<*>[Attachment(s) from James-KB7TBT included below]

	
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2011, May 13, 2016


Amateur Radio Newsline report number 2011 with a release date of Friday, 
May 13, 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Dayton Hamvention's coming soon and yes, it's 
staying at Hara Arena. An experimental beacon over the Indian Ocean is 
no more. And our top story, hams step in to help out as wildfires ravage 
the Canadian province of Alberta. All this and more in Amateur Radio 
Newsline Report 2011 coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)

**
ALBERTA WILDFIRES STIR HAMS TO ACTION

STEPHEN: We begin with this special report on the Alberta wildfires from 
Amateur Radio Newsline's Kent Peterson, KC0DGY. He spoke this week with 
one of the Canadian amateur radio operators who stepped in to assist as 
the Fort McMurray wildfires continued to consume the landscape in the 
Province of Alberta.

KENT: A devastating wildfire has hit the Fort McMurray Alberta Canada 
area hard. The fire destruction covers a staggering three hundred twenty 
eight square miles.

LEWIS:  I'm OK. I'm surrounded by firefighters and cops, so what could 
go wrong?

KENT: Newsline caught up with Amateur Radio Emergency Services operator 
Matthew Lewis, VE6JI, who has been working in the Fort McMurray EOC

LEWIS: We did a call out on Monday when things started to get severe. We 
made our presence known to the EOC and they accepted us. We set up a VHF 
station in their parking lot and we made call outs to our amateurs.

KENT: The amateur community responded.

LEWIS: As far as outpouring, a huge amount, lots from the Calgary group 
and the Edmonton group. They also got lots of contacts as well.

KENT: Lewis explains how important having an HF ham radio grab and go 
kit can be.

LEWIS: Unfortunately we had left our houses, including all our gear, 
because we were helping with something else. The two of us had portable 
HF capabilities but didn't have our portable rigs with us.  We hoped 
that things would calm down and we could get a police escort back to the 
house to get our gear, but that wasn't possible. There was concern with 
loosing cellular service Telus which runs a lot of the towers. They 
brought in cells on wheels, made those available set them up and there 
was no communication issues, none.   And after that it was apparent 
there was no communications issues, so we lent a hand where needed in 
the EOC.

KENT: The hams were told they could stand down.

LEWIS: The part that we would like people to know for our little group 
up here is that eve though we weren't used there's still the 
possibility, especially in remote communities that amateur radio is 
still a necessity in the event of a communications failure like in the 
overloading of infrastructure and things like that.

KENT: The good news for Lewis ... his home was still standing

LEWIS: The area that I live in miraculously survived.  because of the 
work of the firefighters.  Amazing group of people! There was an army 
fighting these fires and in some places they won and in some places they 
lost.

KENT: For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson, KC0DGY.

**
AN HONOR FOR CANADA'S RESCUE VOLUNTEERS

STEPHEN: With emergency preparedness in the forefront now for Canadians 
as a result of the wildfires, the province of nearby British Columbia 
has honored two radio amateurs among several other volunteers. They were 
recognized recently for their contributions to public safety and crisis 
response. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot, G4NJH has more:

JEREMY: Two longtime radio amateurs in Canada were honored on 28 April 
by the Province of British Columbia for their steady volunteer efforts 
in the public interest: Alan Mallett, VA7AWM, from the Vancouver Island 
region of the province, and George Merchant, VE7QH, from the SouthWest 
region.

Alan, a director-at-large of the Westcoast Amateur Radio Association, 
has been licensed since 1975. Since 2010, the retiree from the city of 
Victoria has continued to serve the city as its auxiliary communications 
group coordinator. The province presented him with the Radio 
Communications Award.

George, a ham for more than 40 years, helped found the North Shore 
Amateur Radio Club and the province-wide British Columbia Amateur Radio 
Coordination Council. He has worked with the North Shore Emergency 
Communications Team since its creation. He was presented with the 2016 
Public Safety Lifeline Volunteer Award.

British Columbia has more than 13,000 public safety lifeline volunteers 
who respond to an average of 6,000 annual incidents in the province.

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

(WESTCOAST AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION NORTH SHORE NEWS BRITISH COLUMBIA, 
BRITISH COLUMBIA WEBSITE)

**

COUNTDOWN TO DAYTON HAMVENTION

STEPHEN: The wait is almost over for the world's largest hamfest - 
Dayton Hamvention - which opens in Hara Arena on May 20. The 61st such 
gathering's events include a reception Saturday, May 21, hosted at the 
National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting. And as reported on a 
recent episode of Ham Talk Live, it marks the debut of a 24-hour DX 
station, complete with hex beams and full power amps.

And there's more news: It looks like Hamvention is staying at Hara Arena 
for the time being: Hamvention's General Chairman, Jim Tiderman N8IDS, 
made those assurances in a recent interview on Ham Talk Live with Neil 
Rapp, WB9VPG.

JIM TIDERMAN: There were inquiries by our local fair board, the 
Montgomery County Fair Board, who were looking to replace - and had been 
looking at this for a number of years - their facility downtown. And it 
just so happened that one of the areas was up around Hara. It got turned 
around to the story that they were going to buy Hara Arena. We have been 
in contact with the City of Trotwood officials The spokesman for that 
has told us directly there is no  ownership by Trotwood of Hara Arena. 
It has no validity; it is straight rumor. That is a story and it is not 
true. The fair board  itself is doing its due diligence to go out and 
look for new facilities, a venue where they can have their fair at a new 
place they had been looking at for a number of years. So it is all just 
information-gathering and it has nothing to do with what is going to 
happen with Hamvention itself. So to alleviate anything else, the first 
question is, "Is there going to be a Hamvention 2017?" As far as we are 
concerned, yes there will be. Will it be at Hara? Our plans call for 
that right now. Yes.

STEPHEN: That was Jim Tiderman N8IDS, speaking to Amateur Radio 
Newsline's Neil Rapp on his podcast, Ham Talk Live. To hear the full 
interview, visit the website, hamtalklive.com and select Episode 12. And 
start packing for Dayton.

(HAM TALK LIVE, Episode #12, DAYTON HAMVENTION WEBSITE)

**

BREAK HERE:

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio 
Newsline, heard on such bulletin stations as the United Radio Amateur 
Club repeater, WA6LA, on Monday nights in Los Angeles, California.

**

BEACON EXPERIMENT CALLED OFF

STEPHEN: The Trans-Indian Ocean beacon was years in the planning, but 
the experiment is over. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jason Daniels, VK2LAW, 
tells us more:

JASON: It was supposed to help enable better VHF transmissions along the 
challenging path between South Africa and Australia. But now the VK6RIO 
Trans-Indian Ocean beacon is about to be no more.

The 2-meter beacon, using Chirp-modulation, had been a project of the 
Northern Corridor Radio Group in Perth, Australia. It was designed to 
detect openings on 144 MHz across the Indian Ocean via tropospheric 
ducting and enable deeper study of propagation conditions across the 
Indian Ocean.   The VHF path between the two nations exceeds 8500 
kilometers and the beacon's frequency was 144.950 MHz.

Researchers had great hope for its success: Chirp modulation can be 
detected 50 decibels below the noise floor in a bandwidth of 2kHz. But 
with the depreciating South African Rand and and a lack of local 
support, however, researchers have called the project off.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW, in Sydney, Australia.

(SARL; AMATEUR RADIO VICTORIA; SOUTHGATE ARC)

**
RADIO SCOUTING REPORT

STEPHEN:: Radio Scouting is back again this week, activating Call sign 
K2BSA. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Stearns, NE4RD, with the 
Scouts' latest on-air activities.

BILL'S REPORT: This week in Radio Scouting we have 1 activation of the 
K2BSA callsign in Montana, and 3 other Scout Activities on the air.

I, Bill Stearns, NE4RD, will be the control operator for the portable 7 
station at Pompeys Pillar National Monument in Worden, Montana,  for the 
Black Otter District's Spring Camporee on May 14th.  Myself and members 
of the Yellowstone Amateur Radio club will be operating HF on 20 and 15 
m phone.

Matthew Murphy, KC8BEW, with the Muskingum Valley Council Radio Club, 
W8MVC, will be operating a special event station at Arial Foundation 
Park, Mt. Vernon, Ohio for Scoutfest 2016 on May 13th and 14th.  Matthew 
will be running 20 and 40 m phone, APRS, and demonstrating fox hunting.

Blaine Session, KD7ZRV, will be operating at Barton Park near Estacada, 
Oregon for the 3R DISTRICT CAMPOREE.  Blaine will be on 20 m and onVHF/UHF.

Larrie Deardurff, AF7NU, will be operating at the Benton District, 
Oregon Trail Council's Camporee on May 14th.  Larrie will be setting up 
an HF station on 20m phone.

Please help support this activity, and others involving youth in amateur 
radio, by working and spotting them on the air and online.  For more 
information on K2BSA and radio scouting, please visit http://www.k2bsa.net/.

For Amateur Radio Newsline and the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association, this 
is Bill Stearns NE4RD.

**


SPECIAL EVENT IN STONE COUNTY

STEPHEN: Stone County, Mississippi is marking its centennial. And while 
no one may have gone on the air in 1916 to celebrate when the county was 
created, its 100-year birthday has inspired Special Event station K5STO. 
The station is operating for the entire month of May, right through 1159 
UTC on Tuesday, May 31.

Hams who live in the area can look for the station operating, if weather 
permits, from the grounds of the Stone County Courthouse on Saturday, 
May 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more details on the station itself, 
visit its page at QRZ.COM or look in the May issue of QST magazine.

(TIM PURVIS, N5UDK)

**

FROM HAM RADIO LOG TO INTERNET VLOG

STEPHEN: Speaking of young radio amateurs, one college student in 
upstate New York has taken the concept of Eyeball QSO to a new level. 
She's started a ham radio video blog. We hear more from Amateur Radio 
Newsline's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.

NEIL: Computer engineering student Sara Tibbetts had big plans to one 
day launch her own video blog, or VLOG.

SARA: So I have always wanted to have a video blog or VLOG as I like to 
call it. I don't really know what attracted me to it. And for a very 
very long time I did not know what I would blog about which I why I had 
never started. But when I got into amateur radio, I saw that it was a 
field where people are sort of drawn to me for a few reasons. A, I'm 
young. B, I'm female. And C, it just seemed to like hey I have this 
opportunity maybe it would be pretty cool.

NEIL: But she only got around to it after something unplanned happened 
first: At the end of her freshman year, Sara, KD2GTM, got her amateur 
license.

SARA: Right now, I have really kept it kind of simple, starter topics 
that are pretty general to the field. But in the end I definitely want 
to get more into specifics. I want to be able to work a little more 
electronics into the blog."

NEIL: Now, the Rochester Institute of Technology student uses the VLOG 
to cover the basics of her on-air experience and to chronicle her own 
journey along the radio science learning curve.

SARA: You shouldn't be assuming these things. Like just because I am a 
girl that doesn't mean that I can't be in amateur radio.


NEIL: And because she's right there on camera, her very image is able to 
impart another important lesson - because viewers get to see that in a 
community still populated mainly with male licensees, Sara Tibbets, as a 
YL, is very much the face of ham radio today too.

Find Sara's blog on YouTube under the title of her call sign. And if 
you're going to Dayton Hamvention this year, look for her there as well. 
If you're a fan of her blog, you'll have no trouble recognizing KD2GTM.

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

(SARA TIBBETTS, KD2GTM)


**

WORLD OF DX

A group of Australian operators using the call sign, VK9NT, willl work 
from Norfolk Island from May 20 through May 31. They plan to be active 
on all bands 160m to 10m on CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL manager is VK2CA.

Aaron VA1AXC will remain on the air from Sable Island as CY0/VA1AXC. 
Find him on 20m SSB. His QSL info is direct to JE1LET.

Special event station 8J1ITU will be active from Kasumigaura City on 
Honshu Island, Japan until May 31. The station celebrates World 
Telecommunication Day, which is May 17.

Members of the Thailand DX Association, HSDXA, are planning to work as 
E2X during the CQWW WPX CW Contest from May 28 to May 29. QSLs can be 
sent via LoTW or to E20GMY.

(SOUTHGATE, IRTS)

**
KICKER: A MESS OVER A MAST

STEPHEN: Our final story is about some neighbors in one Australian 
suburb who are plagued by a polarization that has more to do with 
politics than radio signals. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's John 
Williams, VK4JJW.

JOHN: It appears that some residents in Morley, a suburb of Perth, 
Australia, just don't have that Christmas spirit. OK, never mind that 
this is May. And never mind that the pole that set off the whole 
controversy in this neighborhood isn't exactly the North Pole. It's 
actually an antenna mast, some 20.1 meters - or about 65 feet - high, 
that one homeowner installed five years ago without apparent incident.

That would be John Roe, described as an "amateur radio enthusiast" in 
the local press, but who is actually a flight radar "watcher". But John 
Roe is more widely known as the Christmas Lights Man, famous for his 
dramatic, animated holiday displays that have become the talk of 
suburban Perth and
beyond for more than two decades -- not to mention lively and widespread 
media coverage. The annual holiday display has 120,000 lights and last 
year drew about 7,500 visitors, along with various news reports.

But the media coverage John Roe is getting lately comes courtesy of the 
Bayswater City Council, which wants him to submit the mast for planning 
approval - retroactively - or face dismantling it altogether. Some 
authorities object to any retroactive application altogether, claiming 
the mast is simply inconsistent with the town's planning design and not 
in compliance. They say it has to go.

Since the dustup over the mast, The Bayswater Council has received 
petitions in support of it and against it. The drama continues. And so 
far, council members have simply deferred any decision on whether, 
ultimately the Christmas Lights Man will be found to be naughty or nice.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm John Williams, VK4JJW, in Queensland, 
Australia.

(THE EASTERN REPORTER)


**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur Radio Victoria; the 
ARRL; Bill Stearns NE4RD; CQ Magazine; DX.NET; The Eastern Reporter 
newspaper; Ham Talk Live; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; Irish Radio 
Transmitter Society; Neil Rapp, WB9VPG; QSL.NET; QRZ.COM., South African 
Radio League; Southgate Amateur Radio News; TIM PURVIS, N5UDK; TWiT TV; 
West Virginia DX Association; Westford Kiwanis Club; Wireless Institute 
of Australia; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio 
Newsline. Our email address is newsline@arnewsline.org. More information 
is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official website located 
at www.arnewsline.org.

We also remind our listeners that there's still time to nominate 
candidates for the 2016 Bill Pasternak Young Ham of the Year Award. This 
honor recognizes licensed amateurs who are no older than 19 and living 
in the U.S., Puerto Rico or Canada, and who have made significant 
contributions to ham radio and their community. To download an 
application form, visit our website, www.arnewsline.org, and click on 
the tab for "Y-H-O-T-Y." Completed applications should be sent to: The 
Young Ham of the Year Award, in care of Amateur Radio Newsline Inc., 
Editorial Office, P.O. Box 451, Huntington Station, New York 11746.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York, 
and our news team worldwide, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, in Wadsworth, 
Ohio, saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.
	
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.

***

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