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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2418 for Friday March 1st, 2024

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2418 with a release date of Friday
March 1st, 2024 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. An island expedition in India draws attention
to vital emergency communications. YLs are getting out in the park for
a one-day POTA party -- and prepare for FUNCube-1 to go silent, at
least for a while. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report
Number 2418 comes your way right now.

**

BILLBOARD CART

**
EXPEDITION ON INDIAN ISLAND DRAWS ATTENTION TO CYCLONE PERILS

NEIL/ANCHOR: An Islands on the Air expedition in India has raised
awareness of the need for better emergency communications in a remote
region that is prone to deadly cyclones. Graham Kemp VK4BB gives us
those details.

GRAHAM: The recently completed AU2RS IOTA Expedition received public
praise from India's Ministry of Communications for its successful ham
radio activation of cyclone-prone Nachugunta Island. The team chose the
island, which carries the IOTA designation of AS-199, to mark the 60th anniversary of that global amateur radio programme. The hams were on
the air from cyclone shelters on the Bay of Bengal coastline during the
weekend of the 23rd of February. Operating with five HF stations and
one satellite station, they reached amateurs in Europe, South Africa,
the US, Canada and Japan.

Even as operators were uploading their logs upon return from the
island, a press release from the communications ministry reported an
estimated 4,000 contacts logged.

The hams were applauded by public officials, including those from the Department of Telecommunications, for their demonstration of radio's
importance in areas vulnerable to natural disasters

This is Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(INDIAN MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS, AMATEUR RADIO DAILY)

**
SILENT KEY: EMERGENCY RESPONDER NORA RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, CO8NRR

NEIL/ANCHOR: Members of the national emergency network in Cuba are
grieving the loss of a devoted team leader. Nora Rodriguez Rodriguez,
CO8NRR, became a Silent Key in a hospital in Guantanamo, Cuba on
Monday, the 26th of February.

Her death was announced on Facebook by Carlos Alberto Santamaria
Gonzalez, CO2JC, the national emergency network coordinator of the
Amateur Radio Federation of Cuba. The Facebook post said her death was
the result of complications from a chronic illness. Nora had served as information system coordinator of the Federation of Radio Amateurs of
Cuba in her province. Carlos wrote: [quote] "She was always willing to cooperate in communications during emergencies and disasters. Until the
last days of her life she kept track of any event that could affect our archipelago." [endquote]

Carlos told Newsline in an email that there were few additional details
as the family is being given privacy at this time.

(CARLOS ALBERTO SANTAMARIA GONZALEZ, CO2JC)

**
LUNAR LANDER STILL FUNCTIONS DESPITE LANDING ISSUES

NEIL/ANCHOR: Troubles with the first US-built lunar lander in 50 years
have apparently not kept the spacecraft from staying in touch. Jack
Parker W8ISH explains what happened.

JACK: Builders of the private moonlander that made its historic
touchdown near a lunar crater on the 22nd of February, said the
spacecraft is successfully sending and receiving communications despite
having tipped over during its final descent near the moon's south pole.
Flight engineers have told the company that Odysseus is now resting on
its side, propped up on a rock, but that the mission is not imperiled. Intuitive Machines of Houston, Texas has given assurances that five of
the six NASA payloads designed to conduct experiments are on sections
of Odysseus that can send and receive communications. The NASA payloads
will collect space weather and lunar surface information as well as
conduct demonstrations of communication and navigation.

The lander is the first US-built spacecraft to land on the moon in five decades.

This is Jack Parker W8ISH.

(NBC NEWS, THE HILL, CNN, NASA)

**
YLS GATHER IN PARKS FOR A POTA PARTY

NEIL/ANCHOR: Throwing a party that's 24 hours long and inviting as many
YLs as possible isn't such a daunting task when the venue for that
party can be anywhere as long as it's a registered site for Parks on
the Air. Andy Morrison K9AWM tells us about the upcoming festivities.

ANDY: If you are chasing POTA on March 8th at any time of the day or
night you will likely hear even more YLs than ever calling CQ. The
first YL POTA Party is taking place that day to mark International
Women's Day. Activating parks has been a way of life for the organizer,
Shannon KC1OHT, whose limited antenna options in her city neighborhood
in Massachusetts led her to operate portable shortly after getting her
license in 2020. For Shannon, POTA became a way to build confidence
-and build community.

Now that community is getting ready to celebrate: Shannon told Newsline
she has been waiting since last fall to make a POTA party like this
happen. She and the other organizers are hoping that more experienced
YL ops will operate and invite someone new to POTA to join them. No one
will be left out either. YLs who can't get to a park can still come to
the party as a hunter from the home QTH.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(SHANNON, KC1OHT; BARBARA, KC1KGS)

**
ARISS CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF HAMS ON THE RADIO IN SPACE

NEIL/ANCHOR: ARISS - Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
-had a big celebration recently in Florida, and I was fortunate to
attend. I filed this report while I was still there -- to give
listeners a sense of all the excitement.

NEIL: ARISS celebrated the positive impact of 40 years of amateur radio
on human space flight at its conference held late last month at the
Center for Space Education: Astronauts Memorial Foundation near the
Kennedy Space Center in Florida. One hundred and ten leaders,
volunteers and fans of the program gathered to hear and see memorabilia
from the past four decades and got a look into how to rocket into the
future. Keynote speaker Richard Garriott, ex-W5KWQ, inspired the group
toward a bold future and passed his license exam at the conference to
become re-licensed. His previous license had lapsed not long ago. ARISS
also had a few announcements, including a new partnership with Estes
model rockets and expansion of the SPARKI radio kit availability for
school classrooms. HamTV will return on the next ISS supply mission,
SpaceX 30, scheduled for mid-March and be returned to service soon
after. Lou McFadin, W5DID, received a special achievement award for his
work in building amateur stations in space since the very first one on
STS-9, which carried the first Spacelab mission and the first astronaut representing the European Space Agency 40 years ago. Of course, the
crowd was treated to a live contact with astronauts on the ISS as three
youths presented their questions to the astronauts.

From Kennedy Space Center Florida, this is Neil Rapp WB9VPG

**
FUNCUBE TRANSPONDER TO BE SILENT THROUGH MID-MARCH

NEIL/ANCHOR: If you're a fan of AO-73, the satellite called FUNcube-1,
you can expect a period of silence this month. Dave Parks WB8ODF tells
us why.

DAVE: Under the best of conditions, sometimes the fun has to end - even
if you happen to be FUNcube-1, the educational and amateur radio
satellite also known as AO-73. The FUNcube's busy transponder will be
turned off between March 3rd and March 15th to permit the batteries to
take a much-needed short rest. The satellite will still provide
low-power telemetry but it will remain in Safe Mode during this period.
Much of its telemetry data is used for educational programming in
schools.

Since its launch into sun-synchronous orbit in November of 2013,
FUNCube has gained popularity with hams who make good use of its VHF to
UHF transponder. It was created through the joint efforts of AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-NL, and ISIS-BV in The Netherlands.

This is Dave Parks WB8ODF.

(AMSAT, AMATEUR RADIO DAILY)

**
VINTAGE RADIO MUSEUM'S HAM SHACK IS BACK ON THE AIR

NEIL/ANCHOR: A beloved radio museum near Dublin is QRV again. Here's
Jeremy Boot G4NJH with the good news.

JEREMY: Amateur Radio Station EI0MAR is back on the air from the Ye
Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio near Dublin. Two powerful
storms in early January left its antenna unusable and the museum went
silent for about three weeks. Tony, EI5EM, who holds the callsign for
the museum station, told Newsline in an email that the historic site
did not stay idle for long thanks to Tom May, EI9LA, who donated an X80 vertical antenna that he had not been using. Tony and Joe, EI2JZ,
installed the replacement antenna, swapping out the coax at the
sametime.

Challenging weather is a way of life at the historic tower that houses
the museum. The location overlooking Howth Harbour played a key role in
the pioneering days of wireless where both Lee de Forest and later, the
Marconi Company, carried out numerous experiments. The museum is open
on weekends from 11 am to 4 pm local time.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(IRTS, TONY BREATHNACH, EI9LA)

**
BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world and on the
East Coast Reflector on Sundays at 1 p.m. Eastern Time and now
Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

**
NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR

NEIL/ANCHOR: Nominations are now open for the 2024 Bill Pasternak
WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year award.
Mark (pronouncer-Abram-oh-vich) Abramowicz NT3V, chairman of the YHOTY
award committee is here with more.

MARK: The late Bill Pasternak WA6ITF, Amateur Radio Newsline's
co-founder, started this award 47 years ago to recognize young people
for their achievements in amateur radio.

Bill assembled a top-flight group of amateur radio operators to serve
as judges.

He insisted that this independent panel of people with credentials and accomplishments of their own in the world of amateur radio pick the
winner from among the many nominees he received each year.

I can tell you from the many conversations I was privileged to have
shared with Bill over the years that he was always thrilled to hear the results. He was the first one to see the nominees but was careful to
avoid any personal communications that might influence the judges.

Bill asked me to fill a board vacancy and serve as the chairman of the
award and judging committee in 2002. It's hard to believe that was 22
years ago!

Unfortunately, we lost Bill in 2015.

His legacy lives on because the Amateur Radio Newsline staff voted to
attach his name to the award.

Now, we here at Newsline need your help to identify a ham 18 years or
younger living in the continental United States to nominate for this
year's award.

The nomination form and details are available on our website
-arnewsline.org. We only accept online nominations to make it easier to
put together a package that includes photos, letters, emails, and
anything else that will help us get to know the young person you are
endorsing.

The deadline for nominations is May 31.

This is Mark Abramowicz, NT3V.



**
FCC HONORS PROGRAM SEEKS ENGINEERING APPLICANTS

NEIL/ANCHOR: If you are an engineering student graduating this coming
May, you may be eligible for a job with the US Federal Communications Commission through its Honors Engineers Program. Jobs are available for graduates in electrical and electronics engineering. The FCC will
receive applications through the 2nd of July. The agency's most recent recruitment efforts took place at job fairs at Historically Black
Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions. If you are
an interested student, or know someone who might be, visit USAjobs dot
gov (USAjobs.gov) to learn more or to apply. The direct link can be
found in the text version of this week's newscast script at
arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/767902700. ]

(FCC)

**
OLDER STARLINK SATELLITES MARKED FOR DEORBITING

NEIL/ANCHOR: Starlink has announced it is deorbiting 100 of its older satellites in the interest of safety. Travis Lisk N3ILS brings us the
details.

TRAVIS: SpaceX will be deorbiting 100 Starlink satellites launched in
2019 and 2020 to prevent them from becoming hazards in low Earth orbit,
the company said recently. While deorbiting satellites is not uncommon
for Starlink, these so-called "controlled descents" are deemed
necessary because the company has identified a defect that could cause
issues. SpaceX did not specify what the defect was but said that the
100 satellites risk becoming unavailable for further maneuvering and
must be taken out of service. The deorbiting is to occur gradually over
a period of months, with the satellites retaining maneuverability
throughout the process. Starlink, which is owned by Elon Musk,
maintains the largest satellite constellation in orbit. SpaceX said
that removal of these older satellites will not have an impact on
Starlink's broadband services.

This is Travis Lisk N3ILS.

(GIZMODO, SPACENEWS, AMATEUR RADIO DAILY)

**

WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, be listening for the Grassroots Amateur Radio Club,
VO1GRC, operating as VO1TAP from Newfoundland until the 18th of March.
The club is marking the anniversary of the naval disaster involving the
USS "Truxtun" and USS "Pollux" off the coast of Newfoundland on the
18th of February 1942. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Gerard F5NVF, Luc F5RAV and Abdel M0NPT are using the callsign TY5C
from Benin from the 2nd to the 29th of March using CW, SSB and FT8 on
various bands including 6 metres. They will also operate via the QO-100 satellite. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Be listening for Gildas, F6HMQ and Michel, F6GWV operating as FG/F6HMQ, FG/F6GWV and TO3Z from Guadeloupe, IOTA number NA-102, until the 17th
of March. They are also taking part in the ARRL DX SSB Contest on the
2nd and 3rd of March. QSL information is on QRZ.com

Special callsigns including YR95AR, YR95CC, YR95CH and YR95IN are among
those calls active until the 31st of May. The operators are celebrating
the 95th anniversary of the first amateur radio association in
Romania's Arad County. This is being organised by C.S. Radio-club
Admira, YO2KBQ. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: PEDESTRIAN MOBILE BECOMES A WALK IN THE PARK

NEIL/ANCHOR: For our final story this week, we visit a Wisconsin
amateur who decided to put his portable antenna up front - way up front
- and carry it where he could see it: on his chest. The results
surprised and delighted him, as we learn from Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

KENT: For the past year or two, activating POTA has been a walk in the
park for Martin K0BXB. After more than six decades of amateur radio
from his home shack, he discovered that operating portable could give
him an even bigger shack and a chance to channel his good engineering
talent into creating an efficient way to deploy his antennas and his
gear in the great outdoors. Most recently, he took that a step forward
- actually a few huge steps forward - and that's what led to the walk
in the park: He started operating pedestrian mobile. Carrying his gear
in a light backpack, he said most of his pedi-mobile trips have lasted
an hour or two, working stations in the US and Canada. His 5-watt CW
signal has even grabbed an occasional DX from whatever park he may be
at in Wisconsin.

Ever the tinkerer, Martin believed he could make a good thing even
better. He was troubled by lack of access to the antenna, which was
mounted behind him. So he decided to move it to the front where he
could see it by adding a wearable breast panel. He said that using an
operating power of 5 watts, he wasn't necessarily concerned about a
radiating antenna being inches from his head.

On Friday, February 16th, Martin did his first field test of the new configuration and proclaimed it a success: His first QSO was a
park-to-park contact on 20 meters with Drew N2AKJ, in New York, some
774 miles away. He told Newsline in an email: [quote] "That little
setup that I was testing when I talked with N2AKJ was my best yet."
[endquote] He said a few more activations have followed since then and
he called them [quote] "some of the most fun activations to date."
[endquote]

While pedi-mobile is not his preferred activation method, he told
Newsline that he intends to quicken his pace. In fact, with his newest configuration he's certain to be putting his best foot forward.

This is Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(DREW DEMARCO, N2AKJ; MARTIN K0BXB)

**
DO YOU HAIKU?

Don't forget the Amateur Radio Newsline haiku challenge. If you're not
too busy tuning your antennas or chasing the latest DXpedition, pick up
a pencil and share your experience by sending an original haiku to us
here at Newsline. Use the entry form on our website, arnewsline.org and
please follow the rules for writing your three-line haiku -- sorry but
we cannot accept any entries that aren't written in traditional
haikuform.

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily; AMSAT; Barbara,
KC1KGS; CQ Magazine; David Behar K7DB; Drew DeMarco N2AKJ; DXWorld;
FCC; 425DXNews; Gizmodo; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; Tony EI9LA;
QRZ.com; Martin K0BXB; Shannon KC1OHT; shortwaveradio.de; SpaceNews;
YouTube; 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 Neil Rapp WB9VPG in Union Kentucky saying 73. As always
we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright
2024. All rights reserved.

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