Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1980 October 9 2015

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1980 with a release date of Friday, 
October 9, 2015 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Hams step up to assist in the South Carolina's 
biggest flooding since Hurricane Floyd. The Islands on the Air website 
deals with a security breach. Boy Scouts around the world prepare for 
the 58th Jamboree On the Air. And organizers ponder the future of the 
Dayton Hamvention. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline report 
1980 coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)

[SKEETER]: We begin this week with breaking news as the Carolinas 
continue to struggle with record-setting floods. In South Carolina, a 
coordinated network of ham radio operators has been blanketing the state 
to protect public health, safety and communications. Amateur Radio 
Newsline's Kent Peterson, K-C-ZERO-D-G-Y (KC0DGY), hears the details 
from Thom Ashton of the South Carolina Healthcare Emergency Amateur 
Radio Team:

[KENT'S REPORT with THOM ASHTON, 3:40]

**

WATCHING THE WEATHER

With seasonal storms very much in the headlines - and weighing on 
everyone's mind - the National Weather Service is looking for 
Connecticut area radio amateurs to train as weather-watchers. A SKYWARN 
course is being held on Tuesday, Oct. 13 to teach proper reporting of 
hazardous conditions to relay to the weather service. SKYWARN's national 
network of volunteer weather spotters will provide the training and 
certification following the two-hour class in the East Hampton, 
Connecticut Middle School Library. Trainees will learn to report 
developing thunderstorms as well as assess weather conditions such as 
heavy snow, rain and flooding. Those completing the course receive a 
Spotter ID card and a certificate. The course is sponsored by the East 
Hampton Community Emergency Response Team and the town's Emergency 
Management department. Seating is limited to 70.

To register, send an email to weather@easthamptonct.gov and include your 
name, phone number and email address.

(NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, HADDAMS-KILLINGWORTH PATCH.COM)

**

WEBSITE WOES

In the latest in a series of online security issues affecting hams 
around the world, the Radio Society of Great Britain reports a breach 
that has affected users' passwords on the website for RSGB's Islands on 
the Air. A bug in the online code was apparently exploited, allowing the 
intruder to reset the passwords of all the website's users, which 
prevented anyone from logging in.

Immediately following the Sept. 27 breach, IOTA issued a statement of 
reassurance saying, QUOTE "There is no sign in the system logs that any 
data was read or that personal data was compromised."ENDQUOTE The 
website has been encouraging users to change their passwords and to 
contact them directly with any additional concerns.

(ARRL, THE DAILY DX)

**

SCOUTS TAKE TO THE AIR

ANCHOR [SKEETER]:

More than a million Scouts all across the globe will be looking to 
connect with fellow Scouts by way of amateur radio for the 58th Jamboree 
on the Air sponsored by the World Organization of the Scout Movement and 
the Boy Scouts of America. The event runs Oct. 16 through the 18th. 
Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has our report.

[MARK]:

It is still the largest Scouting event in the world.

Last year, some 1.3 million Scouts took part and they were spread among 
157 countries.

Jim Wilson, K5ND, who is the national coordinator for JOTA activities 
for the BSA, says the concept is simple.

"It's really to get Scouts engaged in conversations with other Scouts 
around the world so that they're being exposed to other cultures, other 
ways of doing Scouting and even the seasons of the year that are 
different in different counties," Wilson says. "It's springtime in 
Australia as it's fall here in the U.S."

And, Wilson says, it requires licensed ham radio operators to make all 
of this happen.

"As amateur radio operators, we feel it's a big opportunity to introduce 
the technology and the fun and just the magic of amateur radio to have 
those conversations," Wilson says.

He says the event activity will be spread across many bands and a many 
modes.

"Primarily single-side-band, but EchoLink, D-Star, Digital Mobile Radio 
(DMR) is open; IRC and those kinds of modes," Wilson explains. "And, a 
growing interest in moon bounce. There's some EME stations - a very 
large one in the Netherlands.

"There's a big one in South Africa that get on the air for Jamboree on 
the Air and a few here in the U.S. as well."

Wilson says many of the successful JOTA operations across the U.S. are 
tied into traditional camping events.

"The really successful events go to where the Scouts are," Wilson says. 
"And, that's typically at a big camporee - ideally it's a council or 
district-wide camporee. And, it becomes one more activity for the 
weekend to introduce Scouts to amateur radio and, as well, the rest of 
the world."

Wilson says there are many registered volunteer Scouters who are also 
licensed hams who set up stations to help Scouts communicate.

He says it doesn't have to be at a camporee either. It can be even be a 
home station.

There's also an internet component to the event as well.

You can learn more about JOTA and Jamboree on the Internet by going to 
our website, www.arnewsline.org and clicking on the script link and 
following the story to two links for the event...

http://www.scouting.org/jota.aspx

http://jotajoti.info/

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in Philadelphia.

**
HAMVENTION INTERVENTION

A published report in Dayton, Ohio, has cast doubts on the location of 
next year's Dayton Hamvention. An Oct. 2 report published in the Dayton 
Daily News notes that this global gathering of more than 25,000 
amateurs, which infuses the local economy with $8.5-million each year, 
may face relocation from Hara Arena. Hamvention has been held there 
since 1964. It is no secret that the arena has been beset with financial 
challenges in recent years.

Emails obtained recently by the newspaper raise questions about the 
arena's future, and describe how city and tourism officials are 
scrambling to compile alternative sites to keep Hamvention in the Dayton 
region. An Aug. 26 email from Dayton Convention Manager Michael Cashman 
to one Dayton official described the prospect of holding Hamvention 2016 
at Hara as QUOTE "highly unlikely." ENDQUOTE Cashman's message reported 
that the Dayton Amateur Radio Association had already been given tours 
of such alternate venues as the Dayton Convention Center and the Dayton 
Airport Expo Center.

But Jim Tiderman, N-8-EYE-D-S (N8IDS), general chairman of the Dayton 
Amateur Radio Association, has been downplaying the somber prospect of 
relocation. Tiderman says the board does not foresee any relocation 
unless QUOTE "something catastrophic"ENDQUOTE happens. And the 
Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau agreed this is not 
the first year that alternative sites have been put on the table for 
Hamvention.

Meanwhile, it's business as usual, as planning sessions continue for 
Hamvention 2016. The Dayton gathering is set to run May 20 through the 22nd.
(DAYTON DAILY NEWS, ARRL)

**
PARTYING, NEW YORK STYLE

Who knows how to party better than New Yorkers? And with the state's 62 
counties at the ready, the New York QSO Party gets on the air October 17 
and 18 for as much activity as possible, especially on 40 and 20 meters. 
New York hams are extending a special welcome for mobile and QRP operators.
Hams around the country, working on SSB, CW, RTTY and other digital 
modes, will be looking to connect with any and all New York stations, 
county by county. There's even an entry class for rookies to face off 
against other rookies. That class is open to any ham licensed since Jan. 
1, 2012.
Visit www.nyqp.org for the full details. And let's get this party 
started. The New Yorkers are waiting.

(NY QSO PARTY)

******

ROLL CALL FOR MILITARY CONVOY

The military Convoy on the Air Special Event is rolling into its final 
week. Since mid-September, members of the Military Vehicle Preservation 
Association have been following the path of the 1920 Transcontinental 
Convoy west from Washington, D.C., with ham radio operations happening 
along the way. The vehicles and the special stations all come to a 
definitive halt on Saturday, Oct. 17, when they reach their destination 
in San Diego, California. The convoy has been making its way along the 
old BankHead Highway convoy route, a precursor to the modern interstate 
highway system.

If you haven't been along for the ride yet, there's still time to make a 
clean sweep, connect with the host station, bonus stations and earn a 
special certificate. Visit www.convoyontheair.org for more information.

(CONVOY ON THE AIR)

**

BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio 
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the 
KB9WSL repeater in Rochester, Indiana, following Thursday's 7 pm weekly net.

** **

LICENSE NUMBERS ARE DOWN, DOWN UNDER

The number of licensed amateurs in Australia has fallen. According to 
the Australian Communications and Media Authority, there are almost 400 
fewer license-holders this year than in 2014. Most of the losses are the 
result of cancelled call signs and Silent Keys, many of them amateurs 
who got their licenses following World War II. Even Australia's most 
populated states, New South Wales and Victoria, reported a decline in 
licensed amateurs.
In all, there are now 14, 748 ham radio operators in Australia, down 
from 15,141 in 2014. The country is seeing prospects for growth, 
however. Australia is creating opportunities for newly licensed amateurs 
through the establishment of a Foundation License, an entry level 
gateway for operators. And, the Wireless Institute reports, prospective 
radio amateurs are still coming on board even after having failed under 
the previous Novice license system. The Institute's Jim Linton, VK3PC, 
says the WIA has also been encouraging clubs and trainers to step up 
recruitment.

(SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS, WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA)

** **
A HOSPITAL HAM SHACK

The newest operations going on inside the Sylvan Grove Hospital in 
Jackson, Georgia have nothing to do with scalpels or anaesthesia. The 
operators, in this case, are licensed radio amateurs and they are 
breathing new life into the hospital's emergency radio shack in the 
basement. There, a collection of state-of-the-art rigs provide access to 
the UHF and VHF bands as well as D-STAR.
The Butts County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Group is using the 
hospital-based equipment to make critical connections with fire and 
health departments, as well as 911. The radios were purchased with a 
grant from the Georgia Hospital Association.
Ken Wallis, a member of Butts County ARES, says six people serve as the 
hospital's response team, ready to get on the air in an emergency. He 
says: QUOTE "With this radio, we can talk across the street, nationally 
or internationally if we have to." ENDQUOTE
ARES member Buzz Kutcher calls the equipment typical of what some other 
area hospitals have. The hospital operates under the call sign WX4BCA.

(THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS NEWSPAPER)

**
ROME ON THE RADIO

Barely two weeks after Pope Francis' historic visit to the United 
States, the Vatican is making news again in the amateur radio world. On 
the weekend of Friday, Oct. 10 and Saturday, Oct. 11, Rome will host a 
DX Summit and Vatican City's station, H-V-ZERO-A (HV0A) will be active 
on several bands. The summit will feature a presentation on easing 
traffic during a DXpedition, and other ways to improve the DX 
experience. According to Finland's Martti Laine, OH-H-2-B-H (OH2BH), the 
summit agenda also includes plans to unveil a new Q code. Laine helped 
organize the event with Italy's Giordano Giordani, I-K-ZERO-X-F-D 
(IK0XFD) and Francesco Valsecchi, I-K-ZERO-F-V-C (IK0FVC).

If you work the Vatican, send QSL cards to Valsecchi, IK0FVC, and 
Logbook of the World.

The summit will also feature a paper from DX University given the 
working title, "How to Work Everything with No Pain - Even Europe."

(ARRL)

**

DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS

A scholarship fund has been established by the ARRL Foundation in memory 
of Alan G. Thorpe, K-ONE-T-M-W (K1TMW), a Connecticut radio amateur who 
became a Silent Key in 2011 at 65. Thorpe was a longtime member of the 
Stratford, Connecticut Amateur Radio Club, and had key emergency 
coordination roles in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. He was known 
by Stratford club members as community-minded and an educator. Longtime 
friend and fellow ham, Bob Betts, N-ONE-K-P-R (N1KPR), tells the ARRL 
that Thorpe had left a trust fund to help continue his work after his 
death, and made a bequest as well to the ARRL. Betts says: "Al believed 
in the basic tenets of our hobby: Education, promotion and community 
service, and he directed all his available efforts toward those goals."

The Thorpe memorial fund hopes to award its first $1,000 scholarship in 
2016 to a licensed amateur enrolled in a four-year undergraduate 
program, with studies in any major. The ARRL Foundation is administering 
the scholarship.

**

JAM SESSION

Now there's nothing wrong with THIS kind of radio jamming: It's Hamjam 
2015, taking place in Alpharetta, Georgia on Nov. 14. This is the 
seventh such free gathering put together by the North Fulton Amateur 
Radio League, as a way to promote ham radio in the southeast. Raffle 
tickets sold at the event fund the league's education programs as well 
as scholarships for youth.

The half-day program at the Metropolitan Club features an array of 
speakers including Mike Corey, K-I-ONE-U (KI1U), ARRL Emergency 
Preparedness Manager; Jamie Dupree, NS3T, radio news director of Cox 
Media Group's Washington Bureau and Glen Popiel, KW5GP, author of the 
ARRL's book, "Arduino for Ham Radio," who will present his talk via Skype.

Veteran hams as well as prospective hams are invited. For more details, 
visit www.hamjam.info


**
THE WORLD OF DX

Jay, K4ZLE, will be active as 5X2A from three different locations in 
Uganda from Oct. 10 through the 19th. He is best reached in the evenings 
and/or early mornings, Uganda time, and will be using CW and RTTY on 40 
through 17 meters. Send QSLs to his home call sign, K4ZLE, by the Bureau 
or Logbook of the World.

Oliver, EI8GQB, will be working as E-I-ONE-A (EI1A), from a hilltop in 
Ireland for two contests: The Worked All Germany Contest on Oct. 17 and 
18, and the CQ Worldwide DX SSB contest on Oct. 24 and 25th. He will 
continue to be active at all other times, through the end of October, 
under his regular call sign, EI8GQB.

The CQ Worldwide DX SSB contest will bring together some new Qatari 
licensees with more seasoned operators in a joint team for the contest 
on Oct. 24, and 25. Members of the Qatar Amateur Radio Society, Danish 
Contest Academy and others will work from the Disaster Management Camp 
compound in northern Qatar. They will operate as A-7-ONE-A (A71A), with 
particular emphasis on the low bands.

The CQ Worldwide DX SSB contest will also see some action from Gia, 
4L4WW, who will be on the air from Obcha in Western Georgia, on Oct. 25 
and 26th. Gia will work as a Single-Op/Single-All/High-Power entry. QSL 
via LoTW or via EA7FTR. He is not accepting any direct QSL cards.
Planning for next month, German operators Manfred/DK1BT, Sigi/DL7DF, 
Reiner/DL7KL and Frank/DL7UFR will be active as 5Z4HW from Kenya between 
November 4 and 18th. They will work 160 through 6 meters using CW, SSB, 
RTTY and PSK31. Pilot station will be Bernd, DF3CB. Send QSL cards via 
DL7DF, direct or by the Bureau.

(IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY, OHIO PENN DX NEWSLETTER)

KICKER: SOME KIND OF SUMMIT

Ham radio operators are no strangers to rescue operations in the face of 
storms, floods or fires, but in Victoria, Australia, one ham enroute to 
a Summits On the Air activation found himself engaged an unlikely 
rescue: the SOTA activation itself. Peter Freeman, VK3PF, was driving to 
his destination peak when something went seriously wrong with his 
Subaru. He writes in his blog on Wordpress, QUOTE "I heard something 
'pop' and the engine started sounding rough. As I was slowing down, I 
saw some smoke from under the bonnet, so I slowed and pulled over just 
after the engine died."ENDQUOTE

When he got out of the car to inspect further, he could see flames 
erupting. He quickly got on 2 meters and notified another ham enroute, 
Tony VK3CAT, to get help. Then he jumped back into the car, hoping to 
toss his ham gear to safety just as the flames combined with billowing 
black smoke. Peter continues, in his blog, QUOTE "The flames got bigger 
and that was it - stand back and watch!" ENDQUOTE

By the time firefighters arrived, all that was left of the car was 
memory. Peter lost the vehicle, along with a dual band radio and 40 
meter whip antenna. The hams were about to pack up and head home in 
Tony's car when they realized they were, after all, right there at the 
foot of the unactivated mountain. So, with Tony's ham gear in tow, they 
decided to take care of their unfinished business. How could they 
resist, especially when that particular summit was conveniently named 
Mount Useful?

(SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS)
** **

NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, the ARRL, AMSAT News Service; CQ Magazine; DX 
Coffee; the FCC; Jackson Progress-Argus; Jim Linton, VK3PC; Hap Holly 
and the Rain Report; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; the New York QSO 
Party; the Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter; Southgate Amateur Radio News, TWiT 
TV, the Russian Digital Radio Club; Southgate Amateur Radio News, the 
Wireless Institute of Australia; and you our listeners, that's all from 
the Amateur Radio Newsline. Our email address is 
newsline@arnewsline.org. 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, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York, 
and our news team worldwide, I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH in Topeka, Kansas, 
saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.


***

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