Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1981 October 16 2015

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1981 with a release date of Friday, 
October 16, 2015 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. American hams prepare for a historic partnership 
with hams in Havana. The Pope Francis Special Event stations count tens 
of thousands of successful QSOs. The International Amateur Radio Union 
presses governments to ease restrictions on amateurs' antennas. And hams 
in Nepal share how they assisted after April 25's devastating 
earthquake. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline report 1981 
coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)


**

QSOs IN CUBA

[SKEETER]: The team of radio amateurs operating on Oct. 24 and 25 from 
Havana, Cuba, under the call sign T42US, won't just be another group of 
competitors in the CQ World Wide SSB contest. They're a historic 
collective of radio ambassadors, a partnership of American and Cuban 
hams whose joint effort symbolizes the newfound ease in relations 
between the two nations. Jim Milner, WB2REM, is the U.S. team leader. 
The Florida-based ham recently talked with Amateur Radio Newsline's Hap 
Holly, KC9RP, about how this Cuban-American matchup came to be.

[HAP'S REPORT]


**
A HOSPITAL HAM SHACK

The newest operations taking place 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. There, in 
the hospital basement, a collection of state-of-the-art rigs provides 
access to the UHF and VHF bands as well as D-STAR for station WX4BCA.

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. 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

The radios were purchased with a grant from the Georgia Hospital 
Association. ARES member Buzz Kutcher calls the equipment typical of 
what's at other local hospitals, making Sylvan Grove one more link in 
the area's chain of safety.

(THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS NEWSPAPER)

**

YES, YOU CAN SURPRISE A HAM OR TWO OR THREE

For 20 years, Ronald Uhlman, KC6MTO, has been just what the doctor 
ordered for the Benicia, California Police Department. It helps, of 
course, that the longtime radio amateur also happens to the doctor. The 
retired podiatrist has spent the past two decades in various jobs as a 
volunteer with the Benicia police. And now, as he and his wife make 
plans to relocate to Washington State, the department has done something 
for him: He has been honored for his selfless work by Police Chief Erik 
Upson and the rest of the force.

Now 75, Uhlman began volunteering in various jobs with the police in 
1995, and ultimately worked his way up to community service officer. 
Responding to the surprise award just as he is finishing his tenure, the 
humble Uhlman says simply QUOTE"It's embarrassing. I didn't do anything 
special. I was just doing what I was supposed to do and having a good 
time doing it." ENDQUOTE

No doubt Hal Post, AK2E, of Middle Grove, N.Y., and Jay Buscemi, NY2NY, 
can relate. Post and Buscemi have been chosen to receive the 2015 "Grand 
Ol' Ham" award for the American Radio Relay League's Hudson Division, in 
the New York-New Jersey area.

Hudson Division Director Mike Lisenco described Post and other award 
recipients as "very worthy individuals who have had an impact on amateur 
radio in the Hudson Division." Other honorees are: Rachel Weiss, AJ4WD, 
Bruce Baccaro, K2ULZ, and John Melfi, W2HCB, three Amateur of the Year 
award winners. The Technical Achievement award went to Blair Hearth, KD2EPA.

The awards luncheon is Sunday, Nov. 8.


(TIMES HERALD ONLINE, THE SARATOGIAN NEWSPAPER, ARRL HUDSON DIVISION)

**

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

(North Fulton Amateur Radio League)

**

POPE SPECIAL EVENT BLESSED BY BIG NUMBERS

[SKEETER] Pope Francis' visit to Washington D.C., New York, and 
Philadelphia drew big crowds and lots of close encounters with the 
leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. It also made quite an 
impact on the ham bands. We get the story from Amateur Radio Newsline's 
Mark Abramowicz, NT3V.....

[MARK'S REPORT]

"The number of contacts were really incredible. The band conditions 
weren't that great while the event went on or we probably would have 
made more."

That's Jim Nitzberg WX3B from the Potomac Valley Radio Club, one of the 
coordinators of the special event stations put on the air by amateurs in 
the Mid-Atlantic region.

"The number of contacts that we made are just shy of 27,000 and that's 
on a various array of high-frequency bands, VHF bands, internet/ham 
radio communications, satellite communications and Earth-Moon-Earth 
communications," Nitzberg says.

He says there was a lot of interest in the Pope special event stations 
once they hit the air Sept. 22. They were on the air until the pope was 
wheels up out of Philadelphia on Sept. 27.

"The United States and the European countries were the highest 
interest," Nitzberg says. "The majority of the contacts were made on the 
HF bands, and, specifically, the 20 and 40 meter bands. There was more 
contacts made using voice (or SSB) than Morse Code. But there were a lot 
of contacts made using the Morse Code as a method of communication as well."

And, Nitzberg says, even the Vatican station got on the air for a short 
period to take part.

"I saw them active on our DX spotting networks and they were on 17 
meters," Nitzberg says. "It was during one of the last days of the event 
so that must have been really exciting for those that got to make 
contact with them."

Now it's it's time to begin answering all the requests for QSLs and 
certificates.

"We have several hundred requests for cards, several hundred awards 
certificates that have been printed already," Nitzberg says. "And I 
noticed the Philadelphia group that's managed by Sig, N3RS, and my group 
are just ordering cards and we're ordering a total of 4,000 cards 
because we think that's how many people are going to request cards."

For more on QSLing, go to our website www.arnewsline.org and click on 
the script version of the program for this week and scroll down to the 
Pope Special Event story and you'll find the link for information there....

http://www.silverfishdevelopment.com/papalEvent/

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


**

BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio 
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the 
Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana (OH-KY-IN) Amateur Radio Society repeater, 146.670 
MHz, in Cincinnati, managed by Bruce Vanselow (VAN-sloh), N8BV.

** **

IARU SPEAKS OUT FOR ANTENNAS

Antenna restrictions have got to go. So says the International Amateur 
Radio Union's Administrative Council, which recently opted a resolution 
urging its members to press their local governments to ease limitations 
on amateur radio antennas.

The resolution says, in part, that societies need to QUOTE"advocate for 
planning and development regulations that properly recognize the 
importance of an Amateur Radio antenna and do not place undue 
restrictions."ENDQUOTE Those restrictions included any fees that might 
be imposed which, the resolution said, could pose a problem 
QUOTE"particularly in view of the non-pecuniary nature of Amateur Radio 
and its popularity in the student and senior communities."ENDQUOTE

The measure was passed during the IARU's meeting in early October in 
Bali, Indonesia.

(ARRL)

**

RUNNING FOR THE WARRIORS

The Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club in New York, and the Babylon Town 
ARES has issued a QST for at least 100 volunteer radio operators for 
this year's Hope for the Warriors Run on Saturday, Nov. 7. The 10K and 
5K race shuts more than 200 streets on Long Island's busy south shore, 
allowing runners to safely navigate the course with the intention of 
raising funds to aid wounded veterans. The Hope for the Warriors 
organization not only helps rehabilitate newly returned, injured 
veterans but assists with their medical needs and helps their families 
find appropriate housing for the disabled. The race begins in 
Lindenhurst, New York, near Babylon Town Hall.

Ham radio operators with handheld radios and an interest in helping 
ensure runner safety can email club president John Melfi at 
W2HCB@arrl.net, or simply sign up on the club's website, www.gsbarc.org.

(Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club)

**

FCC TO WEIGH IN ON TINKERING

The ARRL is listening for a clear signal from the FCC that it's OK for 
hams to modify non-amateur equipment to use on the air, especially WiFi 
network devices. Recently proposed FCC rules, affecting the 
authorization of RF equipment, have spurred concern in some corners of 
the amateur community that these rules would restrict or prevent hams 
from going on the air with equipment they'd modified.

The ARRL comments say, in part: QUOTE"The Amateur Radio Service has a 
very long tradition of modification and adaptation of commercial 
communications equipment." The League also pressed the FCC against 
limiting Software Defined Radios to SDRs intended for use exclusively in 
the Amateur Radio Service. The ARRL filed its comments on Oct. 8.

ARRL, QRZNOW

**

COASTING TO ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY
More than 50 ham radio stations throughout the United States will be on 
the air beginning Friday, Oct. 16 through Sunday Oct. 18 as special 
event stations marking the 76th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. The stations will operate mainly with 1 x 1 calls from 
lighthouses, battleships, vessels and other venues, using both voice and 
digital modes, including CW and PSK-31.
Participating stations include N7B, a mobile station near the Alki Light 
House in Seattle, Washington; N3G, operating portable CW & PSK-31 from 
Augustine Beach, Delaware and NJ2BB, the Battleship New Jersey.

(U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary)
**

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.

(ARRL)

**

HAMS REVISIT NEPAL'S EARTHQUAKE

Ham radio operators who responded last April to the devastating 
earthquake in Nepal still haven't forgotten the scenes of devastation in 
that Himalayan nation. And they are sharing the drama of that damage - 
and the successful rescue work - by recreating that experience during a 
puja, or Hindu worship gathering, in Kolkata. Members of the West Bangal 
Radio Club will demonstrate how ham operations assisted the distressed 
area on April 25, and how the radio amateurs' operations in the days 
afterward helped restore stability.

Organizers say that the experience will be recreated with a simulated 
earthquake of a very low magnitude, courtesy of special light and sound 
effects, accompanied by vibrating motors. Says Anupam Das, one of the 
organizers, QUOTE"As one steps into the tunnel at the entrance, they 
will feel slight tremors. When they pass through, a scene of devastation 
will lie before them. But our theme is not the damage itself, rather how 
India helped Nepal in rescue and relief. Our theme is humanity."

The amateur radio club's secretary, Ambarish Nag Biswas, says amateurs 
who were present to assist in the search and rescue in Nepal will be 
conducting the live demonstration.

The quake caused widespread damage and was responsible for the deaths of 
thousands.

TIMES OF INDIA, THE SOUTH ASIAN TIMES)
**
THE WORLD OF DX


A 12-man German Expedition Team is operating as V73D from Majuro in the 
Marshall Islands until Oct. 28th. They will have four stations on all 
bands CW, SSB and RTTY. IOTA reference is OC-029. Send QSLs via ClubLog 
OQRS.

A multi-national team is operating as D4D from Boa Vista in the Cape 
Verde Islands between Oct. 17 and 24th. They can be worked on 80m to 6m 
on SSB, CW and RTTY. Send QSL cards to EB7DX.

Oliver, W6NV, is operating as ZD7W from St. Helena through Nov. 2 on all 
bands, 160 meters to 10 meters. He will be using SSB and CW and will 
also participate in the Worked All Germany CW Contest and the CQ World 
Wide DX SSB Contest. Send QSLs to W6NV.

Beth M-W-ZERO-V-O-W, (MW0VOW) and John, ZS5J, will be working as C91B 
during a DXpedition in Mozambique between Oct. 20 and Nov. 3. They will 
be working all bands from 160 to 6 meters, using CW and SSB. They have 
expedition status on Club Log with leaderboard facility. Logs will be 
uploaded daily, free, to Logbook of the World and Club Log.

(DX World, Irish Radio Transmitters Society, OHIO PENN DX NEWSLETTER)


KICKER: HAM SCHOOL

The middle school students in Kingman, Arizona, aren't licensed hams 
yet, but they were still able to give a 5 and 9 to their teacher, Dan 
Miller, K3UFG. Miller, a teacher's aide at Kingman Middle School, has 
been a ham since 1962. He drew upon his years of experience to teach 
radio science to youngsters during an enrichment program during school 
intercession earlier this month.

Miller's lessons included battery-testing, use of a volt-ohm meter, and 
the differences between direct current and alternating current. He gave 
them a sampling of what Morse Code is like and even helped them build 
their first dipole antenna from wire he'd had stored at home.

When it came time to put that antenna to the test, however, the kids 
made a seamless transition from radio science to archery: In order to 
get a string over the rung of a pole so they could hoist their dipole 
up, they shot it there using a bow and arrow. Not long after, Miller 
successfully guided them through a QSO with a ham named Walt in 
Torrance, California.

Later, the enthusiastic kids told Miller that yes, they're ready to 
start studying for their licenses. And even if their eventual ham 
careers never call upon their skills at archery again, Miller can be 
pretty sure he hit a bull's-eye that day.

(THE DAILY MINER)


** **

NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, the ARRL; CQ Magazine; the Daily Miner; DX 
World; the FCC; Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club; Hap Holly and the 
Rain Report; The Irish Radio Transmitter Society; The Jackson 
Progress-Argus newspaper; North Fulton Amateur Radio League; the 
Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter; the Saratogian; Southgate Amateur Radio News, 
the South Asian Times; the Times of India; the Times Herald Online; TWiT 
TV, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary; 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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