 15 and 16, one shining beacon in
Sweden is glowing with the light of a little extra pride. Its the
Lightship Finngrundet, a museum ship in Stockholm that had been
built in 1903 and was in service until its decommissioning in 1969.
Its just become the 400th participant to register for next weekends
global event.
The S”dert”rns Radio Amateur club, S-K-ZERO-Q-OH (SK0QO) plans to
put the former marine navigation aid on the air for the two-day
event as SEVEN-S-ZERO-S-F-J (7S0SFJ). The moored lightship is among
numerous ones around the world now registered, along with an
international collective of lighthouses, for the amateur radio weekend.
This is a very different role for the Swedish lightship from the one
it was built to have at the turn of the earlier century. As an aid
to navigation then, it would emit two consecutive light flashes,
every 20 seconds, as its signature and it was visible for a distance
of 11 nautical miles.
Now with the hams using the ship to sail their signals across the
ionosphere, the club is hoping the Lightship Finngrundet will really
go the distance in connecting them to some memorable QSOs.

(SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS)
EVENT: WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT
Theres more action happening on the water for another group of hams.
These amateurs also happen to be avid boaters, and theyre preparing
to catch a really big wave. Forty meters big, in this case.
They're gathering for an event, known as British Inland Waterways On
The Air, taking place August 29 to 31st - a bank holiday weekend in
Britain. Boating radio amateurs plan to use those days as an
opportunity to connect with other boaters around the country.
The primary band will be 40 meters, but communications will not be
restricted to just one band if conditions permit. Interested? Send
an email to biwota2015@gmail.com ,
providing basic information such as your name, call sign, home and
club location, and other relevant details.
The boating hams are hoping for what else? smooth sailing.

PUBLIC SAFETY: IT PAYS TO BE PREPARED
Arizona hams have a chance to fine-tune their emergency
communications skills on August 29 and 30 at a state-sponsored
training to be held in Phoenix. The two free 10-hour sessions at the
Papago Park Military Reservation, will give volunteers the basics of
relevant FCC rules and regulations, appropriate etiquette in an
Emergency Operations Center as well as on the air, emergency
communications deployment, and other tools. To participate, youll
need a valid amateur radio license and certificates of completion
for FEMA courses 100b, 200b, 700a and 800b. For more information,
visit their website at triple-w-dot-az-dash-ares-dot-org
(www.az-ares.org ). Or call 602-464-6225.
(ARIZONA DEPT. OF EMERGENCY AND MILITARY AFFAIRS)

NAMES IN THE NEWS
A number of hams around the globe have made headlines this week:
HOLLY THOMAS: LIKE FATHER LIKE DAUGHTER
Ten-year-old Holly Thomas is accustomed to studying for tests that
score her good grades, but one of the latest exams she took granted
the young scholar something else - national acclaim and a radio
license: The Welsh girl passed her amateur radio test scoring 20 out
of 26 questions correctly - becoming what is believed to be Wales
youngest radio amateur.
Her father, Christopher Thomas, M-W-ZERO-H-A-C, (MW0HAC), of Copper
Quarter, Morfa in Wales, thinks it is simply in his words
incredible. QUOTE I have been involved with amateur radio for 30
years, since I was 17, and she has been watching me over the years,
he says. I used to catch her in the room listening to the radio at a
young age. CLOSE QUOTE.
In addition to her dad, Holly has not been without her own group of
Elmers locally: Thomas says his daughters devotion to her radio
studies has found her meeting with fellow hams, for the past four
months, at the local amateur radio society every Monday after school.
As for Holly, she says it is all about making new friends. QUOTE
"Ham radio is awesome, everybody should get involved," she says. "I
enjoy making friends with people and I have friends in Australia,
New Zealand and America."END QUOTE
(THE SOUTH WALES EVENING POST)

FRANK AND LYNN SKINNER: TAKING IT FROM THE TOP
Frank and Lynn Skinner, a mountain-climbing couple from Colorado
Springs, the notion of Peak-to-Peak power means something a little
different.
Frank Skinner, K-ZERO-J-Q-Z, (K0JQZ) a retired Air Force master
sergeant now working as a civilian on Peterson Air Force Base,
spends time cimbing the rocks in the Pikes Peak region with his wife
Lynn, K-C-ZERO-Y-Q-F, (KC0YQF) a special education teacher. The
couple takes along a miniature radio inside a small metal tin that
used to hold breath mints and are aided by a 9-volt battery and a
35-foot wire. Its enough power and equipment for them to send and
receive Morse Code, one of the modes they use. The higher the
altitude, generally, the less the interference.
The Skinners have become a top-competing team of activators in
Summits on the Air, with Frank Skinner in 32nd place nationally,
with 860 points, and Lynn Skinner in 47th place. Her 528 points have
made her the top female activator in the United States.

(THE COLORADO GAZETTE)
THREE HONORED BY YASME FOUNDATION
Three hams have been given the Yasme Excellence Award for what the
groups directors deem a significant contribution to amateur radio
whether operational, technical or organizational. They are:
Mike Mertel, K-7-I-R, (K7IR), of Washington State, for his
revolutionary invention of a tunable Yagi antenna that was later
made available to the amateur radio community under the brand name
SteppIR
Koos Fockens, P-A-ZERO-K-D-F, (PAOEKDF), of the Netherlands, for his
investigations, measurements and publications regarding noise in the
amateur radio bands that played a key role in the global fight
against Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) interference
James Ying, N-2-I-W, (N2IW), of Rochester, New York, for his
creation of an on-line scheduling application that was used by many
W1AW/portable operations during the 2014 ARRL Centennial and remains
available without charge
The award consists of a cash grant and an engraved crystal globe.

SATELLITES: FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
Is there life after death? When it comes to the U.S. Navys PCSAT
NO-44, a satellite launched 14 years ago by the U.S. military, the
answer is most definitely yes.
The satellite, licensed in the Amateur Satellite service, was
originally designed to be a status reporting and message
communications transmitter exclusively over the United States, using
the Automatic Position Reporting System, or APRS.
But it appears to have taken off on an orbit of its own and is now
intermittently blasting European amateurs, mainly on the part of the
spectrum around 150 MHz. Thats left Navy officials at a loss as to
how they might rein it in.
The satellite, which had been plagued by battery issues early on
that was causing it to reset, had its mission declared dead in 2003.
According to the AMSAT website, QUOTE Since this time, there have
been numerous attempts to recover the satellite but further attempts
have been stopped. NO-44 remains active when conditions are
favorable for sunlight, usually in mid-day passes, although by the
time it covers about 30 to 45 minutes into eclipse, power drops.
CLOSE QUOTE.
PCSAT was built with a backup fail-safe beacon on 144.39 MHz that
would activate after a reset providing a backup link if 145.825 MHz,
the primary channel, died. The satellite resets on every orbit as a
result of its negative power budget.
Time, of course, is on everyones side, since solar cells will
eventually lose their ability to hold a charge and the orbit will
simply decay. But the satellites prospects of burning up and leaving
the realm of the undead are believed to be decades away. And so the
interference, like the satellite, lives on. And on.
(AMSAT, QRZNOW, The UK Register)

GOING BACK IN TIME
Time may seem to stand still at least for a few moments - at WWV,
the National Institute of Standards and Technologys HF radio station
in Fort Collins, Colorado. The time and frequency standard station
is celebrating the completion of its successful first year with a
restored vertical dipole, one it had stopped making use of in 1977.
Last year, the 25 MHz signal went back to transmitting at the
antennas original location for the first time, on an experimental
basis. The experiment, it seems, worked just fine.
Matt Deutch N-ZERO-R-G-T (N0RGT), WWVs lead electrical engineer,
told ARRL that when the 25 MHz broadcast returned last year, a
broadband monopole was the antenna the station first used. But the
monopole was eventually paired with the stations 2.5 MHz standby
transmitter. Thats when the decision was made to resurrect the older
vertical dipole which, he said, after restoration now looks just
like it looked in 1977. He said the vertical dipole has a lower
angle of radiation than the broadband monopole did, and now has a
transmitter of its own, radiating 2.5 kilowatts. The signal provides
a way for radio operators to check their frequency calibration or
determine the exact time of day, and can also help with propagation
conditions on both 10 and 12 meters.
WWV welcomes signal reports and comments sent to its email address
at wwv-at-nist-dot-gov (wwv@nist.gov ).
(ARRL, KH6JRMs Amateur Radio Blog)

BREAK
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world. We are being
relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio amateur:
(5 second pause)

AUTHOR, AUTHOR
Youve probably heard of the Elf on a Shelf, a Christmas figure
designed to inspire good behavior. Well, think of Don Keith,
N-4-K-C, (N4KC), as the Elmer on a Shelf: The prolific author has
just published two books that help newcomers sort out the
often-confusing business of being a successful ham. He spoke this
week with Amateur Radio Newslines Cheryl Lasek, K-9-B-I-K, (K9BIK).
Here is the first of two parts of their conversation:
[Cheryls interview with Don Keith]
Be listening next week when Cheryl concludes her talk with author
Don Keith on Amateur Radio Newsline.
CUBESAT PAIRS UP
Its a match made in the heavens or at least FOR the heavens: AMSAT
reports that its Fox-1A CubeSat has been paired with the Centaur
rocket, which means the newly mated couple will be ready for launch
this fall from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California.
AMSAT expressed hope for the new launch on its Meet-the-Fox-Project
web page saying QUOTE - This provides us with a way to put ham radio
transponders into orbit and provides our university partners with a
reliable platform for space-based research projects, ENDQUOTE.
The original announced launch date had been Aug. 27 but earlier this
year, AMSAT moved the date to late September. The satellite will be
carrying a Mode B FM transponder with an uplink frequency of 435.180
MHz, and a downlink frequency of 145.980 MHz. It will initially
allow contacts from ground stations using HTs and dual-band
antennas, and will also transmit continuous telemetry during normal
transponder operation.
This is the latest in a series of CubeSats AMSAT has put together
carrying amateur radio payloads. The satellites also support the
work of universities on scientific and educational missions.
(ARRL, AMSAT)

THE WORLD OF DX E5, SOUTH COOK ISLANDS (Update)
Milan, O-K-1-D-W-C (OK1DWC), is using call sign E-5-1-D-W-C (E51DWC)
from the Rarotonga Islands (OC-013, WAZ - 32) where the Czech
amateur will be at least through September. Part of his reason for a
visit to the Islands is to celebrate his birthday, he told the
Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter. He will be working 160 meters through 10
meters, holiday style, and his activity will include the 30/17/12
meter bands, using CW, SSB and RTTY. Milan reports that by the last
week in July, he had made 12,000 QSOs. Send QSLs via his home call sign.
(OHIO PENN DX BULLETIN, ARRL DX BULLETIN)

THE 3RD TIME IS THE CHARM
As part of a barter agreement between NASA and Italy's ASI space
agency, Italian ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, I-Z-ZERO-J-P-A
(IZ0JPA), has been chosen for a trip to the International Space
Station in May 2017. The Milan native holds bachelors and masters
degrees from the Polytechnic Institute of New York, and is a
professional engineer, pilot and diver. He joined European Space
Agencys European Astronaut Centre in 1995.
The Italian Army veteran will be making his third trip into space
when he launches aboard a Soyuz vehicle. His first flight into space
was in a short-duration flight in 2007 - a two-week mission on the
Space Shuttle's STS-120. His job was to help install the Space
Station's Node-2 module.
His 2017 flight will be ASI's third long-duration flight, coming
after the 2013 trip taken by Luca Parmitano, K-F-5-K-D-P, (KF5KDP)
and Samantha Cristoforetti, I-Z-ZERO-U-D-F (IZ0UDF) this year.
(NASA)

And while were on the topic of the International Space Station, we
close out our newscast with word that something very special is
brewing on board there. Mike Askins, K-E-5-C-X-P, (KE5CXP), has that
story:
HEAVENLY COFFEE
Theres nothing like sitting at the window with a nice hot cup of
coffee and watching the world pass by. Now the astronauts on the
International Space Station can do just that. Instant coffee has
always been available on the ISS but now, for the first time, it can
be enjoyed freshly brewed. Italian retailer Lavazza and Argotec, the
provider of space food for European astronauts have joined forces
and created the ISSpresso, a device that overcomes the unique
challenges of brewing coffee in space. Quoting here: "Making coffee
in space isn't easy," Argotec officials said. "This is the first
capsule espresso machine that can work in the extreme conditions in
space, where the principles that determine the fluid dynamic
characteristics of liquids and mixtures are very different from
those typically found on earth." Unquote. The microwave-sized box
uses capsules, similar to a Keurig machine, to brew the caffeinated
beverage, as well as other hot drinks, such as caffŠ lungo, tea, hot
chocolate and broth. Fittingly, Italian astronaut and java fiend
Samantha Cristoforetti was the first to try the new machine after it
was installed May 3rd. And because no self-respecting coffee lover
would ever drink their latte with a straw, a special plastic, 3-D
printed cup was designed to cope with the demands imposed by
microgravity. So now when youre sitting at your window with a hot
cup of joe watching the world pass by you can delight in the fact
that maybe, somewhere way up in the sky, an astronaut is doing the
exact same thing. Except the view up there repeats every 90 minutes.
Im Mike Askins, KE5,CXP in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, DXWorld, Hap
Holly and the Rain Report; NASA, the Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter;
Philippine Amateur Radio Association; Russ Roberts/KH6JRM, Southgate
Amateur Radio News, TWiT TV, QRZNOW, and you our listeners. Our
email address for news tips and comments is arnewslinetips@gmail.com
. More information is available at
Amateur Radio Newsline's only official website located at
www.arnewsline.org . You can also write
to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline, 28197 Robin Avenue,
Santa Clarita, CA 91350.
For now, Im Don Wilbanks AE5DW in New Orleans with Stephen Kinford,
N8WBX, in Wadsworth, Ohio, Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news
desk in New York, and our news team worldwide saying 73 and as
always we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.


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