<*>[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.   
      
   ***   
      
   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   
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