Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1988 December 4, 2015

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1988 with a release date of Friday, 
December 4, 2015 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Radio amateurs in Australia wind down their 
tribute to those who fought at Gallipoli. A new island - in New England 
- is activated. Participants in a solar flare emergency drill celebrate 
their success. And hams in India press for greater involvement in 
community service. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline report 
1988 coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)

**


THE LAST HURRAH

[DON/ANCHOR]: The battle is almost over. Well, the Battle of Gallipoli 
actually ended almost 100 years ago -- but amateur radio's centennial 
commemoration of the World War One conflict has almost concluded too. 
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC, made up a big part 
of that effort - and Australian hams have been transmitting their 
national pride all year. Amateur Radio Newsline's Graham Kemp, VK4BB, 
reports from Australia.

[GRAHAM]:

The Gallipoli commemoration of the Wireless Institute of Australia is 
getting ready for its 'last hurrah,' just as in the battle itself 100 
years ago.

Using the call sign VI4ANZAC, an amateur team will be marking the good 
work of the First Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train. The unit, which 
was created in 1915 in Melbourne, employed horse-drawn wagons to carry 
its equipment to the front. Their wartime efforts were feats of 
engineering, horsemanship and pontoon bridging.

The tribute paid to this unit will mark the move toward closure in the 
WIA's ANZAC program, which has focused on the battle at Gallipoli. The 
final commemoration will involve participation of call signs VI3ANZAC, 
VI4ANZAC, VI6ANZAC and VI8ANZAC.

On Dec. 20, an address on the ANZAC 100 campaign, will be heard from 
VK100ANZAC. And the year will wrap up -  and, just like the battle 
itself, become a part of history.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB.

(Wireless Institute of Australia)

**

ISLAND HOPPING

Hopefully, three members of the Newport County Radio Club might actually 
be thawed out by now after their recent adventure on an island in 
Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Paul Silverzweig, N1PSX, Paul Mankofsky, 
KC1AQP, and Rich Russell, KC1ARO packed their gloves, winter jackets and 
some toe warmers and, with their radio equipment, headed to Gooseberry 
Island on Nov. 30 to activate it in the U.S. Islands Award Program.

Calling CQ on 20 meters with the club's call sign, W1SYE, they 
accomplished exactly what they'd set out to do -- just as the club had 
done in September on Turnip Island in Connecticut. And so, Island 
MA-056S became a reality.

Russell told Amateur Radio Newsline, however, that this time the 
November temperatures were a bit more challenging than on Turnip Island. 
Russell said QUOTE"It was somewhere between 36 and 48 degrees and there 
was a pretty stiff wind, about 15 knots. We dressed warmly but it was 
still pretty chilly."ENDQUOTE

Running 80 watts and an end-fed dipole, it must have warmed them, 
though, to make those all-important 32 contacts, ranging from snowbound 
Wyoming to such DXCC spots as Italy, Canada, Serbia, Belgium and a 
notably balmier Puerto Rico. In fact, if anything needed warmimg more 
than they did, it was the team's lithium ion phosphate battery. As 
Russell noted, QUOTE "They don't like freezing temps."ENDQUOTE

That's when the men decided to activate just one more thing - the toe 
warmers they had brought along to put in their shoes and gloves. But 
they found it also fit nicely with the battery. Said Russell: QUOTE 
"That worked pretty well and didn't even overheat the battery. Just took 
the edge off." ENDQUOTE.

**

GIVE THESE YOUNG HAMS AN "A" - FOR "AGAIN"

The results are in, and the Schofield Radio Club in Aiken, South 
Carolina, has once again proudly announced its top 10 ranking to the 
world. The youngsters at the Schofield Middle School placed fifth among 
middle schools and 10th overall among all 62 schools in the nation 
competing in the annual ARRL School Club Roundup in October. The club is 
a repeat winner, in fact, having ranked 10th overall in last year's 
contest, and third for middle schools.

The roundup involved students working contacts for three to four hours 
after school for one week. The Schofield students reached 40 states, 22 
countries and 30 schools, for a total of 520 QSOs.

Now the club is concentrating on contacting more students in their own 
school - and hopes they'll see more members stopping by after class on 
Thursdays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

(AIKEN, S.C., STANDARD NEWSPAPER)

**

GOOD NIGHT FOR A NET

Wednesday, Dec. 3 was a promising night for Rebecca Hughes, M6BUB, the 
Youth Committee Promotional Manager of the Radio Society of Great 
Britain. The 16-year-old launched the first gathering of a new Youth 
Net, reaching out on the North Wales 2 meter repeater, GB3MP.

She told Amateur Radio Newsline in an email: QUOTE"The Net is hopefully 
going to be a way for young licensees to interact with other young 
people. I had this idea because when I first got my license in November 
2011, I did not know of any youth licensees, apart from my 
brother."ENDQUOTE

She said that her work with the Radio Society has brought her into 
contact with more young amateurs and it inspired the idea of the Net. 
She said QUOTE "My goals and hopes for the Net are to help young hams 
who may not know any young licensees to gain friends and contacts that 
they can talk to even when the Net is not on the air."ENDQUOTE

(RSGB)

**

SORRY WRONG (HOUSE) NUMBER

Speaking of contests, the ARRL says "Oooops, sorry about that." 
Participants in last year's 10 Meter Contest who received certificates 
may have discovered quickly that they were intended for someone else. 
The problem, it seems, was a formatting error in a data file that caused 
confusion over the mailing addresses.

The ARRL's Interim Contest Manager, Dan Henderson, N1ND, said: QUOTE "We 
have heard from several certificate recipients recently that they were 
receiving certificates for other award winners. After checking, we 
determined that some address data retrieved from submitted Cabrillo logs 
in the data file were misidentified, which resulted in many certificates 
being sent to the wrong recipients."

He quickly clarified that the error is limited only to addresses, not 
anyone's scores or standings.

So be patient, advises Henderson. The plan is for new certificates - the 
correct ones - to be in the mail no later than Dec. 11. Yours may be on 
the way very soon.

(ARRL)

**

HAM RADIO IN A DAY?

It takes more than 24 hours to learn enough to qualify for an amateur 
radio license, but the Holland Amateur Radio Club in Michigan thinks 
it's a good beginning. That's why the group is offering a class called 
"Ham License in a Day" on Dec. 12 at the American Red Cross of Ottaway 
County.

And it's actually a five-hour session. The coursework will be presented 
from 1 to 6 p.m., and the licensing test will be given afterward. The 
fee for the half-day program is $35.

For more information or to register, contact Tom Bosscher at 
k8tb@bosscher.org or phone 616-648-0058.


(MICHIGAN LIVE)

**

A FLARE FOR SUCCESS

[DON/ANCHOR]: An emergency drill, in the form of a huge coronal mass 
ejection, sent radio amateurs scrambling early last month. And though 
their response was real enough, the chaos was simulated - with good 
results. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bobby Best, WX4ALA, has more:

[BOBBY'S REPORT]

Imagine an outage of all conventional communications throughout the U.S. 
Imagine too, massive solar flares known as coronal mass ejections, as 
the source of the stirred-up ionosphere behind the blackout. This was 
the reality for members of the Military Auxiliary Radio System and the 
Amateur Radio Emergency Service for two days beginning Nov. 8.

It was only an exercise but, for two days, it was still a challenge. And 
ultimately, said the organizers, it was a success.

MARS operators were given the directive to make direct contact with as 
many radio amateurs in the nation's 3,142 counties as possible, using 
mainly HF NVIS bands, along with VHF and UHF repeaters. Other methods, 
such as store-and-forward messaging systems and Internet-linked systems, 
were necessarily off limits.

Paul English, WD8DBY, the U.S. Army's MARS program manager, praised the 
work of the radio operators at the conclusion of the exercise. He told 
the ARRL that MARS members got messages through to 816 counties around 
the country - or 26 percent of the nation's total. He said advance 
publicity helped boost performance during the two-day drill, and 
inquiries about participation had poured in from 41 states and more than 
50 ARES groups who wanted to be part of the test.

Best of all, he said, the mission was accomplished. He said: QUOTE"The 
purpose of these exercises is to reach beyond interoperability and focus 
on our ability to exchange usable and relevant information from the 
local level to the national level following a crisis event. Only through 
the cooperation among MARS and the larger Amateur Radio community can we 
hope to achieve that synergy."ENDQUOTE

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bobby Best, WX4ALA, in Jasper, Alabama.

(ARRL)


**

BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio 
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the 
Lakes Area Amateur Radio Club repeater, W5JAS, in Jasper, Texas, Monday 
nights at 7:30.

**

INDIAN HAMS AIR THEIR FRUSTRATION

[DON/ANCHOR]: What happens when hams, who expect to be called to public 
service, aren't? That's the situation right now in the Indian state of 
Andhra Pradesh. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, has the 
details:


[JEREMY]:

Radio amateurs are accustomed to action, and not sitting idly by, but in 
Andhra Pradesh, India, a group of otherwise enthusiastic radio amateurs 
claims their only call to public service lately has been to play a 
waiting game. Amateurs who formerly coordinated the Ham Radio Training 
Centre in Krishna district, have been urging state officials to engage 
their services next year during the Hindu festival known as the Krishna 
Pushkarams. The hams say the need is especially pronounced, in the wake 
of stampedes that occurred this past July during the Godavari 
Pushkarams. That riverside festival, well-attended by devoted pilgrims, 
was held July 14 through 25. Twenty-seven were killed and more than 30 
critically injured at the gathering.

In a Dec. 1 issue of The Indian Express newspaper, the government has 
said that, while it regretted the stampedes that occurred, the number of 
those in attendance had greatly exceeded the number expected.

That's all the more reason, say the Indian amateurs, for their services 
to be sought at the next festival. The Krishna Pushkaram is to be held 
August 12 through 23 in Vijayawada.

Says Arza Ramesh Babu, coordinator of the now-defunct Ham Radio Training 
Centre in Krishna district, "At least in the ensuing Krishna Pushkarams, 
we want the government to use HAM radio operators as a parallel 
communication network." The hams have left that training centre, 
established by the local Urban Development Authority, and are meeting in 
the Regional Science Centre at Bhavanipuram.

Speaking to the newspaper, The Hindu, Ramesh Babu adds: "A growing 
number of people, especially engineering students, are evincing interest 
in this mode of communication. The government should develop the sector."

He said there are nearly 500 ham radio operators in and around 
Vijayawada who are ready to serve at times of disaster or large 
gatherings but for now they simply wait.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, in Nottingham, the UK.

(THE HINDU, INDIAN EXPRESS)

**

TRANSMITTING A TRIBUTE

One of the fathers of modern radio science, the late Jagadish Chandra 
Bose, has received a number of tributes posthumously. An Indian botanic 
garden just outside Kolkata was named in his honor in 2009 -- and in 
2012, the IEEE recognized him for his pioneering work in the discovery 
and development of radio.

Ham radio hasn't forgotten him either. The scientist, who died in 1937, 
also has a special amateur radio event marking the anniversary of his 
birth in what is now Bangladesh on Nov. 30, 1858.

The special event call sign, AU2JCB, launched on Bose's birthday and 
will once again pay homage to him through Dec. 13. The operator is Datta 
Deogaonkar, VU2DSI, whose mission each year at this time has been to 
spread the word about Bose's lifetime of contributions to the radio art. 
He will be operating throughout the HF bands and has even devoted a 
portion of his page on QRZ.COM to information about Bose, everything 
from his work in microwave optics technology to his critical 
contributions to the work of Guglielmo Marconi.

Though many consider him the unsung hero of radio, at least for the next 
week or so, the airwaves will be singing his praises.


(QRZ.COM)

**

AWARDS ROUNDUP

The Intrepid-DX Group is looking for nominees to receive its Intrepid 
Spirit Award, an annual prize that honors the memory of Silent Key James 
McLaughlin, WA2EWE/T6AF. Honorees are recognized for their commitment to 
amateur radio in a manner that is, according to the group's recent 
announcement, "courageous, dedicated, innovative and fearless," among 
other things. The award will be presented in April at the International 
DX Convention in Visalia, California. Nominations are due by Dec. 15 and 
may be sent via email to intrepiddxgroup@gmail.com

The ARRL is seeking candidates for the Hiram Percy Maxim Award, which 
honors a radio amateur and ARRL member younger than 21. Nominations for 
this award are due by March 31 but should first be sent to your ARRL 
Section Manager for forwarding. This year's winner was Colorado's Anna 
Veal, W0ANT, who was also the recipient of Amateur Radio Newsline's 
first Bill Pasternak Young Ham of The Year Award.

The ARRL is also seeking nominees among hams who are educators and 
innovators. The awards include the Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year 
Award, the Microwave Development Award, the Technical Service Award, the 
Technical Innovation Award and the Knight Distinguished Service Award. 
For details about all of these, visit the website, www.arrl.org.

(ARRL)

**

THE WORLD OF DX
Martin W8AKS will be active as 8P9EZ from Dec. 5 through 12 in Barbados, 
operating on 40m through 10m. He will upload logs to Logbook of The World.

Haru, JA1XGI, will be operating through Dec. 10 in the South Cook 
Islands as E51XGI. He will work all HF bands, CW, SSB and digital. Send 
QSL cards to his home call sign

Antoine, 3D2AG, will be using the call sign 3D2AG/P while he operates in 
Rotuma from mid-December until mid-January. He will be using solar power 
and a Spiderbeam/wire antenna and will work all bands from 80m to 6m.

And look for Freddy, F4HEC, as he travels through the Pacific region 
this month. He will operate as KH2/F4HEC from Guam through Dec. 9, and 
then travel to Saipan, where he will work the bands from Dec. 10 to Dec. 
13 as KH0/F4HEC.

(OHIO PENN DX NEWSLETTER)

**

KICKER: THEIR MUTUAL SALVATION

Working phone during a special event is almost second nature to most 
veteran hams. But when "phone" is actually a conventional landline and 
the radio transmitter belongs to a commercial FM station doing a 
fundraiser for the Salvation Army, "working phone" is more of a 
transmission with a mission.

As it did last year, the Marion County, Indiana ARES group is jumping in 
on Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5 to do its part during FM station 
WIBC's radiothon to raise money for the Bed and Bread program of the 
Salvation Army's Indiana Division: Hams will be ringing bells at the 
trademark red kettles, answering the telephone when listeners call in 
with pledges - and even loading trucks with donated goods.

Matthew Bechdol, W9SOX, the Emergency Coordinator for Marion County 
ARES, told Amateur Radio Newsline that the partnership is a good one for 
this group of community-minded amateurs. Bechdol said in a recent 
telephone chat, QUOTE"we are both committed to each other and our end 
goals. They have their mission - and our mission is to help them with 
theirs."ENDQUOTE

It's all part of being good citizens, he added.

ARES members, of course, are more accustomed to being mobilized during 
moments that follow public disasters. But by volunteering to ring a bell 
or answer one, Marion County ARES members may actually be doing more to 
prevent some private calamities.


(MARION COUNTY ARES)


**

NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs; the Aiken, S.C., Standard; the ARRL; CQ 
Magazine; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; the Hindu newspaper; the Indian 
Express; Marion County ARES; Michigan Live; Newport County Radio Club; 
the Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter; QRZNOW; the Radio Society of Great Britain; 
Southgate Amateur Radio News; TWiT TV; 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 Don Wilbanks, AE5DW in Picayune, 
Mississippi, saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

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


***

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