Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2269 for Friday April 23, 2021

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2269 with a release date of Friday
April 23, 2021 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. History is made with a first flight on Mars.
Youth ham radio camp is postponed again in Region 1 -- and supersleuth
ham helps rescue a stranded hiker. All this and more as Amateur Radio
Newsline Report Number 2269 comes your way right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

**
DRONE MAKES 1ST POWERED FLIGHT ON MARS

JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week with the greatest moment not on
Earth....but on Mars. The American aviation pioneers, Wilbur and
Orville Wright, would be proud that the spirit of their 1903
achievement lives on 173 million miles away â-" on Mars. Paul Braun
WD9GCO brings us that story.

PAUL: It only lasted a minute but it was the moment of many lifetimes.
Ingenuity the drone aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover, took to the
air on Monday April 19th, marking the first powered controlled flight
of an aircraft on another planet. With Mars' freezing temperatures,
plus an atmospheric density that is 1 percent of Earth's and a gravity
one-third of Earth's, the challenge of achieving liftoff was different
from what the Wright brothers faced in 1903 with their pioneering
flight here on Earth. In fact, a tiny portion of the original Wright
flyer was on board.

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California were
hailing the pioneering flight as a "Wright Brothers Moment" on Mars.
The little drone achieved a height of about 3 metres during the
40-second flight. Data was sent back to Earth via the Mars rover. There
will be other flights, expected to be farther and at greater heights.
NASA announced that this newest of all airfields on the red planet
would be named Wright Brothers Field. Following the flight, the
International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the UN, gave
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration an official designator of
IGY, call-sign INGENUITY.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Paul Braun WD9GCO.

(NASA, BBC)

**
REGION 1 YOUTH AMATEUR RADIO CAMP POSTPONED

JIM/ANCHOR: Young amateurs in IARU Region 1 are going to have to wait
another year to attend ham radio camp. Ed Durrant DD5LP brings us up
todate.

ED: Concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic have postponed the YOTA summer
camp planned for this summer by the Youth Working Group of IARU Region
1. In making the announcement, Philipp DK6SP and Markus DL8GM, the
group's chair and vice chair respectively, said that the organisers'
intention is to reschedule the camp for the summer of 2022. This is the
second pandemic-related postponement for the camp, which was being held
with support from the Croatian Amateur Radio Society. In place of
in-person events, Youngsters on the Air in Region 1 has been hosting a
number of online workshops. Meanwhile, in IARU Region 2, planners have
said they are still optimistic that they will be able hold the first
Youth on the Air camp for young amateurs in North, Central and South
America this summer, and will be providing a
COVID-regulations-compliant environment.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP.


JIM/ANCHOR: As Newsline went to production we also learned that the
IARU Region 1 YOTA Subregional Camp in Hungary was also being
postponed. The Hungarian Amateur Radio Society made the decision based
on Region 1's COVID-19 event cancellation policy.

(SOUTHGATE, YOTA REGION 1)

**
EXPERIMENTAL SENSOR SHOWS NOISE-REDUCTION POTENTIAL

JIM/ANCHOR: If you're constantly battling noise in the environment in
your attempts to get on the air, this next story from Kent Peterson
KC0DGY might just show some promise.

KENT: Researchers in the US who have been working with atom-based
sensors and receivers say their work holds potential for weeding out
environmental noise and other radio interference. Scientists at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology see the sensor as a
vital component because of its ability to measure what they call the
"angle of arrival" of a wireless signal, a capability that they believe
will have a positive impact on transmissions for radar, 5G and other
modes. According to an article in phys.org, the system is able to take
incoming signals and convert them to different frequencies. After
measuring the separate electromagnetic waves' frequencies and their
phase-that is, the position of the waves relative to each other-the
system can determine where the signal is coming from. The scientists
say that's necessary in order to differentiate real communications from
interfering signals. According to the phys.org article, atom-based
radio receivers and antennas have other added benefits: They can be a
great deal smaller than their traditional counterparts and, by making
use of atoms to do the main work, have no need for more conventional
forms of electronics to do signal conversion.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(PHYS.ORG)

**
CALIFORNIA AMATEUR HAILED AS 'GPS SLEUTH'

JIM/ANCHOR: A California amateur has used his skills to help in the
rescue of a missing hiker as we hear from Mike Askins KE5CXP.

MIKE: The Los Angeles Times is calling Ben Kuo AI6YR (Ay EYE Six Y R) a
"tech-savvy good Samaritan" and a "GPS sleuth." Ben, whose ham radio
activities have proven especially critical during California's
wildfires, recently used his skills to assist in another emergency: Los
Angeles County officials were frantically searching for a hiker who'd
gone missing on a peak in California's Angeles National Forest on
Monday, April 12th. Ben's only clue was a photo the sheriff's office
had posted on its social media accounts: the hiker's photo of his legs
atop a rocky cliff. Ben, who knows the area as a hiker and SOTA
activator, realized he might be able to match the terrain in the
hiker's photo by using publicly available satellite imagery. According
to the Times story, when he thought he found a close enough match, Ben
sent authorities the GPS coordinates. The location was close enough:
Using the coordinates, a rescue team picked up the hiker the next day
just as temperatures were set to plummet to below-freezing levels. The
hiker was in a remote, almost inaccessible area about three-quarters of
a mile away from the spot Ben had pinpointed.

Ben told Newsline he's grateful he could call upon his experience as a
hiker and SOTA activator, both of which keep his map and navigation
skills sharp. In fact, he said, the hiker was found not far from SOTA
summit W6/CT-064, East Twin Peaks. According to news reports, the hiker
was airlifted to safety by a search-and-rescue team and did not require
hospitalization.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mike Askins KE5CXP.

(BEN KUO AI6YR, ABC CHANNEL 7, LOS ANGELES TIMES, VENTURA COUNTY STAR)

**
OREGON UTILITY FUNDS PURCHASE OF SOLAR-POWERED RADIOS

JIM/ANCHOR: Solar-powered emergency radios are being made available to
some hams in coastal Oregon thanks to the local utility. Christian
Cudnik K0STH brings us those details.

CHRISTIAN: The sun is shining in more ways than one for the members of
the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem (nuh-HAY-lum) Bay in Oregon.
The local electric utility has given them a $5,000 grant to help them
buy ham radio base stations that run on solar power. A "go-box" has
already been designed to serve as a solar-powered station with a
25-watt radio, antenna, battery, solar panel and other equipment,
enabling emails to be transmitted over the air. The volunteer corps
plans to set the stations up around the northern part of Tillamook
(tilla-MOOK) County as part of their long-range plan to help bolster
the coastal region's resilience following any major calamity. This is
included in an overall communications plan that incorporates General
Mobile Radio Service as well as amateur radio. According to an article
in the Tillamook County Pioneer website, the region has more than 100
amateur radio operators and 400 more residents using GMRS.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Christian Cudnik K0STH.

(THE TILLAMOOK COUNTY PIONEER)

**
NEW DISCOVERY FOUND IN FAST-RADIO BURSTS

JIM/ANCHOR: Is changing frequencies a good thing? Well hams do it all
the time and now a mysterious transmission in space known as an FRB, or
fast-radio burst, has been found to be engaging in that practice too.
Jeremy Boot G4NJH has more on that story.

JEREMY: Researchers have made a discovery that they say changes the
shape of their search for the source of FRBs, fast-radio bursts
detected in space that appear to come from - well, no one quite knows.
Scientists in McGill University's physics department have detected
bursts down to 110 MHz, a good deal lower in frequency than the
previously detected 300 MHz. Writing in the Astrophysical Journal
Letters, the researchers write that this new discovery has led them to
think differently about where the bursts are coming from. Using
radiotelescopes in British Columbia and the Netherlands, the team
detected the significantly lower frequencies and a consistent delay of
about three days between detection of the higher and the lower
frequencies. They're still hot on the trail of the source of the bursts
but say that the ability to detect 110 MHz transmissions brings them
much closer to understanding things, especially one burst that was
first detected in 2018 and is relatively close to Earth.

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

(PHYS.ORG)


**
BREAK HE Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the N2JDW repeater in New York City on Monday at 8 p.m. local time.

**

SEEKING NOMINATIONS FOR YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR

JIM/ANCHOR: You have until May 31st to nominate a talented young radio
amateur for theBill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline
Young Ham of the Year award. Think of a young amateur whose commitment
to community and whose enthusiasm for radio has inspired you and others
and submit their name. Nominees must 18 or younger living in the United
States, its possessions or any Canadian province. Downloadable
nomination forms are due no later than May 31st and can be found on our
website arnewsline.org

**
DISCOVERING SIMPLEX IN 'LIGHT UP 2 METERS' EVENT

JIM/ANCHOR: One of the best ways to get hams on the same band, in the
same mode at the same time is to organize an event. Sunday April 25th
is the date for 'Light Up 2 Meters Night,' a very local event for
participating hams who are encouraged to get on the air using 2 meters
simplex from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time. The event is the creation of
Joseph Durnal NE3R who stresses that this isn't a contest; just an
operating activity to bring hams together and explore the possibilities
of operating simplex. The primary operating frequency will be 146.52
MHz, but other simplex frequencies may also be available in different
locations.

(JOSEPH DURNAL NE3R)

**
STRAIGHT KEY CENTURY CLUB PREPS FOR SPRINTATHON

JIM/ANCHOR: Fifteen years of sending CW with a straight key is no small
achievement. Randy Sly W4XJ is here to tell us how one group has been
making every contact a celebration for all those years.

RANDY: The Straight Key Century Club is celebrating its 15th
anniversary. It all began with a simple post in the QRZ.com forum about
the ARRL Straight Key Night after it ended in 2006. Tom Peterson,
KC9ECI, wanted to see the event extended. He wrote:"Do it the 1st of
each month. Start your own SKCC club. One hundred Qs with a straight
key in a year gets a certificate. Ah, the heck with it ...I'm
officially starting the SKCC club..." Since that day, the club has
grown to over 24,000 members who are taking to the airwaves with
straight keys, sideswipers and semi-automatic keys.

Tom told Newsline that he never thought the club would get this big. In
fact, he's amazed. He said: "The success of the SKCC has less to do
with me and everything to do with a great bunch of operators who were
willing to step up. I just provided the â-˜spark' of an idea."

Members can work toward awards and participate in many activities,
including a monthly Sprintathon. The May Sprintathon, which starts at
1200Z on May 8, offers bonus points for a contact made with any member
who joined during the first year, those with a number lower than 2545.

For more information and to register for a free membership, visit
skccgroup.com.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Randy Sly, W4XJ, SKCC number 616S

**
SWISS AMATEUR SOCIETY SEEKING MENTORS

JIM/ANCHOR: Recognizing that amateur radio isn't an activity we engage
in alone, the national amateur radio society in Switzerland is asking
members to take things one step further: They want seasoned hams to
consider mentoring newcomers. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has that story.

JEREMY: The USKA, the Swiss national amateur radio society, has put out
a call to its members asking them to consider offering encouragement,
support and expertise to new and prospective amateurs. The national
society is in the process of putting together a mentoring system and
hopes hams will offer their time and commitment to meet with newcomers,
either virtually or in person. Their responsibilities will include
helping to answer questions on either the Ofcom HB3 Novice licence or
the HB9 (CEPT Class 1) certificate. Other mentors are being asked to
serve as instructors, provide advice for participation in contests and
other events as well as demonstrating certain basic skills. Willi
HB9AMC, who coordinates youth training for the society, said [quote]
"The activity is fully worthy of the ethos of amateur radio.' "
[endquote]

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(SOUTHGATE)
**
AMATEUR RADIO CENSUS PROBES RELEVANT ISSUES

JIM/ANCHOR: Was there ever a ham radio operator who didn't want to be
heard? Well, one amateur in Maryland is giving hams around the world an
opportunity for just that, even without benefit of a rig, an antenna or
a linear amp. Jim K3MRI has launched a new effort called Ham Census,
which he said is inspired by the newest licensees who have entered the
worldwide community. The Census presents questions about the future of
amateur radio, personal views on regulations, operating preferences,
gear and organizations. The six-part census takes about 40 to 45
minutes to complete and it is available online at hamcensus.org. There
is no cutoff date for responses. Jim said results are available to all
respondents in the hopes that a better-informed amateur community can
more effectively influence laws, practices and the future of amateur
radio in general.

(HAM COMMUNITY.ORG)

**
PRESENTATIONS NEEDED FOR SOUTH AFRICAN SYMPOSIUM

JIM/ANCHOR: Organizers of a virtual space symposium taking place this
summer are looking for presentations on amateur satellites, space
weather and related topics. Jason Daniels VK2LAW tells how you can
share your knowledge.

JASON: If you have expertise on space weather, amateur satellites or
weak signal communication, AMSAT SA and the South African Radio League
are interested in hearing from you. They're looking for papers on these
subjects and related topics for presentation at this year's space
symposium being presented virtually on Saturday the 10th of July.
Interested presenters are being asked to submit their proposals no
later than the 15th of May, preferably in Word document format. The
papers can be emailed to admin at amsatsa dot org dot za.
) Authors of the presentations being chosen will
be notified on the 20th of May and the final versions of the papers are
due by the 30th of June.

The symposium's theme is "Unlocking Amateur Space Technology."

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(AMSAT)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the world of DX, isten for John, W2GD, who will be active as P40W
between May 25th and June 1st from Aruba, focusing on 30, 17 and 12
metres. He will also be on 160 metres mostly on CW. Listen for him
during the CQWW WPX CW Contest being held May 29th to 30th where he
will use the call sign P44W. QSL using LoTW or N2MM.

If you want to work Indonesia, listen for Hans, YB2DX, during the CQWW
WPX CW Contest in May. Send QSLs using LoTW or direct to his home
callsign.


(OHIO PENN DX)

**
KICKER: A VANISHING FRATERNITY OF RADIO REPAIRMEN

JIM/ANCHOR: Our final story is about a vanishing fraternity: two
brothers in India whose love of repairing old radios is endless but
whose way of earning a living is, sadly, finite. In fact, if the
brothers who run the family's radio repair shop in Hyderabad
(HYDRA-bad), India were amateur radio operators, they might have earned
the nickname "The Homebrew Brothers." Their business has operated in
the heart of town since 1948. The brothers spend their time repairing
and re-selling radios. They learned the art from their father, who
first learned in the 1920s and founded the business. Mujeebudin
(moo-gee-BOO-din) is now 82 years old and his younger brother,
Moinuddin (Moe-Ee-NOO-Din) is 71. The business is called Mahboob Radio
Service and according to an article on the Arab News website, it is the
last radio repair shop in the southern Indian state of Telangana
(tell-an-GHANA). The shelves inside contain a who's who of much-loved
brands: Marconi, Phillips, Johnson, GEC and Telefunken. The oldest
radio set is a 100-year-old Murphy.

In here, the brothers do things the old-fashioned way: they fix things
by replacing damaged parts. They told the news website that newer
radios, with their advanced technology, don't necessarily even offer
that option. There's one more option that's also unavailable to the
brothers: passing their radio business on to the next generation. None
of their children know how to fix radios and aren't interested anyway.

Said one of the brothers: "The business will end with us."

(ARAB NEWS)

**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to the Amateur News Weekly; AMSAT; Arab
News; the ARRL; CQ Magazine; David Behar K7DB; HamCommunity.Org; the
Japan Amateur Radio League; Joseph Durnal NE3R; NASA; Ohio Penn DX
newsletter; PHYS.ORG; QRZed.com; Straight Key Century Club; Southgate
Amateur Radio News; shortwaveradio.de; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show;
Tillamook County Pioneer; 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 at arnewsline.org.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and
our news team worldwide, I'm Jim Damron N8TMW in Charleston West
Virginia saying 73. As always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.