Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2125 for July 20, 2018   
      
   *** CLOSED CIRCUIT ADVISORY ****   
      
   The following is a closed circuit advisory and not for broadcast.   
      
   This is a special, extended newscast and will contain 3 segments and 2    
   ID breaks to accommodate an expanded report on the World Radiosport Team    
   Championship.  Thank you.   
      
      
      
   **   
   Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2025 with a release date of Friday,    
   July 20, 2018 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.   
      
   The following is a QST. Contest season heats up in Korea. A smartphone    
   app provides a gateway to ham radio - and in this special expanded    
   edition of Amateur Radio Newsline, we revisit the World Radiosport Team    
   Championships.   
      
   ****   
      
   BILLBOARD CART HERE   
      
   **   
   CONTEST SEASON HEATS UP IN KOREA   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week's newscast with the good news that if you    
   think the championship season is over, think again. With two big summer    
   contests behind us, one of the next big competitions will take place in    
   Korea. The focus here is on amateur radio direction-finding, or    
   foxhunting - as Jason Daniels VK2LAW tells us.   
      
   JASON: Just in case you can't get enough of the big contest scene, hams    
   are now preparing for the action to shift to Korea where the country's    
   natural landscape will share the spotlight with some of the hobby's best    
   in foxhunting. The 19th World Amateur Radio Direction Finding    
   Championships will be hosted by the Korean Amateur Radio League not far    
   from another prominent contest venue - the 2018 Winter Olympics location    
   in Pyeong Chang.   
      
   The championship search for low-power transmitters will be held    
   September 2 through 8th. According to the latest bulletin from the    
   Korean radio league, 418 amateurs representing 25 countries have    
   committed to participate so far. The panel of jurors consists of hams    
   from Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Ukraine and Japan.   
      
   The 18th World ARDF championships were held in Bulgaria in 2016.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW.   
      
   (KOREAN AMATEUR RADIO LEAGUE)   
      
   **   
      
   AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL SESSION GOES SKY HIGH   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Imagine having a guest speaker at your public school who is    
   some 250 miles above the Earth. Well, youngsters in Melbourne, Australia    
   didn't have to imagine. It really happened - and just as planned. Here    
   Robert Broomhead VK3DN with those details.   
      
   ROBERT: Just as planned, an astronaut aboard the International Space    
   Station kept her appointment with the students at the Essex Heights    
   Primary School in Melbourne Australia on the evening of Tuesday, July    
   17th. As the ISS approached Australia's southern coast at 27,500    
   kilometers per hour, the youngsters had their first conversations that    
   took place more than 400 kilometers, or almost 250 miles, above the    
   earth. Ham radio made it possible. "This is your little moment in    
   history, your opportunity to do something that very few people are able    
   to do," moderator Ciaran Morgan M0XTD had told them. From the north,    
   Shane Lynd VK4KHZ, put out the call to astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor    
   KG5TMT and Ciaran set the discussion in motion from his QTH in England.    
   The students cheered and then took turns at the microphone with their    
   questions: how does the body react to being in space? What foods do you    
   miss most? For the children, it was ham radio's finest moment as the    
   dialogue went forward courtesy of a telebridge between Shane in    
   Queensland and NA1SS, the International Space Station Amateur Radio Club    
   outside Washington, D.C. It lasted barely 10 minutes but for those    
   twelve children joined by 400 family and friends in the school hall it    
   would be a memory forever. The event was featured the following evening    
   on Australia's Channel 7 evening TV News service and again the following    
   night on Channel 10’s "The Project," a news and current events talk    
   show. For the rest of the world, you can watch the YouTube by pickup up    
   the link from on the school's website. Visit www dot essexheightsps dot    
   vic dot edu dot au (www.essexheightsps.vic.edu.au)   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Robert Broomhead VK3DN   
   **   
      
      
   **   
   K2BSA SCOUTS ON THE AIR IN CALIFORNIA   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Scouts in the U.S. are activating K2BSA again this week and    
   opening registration for their big on-air happening, Jamboree on the    
   Air. Bill Stearns NE4RD has that report.   
      
   BILL: This week in Radio Scouting we have 2 activations of the K2BSA    
   callsign, one activation from Scout Camps on the Air, and Jamboree on    
   the Air registration is open for 2018.   
      
   Chris Clark, W6CBC, will be activating K2BSA/6 at Camp Chawanakee in    
   Shaver Lake, CA, from July 28 through August 4. Chris will be operating    
   a station at the camp in preparation for JOTA.   
      
   Frederick Donkin, KA7MMM, will be activating K2BSA/9 at the National    
   Order of the Arrow Conference in Bloomington, IN, from July 30 through    
   August 4. The NOAC is a conference that is held every 3 years and is the    
   second biggest national scouting activity.   
      
   BSA Troop 20 Amateur Radio Club will be activating their callsign WS5BSA    
   at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Vic Ely, MN, from July 30 through    
   August 4. The Canoe Trek will set up at daily campsites and make QSOs    
   until 0130 UTC. They will most likely work 40/20 meters due to time of    
   day and latitude. They are also hoping that one or two stations will try    
   to work a schedule with them every evening. Find their contact    
   information on our SCOTA.US site.   
      
   Jamboree on the Air and Jamboree on the Internet is just a short 3    
   months away now. Registration has been opened and has been greatly    
   simplified. You can find the registration page with our shortcut of    
   jota2018.k2bsa.net , that's J O T A 2 0 1 8 .k2bsa.net or by searching    
   the jotajoti.info site. Stations can register events with Boy Scout or    
   Girl Scout units. You can even edit your event information after you    
   have registered, so be sure to include a current email address and    
   you'll receive a link to your registration for updating.   
      
   Another event that is just 12 months away is World Jamboree. This is a    
   quadrennial event that is held in locations all over the Scouting World    
   every four years. In 2019 it will be hosted in North America at the    
   Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia. Our callsign for this event    
   will be NA1WJ. You'll be hearing more about this event as it nears. For    
   now, check out our landing page for it at na1wj.net.   
      
   For more information on JOTA or Radio Scouting, or to signup for our    
   JOTA newsletter, please visit our website at k2bsa.net.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline and the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association, this    
   is Bill Stearns, NE4RD.   
      
   **   
      
   YOUNG HAMS' INVITATION TO 'BREAKFAST'   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Another way to hook youngsters on ham radio in the internet    
   age is to start with their smartphones! Paul Braun WD9GCO tells us how    
   one ham did it.   
      
   PAUL: One of the hot topics in ham radio today is how to attract new,    
   young hams to the hobby in a world that's full of the internet and cell    
   phones. One ham, Denny Johnson KD5DLJ, has found a way to combine all of    
   those. His initial plan was to get the school systems in his area to use    
   the Skywarn training materials as the curriculum in a science class, and    
   then get the students Skywarn certified. Since most of them had    
   smartphones, his plan was to create a channel on Zello, a popular app    
   that allows mobile phones to behave very much like an HT. He figured it    
   would bring them in contact with Skywarn spotters who were also hams,    
   and hopefully spark interest. And then he started thinking bigger:   
      
   JOHNSON: So I created this Zello channel, and I thought, "You know, we    
   need to do something a little broader, outside of Skywarn" so I created    
   the Digicomm Cafe which is just a Zello channel open to everybody. We    
   had this breakfast club that we started, meets every Saturday morning at    
   8:00 Central where we bring in different guests every time. Recently we    
   had Don Wilbanks in as a guest and we've been doing this now for the    
   last three months.   
      
   PAUL: The Digicomm Cafe channel on Zello introduced him to the World    
   Wide Amateur Radio Guild who had a similar mission, and they have    
   channels of their own on a different service. They liked what Johnson    
   was doing, so they offered to bring Digicomm Cafe in as part of the    
   Guild. Johnson accepted.   
      
   JOHNSON: I have a channel called "DigiCommCafe" without a space between    
   "comm" and "cafe." The one with a space is for everyone, the one that's    
   all one word is for hams only. It's linked to many RF modes, including    
   Echolink, Allstar link, DMR, D-star, Fusion and it's also cross-linked    
   to Zello which we only give permission to those whoare licensed hams to    
   use, and the IRN on Teamspeak so people could come in from any one of    
   those different modes to communicate in the channel.   
      
   PAUL: Johnson's idea seems to be working:   
      
   JOHNSON: I did a presentation at the local library here in Harrison,    
   Arkansas. A young boy, 13 years old, with his father came up from    
   Clinton, Arkansas. He's always been passionate about weather but within    
   two days he took that test, got certified as a spotter. Two days later    
   he got his ham license and now he is running the Little Rock Skywarn    
   Zello channel!   
      
   PAUL: For more information about The Guild and Digicomm Cafe, please    
   visit their website at TheGuildGlobal dot ORG. For Amateur Radio    
   Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO.   
      
   **   
      
   FIRST BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the    
   Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world    
   including the K2ADA repeater in Ocala Florida on Fridays and Saturdays    
   at 7 p.m.   
      
   **   
   OLD RADIOS DIE HARD - OR NOT   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: The actor Bruce Willis might be the last person you'd expect    
   to be talking into an HT. But it happened on screen 30 years ago this    
   year and his costar, it turns out, was a Kenwood model that's now    
   vintage. Here's Neil Rapp WB9VPG.   
      
   NEIL: As the blockbuster action-thriller "Die Hard" marks the 30th    
   anniversary of its theatrical release in the U.S., there are still    
   plenty of people who believe that Bruce Willis was the movie's star.    
   Remember him? His portrayal of New York City cop John McClane came into    
   sharpest focus during a dramatic hostage rescue scene in Los Angeles.   
      
   Everyone recognizes Bruce Willis, of course, a tough guy who takes no    
   prisoners even in the face of those who do. But his costar? Trivia buffs    
   might offer the name of Bonnie Bedelia who plays his wife, or identify    
   Alan Rickman as the evil Hans Gruber but - guess again.   
      
   Amateur radio operators know better: In the July 2018 issue of the    
   ARRL's magazine QST, it is revealed that a Kenwood HT - the model    
   TH-31BT to be exact - was Bruce Willis' real co-star. This was the radio    
   that John McClane managed to grab from one of the hostage-takers and    
   later used to spy on the captors' conversations. Ultimately the radio    
   helped him save the day when he used it to call emergency response to    
   the scene and keep him connected to outside support as the drama unfolded.   
      
   Well hams aren't surprised at all by this revelation. Why should they    
   be? Admiration for radio's potential - like the movie - dies hard.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Neil Rapp WB9VPG.   
      
   (QST Magazine)   
      
   **   
   SLOVENIA GETS ALLOCATION ON 60 METER BAND   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Welcome to the 60 meter band, Slovenia! The Association of    
   Radio Amateurs of Slovenia has notified Tom Kamp DF5JL, the Region 1 HF    
   Manager of the International Amateur Radio Union, that all Class A    
   operators now have access to the 60 meter band on a seconary basis    
   between 5351.5 kHz to 5366.5 kHz. The hams are given a maximum EIRP of    
   15 watts. According to the IARU, the change took effect on the 14th of    
   July.   
      
   (SOUTHGATE)   
      
   **   
      
   CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF NETWORKING REPEATERS IN KANSAS   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: There's nothing like togetherness, whether it is a gathering    
   in person for eyeball QSOs or hams getting together on the air.    
   Networked repeaters bring another kind of important togetherness. In    
   Kansas, hams are noting two decades of that interconnectedness in the    
   most appropriate way possible. Lloyd Colston KC5FM has the details.   
      
   LLOYD: The nice folks in Kansas are celebrating twenty years of    
   statewide networking repeaters with a net on August 18th at 9 p.m.    
   Central Time on the K-Link system. Today the system has 20 repeaters    
   linked with worldwide connectivity on IRLP NODE 9335 and ALLSTAR NODE    
   46304.   
      
   Justin NV8Q reports that in 2008, the tenth anniversary net had 54    
   check-ins.   
      
   Details can be found at WWW.KS0LNK.NET   
      
   If you are in Kansas on the 18th, head over to Salina on the 19th for    
   the Kansas American Radio Relay League State Convention.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline this is Lloyd Colston KC5FM reporting.   
      
   **   
      
   NEW BALLOTS BEING MAILED FOR AMSAT-NORTH AMERICA ELECTION   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: If you're a member of AMSAT-North America and you voted in    
   the election for the Board of Directors, you'll be getting another    
   ballot soon. A printing error occurred with the original ballots that    
   were mailed to members for the July 15 election and those ballots have    
   been declared void. Watch the mail for ballots labeled "CORRECTED BALLOT    
   7/20/2018." They are printed on yellow cardstock and replace the    
   original beige-colored ballots.   
      
   Members are being asked to vote for no more than three of the five    
   candidates. Three directors will be chosen along with two alternates.   
      
   (SOUTHGATE)   
      
   **   
      
   THE WORLD OF DX   
      
   Meanwhile, in the World of DX, be listening for Geoff ZL3GA who is    
   operating on Vanuatu until the 25th of July. He will be using the call    
   sign YJ0GA and operating both CW and FT8 as his main modes. Logs will be    
   uploaded to Logbook of The World and QSLs go via Club Log OQRS.   
      
   Don't forget the IOTA contest of the Radio Society of Great Britain    
   which is a good source for contacts. The dates are July 28th and 29th.    
   Here are some of the contacts you can make:   
      
   Be listening for Taka, JA8COE, who will be active from Hokkaido Island.    
   Send QSLs via JA8COE.   
      
   A number of operators on the Island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides    
   will be operating as GM7V. Send QSLs via Steve, N3SL.   
      
   Listen for Ian, G3WVG, operating as MX5A from St. Mary's on the Isles of    
   Scilly. QSL via LoTW and ClubLog.   
      
   Branislav, OM2FY will be operating as SV8/OM2FY from Kefalonia Island.    
   QSL via OM2FY.   
      
   Andreas, DL1KZA and a number of friends will be using the call sign DK3R    
   from Ruegen Island. QSL via DL1KZA.   
      
   (OHIO PENN DX)   
      
   **   
   KICKER: WHEN HAM RADIO REALLY DELIVERS - TO THE MAILBOX   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Most hams know that when you've got an amateur's call sign,    
   that's really all you need to confirm the contact with a QSL card. In    
   most cases a QRZ listing or a quick email inquiry can get you an address    
   or postal code. But what happens when you have neither? Well, then, you    
   need a postal carrier with a sharp eye and just maybe an affinity for    
   ham radio. Here's Jeremy Boot G4NJH.   
      
   JEREMY: How do you deliver a piece of mail that has little else but the    
   recipient's name and their amateur radio call sign? Someone out there -    
   an anonymous postie in Derry - managed to get the job done with little    
   else but that. The QSL card was sent to "Monsieur Stevie Gillespie" from    
   Pierre Miet F4HXW the amateur in France with whom Stevie had made    
   contact on HF only four days earlier. Stevie MI0GTA of course was    
   delighted. He had eagerly awaited this confirmation of his QSO between    
   his Waterside home and the South of France. But wait - the mail    
   contained no postal address and Stevie, a ham since 2002, got to    
   wondering. How could the postie have known? Could the card's destination    
   been sorted out by someone who is a ham himself?   
      
   Well, it's not really known how it all unfolded but Stevie, appreciative    
   of the mystery mail delivery, made sure the Royal Mail got a note of    
   appreciation from him nonetheless. As for Pierre, he got something too -    
   a return QSL card from Stevie, a fan of the Derry City Football Club,    
   featuring a picture of the late defender Ryan McBride.   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.   
      
   (THE DERRY JOURNAL)   
      
   **   
      
   SECOND BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the    
   Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world    
   including the KA6TSA repeater on Wednesday evenings at 8 in Palos    
   Verdes, California.   
      
   **   
   SPECIAL REPORT FROM WRTC   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: The World Radiosport Team Championship is now history and    
   reporter Ed Durrant DD5LP was there for this global contest that put the    
   best of the best on a level playing field in Germany. Here is his    
   special report in this expanded segment of Amateur Radio Newsline:   
      
   ED: Think of an event organized by a small group of Hams that is a WORLD    
   CHAMPIONSHIP with 124 contestants, 300+ volunteers and a small    
   management team, that costs half a million Euros to put on needs 4 years    
   work and negotiations with 3 regional governments, and you have the    
   World Radiosport team championships or the Olympics of Radio Contesters    
   as some know it.   
   I was very happy to offer my support as a volunteer and was allocated to    
   the Media team, in the heart of the organisation. What I saw in my    
   position was an amazingly well organized, highly skilled and effective    
   organisation of which any large company in the world would be happy to    
   have and these are all unpaid workers doing it for the love of the hobby.   
   Contestants, referees and the majority of the volunteers arrived on the    
   Wednesday and there were various meetings and events arranged over the    
   next couple of days until on Friday the contestants saw their sites for    
   the first time before returning on Saturday for the contest itself. The    
   WRTC championship coincides with the IARU HF contest and apart from 160    
   metres takes place on the same bands but with only 100W output to    
   completely identical antenna systems on identical locations as far as    
   ground geography is concerned around the Wittenberg-Jessen area in the    
   eastern part of Germany. The organisers had another surprise up their    
   sleeves to make sure there would be enough stations calling the    
   championship stations – they got a very special range of call signs    
   allocated from BNetZa – the national licencing authority and they were    
   call signs starting with Y8 – call sign letters that belonged to the old    
   East Germany and were stopped 28 years ago. While the BNetZa has this    
   range available, they issued the required 63 short callsigns but ONLY to    
   be used for the 24 hours of the contest. That adds a special reason for    
   amateurs from around the world to call the WRTC stations as it is quite    
   possible that these callsign prefixes will never be used again.   
      
   Linked to the championships there were regular daily video reports as    
   well as text & picture press releases. The opening and closing    
   ceremonies were live streamed to the Internet and during the    
   competition, the biggest hot item for the spectators was the online,    
   real time scoreboard, where on a minute by minute basis everyone APART    
   FROM the contesters (as they are allowed no Internet access), could    
   watch how each of the teams were doing.   
   As well as the materials and Internet broadcasts produced by the WRTC    
   media team, RADIO-DARC a group linked to the national radio society put    
   out two special radio shows on Short Wave AM using a pair of 300kW    
   transmitters from the ORS company near Vienna, Austria. One in English    
   on the Saturday covering Europe and North America and one for Europe in    
   German on the Sunday. However everything almost didn’t go to plan. The    
   20dB curtain antenna used with one of the two 300 KW transmitters to put    
   30MW of EIRP into the US was damaged in the week coming up to the WRTC.    
   The professional teams worked long hours to try to repair the damage and    
   the transmitter site manager (who just happens to be a Ham) called in    
   two local Hams to help out and…. On Friday evening the antenna was fixed    
   and working. A case of both ORS and the Vienna amateur community putting    
   in extra effort to make sure everything went without problems with the    
   WRTC.   
   Back in the organisations centre problems were logged in the ticket    
   system and efficiently resolved. Such interesting calls came in as one    
   (obviously rather large) operator kept breaking chairs and had to have    
   them replaced, in the end with a heavy duty one. On one site the    
   Port-a-loo was blown over and was unable to be righted, so a backup was    
   sent. A couple of antennas were damaged prior to the start of the    
   contest and replaced from the spares.   
   Overall for such a large and complex event everything ran very well.   
   So you’re all waiting to hear WHO WON ?   
   At the time of recording – the Monday following the contest, the result    
   is not official and will only be announced at the closing ceremony    
   however it’s unlikely that the record-breaking score set by the    
   Lithuanian team of Gedas, LY9A, and Mindis, LY4L will be beaten.   
   Your reporter was lucky enough to be outside the tent of the winning    
   team right after completion of the 24 hour, no-break, competition. So    
   what did the LY’s say was the secret of their success? It seems,    
   practice, practice, practice is the answer. They also mention their    
   respect for the organisation and especially the volunteers at WRTC2018    
   in the following short audio clip.   
      
   <<<  Insert Audio Clip here >>>>>   
      
   So it only now remains for me to wish those planning to compete in WRTC    
   2022 all the best and remember – PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and of    
   course I congratulate ALL teams that took part in WRTC 2018 !   
   Thanks to the organisers for letting me be a small part of this great    
   event!   
      
   For Amateur Radio Newsline, this is Ed Durrant DD5LP   
      
   JIM/ANCHOR: Our thanks to Ed DD5LP for his thorough coverage throughout    
   the championship. At the closing ceremonies it was announced that the    
   2022 contest is to be held in Bologna, Italy, the birthplace of    
   Guglielmo Marconi in 1874. So, as Ed advises, practice, practice, practice!   
      
   **   
      
   NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; ARISS:    
   the ARRL; CQ Magazine; the Derry Journal; Hap Holly and the Rain Report;    
   Irish Radio Transmitters Society; Korean Amateur Radio League; K2BSA;    
   Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; QST Magazine; Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio;    
   Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; South    
   African Radio League; 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    
   Virginis 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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