Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2039, November 25 2016

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2039 with a release date of
Friday, November 25 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. More mysterious radio signals plague amateurs
in India. One ham in New Zealand gives us details on the recent
earthquake. Pennsylvania hams invite QSOs for every county -- and
amateurs in the Philippines mark 84 years on the air. All this and more
as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2039 comes your way right now.

**

BILLBOARD CART

**

MORE SUSPICIOUS RADIO SIGNALS TROUBLE INDIA

NEIL/ANCHOR: We open this week's newscast with yet another report from
India about suspicious radio transmissions. These originate off the
nation's west coast by the Arabian Sea. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's
Jeremy Boot G4NJH with more details.

JEREMY'S REPORT: Even as radio operators in West Bengal attempt to
track mysterious nighttime radio signals, there comes a more recent
report that hams in Mumbai have been picking up signals on VHF just off
the coasts of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Ankur Puranik VU2AXN of Ham
Radio Operators Mumbai said he has written to the Ministry of
Telecommunications and IT as well as other officials - including law
enforcement - pressing for an investigation. Ankur said that his club's
direction-finding equipment placed the signals about 100 nautical miles
into the ocean off the coast. The transmissions have been heard for the
past few months, he said -- and most of the time at night. He described
the signals as being in an unintelligible language and devoid of the
required identifying call signs.

He was quoted in the Mumbai Mirror as saying: [quote] "We believe that
they are using open-band wireless sets which can tune in to or transmit
in any frequency in the VHF band between 136-174MHz. Some of these
frequencies may be falling in the bands used by the Indian government
and security agencies." [ENDQUOTE]

The Mumbai hams are not the only radio operators in India to be
concerned about unidentifiable transmissions. In October, hams in south
Bengal revealed they had begun monitoring unauthorized VHF
transmissions sent at night along the Bengal-Bangladesh border, with an
eye toward tracking possible terror cells.

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

(MUMBAI MIRROR)


**

IN NEW ZEALAND QUAKE, RADIO AMID THE RUBBLE

NEIL/ANCHOR: As the northeastern corner of New Zealand's South Island
tries to clear out from this month's major earthquake, one local
amateur has taken stock of his opportunity to help -- not just in that
moment, but in the future. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen ZL2BHF
tells us more.

JIM: On holiday in Waiau at the time a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck
New Zealand on Monday, the 14th of November, Daniel Ayers ZL1DFA found
himself a few miles from its epicenter. With roads impassable,
utilities not functioning and conventional communications useless, no
amateur radio assistance was called in. Being there already with his
handheld radio, Daniel was among the few who could get involved
immediately in that rural region, first by finding out what had
happened and then to step in and help.

DANIEL: "At that stage I only had a handheld radio with me. But
fortunately it had a reasonably good antenna so I was able to get into
an amateur repeater called 6975, a VHF repeater on 146.975 megahertz,
which was some distance away but I was able to get in there and talk to
people in Christchurch and the wider area around the northern part of
the south island and they told me straightaway that we'd just had a
direct hit."

JIM: Even after Civilian AM radio brought news reports in, the Civil
Defense district's VHF repeater network failed for several hours, so it
was tough getting word out until later. Limited road access eventually
allowed Daniel to retrieve his SUV which is equipped with mobile ham
equipment.

DANIEL: "I was able to scoot out into Christchurch and swap the car I
was driving for my SUV which was fitted out for emergency
communications on HF and VHF and had everything necessary to be ready
to go to talk to anybody. I took that vehicle back into Waiau and using
that I was able to participate more fully in providing some
communications."

JIM: Daniel also worked for hours using the Civil Defense system and
equipment before being asked to switch to his own amateur radios to
help the New Zealand fire service pass messages to their regional
office in Christchurch, 100 miles away.

DANIEL: "What I found that was very interesting is that the
quote/unquote amateur VHF networks were more reliable in this instance
- and this was not the only instance where we have seen this in this
part of the country. The amateur infrastructure was more reliable than
the radio communications infrastructure for Civil Defense."

JIM: The next challenge, Daniel said, is not just preparing for the
next quake that is surely to come, or the series of inevitable
aftershocks, but finding a way for radio amateurs to establish a system
of response on HF that will help this rural nation more reliably.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

**

A NEW SUMMIT-TO-SUMMIT SUCCESS

NEIL/ANCHOR: There have been new heights of success in the latest
Summit-to-Summit Event as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Ed
Durrant DD5LP, who was part of that activation.

ED'S REPORT: The Summits on the Air "Summit to Summit" event between
Europe and North America on Saturday the 19th of November was a great
success. Despite cold and rainy weather across several parts of Europe,
band conditions being average and interference from contestants in the
LZ-DX contest, all activators who were out reported a successful and
enjoyable day. Some stations racked up multiple S2S (Summit to Summit)
contacts across the three continents involved -- as well as Europe and
North America - there was one activator on holiday in the Canary
Islands, which counts geographically as Africa. The event was also an
opportunity for others to try out new rigs and other equipment,
especially antennas. Several activators had their first-ever
inter-continental summit to summit contact and were really happy about
that. Others went in small teams and enjoyed working together. Some had
tents to protect them from the weather. Others were really lucky with
the weather, while others got soaked. Three bands were used for
inter-continental contacts - 21, 18 and 14MHz. Most contacts were made
on 20 metres; however those with multiple band capability moved away
from the contest traffic on 20 metres to the more peaceful 17 and 15
metres. The consensus seems to be that from a propagation point of view
17 metres was the best; however inter-continental QSOs were made on all
three bands.

We even have some reports of chasers from VK catching some of the EU
activators via short path in the very early hours of the Australian
Sunday morning! Sixty-six summits had been announced, but 77 were
actually activated, an increase on the 51 summits alerted and 73
stations taking part in the VK-EU event a month earlier.

It'll be interesting to see what the numbers are for the North
America-VK event. This may only now take place in 2017 when the weather
in the Northern Hemisphere improves. The general feeling around the
SOTA community is that having these S2S events is both enjoyable and
useful and many are looking forward to more of them.

For Amateur Radio Newsline this is Ed Durrant DD5LP.

**

BREAK HE

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around such as the Mingus Mountain
Repeater Group, K7MRG, in Arizona, on Tuesday evenings.

**


WEATHER OR NOT, HERE COMES THE BALLOON

NEIL: On November 13th, STEM School and Academy senior Madisen Frie
(FREE), KE0KCM, led a team that launched a high-altitude balloon from
Deer Trail, Colorado. These balloon projects are all the rage across
the country as a hands-on way to introduce students to principles of
science and technology. But what made this launch different from their
previous ones is that the entire project was engineered by students.
This first launch in a continuing series accomplished its goal- to
launch, track, and safely return. Madisen explains how she organized
the students to complete the project. MADISEN: We had the tracking
group, the payload group, and then another group, which was my group,
which was just to make sure- to oversee everything. So for the
tracking group they came up with a few different methods to track it
such as the fox as well as the APRS unit. Those are the two that we
ended up using. They also came up with other things not used such as an
altitude-sensitive cold smoke bomb kind of thing where it would just
set off signals so we actually could see it come down, as well as a
noise emitter so we could hear it in case it got too dark to actually
see the smoke or the APRS unit cut out, which it had been for a little
bit before. As for the payload group, they took one of our old payloads
and modified it so that it could hold three GoPro cameras and be able
to take them up to 100,000 feet and come back down without them
freezing. NEIL: Madisen passed her amateur radio license exam this
summer, after participating in 4 prior launches. Madisen shared her
motivation to finally get her license. MADISEN: What initially got me
interested in getting my radio license is Skylar, who is KD0WHB. He
just told me all of these benefits that he could get from having his
radio license. And honestly, I kind of felt left out when we were
tracking all the weather balloons cause everyone had their radios and I
thought that was so cool that they could talk to each other like they
did. NEIL: Adult amateur radio mentors included Toby Foss, K0TFS, and
for the last time at STEM Academy veteran teacher Paul Veal, N0AH.

The balloon carried a little over 4 pounds of equipment, traveled to a
height of 90,437 feet, and endured temperatures as low as -50 to -100
degrees Fahrenheit. The students were able to track and find the
balloon after it fell over 17 miles back to Earth. Now they await
their next launch with some data gathering payloads and some other
projects. MADISEN: We do have some stuff planned. We are going to try
to bounce a radio signal off the moon as well as listen to Saturn. So
we're getting into more of the space portion. I personally still have a
lot to learn about radios, but I look forward to it for sure.

**

KEYING IN ON THE KEYSTONE STATE

NEIL: The Holmesburg Amateur Radio Club in Pennsylvania, known for its
popular "13 Colonies Event" around July 4, is posing another radio
challenge -- just because it wants to. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's
Heather Embee KB3TZD.

HEATHER: What has an estimated 46,000 square miles, a noted colonial
history and 67 counties full of radio operators looking to help hams
around the world earn a certificate of distinction? That would be
Pennsylvania, the Keystone State, the 33rd largest state in the U.S.

It's also home to the Holmesburg Amateur Radio Club, which is hosting
the "Pennsylvania 67 Challenge," inviting hams everywhere to have a
realtime QSO - amateur to amateur - in every county in any two-way
radio mode; including moonbounce, IRLP, EchoLink, amateur satellites,
and even D-Star FM repeaters.

If you can't work all the counties, don't be discouraged: Challenge
certificates are also available for hams who work 20, 40, or 60
counties. For information on how to qualify for certificates or how to
get your contacts verified, visit the club's website at
www-dot-H-A-R-C-dot-net or email the club at W-M-3-P-E-N at A-R-R-L
dotnet.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee KB3TZD in Berwick,
Pennsylvania - in Columbia County, one of those places in the 67
challenge!

(HOLMESBURG AMATEUR RADIO CLUB)

**

SCOUTS WRAP UP JAMBOREE ON THE AIR

NEIL: Some proud Scouts and supporters just finished their final report
for this year's Jamboree on the Air. They shared the good news with
Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Stearns NE4RD -- who shares it with us.

BILL'S REPORT: This week in Radio Scouting we wrap up the final report
for Jamboree on the Air with comments from participating stations.

Paul Griffith, KE5WMA, stated "Setting up at a Scout event gave us
better results than previous years."

Benjamin Kuo, KK6FUT, told us: "We've found that by stretching our
reach to three events each year - one around JOTA in October, another
in June during Field Day, and one during the annual Camporee, usually
in April, the overall result has been a lot more exposure of amateur
radio to the scouting community at large."

The Yadkin Valley Amateur Radio Club, KE4YVF, reported "We need slick
pre-event handouts to stimulate interest at district, council, and unit
meetings!"

These comments and more can be found in our 2016 JOTA Report. In
response to Benjamin, on our website in the JOTA resources there is a
Scouting Event Publicity Guide published by Bill Ragsdale, K6KN. This
free and informative guide will help you get the message out about your
next radio scouting event. For the YVARC, there are brochures, as well,
highlighting radio scouting for any event you wish to plan.

For this and more information on K2BSA and Radio Scouting, please
visit www.k2bsa.net.

For Amateur Radio Newsline and the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association,
this is Bill Stearns, NE4RD


**
THREE NEW EMERGENCY ALERT EVENT CODES

NEIL/ANCHOR: Changes are coming to the nation's Emergency Alert System
and they'll be in place for next year's hurricane season. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Bobby Best WX4ALA tells us more.

BOBBY'S REPORT: The Emergency Alert System, the national public warning
system used during dangerous weather and in other crisis situations,
has gotten FCC approval to add three new "event codes" for the 2017
hurricane season. The codes are EWW, for Extreme Wind Warning, issued
for advance notice of winds 115 miles an hour or greater during major
hurricanes; Storm Surge Watch, or SSA, for use when the East Coast and
Gulf Coasts experience riding water moving inland. This could be used
in tropical, subtropical or post-tropical cyclones.

The third is SSW, or Storm Surge Warning when the tropical inundation
is going to happen within 36 hours, and possibly isolate an area. The
weather conditions could include storm-force winds that limit time to
safely evacuate an area.

The new codes will affect the Emergency Alert System as well as NOAA
Weather Radio.

The FCC is requiring that EAS equipment makers provide software
upgrades to participants in the Emergency Alert System by March
12,2017.

For more details about the changes in the codes, visit nhc.noaa.gov

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bobby Best WX4ALA


(ARRL, NOAA)

**
PHILIPPINE AMATEURS MARK 84 YEARS

NEIL/ANCHOR: It's not your typical 84th birthday party but it's bound
to be festive in any case: The Philippine Amateur Radio Association is
marking eight decades and more. We hear the details from Amateur Radio
Newsline's Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

JASON's REPORT: The Philippine Amateur Radio Association is marking its
84th anniversary on the 27th of November at the Marikina Hotel and
Convention Center in Marikina City. The full day of activities will
include VE testing, fox hunting, a CW challenge for experts as well as
students, and a contest for the best Go-Kit. PARA's forerunner
organization, the Amateur Radio Club of the Philippines, was organized
in 1922 and was merged, two years later, into the Philippine Radio
Society. On November 27th of 1932, the Philippine Amateur Radio
Association (PARA) was organized and admitted into the International
Amateur Radio Union. Its founding president was Leon V. Grove, KA1LG,
who was then the Principal of the Philippine School of Arts and Trade.
The 84th anniversary program will also set aside time to honor members
of HERO who assisted during October Typhoons Karen and Lawin. Lawin was
considered the strongest cyclone to hit the Philippines in three years.

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

(PARA)

**

THE WORLD OF DX


In the world of DX, listen for Alan K0AV operating as ZD8V from
Ascension Island until December 1st. Alan is operating most of the time
on CW. Send QSL cards via his home call. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW.

Find Mike AJ9C operating as HR2/AJ9C from Honduras until November 30.
Be listening on all HF bands from 160m to 10m. He is operating on CW,
SSB and RTTY. Send QSL cards to his home call.

Christian IS0BWM can be heard from the club station 9H0HQ/3 in Kenge in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He plans to stay in the Congo
until Christmas Day, December 25th. Send QSL cards directly to his
address in Sardinia.


(IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY)

**

KICKER: NO PLACE LIKE HARA FOR THE HOLIDAYS

NEIL: Our last story, in keeping with the Thanksgiving holiday, is
about gratitude. For more than 50 years, amateur radio operators were
grateful for the spring ritual of Dayton Hamvention, which was held in
Hara Arena in Trotwood, Ohio. Now the arena has been shut down and the
massive global gathering of amateurs has found a new home at the Greene
County Fairgrounds starting in 2017. Pieces of arena history
-especially keepsakes of Hamvention history - are being auctioned off
online.

The online auctioneer, Everything But The House, began accepting bids
on Thanksgiving Day, the 24th of November and the auction concludes
Wednesday the 30th of November. No doubt there will be many among the
tens of thousands of radio amateurs - two generations of visitors
-wanting something by which to remember Hamvention's longtime home.

For many hams, though this will simply be a harvest of memories, some
of them precious indeed. Although bidding on all items starts at $1,
nostalgia is actually beyond any price. It's easy enough just to own
Hara memories themselves: They're bought easily with gratitude for the
good years and the friendships that flourished under that roof -- and
all of that knows no season.


(DAYTON DAILY NEWS, ARRL)


**

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; the ARRL; Boston Globe;
Boston Business Journal; CQ Magazine; Dayton Daily News; Hap Holly and
the Rain Report; Irish Radio Transmitter Society; K2BSA; the Mumbai
Mirror; NOAA; Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; PARA; 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 Neil Rapp, WB9VPG in Bloomington
Indiana saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.