Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2122 for Friday, June 27, 2018

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2122 with a release date of Friday, 
June 27, 2018 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Field Day is done, the World Radiosport Team 
Championship looms large -- and the International Space Station eyes new 
radios. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2122 comes 
your way right now.

**

BILLBOARD CART

**
WORLD RADIOSPORT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: We open this week's newscast with a question: Are you 
ready for the World Radiosport Team Championships? Ed Durrant DD5LP 
found some people who are.

ED: The Amateur Radio World Championship in Germany can attract whole 
families. Here┬Æs an example from Chemnitz - Rita Görner, DG0EQ, her OM 
Carsten Görner, DG0JCG, were able to inspire their son Tim, a shortwave 
listener, to volunteer with them to help on the WRTC. Rita and Carsten 
have been licensed since 1992 and participate in Field days and other 
activities with their local club. The prospect of experiencing their 
Field Day atmosphere (which is always very enjoyable) at the World 
Championships was reason enough for the family to apply to help out as a 
team. Rita and Tim Görner look after the competitors. Carsten Görner 
assumes the coordinating role of the so-called site manager and said "In 
the club we spoke extensively once the venue was announced, about how we 
could help. You have to be part of world championship when it takes 
place in your own country. That was very clear to us." Although the 
family team was prevented from attending the test days in the Wittenberg 
- Jessen region last year, they are looking forward to their tasks in 
July. "It's going to be a great experience and we'll do everything we 
can, to make sure competitors and referees feel comfortable on our 
site," says Rita. "And getting to know the best Contesters in the world 
and being able to look over their shoulders will be really great," says 
a delighted Carsten. Tim Görner, who caught the radio bug as a SWL, is 
still in the stress of exams at school but soon will complete a course 
for his ham license. Creating the best conditions for the competition 
teams was one of the most important tasks in the entire organization. 
The organizing team also wanted to offer opportunities to around 370 
helpers, that they gain new experiences and meet interesting people.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, this has been Ed Durrant DD5LP.

(WRTC)

**
WRAPPING UP SEA-PAC IN OREGON

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: It's been a big season for ham radio gatherings and 
amateurs on the Pacific Northwest just had one of their own, as we hear 
from Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

KEVIN: Add to the list of large successful amateur radio gatherings this 
year SEA-PAC. Held at the Seaside Convention Center in Oregon, it is 
billed as the NorthWestern United State's largest ham convention. Delvin 
Bunton NS7U, event chairman, said that by the time it concluded on June 
2nd, more than 2,000 hams had come in from the Pacific Northwest, 
including Canada, as well as Nevada, Hawaii, Idaho, Connecticut and even 
Great Britain.

The event kicked of with all-day workshops on antenna modelling as well 
as emergency communication and preparedness. The weekend seminars 
covered a range of subjects from the solar eclipse to nurturing your 
home town club and helping it grow.

The ARRL's Division and Section leaders attended from the NW Division's 
six sections. Looking to the future, SEA-PAC hosted guest speaker Steve 
Hicks N5AC of FlexRadio Systems at the Saturday night banquet. Two 
amateurs from the NorthWest also landed in the spotlight as recipients 
of the Mickley/Berg memorial college scholarship. They are Joseph Boyd, 
Jr., KG7ULU, and Joseph Heil, KF7FME. The scholarship is provided each 
year by the Oregon Tualatin  (too-ALLA-tin) Valley Amateur Radio Club.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

(DELVIN BUNTON NS7U)

**
A LESSON IN SPACE STATION COMMUNICATIONS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In Melbourne, Australia some students can't wait to get 
to class. Robert Broomhead VK3DN tells us why.

ROBERT: Students are known for asking tough questions - ask any teacher. 
In mid-July, however, some questions from kids at one Melbourne, 
Australia school can be expected to rise to a whole new level -- more 
like 200-plus miles above the earth. Where will they find the answers? 
Hopefully aboard the International Space Station which will be talking 
to the Essex Heights Primary School sometime between July 16th and the 
22nd. The connection will be made via telebridge, which involves an 
amateur radio ground station elsewhere establishing the contact and then 
facilitating the conversation via phone patch.

The school's website describes the occasion as both a school and a 
community event.

So bring on those questions! Organizers have indicated that the 
astronaut addressing the curious youngsters is likely to be either be 
Ricky Arnold KE5DAU or Serena Aunon-Chancellor KG5TMT.

No doubt the students are looking forward - and looking up.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Robert Broomhead VK3DN

(ARISS)

**
NEW GEAR FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: To keep those space station communications open, new 
radios are needed, as we hear from Paul Braun WD9GCO.



PAUL/ANCHOR: The current amateur radio equipment on the International 
Space Station dates back to the year 2000, and after 18 years in 
conditions the designers never originally considered, components are 
beginning to fail. The biggest problem is that you can't just pop up 
there on a Saturday morning after breakfast to fix or replace the gear 
because it's 250 miles straight up, moving at 17,200 miles per hour.

However, the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station 
organization, or ARISS, is working on new gear that will be flown up to 
the ISS beginning later this year. I spoke with Dave Taylor, W8AAS who 
is the U.S. operations manager for ARISS, about what's been happening:

TAYLOR: Right now, all we have is the Kenwood in the Russian module and 
that was not originally set up as ARISS equipment. That belongs to the 
Moscow Aviation Institute and they've been using that for various tests. 
People have seen their MAI SSTV experiments from time to time. We use 
that for our voice contacts with the schools.

PAUL/ACHOR: Taylor said that getting the packet digipeater back on the 
air is the first priority. The existing packet module has failed and 
attempts at remote troubleshooting have been unsuccessful:

TAYLOR: We were able to come up with another copy of the packet module 
that was built at the same time, so it dates back to 2000. We replaced 
the backup battery in it, did some tests and it's still working. Because 
it is identical to what's up there, paperwork is minimal. "Minimal" is 
still a lot, but it's a lot less than it would have taken if it was new 
hardware.

PAUL/ANCHOR: Next will be a replacement for the primary radio system in 
the U.S. module, says Taylor.

TAYLOR: The Inter-operable Radio System is going to be a customized 
Kenwood TM-D710 unit. Kenwood donated the radio and also a lot of 
software design and engineering time to modify the hardware and software 
specifically to ARISS' needs. We will have that radio and a ham-designed 
multi-voltage power supply which will supply the Kenwood radio and will 
provide power for the ham TV and several other things that we might want 
to do in the future.

PAUL/ANCHOR: For many hams, myself included, ARISS combines two passions 
into one - space exploration and amateur radio:

TAYLOR: It's hard to say how cool it is to stand outside and night and 
watch the Space Station go over and listen to it at the same time!

PAUL/ANCHOR: If you wish to donate or just want more information, please 
visit their website at triple-W dot A-R-I-S-S dot org.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The Space Station also made news recently for another 
reason. Here's Ed Durrant DD5LP.

ED: Europeans were experiencing some Space QRM in late June. No it 
wasn't from Mars or Jupiter or even the Sun, it came from the 
International Space Station! Operators across Europe heard English and 
Spanish stations on the 2 metre FM calling frequency of 145.50 MHz - Was 
this some special "tropo" propagation that lasted in bursts of 10 to 15 
minutes? But why didn't the stations respond to calls?

What happened was that after testing some yet-to-be launched satellites 
inside the ISS, the Kenwood transceiver was left on in cross-band 
repeater mode and somehow had been set to 145.5 rather than the usual 
145.8MHz output frequency. It went unnoticed except by a few avid ISS 
followers who happily used it for a couple of days until it was turned 
off by the astronauts.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP

(ARISS)


**

BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur 
Radio Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world including the 
W6CDW repeater at Lake Elsinore peak in California on Tuesdays at 6:30 
p.m. local time.

**
SILENT KEY: KEYER-CHIP PIONEER JACK CURTIS K6KU

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: CW enthusiasts are no stranger to the name Jack Curtis 
or his eponymous Curtis Morse Keyer Chip. The man who gave hams a new 
way to key Morse Code has become a Silent Key. Here's Andy Morrison 
K9AWM with more.

ANDY: The radio amateur who revolutionized CW keyers with the  use of an 
IC chip has become a Silent Key. Jack Curtis K6KU - formerly W3NSJ - was 
the father of the Curtis Morse Keyer chip, reshaping the way keying 
could be done with the use of memory. His first chip, known as the 8043, 
was released in 1973 followed by a series of others, ending with a 
20-pin chip in 1986. The 20-pin chip incorporated A or B iambic modes 
and output for a speed meter.

His chips found their way from commercial keyers into commercial amateur 
rigs and were popular in homebrew projects as well. The Pennsylvania 
native, an electrical engineer, worked for Sperry Rand and later Corning 
Glass, after serving in the Navy. His side business, Curtis Electro 
Devices, was founded to market his Morse Code iambic keyer and later 
provided memory chips for the emerging cellular industry. The company 
closed in 2000.

At the time of his death on June 4 he was a resident of Granite Bay, 
California. Jack Curtis was 87.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Andy Morrison K9AWM

(ARRL)

**

FIELD DAY AFTER DARK

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Although Field DAY attracted lots of attention in North 
America, some operators were busy working Field NIGHT, as Mike Askins 
KE5CXP tells us.

MIKE: For many hams in North America, Field Day is part Olympics, part 
emergency drill and part camping adventure. It's an annual exercise that 
also raises our hobby's public profile. In Cicero in upstate New York, 
local officials recognized the Liverpool Amateur Radio Club W2CMX 
operating at William Park -- and the city of Goose Creek, South Carolina 
proclaimed Amateur Radio Week. So many hundreds of hams worked out of 
the spotlight on June 23rd and 24th, however. Among them, Howard 
Bernstein WB2UZE of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club, was among 
thousands working the late-night and overnight shifts. As we await 
results, Howard reminds us that hams are just known for losing sleep 
when they're needed.

HOWARD: Great South Bay was short on CW operators because a couple of 
their very experienced contest operators couldn't make it this year. 
There are actually three CW positions - a fourth if you consider that 
the VHF position is there too: 6 meters where you can send CW. They have 
to be covered. So I stayed as long as I possibly could without losing my 
attention. So it's not so much that I wanted to stay at that hour but I 
felt that I had to.

MIKE: Thanks to all the hams who participated, especially those in the 
"off hours." For Field Day updates, keep listening. For Amateur Radio 
Newsline I'm Mike Askins KE5CXP.

(GREAT SOUTH BAY ARC)


**
A MACQUARIE ISLAND EVENT WITHOUT SUB-ANTARCTIC EXTREMES

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Get ready for a winter event from Australia that 
promises a lesson in sub-Antarctic history. Here's John Williams VK4JJW.

JOHN: Australian amateurs are using the call sign VI70MI to mark 70 
years since the establishment of the first Australian National Antarctic 
Research Expedition radio station on Macquarie Island. They're getting 
on the air from the Australian mainland however not taking a trip to the 
sub-Antarctic island. The call sign however recognizes the first radio 
communication station commissioned on the island on the 21st of March in 
1948. That came just months after Australia had established the very 
first of its sub-Antarctic stations on Heard Island, the previous 
December. Macquarie Island's station allowed expeditioners to spend the 
winter there and stay connected with the world they left behind thanks 
to radio. Presently there's only one active operator on the island - 
Norbert VK0AI. Unlike Heard Island, there have been no DXpeditions so 
far to Macquarie Island.

So if you want to get in on the action without going to any 
sub-Antarctic extremes, be listening for VI70MI from hams on the 
Australian mainland until the 31st of August.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm John Williams VK4JJW.


(WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the world of DX, we remind you that the Baker Island DXpedition is on 
the air with four stations. Be listening for the KH1/KH7Z team which has 
been heard on 160 CW, 40 CW and SSB, and 20 SSB. Pay special attention 
to 60 meters where operators expect to be very active. The KH1/KH7Z 
frequency plan is on the DXpedition website. The hams will be operating 
split.

Be listening for Dominic ON4AZP who is operating holiday style from 
Senegal as 6W/ON4AZP. He will be on the air until July 5th. Find him on 
SSB on 10, 15, 20 and 40m. QSL to his home call.

You can find Oleh, KD7WPJ, operating between July 2nd and July 4th from 
Santa Rosa Island. Oleh will be primarily on 50 MHz, using FT8, CW and 
SSB, but will also have some CW QRP operations on IOTA frequencies. To 
QSL direct, please send funds to his Livermore address to cover mailing 
expenses.

Daniel SM0UDH is in the Maldives through the 9th of July and is 
activating holiday style as 8Q7DT on SSB and Data. QSLs go via his home 
call.

Antonio EA5RM is in Bolivia until the 10th of July using the call sign 
CP1XRM. He can be found on 40 - 10m SSB and Data. QSL via his home call 
and also LoTW.

(IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY, OHIO PENN DX)

**

KICKER: ROAD RALLY BECOMES A RADIO RALLY

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: For one ham in England, a charity road rally to Spain 
turned into a mobile activation as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: When James Preece, M0JFP, a member of the Chertsey Radio Club, 
set out with friends on a 1,400-mile four-day charity drive from Dover 
in the UK to Benidorm in Spain recently, he and his fellow travellers 
had hopes for great fundraising possibilities for the local Chertsey 
children's hospital. They also took with them a Yaesu FT-857 and an 
SPX-200 multi-band HF antenna, borrowed from Moonraker UK Ltd.

In keeping with the spirit of the charity rally, they drove an old 
Vauxhall Vectra fitted with stickers and flags and other trappings on 
the theme of pirate radio, in a mobile tribute to Radio Caroline and 
Radio Luxemburg. Their destination was "Benidorm or Bust" - the title 
given to the main event to benefit women and children's services there. 
It featured nearly 200 decorated older cars, fellow travellers all 
driving for the main cause, but also supporting those nearer and dearer 
to home.

The rally left town on the 12th of June with road and ferry crossings 
still ahead. Operating as both M0JFP and the U.S. callsign WO2I, James 
logged contacts into the UK, Germany and France along the way whenever 
possible. He said that as a smaller team within the larger rally, the 
pirate radio run raised several hundred pounds for the children's ward 
of Ashford and St. Peter's Hospital.

Having logged all those contacts and all those miles, James told Amateur 
Radio Newsline in an email that it was one of those experiences he'd 
never forget.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(CHERTSEY RADIO CLUB, JAMES PREECE M0JFP)

**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; ARISS: 
the ARRL; Chertsey Radio Club; CQ Magazine; Delvin Bunton NS7U; George 
Dewar VY2GF; Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club; Hap Holly and the Rain 
Report; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; James Preece M0JFP; Ohio-Penn 
DX Bulletin; QRZNOW.COM, Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO 
Radio Show; Wireless Institute of Australia; WTWW Shortwave; and you our 
listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Please send 
emails to our address at newsline@arnewsline.org. More information is 
available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official website 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 Stephen Kinford N8WB in Wadsworth Ohio 
saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

-- 



73
James-KB7TBT
www.arnewsline.org
www.ylsystem.org




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