Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2082 for Friday, September 22 2017Audio - https://www.arnewsline.org/s/Report2082.mp3 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2082 with a release date of Friday, September 22 2017 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Hams respond to Caribbean storms. Australian amateurs mark 60 years -- and climb aboard a railroad DSTAR Net that's right on track. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2082 comes your way right now. ** CARIBBEAN STORM DEVASTATION CONTINUES STEPHEN/ANCHOR: For our top story, we turn to the Caribbean and our correspondent Bobby Best WX4ALA, who has a report on amateur radio response. BOBBY: Without a doubt, The National Hurricane Center's Net, along with its cousin, The Echolink Skywarn/Hurricane Net have both been receiving more than their fair share of work out's recently. According to a press conference held by the governor of Puerto Rico "there may be portions of the island that may not have electricity restored." Volunteers are wanted and needed, however at the request of the managers of affected areas, please contact via your section Emergency Coordinator. Start with your local ARES coordinator and with their assistance, find out where you are officially needed. The National Hurricane Center predicted in late April to early May, that the 2017 Atlantic basin Hurricane season which runs from June through November, was going to the busiest year for hurricanes. Thus far, you won't hear any arguments on that, from this Broadcast Meteorologist. Many of the islands, in the Caribbean are not fortunate enough to receive assistance from larger countries, like Puerto Rico will, with it being a territory of The United States. At this point, the Section Managers and Section Emergency Coordinators are in the process of creating a list of needed supplies, that you can buy yourself and send or if you prefer you can make a financial donation. There are numerous non-profit organizations in the Caribbean, that we've not even been able to do welfare checks on. Please give what you can now, be it goods or cash and send it to assist these poor people who have already been through two major hurricanes and could be possibly facing a third if weather paterns don't quickly turn. Stay with Amateur Radio Newsline, both our weekly radio broadcast and our Facebook page, which is updated on a daily basis. Keeping an eye on the tropics, I'm Broadcast Meteorologist Bobby Best WX4ALA in Jasper, Alabama. ** 'AMELIA EARHART' PILOT BACK IN THE NEWS STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The Texas ham radio operator who followed Amelia Earhart's final flight route has landed in a magazine photo essay. Here's Geri Goodrich KF5KRN with that story. GERI'S REPORT: You may remember aviator Brian Lloyd WB6RQN, who circumnavigated the globe in his single-engine airplane in tribute to Amelia Earhart's final flight 80 years ago, logging QSOs as he went. He's back to more earthly pursuits, at least for now and a celebration of that two-month flight into aviation history got full display for readers of The Texas Monthly magazine. A series of photographs showcases highlights of his 28-thousand mile trip, putting the spotlight on his plane, Spirit, covered in the signatures of people he met along the way - and there's a discussion of the HF radio that brought him closer to the world while he was still in the air. His next challenge, he told the magazine, is replicating the New York-to-Paris fight of Charles Lindbergh, a trip scrapped earlier this year on account of bad weather. For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Geri Goodrich KF5KRN. ** FCC ADVISES ON USE OF 630 AND 2200 METERS STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you're ready to operate on 630 meters and 2200 meters, there's something you must do first as Skeeter Nash N5ASH tells us. SKEETER'S REPORT: If you have plans for the next three years to get on those two new bands, 630 meters and 2200 meters, you will need to notify the Utilities Technology Council first. The FCC made the announcement recently in the Federal Register, informing hams that they need to submit their call signs to the UTC, tell the council what band they wish to operate on and identify the coordinates where their fixed antenna is located. Operation on these two bands has been approved for fixed locations only - no mobile operation is permitted. The notice said that the UTC has 30 days to respond. Unless the council reports back that the applicant's antenna is within 1 kilometer of a power line carrier system on the same frequency or an overlapping one, the band may be used from that location. Hams can apply for approval directly from the Utilities Technology Council website. Visit our website, arnewsline-dot-org (arnewsline.org) and view the printed version of this script for a link to the online application. For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Skeeter Nash N5ASH. https://utc.org/plc-database-amateur-notification-process/ ** K2BSA CONTINUES PREP FOR SCOUT JAMBOREE STEPHEN/ANCHOR: It's a busy time for the K2BSA callsign as Bill Stearns NE4RD tells us. BILL'S REPORT: This week in radio scouting we have two activations of the K2BSA callsign, one activation from Scout Camps on the Air, and we're 5 weeks out from Jamboree on the Air! David Hinkley, KA0SOG, will be activating K2BSA/0 from the Kansas City Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, from September 22nd through the 25th. This council wide weekend jamboree hosts around 14,000 Scouts and Scouters where they will participate in many activities include the STEM area where an extensive Amateur Radio setup will be offering different HF, VHF, and UHF operating modes for the Scouts to experience. They will also have an ARISS contact with the International Space Station, where a few lucky boys will get to ask questions with an astronaut. Gregory Pioppi, KB2ANG, will be activating K2BSA/3 from Braden Airpark N43 in Easton, Pennsylvania, from September 29th through October 1st. This is a great opportunity for Scouts to get their Aviation MB, but also a great time to get on the air. Gregory's team started this two years ago in order to offer Scouts and activity while they wait for their flights. They setup a HF and VHF station and provide a little introduction before getting Scouts on the air. Terry Gampper, N0BXQ, will be activating KN0BSA from Camp Wakonda in Bellevue, NE, on September 23rd. This is a Webelows cub scout event and will be operating on the JOTA frequencies. Speaking of Jamboree on the Air, we are only 5 weeks away from the largest Scouting activity in the World. This is 60th anniversary of the event this year where over 1 million Scouts participate across 150 plus countries. This is the month that you finalize your activation plans by having your participant certificates and logs printed out, prepare and print QSL cards, finalize your roster and donations, and if you haven't registered your station, you need to do that now. If you want to reserve the K2BSA callsign for your activity, now is also the time to do that. We have a few call areas left! For more information on K2BSA and radio scouting , please visit our website at www.k2bsa.net. For Amateur Radio Newsline and the K2BSA Amateur Association, this is Bill Stearns, NE4RD (K2BSA) ** AUSTRALIAN CLUB MARKS 60th YEAR STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Another group is also marking 60 years, as we hear from Ed Durrant DD5LP. ED'S REPORT: While October 20th through 22nd this year marks a very special, 60th anniversary, for the scout's worldwide Jamboree on the air event, a few days earlier on Wednesday the 18th. of October another organization celebrates 60 years of existence. On Thursday the 18th. of October 1957, what was to become the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club, had it's inaugural meeting where 37 people attended. The club has been a stable part of amateur radio in New South Wales, Australia for the last 60 years, running at one point 15 repeaters and beacon stations. That has since been consolidated to a lower number but still provides analogue and digital voice plus ATV repeaters covering from 6 meters to 23 centimeters. The club runs regular licence classes and exams, is involved in contests, supports the local WICEN (Emcoms) group and is probably most well known for its annual Hamfest, or Field day as they are called in Australia. The Wyong Field Day run by the CCARC is the largest gathering of Radio Amateurs in the southern hemisphere and it too, will celebrate 60 years next February the 25th. The club is planning celebrations between the 60th club anniversary in October and the 60th Hamfest in February but as is normal with this hard working club, things will most likely be low key. HERE'S to another 60 years of the Central Coast ARC in New South Wales Australia! The club's website is CCARC dot ORG dot AU. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP. ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the N5OZG repeater on New Orleans, Louisiana after the 8 p.m. Sunday night Net. ** RADIO OPERATORS ASSIST IN RESCUE, RECOVERY STEPHEN: Not all rescue missions that involve amateur radio end up staying rescue missions. Sometimes they end in tragic recovery. When New Jersey hiker Alex Stevens went missing earlier this month in New York's Adirondack Mountains, a team went out to look for the 28-year-old. The team comprised Stowe Mountain Rescue, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the Newcomb Fire Department and the Adirondack Amateur Radio Association, among others. According to news reports, forest rangers found Stevens' body near Wallface Pond on September 18th and New York State Police have begun investigating his death. From New Zealand comes a much more upbeat report about a missing person. He was found alive. We hear those details from Jason Daniels VK2LAW. JASON's REPORT: An 88-year-old man who had gone missing from his care home in Invercargill was found nearly 10 hours later following an overnight search by police, rescue squad members and the Invercargill Amateur Radio Emergency Communications group. The man, whose name was not released by authorities, had apparently wandered off at about 7:30 p.m. on Monday the 18th of September. He was located on Tuesday the 19th of September at about 5:30 in the morning. The man was found cold, wet and muddy in a ditch about 1.5 kilometers from the home on Racecourse Road. Rescuers transported him to the local hospital. For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW ** TRAIN AND RAILROAD NET IS RIGHT ON TRACK STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you love trains - and we don't mean the kind you commute to work on - you might enjoy this next story. Paul Braun WD9GCO reports on a new net in this installment in our occasional series, Nets of Note. PAUL: Many of us have more than one interest or hobby. Often, there's a happy intersection where two or more of those hobbies overlap. Daryl Stout, WX1DER, found just such an overlap with the D-STAR Trains and Railroads Net. DARYL STOUT: This is actually a revival of a net that ran on RF and EchoLink in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area for over eight years but technical issues led to it going the way of the abandoned line in early 2017. However, in working with the British Columbia Frequency Modulation Communications Association and with Ted, VE7LEE I got permission to use Reflector 26A on D-STAR for the net. The net covers anything and everything related to trains and railroading - that's passenger, freight, steam, diesel, excursions, museums, depots, signals, model and garden railroads, timetables, memorabilia, railroad shows, fallen flags, etcetera. PAUL: This is a net that I can definitely relate to - I'm also a railroad fan from childhood, a Chicago and North Western man through and through, the way Don Wilbanks is a Pontiac man. There's a little North Western passenger train on the shelf above my radios. I asked Stout about the response to the net, and he said it's been very positive, and many were actually involved in railroading: STOUT: They were very happy - several had originally worked for the railroad. My late uncle - the youngest engineer ever hired on by the Pennsylvania Central - the Penn Central - he was also the only other ham radio operator in the family. His call was K3VRM, Kilo 3 Victor Romeo Mike but he said it stood for Veteran Railroad Man. He actually had a steam engine on his QSL card. From him I got my love of both ham radio and trains. PAUL: The net runs every Friday at 7PM Central or Zero Hours UTC on Reflector 26 Alpha on D-STAR. According to Stout, the net runs for about an hour, beginning with the first round of checkins. So, if you're interested in any form of trains or railroading, and have access to D-STAR, the Trains and Railroads Net is for you. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO. All Aboard! ** MILLING ABOUT ON THE AIR STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Hams in Belgium are big on enthusiasm for mill activations even if the event is small, as we hear from Ed Durrant DD5LP. ED's REPORT: The Belgian Mill Award competition is a modest-sized, four-hour-long contest in which hams operate phone on 80 meters and also on 2 meters in FM and SSB. One participant Leon ON4VLM told Amateur Radio Newsline that the fact that the contest is small and short makes it even more fun - usually. It's a manageable size and when conditions are good, there are plenty of contacts to be had. This year unfortunately solar flares and solar winds combined to challenge competitors on the 17th of September. Still, Leon's club station ON4WLR/P has a log they can be proud of. Leon told us that club operators still managed to work 23 of the 27 mills in the contest, and made contact with eight of Belgiium's nine provinces. If you want to see the club in action, we have a link to the online slideshow in the script on our website. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP (LEON ON4VLM) ** SIX METERS GETS COOKING IN TEXAS STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you're near Austin, Texas and you really want to get cooking on 6 meters, Neil Rapp WB9VBG shares this recipe. NEIL'S REPORT: What goes better with ham than some BBQ? The famous 6 meter BBQ is continuing thanks to support from FlexRadio and DX Engineering. The BBQ will take place this year on September 29th and 30th at the Lonestar Court in Austin, Texas. Several vendors will be on hand, and presentations about how to get the most out of your 6 meter setup will be made by some top experts. And, two additional speakers have been added. Tim Duffy, K3LR, will review new Low Noise 6 meter LFA Yagis. And, the one of the leading experts on receiver performance, Rob Sherwood, NC0B, will review the performance of a wide selection of radios exclusively for 6 meters. For more information, visit sixmeterbbq.com. Be sure to bring your appetite for 6 meters! Reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline, I�m Neil Rapp WB9VPG in Bloomington, Indiana. ** WORLD OF DX Elsewhere in DXing, you have a few more days to listen for Al, K7AR, operating as 5W0RA in Samoa. Al is calling QRZ on 160-10 meters using SSB, CW and RTTY. Send QSLs via his home callsign, ClubLog or LoTW. A team of Indian amateurs including Rama/VU2DEV, Gaurav/VU2GTI and Pradeep/VU3EDG will be using the call sign AT7M while operating from St. Mary's Islands between the 30th of September 30 and the first of October. St. Mary's Island is also known as Coconut Island off the Arabian Sea coast near Karnataka, India. Be listening on various HF bands and in various modes. Send QSL cards via VU3NPI. There's disappointing news for amateurs who've been awaiting the Argentinian DXers Group operation as PJ7T from Saint Maarten. Widespread damage has cancelled the group's planned operation that would have started the 24th of October. The group is presently securing the necessary paperwork to use San Andres Island as its alternate destination at an as-yet unknown date. (OHIO PENN DX BULLETIN) ** KICKER: GIVE THIS WEDDING RECEPTION A 5 x 9 STEPHEN/ANCHOR: There are ham radio licenses and there are marriage licenses. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has a story about what happens when the two converge. JEREMY: Congratulations to M0NFE & M6YAX -- that would be Nick and Majbritt, now "Mr. and Mrs." officially as of Saturday, September 16th. Their wedding in Essex was followed by some exceptionally festive partying at Hawkwell Village Hall thanks to some clever Linux programming written by the groom, who is a software developer. Nick's code was designed to operate some of the wedding attractions - with prompts both in English and in German, to make things easier for his bride's friends and his new in-laws. The wedding unexpectedly turned into a minor rescue mission - the kind that amateurs, of course, are accustomed to. An hour before the wedding, fellow Essex Ham club member Pete Sipple M0PSX, received a call from Nick that there was no Internet connection at the venue. The club loaned Nick its portable WiFi hotspot and wedding bells were soon ringing. Pete and his wife Sarah M6PSK were among the happy guests. As for the newlyweds, they may not have spent their wedding day talking on the air, but clearly they spent it dancing on air. For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH. (ESSEX HAM, PETE SIPPLE M0PSX) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL; the Associated Press; CQ Magazine; Essex Hall; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; K2BSA; Leon ON4VLM; Ohio Penn DX Bulletin; Pete Sipple M0PSX; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; WTWW Shortwave; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Please send emails to our address at newsline@arnewsline.org. More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York, and our news team worldwide, I'm Stephen Kinford N8WB in Wadsworth Ohio saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2017. All rights reserved.
