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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2371 for Friday April 7th, 2023

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2371 with a release date of Friday
April 7th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A difficult DXpedition takes on a humanitarian
goal. The ITU opens an area office in India -- and hams in Australia
celebrate the solar eclipse. All this and more as Amateur Radio
Newsline Report Number 2371 comes your way right now.

**
BILLBOARD CART

**
DXPEDITION TO REMOTE ROCKALL ISLAND FOR CHARITY

JIM/ANCHOR: Our top story this week takes us to a foreboding
uninhabitable granite islet in the North Atlantic Ocean, where a trio
of DXpeditioners are just weeks away from activating that site. They
hope to set a world record while turning that desolate location into a
symbol of hope. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us about their plans.

JEREMY: When they land on Rockall Island in a few weeks, Emil Bergmann,
DL8JJ, Nobby Styles, G0VJG, and expedition lead Cam Cameron hope to be
the third DXpedition team to activate the island and they will use
MM0UKI [Pron: Em Em Zero You Kay Eye] as their callsign. They hope that
their planned 50- or 60-day stay starting in June will break the
current world record of 46 days on the British territory set in 2014 by Scottish adventurer Nick Hancock. Rockall is one of the world's most
wanted Islands on the Air and bears the designation EU-189.

The team isn't just looking to set a record: With donations and
sponsorship and the team members' own investment in the trip, they are
looking to raise £50,000 for charities: The Army Benevolent Fund and
Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity. These charities assist veterans and
their families as well as the families of serving personnel.

This challenging journey to a remote spot 230 miles west of Scotland
and 430 miles south of Iceland follows DXpeditions in 2005 and 2011.
Knowing that there are fewer than 400 claimed QSLs from previous
DXpeditions, the team expects the airwaves to be busy.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(ROCKALL EXPEDITION WEBSITE, MARK FELTON PRODUCTIONS, QRZ)

**
ARKANSAS HAMS SPRING INTO ACTION DURING TORNADOES

RANDY: Tornado season in the United States is again upon us. In the
past week we've had reports of fierce storms that spawned possibly
dozens of tornadoes from the South and the Midwest into the Northeast,
killing at least 32 people. Deadly storms also hit the central US,
including Arkansas and Missouri.

Joshua Carroll, AA5JC, Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for
SKYWARN and ARES for Arkansas, reported that during the March 31st
tornado in his state, 112 operators were involved in net activities
during storms that brought devastation especially to the western part
of Little Rock. "It wasn't just ham radio nets, which included Echolink
and All Star," he told AR Newsline. "Our thought was â-˜use what
works." His team also collected and sent reports to the National
Weather Service that they received through texts, Facebook, Twitter,
GMRS, and Winlink.

In talking with the Forecast Office after the event, Joshua was told,
"you guys were on fire!" They indicated that three warnings were issued
based on these reports. Lives were probably saved. This is another
example of ham radio doing what it does best. So, until all else fails,
use what works.

This is Randy Sly W4XJ.

**
CANADIAN FERRY MARKS ANNIVERSARY WITH US AMATEURS

JIM/ANCHOR: Hams in Chicago are celebrating the journey of beloved
ferry that arrived in the city from Canada 40 years ago. Oh what a
family history it has! Here's Andy Morrison K9AWM.

ANDY: The MV Abegweit (ABB IG WHITE) is a ferry that once made many
journeys across the Northumberland Strait of Canada, It carried
passengers and cargo, connecting Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Now, in modern times, it carries memories. For George Dewar, VY2GF,
there are memories of its christening in Quebec in 1947 by his
grandmother Katherine and its arrival in Charlottetown on Prince Edward
Island. For Wayne Anderson VE3UWA, it holds the memories of his
childhood trips on the ferry, nicknamed the Abby, which some members of
his family had worked on.

The vessel was taken out of service in the early 1980s and and in 1983
sailed to Chicago to become the new home of the Columbia Yacht Club.
Hams who belong to the Columbia Yacht Club Amateur Radio Society have
been making their own memories on board there for 40 years. The Abby
has been involved in the club's Boats on the Air activation with
operators such as Alex, KC1NBT, calling QRZ.

Perhaps the biggest memory it will be making next is the special event
being planned on board the Abby. Station K9CYC will be on the air on
the weekend of April 15th and 16th, marking the 40th anniversary of its
arrival in Chicago. Club member Keith Klemick, KD9NEG, told Newsline
that while the boat provides operators with its view of the city
skyline, hams will be calling QRZ on another kind of wave.

Even as it is kept afloat by its busy future -- it will always remain
buoyed by the fond memories so many recall back home on Prince Edward
Island.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(GEORGE DEWAR, VY2GF; KEITH KLEMICK, KD9NEG)

**
ITU OPENS AREA OFFICE IN NEW DELHI

JIM:Congratulations to the International Telecommunications Union which
has opened an area office and innovation center in New Delhi, India.
According to a report on the OSCAR India channel on YouTube, the ITU's
presence in the Asia Pacific region is intended to help advance
technology and improve innovation in India and across south Asia. The
ITU is the specialized agency of the United Nations, dealing with
information and communications technologies. The ITU's
secretary-general, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, KD2JTX, was present at the
opening in March.

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF

(OSCAR INDIA YOUTUBE)


**
SATELLITE LAUNCH OPERATION SHUT BY VIRGIN ORBIT

JIM/ANCHOR: There will be no more satellite launch plans for Virgin
Orbit, and Neil Rapp WB9VPG is here to explain why.

NEIL: Virgin Orbit has shut the doors of its satellite-launch
operations, laying off 675 workers after six years in business. The
company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission
that its inability to secure sufficient funds has made it unable to
continue operating.

Created as a subsidiary of Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit's mission was
to launch CubeSats into low earth orbit from beneath a commercial
airliner that had been modified to accommodate its proprietary
satellite launch system. The company did not have a history of great
success with the system, known as LauncherOne.

Virgin Orbit's most recent failure was its attempt to launch a rocket
on January 9th from Cornwall in the UK. The company CEO later said that
the problem may have been caused by a $100 part that may have become
dislodged in the second-stage engine. The launch had been a
much-anticipated event for Spaceport Cornwall, which has been competing
for the UK to enter the global space market by becoming a home to
satellite launches.

This is Neil Rapp WB9VPG.

(ENGADGET, NBC NEWS, FORTUNE)

**
RETIRED COSMONAUT JOINS ON-AIR EVENT AS SPECIAL OP

JIM/ANCHOR: On the weekend of April 8th and 9th, one of the operators
in a DX contest honoring cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin will be a former
cosmonaut himself. Here's more from Graham Kemp VK4BB.

GRAHAM: You can be sure that Aleksandr Volkov, U4MIR, will be doing his
best as one of the special stations in a memorial DX contest on the
weekend of April 8th and 9th. Aleksandr has something in common with
the pioneering cosmonaut for whom the Yuri Gagarin International DX
Contest is named: He is a retired pilot and cosmonaut -- and is a
former commander of the cosmonaut detachment at the Yuri Gagarin
Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia.

Other operating stations will be representing some of the places that
are significant in the life of Yuri Gagarin who on April 12, 1961
became the first person to fly in space. Stations will be representing
his birthplace and the site where he landed after that historic flight. Operators will also be paying tribute to the evolution of Russian space
travel by operating at significant locations in the space programme's development.

The contest is being held this year in memory of Konstantin
Khachaturov, RT3A, who became a Silent Key in April of 2022.
Konstantin, a well-known contester and active amateur and had served as director of the contest, also known as the Gagarin Cup.

The contest website is available at the link that appears in this
week's text version of Newsline at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://gccontest.ru/ ]

(DMITRI KOLENCHUK, R3GM; BRITANNICA)


**
BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the WB3GXW repeater in Silver Spring, Maryland and simultaneously on
EchoLink Conference Server Node 6154 on Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays
at 7 PM Eastern time.

**
ARDC ANNOUNCES RIA JAIRAM, N2RJ, JOINING THE BOARD

JIM/ANCHOR: Congratulations to Ria Jairam [JIE-RUM], N2RJ, who has
joined the board of directors of Amateur Radio Digital Communications.
She recently stepped down as director of the ARRL's Hudson Division, a
post she held since 2019. Ria is also a well-known presence on social
media with her own YouTube channel and hosts a week radio show on
shortwave station WRMI.

(ARDC, ARRL)

**
HAMS IN AUSTRALIA OBSERVE THE ECLIPSE, RADIO-STYLE

JIM/ANCHOR: This month's solar eclipse will have many hams in Australia thinking not just of the sun but the moon. John Williams VK4JJW tells
us why.

JOHN: When the moon passes between the Earth and the sun on the 20th of
April, observers in Australia will welcome what's being called Ningaloo Eclipse, a name given to this hybrid solar eclipse from an Aboriginal
word. At about that same time, amateur radio operators in Australia
hope to be busy celebrating Australia's other link to the moon. They
are planning to get on the air from a historic location that has ties
to the Apollo 11 moon landing in July of 1969. That landing - and so
many other missions - was achieved with the assistance of the NASA
Carnavon and Overseas Telecommunications Commission tracking station in
Western Australia.

The US and Australian government worked to establish the station, which
opened in 1964 and became a vital communications link between Earth and
the NASA astronauts on the Gemini and Apollo missions.

From April 17th to the 23rd, hams including Dan VK6NAD and Michael

VK6TU, will be activating a site between the Casgrain Horn that was
used during the mission and the 30-metre dish. They were still awaiting confirmation of the call sign they wish to use, but are hoping for
approval of VI6CRO.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(WIA, ABC.NET.AU, TIME AND DATE.COM)

**

WWFF ACTIVATES SPECIAL EVENT CALLSIGN IN AUSTRALIA

JIM/ANCHOR: Throughout Australia, hams with a love of the natural world
are celebrating a program that helped them combine nature and radio in
that country 10 years ago. Jason Daniels VK2LAW tells us how they're
doing it.

JASON: This is a big year for hams throughout Australia who are
involved in the World Wide Flora and Fauna programme. The global awards
scheme, which celebrates parks and other natural settings, began its
regional VKFF section in Australia in March of 2013. Activators have
been on the air with the special event callsign VI 10 VKFF.

According to the WWFF website, more than 80 percent of the nation's
flowering plants, mammals and reptiles are unique to Australia, along
with most of its freshwater fish and almost half of its birds.

Although many hams have embraced these activations because of the low
high noise floor away from the home QTH, others simply want to travel
around Australia and add amateur radio into a journey that helps them discovering nature.

Hams who are hunting for contacts from home rather than activating do
not need to submit logs. Activators are very eager to make these
contacts. Be listening for VI 10 VKFF which will be active throughout
the year.

This is Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(WIA, WWFF)

**
PLANS MOVE AHEAD FOR CLIPPERTON ISLAND DXPEDITION

JIM/ANCHOR: An international team of Dxpeditioners is making plans to
visit a coral atoll in the Pacific that hasn't been activated in 10
years. Patrick Clark K8TAC brings us up to date on their agenda.

PATRICK: One of the next big DXpeditions in the works is well into the
planning stages by the Perseverance DX Group. It's been 10 years since
a major activation has taken place on the uninhabited Clipperton
Island, which carries the IOTA designation of NA-011, is a protected environmental reserve that is the only French possession in the north
Pacific. Its last major activation was in 2013 - the same year the
Perseverance DX Group was founded. Next year, an international team of experienced operators will be on the island using the callsign TX5S.
They expect to be on the air from the 18th of January 2024 to the 2nd
of February.

Previous DXpeditions by the group have included South Orkney Island
VP8PJ in 2020, Ducie Island VP6D in 2018 and Chesterfield Reef TX3X,
in2015.

This is Patrick Clark K8TAC.

(PERSEVERANCE DX GROUP)

**

FORD MOTOR COMPANY ELIMINATES AM RADIO IN 2024 MODELS

JIM/ANCHOR: The death of AM radio has arrived at the Ford Motor Company
in Detroit, Michigan. Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood announced that it
will not be installing AM radios in any 2024 vehicles, both its
gas-powered and electric models. He confirmed the plan to the Detroit
Free Press newspaper. He said that Ford will continue to make AM radios available in its commercial vehicles because of contracts the company
has. Ford's move comes amidst a push by a number of prominent lawmakers
and former officials of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Opponents of carmakers' elimination of AM radio say it is an integral
part of the nation's emergency notification system.

(DETROIT FREE PRESS)

**
KICKER: PENNSYLVANIA AMATEUR'S CONTACT 'OUT OF THIS WORLD'

JIM/ANCHOR: And for our final item this week, the story of a
Pennsylvania ham who is still walking on air after a recent "out of
this world" contact. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz
(Abram-o-vich) NT3V has the details...

[AUDIO]: "Welcome to the International Space Station, over."

MARK: And with that response from NA1SS, 73-year-old Dave Fix N3AMY
from the Reading, Pennsylvania area, says he felt like an excited
8-year-old kid at Christmas as he began a specially-arranged amateur
radio contact with Astronaut Nicole Mann.

It happened in the early morning hours of March 4 as the ISS orbit
passed above Berks County in eastern Pennsylvania just north and west
of Philadelphia for about a 6-minute window.

Fix gives a lot of credit for the contact to his long-time friend -also
called Dave - who personally knows the first native American woman in
space and used to vacation with her and her family many yearsago.

It was Fix who suggested to Dave the idea for a ham radio contact.

His friend liked the idea so much that he quickly reached out to
Nicole's father, Howard, who proposed it to Nicole over a private
family conversation channel to the ISS. She was all for it.

But Nicole didn't get a chance to get her ham ticket before last
October's lift-off, so she needed a little assist to set it up and then initiate the contact.

"That was world-famous Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut that helped us
make this connection, over," Nicole explained on the 2-meter frequency
reserved for the contact.

Indeed, Koichi Wakata, KI5TMN, acted as control op and Elmer for his
fellow astronaut.

Fix and Dave, and his wife, Jan, were ecstatic when they heard Nicole's
voice clearly coming from the speaker over the mobile radio in the car.

Dave, the family friend, kidded Nicole about why she never blinked the
lights at least once as the station passed over Pennsylvania those many
times while she was aboard.

"I don't know what you mean, Dave. I'm always rocking my wings every
time I fly over PA," Nicole joked. "You've got to look a little closer.
Over."

And as quickly as it began, the contact window started to fade but not
before a grateful astronaut made her final transmission.

"Okay, thank you Dave Fix for helping to set this up. We really
appreciate it," she declared.

"Toodaloo, Nicole," they responded.

"I'll never forget this," Fix exclaimed as he excitedly related details
of the contact and shared the audio with Newsline. "I don't think Dave
and Jan will ever forget it. Nicole certainly won't. It is once in a
lifetime."

I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in Reading, PA.

**
NOMINATE OUR NEXT 'YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR'

JIM/ANCHOR: We remind our listeners that young hams who live in the
continental United States have an opportunity to make news, if they
aren't already doing so, by being a recipient of this year's Amateur
Radio Newsline Bill Pasternak Memorial Young Ham of the Year Award.
Consider nominating an amateur radio operator 18 years of age or
younger -- someone who has talent, promise and a commitment to the
spirit of ham radio. Find application forms on our website
arnewsline.org under the "YHOTY" tab. Nominations are now open and
close on May 31st.

**
DO YOU HAVE NEWS?

JIM/ANCHOR: Do you have a piece of Amateur Radio News that you think
Newsline would be interested in? We are not talking about advertising
your club's upcoming hamfest or field day participation, but something
that is out of the ordinary. If so, send us a brief overview via the
contact page at arnewsline.org. If it's newsworthy and we would like to
cover it, we'll get back to you for more details.

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to ABC.NET Australia; Amateur News Weekly;
Amateur Radio Digital Communications; ARRL; Australia Communications
and Media Authority; CQ Magazine; David Behar K7DB; Detroit Free
Press; Dmitri Kolenchuk, R3GM; DX-World.net; Engadget; FCC; 425 DX
News; George Dewar, VY2GF; Keith Klemick, KD9NEG; National Public
Radio; OSCAR India YouTube; QRZ.COM; Perseverance DX Group; Radio
Society of Great Britain; Radio World; shortwaveradio.de; Space.com;
Time and Date.com; Wireless Institute of Australia; World Wide Flora &
Fauna; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio
Newsline. We remind our listeners that Amateur Radio Newsline is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that incurs expenses for its
continued operation. If you wish to support us, please visit our
website at arnewsline.org and know that we appreciate you all. We also
remind our listeners that if you like our newscast, please leave us a
5-star rating wherever you subscribe to us. 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 2023. All rights reserved.

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