Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2036, November 4 2016

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2036 with a release date of
Friday, November 4 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. We bring you an update on the brave hams in
India who are monitoring suspicious signals on the border. We pay
tribute to three Silent Keys -- and if you're a fan of AM operation,
you'll be glad for some news we have from Australia. All this and more
as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2036 comes your way right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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UPDATE: AMATEURS TRACK POTENTIAL TERROR

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: We begin with an update about some courageous amateurs
who have apparently made some progress tracking a potential terror
threat in India. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: India's Intelligence Bureau is now responding to reports from
amateur radio operators who believe they have pinpointed the region
from which suspicious radio transmissions have been intercepted. The
hams spent several days conducting around-the-clock monitoring of the
signals, which were sent at night along the border with Bangladesh.

Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, secretary of the West Bengal Amateur Radio
Club, has been listening on VHF with club members after authorities had
expressed concerns that the transmissions might be linked to extremists
or terror activity.

A report in the Indian Express notes that the coded transmissions,
heard at night, appear to have been pinpointed as coming from the West
Bengal region of Basirhat. Basirhat has been widely viewed as a nexus
for terrorism.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

**
ATTACK PLAN SUSPECTED ON HAARP FACILITY

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Two men in Georgia have been charged with plotting an
attack on the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project in Alaska,
a facility of great interest to the amateur community. Authorities
released news of the arrests as Newsline went to production. An arsenal
of weapons was also recovered that police believe were to be used in
the planned attack. The plot was discovered during an investigation of
reports that one of the suspects was engaged in selling drugs. Marmian
Grimes, a representative of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, told
the Alaska Dispatch that the research facility has faced threats before
and was grateful Georgia authorities were alert. The authorities said
the pair had told them they were acting on directions from God.

(ARRL)

**
IN MEMORY OF THREE SILENT KEYS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The amateur community has suffered three more losses.
They are National Medal of Science winner, an expert in acoustics and
ARRL president emeritus, Jim Haynie, W5JBP.

Jim had been in failing health when he died on November 1. He was the
ARRL's 13th president and began his term in January of 2000. He served
in that post for six years. His tenure was marked by strong advocacy
for ham radio education and his promotion of radio science in the
classroom led to the ARRL's Education & Technology Program. He was
outspoken on Capitol Hill on such issues as spectrum protection and
deed restrictions. Haynie, who was named Amateur of the Year at the
2007 Dayton Hamvention, was a force in mustering hams to assist after
the 9/11 attacks and testified before Congress about radio response
during Hurricane Katrina.

Jim Haynie was 73.

We hear now from Amateur Radio Newsline's Paul Braun, WD9GCO about
contester and DXer Paul Obert K8PO.

PAUL: Contesting is an activity that some hams just approach casually,
and others very seriously. And for some, like Paul Obert, K8PO, it was
an obsession. His antenna farm resembles an antenna research facility.
Sadly, Obert became a Silent Key on October 21st.

I spoke with two hams who had known Paul and asked for their memories
of the man. Larry Emery, K1UO, remembers the first time he heard him on
the air:

LARRY: When I first heard Paul on the air, he was what I would call my
"new competition" that I didn't know about when he came to Maine. I
kept wondering who he was, who this K8PO guy was who kept beating me
out on the low bands because we enjoy 160 meters DXing and so forth.

And so, one day my wife and I took a drive up to Paul's and his wife
Jackie's place up in Union and I saw all of these towers and stacks
from 40 to 10 meters and a full-sized 160 meter vertical and I said,
"Ah-Ha!" and that sort of answered that question!

And that was the first day I met him and we kinda hit it off and of
course Paul would do anything for you. The last few years we'd meet
sort of halfway in a little hole-in-the-wall diner and run over the
past contest activities or just anything in general we were trying. One
of the last things we were talking about was remoting because I was in
an HOA.

PAUL: Scott Redd, K0DQ, fondly remembers his friend as a man of many
talents:

SCOTT: Paul was, in my view, what I would call a triathlete in ham
radio. He was an accomplished DXer on all bands, especially the low
bands; he was a contester, which was my particular interest, and he did
some great things there; and he was an incredible engineer.

He was a station designer - he had a good station, but it was
engineered perfectly. He was of German descent, and it showed. Paul did
all of those things in terms of his ham radio skills, and he was also a
wonderful human being.

PAUL: If you'd like to see a few photos of Paul's towers, go to his QRZ
page. There you will also see some of his awards, including the W1AW
Worked All States for the ARRL Centennial. Some of his other
achievements included 359 confirmed countries, including 20 that are no
longer on the list. He was one zone away from achieving
Nine-Band-Worked-All-Zones.

Paul Obert will be missed by many around the world. But where he is
now, the reception is static-free and the bands have no limits.

All of us at Amateur Radio Newsline offer our condolences to his family
and friends.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Neil Rapp WB9VPG tells us more about Internet pioneer
and acoustics expert Leo Beranek.

NEIL: National Medal of Science winner Leo Beranek, a former amateur
radio operator and the creator of ARPANET, the precursor to today's
Internet - has become a Silent Key at the age of 102. A renowned
acoustical scientist, he ran the electro-acoustics laboratory at
Harvard University in the 1940s and the Navy Systems Research
Laboratory at Beavertail Point, Rhode Island, for which he was given
the Presidential Certificate of Merit from President Harry Truman for
his work during World War II.

The Iowa native, who ultimately got a PhD from Harvard University, had
worked with the young startup Collins Radio Company years earlier when
he'd had to drop out of college. Many years later, in 1972, he helped
found WCVB, the TV station in Boston. Leo had become a licensed radio
amateur during his college years, although records now of his call sign
are not available. He was given the National Medal of Science for
Engineering in 2003 by President George W. Bush.

The Leo Beranek Student Medal for Excellence in the Study of Noise
Control was created in 2010 by the Institute of Noise Control
Engineering of the United States, to honor him.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp WB9VPG.


(ARRL, BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, BOSTON GLOBE, INSTITUTE OF NOISE
CONTROL ENGINEERING)

**
BREAK HE

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the
K7MRG repeater in Prescott, Arizona on Tuesday evenings.

**
CELEBRATING AMPLITUDE MODULATION IN AUSTRALIA

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Amplitude modulation is alive and well, especially in
Australia. We hear more from Amateur Radio Newsline's John Williams
VK4JJW.

JOHN: Single Sideband changed the shape of how we talk on the radio,
putting amplitude modulation, or AM, on the sidelines because of its
more sizable bandwidth. In Australia, however, there is a renewed focus
on AM as a result of a newly released band plan. The guidlines apply to
Australian amateur bands below 30 MHz. On 10 meters, AM is now
recommended for 29.0 to 29.1 MHz. On 40 meters, crystal-controlled AM
can be found around 7.125 MHz. The upper portion of 160 meters is also
recommended for AM transmissions.

The band plans were updated recently by John Martin VK3KM, the
technical advisory committee co-ordinator for the Wireless Institute of
Australia.

By the way, if you're going the AM route, be sure to listen for WIA
president Phil Wait VK2ASD, whose homebrew AM transmitter can be
considered something of a frequent flyer on that designated spot on 40
meters. Not only is 7.125 used for crystal-controlled rigs but also
VFO-rig AM operation.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm John Williams, VK4JJW.

(WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA)

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HISTORY, BRAVERY AND AUSTRALIANS ON THE AIR

STEPHEN: The spirit of a famous naval battle from the first World War
lives on in a special event station in Australia. Here's Amateur Radio
Newsline's Jason Daniels, VK2LAW.

JASON: The team members of VICTOR INDIA 4 SYDNEY EMDEN ACTION have
their work cut out for them. They are commemorating November 9, 1914, a
remarkable day for the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Sydney took on the
German adversaries aboard the SMS Emden off the Cocos Keeling Islands.
It was the first WW1 action seen by Australia's Navy. One hundred and
two years later, this special event station, which began its operation
on the first of November, will conclude its international contacts on
November 9, but not before the operators sweep the bands between 630
meters to 6 meters. It's no small detail that most of the operators are
former navy or military personnel.

The station's QRZ page notes that the special event station does not
attempt to glorify war but to commemorate everyone's bravery on both
sides of the conflict.

With that in mind, the Australian radio operators ask hams to remember
all the brave sailors involved - not only those from Australia but also
those from Britain and Germany.

Indeed, the QSL card features side-by-side portraits of Australia's
Capt. John Glossop and Germany's Capt. Karl von Muller, calling them
both "The Last Gentlemen of War," no doubt a nod to the 1984 history
book, "Gentlemen of War."

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW

(SOUTHGATE, QRZ, WIA)

**

YOUNG HAMS WHO MAKE THE GRADE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: It's smart to be a ham.....but it can pay off
especially well to be a smart young ham. We hear why from Amateur Radio
Newsline's Geri Goodrich KF5KRN.

GERI'S REPORT: The ARRL Foundation is looking for a few bright
students. Actually, the foundation is searching for a couple of dozen
-- all of them hopeful recipients of more than 80 scholarships
available from the foundation in amounts ranging from $500 to $5,000.
The scholarship application window opened on October 1 and students who
are active radio amateurs have until January 31 to submit their online
application along with a PDF of their transcript from their most
recently completed academic year.

The scholarships support the students' post-secondary school education
in the academic year 2017 to 2018.

Last year, 81 students were awarded funds for a total of $120,150 in
scholarships which are funded entirely through contributions to the
foundation by clubs, friends and amateurs themselves.

Read more about the scholarships, or find an application, by visiting
arrl.org/scholarship-descriptions

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Geri Goodrich, KF5KRN

(ARRL)

**
KC0W IS ON THE MOOOOOOOVE AGAIN

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: There's good news for hams who are chasing Tom Callas,
KC0W, the noted "Cows Over the world" DXer whose DXpeditions came to a
halt after he was the victim of a theft. Tom has announced on his
QRZ.com profile that he expects to start operating in early November
through the 25th of the month from the Philippines using the call sign
4I7COW. So welcome back Tom - and to everyone else, go get him!

**

WORLD OF DX

Elsewhere in the world of DX, John AD8J is working as AD8J/HR9 until
November 12 from the island of Guanaja, Honduras, IOTA reference
NA-057. Send QSL cards via his home call sign.

Roly ZL1BQD is working until November 25th as E51RR from Rarotonga in
the South Cook Islands. Listen for him 40, 20 and 15m. Send QSL cards
to his home call.

Be listening for the callsign XU7MDC until November 14th. That would
be a team of radio operators from the Mediterraneo DX Club on the air
from Cambodia. You can listen for them on all HF bands. The team's QSL
manager is IK2VUC.


(IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY)

**

KICKER: A COMIC STRIP TRIBUTE TO CODE

We close this week's newscast with this story of a classic comic strip
with a surprise element: Morse Code. Now, Samuel Morse isn't exactly
the kind of character you'd find in the pages of any comic strip, much
less the classic strip, "The Phantom." The Phantom, an avenger with a
sense of justice, was created in the 1930s, long after Samuel Morse
devised his system of dots and dashes in the 19th Century. In the
strip's earliest days, The Phantom was already using amateur radio to
send important messages. It seems that in the intervening years, he
hasn't forgotten ham radio's reliability -- nor has he forgotten his
CW. Now he is an older, wiser Phantom - and the father of two,
including a son attending college at a remote Himalayan location. He is
seen in the comic's current story thread keeping tabs on his son by
communicating with one of his teachers via code. His wife, of course,
asks her crime-fighting husband "isn't that obsolete?" The Phantom
replies: "Not at all."

Right you are, Phantom. That's what makes you OUR hero too!

(SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS)

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NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; the ARRL; Boston Globe;
Boston Business Journal; CQ Magazine; Hap Holly and the Rain Report;
Institute of Noise Control Engineering; Irish Radio Transmitter
Society; Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; 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 .
More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official
website located 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 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.