Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2406 for Friday December 8th, 2023

[Amateur Radio Newsline]

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2406 for Friday December 8th, 2023

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2406 with a release date of Friday
December 8th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. HAMSCI releases its first solar eclipse
findings. AMSAT Canada arrives on the satellite scene -- and meet
Newsline's International Newsmaker for 2023. All this and more as
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2406 comes your way right now.

**
HAMSCI RELEASES FIRST SOLAR ECLIPSE FINDINGS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week comes to us from the citizen
science effort known as HamSCI. Its groundbreaking ionospheric research
during the October 14th annular [ann-YOO-lar] solar eclipse has already
begun to yield the first of many new insights. Patrick Clark K8TAC
brings us the details.

PATRICK: If you participated in the Solar Eclipse QSO Party this past
autumn, yours is among the 300 logs that are helping yield data for the
HamSCI team led by Nathaniel Frissell [Frizz-Zell] W2NAF. The QSO Party
helped flesh out the overall picture, along with data collection from
more than 7 million QSOs spotted on the air and a variety of
experiments to study the solar eclipse's effects on the ionosphere. As
HamSCI prepares for another QSO Party and more observations during the
total solar eclipse over North America on April 8th, the team has
released its earliest findings from October. The detailed technical
document contains a variety of charts and graphic elements that expand
on these observations. Please visit our website, arnewsline.org, and
click on the tab that says "EXTRA." You will find the full illustrated
HamSCI document there.

This is Patrick Clark K8TAC.

(HAMSCI)

**
FCC ISSUES WARNINGS TO LAND OWNERS FOR SUPPORT OF RADIO PIRACY

PAUL/ANCHOR: The FCC has issued warnings to land owners for what the
agency says is their support of radio piracy in Boston. Andy Morrison
K9AWM has that story.

ANDY: In the US, land owners in Boston, Massachusetts have received
nine warnings - and a threat of more than $2-million in fines - from
the Federal Communications Commission for permitting illegal radio
broadcasts on their premises. This is the latest action, taken on
December 1st, to be taken under the 3-year-old PIRATE ACT, which stands
for Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement. The act gives
the FCC the power to impose fines of up to $2-milion if the broadcasts
continue. The agency also has the power to seize equipment.

As a number of media outlets, including RadioWorld,com, have reported,
the FCC has no further ability to act against the illegal stations and
has no responsibility for collecting the actual fines.That is the
purview of the US Department of Justice, which is also responsible for
fines imposed in the cases of violent crimes and drug cases. In a Nov.
24th story on RadioWorld's website, an FCC representative said [quote]
"We do not release non-public information about our ongoing
investigations, which includes whether a forfeiture is paid or not."
[endquote]

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(FCC, RADIOWORLD)

**
AMSAT-CA INCORPORATES, JOINS PROPOSED SATELLITE PROJECT

PAUL/ANCHOR: Canada has taken an important first formal step toward
supporting and developing the growth of amateur radio in space through
the incorporation of a nonprofit membership-based organisation,
AMSAT-CA.

AMSAT-CA's first venture will be a European and Canadian geosynchronous
amateur radio satellite over the North Atlantic, a future venture
proposed by the European Space Agency. A technical group is being
assembled to present a Canadian position paper for the project.

AMSAT-CA's website is still under development but visitors to amsat dot
ca (amsat.ca) can view a video from Frank Zeppenfeldt, PD0AP, of the
ESA, at the AMSAT-UK colloquium, describing the geostationary microwave
amateur payload proposal.

(AMATEUR RADIO DAILY, AMSAT-CA)

**
AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE MARKS 40 YEARS OF QSOS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Congratulations to all the men and women in space and all
the students and educators who have connected with them over the years.
In November, amateur radio communications between space and the Earth
marked its 40th year. These dialogues began in 1983 with the program
known as the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, or SAREX. SAREX was
replaced in the year 2000 by Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station. According to NASA, these high-flying QSOs have touched people
in 49 US states, 63 nations and every continent, drawing participation
of more than 1 million students, opening up the world of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics to them.

(NASA)

**
IRISH HAREC SYLLABUS AVAILABLE AS FREE DOWNLOAD

PAUL/ANCHOR: Hams in Ireland who are seeking their Harmonised Amateur
Radio Examination Certificate.have a new resource to turn to, as Jeremy
Boot G4NJH tells us.

JEREMY: The Irish Radio Transmitters Society has published its new
study guide for the Irish HAREC exam syllabus, covering technology
regulations and radio theory. The free 400-page guide is available as a
downloadable PDF and is considered to be comprehensive, with more than
450 footnotes to assist with learning. Even hams who already have the
licence may find the publication useful in helping to update their
knowledge of antenna safety or SDR technology. The guide is designed
for those who prefer self-study but it is also compatible with use in
classroom lessons. The IRTS expressed its thanks to Rafal EI6LA and
members of the National Short Wave Listeners Club, among the many other
authors.

To download the 25 MB file, see the link the text version of this
week's newscast at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://irts.ie/guide ]

(IRTS)

**
DOCUMENT HELPS HAMS ADDRESS NEIGHBORS' RF SAFETY CONCERNS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Hams need to be effective communicators, not just with
other hams but often with their neighbors. The ARRL's RF Safety
Committee, the Swedish Society of Radio Amateurs, the Radio Society of
Great Britain and the Irish Radio Transmitters Society have developed
guidelines to help hams address neighbors' concerns about RF exposure
from their stations. The ARRL's chairman of the RF Safety Committee,
Greg Lapin, N9GL, announced the availability of the guidelines in a
downloadable PDF from the website. In making the guidelines available,
Greg urged hams to perform exposure assessments for their stations to
ensure they comply with the FCC's RF exposure regulations. Find a link
to the downloadable PDF in the text version of this week's newscast at
arnewsline.org

[FOR TEXT ONLY, DO NOT READ: https://tinyurl.com/bdzknyun ]

(ARRL, KB6NU BLOG)

**

SEASONED SOTA OPERATOR TO SURVEY YL INTERESTS IN SUMMITS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Is it lonely at the top for some YLs? Maybe that might be
true a little bit in SOTA. But one YL in Illinois hopes to get more YLs
involved in the awards scheme that has activators hiking and climbing
to their destination.

SEL: Paula K-9-eye-R is a proud Mountain Goat in the SOTA awards
scheme. Three years ago, she had a tally of 1,000 points earned from
more than 150 summit activations, qualifying her for the award. Two
years later, she achieved her second Mountain Goat designation.

It shows her commitment to traveling to recognized summits and it shows
her effectiveness achieving the required number of contacts to qualify
a summit. Writing on the SOTA reflector, Paula announced recently that
a number of events are planned for the coming year that focus
specifically on YLs. She is reaching out to YLs who are activating
summits now or have an interest in trying it out. She announced that a
survey will be going out shortly to find out what events in particular
would get more YLs into SOTA, with the hope of re-engaging those YLs
who are no longer active or not active yet. As she says on her page on
QRZ.com, with its combination of radio operating and outdoor activity,
SOTA can be considered a "biathlon for geeks," and as we know the
winter Biathlon season is just starting.

This is Sel Embee, K-B-3-T-Zed-D.

(SOTA REFLECTOR)

**
SCHOLARSHIP FUND FOR HAMS AND RADIO TECHNOLOGY TOPS $2.1 MILLION

PAUL/ANCHOR: Grants for scholarships, ham radio clubs and technology
classroom teachers are available in excess of $2.1-million as a result
of combined funding from Amateur Radio Digital Communications and the
ARRL Foundation. The grant program, which is known as the ARDC
Scholarship at the ARRL Foundation, is expected to create more than 200
scholarships during the next three years, providing sums of between
$5,000 and $25,000 for higher education. The program has supported
nearly 100 scholarships since it was created three years ago.

(ARRL)

**

BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the KB9LPP repeater in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin on Saturdays. The repeater
is DMR enabled on the Brandmeister Network.


**
SPECIAL EVENT CELEBRATES NEW "WILLY WONKA" MOVIE

PAUL/ANCHOR: When you get your amateur license, it's been said that
you've gotten your ticket. But what does it mean if you receive a
"golden ticket?" One ham in Minnesota has organized a special event
station that answers the question. Kent Peterson KC0DGY tells us what
it's all about.

KENT: It's no accident Shane Manzara's vanity callsign is W0NKA. He's a
diehard fan of the 1971 movie, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,"
in which golden tickets provide five children with admission to a place
of magic and unending supplies of chocolate. Since then, Shane hasn't
lost his taste for chocolate - or the storyline - so as Warner Bros.
releases the prequel to theaters, Shane and two friends --Brian,
KB9TBB, and Dan, KD9OIV, are going on the air calling QRZ using SSB and
FT8 on the 15th, 16th and 17th of December. Work them - or send a
short-wave listener's report - if you include a stamped, self-addressed
envelope and a fee to cover the printing costs, you'll be getting a
golden ticket, a shiny QSL card that Shane designed to look like the
ticket in the original movie. See his page on QRZ.com for details.

Best of all, this trio of activators will operate in a park in addition
to their home QTH, so contacts made during the daytime will count
toward credit for Parks on the Air. Of course, daytime contacts will
also leave you free at night to go and see the movie. Now that's a
sweet deal.

This is Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(SHANE MANZARA, W0NKA)

**
NEW HAM STATION FOR INDIA'S CYCLONE-PRONE ISLAND REGION

PAUL/ANCHOR: There is hope for improved radio communication in a region
of India that has been long been plagued by cyclones. Jason Daniels
VK2LAW explains

JASON: Authorities in a cyclone-prone region of India are hoping to
help set up an amateur radio station on a remote island in the
Sunderbans region, which is particularly hard-hit by cyclones each
year. Permanent stations have already been established in two area
locations, Gangasagar Island and Gosaba. The third area station would
be installed on Mousuni Island on a trial basis. Disaster management
officials told local media that the station could become eligible for
permanent status depending on the consistency and quality of radio
signals to and from the island. Hams at these stations in the Sunderban
delta would be connecting directly with state administrators during
disasters.

In mid-November, hams tested propagation on Mousuni Island using HF and
VHF radios. The West Bengal Radio Club and the Indian Academy of
Communication and Disaster Management oversaw the trial operation which
was conducted as a two-day DXpedition to the island with a special
callsign, AT23JCB.

This is Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(THEPRINT.COM, MILLENNIUM POST)

**
WRTC 2026 RELEASES LIMITED EDITION PADDLE

PAUL/ANCHOR: Do you want to telegraph your support of the World
Radiosport Team Championship, which will be held in England in 2026?
Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us how.

JEREMY: You don't have to be a CW operator to support WRTC 2026, but it
helps, especially if you want to become the owner of one of the
limited-edition paddles designed for the event organisers by Filipe
Lopes CT1ILT. Each key sold in this limited-edition design will have
its own unique serial number. Display it in your shack or, better
still, use it on the air during the event in July of 2026 as 50
qualifying teams arrive in the UK to represent their home countries in
what is viewed as the Olympics of amateur radio.

[DO NOT READ: https://www.wrtc2026.org/product/wrtc-uk-2026-morse-key/]

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(WRTC 2026)

**

WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, the Christmas station PA23XMAS leads a group of
stations on the air from the Netherlands until the 31st of December.
Certificates will take the place of QSL cards for anyone who works at
least two of the stations. Other stations operating include PD23SANTA,
PH23XMAS, PH23HNY and PD24HNY. The two stations with the HNY suffix
will remain on the air until the 24th of January. Short-wave listeners
may also send in their reports. See QRZ.com for details.

Also in the holiday spirit, members of Radio Club Lliria, EA5RCL, based
in Valencia, Spain, are on the air as EH5XMAS for the holiday season,
ending on the 7th of January. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Be listening as well for the popular 12 Days of Christmas special event
from December 14th through to the 25th, featuring stations from the US
and Canada.

If you plan on working stations in Bermuda, be aware that the Radio
Society of Bermuda is discontinuing its QSL bureau service on Dec. 31,
2024 for VP9 stations. Service will be phased out during the yearahead.

**
MEET YL RAISA, R1BIG, INTERNATIONAL NEWSMAKER FOR THE YEAR 2023

PAUL/ANCHOR: For our final story we have an awards presentation. The
Amateur Radio Newsline International Newsmaker of the Year award
celebrates a clever and creative innovator in this, its fifth year: She
is YL Raisa R1BIG/OH7BG. Through social media and various websites she
has given the world a window into what it means to struggle and grow as
a ham. Newsline's editor Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT spoke with her.

CARYN: Congratulations to Raisa Skrynnikova, R1BIG, who began in 2018
to channel her enthusiasm and humor to show how a newly licensed ham
learns to put up antennas, enter a contest, activate a SOTA summit and
handle some incredible pileups. Her blogs, livestreams and YouTube
videos are a source of information and good will. Raisa told Newsline
why she decided to put her own story in the spotlight.

RAISA: To show step by step that it is not very difficult to get and to
pass the exam, to make your own equipment. You can also make your
antenna yourself and set it up yourself also. I try to do all these
videos to show that the ham radio hobby is not so difficult and you can
do simple steps and know more and more information. Why I like the ham
radio hobby is because every day, every time, you need to learn
something new - and this is the best thing, I think.

CARYN: In 2021, Raisa advocated for greater friendship among the
world's hams by taking another bold step. Building on the earlier work
of two hams, she enlisted help from friends in different countries and
assembled an easy-to-use interactive online practice guide offering
commonly used QSO phrases in 11 different languages.

RAISA: It is so nice, you feel a very nice feeling, when someone talks
a little bit in your language and I thought, "Oh I would like to know
some phrases in the different languages and to say hello buon giorno,
buona sera." It's so wonderful and make people a little bit more happy.

CARYN: Her humor and her relentless optimism about ham radio's future
have provided a bright spot by using the technology that is guiding the
next generation's amateurs.

RAISA: I think that the new technology and the internet and social
media will not kill the hobby. I think that they will help the hobby
because we can use them for promoting the hobby and make this hobby
more popular. And that is exactly what I try to do.

CARYN: We are proud of this year's International Newsmaker, Raisa
R1BIG. I'm Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT.


PAUL/ANCHOR: A past two-time Newsmaker award winner, the West Bengal
Radio Club in India, continues their exemplary work combining amateur
radio with ongoing humanitarian efforts to reunite families and help
save lives. Newsline felt it needed to recognise this club's ongoing
work and has awarded ARN's first ever Special Award to them, long may
they continue their great work.

**
POETRY IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

If this holiday season inspires you to feel a bit like a poet, send us
an amateur radio-related haiku and your creation might just be our pick
of the week. Visit our website to learn more about the Amateur Radio
Newsline haiku challenge - and be sure to follow the rules for writing
in correct haiku format.

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily; AMSAT-Canada; ARRL;
Central Coast ARC; CQ Magazine; David Behar K7DB; FCC; 425DXNews;
HamSCI; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; KB6NU blog; the Millennium
Post; ThePrint.com; QRZ.com; Radio World; Shane Manzara, W0NKA;
shortwaveradio.de; SOTA Reflector; Wireless Institute of Australia;
WRTC 2026; 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 Paul Braun WD9GCO in Valparaiso Indiana saying 73. As
always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is
Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.