Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2413 for Friday January 26th, 2024

[Amateur Radio Newsline]

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2413 for Friday January 26th, 2024

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2413 with a release date of Friday
January 26th, 2024 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A young DXpedition team preps to leave for
Guyana. An FCC webinar explains experimental licenses -- and imagine
needing a radio license just to LISTEN? All this and more as Amateur
Radio Newsline Report Number 2413 comes your way right now.

**
BILLBOARD CART

**
A GUYANA DREAM NO LONGER DEFERRED

NEIL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with an important callsign 8R7X: You'll
be hearing it on the air as a quartet of youthful DXpeditioners
prepares - at long last - for adventure and QSOs in Guyana. John
Williams VK4JJW has that story.

JOHN: The antennas are packed, other equipment is being tested and four
young friends - Philipp Springer, DK6SP, Jamie Williams M0SDV, Sven
Lovric, DJ4MX and Tomi Varro HA8RT -- are ready to depart for their
journey to Guyana where they will activate 8R7X from the 14th to the
24th of February. It's a shared dream long deferred by pandemic travel
restrictions but now with that behind them, this youthful quartet of
seasoned DXpeditioners is prepared for the challenges of operating from
their temporary South American QTH.

A statement on the team's website expresses their excitement and adds
that their recently issued callsign has a prefix that has never before
been used. The four will continue to update their website and to keep
DXers informed via social media channels as the date gets closer. They
will be operating CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY on the HF bands.

If you want to follow their progress, see the team website listed in
the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

[DO NOT READ: www.8R-2024.com ]

**'
ARRL DEFERS CONFLICT OF INTEREST VOTE; OKS FREE STUDENT MEMBERSHIP

NEIL/ANCHOR: The ARRL has announced some changes to its membership
policy and is offering full-time students who are 21 years of age or
younger a free Associate membership in place of paying the current $30
annual fee. The ARRL has also reintroduced Life Membership and a 70+
Life Membership, for hams 70 and older, on a revenue-neutral basis.
Life Membership was suspended last year.

The changes were announced in an ARRL Member Bulletin released within
24 hours of the conclusion of the ARRL board meeting, held January 19th
and 20th.

The ARRL also reported that the board has decided to defer to another
time any proposed revisions to its Conflict of Interest Policy, a
proposed change to Bylaw 46 discussed at the January meeting. By
unanimous vote, the ARRL has established a committee to review ethics
guidelines and standards and to review Bylaw 46 further, in addition to
Bylaw 42, which applies to the Ethics and Elections Committee.

The ARRL bulletin directed members to their website, where the league
expected to post the complete minutes of the board's annual meeting.

(ARRL MEMBER BULLETIN)

**

SILENT KEY: DAVE MILLS, W3HCF, CREATOR OF NTP

NEIL/ANCHOR: The creator of the protocol that eventually came to govern
synchronized timekeeping on billions of devices around the planet has
become a Silent Key. Sel Embee KB3TZD tells us about him.

SEL: Computer scientist and unstoppable tinkerer Dave Mills, W3HCF, was
a professor at the University of Delaware when he first tackled the
question of how to synchronize the time on billions of devices around
the world, including computers, switches, satellites, servers and
clocks.

He ultimately addressed this question through the development of
Network Time Protocol, or NTP, which he introduced to the world as the
internet began emerging as a global force.

Dave became a Silent Key on the 17th of January, according to various
postings. A fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, he was a recipient of the IEEE (Eye Triple E) 2013
InternetAward.

A university professor for 22 years, Dave carved out a long career with
an emphasis on making his work accessible to individuals with low
vision, a condition he developed as a result of glaucoma at a young
age. A September 2022 profile in the New Yorker Magazine recalled
Dave's earliest work at COMSAT where he worked on ARPANET, viewed as
the precursor to the internet. The article noted that in his earlier
work at the University of Edinburgh, he authored programs to decode
telegraph signals sent over shortwave and studied how clocks functioned
in a power grid.

He eventually turned his attention toward timekeeping and the UTC, the
international civil time used by amateur radio operators and others
around the world.

Friends and colleagues shared their memories in postings on various
websites and reflectors. A post on the internet society mailing list
from Karl Auerbach declared mournfully: [quote] "Oh my, we have lost
Father Time." [endquote]

Dave was 85.

This is Sel Embee KB3TZD,

(ARS TECHNICA, INTERNET SOCIETY MAILING LIST)

**
SILENT KEY: NOTED SOTA CHASER, BOB WARDEN, KU4R

NEIL/ANCHOR: The Summits on the Air community is grieving the loss of a
ham whose valued support was evident in their logs: He was an avid SOTA
chaser, a high scorer in the SOTA scheme and a frequent contact in the
logs of many. We hear about him from Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

KEVIN: SOTA enthusiasts have shared the news on the SOTA Reflector that
Bob Warden, KU4R, a well-known and high-scoring SOTA chaser from
Tennessee, has become a Silent Key. According to one post, Bob recently
qualified for a certificate for earning 50,000 chaser points. At the
time of his death on the 19th of January, he had a total of 61,408
points. The activators all agreed that Bob was a formidable presence in
their logs whenever they climbed the summits and called CQ. One
activator, Paula, K9IR, noted that she logged 104 contacts with him
over the years and he answered her call in nearly 30 percent of her
activations. Another activator, Matt, KQ4CCP, shared that Bob was a
contact when he did his first SOTA activation on 2 meters and
eventually became his top chaser.

Licensed in 1978, Bob wrote on the site pnwSOTA.org that he spent his
first 35 years operating VHF/UHF and made some EME contacts as well and
became interested in SOTA chasing much later. He also enjoyed rag
chewing and CW.

This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

(SOTA REFLECTOR)

**
HAMS GET CREDIT FOR ADVANCING THE INFORMATION AGE

NEIL/ANCHOR: Could hams somehow be responsible for the evolution of the
Information Age? A recent magazine article says it's very likely
indeed. We hear more about this from Andy Morrison K9AWM.

ANDY: Radio and TV broadcasting, mobile communications and other
elements of the so-called wireless revolution can have all their roots
traced back to amateur radio, according to a recent article in the IEEE
Communications Magazine, IEEE Xplore. The article, which is in Volume
61, Issue 11, credits amateur radio inventiveness that was incubated in
the earliest amateur radio clubs growing on college campuses in the
early 20th Century. It singles out the Wireless Telegraph Club on
Columbia University's New York City campus, noting the student members'
propensity for wireless experimentation -- and singles out one club
member, Edwin Howard Armstrong, considered the father of FM radio. At
the same time that ham clubs were springing up on other US college
campuses, societies for wireless enthusiasts were being born in
Australia, the UK and elsewhere in the world. The article traces how
the advent of FM led to the development of mobile phones and how
amateurs' bottomless curiosity continues to be the driving spirit
behind more and more inventive ways of communicating.

The article was written by Theodore Rappaport, N9NB, of New York
University's Wireless Research Center. It is the second in a series of
three articles being published by the IEEE. The previous article on the
subject was published in October 2022 in Volume 60, Issue 10.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(RADIO DARC, IEEE)

**
LATEST MISSION TO BOARD ISS HAS ALL-HAM CREW

NEIL/ANCHOR: An international crew of amateur radio operators is aboard
the International Space Station in the latest commercial mission to be
launched from Kennedy Space Center. The crew of Axiom Mission 3
consists of retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, KE5GTK,
Italian co-pilot Walter Villadei, IU0RWB, Turkish mission specialists
Alper Gezeravci, KJ5DIY, and Marcus Wandt of Sweden, KJ5COO. They
arrived at the ISS on Saturday, January 20th, two days after their
launch, and were welcomed by the seven crew members, most of whom are
also licensed hams.

(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE, NASA)

**

BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including
the K2ADA repeater in Ocala, Florida on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m.
local time.

**
RACING EVENTS SEEN AS SHOWCASE FOR AMATEUR RADIO

NEIL/ANCHOR: There are no prizes, no awards, no certificates - really
nothing except bragging rights - in a newly organized program that
focuses instead on activations at racing events - any kind of racing
events. Jack Parker W8ISH tells us about Racing on the Air.

JACK: On your mark, get set, get on the air! That's the message
delivered this month by organizers of Races on the Air, a program that
is purely for fun, not for points. Hams are being encouraged to
activate from any type of formal race, whether the competitors are
bicycles, horses, boats, airplanes, cars - even off-road motorsport.
The objective is to show amateur radio in action and to increase its
visibility at places where the public gathers. Callers simply use "CQ
ROTA" or "CQ Racing on the Air" to attract attention to whoever is on
the bands. Attracting attention at the event itself is as easy as
finding a place to set up.

The Racing on the Air forum on the WorldWide DX Radio site has all the
details at worldwidedx dot com (worldwidedx.com). Even locations such
as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which already has an association
with ham radio activations, are eligible to participate. The ROTA
organizers ask only that hams post the details of their planned
activation, including modes and frequencies, and then upload the log
afterward to the website. Ladies and gentlemen, start your rigs.

This is Jack Parker W8ISH.

(WORLDWIDEDX, ROTA)

**
HAMS DONATE RADIOS TO HUMANITARIAN EFFORT IN UKRAINE

NEIL/ANCHOR: In Albuquerque, New Mexico, mobile radios and instructions
to build antennas are part of a donation program for a humanitarian
effort. We hear about that from Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

RALPH: A donation of 14 mobile radios and simple designs for homebrew
antennas have gone the distance from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a
humanitarian organization providing social support and medical care to
displaced families in Ukraine. The radios and the plans for antenna
construction are a project of the Bosque Amateur Radio Club, N5BRC.
When Joseph Nichols,the founder of Care4Ukraine.org, asked his brother
Art Nichols, KI5GOL, if the hams could assist with the volunteers'
communication needs as they address the sheltering, educational and
social concerns of the families, Art decided to approach the club for
ideas. Bill Kent, N5UJC, Larry Elkin, NY5L, Terry Zipes, W4RCN and club
president, Jerry Aceto, K6LIE, have since established BARCnetUA, the
program by which the hams are providing assistance.

Club members have donated $700 to the effort, which paid for the 14
handheld radios. Art told the Albuquerque Journal that by using the
club's simple plans, the organization's volunteer team has been able to
build and use 65 antennas.

Joseph Nichols, a former biomedical equipment engineer now living in
Ukraine, writes on the GoFundMe page of Care4Ukraine that the hams'
gifts have permitted the installation of small micro-networks of
solar-powered radio equipment used by volunteers in rural areas for
emergency, non-military purposes. He said that the equipment is shared
freely with other volunteer aid groups as well.

This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

(ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL)

**
FCC WEBINAR WILL GIVE OVERVIEW OF EXPERIMENTAL LICENSES

NEIL/ANCHOR: The heart and soul of the process by which new
technologies are developed and launched is often the experimental
license which, in the US, is issued by the FCC. The agency is hosting a
webinar so researchers and experimenters can learn more about how to
put their tinkering on the air - legally. Stephen Kinford N8WB has
thatstory.

STEPHEN: The Federal Communications Commission will be presenting a
step-by-step guide to its rules, policies and procedures for anyone
seeking an experimental license. Different kinds of these licenses are
available. They enable eligible license-holders to conduct research and
testing while safeguarding other users of the spectrum against harmful
interference. The webinar will be held on the 7th of February at 1 p.m.
Eastern Time over Zoom and requires registration to participate. It
will be led by Martin Doczkat, chief of the Electromagnetic
Compatibility Division in the FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology. Experimental licenses may be issued to individuals,
hospitals, universities and other applicants.

To register, see the link in the text version of this week's newscast
at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: http://tinyurl.com/np7ykbf7 ]

I'm Stephen Kinford N8WB.

(AMATEUR RADIO DAILY, FCC)

**
RSGB NEEDS VOLUNTEERS TO DO YOUTH OUTREACH

NEIL/ANCHOR: The Radio Society of Great Britain is looking for
volunteers who are at least 26 years old to reach out to youngsters
about amateur radio. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has that story.

JEREMY: Deepening its commitment to engaging more young people in
amateur radio, the Radio Society of Great Britain is looking for
prospective volunteer Youth Country Representatives, particularly in
Wales and Northern Ireland. The representatives would be involved in
direct outreach to youngsters at schools, in youth clubs and in the
Scouts, Guides and Cadets. They would also participate in larger
activities such as British Science Week and YOTA Month. Representatives
also maintain a presence at RSGB activities.

Licensed amateurs who are interested in being a part of the next
generation in radio should apply no later than the 16th of February.
Visit rsgb dot org stroke volunteers (rsgb.org/volunteers) for details.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(RSGB)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, listen for Willy, ON4AVT operating as 6W7/ON4AVT
from Warang, Senegal from the 3rd of February until the 16th of April.
He is expected to operate mostly FT8 on 80-10 metres. He will also be
operating through the QO-100 satellite. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Herve, F5HRY, is active from Marie Galante island, Guadeloupe as
FG/F5HRY until the 2nd of February. Listen for him on 80-10m, using CW
and SSB. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Bernhard, DL2GAC, will be active again as H44MS from Malaita, IOTA
Number OC-047, in the Solomon Islands. He expects to be on the air
around the 10th of February and will be active every day on 160-6
metres until the 25th of April. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: WHEN RADIO REQUIRED A LICENSE TO LISTEN

NEIL/ANCHOR: In this final story, we look at the privilege of having a
radio license: Ours allows us to transmit -- but imagine a time when
you needed a license simply to listen. Ed Durrant DD5LP tells us about
a ham radio event that recalls that moment in history.

ED: Special event stations are on the air throughout Germany calling
QRZ and using the callsign suffix "100FK". Their operation marks 100
years since the establishment of the German Radio Cartel, 10
associations who worked together to train interested radio hobbyists to
be able to take the receiver licence tests run by the German Government
which allowed them to listen to the few AM broadcast stations who were
just starting up. The creation of the "Deutschen Funk Kartell" on the
24th of January, 1924, marked the dawn of early radio in Germany and
their efforts raised the number of listeners to a million in just 18
months. The mandated test and licence to simply listen to a radio was
the precursor to the amateur radio transmission licence later.

Now it's your turn to listen (this time without a licence to listen)
--from anywhere in the world. These stations will be commemorating the
start of radio, one century ago and plan to be on the air through to
the 31st of May. For details, visit one hundred EFF KAY dot Dee Eee.
(100FK.DE)

Fortunately, hams have the licence not just to listen - but to respond
as well.

This is Ed Durrant DD5LP.

(FUNK TELEGRAMM, 100FK.DE)

**
DO YOU HAIKU?

Does your amateur radio experience ever inspire a bit of poetry? Why
not immortalize that incredible QSO or fantastic antenna by
participating in the Amateur Radio Newsline haiku challenge. Use the
entry form on our website, arnewsline.org and please follow the rules
for writing your three-line haiku -- we cannot accept any entries that
aren't written in traditional haiku form. And be sure to check out our
previous winners!

NEWSCAST CLOSE:

With thanks to the Albuquerque Journal; Amateur Radio Daily; AMSAT News
Service; ARRL; CQ Magazine; David Behar K7DB; DXWorld; FCC; Funk
Telegramm; 425DXNews; IEEE; NASA; QRZ.com; Racing on the Air; Radio
DARC; shortwaveradio.de; SOTA Reflector; Wireless Institute of
Australia; Worldwide DX; YouTube; and you our listeners, that's all
from the Amateur Radio Newsline. We remind our listeners that Amateur
Radio Newsline is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that incurs
expenses for its continued operation. If you wish to support us, please
visit our website at arnewsline.org and know that we appreciate you
all. We also remind our listeners that if you like our newscast, please
leave us a 5-star rating wherever you subscribe to us. 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 Union Kentucky saying 73. As always
we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright
2024. All rights reserved.