Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2121 with a release date of Friday,    
   June 22, 2018 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.   
      
   The following is a QST. A pioneer in CW keying becomes a Silent Key. The    
   Technician class license exams in the U.S. are about to get new    
   questions -- and we look ahead at the Ducie Island DXpedition. All this    
   and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2121 comes your way right now.   
      
   **   
      
   BILLBOARD CART   
      
   **   
   MAKING THE ROUNDS FOR DUCIE ISLAND   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with an update on the Ducie Island    
   DXpedition which sets off in late October. Excitement is building - and    
   progress is too. For that update we turn to Jason Daniels VK2LAW.   
      
   JASON: The Ducie Island DXpedition team continues to gather momentum    
   toward its operations as VP6D on October 20th through November 3rd.   
      
   The newest member of the pilot team is 15-year-old Mason Matrazzo    
   KM4SII, who made his debut DXPedition last year at age 14 operating from    
   Iceland. He is heading to Curacao next month as PJ2/KM4SII. The    
   DXpedition team has been making the rounds, attending at Dayton    
   Hamvention and the International DX Convention in Visalia (Viz-AIL-yah)    
   California in the U.S. and Friedrichshafen (FREED RICK'S Harfen) in    
   Germany to talk up the trip and meet with corporate sponsors.   
      
   They also continue with their fundraising to help defray personal    
   expenses of the team members themselves. For more information about this    
   much-awaited South Pacific DXpedition or to help support it visit vp6d.com   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW.   
      
      
   (SOUTHGATE)   
      
      
   **   
      
   FIELD DAY: SMALL VOICES, BIG DREAMS   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: Remember your first Field Day? Whether it was long ago - or    
   just last year - one group of hams in California is hoping you'll make    
   this year's Field Day memorable for some young first-timers. Don    
   Wilbanks AE5DW tells us more.   
      
   DON: Field Day has been in everyone's sights for quite some time now --    
   but for one group of youngsters in California, it marks their    
   long-awaited first Field Day and a first opportunity to operate on HF.    
   Members of Scout Troop 44 and Cub Scout Pack 458 are operating side by    
   side with the San Mateo Amateur Radio Club using the club call sign    
   W6UQ. In addition they will be running their own small-scale Field Day    
   operation as KZ6BSA. Donn Lovell K8DLL, whose son 14-year-old Connor    
   K7CBL, will be among those radio Scouts, said that the youngsters will    
   have their own miniature Field Day with simplex contacts on 2 meters and    
   70 cm. He also said they will get some practice air time, just for fun,    
   using FRS/GMRS radios and later, repeaters. Donn told Newsline the    
   Scouts' hope that even with all the QRN and pileups that are sure be    
   happening, hams will be listening for those squeaky little voices out    
   there calling "CQ Field Day."   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks AE5DW.   
      
   **   
      
   FIELD DAY GREETINGS FROM GERMANY   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: In an apparent show of solidarity with Field Day    
   participants in the U.S., the Mighty KBC, as it is known in Germany,    
   plans to transmit greetings in MFSK64 in the hopes it will be heard by    
   amateurs throughout North America. The transmission by the 100 kW HF    
   broadcast transmitter is set for the 24th of June sometime around 0130    
   UTC. This is to occur during the weekly "Giant Jukebox" broadcast of the    
   Mighty KBC on 9925 kHz. Naturally, reception reports are encouraged.   
      
   Hams should email them to themightykbc@gmail.com.   
      
   **   
      
   FINAL PREPARATION FOR 'WORLD CUP RADIO' AT WRTC   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: Calling all sports fans! Er....we mean radio contesting    
   fans. If you're following the final weeks until the World Radiosport    
   Team Championship, our good sport Ed Durrant DD5LP is here to help you    
   make sense of it.   
      
   ED: They're all preparing, they’re all training, now they're all packing!   
   From all parts of the world, the contestants for WRTC 2018 in Germany    
   are getting ready to come to Wittenberg for the Amateur Radio World Cup!   
      
   It's been a hard-fought effort over the last few years to qualify by    
   being at the top of major contest tables but now it's less than 4 weeks    
   until they can "prove their metal" competing against the best in the    
   world on a level playing field.   
      
   Amateur radio again shows no respect for politics with two-person teams    
   not only from single countries but across countries who were at one time    
   enemies. Russians working alongside Americans, parts of the old    
   Yugoslavia working together on the radio, old feelings lost in the magic    
   of radio competition.   
      
   There are young and old and some in between. From New Zealand there is a    
   father-and-daughter team, there's three youth teams including one with a    
   U.S. and a Chilean ham, one with a Ukrainian and Romanian ham and one    
   with a Hungarian and a German ham. Of course, there are the well-known    
   "old hands" taking part as well.   
      
   Unfortunately, this time no contestants qualified from the UK or    
   Australia. Perhaps they'll have to make do with winning the Soccer World    
   Cup final which takes place on the same day as the WRTC!   
      
   For a full list of contestants and their biographies go to WRTC2018    
   (dot) DE and click on "competition" followed by "participants."   
   One thing is for sure, no matter who wins on July 15th, all competitors,    
   helpers and visitors are looking forward to having a great time    
   together, no matter what else is happening in the world!   
      
   STOP PRESS - this just in: Using two 300 Kilowatt transmitters from    
   Europe Radio DARC will broadcast just before the start of the    
   competition, a WRTC special program across Europe on 6,070 kHz and to    
   North America on 13,860 kHz on Saturday the 14th at 1100 UTC for an hour.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline this has been Ed Durrant DD5LP.   
      
   **   
      
   SILENT KEY: KEYER-CHIP PIONEER JACK CURTIS K6KU   
      
   NEIL/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)   
      
   **   
   DISASTER DRILL, BUT WHERE ARE ALL THE HAMS?   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: What if someone held a disaster drill and nobody came? Well    
   it didn't happen that way exactly in India recently, but the turnout    
   among amateurs turned out to be a challenge. Here's Jeremy Boot G4NJH    
   with details.   
      
   JEREMY: A mock disaster drill held in Uttar Pradesh, India by the    
   National Disaster Management Authority turned out to have one challenge    
   that was real: finding amateur radio operators. The exercise in Lucknow    
   focused on the state's 23 flood-prone districts. It relied on the    
   readiness of of the state police, along with the National Disaster    
   Response Force. On the website of the Amateur Radio Club of Lucknow,    
   Pandit VU2DCT wrote that he turned out to be the sole amateur taking    
   part in the exercise. It appears that no hams reside in any of the    
   districts where the drill was scheduled.   
      
   Pandit, who is secretary of the ham radio club, wrote that he was able    
   to provide his fellow participants with an oral presentation on amateur    
   radio. He posted a hopeful observation too that most of the dignitaries    
   present at the day's exercise showed an interest in what ham radio can do.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.   
      
   **   
      
   BREAK HERE:  Time for you to identify your station.  We are the Amateur    
   Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including    
   the Spokane, Washington UHF Repeater of K7TMF and K7MMA on Fridays at 5    
   p.m. Pacific Time.   
      
   **   
   NEW QUESTION POOL FOR TECHNICIAN CLASS EXAM   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: In the U.S., the question pool is changing for the    
   Technician Class license exam as of July 1st. Every three years the    
   questions are changed, modified, and brought up to date by the National    
   Conference of Volunteer Exam Coordinators.  So as of July 1, you can    
   consider all the old license test preparation materials like manuals,    
   online practice tests, Power Point presentations and such to be    
   outdated.  Approximately 60 of the Technician license questions were    
   replaced. Most of the questions focus on the same concepts but wording    
   changes will bring the material up to date. If you are part of a    
   Volunteer Exam team, you must use the new exams starting on July 1st.     
   So VEs, be sure to change out those tests.  And if you’re studying with    
   old books, be aware that some of those questions will change while the    
   topics, for the most part, won’t.  If you’ve been studying with the old    
   books, June 30 is your last chance to take the test before the big change.   
      
   **   
   GET YOUR FEET WET WITH 'BEACHES ON THE AIR'   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: Now here's an awards program that will have you wishing for    
   an endless summer. Mike Askins KE5CXP is our man on the beach for this    
   story.   
      
   MIKE: While some people bring suntan lotion and a surfboard - or maybe    
   just a good book -- to the beach, others wouldn't be seen on the shore    
   without their rig and an antenna. Because a beach day can also be a ham    
   radio day, the program known as Beaches on the Air is encouraging hams    
   to operate portable and qualify for awards as activators. Chasers - the    
   hams who contact them - can also compete for honors.   
      
   The idea took root in a conversation in 2013 between Diego EC1CW and his    
   friend Ernesto EA1LQ, a fellow ham and SOTA activator. Diego told    
   Newsline that the awards scheme really took off sometime after December    
   of 2015 when he chose the windy Atlantic coastline of the Spanish beach    
   at Riazor (ree-ah-Zore) for the first activations. Beaches on the Air    
   was on the map at last. International users now call CQ from the shore    
   in Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, the UK and elsewhere    
   around the world.   
      
   In fact, just a few weeks after Diego's first activations, Vlado, Z35M,    
   an amateur in Macedonia, requested that the program include the beaches    
   there. A ham for nearly 35 years, Vlado is a big proponent of portable    
   operations and a frequent activator. BOTA covers not only sea-side    
   beaches but also those on inland lakes and rivers. A full list of the    
   approved sites and the awards that can be earned is at beachesontheair.com.   
      
   So with summer arriving in some parts of the world, be listening as hams    
   on the beach catch a wave - a radio wave, that is.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Mike Askins KE5CXP.   
      
   (DIEGO VARELA EC1CW)   
      
   **   
   IN AUSTRALIA, GETTING KIDS WIRED OVER ELECTRONICS   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: Some school kids in Australia are getting ready to have a    
   summer of solder and circuit boards. Robert Broomhead VK3DN has more on    
   these special summer workshops.   
      
   ROBERT: What do crickets, frogs and grasshoppers have to do with ham    
   radio? Everything, if you ask the organizers of the School Holiday    
   Electronics Workshops being offered for school kids in July. The Bendigo    
   Amateur Radio and Electronics Club has organized the workshops in    
   Castlemaine to help grow the next generation of engineers and, of    
   course, radio amateurs as well. In sessions geared to beginners age 7    
   and older, students will learn the basics of electrical circuitry and    
   get to build a solar-powered grasshopper of their own. The workshop for    
   students 10 and older will teach the basics of soldering. Those students    
   will get a homebrew cricket or frog. The club is also planning a third    
   workshop for returning students who already have been through the basics    
   in previous workshops. For information about fees and schedule, contact    
   the club via email at secretary at barec dot net dot au    
   (secretary@barec.net.au)   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Robert Broomhead VK3DN   
      
   (BAREC)   
      
   **   
      
   WORLD OF DX   
      
   In the world of DX, you can work Haru JA1XGI operating as H44XG from    
   Honiara in the Solomon Islands through the 27th of June. He will be on    
   40 – 10m mainly on CW, with perhaps some FT8.   
      
   Bodo DF8DX is operating from Taiwan from June 24th to the 30th. He will    
   be using the BW/DF8DX call sign on the HF bands. QSLs go via his home    
   call. He will upload logs to Logbook of The World.   
      
   Be listening for the call sign TM65EU being used by three French    
   amateurs on the air from three islands off the French coast. They can be    
   heard on June 22nd and June 23rd. Their QSL manager is F4ELK.   
      
   You have a chance to work Antonio, EA5RM, operating as CP1XRM from    
   Bolivia until July 10th. He is in Bolivia as an NGO volunteer but is on    
   the air during his free time on 40-10 meters using SSB and the Digital    
   modes. He may also be on 60 meters. QSL via EA5RM.   
      
   **   
   KICKER FROM GRAHAM ON WKRP   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: We end this week with a story about radio waves that truly    
   know no bounds - not even inside the walls of a high-security prison.    
   From Australia, here's Graham Kemp VK4BB.   
      
   GRAHAM: There's something to be said for the power of radio, even if in    
   this case it's not amateur radio - and even if, in this case, it's radio    
   produced inside a remote high-security prison.   
      
   The inmates here call their service the West Kimberley Regional Prison    
   Radio Hour - or WKRP. No, not *that* WKRP, the name of the radio station    
   in that wildly popular American TV series of some years ago based in    
   Cincinnati. This is radio programming that gives details on prison    
   happenings. When it was launched last year it was envisaged as a    
   bulletin service of sorts for simple updates but now the program is    
   heard outside the Western Australian prison's prison walls on community    
   stations. If you've ever had "mic fright" as a ham, you have something    
   in common with the inmates here who received expert coaching from    
   Rebekah O'Meara and encouragement from producer Brad Spring of Derby    
   Aboriginal Media Corporation.   
      
   Now the hourlong weekly show is heard through the National Indigenous    
   Radio Service. The audience isn't a captive one but the program's    
   announcers are, at least until their time served is over.   
      
   Hams can relate, no? There's nothing better than getting the word out -    
   no matter what walls you may be behind - and knowing others really hear    
   you.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB.   
      
   (RADIOINFO.COM.AU, ABC)   
      
   **   
   NEIL/ANCHOR: Finally, some terrific news on a personal note: Dr. Tamitha    
   Skov, aka The Space Weather Woman, has come through on her promise to    
   get a Ham licence. She's currently waiting on her vanity call sign, but    
   all of us here at ARNewsline welcome her to our great hobby that she has    
   been supporting already for a few years with her propagation reports,    
   that are keenly followed on her website, twitter and on Ham Nation.   
      
   **   
   NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to ABC; Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; the    
   ARRL; BBC; Bendigo Amateur Radio and Electronics Club; CQ Magazine;    
   Diego Varela EC1CW; DX World; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; Ohio-Penn    
   DX Bulletin; QRZNOW.COM, RadioInfo.Com Australia; 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 Neil Rapp WB9VPG in Bloomington Indiana    
   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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