Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1714 - June 18 2010

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1714 with a release date of
Friday, June 18, 2010 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Amateur radio gets ready for the 2010
Scouting Jamboreee, hams assist as floods hit Arkansas and tornadoes
hit Ohio, a dispute over first place in the International Amateur
Radio Headquarters Station category and a balloon ride across the
English Channel gets tracked using A-P-R-S. Find out the details on
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1714 coming your way right
now.


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

RADIO CELEBRATIONS: HAM RADIO AT THE 2010 BOY SCOUT JAMBOREE

The 2010 National Scout Jamboree is a little more than a month away.
This years theme is the celebration of 100 years of scouting in the
United States and ham radio will be an important part of the
festivities. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, is at our
East Coast bureau with mo

--

For anyone who's ever been or still is a Boy Scout - youth or leader -
celebrating an anniversary of this significance is truly a
once-in-a-lifetime happening.

And, why not do it with a huge campout or jamboree at a military base
called Fort AP Hill, Virginia, just outside of Woodbridge?

Of course, to make it really a special event you set up an amateur radio
station!

The staff of K2BSA - the call sign of the Boy Scouts of America - is making
final preparations for the event - which runs from July 26 through Aug. 4.

Ed Dudley, WA4ISI, is the volunteer coordinator for the K2BSA staff. He
says the staff of nearly 50 volunteers is made up of folks from a variety
of fields who will be coming from all around the country.

"We have doctors and lawyers," Dudley says. "We have scientists, engineers
and we have youth that are Scouts that will be part of the staff."

Among the youth, Andrew Koenig, KE5GDB, Amateur Radio Newsline's 2009 Young
Ham of the Year.

Dudley says the centerpiece of the K2BSA operation is a large demonstration
station located inside a large circus-style tent with HF and VHF stations
set up, a temporary antenna farm that might rival some of the smaller DX
operations, and plans in the works for a contact with one of the astronauts
aboard the International Space Station.

But Dudley says that's not all.

"We'll also be doing the Radio merit badge at the merit badge midway and we
have a third group that will be doing licensing and testing," Dudley says.
"We'll have classes and give the test every evening that there's not an
arena show.

"When they have the arena shows, everything shuts down. But every other
night we'll have testing for the amateur radio licenses, all levels."

Dudley says the mission of the K2BSA staff is clear - showing off the best
of amateur radio.

"Well, we have an opportunity here to show ham radio to lots of Scouts, and
when I say lots, I mean lots," Dudley says. "There are approximately 40,000
Scouts and adults that are actually participants in the jamboree, plus
there's six or seven-thousand staff members.

"All of these people can come in and see what's going on. But, beyond that
there may be several hundred thousands of visitors."

At the K2BSA demonstration, Dudley says the idea is to get Scouts and
visitors talking on the air with other Scouts around the country and around
the world.

"I'd like to see Scouts from all over the world that can come into a local
ham station and make a contact and talk to some of these guys at the
jamboree," Dudley says. "That's what the demonstration is

"It's sort of like Jamboree on the Air in that we're trying to do contacts
with other Scouts. Of course we'll talk to everyone else, too."

The bottom line: Dudley would love to see the ham community get active
during the jamboree. And, of course, if you contact K2BSA, there is a nice
little bonus.

"Get on your radio and give us a call," Dudley says. "If you'd like a QSL
card, we'll have a unique QSL card for the jamboree.

"We do ask that you send an SASE along with that because we may make
thousands of contacts and we'd love to send you a card but we can't afford
to pay for the mailing for all of them."

Check out the July QST cover story by Bill Morine, N2COP, to learn more
about K2BSA's operations at the National Boy Scout Jamboree and listen for
the web address at the end of this story, too.

Your humble correspondent will be part of the K2BSA staff for the third
time in my Scouting career. And, I hope to be able to file a story or two
for the Amateur Radio Newsline while there.

For now, for the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in
Philadelphia.

--

More information on this years Scout Jamboree is on line at
www.nsj2010ham.com (NT3V, ARNewsline(tm))

**

RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO CALLED OUT IN ARKANSAS CAMPSITE FLOOD

Ham radio was called out on June 6th to assist in the search for missing
people following flooding in the Albert Pike campground, about 75 miles
west of Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite temporary cell phone towers being
installed, emergency personnel still need help communicating in the remote
Arkansas wilderness. Because of this local law enforcement has requested
the help of ham radio operators across the state.

The Central Arkansas Ultra-High Frequency Amateur Radio Club was quick to
respond. Its spokesman is Josh Carroll, N5JLC. He says cell phones can
only cover so much of an area. According to Carroll the cellular towers
and services that have been put in place are functioning properly. The
problem is they're working for a certain portion of the affected area, and
the area we're currently concerned with is still very spotty as far as
cellular service and communications. So that's why they requested the
assistance of the ham radio community.

The flash flood swept through a popular Arkansas campground on Friday, June
4th. At least 19 people have been confirmed killed, and one person is still
missing after sudden severe floods rampaged through the area. (NPR, N5LJC)

**

RESCUE RADIO: OHIO HAMS READY AS TORNADOES STRIKE

The ARRL reports that during the early overnight hours of Saturday, June 5
through Sunday, June 6, severe weather and tornadoes ripped across an area
of Northwestern Ohio, laying a large path of destruction. ARES and SKYWARN
groups in Erie, Huron, Sandusky and Wood Counties activated nets as early
as 10:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the 5th, with many not standing
down until 4:30 a.m. the next day. According to ARRL Ohio Section Manager
Frank Piper, KI8GW, traffic on the nets was filled with reports of severe
weather damage, flooding and downed power lines. (ARRL)

**

ENFORCEMENT: CONNECTICUT HAM ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF ARSON

A Norwich, Connecticut ham arrested last month on charges he called in a
fake report of a gunman at Wal-Mart is in custody again. This time on
charge of suspicion of arson linked to a 2007 fire.

According to the Norwich Bulletin on-line newspaper, Keith Mutch, KB1RBI,
was arrested Wednesday, June 16th on a warrant on charging him with second
degree arson and first degree criminal mischief in connection with a June
7, 2007 fire at a vacant home in Norwich. No injuries were reported at the
blaze.

Mutch was also charged with tampering with a witness for actions connected
to his May 28 arrest on charges he used a two way radio on January 26th to
call in reports of an armed man threatening to shoot people outside
Wal-Mart in Norwich. Police said they developed information that Mutch had
contacted one of the witnesses in the Wal-Mart incident and tried to
convince her to change her story.

Mutch was arriagned on Thursday, June 17th in Norwich Superior Court. He
is being held on a total of $325,000 in bonds.

Norwich Police Lt. Stephany Bakoulis said that an investigation continues
into suspicious fires and more arrests are expected. More is on-line at
tinyurl.com/2ffee7h

From the newsroom, Im Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los
Angeles. (NorwichBulletin.com, TheDay.com)

**

ENFORCEMENT: CALIFORNIA SOS HOAXSTER SENTENCED TO 30 MONTHS IN FEDERAL
PRISON

A federal judge sentenced Kurtis Thorsted of Salinas, California to 30
months in federal prison. This, after the 53 year old pleaded guilty in
July in U.S. District Court in San Jose to broadcasting a fake distress
signal in October 2008.

At that time he made the transmissions Thorsted told would-be rescuers in
that he was in a kayak off the coast of Santa Cruz and having difficulty
getting to shore. However it was found that he was actually at his home in
the city of Salinas.

Thorsted also pleaded guilty in October to making two other fake mayday
calls to the Coast Guard. In all, the court found that Thorsted has made
51 false distress messages over six months and costing the Coast Guard
$102,000 in search and related costs.

This is not the first time that Thorsted has been convicted of transmitting
a false distress message. In April 2004 he was sentenced to two years in
federal prison and ordered to pay more than $29,000 in restitution to the
Coast Guard for a similar series of hoax calls. And in one of the earlier
incidents, Thorsted's phony call interrupted a real distress call from a
33-foot boat 4 miles off the coast of Santa Cruz island. More on this
story is on-line at tinyurl.com/2f63oq8. (VHF Reflector, SF Chronicle)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, we are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the N9AKN repeater
serving Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(5 sec pause here)

**

WORLDBEAT: NO FIRST PLACE AWARD IN DISPUTED IARU HQ CONTEST

The 2009 IARU contest between the world's national amateur radio society
headquarters stations has produced a bitter dispute over the scores. This
as an argument rages between the Spanish and German national societies over
who actually finished in first place as the ARRL says that nobody will be
declared to have taken first place. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce
Tennant, K6PZW, has the details:

--

Dave Patton, NN1N, is the Manager, ARRL Membership and Volunteer
Programs. In a June 7th statement for the ARRL Awards Committee Regarding
headquarters station entries in the 2009 IARU HF World Championship he
writes that a most unfortunate dispute has arisen in connection with the
outcome of the 2009 IARU HF World Championship. This, between AO8HQ on
behalf of Spain's Union de Radioaficionados Espanoles or URE and DA0HQ on
behalf of the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club or DARC.

Pattons says that as the administrator of the contest on behalf of the
IARU, the ARRL regrets that it has contributed to this development in two
ways. He says that far to much emphasis has been allowed to develop on
competition between headquarters station entries. He explains that the
special category of headquarters stations was intended to raise the
visibility of the IARU member-societies among active radio amateurs, and to
make the contest more interesting to participants by providing additional
multipliers. But says Patton, it was never intended to be a competition
for the highest world score. Clearly there can never be a "level playing
field" for such competition, nor does it further the objectives of the
IARU.

Second, in adjudicating the 2009 contest results a serious error was made
in the initial computation of scores. He explains that many contacts were
incorrectly identified as "busted calls" that were not. As a result of
this error, when the results were first published AO8HQ was shown as having
the highest score when in fact the DA0HQ score, after correction of the
computation, is slightly higher. Therefore, the ARRL Awards Committee has
decided that no certificate will be awarded for the high scoring IARU
member society HQ station in 2009. Instead, a certificate will be awarded
to each continental leader, and certificates of appreciation for their
participation will be awarded to all headquarters stations.

And there are major changes coming to get this event back on
track. Effective with the 2010 IARU HF World Championship, no adjudication
of HQ station logs will be conducted by the ARRL. A certificate of
participation will be awarded to each IARU member society headquarters
station and that will be it. Also effective with the 2010 event, by
submitting a log the submitter agrees that the log may be made public, at
the discretion of the contest sponsor.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Brice Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles.

--

In the committee statement Patton says that the ARRL will not engage in any
further correspondence with regard to the 2009 IARU HF World Championship
but it does welcomes suggestions for improvements for future events. He
also says that it is extremely regrettable that the matter has escalated
into a distraction from the other issues facing the words amateur radio
organizations today. The ARRL Awards Committee Statement can be seen on
line at tinyurl.com/3xfo54h (radio-sport.net, DARC, URE)

**

ENFORCEMENT: FCC SHUTS DOWN UNLICENSED BROADCASTER IN BROOKLYN NY

The FCC has issued a Forfeiture Order in the amount of $4,500 to Mark
Nierman and Kakadu Productions, Inc.. This for willfully and repeatedly
violating Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934 by operating an
unlicensed radio station on the frequency 99.9 MHz in Brooklyn, New York.

The investigation revolving this matter goes back almost 9 months. In
response to several complaints from licensed area broadcasters, on October
12th and 13th of 2009, an agent from the Enforcement Bureau's New York
Office used a mobile direction-finding vehicle and determined that the
source of broadcast transmissions on 99.9 MHz was a radio station operating
from an apartment building located in Brooklyn's Coney Island area. The
agent also observed an FM broadcast antenna on top of a water tank on the
roof of the apartment building. The agent subsequently took field strength
measurements and determined that the signals being broadcast exceeded the
limits for operation under Part 15 of the Commission's Rules and therefore
required a license.

After taking the measurements the agent went to the office of the building
management company. The office's director stated that he was aware of the
antenna and that a five-year lease had been executed between Luna Park and
Mark Nierman of Kakadu Productions allowing a radio station to operate in
the bulkhead room of the structure beginning on May 30, 2009. The lease
price was $6,000 a year.

Accompanied by the building superintendent, the agent then returned and
conducted an inspection of the FM broadcast antenna on top of the water
tank. The agent observed coaxial cable connecting the antenna to radio
station equipment located inside the bulkhead room. The agent also
observed that the radio station equipment was active and recorded
information about the apparatus. The building superintendent then shut
down all the equipment at the agent's request.

On October 16th the New York Office issued a Notice of Unlicensed
Operation to Kakadu Productions. The notice warned Kakadu that operation
of the unlicensed radio station on 99.9 MHz violated Section 301 of the Act
and outlined the potential penalties for such a violation, including
seizure of the equipment, fines and imprisonment. The notice also directed
Kakadu to terminate operation of the unlicensed station immediately and
provided Kakadu ten days to reply.

On October 26th Kakadu submitted a reply to the FCC stating that it had
ceased operating the unlicensed radio station. Also, that it would comply
with FCC directives in any future radio operations.

On January 8th, 2010, the New York Office issued a Notice of Apparent
Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $10,000 to Nierman and Kakadu for
apparently willfully and repeatedly operating an unlicensed radio
station. Nierman and Kakadu jointly submitted a response on February
9th. In it Nierman and Kakadu did not dispute the violations identified in
the NAL but request cancellation of the proposed forfeiture based on their
inability to pay. In support of their claim of financial hardship, Nierman
and Kakadu submitted three years of individual and corporate tax returns.

After reviewing the documentation the FCC concluded that a reduction of the
forfeiture to $4,500 is warranted. Nierman and Kakadu were given the
customary 30 days to pay the fine or to file a further appeal. (FCC)

**

MOBILE OPS: DISTRACTED DRIVING SHOULD BE TREATED BY PHYSICIANS

Distracted driving should be treated as a medical condition. So says Dr.
Amy Ship, a primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
who suggests it's time for physicians to talk to patients about driving
while distracted.

Dr. Ship says that distracted driving is a problem that has risen to the
rough equivalence of drunken driving thanks to the proliferation of phones
that allow drivers to talk and text. Writing in the June 10 issue of the
New England Journal of Medicine, Ship notes physicians routinely ask
patients about habits associated with potential harm like the use of
helmets, seatbelts, cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. And with data showing
28 percent of all accidents in the United States are caused by drivers
talking on cell phones or texting, it's time to step into this issue too.

While the absolute increase in the risk of collision attributable to
distracted drivers is hard to assess, Ship says one study showed talking
and driving posed a four time greater risk than undistracted driving. A
second study suggested texting raised the risk of collision by a factor of
23. You can read the entire article on Dr. Ship's work at
tinyurl.com/25bbt55. (Science Daily)

**

HAM RADIO ON THE WEB: FREE ECHOLINK FOR YOUR IPHONE

Echolink is now available for your iPhone free of charge from Apple's App
Store. EchoLink for iPhone is an edition of the EchoLink software that
runs on an iPhone or iPod touch. If you own one of these devices and are a
validated EchoLink user, you can access the EchoLink system from nearly
anywhere where WiFi networking is available. If you have an iPhone, you
can also use it to access EchoLink over the cellular data network. You can
get this application on line tinyurl.com/2bzppro. (VHF Reflector)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: NEW ICELAND ARS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE NAMED

The Icelandic national Amateur Radio society has a new Executive
Committee. Its members are TF2JB as president, TF3EE as vice president,
TF3UA is the secretary with TF3G as treasurer, The new IARU liaison is
TF3KB. The election to these positions took place at the 2010 General
Assembly of the society that took place on May 22nd in the city of
Reykjavik. (IARU)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM IN CHICAGO IN OCTOBER

AMSAT has announced that its 2010 Space Symposium and Annual Meeting will
be held on Friday, October 8 through Sunday, October 10. This years venue
is the Chicago area Elk Grove Holiday Inn which is near O'Hare Airport for
the event. This is the same hotel that recently has hosted the Central
States VHF Conference and W9DXCC events.

AMSAT has also put out a call for papers to be presented at the
Symposium. These can be on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite
community. A final copy must be submitted by September 1st for inclusion
in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent via e-mail
to k9jkm (at) amsat (dot) org. (ANS)

**
THE SOCIAL SCENE: N6R FROM THE REAGAN LIBRARY FOR FIELD DAY 2010
And a reminder that for the tenth consecutive year, the callsign N6R will
operate as a Field Day station from the grounds of the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. This, to
commemorate the lives of President Ronald and Mrs. Nancy Reagan.
Joining the Ventura County Amateur Radio Society which is the primary
organizer will be a number of other local groups. These include the Amgen
Amateur Radio Club. The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club the Simi Settlers
Amateur Radio Club, the Ventura County Amateur Radio Club and the Hollywood
Hills QRP Contest Club.
N6R will operate from 1800 UTC on June 25th to 1800 UTC on June 27th with
up to 16 stations on all of the High Frequency bands. Also listen out for
the N6R call on the VHF and UHF bands from 6 meters on-up using many modes
including fast-scan ATV and satellite operations.
If you are lucky enough to make contact with N6R this year, please QSL with
an Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to Ventura County Amateur Radio Society
in care of Peter Heins, N6ZE, 1559 Norwich Ave., Thousand Oaks, CA,
91360 ( N6ZE, W6AQ )
**

BREAK 2

This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the United States
of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the world from
our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the
volunteer services of the following radio amateur:

(5 sec pause here)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: KJ4GQV BALLOONS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL TRACKED BY APRS

A ham has successfully crossed the English Channel using helium filled
party balloons. Jonathan Trappe, KJ4GQV, recently strapped himself to 54
balloons and floated across the English Channel.

Tied to an assortment of red, green, yellow, blue and white balloons the
thirty-six year old Trappe is from of Raleigh, North Carolina made his trip
across the Channel on May 28th. KJ4GQV took off from a field at the Kent
Gliding Club, near Ashford in the UK. He landed , and landed at 7:42 UTC
in a farmer's vegetable patch a few miles from Dunkirk., France.

To make his flight KJ4GQV was strapped in a specially equipped chair below
a bright cluster of balloons. About five hours later, he lowered himself
into a French field by cutting some of the balloons away. His equipment
list didn't stop at balloons and a chair. It also included an aircraft
transponder, aircraft radios, emergency locator beacon, in-flight satellite
tracking, and am oxygen system. He also carried APRS gear that provided
real time tracking of his KJ4GQV callsign via his website.

Trappe says crossing wasn't a matter of just grabbing a few
balloons. Rather KJ4GQV says on his website that he made a trip in March
to gain clearance from French and British aviation authorities. He also to
gain permits for the trip from customs and immigration offices on both
sides.

Jonathan Trappe, KJ4GQV, is no stranger to balloon flights. Two months ago
he claimed the record for the longest free-floating balloon flight. This,
after spending 14 hours cruising over North Carolina and traveling 109
miles. On another flight, his website says he ascended to 17,930 feet, just
below controlled airspace. You can read more on-line at
www.clusterballoon.com/ (Various published reports)

**

RADIO RECORDS: FIRST TWO WAY CONTACT MADE ON 8.97 KHZ

What is believed to be the first Amateur Radio two-way contact on 8.97 kHz
using truly radiated fields took place on Friday, June 4, 2010 between
DJ2LF and DF6NM. The distance was over a is 20.2 km path.

Both DJ2LF and DF6NM were using small backyard Marconi antennas for
transmit and receive. DJ2LF antenna had an estimated effective height of
about 5 meters while DF6NM was at about 7 meters. Both had an effective
radiated power of about five microwatts using a 100 watt car radio
amplifier as a transmitter. A computer and sound car with no preamplifier
served each station as a receiver.

Both stations employed a special "micro-QSO" format,. This system is
designed to exchange the minimum single-bit report and confirmation in only
three turnovers, each containing a single dash. Station identification was
by frequency alone. (DF6NM)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: THREE HAMS IN NEXT ISS CREW

A new crew with two licensed U-S hams will soon be on board the
International Space Station. Set to go on-orbit are U.S. astronauts
Douglas Wheelock, KF5BOC and Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, They will be joined
by Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, on for a mission lasting about six
months.

Wheelock, Walker and Yurchikhin will arrive on Russian Soyuz booster
launched on June 15th. They will be onboard the orbiting space station
when the final shuttle flight of a United States Space Shuttle departs from
its last planned mission to the lab in November before the fleet is finally
retired. That flight will use the shuttle Endeavour.

The new three-person crew will join Russian commander Alexander Skvortskov,
NASA flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko,
who have been on the orbiting laboratory since April and are set to return
to Earth shortly. A Russian Progress cargo carrier is also due to arrive
at the orbiting lab later this month. (NASA, AMSAT, others)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT HAMVENTION VIDEOS POSTED ON-LINE

Five videos from the 2010 AMSAT Forum at the Dayton Hamvention can now be
viewed online. The complete presentations are now available on the AMSAT
website at http://www.amsat.org/. From the menu on the left side of the
home page, select "AMSAT Video News". (AMSAT - NA)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: PARIS GPS MADE PUBLIC

The Paper Aircraft Released Into Space or PARIS project has made public
more information and pictures of their space GPS unit. The output from the
G-P-S is formatted into Amateur Radio standard AX.25 APRS data packets and
transmitted using Audio Frequency Shift Keying. This means that it can be
decoded by an Amateur Radio receiver tuned to 433.950 MHz and connected to
a PC via the soundcard. More is on-line at tinyurl.com/2wh5dzd (Southgate)

**

ON THE AIR: HAM RADIO AND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE WEEK

On the air, the 2010 National Wildlife Refuge Week is set for October 10th
to the 16th and Amateur Radio will again be helping to mark this
event. Amateur Radio observation will take place between Saturday, October
9th and Sunday, October 17th. With stations are expected to operate from
several national wildlife refuges. Contacts made with 5 special refuge
stations listed as active sites will earn a special certificate. For more
information, contact the National Wildlife Refuge Week Amateur Radio
coordinator by e-mail to info (at) nwrweek-radio (dot) info. More details
are on line www.nwrweek-radio.info (Via e-mail)

**

DX

In DX, the long anticipated Spratley Island DXpedition slated for January
of 2011. This according to VK3FY has just returned from The Philippines
where he held high level discussions related to the upcoming DX0DX
operation. The series of meetings included one with the current Municipal
Mayor of Thitu Island where the DXpedition will be mounted. Another was
held with the Mayor-Designate who will take office in September. Other
discussions were held with military authorities plus officials of the
Philippines Amateur Radio Association which is strongly in support of the
DXpedition. VK3FY says that those face-to-face discussions enabled the
amateur radio and humanitarian aims of the DXpedition to be fully explained
and agreed. It also clarified the requirements of both local and federal
authorities. The operation will last three weeks and require upward of 30
operators.

Bill Moore, NC1L, ARRL Awards Branch Manager, reports that 2010, E4X
operation from Palestine operation will now be accepted for DXCC
credit. If you worked this operation, the QSL route is via EA5RM.

JA6CNL, will be active as KH0N from Saipan between June 18th through the
22nd. His operation
will include the All-Asian DX CW Contest on June 19th and 20th. Outside
the contest, he will spend some time on the 80, 30, 17 and 12m bands
operating only Morse. QSL via his home callsign.

VE3ZIK will be active from Bilice on the Croatian coast between July 1st
and September 27th as 9A stroke VE3ZIK. He will try to activate several
I-O-T-A Islands in the EU-170 group as well as take part in the
RSGB Islands on the Air or I-O-TA Contest. QSL via DO7ZZ.

Lastly, VE3EY will be active as portable FJ from St. Barthelemy Island from
November 22nd to the 30th. Operation will be on 160 through 10 meters
using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign.

Four members of Yamakto Amateur Radio Club will be active from Yap Island
in Micronesia between June 22nd and the 29th. The team will brings five
transmitters and one 500 watt amplifier with plans to operate 160 through 6
meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. They will be on the air 24 hours, operating
at least two bands and a 6 meter beacon, but with a maximum five bands
operating as time permits. This is their 19th DXpedition since
1993. Please QSL as directed on the air.

(Above from various DX news sources)


**

RADIO SCIENCE: THE WORLDS BIGGEST RADIO TELESCOPE

And finally this week, word that the world's biggest radio telescope has
been established in The Netherlands. Amateur Radio Newslines Bill
Pasternak, WA6ITF, takes a look at its very unusual design:

--

Scientists in the Netherlands revealed the largest radio telescope in the
world while claiming that it is capable of detecting faint signals from
almost as far back as the Big Bang that many believe created the universe.

Called the LOFAR the acronym stands for LOw Frequency Array, its owner is
the Netherlands Radioastronomy Institute which says that its construction
is unique. Iinstead of a traditional large dish the new radio telescope is
made up of 25,000 small antennas measuring between 50 centimeters and two
meters across.

The main unit is based near the northeastern Dutch town of Assen, but the
antennas are spread out across the rest of the Netherlands and also in
Germany, Sweden, France and Britain. When you combine all the antennas you
get a giant telescope with a diameter of about 1,000 kilometres or about
600 miles.

A unique design for the modern times we live in.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the newsroom
in Los Angeles.

--

The data gathered by the telescope will be processed by a supercomputer at
the University of Groningen and then transmitted to the Netherlands Radio
Astronomy Institute. (W0WOI via VHF Reflector)

**


NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ
Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the
RSGB, the Southgate News and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all from the
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is
. More information is available at Amateur Radio
Newsline's(tm) only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can
also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), 28197 Robin
Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Don
Carlson,
KQ6FM, in Reno, Nevada, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

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