Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2049 for Friday, February 3, 2017

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2049 with a release date of
Friday, February 3, 2017 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Radio amateurs help out during Inauguration
Week. On Maui, a Volunteer Examiner hits the milestone of 100 license
exams -- and World Radio Day is coming! All this and more as Amateur
Radio Newsline Report 2049 comes your way right now.
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BILLBOARD CART

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IN WASHINGTON, D.C., HAIL TO THE HAMS!

ANCHOR/PAUL: We begin this week's report with a look back at
Inauguration Week through the eyes of some amateurs who were there in
Washington, helping manage communication and crowds. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Neil Rapp WB9VPG, spoke to two of them.

NEIL: Jeff Dahn, KB3ZUK, of Rockville, Maryland, activated every
National Parks On the Air location in the Washington, DC area last
year. That, combined with his prior law enforcement experience, landed
him as a radio operator for the National Park Service during the
presidential inauguration, as well as the Women's March on Washington.
A net control site was needed on three days notice, and Dahn was able
to designate his club's W3HAC facility to serve as the net control
station site for Amateur Radio operators helping those arriving for the
Women's March. They connected the club's command post with the National
Park Service Incident Command Post via ham radio. Art Feller, W4ART,
was the primary net control at W3HAC. ART: In a population the size of
a good sized city, you expect normally problems to occur. And in fact,
they did. There were times that the crowd got so dense, that we got a
call from the National Park Service saying please spread them out, and
they took care of that. So mostly, well it's entirely, looking after
people, and helping the managers keep everyone healthy, safe, and well.
NEIL: Jeff Dahn noted that ham radio was an essential means of
communication for the march. JEFF: There were things that happened
that just simply would not have happened without the service of the
hams. And even the march organizers, and things- that was their only
way to communicate many times was because they had a ham radio operator
at their hip. At one point they said, you know, "We're gonna march!"
And then another time they said, "We're not gonna march. There's just
too many people." And then the mayor of D.C. showed up and said, "No!
We are gonna march! We didn't come here not to march." So there were
all these start again, stop again things. And, all of these things
happened- that I mean I could go on and on. I was there for 32 hours
between 3 days. But, particularly like I said, there was a lot of
involvement that the ham radio operators did. NEIL: The crowds grew,
which created a safety concern. JEFF: At one point, the crowd was so
large that we were notifying people just for officer safety and first
responder safety that if they going to go into those areas, there was a
strong likelihood that they may not be able to get out quickly. So we
passed that information over to the W3HAC command center and to the net
control so that their folks could pass that on to the volunteer march
marshals and volunteers. NEIL: Despite cellular telephone services
bringing in additional networks to attempt to handle the communications
of the crowd, the phone system became overloaded. Hams were there to
communicate when all else failed. JEFF: You know, we as hams- we
know what we do. But the general public, they just don't understand
how valuable it was. And when you double the size of a city in a day-
you know- typical resources that are there to deal with that, are just
not available. And that's where hams step in and fill the void. And
it's just amazing what they do. NEIL: For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm
Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.

**

SILENT KEY: NYC MARATHON'S ALLAN STEINFELD W2TN

ANCHOR/PAUL: Allan Steinfeld W2TN never ran the New York City Marathon
but he was always with its athletes every step of the way. The longtime
radio licensee, who was the marathon's former race director, became a
Silent Key on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

An avid athlete himself who had run in the Honolulu and Boston
Marathons, Steinfeld worked alongside New York City race founder Fred
Lebow starting as technical director of the marathon and later as its
president. The race had a significant amateur radio component since the
1970s, when the late Steve Mendelsohn W2ML, formerly WA2DHF, mobilized
a team for radio support. Allan, licensed since 1959, upgraded to
Amateur Extra in later years and chose W2TN as his call. A sprinter
more than a long-distance runner, he never took part in New York's own
famous race. But he served the race over the years as timekeeper,
president and then CEO, stepping down in 2005 for health reasons.
Runner's World magazine described him as an "innovative technical
genius." He had been responsible for the amateur radio communications
network that served the race's 26.2-mile route.

Allan Steinfeld was 70.

(NEW YORK TIMES, ARRL)

**
A WORLD RADIO DAY PREVIEW IN LONDON

ANCHOR/PAUL: World Radio Day is coming, and London's getting a sneak
preview. We hear more from Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: World Radio Day London will be held on Friday the 10th of
February, between 3 and 8 p.m. local time, just a few days before World
Radio Day. That global event, organized by UNESCO, is devoted to
exploring radio in all its incarnations. It's a day for education and
celebration among industry professionals, academics, radio enthusiasts
and people curious about the art and science of radio. The worldwide
event is in its sixth year.

The London event will be a free radio fair hosted by SOAS Radio, with
exhibits, workshops and speakers from the BBC, Refugee Radio Brighton
and the University of Sunderland. The event is being cohosted by the
Communication for Development Network and Centre of African Studies.

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

(WORLD RADIO DAY)

**

HONORS FOR HAM IN MAUI

ANCHOR/PAUL: One radio amateur on the island of Maui has just
distinguished himself as a Volunteer Examiner. He's been overseeing
exams since 1982. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's John Williams VK4JJW
with the details.

JOHN: You've heard of the Worked All States and Worked All Counties
awards but what's it like being honored with the "Administered 100
Exams" award? Ask Mel Fukunaga (Foo-Koo-NAH-Gah) KH6H, an amateur in
Maui who was recently honored for his work as a Volunteer Examiner with
just that prize. Mel has overseen the license testing process on Maui
since 1982 and on December 2 he showed up for his 100th VE session. He
administers the exams three times a year - in April, August and
December.

Mel was given a personalized "V-E-C-C" award engraved with his name by
the Maui Amateur Radio Club KH6RS. Celebrating the occasion, the blog
on the club's website noted [quote] "If you received your license on
Maui in the last 25 years or so, you most likely have tested with Mel."
[ENDQUOTE]

Of course, when he's not giving tests or training volunteers to assist
with emergency communications, Mel hosts the Maui Emergency Net on
Monday nights on the Hawaii State Civil Defense VHF Repeater Network.

Congratulations Mel, from all of us here at Amateur Radio Newsline. I'm
John Williams VK4JJW.

(DARREN HOLBROOK KH6OWL, MAUI AMATEUR RADIO CLUB)

**

BREAK HE

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the
W0CRA repeater system in Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs on
Sundays at 9 a.m. local time.


**

HAM RADIO GOES IVY LEAGUE

PAUL/ANCHOR: There are quite a few ham radio clubs around the world.
But few of them can claim to be as old as W-1-Y-U, the Amateur Radio
Club at Yale University, now in its 85th year.

I spoke with James Surprenant, AB1DQ, who works for the Yale School of
Medicine and is the club president:

SURPRENANT: I became involved with the Yale Radio Club last year in the
Spring of 2016. I started working at Yale the previous summer, and I
was curious to whether Yale had a radio club or not. So I searched
around on the website and found that they did in fact have one but it
was somewhat inactive, so I reached out to the officers at the time and
got together with Ed, W1YSM who is a faculty member I work with and
we've been working on reviving the club and making it a more
activeclub.

PAUL/ANCHOR: I asked Surprenant how the club has fared over the years:

SURPRENANT: Like a lot of college clubs, the Yale club has waxed and
waned in student involvement since the year when it was first founded
in 1931. Around 1990 it actually lost its status as a student club, it
was no longer falling under the Dean's Office, and in fact the Dean's
Office took away our last fixed station on campus.

PAUL/ANCHOR: One of the ideas to get the students involved was to hold
a introduction to ham radio workshop on campus, which they did last
Fall. They talked about the history and gave demos. I asked how itwent:

SURPRENANT: It was well-received - we had over twenty participants for
the fifteen slots that were available and we gained at least one new
member from that session. K-C-1-G-T-O, a new licensee, Han Zhang
actually who's a senior engineering student at Yale joined the club and
sat for his Element 2 and 3 test at our VE session and earned his
General.

PAUL/ANCHOR: In today's internet-connected world, getting young people
interested in radio can be challenging. I asked Surprenant how the club
is approaching recruitment:

SURPRENANT: Some of the things we've discovered that students are
interested in is the whole builder/maker aspect of ham radio. If you do
hands-on projects like kitbuilding, Arduino, micro-controllers -they're
interested in that. We've also discovered that young students are also
fascinated by fox hunting and strangely enough, they're actually
interested in passing traffic and how the NTS works! So those are areas
where we are targeting our programs and this month we're returning to
the CEID and we're going to be doing a build-a-thon with our student
members there and we're going to build a 20-meter QRP regenerative kit
with our students.


PAUL/ANCHOR: Hopefully, Yale's plan to work with other school clubs
will help to build a network of ideas that, in turn, will increase the
number of young people discovering the hobby.


**

NETS OF NOTE: THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER

PAUL: The Chinese calendar tells us that the Year of the Rooster has
just begun, but if you ask one enthusiastic bunch of hams, they'll tell
you the Year of the Rooster has been going on since 1957. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT talked with the Chief Rooster of the
Rooster Net for the latest story in our series, "Nets of Note."

CARYN: A flock of hams has been roosting on 80 meters for more than 60
years and yes, that's something to crow about. So says Chief Rooster
Mike Errigo, WB3EQW, also known as Rooster Number Four hundred eleven.

MIKE: "The Rooster Net started just with a bunch of guys getting
together on 75 meters back in the late 50s. One of the wives of one of
these guys in this group said 'You guys get up early and you talk so
early in the morning, you must be like a bunch of roosters.' And that's
where it got its name, and that's where it got its start."

CARYN: Check-ins and chat begin every day just as the sun comes up. To
avoid ruffling feathers, though, there's no talk of sex, politics or
religion.

MIKE: "We hope we're just a fun group. We don't do emergency
communications and we'll clear the frequency if the ARRL needs it or it
is needed for some emergency. We're just a ragchew group."

CARYN: Of course, there a few membership requirements. You need to be
alert by 6 a.m. Eastern time, complete 20 check-ins in a 90-day period
and, oh yes, there's that very formal Rooster initiation ceremony.

MIKE: "Stand up on the back of your chair, flap your wings, announce
your call and crow like a rooster, remembering that this is radio, this
isn't television. The Lone Ranger when he was on radio, much as we hate
to admit it, probably didn't have a horse in the studio when they made
their show. It's the same with us. It's just theater of the mind."

CARYN: On this net, the early bird gets the frequency. Well, sometimes.
For more information, visit theroosternet.com or find them at 3990 kHz
any morning. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT.

ANCHOR/PAUL: Meanwhile, if you know of a net with an interesting story
to tell, email us at newsline at arnewsline.org and we might just
feature it as one of our next Nets of Note.

**

AUSTRALIAN HAMS MARK HISTORIC WW2 BOMBING

PAUL: In Australia, the 75th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of
Darwin is being marked with a special event station. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Graham Kemp VK4BB has details:

GRAHAM: Japanese air raids on Darwin and northern Australia during
World War II marked the single largest assault on the nation by any
foreign power. It was an attack that practically destroyed the city.
Special event callsign VI8BOD will commemorate this important piece of
wartime history as the Darwin Amateur Radio Club begins operations on
Saturday, February 18th, out of an old Qantas Hangar in a Darwin
suburb.The station will be on the air until the 28th of March.

The special operation is a reminder of what happened on February
19th,1942 as Japanese aircraft staged two air raids, planned and led by
the same commander who had directed the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor.

Twenty-one of the 46 ships in Darwin Harbor were sunk in the first raid
and two more were sunk off Bathurst Island. In response to the Japanese
assault, hundreds of thousands of members of the U.S. military were
stationed in the Northern Territory.

The Darwin club, VK8DA, has been meeting since 1966 in the Top End.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA,
DARWIN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB)

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WORLD OF DX

In the world of DX, listen for Leo PP1CZ who is on the air from
Fernando da Noronha Island until the 8th of February. He is operating
on 80 through 10 meters using mainly CW but some SSB and RTTY as well.
His callsign is PY0F/PP1CZ. Send QSL cards via Club Log OQRS.

Until February 14th, you can work a group of Italian operators using
the callsign TL8TT from the Central African Republic. They are on all
bands 160 - 10 meters. Logs will be uploaded to Logbook of The World.

Harald DF2WO is signing as 9X2AW from Kigali, Rwanda this month until
March 11th. Send QSL cards to M0OXO.

**

KICKER: NOT-SO-POETIC LICENSE

ANCHOR/PAUL: We end this newscast with a story about how the FCC is
bringing Novice call signs back. Well.......yes and no. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Don Wilbanks AE5DW tells us what's really going on.

DON: When is a Novice call sign not a Novice call sign? The answer is
simple: When it's not! There are no more Novice licenses being granted
but don't think for a moment that this doesn't mean the old call signs
have gone away -- because they haven't. In fact, they're starting to
turn up again. Just ask Brandi Frame, KN4AFW, who was among those to
get one of them last month. According to callsign historian Pete
Varounis NL7XM, this freshly minted Technician doesn't exactly have a
freshly minted callsign: it was first assigned 62 years ago to a
15-year-old boy named Chase P. Hearn in Raleigh, North Carolina.

So what's going on here? The FCC hasn't gone retro or nostalgic, it's
just issuing callsigns sequentially, as it always has. District 4,
where Brandi lives, simply exhausted its supply of "KMs" and by the
time she and the others took their test, the FCC had moved on to the
sequence of "KN" callsigns. Sure, this has caused some oldtimers to do
a doubletake -- one of them was Brandi's husband Andrew Frame WD4RCC,
who remembers the old Novice Class -- but as Pete points out, "KN"
assignments are going to become increasingly commonplace as other
districts exhaust their "KM" licenses too.

By the way said Pete, the original Novice license-holder, Chase, is
still on the air - operating now from Virginia - and his callsign of
K4AFW is simply an upgrade of the 1954 callsign now assigned to Brandi.
Everything old is new again!

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks AE5DW.

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Alan Labs; the ARRL; CQ Magazine; Darwin
Amateur Radio Club; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; The New York Times;
National Archives of Australia; Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; QRZ.COM;
Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; World Radio
Day; WTWW Shortwave; the Yale Radio Club; 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 Paul Braun WD9GCO in Valparaiso,
Indiana saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2017. All rights reserved.