Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1977 September 18 2015   
      
   Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1977 with a release date of Friday,    
   September 18, 2015 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.   
      
   The following is a QST. Ham radio joins the world in welcoming Pope    
   Francis on a historic first U.S. visit. Radio amateurs return home from    
   their orbiting shack aboard the International Space Station. It's    
   bumper-to-bumper rush hour for the special event honoring Route 66. And,    
   in a developing story, hams are on the scene of the California    
   wildfires. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline report 1977    
   coming your way right now.   
      
   (Billboard Cart Here and Intro)   
      
   **   
   BREAKING NEWS: HAMS HELP AT CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE   
      
   Breaking news: As California continues to struggle with emergency    
   conditions from the Butte Wildfire, ARES and RACES volunteers were    
   called out this past week to establish communications in support of    
   Amador County's Red Cross shelter. The hams operated a station there    
   around the clock for 120 hours through Sept. 14, until roads reopened.    
   ARES/RACES volunteers were also providing support for shelter    
   communications in Calaveras County, in ARRL's San Joaquin Valley    
   Section. The Butte Fire, affecting more than 71,000 acres, was only 30    
   percent contained as of the middle of the week.   
      
   ARRL Sacramento Valley Section Manager Ron Murdock, W6KJ, told the ARRL    
   that radio amateurs were also standing ready to assist in the Lake and    
   Napa County areas affected by the Valley Fire, west of Sacramento.    
   Murdock told the ARRL that Charlie Porter, N6JOA, has been coordinating    
   amateurs at the University of California-Davis, to gather up veterinary    
   supplies for livestock and domestic animals being evacuated.   
      
   Amateur Radio Newsline has been following this story and will provide    
   updates as the situation develops.   
      
   **   
      
   WELCOMING POPE FRANCIS   
      
   [ANCHOR] It's a big week on the East Coast, as Pope Francis prepares for    
   his historic first visit to the United States. Amateur Radio will play a    
   big part in celebrating the occasion. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark    
   Abramowicz NT3V has the story.   
      
      
   [MARK] Members of the Frankford Radio Club here in the Philadelphia area    
   and the Potomac Valley Radio Club in the Virginia-Maryland-DC area -    
   fierce competitors when it comes to contesting - have joined forces to    
   organize a series of special event stations to mark the visit of the pope.   
      
   And, they've invited members of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club    
   on Long Island in New York to help as well.   
      
   Pope Francis will visit Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia.   
      
   Special call signs will hit the ham bands beginning Sept. 22 through    
   Sept. 27 - the time Pope Francis is in the country.   
      
   Ron Sigismonti, N3RS, is coordinating for FRC. Jim Nitzberg, WX3B, for    
   PVRC and John Melfi, W2HCB for Great South Bay.   
      
   Jim Nitzberg WX3B says the event has generated quite a bit of attention...   
      
   "Most of us have been involved in other special events that weren't    
   nearly as significant or as special," Nitzberg says. "There's been an    
   unprecedented amount of attention that this event has drawn in the    
   non-radio world. And, there's been a lot of attention before it gets    
   going in the radio world."   
      
   And, Nitzberg says, expectations for the special event operations are high.   
      
   "We're expecting to make probably somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000    
   contacts among us in the period of time that we're active among about 40    
   different amateur radio operators," Nitzberg says.   
      
   Ron Sigismonti, N3RS, has the rundown of call signs that will be used.   
      
   "In the D.C. area, there'll be K3P," Sigismonti says. "That's going to    
   be used by the D.C. and Maryland operators down in that area. N4P by    
   those that are in northern Virginia.   
      
   "Up in the New York City area, K2P will be used. It will also be used    
   for southern New Jersey. And, the Frankford Radio Club has a call sign -    
   W3FRC and we'll be working W3FRC portable WMF which is standing for the    
   World Meeting of Families."   
      
   And, Sigismonti says one more group will be on from Philadelphia during    
   the pope's visit on the weekend - the Holmesburg Amateur Radio Club.   
      
   "In the Holmesburg area, WM3PEN will be on and they will be on just the    
   last two days of the event," Sigismonti says.   
      
   Special QSL cards and a certificate will be offered. You can find out    
   more by going to our website, arnewsline.org and scrolling down and    
   clicking on the script for this week's program.   
      
   http://www.silverfishdevelopment.com/papalEvent/   
      
   http://www.qrz.com/db/k3p   
      
   For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in    
   Philadelphia. [END MARK'S REPORT]   
      
      
   **   
      
   CREW BACK HOME ON EARTH   
      
   Now here's a real example of two hams being safely grounded: The two    
   radio amateurs and a third crew member from the International Space    
   Station have arrived home on Earth again. European Space Agency (ESA)    
   astronaut Andreas Mogensen, KG5GCZ, Denmark's first astronaut, and    
   Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, the Soyuz commander, are back    
   on terra firma along with Aidyn Aimbetov, Kazakhstan's first cosmonaut,    
   as of Saturday, Sept. 12.   
      
   Padalka's stay in space this time around was 168 days, bringing his    
   total tenure during five flights to 879 days - a new record, beating the    
   previous record holder, cosmonaut and fellow radio amateur, Sergei    
   Krikalev, U5MIR, by more than two months. Now that their feet are back    
   on the ground, Padalka and Mogensen can look forward to getting on the    
   air again - this time without being IN the air.   
   (NASA, ESA, ARRL)   
      
   **   
      
   MARATHON MINUTE MEN   
      
   In keeping with their historic namesakes, the Minute Man Repeater    
   Association plans to be at the ready: In this case, it's to mobilize for    
   the annual Ashland Half Marathon/5K/1 mile run and walk in Ashland,    
   Massachusetts on October 31. And they're looking for more hams to join    
   them along the route. The event is taking place in cooperation with the    
   Metrowest YMCA and will benefit Marathon Park and a number of the Y's    
   youth programs. It kicks off at 8 a.m., continuing until 1 p.m. If    
   you're interested in helping out, send an email to David Wolfe, KG1H,    
   dkwolfe@comcast.net   
      
   (David Wolfe, KG1H)   
      
   **   
   POW-MIA EVENT WRAPS UP   
      
   QSOs with K4MIA this month have been QSOs with a purpose. Each exchange    
   honors and remembers men and women in the military who were prisoners of    
   war or are still missing in action. That call sign, representing the    
   National POW MIA Recognition Day Special Event Station, wraps up its    
   September operation on Sunday the 20th. The official recognition day is    
   Friday, Sept. 18. Sister stations have also been operating: K4MIA/5, at    
   the Museum of the American GI in Texas and K4MIA/7 in Utah. For QSL    
   information, search K4MIA on QRZed.com - and remember to send a stamped,    
   self-addressed envelope for a returned QSL card.   
      
   **   
      
      
   SOUTH AFRICAN HALL OF FAME   
      
   The South African Radio League wants to broadcast the names of some    
   notable amateurs to the world and has created the SARL Hall of Fame to    
   make that happen. The hall of fame's purpose, according to the SARL    
   website is to QUOTE "recognize lasting contributions to the development    
   of amateur radio and to preserve its history in South Africa."   
      
   From now through the end of February 2016, the league is accepting    
   nominations in the form of essays of between 200 and 500 words. The    
   essays should describe how the nominee has contributed to the growth and    
   strength of amateur radio at large. The nominee should have a proven    
   record of such contributions for at least five years, with the potential    
   benefit to last far longer. Photographs may accompany the essay as    
   further documentation.   
      
   There will be 10 inductees in 2016, and in later years, a maximum of two    
   inductees - one living and one Silent Key.   
      
   For additional details visit the league website, http://www.sarl.org.za/   
      
   (SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE)   
      
   **   
      
   PARTY WITH NO RULES   
      
   Time to throw away the rules and turn on the rigs. Here's a QSO party    
   with no guidelines - just what the organizers are calling    
   "recommendations." It's the European Radio Amateurs Organization's radio    
   meeting on the air, as they're calling it, a meeting place of radios and    
   mountaintops and what they hope are good QSOs. The party runs Saturday,    
   Sept. 19 and Sunday Sept 20, and welcomes short-wave listening as well.    
   The association says participants can talk for as long as they like, in    
   whatever language they prefer. Just get on the air and do it.   
   As for the rules, or rather, the recommendations, you don't even have to    
   send a QSL card unless you want to. The organizers say if you're not    
   sure,  just ask. The event is not expected to generate any results or    
   tables, just statistics about the numbers of QSOs and the countries,    
   call signs and clubs taking part. So the party hosts have one request:    
   Help with the statistics-gathering by submitting a log in ADIF format to    
   party@eurao.org, with the filename containing your call sign.   
      
   **   
      
   BREAK HERE:   
      
   Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio    
   Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including WC8VOA,    
   the West Chester Amateur Radio Association's repeater, in West Chester,    
   Ohio on Monday nights.   
      
   **   
   BACK TO A ROUTE'S ROOTS   
      
   During the past few days, America's Route 66 has returned to its former    
   glory as a well-traveled thoroughfare - at least on the air. For those    
   ham radio operators participating in the special event, Route 66 on the    
   Air, it's the only way to travel. But like any popular, scenic and    
   historic byway, Route 66 has been having its share of traffic jams.    
   Amateur Radio Newsline's Christian Cudnik, K0STH drove his rig on that    
   radio road and comes back with this report:   
      
   [CHRISTIAN'S REPORT]   
      
      
   ** **   
      
   TWO COLLEGE SHACKS DO THEIR HOMEWORK   
      
   The big class assignment for many students at the Technical University    
   of Pristina in the Republic of Kosovo will likely be to do as much DXing    
   as possible this semester. And now that organizers have achieved what    
   they're calling a milestone - an on-campus station with a faculty    
   adviser - about 40 amateur  radio licensees will be able to operate    
   there as Zed-6-ZERO-A (Z60A). The station was inaugurated in early    
   September and already the Kosovo radio association, known as SHRAK, has    
   helped organize the hams' first big DXing activity, QSOs with    
   neighboring Albania, set for Friday, Sept. 18 through Monday the 21st.   
      
   Meanwhile, in the U.S., undergraduate hams at the Worcester Polytechnic    
   Institute in Massachusetts are welcoming a new antenna tower. The tower,    
   installed with the help of graduates and the campus WPI Wireless    
   Association, serves the station with the call sign W1YK, inside the    
   four-story Salisbury labs building. It covers 40 and 10 meters. Wireless    
   association president Andrew Mahn, N-S-ONE-A (NS1A), an undergraduate    
   majoring in management information systems, said one graduate in    
   particular, Gregory Karp-Neufeld, W6GKN, helped get things up and running.   
      
   (ARRL, DX COFFEE, Vjollca Caka, Z61VB, SHRAK PRESIDENT)   
   **   
   LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER   
      
   Rajesh Vagadia, VU2EXP, is a proud father in Gujarat, India. He and his    
   15-year-old daughter, Sakshi Vagadia, VU3EXP, were recently honored by    
   Amateur Radio on the International Space Station for having received    
   Slow Scan TV images sent from cosmonauts via amateur radio this past    
   July. The transmissions were sent to commemorate the 40th anniversary of    
   the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the first space partnership between the United    
   States and what was then the Soviet Union. The father and daughter team    
   received a special, limited edition diploma in recognition of their    
   effort. Vagadia writes, in a note of acknowledgement to the program,    
   QUOTE "My ISS SSTV image was received on July 19 at 5:24:27 UTC. It was    
   my fifth successful attempt." ENDQUOTE And it made for a good reason to    
   feel pride in being a ham, as well as the father of a ham.   
      
   (AMSAT NEWS, QRZNOW)   
      
      
      
   **   
      
   (VERY LOW) POWER TO THE PEOPLE   
      
   The gathering this weekend on New Hampshire's Four Tree Island doesn't    
   exactly promise a Power Lunch - it's more like a LOW power lunch. The    
   10th formal Chowdercon, a three-day celebration of the end of summer, is    
   being held in Portsmouth and on the nearby island. Organizers plan it as    
   three days of devotion to QRP and cuisine. With all three days revolving    
   around food, and on field operations on Four Tree Island, Chowdercon is    
   also being held in conjunction with the noted QRP Afield sprint and    
   contest on Saturday, organized by the New England QRP Club. Some of the    
   events, including the Friday night Meet 'N Greet, will be held nearby on    
   the mainland. Amateurs who are traveling a greater distance to attend    
   can start participating even while enroute, talking in on the Derry    
   repeater, 146.85- PL 85.4Hz, which covers an approximate 50-mile    
   radius.  This year a third day was added - Sunday - to allow for more    
   casual operating. And, of course, more eating. They  don't call it    
   Chowdercon for nothing.   
   ** **   
   THE WORLD OF DX   
      
   The Cape Verde Islands remain activated by two stations through Sept.    
   25. Listen for D44TUK and D44TUQ, being operated by DL2MDU and DL3HD,    
   respectively. Send QSLs to their home call signs.   
      
   Maurizio, IK2GZedU, is reactivating the call sign, 5H3MB, in Tanzania,    
   where he will be operating until Oct. 18. His logs will be uploaded to    
   Logbook of The World.   
      
   Three stations are operating through Sept. 29 on the Island of Niue    
   around the clock, thanks to a 7-member team from the UK, operating as    
   E6GG. The hams are located on the island's north coast. QSL through    
   Clublog OQRS.   
      
   Jacek, SQ5BPF, will be operating as JW/SQ5BPF, from the Polish Polar    
   Station on Svalbard from Saturday, Sept. 19 through Sunday, Sept. 27. He    
   will be operating as time permits.   
      
   Carlos, CO8CML, will be a single operator/single band, low-power entry    
   on 20 meters, from Las Tunas, Cuba, on Sept. 26 and 27th during the CQ    
   Worldwide RTTY contest. Find his QSL information on QRZed.   
      
   (OHIO PENN DX NEWSLETTER, IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY SOUTH AFRICAN    
   RADIO LEAGUE)   
      
   ***   
   KICKER: CODE OF CONDUCT   
      
   Finaly this week, Arcangelo Ricciardi is not a ham radio operator, but    
   he was slapped with a fierce sanction nonetheless, and accused of    
   cheating, after it was discovered he was using Morse Code to cheat at    
   chess. Ricciardi wasn't copying code from inside a shack but during an    
   Italian chess tournament. Using a carefully hidden miniature camera, he    
   was transmitting game moves to someone using a chess computer program,    
   who would then transmit Morse Code responses back about what his next    
   moves should be. So when officials discovered the camera and the    
   strategy - tipped off by his unusual eye-blinking -- Ricciardi was    
   disgraced and ousted.   
      
   Meanwhile, one Belarus radio amateur has shown the world the right and    
   proper use of CW. Competing in the 12th International Amateur Radio    
   Union World Championship in Macedonia in early September, Siarhei    
   Shviadko set a new world record for code by receiving mixed text at a    
   speed of 250 CPM. In this case, the cameras here were very visible and    
   very focused on the proud ham's triumphant smile after his monumental    
   achievement. As for violating anything, well, perhaps the only sanction    
   he might have faced, in this case, was a speeding ticket.   
   ***   
      
   NEWSCAST CLOSE   
   With thanks to Alan Labs, the ARRL, AMSAT News Service; CQ Magazine, DX    
   Coffee, Hap Holly and the Rain Report; the Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter;    
   South African Radio League; Southgate Amateur Radio News, TWiT TV,    
   QRZNOW,; 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. 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 New Orleans,    
   saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.   
      
   Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.   
      
      
   ***   
      
   As a Service to the HAM Radio Community and HAM Operators all over the world,   
   this Amateur Radio Newline(tm) message has been gated from the internet and   
   posted to you by Waldo's Place USA, fidonet node 1:3634/12. We hope you   
   enjoyed it!   
      
   Please address all comments and questions to the ARNewsletter editor as   
   described in this posting. If you have any specific questions related to the   
   actual posting of this message, you may address them to   
   hamfdn(at)wpusa.dynip.com.   
      
   Thank you and good day!   
      
   -73- ARNTE-0.1.0-OS2 build 42   
   (text/plain utf-8 quoted-printable)   
      
      
    * Origin: (1:3634/12)