Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1995, January 22, 2016

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1995 with a release date of
Friday, January 22, 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. New leaders are chosen at the ARRL. Australian
hams prepare for a national celebration. CW enthusiasts get a whole
month devoted to code. And teamwork on a cold Florida night keeps the
homeless warm. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1995
coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)


**

DON/ANCHOR: We open this week's newscast boasting a bit of pride for
the home team: At the ARRL's recent board meeting in Connecticut, the
organization gave leadership roles to two hams who were past winners of
Amateur Radio Newsline's Young Ham of the Year award. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Amanda Alden, K1DDN, has all the election news:

[AMANDA's REPORT]:

The Annual ARRL Board Meeting took place on January 15 and 16th of this
year. The board held several important elections during the meetings.

Some of the results made our Newsline team extremely proud. Amateur
Radio Newsline's 1997 YHOTY recipient, Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, was
elected as Vice President of the ARRL. Mileshosky was currently serving
as the Rocky Mountain Division Director and to fill his shoes in that
role is Vice Director Dwayne Allen, WY7FD, who will become the new
Rocky Mountain Division Director.

When Brian was asked how he felt about his newly elected position, he
had this to say: We YHOTY kids are sure causing some good trouble...

AR Newsline's 2004 YHOTY recipient Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, was elected
by the board to another term as Director on the ARRL Foundation. Andrea
was not available for a statement before press time.

n other election news: With ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN stepping
down after 3 terms, a new president and several other officers have
also been elected during the annual board meeting. Rick Rodererick
K5UR, previously the First Vice President has been elected as the next
President for the ARRL. Greg Widin, K0GW, previously the Dakota
Division Director was elected as First Vice President Filling Widin's
previous position as Director is Kent Olson, KA0LDG The board also
re-elected the following officers:

International Affairs Vice President Jay Bellows, K0QB;Chief Financial
Officer Barry Shelley, N1VXY, and ARRL Chief Technology Officer
Brennan Price, N4QX. The Board also elected one new member to the
Executive Committee, which can act on the behalf of the Board between
its two yearly meetings in January and July. Delta Division David
Norris, K5UZ, will replace New England Division Director Tom Frenaye,
K1KI, on the panel. The other Board members are Hudson Division
Director Mike Lisenco, N2YBB; West Gulf Division Director Dr David
Woolweaver, K5RAV; Pacific Division Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, and
Great Lakes Division Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK. ARRL Chief
Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, also was attending his meeting
in an official capacity. Kramer retires on March 1 after about 10 years
at ARRL Headquarters. Still to come is the announcement of a successor
to ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ who is retiring this spring after 44
years on the ARRL Headquarters staff.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Amanda Alden, K1DDN

[DON]: Best of luck to everyone in the challenging term ahead. And to
Brian and Andrea, we'd like to remind you both that we're all glad to
have known you "way back when."

**

FLORIDA HAMS AND NON-HAMS GET TEAMWORK DOWN COLD

Speaking of teamwork, a recent dip in the temperatures showed a group
of hams and non-hams that cross-training isn't just for athletes. On
Monday, Jan. 18, when Florida temperatures plummeted, Hendry County
Florida Emergency Management deployed workers to two cold weather
shelters on either side of the huge county. They included Andrew Frame,
WD4RCC and his wife, Brandi, as well as Frank Harris Sr., WA4PAM. Both
Frank and Andrew are EM Reservists as well as hams. All the while, EM
Director Brian Newhouse, KJ4WIC, transported supplies, the area's
homeless and did troubleshooting.

With local municipal support, the hams, working with a trained group of
non-hams, kept things running smoothly, according to Andrew Frame. He
credits the recent emphasis on cross-training county emergency service
responders and radio amateurs. And he said, this cold snap was the
first test of how well that cross-training across multiple disciplines
really worked. He said QUOTE"it put everyone more or less on the same
page, or at least the same chapter in the book."ENDQUOTE

One of the next stages in cross-training: getting the Community
Emergency Response Team volunteers ready for their Technician
licenseexam.

(ANDREW FRAME, WD4RCC)

**
TAPPING INTO STRAIGHT KEY ACTION

DON: If you think all the New Year's CW action has taken a short,
seasonal break, guess again. The Straight Key Century Club is keeping
the excitement of Straight Key Night going strong, right through the
month of January. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp,
WB9VPG,with the details:

[NEIL RAPP'S REPORT]:

January is turning out to be a key month, in more ways than one, for
The Straight Key Century Club. The club's annual month-long event,
K-THREE-Y (K3Y), got underway on January 2 and continues through
January 31. But this year it also marks the 10-year anniversary for
this club of CW enthusiasts. The Straight Key Century Club was founded
in 2006 following the ARRL's Straight Key Night event that same year.

The on-air party is an invitation to all hams to experiment with their
Morse Code skills, using straight keys, bugs, and side swipers. K3Y
operators will be working stations in each of the U.S. call areas, and
there will be other stations in each of six IARU continental regions
using call signs with KH6, KL7 and KP4.

QSL cards and, of course, sweep certificates, will also be available.

By the way, there's no need to RSVP to this party - just get on theair.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, in Bloomington,
Indiana.

(STRAIGHT KEY CENTURY CLUB)

**

THE UK'S NEWEST RECORD-SETTERS

Speaking of CW, there is reportedly a new record in distance for CW
contacts in the UK, as reported on Southgate Amateur Radio news by the
hams who say they've accomplished it: Ian Lamb, G8KQW, and John Hazell,
G8ACE. claim to have set a new UK distance record for Code on 134 GHz.
The record-breaking contact is said to have occurred on January 16,
with the two amateurs utilizing a line-of-sight path from Chute
Causeway near Andover, all the way to Cheesefoot Head near Winchester.

The distance covered? 35.6 kilometers, which is a little more than 22
miles. The previous UK record on 134 GHz was 19.2 km, and had been set
by G8KQW and G8ACE on September 20, 2015.

(SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS)


**
A FIRST FOR A CW CONTEST

And one more bit of news for CW enthusiasts, especially those who are
proud to have a competitive edge. The UK and Ireland Contest Club will
have its first annual DX CW Contest on January 23 and January 24 - a
24-hour competition that starts at noon, local time, on Saturday.

UK and EI districts are multipliers, as are other DXCC countries on
each band from 80 to 10m. The exchange is your Serial and 2-character
District Code. Hams competing in EI and UK districts will need to know
their district codes, which are listed in the rules at ukeicc.com.

The contest will NOT have an exchange. Good luck!


(IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTER SOCIETY)

**

BANQUET TICKETS GOING FAST

You may not be hungry for dinner right now but it pays to plan ahead.
Especially if you're planning to enjoy the banquet on Saturday Feb. 13
at the ARRL National Convention at the Orlando HamCation in Florida.
Tickets are still available but the cutoff date is Jan. 31. The evening
banquet's keynote speaker will be ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, who is
retiring this spring. Master of Ceremonies will be ARRL's Southeastern
Division Director Doug Rehman, K4AC.

Both the convention and HamCation will offer a menu of other events
beyond the banquet. But the dinner gathering is going to be a big deal,
so you need to plan. So reserve now: Banquet tickets, like the banquet
itself, will be all gobbled up soon.

(ARRL)


**

BREAK HE Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including
the KB9WSL repeater in Rochester, Indiana, following Thursday's 7 pm
weekly net.

**

PRELUDE TO AN AUSTRALIAN PREFIX

DON: It's not that Australian hams will be having an identity crisis on
January 26. It's just that they'll be celebrating Australia Day. So
that means something special happens to their call signs. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Graham Kemp, VK4BB, explains:

GRAHAM:

That's not a call sign - THAT's a call sign! VK........to AX!

Happy Australia Day - well, almost.

The national celebration of culture and country - not to mention
fireworks - arrives Tuesday, January 26 this year, and with this
feeling of patriotism comes an opportunity for radio amateurs to make
history too. On Australia Day, they get to substitute their callsign's
VK prefix with AX. And it's done automatically.

Thus, as national flags fly and barbecues are lit, hams will be raising
the banner of this special prefix, just as they will get to do again
later this spring -- both on ANZAC Day, April 25 and International
Telecommunications Day, May 17.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority automatically grants
amateurs use of the prefix for the duration of the celebration.

Australia Day, Jan. 26, marks the First Fleet's landing in Australia
and the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson - Sydney
Harbor-as Governor Arthur Phillip raised the British flag in 1788.

And, as before, it will also be a day for amateurs worldwide to try for
a special QSL card bearing the commemorative prefix.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB or -- on Jan.
26,AX4BB

(WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA)


**
LUXEMBOURG HAMS HONOR ROYALTY

Another special call sign - this one in Luxembourg - is being activated
through June to mark the 95th anniversary of His Royal Highness the
Grand Duke Jean of Luxenbourg.

Some members of the Luxembourg Amateur Radio Union will be working as
LX1AM on single sideband and as LX1EA and LX3X in digital modes.

There is a special QSL card that will be sent via the Bureau. QSOs will
also be confirmed on LoTW and eQSL.

For more details, visit QRZ.COM.


(QRZ.COM)

**
MAKING IT IN MUNICH

Ham radio is romancing the tinkerers and the Makers again -- this time,
in Germany. The Deutscher Amateur-Radio-Club, Germany's nat ional
nonprofit radio organization, took its place at a Maker and Hacker
event in Munich earlier this month in an attempt to capture the
imagination and creativity of the more than 7,500 attendees.

The two-day hobbyist fair, known as Make Munich, is a major
do-it-yourself festival where lovers of technology and tinkering with
technology stretch their dreams in new directions. According to a
report on DARC's webpage, which quotes Markus Heller, DL8RDS, the
group's booth attracted numerous inquiries about amateur license
courses and exams. The same report noted that many visitors signed the
DARC guestbook, and included the call sign they already had - even from
their home countries, such as the U.S. and Finland.

(SOUTHGATE ARC and MAKE MUNICH)

**

10 DAYS OF CONTESTING IN IRAN

The first Iranian ham contest kicks off on February 1 and runs to
February 11, marking the 37th anniversary of the Iranian Islamic
revolution. The contest's goal is simple: Organizers want to encourage
and increase new contacts with Iranian hams, and they're placing a
special emphasis on DXing. Find the action on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters,
in Single Side Band, RTTY and CW modes. QSL cards and certificates will
be available.

For further information, send an email to
(that's )

(SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS)

**
WORLD OF DX

The Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club will participate in SOS Week and
activate during the last two weekends in January. Club members, using
the call sign, MN-ZERO-VFW (MN0VFW) will be operating on HF, VHF and
UHF bands.

Gene, N9SW, will be active from January 28 to Feb 9 as FJ/N9SW from St.
Barthelemy. He will work holiday style on 40-6 meters, mainly in CW.
QSL via his home callsign.

Stig, SM3PHM, is working as J79M from Dominica, holiday style, until
February 3rd. He is working CW only. QSL via SM3PHM.

And finally, Thilo, DL9NBJ, is working from Curacao beginning Jan. 19
through Feb. 9, using the call sign PJ2/DL9NBJ. He will work both
Single Side Band and CW on the HF bands. QSL only via ClubLog's OQRS.

**

KICKER: NEW HAM CONTACT

DON: And finally, we ask you to recall your first QSO as a new ham.
Well, there's a teenager in the UK who will probably never have trouble
remembering hers. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, ends our
newscast with this story:

JEREMY:


Things could not have been more exciting for students at the
Sandringham School in Hertfordshire, England, earlier this month.
During a week-long Space Festival being held at the school, the
11-through 19-year-olds learned about space and space travel, attended
rocket workshops, heard a spacecraft engineer's presentation, and even
participated in an amateur radio build-a-thon.

But just when the students thought they'd heard it all - those talks
about Mars and discussions about cosmonauts - they tuned into 145.800
MHz and heard something completely different. Operating with the call
sign, GB1SAN, reached out and contacted GB1SS, astronaut Tim Peake,
aboard the International Space Station.

And that's when things truly couldn't get anymore exciting: Jessica
Leigh, a Year 10 pupil, was the first student to talk to the astronaut
during the QSO on the 8th of January.

But it was a first for Jessica in another way. The Sandringham student
is a newly qualified amateur, having just passed her Foundation class
exam right before Christmas. Her call sign is M6LPJ.

And so Jessica's classmates not only got the thrill of a chat in space,
but in witnessing a launch.In this case, it was the launch of one of
the UK's newest amateurs, Jessica Leigh. And, needless to say, she was
flying high.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, in the UK.

(ARRL, EHAM.NET)



**

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; the ARRL; CQ Magazine;
DX.NET; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; Irish Radio Transmitter Society;
Make Munich; the Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; QRZ.COM, Southgate Amateur
Radio News; Straight Key Century Club; TWiT TV; Wireless Institute of
Australia; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio
Newsline. Our email address is . More
information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official
website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or
support us at Amateur Radio Newsline, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa
Clarita, CA 91350.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York,
and our news team worldwide, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in Picayune,
Miss.,saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.