BREAKING NEWS FROM AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE

The following two items arrived after our regular newscast was
released. While we will include synopses in our next newscast, their
importance requires release at this time.

ARNewsline

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------

FROM ICOM:

�Route 66 On The Air� Adopts D-STAR Digital Radio Operations

BELLEVUE, WA (September 10, 2008) � During the running of the 2008
Route
66 On The Air, event leaders will be adding the D-STAR digital
communications mode to the existing HF/VHF/UHF analog modes. From September
13 � 21, over a dozen ham radio clubs located along the famous
highway
are taking part as official participants. The Citrus Belt Amateur Radio
Club out of San Bernardino, CA is the sponsoring club that is hosting this,
the 9th annual running of the event.

The event is not a race. According to the event�s official Website
(http://www.w6jbt.org/): �The purpose of this event is an
opportunity to
offer amateur radio operators a fun way to "Relive the Ride" and their own
memories of Route 66, and to celebrate the highway's 82nd anniversary.ï¿
½

A list of special events radio stations can be found on
http://www.w6jbt.org/Route_ota/Gener...ntStations.htm.

Not all stations will be utilizing D-STAR. A partial list includes special
event station:

Lovation of Rout 66 Special Event Callsign

Kingman, AZ, USA W6F
Albuquerque, NM, USA W6H
Oklahoma City, OK, USA W6K
Joplin, MO, USA W6N Station will be active 9-19-08 08:00 � 17:00
Central Time
Lebanon, MO, USA W6O Station will be active 9-19-08 08:00 � 17:00
Central
Time
St. Louis, MO, USA W6P Station will be active 9-20-08 08:00 � 17:00
Central Time
Chicago, IL, USA Rover Station WD5ERD via NS9RC port B


Station will be active 9-21-08 08:00 � 17:00 Central Time

To contact these stations, the special event 1x1 callsign is to be entered
into the URCALL Field (With the exception of Chicago which will be a zone
call /NS9RC B) with the RTP2 set for gateway use.

For a modest fee, a special D-STAR certificate is available for hams who
�work� (complete a successful two-way conversation with) at
least one
of the official special event D-STAR club stations or a participating
D-STAR mobile station signing "mobile 66". Please visit the official
Website for details. (http://www.w6jbt.org/http://www.w6jbt.org/)

About Route 66: The fabled ribbon of highway that �winds from
Chicago to
L.A.�, as sung by Nat King Cole, was established in 1926 and served
as
the first major improved highway to cross the nation�s heartland and
southwest regions. Route 66 holds a special place in mid 20th century
Americana, featured in many songs and stories. The highway was
decommissioned in 1986 in favor of the newer US interstate system, which
did not follow the same route. Some portions of the original Route 66 still
exist.

For more information please contact Fred Varian at 425-454-8155 or by
e-mail to



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------

FROM ARISS

Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, to communicate with Students and Ham Radio
Operators World-wide through the Amateur Radio Station on-board the
International Space Station (ISS)

Through multiple agreements with NASA, the Russian Space Agency, RSC
Energia, Space Adventures Ltd, and ARISS (Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station), Richard Garriott will fly to ISS and will
communicate with students, ham radio operators, friends, and family
world-wide using the ARISS amateur radio station on-board the ISS.

Richard Garriott, with the amateur radio callsign, W5KWQ is the sixth
private citizen to be flown by the Russian space agency to the ISS. A
legendary video game programmer and designer, Garriott will be traveling to
orbit this October and will speak with hundreds of students while thousands
more listen in during a series of ten-minute ham radio contacts. His
on-orbit stay on Soyuz and ISS is planned for October 12 � 22, 2008.

The locales for the worldwide student contacts include eight Challenger
Learning Centers in the U.S., the Austin Liberal Arts and Sciences Academy
in Austin, Texas, the Pinehurst School in Ashland, Oregon, the Budbrooke
School in the U.K., and the National Space Challenge in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. Garriott also plans to have random chats with scouts world-wide
as part of the amateur radio �Jamboree on the Air� which is
planned for
October 18-19.

�An important aspect of Richard Garriott�s mission is to
encourage
students� interest in science and technology through the amateur
radio
contacts,� said Rosalie White, ARISS International
Secretary-Treasurer
and ARISS Program Manager for ARRL (American Radio Relay League). �
ARISS
team members from all over the world volunteer their time every day so that
students receive opportunities that we hope will cause them to study harder
and learn more about any educational subject.�

The connection from the ISS to individual student locations will be
established through an amateur radio station set up directly at the school
or through the ARISS network of worldwide amateur radio ground stations
utilized to link Garriott directly with students. The amateur radio system
works similar to the way mission control centers in the United States and
Russia talk to their space explorers.

To date, the ARISS international working group volunteer team has conducted
over 360 school contacts with crew members using ham radio on the ISS. The
team has also set up radio contacts for family members of space explorers
via ham radio. And have enabled countless contacts between the ISS crew
members and hams on the ground. All previous Space Adventures private
citizens who have flown to ISS have used the ARISS equipment to talk to
school students, ham radio operators and friends and family.

As part of Richard Garriott�s science investigations, he will be
taking
high definition photographs of many parts of the Earth and comparing them
to photos taken on previous space missions. In conjunction with his Earth
science investigation, Mr. Garriott is flying special amateur radio
electronics that will enable him to send and receive low resolution images
from space, comparable to cell phone images. Through this ham radio
system, called Slow-Scan Television (SSTV), Garriott will beam down images
of the Earth to schools and ham radio operators on the ground so that they
can actively participate in his mission.

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS International Chairman and AMSAT Vice President
for Human Spaceflight Programs, states: �The ARISS team is quite
excited
about Richard�s flight. He is very interested in bringing the
wonders of
space to those of us on Earth and he sees amateur radio as a great
mechanism to make that happen. Through his school and scout voice
contacts, his SSTV image downlinks and his communications with the
world-wide amateur radio community, we see his mission as being �act
ion
packed� from an amateur radio perspective.� Bauer
continues, �What
is extra special is that Richard Garriott�s flight coincides almost
25
years from when his father, Owen Garriott, made history as the first ham
radio operator to communicate with radio amateurs from space on the STS-9
Space Shuttle mission.� Owen Garriott�s call sign is W5LFL.
Richard
also hopes to link up with his father via amateur radio during his flight.

Currently, Mr. Garriott is finishing his final spaceflight preparations at
the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) located in Star City,
Russia. His launch date is scheduled for October 12, 2008, with ISS
docking planned for October 14 and undocking planned for October 22. Mr.
Garriott was trained thoroughly to be a member of the Soyuz TMA-13/17S crew.

Since its first flight with Owen Garriott, in November 1983, Ham Radio has
flown on more than two-dozen space shuttle missions, on the Mir Space
Station and on the ISS. ARISS is the first and longest continuous
operating educational outreach program to fly on the ISS. ARISS is an
internationally-based working group, sponsored by the national amateur
radio organizations and the international AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation) organizations from each country as well as the ISS space
agency partners. In the United States, ARISS is sponsored by the American
Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation-North
America (AMSAT-NA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). NASA�s education office provides support to ARISS and
guidance
in the development of ARISS educational objectives.

The primary purpose of ARISS is to allow students engaged in a science and
technology curriculum to speak with an astronaut orbiting the Earth on the
International Space Station. Using amateur radio, students ask questions
about life in space or other space-related topics. Students fully
participate in the ARISS contact by helping set up an amateur radio ground
station at the school and then using that station to talk directly with the
on-board crew member. Preparation for the experience motivates the
children to learn about radio waves, space technology, science, geography
and the space environment. In many cases, the students help write press
releases and give presentations on the contact to their fellow students and
to the local community. Through this hands-on experience, students are
engaged and educated in the Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) fields, and are inspired to pursue STEM-related careers.

For more information about amateur radio on the ISS and Richard
Garriott�s flight, go to:

http://www.ariss.org
http://richardinspace.com
http://spaceadventures.com
http://www.arrl.org
http://www.amsat.org
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/stat...dio/index.html
http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/catalog/details/?cidc4
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/st...nts/ARISS.html

Scout Jamboree on the Air:
http://www.scout.org/jota