Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2001, March 4, 2016

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 2001 with a release date of
Friday, March 4, 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Hams in Australia and New Zealand lose a
longtime favorite retail giant. A satellite lets an unprecedented QSO
happen between Antarctica and Argentina. Hamfests are gearing up in New
Jersey and West Virginia. And, at long last, there's a reasonable
explanation for the "space music" heard four decades ago aboard Apollo
10. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2001 coming your
way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)

**
DICK SMITH ELECTRONICS CLOSING SKEETER: We begin this week's newscast
with news that Dick Smith Electronics, a longtime mainstay for amateurs
in Australia and New Zealand, is closing. The story of the closure of
this electronics giant comes from Amateur Radio Newsline's Graham
Kemp,VK4BB

GRAHAM: It's the end of an era for loyal purchasers of gear and
components from Dick Smith Electronics.

The giant Australian retailer, which bears the name of its amateur
radio founder, is closing its doors during the course of the next two
months, shutting 301 retail locations throughout Australia and 62 in
New Zealand. The closure follows an unsuccessful attempt by the
company's receivers to complete a sale.

Founded in 1968 in a Sydney suburb by Australian entrepreneur Dick
Smith AC, VK2DIK, Woolworths Limited purchased a majority stake in the
business and ultimately in 1982, became the electronics chain's
soleowner.

Woolworths sold the company to private equity firm Anchorage Capital
Partners in 2012. But it was announced on Jan. 5 of this year that the
electronics company, which had amassed large debt, was being placed in
receivership under Ferrier Hodgson, with the hope that a sale would
rejuvenate the enterprise.

Receiver James Stewart of Ferrier Hodgson announced in late February,
however, that none of the offers received for Dick Smith Holdings were
considered acceptable, either as a bid for the group in its entirety or
for the stores in either Australia or New Zealand as standalone offers.

Smith was quoted in the Australian media as characterizing the offers
as either being too conditional or too far below the liquidation
values.

Over the years, before he sold, the stores enjoyed a robust reputation
as the go-to place for radio components as well as kits, including the
Dick Smith HF, UHF and VHF transceivers.

A fire sale began at all locations on Feb. 26, and Hilco, a liquidator
based in the UK, will look over the sale of stock as locations shut.

The move leaves a total of nearly 3,000 employees in both countries
without jobs.

The AC after Smith's name is an honor, an Officer of the Order of
Australia awarded in 1999, for his services to the community, charity
and business. In 2015 he was advanced to a Companion of the Order of
Australia "for eminent service to the community as a benefactor of a
range of not-for-profit and conservation organizations, through support
for major fundraising initiatives for humanitarian and social welfare
programs, to medical research and the visual arts, and to aviation.

VK2DIK was Patron of the Wireless Institute of Australia for its 100
year Celebrations.

The Dick Smith Electronics Chain is yet another of Outlets for VK Hams
that has closed in recent times.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB.

(ABC.NET.AU, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, NEW ZEALAND HERALD)

**

SILENT KEY: NZART'S BRUCE DOUGLAS, NL2WP Also from New Zealand, we
receive word that the past president of New Zealand Association of
Radio Transmitters and a longtime core member of the organization,
Bruce Douglas, NL2WP, became a Silent Key on Feb. 13.

Licensed since 1992, he became part of NZART's management team in 1999
to help with the organization's financial business. Bruce made use of
his vast knowledge and experience as trust lawyer to assist NZART, and
helped establish the group's Radio Science and Education Trust document
that is still used today.

He served as president from 2005 to 2009, stepping down for health
reasons.

(WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA, NZART INFO LINE)


**
BEHIND THE BATTLE OF THE ANTENNAS

SKEETER: In Ohio, where hams have been preparing for an April 23 event
called Near Vertical Incidence Skywave Antenna Day, organizers are
emphasizing that this isn't just an ARES event. Hap Holly, KC9RP, of
the RAIN Report spoke recently with Stan Broadway, N8BHL, ARRL's Ohio
Section Emergency Coordinatoron how this one-day adventure in antenna
research is designed to work for all hams.

[CLIP OF STAN BROADWAY EXPLAINING VALUE OF NVIS IN EMERGENCIES]
SKEETER: To hear more of this conversation between Hap Holly and Stan
Broadway, visit the RAIN Report website, therainreport.com. You can
also listen via Twitter at @therainreport and via iTunes. Our thanks to
Hap Holly, KC9RP.

(HAP HOLLY, KC9RP, THE RAIN REPORT)

**
HAMFEST IN HUNTERDON

The Cherryville Repeater Association is opening the doors of its annual
hamfest and technology expo on Saturday, March 12, at the North
Hunterdon Regional High School in Annandale, New Jersey, from 8 a.m.
to1 p.m.

The hamfest expects to draw a large crowd from the Flemington, N.J.
area and beyond.

In addition to 30 vendors and a variety of seminars, the hamfest will
also host an operating Flex Radio station so visitors can experience
Software Defined Radio technology for themselves. There will also be a
seminar on Digital Mobile Radio technology.

(QSL.NET)

**

SKEETER: Further south, hams in the Charleston, West Virginia area are
prepping for that area's big Hamfest. In its 32nd year, it has a whole
lot of new offerings. We hear more from Jim Damron, N8TMW.

[JIM'S REPORT - 1:30]

**

BREAK HE

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the
Southern Michigan Repeater Network's six linked repeater systems,
serving all of southern Michigan and parts of northern Ohio.

**

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS: JIM WEIDNER, K2JXW, AND HAROLD KRAMER, WJ1B

Two hams are stepping down from leadership roles, one at the Amateur
Radio Lighthouse Society and another at the ARRL.

Jim Weidner, K2JXW, founder, owner and president of the Amateur Radio
Lighthouse Society, has resigned due to health reasons. The New
Jersey-based society, which sponsors the Intercontinental
Lightship-Lighthouse Week as well as National Lighthouse Day in August,
is looking for someone to take up the reins as leader. The organization
works to promote the roles that lighthouses and hams have in preserving
maritime safety. There are about 2,000 dues-paying members.

If no one comes forward, Weidner has said the society's activities will
cease after June 30 of this year. For more information, contact him via
email at or phone him at 856-486-1755.

Another executive is stepping down - this one at the ARRL. Chief
Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, has retired after 11 Years at
the Connecticut headquarters. He has been the author of the "Inside HQ"
column in QST Magazine, helped introduce a digital edition of the
magazine, and served as co-chairman of the Centennial Convention. He
was praised recently by ARRL's Marketing Manager, Bob Inderbitzen,
NQ1R, with these words:

QUOTE "Through his 'Inside HQ' column, hundreds of personal tours,
loads of hamfest and convention travel, radio club meetings, and
shaking a lot of hands - Harold packaged the contributions of ARRL and
every staff person, and delivered that story to members, prospective
members, and loads of friends and visitors." ENDQUOTE

(ARRL)


**

THE HAM LICENSE EXPLOSION

Hams, you're in good company: FCC records show that growth in amateur
licenses continued through 2015, with a 735,405 licensees -- a record
-in the agency's Universal Licensing System database by year's end.
Those figures reflect an increase of 9,130 over December 2014. In 2014,
the Amateur Radio ranks grew by a net 8,149 licensees.

Not surprisingly, the largest growth area was in the Technician license
class, which added 6,570 new hams in in 2015. There were 3,079 new
General class licensees, and Amateur Extra class added another 3,496.

The figures reflect a steady growth in amateur radio's ranks annually
since 2007. Looks like there'll be a lot more people calling CQ this
year, if they haven't started already.

(ARRL)

**

SENIORS ON THE AIR

SKEETER: Meanwhile, veteran hams are showing some creativity too. A
group of hams in a Florida retirement community have their own ham club
.... have established an emergency Neighborhood Ham Watch ... and in the
process managed to get the blessings of their home owners association.

Amateur radio newsline's Kent Peterson KC0DGY has their story.]

[KENT'S REPORT]:

TED LUEBBERS: We live in an area prone to hurricanes and tornadoes.
Most of our club members are very active in the lake county ares group
and we tho if we formed our own club here, we might be available for an
emergency in a hurricane or a tornado and report back to our local EOC
that everybody is A OK, or B we need some help and be a funnel of
information from our gated community to to the emergency operations
center.

KENT That's Royal Harbor Radio club president Ted Luebbers K1AYZ. The
club saw a need to include hams in their housing association's
emergency disaster plans.

TED What we have done is actually we've actually set up an community
emergency disaster plan for Royal Harbor specifically We presented that
to our management board here and they have made it a part of their
overall disaster plan for Royal Harbor which has been approved by
emergency management at EOC. And as a matter of fact emergency
management was so impressed with the whole thing, they tried to get
other retirement communities to do the same thing So its sort of
become a model in this area.

KENT Luebbers says there also an unforeseen benefit when the club
members got involved with the home owners management group.

TED As a result of our club here at Royal Harbor and our good
relationship with the home owners association management group we've
actually now had two of of our ham club members put on the
architectural review committee One of the jobs of the architectural
review committee is to sort of police any antenna situations , so you
might cause it subversion to some extent. But it works out, the home
owners association is happy with what we do they're happy we are
taking part in the emergency plan for the community and its given them
some publicity and its given us some publicity as well.

KENT When he was looking to buy, Luebbers told me he looked at several
housing developments but asked if they allowed outside ham antennas.
When they told him no, he kept looking. He says there *are*
developments in Florida which *do* allow for ham antennas, you just
have to look around a bit to find them.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson KC0DGY

**

SATELLITE CONNECTS SOUTH AMERICA AND ANTARCTICA

It's being called a historic contact and indeed, the satellite
communication made on Feb. 28 between Federico Mainz, LU5UFM, in Buenos
Aires and Marcelo Duca, LU1AET, in Argentinean Antarctica was justthat.

The Radio Club of Argentina and AMSAT-LU described their call as the
first contact via satellite between Argentinean Antarctica and the
Argentinean mainland.

Marcelo was running 15 watts and, using a handheld transceiver;
Federico was using 4 watts. Using the SO-50 satellite, their 2-minute
QSO clearly went the distance - their signals covered nearly 2,700
kilometers.

(ARRL)

**

KICKER: OTHERWORLDLY QRM OR QRN?

SKEETER: Was it rock and roll, reverb or something else when Apollo
10's crew heard a certain something on their radios while traveling on
the dark side of the moon? Well, the odd sound heard in May of 1969 has
finally been sorted out - and the explanation is one that's familiar to
lots of hams the world over. We more from Amateur Radio Newsline and
Wireless Institute of Australia's newsman, Graham Kemp, VK4BB:

[GRAHAM'S REPORT]

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to ABC.NET Australia; Alan Labs; the ARRL;
the Cape May County Herald, CQ Magazine; DX.NET; Hap Holly and the Rain
Report; Irish Radio Transmitter Society; the New Zealand Association of
Radio Transmitters; the New Zealand Herald; the Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin;
QSL.NET; QRZ.COM., Southgate Amateur Radio News; Sydney Morning Herald;
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.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York,
and our news team worldwide, I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, in Topeka,
Kansas, saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

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