eHam.net News

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County Honors Amateur Radio Operators:

Posted: 13 Sep 2016 06:09 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37538


After a request from Baldwin County's EMA, the Baldwin County Commission
took time earlier this week to recognize the efforts of the county's
amateur radio clubs for the work they do helping county residents.
Commissioner Chris Elliott spoke on behalf of the commission, telling the
North Baldwin Amateur Radio Club and South Baldwin Amateur Radio Club
members that everyone in the county should be grateful for their
contributions and public service. "I appreciate the work that y'all do to
help us be prepared for disasters and everything else you do," Elliott
said. "There are times that everything else may quit working, but y'all are
always prepared." Amateur radio involves amateur radio operators
communicating locally and worldwide using store-bought or homemade radios,
computers, satellites and the internet. Many amateur radio operators
or "hams" serve as emergency communicators during the initial stages of
emergencies and disasters. Amateur radio operators must be licensed and
pass an examination for the FCC license to operate on radio frequencies
known as the Amateur Bands. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
established amateur radio as a voluntary, non-commercial, radio
communications service, which allows licensed operators to improve their
communications and technical skills while providing the nation with trained
radio operators and technicians who can provide essential communications
during emergencies. The North Baldwin Amateur Radio Club was established in
1995. They offer amateur radio licensing classes and testing utilizing FCC
certified volunteer examiners, and the club participates in various civic
events such as bike events, fun runs and swap meets throughout the North
Baldwin area, and provides volunteers at Bay Minette area shelters in times
of evacuation.


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A New Map Will Help Predict Earth's Response to Space Weather:

Posted: 13 Sep 2016 06:08 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37537


Most of us might regard the sun as a quiet, passive disk blazing in the
sky, but it's extremely active, constantly launching streams of plasma and
charged particles toward Earth. Luckily for us, Earth's magnetic field
mostly deflects that angry firehose, but certain kinds of solar activity
can interfere with the magnetic field, causing severe geomagnetic storms.
This is what causes the northern and southern lights, but a really bad
storm can also knock out power grids, leading to blackouts and untold
headaches. Damage and disruption from a solar storm could cost more than $1
trillion, putting other recent natural disasters to shame.


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Navajo Code Talker Joe Kellwood Walks On at 95:

Posted: 13 Sep 2016 06:08 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37536


Joe Hosteen Kellwood, an elite member of the Navajo Nation code talkers and
the U.S. Marine Corps who helped the U.S. and allied forces defeat Japan
during World War II with an unbreakable code by using their traditional
language, walked on September 5 in Phoenix. He was 95. Kellwood passed in
the VA Medical Center after suffering from complications of several
illnesses, including congestive heart failure, his daughter Connie Kellwood
Pitt said. Kellwood, who grew up in Hóyee or Steamboat Canyon, Arizona, a
small community about an hour west of Window Rock, the Navajo Nation's
capital, was 21 when he drove to Albuquerque to enlist in 1942. Although
he'd been spanked at the age of 10 for speaking his Native language when
attending a U.S. Military-run school at Ft. Apache on the White River
Reservation, Kellwood was one of the 420 Navajos who learned Morse code and
how to operate a radio in Navajo at Camp Elliott in San Diego. When
Kellwood joined the 1st Marine Division, he didn't know he was being placed
in the code talkers unit because it was a classified program. "You had to
memorize all the words at the time, 211 words. A lot of those, they got
long words," said Kellwood of the secret code during a 2003 interview with
the Veterans History Project, adding that he didn't know what some of the
words, like saboteur or reconnaissance, meant. He studied at night so he
could pass a written test.


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Ham Talk Live #31 YHOTY Skyler Fennell, KD0WHB:

Posted: 13 Sep 2016 01:23 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37534


COMING UP... Thursday night at 9 PM
Eastern time on the next episode of Ham
Talk Live!, we are joined by Skyler
Fennell, KD0WHB, the 2016 Bill Pasternak
Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the
Year Award winner!


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Ham Radio 2.0: 57 - Anytone Triband with 220 MHz Announced:

Posted: 13 Sep 2016 01:24 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37533


Anytone announced a mobile version of
their Triband rig, a radio which
incorporates the 220MHz band along with
the standard dual band, about a year and a
half ago.