Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2069 for Friday, June 23, 2017 - Audio https://www.arnewsline.org/s/Report2069.mp3 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2069 with a release date of Friday, June 23, 2017 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Hams enjoy the longest radio day of the year in England. Schools begin prepping for Space Station contacts -- and hurricane season is upon us! All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2069 comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** HURRICANE SEASON COMES STORMING IN JIM/ANCHOR: Don't look now but Hurricane Season has just gotten under way. As we start this cautious time of year on the Atlantic Coast of the U.S., our first report comes to us courtesy of Phil Thomas W8RMJ of the Amateur News Weekly podcast. Phil reports on the recent release of the 2017 Hurricane Outlook from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. PHIL'S REPORT: June the first marks the official start of the 2017 Hurricane Season which continues through November the 30th. In an average season, based on data from 1981 to 2010, twelve named tropical cyclones should be expected, with six of these reaching hurricane intensity and three developing into major hurricanes. The outlook is a general guide to the overall activity during the upcoming hurricane season. It is not a seasonal hurricane landfall forecast nor does it predict levels of activity for any particular location. The official NOAA 2017 Hurricane Season Outlook indicates a 45 percent probability of an above-normal season. The outlook calls for between 11 and 17 named storms. This already includes pre-season Tropical Storm Arlene which occurred in April. Of these named storms, between five and nine could reach hurricane intensity, with between two and four of these becoming a major hurricane. FEMA is encouraging residents and businesses to prepare by understanding the risks, planning for the entire family and downloadint the FEMA app. The app contains important information on what to do before and after a hurricane. The app also allows users to receive weather alerts from NOAA's National Weather Service including life-saving safety tips. To learn more, go to www.hurricanes.gov. JIM/ANCHOR: That was Phil Thomas W8RMJ of Amateur News Weekly. For more news from the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana area, visit amateurnewsweekly.com (AMATEUR NEWS WEEKLY) ** "LAST MAN STANDING" BREATHES ITS LAST JIM/ANCHOR: True fans may already know this but TV's "Last Man Standing" appears to have breathed its last. The show, which was cancelled by ABC, was in talks to be revived on CMT but media reports indicated that negotiations with 20th Century Fox Television, as of June 20, had broken down. According to the Hollywood Reporter website, talks fell apart over cost. The ratings hit, which ran for six seasons on ABC, featured Tim Allen as an amateur radio operator. The show eventually prompted the actor to get his own real-life license, KK6OTD. At least for now, his character Mike Baxter KA0XTT, appears to have become a Silent Key. (FOX NEWS, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) ** SOLSTICE: RADIO'S LONGEST DAY JIM/ANCHOR: The Northern Hemisphere's longest day is June 21st and one group of hams in the UK think that makes a perfect opportunity for a long day of radio. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot G4NJH spoke to the Essex Ham group prior to the event to hear just what their plans were going to be. JEREMY: On the day of the summer solstice, some people may choose to dance at Stonehenge but in another part of the UK amateurs plan on making the most of the longest day of the year by making it a full day - a VERY full day - of amateur radio. PETE: It's a little bit of tradition now for some of our guys who've been doing it for a few years now. It is, of course, the longest day so if you are going to do a day's worth of amateur radio do the longest day. Why not? JEREMY: That was Pete M0PSX of Essex Ham, the group that plans on marking the solstice with three activations this year: Sunday the 18th of June, Wednesday the 21st of course, and Saturday the 24th of June. Special Event Station GB1JSS operates from sun-up to sun-down - at a central location in Chelmsford - where there are passers by, a nice pub -- and some radio history. PETE: Chelmsford is what we call the birthplace of broadcasting. So 1922 was where all the braodcasting was started in the UK and we are not all that far away, 4 or 5 miles away from where it all started. JEREMY: It all seems a good fit for the calendar and the location, which is what its creator Charlie M0PZT of Essex Ham had in mind when he first suggested the event - by that we mean the special event station, not the Solstice. They've been planning for a long day on the air! PETE: We will do as much as we possibly can on Saturday. For the U.S. it will be 9 a.m. GMT will be the start of our activities on Saturday. We normally tweet as soon as we are set up so if people want to find out what we're up to, if they follow "at-essexham" (@essexham) or look on Facebook we always announce the frequencies we're operating on. If anyone wants to work us, brilliant. If we can set up a sked if someone would be keen to make that connection in Chelmsford, let us know. Really the twitter feed is the active one for us. We also have a Facebook page and a website which is www.essexham.co.uk and yes we will keep you all updated, we will be on as many bands as we can. Typicall 40 20 30 we do CW as well as voice and we even have DMR, some of the digital radio stuff as well normally. So if we know people are out there and trying to work us, we will make sure we let you know where we are. JEREMY: As the hams in Essex would say: Who needs Stonehenge anyway? For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH JIM/ANCHOR: We're happy to say that Amateur Radio Newsline's European correspondent Ed Durran DD5LP caught up with the special event station on the longest day of the year, and here's a small part of his contact. ED's AUDIO: <short clip of QSO between DD5LP and Special Event Station GB1JSS operator "Dot."> JIM/ANCHOR: Hams were expected to get one more try on Saturday June 24 for contact with GB1JSS. (ESSEX HAM) ** ALABAMA'S ARISS MOMENT JIM/ANCHOR: There's big excitement in Pinson, Alabama right now as Pinson Valley High School prepares for what it hopes will be its Space Station Moment. Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp WB9VPG has that story. NEIL: Pinson Valley High School in Alabama has become one of 13 educational facilities in the U.S. to be chosen for the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program. What happens next? The school needs to submit its proposal and equipment plan for ARISS review and demonstrate that the school can be available at those moments between next January and June when NASA can arrange for amateur radio contact opportunities with one of the astronauts on board. English teacher Jennifer Moore, who is leading the faculty team behind the project, said the experience is designed to make the sciences real to students in a meaningful way and encourage careers in related fields of technology, engineering and mathematics. The school's partners in the Space Station venture will include the Southern Museum of Flight, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and the Birmingham Amateur Radio Clubs Amateur Radio Advancement Group. The excitement is real elsewhere too: Students and teachers are doing the same in a dozen other schools this year, including Mill Springs Academy in Alpharetta, Georgia; Freeport Public Schools in Freeport, New York and Bellefonte Area Middle School in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. This is one effective way of getting students to aim high. For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Neil Rapp WB9VPG. ** GIPPSTECH WINDOW IS CLOSING JIM/ANCHOR: A few weeks before the Friedrichshafen ham radio event, Australian and New Zealand amateurs will gather in Churchill, about 105 miles east of Melbourne, Australia for GippsTech 2017. The event is organized by the Eastern Zone Amateur Radio Club. Amateur Radio Newsline's John Williams VK4JJW tells us more: JOHN'S REPORT: GippsTech 2017 is a conference in Victoria, Australia, that focuses on microwave, UHF and VHF operations, particularly for weak-signal operations. Amateurs will attend the annual gathering this year on July 1st and 2nd. The conference, which has been held for 20 years, is organized by the Eastern Zone Amateur Radio Club. Peter Freeman VK3PF, chairman of GippsTech, told Amateur Radio Newsline that it is modeled after similar events in the U.S. that allow hams to share techniques for various weak-signal operations. Peter said the Eastern Zone club itself has a number of enthusiastic members who are interested in these modes of communication and GippsTech became an outgrowth of that. What started as a one-day event is now a formal two-day conference drawing amateurs from most of the states throughout Australia and even New Zealand and elsewhere. At the 2003 event, Joe Taylor K1JT presented his WSJT software, which was then still new. This year the agenda will include some microwave activations and there will be reports on previous years' proceedings available for purchase. The conference is making a Partners' Program available with a minibus providing sightseeing in the local area. If you want to be among this year's attendees, please note that registration closes June 25. Download a registration form at vk3bez.org/conference For more details contact Peter VK3PF at vk3pf-at-wia-dot-org-dot-au (vk3pf@wia.org.au) For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm John Williams VK4JJW. (WIA, EASTERN ZONE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB) ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the WR9ARC Repeater of the Riverland Amateur Radio Club in La Crescent, Minnesota, as part of the Sunday Night Net at 8 p.m. local time. ** SECOND TEST DAY PREPS FOR WRTC 2018 JIM/ANCHOR: It's never too early to start testing equipment and setup for a big event and in Germany that's what hams are doing to prepare for the World Radiosport Team Championship, or WRTC. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Ed Durrant DD5LP. ED'S REPORT: In preparation for WRTC 2018, the second test day will take place from the 23rd to the 25th of June around Jessen, in central Germany. The focus will be on testing logistics and training of the volunteer support teams along with looking for any possible process improvements. Nearly 100 volunteers are coming from all over Germany to build the fifteen stations. On Saturday after completing their training on Friday, the fifteen teams will go to their allocated sites to assemble the test stations. The goal is to assemble all structures quickly and smoothly, while documenting any areas where the process can be optimized. After each site is set up, radio operation is planned. This will not only test the on-line scoreboard system but also act as publicity for WRTC 2018. It is expected that there will be a lot of DX traffic on 20 or 15 meters on Saturday evening which coincides with the ARRL Field Day. A special diploma for contacts with the test stations is planned. For details about the diploma and how to submit a request, monitor the WRTC2018.de website. On Sunday, all sites will be dismantled, the material checked and stored. During the tests live pictures will be posted to Facebook. The test weekend should help the organizers evaluate the best techniques and new possibilities before WRTC 2018. For Amateur Radio Newsline, this is Ed Durrant DD5LP. ** SOTA'S BIG DAY AT FRIEDRICHSCHAFEN JIM/ANCHOR: European amateurs are preparing for a major global gathering of hams in Germany this month and Summits on the Air will be a big part of it. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT with more details. CARYN's REPORT: Now that Hamvention is behind us, it's time for Europe to put on a world-class Amateur Radio event. "Ham Radio" in southern Germany, like Dayton attracts Hams and vendors from around the world. "Ham Radio" takes place at the convention and exhibition center in Friedrichshafen (Freed-Ricks-Ha-Fenn), located on Lake Constance which forms the border between Germany and Switzerland. The town is used to hosting the largest trade events in Europe and Ham Radio uses only a fraction of the space available at the center. All sellers, including the flea market, are inside the well-ventilated, Zeppelin-sized, halls. The air-conditioned lecture rooms host multiple parallel lecture streams across all three days. As you'd expect, outside you find the Bier Gardens and there are several food outlets to give you the energy to explore the three Amateur Radio and one Maker Faire halls. Many international groups use the event for a once-a-year meet-up and one of those is the worldwide SOTA community, for whom this year, Saturday, June 24 will become "SOTA-Day." After the annual meet-up at noon by the QSL wall, lectures run from 2 to 3:45pm, followed by an activation of a local SOTA summit. To finish out the day, there's a SOTA dinner where, thanks to SOTABeams, a prize of a WSPRLite unit will be awarded to the attendee wearing the most original SOTA clothing item. So if you're in Europe between July 14th and 16th, why not try to get down to "Ham Radio" at Fredrichshafen, especially if SOTA is your "thing." Amateur Radio Newsline's own European correspondent, Ed Durrant DD5LP, will be attending and promises to produce a report. Ed asks if you see him at the show in his blue ARNewsline staff polo shirt, please come up and say hello and - who knows - you may be included in the report! For Amateur Radio Newsline, this is Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT. ** WORLD OF DX In the world of DX, as Azerbaijan hosts the Formula One Grand Prix in its capital city of Baku, several special event stations are active. Be listening for 4JF1EU, 4JF1BAKU, 4KF0NE and 4KF1BAKU from the 23rd of June to the 25th. Send QSLs direct or via LoTW. Hams belonging to the Cuban amateur radio association, FRC, will be using the call sign CO9KAA marking the 50th anniversary of an annual cultural event honoring the 19th century poet Cristobal Napoles Fajardo, from June 28th until July 3rd. Listen on 80/40/20/15/10/6 meters where hams will be using CW and SSB. A digital certificate is available for amateurs contacting CO9KAA on at least 3 bands in either mode. The Chinese Radio Amateur Club, CRAC, will be active as B7CRA between June 26th and July 2nd from the rare Yongxing Island in the Paracel Islands. The ship's schedule may adjust the operations slighly, depending on conditions. Be listening on 80-6 meters - except for 30 meters. Hams will be operating on CW, SSB and the Digital modes. QSL via BA4TB or ClubLog's OQRS. Be listening for Eddy, DM5JBN, operating as 9A/DM5JBN from both Hvar Island and Brac Island. He'll be on Hvar Island from June 28th to July 2nd and then move on to Brac Island starting July 4th through the 9th. He will be operating mainly using CW and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign, direct, by the Bureau, LoTW or eQSL. (OHIO PENN DX SOUTHGATE, IRTS) ** KICKER: PHYSICIST'S GIFT IS HEAVEN SENT JIM/ANCHOR: And finally: Promise her the moon perhaps but deliver her an asteroid. Swedish radio amateur Asta Pellinen-Wannberg SM3UHV, has done her job so well that the International Astronomical Union thought she needed a show of appreciation. Well, there was no wrapping paper large enough for this gift: her very own personal celestial body. It's known as Asteroid 11807 Wannberg and it's hers and hers alone. SSA, the Swedish national amateur radio society, noted that the physics professor's work using scattering radar to study meteors is in use by at least 10 stations around the world. The scattering radar assesses meteors that become activated after small particles penetrate the atmosphere, enhancing scientists' ability to study particles and flows in the atmosphere. The physicist's specialty is studying small bodies in space, especially meteors that interact with the earth's atmosphere. Asta is chair of the Swedish National Committee for Radio Science, where she is responsible for helping to promote research, development and education in the field of radio. She also represents Sweden in the International Union of Radio Science. Now she's even got a little asteroid to call her very own. Hopefully it's just the right size and color and she won't try to exchange it for a planet instead. (SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL; the Associated Press; CQ Magazine; Eastern Zone Amateur Radio Club; Essex Ham; the FCC; Fox News; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; the Hollywood Reporter; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; Ohio Penn DX Bulletin; Reuters; the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; Wireless Institute of Australia; WMUK Public Radio; 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 Jim Damron N8TMW in Charleston, West Virginia saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2017. 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