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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2053 for Friday, March 3, 2017

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by KB7TBT, Mar 3, 2017.

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  1. KB7TBT

    KB7TBT Ham Member QRZ Page

    Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2053 for Friday, March 3, 2017
    Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2053 with a release date of Friday, March 3, 2017 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
    The following is a QST. Australian hams turn a retired public bus into a classroom and ham shack. Texas amateurs donate books to inspire and teach new licensees -- and amateur radio becomes a tool for police in India. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2053 comes your way right now.

    **
    BILLBOARD CART
    **
    HAM RADIO ADDED TO POLICE RESOURCES IN INDIA
    NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week takes a look at how one police organization in India has been busy integrating amateur radio into its well-established strategy of radio response. That's going to mean more ham radios - and more licensed hams! Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
    JEREMY: The Assam Police Radio Organization, which uses wireless communication for law enforcement and crises, is working to integrate amateur radio use more deeply into its operations, particularly for disaster preparedness. According to a recent article in the Assam Tribune, the strategy gained traction during a February APRO seminar on disaster response and planners said priority needed to be given to communication methods that did not rely on the existing communications grid.
    The director general of Assam's police, Mukesh Sahay, said during the seminar that the need for more trained and licensed amateur radio operators is paramount.
    The police will be working with S. Ram Mohan VU2MYH, director of the National Institute of Amateur Radio in Hyderabad, to develop a system. Police in Assam have used various forms of wireless communications since 1946 and an independent communications network was expanded following India's independence the following year. Disaster response was taken to a new level in 2005 when the Amateur Radio Center VU2VKP was opened at the APRO Training School.
    For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
    (ASSAM TRIBUNE, ASSAM POLICE, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AMATEUR RADIO)
    **
    WORLD-CLASS PLANNING FOR HF CONTEST
    NEIL/ANCHOR: Staging a world-class HF contest takes a lot of planning and preparation, so organizers of next year's World Radiosport Team Championship in Germany can't start too soon. With some milestones already under their belts, planners still have a few more to go -- as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT.
    CARYN'S REPORT: It's around 500 days to the 2018 World Radiosport Team Championship and preparations are well under way. A successful test was already performed on one of the planned sites in July 2016 and now, from June 23rd to the 25th, several stations will be set-up and taken down in the Jessen/Wittenberg area of North East Germany where the 2018 event will take place.
    From antenna and mast assembly through power supplies and tents, everything will be tested to find any possible problems. The processes for the volunteers supporting the event will be "fine tuned" and documented so that when the pinnacle of HF contesting comes to Germany next year all will be ready and everything will run smoothly.
    For anyone wishing to help with the financing of this major event full details of how to sponsor the event, a team or a tent can be found on the WRTC2018 website at W R T C TWO ZEROONE EIGHT DOT D E.
    For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT
    **
    HELPING PROSPECTIVE HAMS, BY THE BOOK
    NEIL/ANCHOR: Elmering has a long tradition in amateur radio and one Texas club takes it so seriously, they have invested some grant money in a special book to recruit and encourage new licensees. Let's hear more from Amateur Radio Newsline's Skeeter Nash N5ASH.
    SKEETER: Members of the Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club K5CCL don't consider prospective hams to be dummies - and they're not calling them dummies. They'd actually like to call them fellow hams. That's why they're making free copies available of the ARRL book, "Ham Radio for Dummies." The Athens, Texas club believes that wide distribution of the book to libraries and schools will give people greater access to radio knowledge and perhaps help cultivate new licensees. The book, which is in its second edition, is by ARRL contributing editor Ward Silver N0AX. A grant from LDG Electronics of St. Leonard, Maryland, made it possible for the club to purchase copies and nearly every school and public library in the tri-county area around this Texas community received a copy from Glenn Hughes KF5CTG, a former teacher who coordinated the project for the Cedar Creek club.
    An estimated 30 copies were distributed now await their new readership and the club hopes some VE sessions will eventually follow.
    For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Skeeter Nash N5ASH.
    (CEDAR CREEK LAKE NEWS, THE ATHENS REVIEW, CEDAR CREEK AMATEUR RADIO CLUB BLOG)
    **
    A WINNING WYONG FIELD DAY
    NEIL/ANCHOR: Amateurs from the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, had a full day recently - a VERY full day - during Field Day at Wyong. With that story is Amateur Radio Newsline's Ed Durrant DD5LP.
    ED'S REPORT: After months of preparation and hard work, the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club's Field Day at Wyong took place Sunday, the 26th of February.
    Aerial shots of the hamfest from a drone showed the car parks to be full, in fact overflowing and lots of people walking around the flea market.
    Many positive comments have already been received regarding the variety of topics being covered in the two, parallel lecture streams. A big vote of thanks goes to Bob VK2AOR for putting both lecture streams together.
    The ATV and DMR demonstrations on the upper floor of the race club were well attended with all seats being filled and standing room only for the Brandmeister and DMR demos. Ian VK2HK, who ran these demonstrations, tells me he was only able to get away for 10 minutes during the day, so high was the interest and questions about this new digital voice mode. Ian had to be supplied with food and drink by other club members, so again thanks to Ian for his dedication.
    Along with the DMR demonstrations, the other hits of the day were the lecture on Space Weather from the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology and the Drone flying demonstrations. These demonstrations were so effective that the drone retailer left at the end of the day with no stock left.
    While lectures and demonstrations were taking place on the upper floors, there was also lots happening at ground level with the traders and flea market stalls getting lots of attention and the testing room busy not only with Australian but this year also US amateur radio examinations.
    For a hamfest that has been going almost 60 years, it is good to see the CCARC expanding into new areas of interest to their visitors and having a very successful Wyong Field Day 2017.
    Through involvement of a local radio station and attendance of youngsters from local schools, it is hoped that the message about Amateur Radio will be passed on to a new generation of club members but before the CCARC Field Day in 2018, the club has a lot to prepare in it's celebrations of the club's 60th. birthday in October. Long may the CCARC continue in its efforts of promoting Amateur Radio in "God's Country" the Central Coast of New South Wales Australia.
    For the Central Coast ARC this has been Ed DD5LP VK2JI
    **
    NOMINATE YOUR "YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR"
    NEIL: Amateur Radio Newsline would like to remind listeners that the nomination period has opened for the Bill Pasternak Memorial Young Ham of the Year Award. Although we accept nominations through May 31, don't wait too long to download your application from our website and get your documentation together to support your nominee. Young Ham candidates must be 18 or younger and be a resident of the United States, its possessions or any Canadian province. Application forms are available on our website arnewsline.org under the "YHOTY" tab. Please read the rules carefully. Applications are being accepted between Wednesday, March 1 and May 31. The award will be presented on August 19th at the Huntsville Hamfest in Huntsville Alabama. Join us in helping celebrate young, talented, community-minded amateurs by nominating a youngster you admire.
    **
    BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including K8SCH, the 2-meter repeater of the OhKyIn (Oh-KY-Yin) Amateur Radio Society, on Wednesday nights following the Tech Net.
    **
    GETTING ON BOARD THE HAM RADIO BUS
    NEIL/ANCHOR: In Australia, one lifelong amateur has turned an old public bus into a kind of school bus - the school of radio - as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's John Williams VK4JJW.
    JOHN: An out-of-service bus sits outside town in the central Victoria community of Castlemaine, and the vehicle's not likely to be going anywhere soon. The same can't be said for the small group of teenagers inside: They are Castlemaine Venturers, scouts who have just begun their journey into ham radio. Their tutor, Tony Falla VK3KKP, is igniting in them the same wonder he felt as a child.
    TONY: When I was 5, my dad brought home radios from work. He was working connected with the military. I was playing with radios, dismantling them and putting them in boxes and every weekend I would bring them out and take them into even smaller parts. Then I went to primary school. I must have been about 7 years old. I was next to an army training camp and the soldiers invited us all into the trucks and into the tanks to listen to headphones. We heard the whole battles, the pretend battles going on and I think that really got me in. I remember that moment so vividly. So when I introduce these ideas to kids these days I do see that they have the same excitement. I just put some earplugs into my first grandchild, she was about 5, and it was a radio station there. To see the look on her face was amazing!
    JOHN: Sometimes, Tony said, even well-taught classroom theory and radio simulation can't compete with the power of the real thing.
    TONY: When we were just talking across the car park, somebody broke in from New Zealand and we got talking to them. The scouts saw that was a genuine contact that hadn't been set up and the scouts talked to the chap. He was up a mountain, one thousand meters high, camped in a little cabin with a radio and a battery. Again because they are scouts, they knew this person was in a remote area. Chatting to us one evening suddenly made it real again, you see. So I think what we were talking about before, making all these examples real, not just simulating them over Echolink or Skype, we were actually doing it for real -- and that person was isolated! So it did tweak them as well.
    JOHN: A member of the Bendigo Amateur Radio and Electronics Club, Tony said the enthusiasm for ham radio has now gotten a bit infectious.
    TONY: We've had teachers approach us and other members of the public and we are going to be teaching the teachers hopefully. We are going to teach the scoutmasters so they can go on and teach other scouts. We think we should move up a level so that we don't get burned out -- but at the same time just keep using these arguments to demonstrate why we think it is important.
    JOHN: The first group of students takes the Foundation exam this month. We wish them luck as they ride the ham radio bus and bring more passengers on board.
    For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm John Williams VK4JJW.
    **
    NEW MANAGER FOR ARRL WEST VIRGINIA SECTION
    NEIL: Leadership of the ARRL's West Virginia section has just changed hands. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Damron N8TMW tells us who's in charge now.
    JIM: Here in West Virginia, a new ARRL Section Manager has been appointed as of March 1st. He is Morgantown attorney Dan Ringer K8WV, and he will succeed Phillip Groves, N8SFO. Phil has served since July 2015 and is stepping down for personal reasons. Dan will fill the remainder of the term, which concludes on September 30th. The new two-year term for section manager begins on October 1st and nominating petitions are due at the ARRL’s Connecticut headquarters no later than June 9th. I talked with Dan about his new position.
    DAN: I took the position because first of all I have been deeply involved in amateur radio for most of my life. I was first licensed when I was 13 years old...and I have been involved with the ARRL during most of that time. I was an assistant director for the Roanoke Division for a number of years. I have been an assistant section manager for a longer period of time. I’m an attorney so I’ve volunteered as a volunteer counsel with the ARRL. And because I’m an attorney, I tend to know people involved in local government so I have been a local government liaison.
    JIM: Any closing thought on our ham radio hobby?
    DAN: It’s a wonderful hobby. It’s an important hobby, and it’s a useful hobby. Everybody...there’s a role for everybody in amateur radio.
    JIM: That was Dan Ringer, K8WV, newly appointed WV ARRL Section Manager.
    For Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Jim Damron, N8TMW
    **
    THE WORLD OF DX
    In the world of DX, listen for Makoto JI5RPT from Ogasawara Island, operating as JD1BLY from March 7th to 10th. He'll be on 160m to 10m CW, SSB and digital. QSLs go to the home call.
    In Ghana, a group of 6 operators from the UK will be using the callsign 9G5X between the 7th and 21st of March. They will operate on all bands from 160m to 10m. Send QSL cards via M0OXO OQRS.
    Peter HA3AUI will be using the call sign J5UAP in West Africa in early March for a few days. Listen for him on CW running 100w to a Spiderbeam. QSL via the on-line log on cqafrica.net.
    Between March 3rd and March 5th, members of the Kuala Lumpur DX Team will sign 9M4IOTA from Tioman Island on all bands from 80 meters to 10 meters, using CW, SSB and digital modes. This will count as AS-046 for the Islands on the Air Award. QSL manager is 9M2OOO.
    **
    KICKER: HEARING DUBAI'S VICE PRESIDENT LOUD AND CLEAR
    NEIL/ANCHOR: In our final story this week, we hear how the leader of Dubai is sharing a message with the world via satellite -- relying on more than just a little help from ham radio. Amateur Radio Newsline's Graham Kemp VK4BB has those details.
    GRAHAM: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, may not have his ham radio license, but his message is traveling far and wide on the HF bands, the first message to be transmitted from a newly launched satellite of the United Arab Emirates.
    The satellite is a Nayif-1 launched in late February from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in India and it is Dubai's first nanosatellite. The sheikh's message, being sent out in Arabic, translates to say "The renaissance of peoples, nations and civilizations starts with education and the future of nations starts at their schools."

    At one school in particular, the American University of Sharjah, engineer students worked with the space center in India to design, build, test and operate the nanosatellite. Now the school is monitoring it. Its main objective is to send and receive messages on amateur radio frequencies, transferring messages mainly among speakers of Arabic.
    So far the sheikh's message has been heard loud and clear by hams in Haiti, the U.S., Sweden and Spain, as the satellite flies high over the earth at an altitude of 600 kilometers, or not quite 375 miles high. Its telemetry and transponder data are available online at the AMSAT-UK website.
    Now, if the sheikh happens to hear his own message endorsing the power of education, perhaps he will undertake some study himself and get on the air in a more conventional manner - as a brand new ticket.
    For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB
    (AMSAT-UK, THE UAE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER)
    **
    NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; AMSAT-UK; the ARRL; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; QRZ.COM; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; The UAE National Newspaper; 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 Neil Rapp WB9VPG in Bloomington, Indiana saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.
    Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2017. All rights reserved.
     
    IX1FIT and WD9GCO like this.
  2. AA1PR

    AA1PR Ham Member QRZ Page

    seems there is an inherit conflict there
     
  3. W5TTW

    W5TTW XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    DABANGG APPROVES!
    [​IMG]
     
    WU8Y and AB3DC like this.
  4. WU8Y

    WU8Y Ham Member QRZ Page

    Oh, I can't wait for teh-Zed EMCOMM bashers to show up and read this one.
     
  5. W5TTW

    W5TTW XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    DABANGG wears those shades to protect his eyes from reflective vest wearing enemies.
     
  6. N8FM

    N8FM Ham Member QRZ Page

    How so?
     
  7. AA1PR

    AA1PR Ham Member QRZ Page

    amateurs doing a professional service
     
  8. N8FM

    N8FM Ham Member QRZ Page

    Huh... I didn't get that out of the article. I understood it to mean that a plan is being put into place so the Amateurs can assist with disaster relief communications when called upon to do so.

    "The Assam Police Radio Organization, which uses wireless communication for law enforcement and crises, is working to integrate amateur radio use more deeply into its operations, particularly for disaster preparedness. According to a recent article in the Assam Tribune, the strategy gained traction during a February APRO seminar on disaster response and planners said priority needed to be given to communication methods that did not rely on the existing communications grid."

    So it seems to me that they're most likely not going to be using it for day-to-day operations, like dispatch and whatnot, but rather to augment communications systems that are nearing/at capacity, failing or simply unavailable in the stricken areas for one reason or another. Nor was there any mention of remuneration for services rendered. This sounds very similar to how Amateur Radio is called into service in other countries, including the US. In the case of the latter, however, I don't think the first responders are as familiar with Amateur Radio and the role it could play and has played in emergency communications as they might be in India or other nations.

    Further reading: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=feb2417/city050
     

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