Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2133 for Friday, September 14, 2018   
      
   Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2133 with a release date of Friday,    
   September 15, 2018 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.   
      
   The following is a QST. Hams deploy for storm communications. The Voice    
   of America’s Bethany Relay Station marks an anniversary – and a tribute    
   to Navajo Code Talkers. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline    
   Report 2133 comes your way right now.   
   **   
   BILLBOARD CART   
   **   
   BREAKING NEWS: HAMS RESPOND TO ATLANTIC HURRICANE SYSTEMS   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week's report with breaking news. As Newsline    
   went to production, hams in the U.S. were bracing to provide storm    
   response on several fronts. By Sept. 12, South Carolina ARES had been    
   activated and the ARRL had shipped Ham Aid kits to the state in advance    
   of Hurricane Florence. The Hurricane Watch Net was closely following    
   that hurricane as well as Tropical Storm Isaac and other systems. The    
   Salvation Army Team Emergency Network was also preparing for the    
   likelihood of an extended activation. With more details, here's Bobby    
   Best WX4ALA.   
      
   BOBBY: What just before the start of the official start of the hurricane    
   season was predicted to be an average to slightly above average season    
   by The National Hurricane Center, was later downgraded midseason to an    
   average to below average season, sure seems to have kicked off September    
   with a vengeance.   
   With one named storm, Tropical Storm Gordon already having made landfall    
   along the Alabama/Mississippi Gulf Coast, plus, as of this story being    
   filed, there were three named storms in the Atlantic basin; Hurricane    
   Florence, that is forecast to make landfall somewhere along the southern    
   Atlantic Coast, Hurricane Isaac that could affect the Caribbean, and    
   finally, of the named storms there's Hurricane Helene located just off    
   the coast of Africa.   
   There's also an area of concern that the National Hurricane Center is    
   monitoring that could ultimately affect the western Gulf in the coming    
   days.   
   This area of the Gulf of Mexico is very conducive for the potential of    
   tropical development at this time. So persons in this area or with    
   interest in the area need to closely monitor weather conditions.   
   Be sure to follow the National Weather Service and local media outlets    
   and heed the advice of local government officials. If evacuations are    
   suggested; follow those suggestions, please.   
   Additionally, follow the directions of your local ARES leadership before    
   and after landfall and monitor and report emergency traffic on the    
   National Hurricane Center and the various local SKYWARN NETS on their    
   respective frequencies through this event.   
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bobby Best; WX4ALA   
      
   **   
   ANTENNA GIVES BOOST TO FLEDGLING DXers IN UK   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Young members of an amateur radio club at one school in the    
   UK just got the gift of DX, as Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us.   
      
   JEREMY: If some of the students at the Sandringham School in St. Albans,    
   Hertfordshire, seem to be disappearing at lunchtime or after school,    
   it’s probable you’ll find them in the first-floor room that houses the    
   school’s amateur radio club station M0SCY.   
   At this secondary school for high-achievers, these particular youngsters    
   are looking for particularly high marks – not just in academics but also    
   in DXing. Members of the Sandringham School’s Amateur Radio Club, now in    
   its second year, they recently helped assemble and install a tri-band    
   beam antenna that had been donated by the school’s headmaster Alan Gray    
   G4DJX.   
   With extra help from him and the school’s caretaker, the team of young    
   hams got the antenna in place early this month and added a donated    
   rotator with the support of a friend and Nevada Radio. Alan told    
   Newsline that the students went on the air and, immediately noticing the    
   improvement of the beam over the multi-band dipole they’d been using,    
   they wasted no time setting themselves up for their next assignment: the    
   challenge of completing DXCC by year’s end.   
   Alan noted that this won’t just be a ham radio achievement for the    
   youngsters but, with a nearby map, a geography lesson as well. He said    
   the students have their eyes on some contests in the coming months and    
   have begun entering the Radio Society of Great Britain’s 80 metre    
   cumulative contests. These high achievers have done well: the club’s    
   September entry made 68 contacts in an hour and a half, with only four    
   operators. Best of all, Alan said, the students are teaching one another    
   and working together. Now, he says, all he needs is a little extra help    
   around the shack to keep up the encouragement and the knowledge.   
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I’m Jeremy Boot G4NJH.   
   **   
   SILENT KEY: LIGHTHOUSE SOCIETY’S JIM WEIDNER K2JXW   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Hams are mourning the loss of a longtime amateur who was as    
   devoted to lighthouses as to radio, as Kevin Trotman N5PRE reports.   
      
   KEVIN: Just as Jim Weidner K2JXW showed his devotion to historic beacons    
   of safety for maritime travelers when he founded the Amateur Radio    
   Lighthouse Society, he too was seen as a beacon of friendship to those    
   who knew him. Jim, who founded the organization in 2000 and watched it    
   grow to a worldwide membership of nearly 1,700, has become a Silent Key.    
   His death was announced on the website of the society on September 7th.   
   A resident of Merchantville, New Jersey, Jim had retired from a career    
   of more than 30 years as an English teacher in the Northern Burlington    
   County Regional School District. He was also active in the U.S. Coast    
   Guard Auxiliary and the Office of Emergency Management for the Borough    
   of Merchantville. The organization website noted that it was founded in    
   part to honor the heritage of lighthouses and lightships but also to    
   recognize lighthouse keepers as maritime heroes. Jim had been a licensed    
   amateur since 1954.   
   In an online tribute on the society website, John KX4O, to whom Jim had    
   passed the baton, wrote: [quote] “Jim’s friends are numerous and many    
   continue to help me fulfill his goals of the ARLHS….so in a very real    
   way, Jim lives on in all of us as we continue to make ARLHS what it is    
   today.” [endquote]   
   Jim Weidner, who died on the 1st of September, was 77.   
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Kevin Trotman N5PRE.   
   (AMATEUR RADIO LIGHTHOUSE SOCIETY)   
   **   
   HAM RADIO HELP FOR SCOUTS   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Everyone needs a little extra help sometimes, and Scouts    
   pursuing their Merit Badges just got another resource as we hear from    
   Neil Rapp WB9VPG.   
      
   NEIL: Help for scout troops pursuing the radio merit badge and operating    
   Jamboree on the Air is now available. Scott Newman, KC3KKW, from Troop    
   512 in Springfield, Pennsylvania tells us more about it.   
   SCOTT: Well, there have been a couple of assistant scoutmasters and I    
   have banded together to create what's called Troop Resource. It is    
   basically a program that reaches out to other troops to help them,    
   especially if they are under resourced. What we are doing right now is    
   curating videos, Power Point shows, and we actually put on this live,    
   internet, what we call a TV, show. We've got one coming up which will be    
   all about ham radio and Jamboree on the Air.   
   NEIL: The group produces a live, call-in show on Facebook live about    
   various scouting topics. But this month, it's about ham radio.   
   SCOTT: And, we're having people in. We're having the executive director    
   from the Education Alliance for Amateur Radio. He's going to be on the    
   show telling us about what they are going to be doing for JOTA in    
   October on the weekend of the 20th and 21st. But, they basically come in    
   and they offer scouts, and any other interested party who happens to be    
   there, education on ham radio. And they give them the opportunity to use    
   ham equipment. And they're an awesome group in that they actually bring    
   all of their radio equipment and a 40 foot antenna with them in a    
   military trailer. And, they pull up and unload the equipment and get    
   everything ready.   
   NEIL: As this newscast goes to air, the live show has already happened.    
   But, you can find this and all of their shows archived on YouTube. Just    
   search for Troop Resource to find their channel. And for more    
   information about this program, visit TroopResource.org.   
   Reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.   
   **   
   BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur    
   Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including    
   the W4GSO repeater in Greensboro, North Carolina on Sundays at 8:30 p.m.   
   **   
   AN OCCASION TO CELEBRATE AT THE VOA   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: If you’re in the shack anytime on September 22 between 1300    
   and 2100 UTC, tune to 20 meters or 40 meters and help the Bethany Relay    
   Station of the Voice of America mark the 74th anniversary of its    
   commissioning on Sept. 23, 1944. WC8VOA will be operating a special    
   event station, offering both a QSL card and a downloadable commemorative    
   certificate. Afterward, in another part of the distinctive Art Deco    
   building in West Chester, Ohio, the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting    
   will be hosting a fundraising event from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. local time    
   to support needed building renovations.   
   If you can’t get there however get on the air. While WC8VOA’s HF    
   equipment and antennas aren’t the original ones dating back to 1944, the    
   spirit of VOA history is surely still there on the air.   
   **   
   AIRSHOW INCLUDES RADIO SHOW IN SONOMA COUNTY, CALIF.   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: In California’s Sonoma County, organizers are combining an    
   airshow with a radio show – special event station K6W. Here’s Andy    
   Morrison K9AWM.   
      
   ANDY: Sonoma County, California, has struggled to rise above the ashes    
   of the recent wildfire devastation and on September 22nd and 23rd, the    
   county’s spirit gets a boost from dozens and dozens of wings – the kind    
   of wings you’ll find at the airshow taking place at the Charles M.    
   Schulz-Sonoma County Airport on those two days. The Wings over Wine    
   Country Airshow will feature aerobatic performances, the U.S. Air Foce    
   Academy skydiving team and fly-bys of historic planes from World War Two.   
   Just as the aircraft overhead put on their own shows, the Sonoma County    
   Radio Amateurs will be demonstrating on the ground. Special Event    
   callsign K6W will be activated on 20 and 40 meters, depending on band    
   conditions.   
   No wonder the event theme is “Rising Together: A celebration of recovery    
   in Sonoma County.” After a challenging season, everyone there will want    
   to know that things are looking up.   
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Andy Morrison K9AWM.   
   (Darryl Paule KI6MSP)   
   **   
   A CELEBRATION OF MARCONI – DOWN UNDER   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: It’s been 100 years since Australia and the UK connected via    
   wireless - so something special is being planned, as we hear from Graham    
   Kemp VK4BB.   
   GRAHAM: Every five years, the first successful exchange of messages    
   between Australia and the United Kingdom via wireless in 1918 is marked    
   by contact between the Dragon Amateur Radio Club in Wales and the    
   Hornsby Amateur Radio Club together with the Ku-ring-gai Historical    
   Society. This year, 100 hundred years after the original experimental    
   transmission between the two nations, the experiment is about to occur    
   again – this time on the 22nd of September as a re-enactment of the    
   original Morse Code message and a broader celebration.   
   With this being a 100-year anniversary, the Ku-ring-gai Municipal    
   Council is planning to host a celebration that will include displays in    
   the nearby St. Andrew’s Church hall as well as an amateur radio station    
   operated by the Hornsby and District Amateur Radio Club with the call    
   sign VK100MARCONI. At the same time in Wales, the Dragon Amateur Radio    
   club will operate its own HF station from the site of the Marconi    
   transmitter there, using the call sign GB2VK.   
   The day’s activities will include replication of the original message    
   sent from Wales by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes to Ernest    
   Fisk, who was at home at his wireless station in Wahroonga.   
   Why wait until the 22nd of the month? The Wireless institute of    
   Australia has been celebrating all month and hams are being allocated    
   state- and territory-based special event call signs for the duration of    
   the observance. The call signs have the prefix “VI” and the suffix    
   “MARCONI” with the appropriate number in between designating each state    
   or territory.   
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Graham Kemp VK4BB.   
   **   
   YLs TO OPERATE ON BOARD USS BATFISH   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: A group of YLs plans to honor 2 submarines lost in World War    
   Two and is looking for even more YLs to join them. Here’s Heather Embee    
   KB3TZD.   
      
   HEATHER: The USS Batfish Amateur Radio Club is getting ready to welcome    
   a group of YLs on board the submarine in Oklahoma to call CQ as WW2SUB    
   in October. The YLs will be honoring the USS Wahoo and the USS Dorado    
   which are among the 52 U.S. submarines lost during the Second World War.    
   The lost subs are being honored by the Batfish’s amateur club.   
   The YLs will be operating from Oct. 12th through the 14th, even sleeping    
   on board and experiencing life on the submarine, which now houses an    
   exhibit that honors military veterans and is permanently kept in    
   Muskogee, Oklahoma’s War Memorial Park.   
   The YLs aren’t just looking for contacts and QSL cards – they’re also in    
   search of other YLs who’d like to join them on the air. Michelle Carey    
   W5MQC said that any YL who wants to join the operation that weekend    
   should send an email to her at w 5 m q c at yahoo dot com    
   (w5mqc@yahoo.com). Michelle said that the YLs will most likely be    
   operating on 20 and 40 meters – mostly SSB. According to club trustee    
   Wade Harris KF5IF, although YLs have operated from the Batfish before,    
   this is the first time for a group of YLs to do so as a formal event.   
   The weekend operation is being done under the auspices of the Young    
   Ladies Radio League, the YLRL, where Michelle is District 5    
   representative, but any YL can participate regardless of whether she is    
   a member of the league or not. Michelle also noted that any YL who does    
   not yet have her license but is interested in experiencing what it’s    
   like to be on the air can also stop by and receive some guidance from a    
   licensee.   
   She called the USS Batfish weekend operation [quote] “a unique    
   opportunity for us to come together and help each other out while    
   calling CQ and honoring those lost during World War Two.” [endquote] For    
   more information about the Batfish radio club visit their website at w w    
   two sub dot org (ww2sub.org)   
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I’m Heather Embee KB3TZD.   
   **   
   WORLD OF DX   
      
   In this week’s World of DX, Claudio, HB9OAU is on the air as SV5/HB9OAU    
   from Karpathos, Dodecanese through the 20th of September. He is    
   operating SSB and FT8 on 80 through 10 meters. QSL via home call (direct    
   or bureau), LoTW or eQSL; also on Club Log.   
   Members of the Saudi Amateur Radio Society are marking Saudi Arabia's    
   88th National Day by being on the air from the 16th to the 30th of    
   September with the callsigns HZ88ND, 7Z88ND and 8Z88ND. They will be    
   operating from Riyadh. The celebration marks the September 23rd    
   anniversary of the kingdom’s unification by royal decree in 1932. QSL    
   via HZ1BF. Look for   
   the logs to be uploaded to ClubLog and LoTW.   
   Stu, K4MIL, is operating from Guantanamo Bay as KG4SS starting September    
   25th and through October 9th. Listen for him on 160-10 meters using CW,    
   SSB, RTTY and FT8. You will also find him in the CQWW DX RTTY Contest    
   between September 29th and 30th. QSL via home callsign or LoTW.   
   Hans, PA3HGT is operating as 3B8/PA3HGT from Mauritius through the 24th    
   of September. He will be on SSB and possibly some digital modes on 40,    
   20 and 10 meters.  QSL via home call, direct or Bureau.   
   **   
   KICKER: A PROUD SON CALLS QRZ FOR THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: You’ve probably heard of the Navajo Code Talkers. Paul Braun    
   WD9GCO talked with the proud son of one of them and learned how this ham    
   recently honored his dad.   
      
   PAUL: One of the most fascinating stories to come out of World War II,    
   at least to me, is that of the Navajo Code Talkers, a group of Native    
   Americans who were recruited by the military to exchange tactical    
   messages in a code based on their native language. It was a practically    
   unbreakable code due to the obscurity of the Navajo language and the    
   limited number of people who actually knew it.   
   The Code Talkers have been getting some recognition in recent years, but    
   one man, Herb Goodluck N7HG, a Navajo himself, organized a special event    
   to honor them:   
   GOODLUCK: I started this in 2004 in commemoration of the Navajo Code    
   Talkers. My late dad, he was the one who was doing the code talking back    
   in the South Pacific Theatre. A group of Native Americans were enlisted    
   into the United States Marine Corp. What they were used for was to pass    
   messages from a battleship to onshore islands.   
   PAUL: Goodluck is the son of the late John V. Goodluck and wanted to    
   bring awareness to their story:   
   GOODLUCK: Since my father had become a silent key in the year 2000, I    
   was trying to figure out how to keep the legacy going and this is the    
   only way I know as far as ham radio. And each year I've been sending out    
   QSL cards - different ones - and last year and this year we do have    
   certificates available.   
   PAUL: Goodluck already has next year's event scheduled, at least for the    
   first day:   
   GOODLUCK: The commemoration is located in Window Rock, Arizona, the    
   Navajo Nation Veteran Park. Next year we're going to have it again on    
   August the 14th, 2019. That's just one day in Window Rock and then we're    
   going to figure out how many days we're going to actually run, maybe a    
   whole week again.   
   PAUL: Goodluck said the event is usually listed as N7C in QST and on the    
   ARRL website. We would also suggest that you take some time to research    
   and read up on the story of the Code Talkers, Navajo or otherwise. Those    
   brave men contributed a lot to the war effort and deserve the recognition.   
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO.   
   **   
      
   NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; the    
   Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society; the ARRL; CQ Magazine; Darryl Paule    
   KI6MSP; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; Michelle Carey W5MQC; Ohio-Penn    
   DX Bulletin; QST Magazine; 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 Jim Damron N8TMW in Charleston, West    
   Virginia 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   
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