Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2126 for Friday, July 27, 2018 Audio - https://www.arnewsline.org/s/Report2126.mp3 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2126 with a release date of Friday, July 27, 2018 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. A ham in Japan achieves his goal after 4 decades. More than 300 lighthouses prepare for activation and meet Amateur Radio Newslines Young Ham of the Year for 2018! All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2126 comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** TRIUMPH ON 6 METERS AND BEYOND STEPHEN/ANCHOR: We begin this week with a story of personal triumph. One ham. One goal. One award. And 41 years. With those details, heres John Williams VK4JJW. JOHN: Say the words worked all states to hams who have ambitions for this ultimate ARRL award in American contacts and theyll likely tell you stories of perseverance, pileups and no doubt, dreams. Ask Tac Hirama, JA7QVI, a radio amateur in Japan, and hell tell you that he finally got to live that dream. On the 17th of June, almost 41 years to the day after he began his Worked All States journey on 6 meters, Tac had a successful QSO with New Jersey ham Andy N2NT via EME, or moon bounce. It completed the protracted effort he began on June 11, 1977 in a QSO with Fred W6PVB. Tac told Amateur Radio Newsline in an email that his chase for a New Jersey contact took a decade and he had expected it would be, like the other 49 states, either via F2 or Sporadic E propagation. Moon bounce, however, did the trick. He hasnt just collected an award however: Along the way Tac has amassed a number of friends Dan K1TO, Andy N2NT, John N2NC, Morris N1IBM, Dr.Joe K1JT among them. We note that theres a little bit more to this adventure: With this recent 6 meter accomplishment, Tac now boasts Worked All States awards on 10 bands from 160 meters to 6 meters. It pays, he said, not to give up on ones dreams. For Amateur Radio Newsline, Im John Williams VK4JJW. ** WHEN RADIO IS A BRIDGE TO THE WORLD STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Get ready to hear hams calling QRZ from bridges, honoring a very special style of structure, as Jack Parker W8ISH tells us. JACK: If amateur radio is a bridge to the world, well, its only natural to expect to find hams on or near bridges on the 18th of August. In Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio, theyll be setting up stations on or near covered bridges. In Ohio, clubs such as the Miami County Amateur Radio Club and the Highland Amateur Radio Association will be among many activating these bridges and calling QRZ to mark Covered Bridge Day. The Miami County club will be operating at the Eldean Covered Bridge in Troy, out of the nearby shelter house. The bridge itself was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2017. It was built in 1860 and is recognized as the longest long truss style bridge in the U.S. The Highland club amateurs have a list of 7 bridges to be activated, including the Blackwood Covered Bridge in Lodi Township and the Lynchburg Covered Bridge. Meanwhile that same day in New Yorks Thousand Islands region, hams will be marking the 80th anniversary of the opening of that regions International Bridge System. The Thousand Islands Repeater Club KC2TI will be on the air from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time. The International Bridge System runs between Collins Landing, New York, to the Ontario mainland, spanning 8.5 miles. The weekend of August 18th and 19th promises to be a busy one since the bridge activations are taking place at the same time hams will be taking part in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend activations. For Amateur Radio Newsline, Im Jack Parker W8ISH. (THOUSAND ISLANDS REPEATER CLUB, MIAMI COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB) ** LIGHTHOUSE NUMBER 300 IS REGISTERED STEPHEN/ANCHOR: As hams prepare to activate lighthouses in August, the numbers keep growing, as we learn from Ed Durrant DD5LP. ED: Kevin VK2CE, one of the organisers of the International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend, sent the following report to ARNewsline regarding the event that will take place in just three weeks time: Almost right on schedule the 300th entry for this years event came in from Germany and it is the lighthouse on the West Mole harbour wall at Lindau on Lake Constance. This lovely and much-photographed lighthouse is accompanied by a Lion on the East Mole both sheltering the town's harbour. The lighthouse was built and operated by the railroad (now called Deutsche Bahn) until the railroad dropped its ferry routes and sold its Lindau harbor facilities to Stadtwerke Konstanz, which operates the ferry service from Lindau to Meersburg on the German side and Romanshorn on the Swiss side of the lake. In 2010 the town of Lindau acquired the lighthouse and opened it to the public as a museum. The museum and the tower are open daily except when bad weather makes the pier unsafe. Kevin told ARNewsline that he often gets 150 or more registrations in the last three weeks, sometime as late as the weekend itself or even after the event. The record so far was in 2014 with 544 lights registered from 56 countries. Whether this total will be beaten this year remains to be seen, the main point is to get out there, demonstrate amateur radio to the public and promote conservation of these important parts of all our histories. This years highly popular fun event takes place on the 18-19 August coinciding with the International Association of Lighthouse Keepers annual open day on the Sunday. It is not a contest, logs are not required all that is needed is some portable gear and permission to site yourselves somewhere "near" to the Lighthouse or Lightship. Some clubs get a special event callsign to go with their operation but that is in no way mandatory. Full information and the online registration form are at I L L W (dot) net . For AR Newsline this has been Ed Durrant DD5LP, getting ready to do his lighthouse activation in just three weeks time. (KEVIN VK2CE) ** YHOTY STEPHEN: speaking of awards, the judges reviewed an outstanding crop of nominations and have finally reached their decision on who will be presented the Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year award. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz (Abramo-vich), NT3V, the chairman of the committee, has the story... MARK: 3:00 ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world including the ZS0MOT repeater in South Africa on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. local time. ** A BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE FOR A BLOCKBUSTER CONTEST STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Imagine a storyline of both friendship and intense competition against a backdrop of picturesque European scenery. It has the makings of a movie, no? Ed Durrant DD5LP tells us that radio amateurs can expect exactly that following the recent World Radiosport Team Championship in Germany. ED: After an extreme high level of activity during the WRTC 2018 in Wittenberg, the work was not finished with the core team staying on for a few more days to double check all sites were cleared, everything was put back to normal in the HQ Hotel and all non-sold equipment returned to the warehouse where it was packed and shipped off before the warehouse itself was cleaned and handed back to its owners. Even then the work is not finished with such a large event: Paperwork and financial matters will take some time to complete. On a lighter note more creative work is also under way. A film about the WRTC in the Wittenberg & Jessen area is being made as is an official book with many photos and stories from all parts of the event. It is hoped that both of these projects will be completed before years-end. The WRTC 2018 will remain in peoples memories for some time to come and now with the film and the book, it will be possible to get a permanent reminder of one of the largest Amateur Radio projects in Europe for many years. For Amateur Radio Newsline Im Ed Durrant DD5LP (WRTC) **** NEW TEAM TO MONITOR AIRWAVES IN GREAT BRITAIN STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The Radio Society of Great Britain is making changes in how operator behavior gets monitored. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us more. JEREMY: In Great Britain, an official team of volunteers that has been reporting problematic on-air behaviour and equipment issues is being disbanded. The Radio Society of Great Britain, the RSGB, has long relied on the efforts of the Amateur Radio Observation Service for second opinions on a variety of these issues and has decided to re-focus on how to address these important operating matters. During the next few months the Society will convene a new team called the Operating Advisory Service, or OAS. OAS participants will monitor the bands for such misuses as call-sign pirating, abuse of repeaters and on-air harassment of amateurs. Announcing the change, the Society said it had taken a hard look at the previous way of doing things and decided to give the new team responsibility for developing written recommendations to be published on the website. The team will concentrate on ideas for best practice. The RSGB noted that this change does not have any impact on Intruder Watch which is the Societys portion of the overall IARU monitoring system that reports on non-amateur signals that are heard on the HF amateur bands. For Amateur Radio Newsline Im Jeremy Boot G4NJH (RSGB) ** CALIFORNIA CLUBS TRADITION OF TEACHING AND REACHING STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A special event station operating at Californias Sonoma County Fair has a special mission, as Paul Braun WD9GCO tells us. PAUL: When the Sonoma County Radio Amateurs show up to do their radio demonstrations at the Sonoma County Fair on the 3rd and 4th of August in Santa Rosa, California, members will be keeping with an eight-year-old tradition of reaching out to the community and showing what ham radio can do. Operators will be on SSB on 40, 20 and 10 meters and also showing how to transmit in CW, APRS and possibly satellite. Darryl Paule, KI6MSP, the clubs outreach coordinator, said the 186-member club has been growing steadily during the last few months and this is yet another way to show what radio can do under emergency and non-emergency conditions. So be listening for Special Event Station K6P on both days between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time. Yours might be the contact that impresses a potential newcomer. For Amateur Radio Newsline, Im Paul Braun WD9GCO. (DARRYL PAULE KI6MSP) ** QRP AND HOMEBREW BY THE BAY STEPHEN: Another outdoor event, this one a winter outing by the water, is being held just south of Melbourne, Australia. Robert Broomhead VK3DN has the details. ROBERT: For Peter Parker VK3YE the event started with the realisation that, at the time, there were no organised gatherings of hams who enjoy QRP. That was almost five years ago. Now, says Peter, the afternoon happening known as QRP By the Bay, has gathered momentum. Although it is traditionally held twice a year at Victory Park in Chelsea when its a bit warmer, winter doesnt stop these enthusiasts from showing up on the Melbourne waterfront for at least three hours. One previous outing focused on amateur satellite operation. At the one on Saturday, July 28th the focus is Bitx/uBitx [Bitx Micro-Bitx] kits. Peter said that people bring their homebrew projects, their rigs and their antennas and they get on the air but the real point of it all is just being together as friends. He invited this years attendees by saying " bring a project, an interesting item or an idea. " Even for hams who will always prefer 5 to 10 watts, its an idea that has grown in power. For Amateur Radio Newsline Im Robert Broomhead VK3DN (PETER PARKER VK3YE) ** WORLD OF DX Be listening for Tev TA1HZ who will be operating as 9H3HZ from a bed and breakfast in Malta for the 2018 IOTA contest July 28th and 29th. He will be operating as an "Island Station-Dxpedition" on 100 watts. He also hopes to operate FT8 while on Malta. QSL direct via his home call sign; LoTW preferred. Listen for members of Japans Nara DX Association as they operate from Micronesia as V6J until the 31st of July. They are on all bands 40 6m on SSB, CW, FT8 and RTTY and are focusing on contacts into Europe and North America. QSL via Club Log OQRS. We also want to make note of a 10-year anniversary. This week marks one decade since the first ICQ Podcast, a UK-based podcast for amateurs by amateurs. Congratulations to our colleagues! ** KICKER: CANADIAN SIGNAL MAKES WAVES IN NORTHERN IRELAND STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In our final story we ask: Turn on the radio and what do you expect? Jeremy Boot G4NJH has that answer. JEREMY: Not too long ago, Paul Logan spent a nice evening listening to a radio programme on CBC Radio 1 from Newfoundland. Nothing unusual about that, right? Except Paul MI3LDO is an avid FM DXer and he was tuning in from Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It was 21:35 UTC, or 22:35 local time for Paul and his adventure in North American listening was especially unusual because it was on 88.5 MHz. Strong multi-hop sporadic E signals arent all that uncommon on 28 and 50 MHz but on this night 88 MHz was the maximum usable frequency. As John Desmond EI7GL reported in his blog: this really is a remarkable catch. Paul managed this bonus DX across 3200 kms or not quite 2,000 miles - with an SDR receiver and a 5 element beam. The blog noted that this is the fourth time since 2003 that Paul has heard a station from Canada on the band between 88 and 108 MHz. Paul himself notes on his QRZ page that his interest in radio dates to the early 1980s and back then it involved mostly listening on the broadcast bands. However, he writes, he also enjoys transmitting on his Icom 703 or his Yaesu FT-817 and when he does you can expect to hear him at 5 watts or perhaps even less. Who knows? Next time perhaps the CBC will be on the receiving end of his very QRP signal. For Amateur Radio Newsline Im Jeremy Boot G4NJH (BLOG OF JOHN DESMOND EI7GL) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL; CQ Magazine; Darryl Paule KI6MSP; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; John Desmond EI7GL; Kevin Mulcahy VK2CE; Miami County Amateur Radio Club; Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; Peter Parker VK3YE; QRZ; Radio Society of Great Britain; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; the Thousand Islands Repeater Club; Wireless Institute of Australia; WRTC; 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 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 2018. All rights reserved.
