Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2074 for Friday, July 28, 2017

[Amateur Radio Newsline]

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2074 for Friday, July 28, 2017

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2074 with a release date of
Friday, July 28, 2017 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. K2BSA gets on the air in West Virginia at the
largest Scouting event in the world. Hams in India welcome new
licensees trained on a college campus -- and an amateur in Australia
reflects on more than 20 years' involvement with the space program. All
this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2074 comes your way
right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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K2BSA - THE BUSIEST CALL SIGN ON THE BANDS?

JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week with one of the busiest call signs on
the bands recently - K2BSA. It has been activated at the Boy Scout
National Jamboree, the single largest event in Scouting, and will be
soon at two other locations. As Amateur Radio Newsline went to
production, the Jamboree was wrapping up in West Virginia but the other
locations are ready for action. Here's a report from Bill Stearns
NE4RD, who checked in with us earlier in the week.

BILL: This week in Radio Scouting we have 3 activations of the the
K2BSA callsign, one activation from Scout Camps on the Air and we're
starting day 5 at the National Jamboree.

Noel Pettit, WB0VGI, will be activating K2BSA/9 at Camp St. Croix in
Hudson, WI from July 30th through August 12th. Each year, his troop
from Minneapolis, camps at their site along the St. Croix River. Noel
will set up a portable battery powered HF and VHF station and help get
the radio and electronics merit badges for the scouts. Scouts spend
significant time just listening to the radio learning about digital and
analog signals for the many different uses of the bands.

David Hoshaw, AF7NO, will be activating K2BSA/7 at the Wilsonville Fun
in the Park in Wilsonville, OR, on August 5th. This is an annual
community event. Troops 528 & 194 along with Packs 199 & 194 will be
hosting a booth that will contain a ham radio station. A local
volunteer group will also have their radio trailer on site. Operators
with HTs will be roaming the event to allow anyone to talk on the
radio. The main station will have an HF rig to allow for QSOs.

Michael Wilson, N0MO, will be activating K2BSA/0 at the Cub Scout
Twilight Camp in Oak Brook, IL, from August 8th through August 12th.

James Gallo, KB2FMH, will be activating a special event station W2T at
the Ten Mile River Scout Reservation in Narrowsburg, NY, from August
5th through August 6th. The Special Event Station will be celebrating
90 years of Scouting at the oldest continually operated Scout Camp in
the country.

The K2BSA is through day 4 in its journey at the Boy Scouts of America
National Jamboree at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia as
this report is written. So far the demo station has processed 1228
Scouts and has 683 contacts, and our Radio Merit Badge team has
completed 124 radio merit badges. The temps are hot and humid, and the
bands are a bit dry, but we thank the many amateurs that have helped us
by staying on the frequency to help us work through these eager Scouts.
We have been active on 40m through 70cm, plus Satellite, D-Star, and
EchoLink. For QSL information, please visit our Jamboree Live page on
our website.

For more information on K2BSA and radio scouting, please visit
http://www.k2bsa.net/.

For Amateur Radio Newsline and the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association,
this is Bill Stearns NE4RD.

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MORE HAMS IN INDIAN STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JIM/ANCHOR: Speaking of young amateurs on the air, a whole lot of new
young licensees are keying their mics in India. For that report, we
turn to John Williams VK4JJW.

JOHN'S REPORT: There's nothing academic about the new amateur radio
club that's been established on the campus of the SRR and CVR
Government Degree College in Andhra Pradesh, India.

For one thing, there are 73 new licensed hams on campus, following a
recent exam that followed formal lessons given there. The new amateurs
include professors, students, lecturers and others, according to a
report in The Hindu newspaper.

The 73 new hams are part of a growing community in the state of Andhra
Pradesh, according to Arza Ramesh Babu VU2RDM, who also coordinates the
Ham Radio Training Centre. To help support that expanding community in
the state, he was also the leader of an amateur radio seminar held on
the 12th of July and attended by about 150 hams who were hoping to
learn more about advances in technology and its impact.

The increasing numbers in the state are seen as an encouraging sign.
Barely three years ago, a report in the Times of India quoted the
National Institute of Amateur Radio in Hyderabad as counting barely
1,000 licensees in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with even fewer
of them even possessing radio equipment.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm John Williams VK4JJW.


(THE HINDU, TIMES OF INDIA)


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BICYCLING HAM GEARS UP FOR QSOS

JIM/ANCHOR: Imagine combining some daily Dxing with a leisurely bike
ride. Paul Braun WD9GCO caught up with one radio amateur who doesn't
have to imagine that at all. Here's his story.

PAUL: Fresh air and exercise can be good for you. So can ham radio.
What about putting them all together??? John Webster, N6JW, did just
that. He decided to combine working HF with bicycling and has been
very successful at it. He said it started by staring at a mountain bike
that was in the shed, and thinking:

JOHN: Let me see if it's possible, since I had an Elecraft KX-3, to
have a "keep it simple" setup and do a little bit of HF bicycle mobile
operations. So what I ended up is the absolute minimum, initially using
the internal battery with the radio mounted on the handlebars - you
know, the trail-friendly style of the KX-3 makes it possible to put the
whole radio right on the handlebars - put a Hamstick on the back and
discovered that in fact the steel frame of the bike acted as an
excellent counterpoise for 20 meters, 17 and 15, I haven't really tried
10, and I do throw out a wire if I'm stationary on 40 just because the
size of things.

PAUL: Webster loves to work DX while biking, and he's done rather well.
In fact:

JOHN: My best DX has been a long-path contact with VK6LC, Mal, in
Western Australia and I know it was long-path because he turned his
beam and I lost him on the short-path. And I turned the wick down to
five watts - and it's actually recorded on my QRZ.com page - and worked
15, 500 miles from a bicycle.

PAUL: If you'd like to learn more about how Webster's setup works, or
are interested in trying it yourself, he invites anyone to check out
his N6JW QRZ.com page:

JOHN: Yes, you can get a couple of pictures, they're welcome to use my
N6...@arrl.org email and contact me. I'm happy to try and give some
assistance.

PAUL: Webster and his wife are avid bikers, and he's on the air from
the bike quite a bit. Keep an eye on the spotting sites and you may end
up with a very interesting QSO.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO.

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CANADA'S 'CONFEDERATION LIGHTHOUSE' SPEAKS TO THE WORLD

JIM/ANCHOR: As date for the International Lighthouse and Lightship
Weekend gets closer, amateurs on Prince Edward Island are especially
proud to be participating from a location that's as old as Canada
itself. Kevin Trotman N5PRE has those details.

KEVIN'S REPORT: Canada's East Point Lighthouse on Prince Edward Island
is known as the Confederation Lighthouse, the sole survivor of the two
built in 1867, the year Canada itself was established. Like Canada, it
is marking its 150th year. Now the lighthouse will be gaining another
distinction. It will be the location from which hams will operate on
August 18th during the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.
It will be among as many as 500 lighthouses in 40 nations around the
globe giving their best effort to make the most contacts possible over
the course of 48 hours that weekend.

The lighthouse will operate with the call sign VY2PLH.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

(GEORGE DEWAR VY2GF)

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GB3OA REPEATER BACK IN THE GAME

JIM/ANCHOR: The EchoLink and IRLP nodes for one popular repeater in the
UK had been out of service for some time - but that's no longer the
case, as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY'S REPORT: The big excitement just outside the Royal Birkdale
golf course in Southport may not have been the dramatic win of the
British Open by young American golfer Jordan Spieth. At least not for
amateur radio operators unless they were also sports fans.

For most amateurs the better news is that the IRLP and Echolink nodes
5302 on the nearby GB3OA repeater have returned to service.

The repeater, which is less than two miles from the golf course where
the Open took place, had the IRLP and Echolink nodes disabled for
several weeks. According to the GB3OA website, those repairs included
the purchase and configuration of a new server.

With the nodes back in business, hams are encouraged to get back on the
repeater.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH

(SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS)


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BREAK HERE Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including
the Stephens County Amateur Radio Society, N4DME repeater, in Toccoa,
Georgia Tuesday nights at 8PM.

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AMATEUR SERVES NASA FROM THE GROUND UP

JIM/ANCHOR: Australian amateur Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI was recently
honored by NASA for 20 years of work with the Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station program. He was not only there as a
founding member of ARISS, but he's actually a veteran of space
communication predating the program. John Williams VK4JJW has
thatstory.

JOHN: Kingston radio operator Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI is proud to be the
essential link that connects hundreds of schools around the world with
astronauts aboard the International Space Station. He provides what's
known as a telebridge from his home in South Australia which then
connects to schools around the world through a NASA phone-line patch.
He told us his first student connections were with cosmonauts on board
the MIR space station starting in 1993:

TONY: "My first contact with manned space flight was with the MIR space
station and Aleks Serebrov. Aleks and I developed quite a friendly
friendship and this was back in 1993. I asked him if he could speak to
the Loxton Science Club at the Loxton High School where I was living at
the time. He said he would be delighted to and said he would do it in
memory of [the late Shuttle astronaut] Krista McAuliffe."

JOHN: With the creation of ARISS 3 years later, Tony formed even more
friendships in space. He also saw students become transformed
-sometimes for life - by the ARISS experience.

TONY: "It's a great experience. We have had numerous students from
around the world move on to technology and doing university courses and
of course becoming amateur radio operators as well which is a big
thing. We always promoote the amateur radio side of things. It is
great, I know of one student in Australia who went on to university to
do space science and it all started from a linkup with ARISS."

JOHN: To hear Tony's first contact with Mir cosmonaut Aleksandr
Serebrov through the MIREX program, visit the our website,
arnewsline.org, and click on the tab that says "EXTRA." Meanwhile, we
extend our congratulations to Tony VK5ZAI. For Amateur Radio Newsline
I'm John Williams VK4JJW.

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AUSTRALIA'S SUNSHINE COAST SHINES BRIGHTLY

JIM/ANCHOR: There's more celebration going on in Australia - this time
on the Sunshine Coast, a popular tourist destination. Turns out it's
been VERY popular with one group of hams who have a special event
station under way there. Jason Daniels VK2LAW has those details.

JASON: Congratulations to Australia's Sunshine Coast! Through the end
of Sptember, the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club is celebrating the
half-century that's passed since the Sunshine Coast was officially
named on the first of August in 1967. That means the club will be on
the air with the special event call sign VI4SC50. The special event
station has gained the support of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council,
which provided the group with a $1,250 grant to cover the cost of
certificates and special QSL cards. Certificates will be given to hams
who have worked three different operators or three different bands. The
renaming is something to celebrate, says the club: the tourist
destination not far from Brisbane was formerly known as the Near North
Coast. Be listening on all bands from 160m to 23cm and in a number
ofmodes.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(SUNSHINE COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB)

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HAMS NEEDED FOR MEDICAL MISSION TO HONDURAS

JIM/ANCHOR: Hams are never more helpful - or more needed - than when
their work takes them to remote parts of the world. A nonprofit group
in the U.S. is planning its next trip to provide medical and dental
help in Hondurus next year and hams are very definitely needed. We hear
more from Neil Rapp WB9VPG.

NEIL's REPORT: The International Health Service is looking for amateur
radio operators to help with its next two-week medical service mission
to Honduras in February. While the primary purpose is to provide
communications services for doctors treating impoverished villagers in
remote areas, John Kirckof KB0UUP describes the radio side of the
experience as a kind of "super Field Day," with messages being relayed
from location to location for a variety of health care needs. Most
areas have little or no electric, phone or internet service.

Anyone with a General class license or higher who is willing to assist
with communications relating to surgical transport, medical supplies or
other needs is welcome. It's recommended that radio operators bring
their own portable HF rigs and have the ability for 2 meter
communications as well, but John told Newsline that radios can also be
provided for those who have none. Organizers will also assist newcomers
in the use of the WinLink system, which is used for sending such
messages as patient-referral forms or requests for supplies between
remote villages and some of the surgery locations. No Spanish-language
skills or medical background is needed.

If you're interested or need more details about what's required,
contact John by phone at 320-634-4386 or email him at
jmkkek-at-yahoo-dot-com. (jmk...@yahoo.com) For information about the
nonprofit itself visit their website at www-dot-ihsmn-dot-org
(www.ihsmn.org)

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Neil Rapp WB9VPG

(JOHN KIRCKOF KB0UUP)

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WORLD OF DX


In the world of DX, be listening for Tim VE6SH who is using the call
sign V29SH until August 5th from the island of Antigua. He will be
operating on 30 meters and 17 meters holiday style. Send QSLs via his
home call.

A special event station marking the 40th birthday of the Swedish Crown
Princess Victoria will be on the air with the call sign SC40VIC. Be
listening for this station through to the end of 2017. Send QSL cards
to SM6JSM.

Philip G4PWO is on the air through to the end of July, operating from
the Maldives. Be listening for him using the call sign 8Q7PW. He will
be operating on SSB and in some digital modes and will upload logs to
Logbook of The World. Send QSLs to his home callsign.


(IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY)

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KICKER: NOW THAT'S DX!

JIM/ANCHOR: Finally, listen up: Can you hear it? Scientists in Puerto
Rico can and they think the sounds they've been picking up are signals
from a red dwarf star known as Ross 128. Researchers at the Arecibo
Observatory first detected these odd communications back in April and
May and the news has since been making its way around the internet.
Naturally that's led to speculation once again about alien life forms.
But Abel Mendez, director of the Planetary Habitability Lab at the
University of Puerto Rico notes in his blog that space aliens aren't
high on the list of possibilities. He said the source could be a burst
from a high-orbit satellite - or emissions like solar flares.

Scientists asked for assistance from two other radiotelescopes: the
Allen Telescope Array in California and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank
Telescope in West Virgnia. The findings are still pending.

Perhaps what's really needed instead - just maybe? - is simply to send
a QSL card.

(PHYS.ORG NEWS)

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NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; the
ARRL; CQ Magazine; George Dewar VY2GF); Hap Holly and the Rain Report;
the Hindu newspaper; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; John Kirckof
KB0UUP; K2BSA; The New York Times; PHYS.ORG; Southgate Amateur Radio
News; Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club; the Times of India; 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 news...@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 Damrom N8TMW in Charleston, West
Virginia saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2017. All rights reserved.







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