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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2298 for Friday November 12th, 2021

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2298 with a release date of Friday November 12th, 2021 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Hams in Japan homebrew their own virtual
hamfest. A popular digital amateur TV magazine halts publication -- and
QSL cards are racing their way to you from the Indianapolis Speedway.
All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2298 comes
your way right now.

***
BILLBOARD CART

**

BREAKING NEWS: DAYTON HAMVENTION IS A 'GO'

STEPHEN: We begin this week with breaking news. Dayton Hamvention 2022
is not just going to be a premier hamfest but a reunion, as organizers
prepare for the first gathering at the Xenia Fairground and Expo Center
in Ohio after two years of cancellations. Hamvention's general chairman
Rick Allnut WS8G told Newsline in a phone interview that committees
have been meeting and volunteers are committed to making up for the
time lost to pandemic cancellations.

Hamvention will be happening on Friday May 20th through Sunday May 22nd
with an international reception scheduled on Thursday May 19th. Rick
said the registration site is already taking bookings from vendors and
inside exhibitors and individual visitors can already buy their
tickets. All details are available on the hamvention.org website. RIck
said: "Tickets are all printed and ready to go."

**

HAMS IN JAPAN HOMEBREW THEIR OWN FEST

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Hams have always believed that if you really want
something, sometimes it's better to build it yourself. Nowhere is that
more evident lately than in Japan, where radio operators were
disappointed once again this year by cancellation of that nation's
major radio event. Graham Kemp VK4BB tells us more.

GRAHAM: Never mind that the Tokyo Ham Fair was cancelled again this
year by the Japan Amateur Radio League because of COVID-19 precautions.
The Virtual Ham Festa 2021 has taken its place thanks to the creativity
of a group of independent dedicated radio amateurs. Scheduled speakers
included Shiro Sakai JH4PHW, explaining the best practices for using
eQSL and Yuki Shimizu We JO2ASQ, explaining amateur satellite
communications. One of the biggest topics on the agenda was the
resurgence of CW.

A true homebrew project built on the Zoom platform, the November 13th
hamfest was designed with a Main Stage for seminars and live
presentations. Other features included booths and a space for eyeball
QSOs. The organising committee was headed by Taka, 7K1BIB, who said
that like all major ham radio events, an on-the-air component was also
a big part of the plan: As a social experiment an international FT8 QSO
Party was to take place on 40 metres in parallel to the virtual event.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(TAKA 7K1BIB, SOUTHGATE)

**
THE NATURE OF EXCITEMENT FOR SLOVENIA'S WWFF

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The World Wide Flora & Fauna program has welcomed S5FF
â-" Slovenia â-" and hams there are eager to share the excitement. Ed
Durrant DD5LP brings us up to date.

ED: Radio operators in Slovenia held a quiet but well-earned
celebration during the first full weekend in November as they marked
their nation's arrival as a registered region in the Worldwide
Flora & Fauna programme. It was the culmination of two months of
intense effort by a team of hams including Mike Gregoric S55GX, who
said the team members are all experienced SOTA, IOTA and World Castles
Award activators. Mike, who has been a ham since 1995, told Newsline
that he realized this past summer that Slovenia needed to organize and
become part of the awards programme, which would require adding a
national log manager and coordinators. WWFF vice chairman Manfred Meier
DF6EX and member administrator Luk Waterschoot ON4BB encouraged the
Slovenian team's efforts. Mike, who serves as coordinator, told
Newsline that the team pulled all the essential ingredients together, a
web page, an S5 logo and the definition of all the new activation
areas. Mike said that there are now 191 such sites â-" and the numbers
are growing.

Some other possibilities are growing too: Mike hopes Slovenia's
participation will encourage more portable operations and even boost
amateur radio tourism from abroad. He told Newsline: [quote] "Everyone
can make nature their shack." [endquote]

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP.

(MIKE GREGORIC, S55G; MANFRED MEIER, DF6EX, WWFF WEB PAGE)

**
SPEEDWAY QSL CARDS RACE TO THE FINISH LINE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you're still waiting for your QSL cards from the
three Indianapolis Motor Speedway special events, they're on their way.
Jack Parker W8ISH gives us a look behind the scenes of the massive
mailing that's been going on.

[sound clip: envelope being cut open]

JACK: That's the sound of another self-addressed, stamped QSL envelope
being opened for processing. Members of the W9IMS Special Event Station gathered to open, separate and then fill-in and mail out thousands of
QSL cards following a summer of racing at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway.

BILL: "This is what we call our Monster card party. We have a few
others that we do and then they trickle in all year long."

JACK: Bill Kennedy, W9YT coordinates the special event stations and the
Monster chore stuffing and returning thousands of QSL cards each fall.
A behind-the-scenes look at this QSL process found it takes dozens of
W9IMS members to get the job done.

BILL: "We have a big following. They want to work us every year and
make a big effort to get all three races."

JACK: W9IMS is the official special event station for three of the IMS
races. They operate 24/7 for a week prior to the Grand Prix and
Indianapolis 500 mile race in May. In August they again fire up the
radios for the Brickyard 200-race. A custom-designed QSL card is
produced for each race. Those stations who log all three race events
receive a special certificate as well. This is the 18th year for
this W9IMS special event station. Bill says the summer time operation
often reflects the solar cycles. This year's total contacts fell just
short of the 18,000 recorded contacts a few years ago. As the sun
cycle fell, so did the total contacts.

Bill: "You could follow the total card by following the solar cycle.
As the cycle came down so did our Qs. As the cycle is going back up
our Qs are going back up."

Jack: Bill says this crew has become very proficient in not only
logging contacts but in filling out the QSL cards and certificates
after the checkered flag falls on the last race of the season.

Bill: "That's a lot contacts and a lot of cards to do at the end of
the year."

Jack: For Amateur Radio Newsline, this is Jack Parker, W8ISH

**
NORWAY PLANS ENTRY-LEVEL CERTIFICATE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The Norwegian Radio Relay League, Norway's national
amateur radio organization, is working with a research institute there
to help introduce an entry-level amateur radio category that would
become available to operators as young as 12 or 13. Operators would be permitted a maximum transmitting power of 10 watts. The goal is to
encourage the newest amateurs to build their own simple transmitters
and receivers and spur interest in technology and science to complement
ther schoolwork. NRRL is working to move this certificate forward with
funds provided for the study by the Norwegian Research Council. Norway presently has only one class of radio operators.

(SOUTHGATE)

**

AUSTRALIAN 2x1 CALLSIGNS DEBUT IN WORLDWIDE CONTEST

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: With the CQ WW SSB contest over, no doubt you have more
than a few contest callsigns in your log. How many of them are among
the newest from Australia? Let's hear more from Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

JASON: The long-awaited 2 x 1 VK contest callsigns got their first
official run on the air during the big CQ WW SSB contest in late
October. The Wireless Institute of Australia reports that assignment of
the calls by the Australian Maritime College came just in time for the
global competition. In fact, three of the WIA's own directors were
assigned the calls for use in the competition. Some reports say that
many amateurs who heard the new contest calls were at first confused by
the unusual single-letter suffixes but everything ultimately ran
smoothly. If you have thoughts you'd like to share about Australia's
new contest callsigns, the WIA is eager to hear your comments. Send
them on to national office at wia dot org dot au
(nationaloffice@wia.org.au)

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(WIA, SOUTHGATE)

**

BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the K9DEW repeater in Warsaw Indiana on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

**
HEDY LAMARR SPECIAL EVENT SHOWS STAR QUALITY

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The late American actress Hedy Lamarr is apparently
still a big star as far as the world's amateur radio operators are
concerned. The sixth annual Hedy Lamarr Day Net, N9H, drew 190
check-ins from around the world. The special event was held on November
9th on Echolink on what would have been the actress' 107th birthday.
Organizer John Derycke (duh-RYE-Key) W2JLD called it the most
successful Hedy Lamarr event to date. Hedy Lamarr was being celebrated
for her on-screen talents but most especially for her role as
co-inventor of a frequency hopping system that prevented jamming of
radio signals to torpedos and now forms an important part of today's
cell-phone and WiFi networks.

**

POPULAR DATV MAGAZINE ENDS PUBLICATION

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The digital amateur TV magazine known as CQ-DATV, has
published its final issue. Geri Goodrich KF5KRN has that story.

GERI: In a publishing lifetime that lasted for eight years with 100
issues, the amateur television magazine CQ-DATV filled a gap left by
the demise of two earlier ATV magazines and had been widely read among enthusiasts. That era has ended with the publication of its latest -and
last - issue, released in October. The production team's Trevor Brown
G8CJS writes in this 100th issue: [quote] "All good things must come to
an end and CQ-DATV is no exception." [endquote] The digital-only
publication reports that it received more than 500,000 downloads during
its lifetime and was welcomed by readers who had lost "Der TV Amateur," published in Germany and "Repeater" published in the Netherlands.
CQ-DATV credits Ian Pawson G0FCT who introduced the magazine in 2013 as
a digital publication and served as its editor. The magazine, which
also became available as a PDF edition, is making all of its 100 issues available for download. They can be obtained by visiting the link that
appears in the text version of this week's newscast script on our
website arnewsline.org

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Geri Goodrich KF5KRN.

(SOUTHGATE, CQ-DATV)

[FOR PRINT, DO NOT READ" https://cq-datv.mobi/ebooks.php ]

**

IRELAND AND INDIA JOIN PARKS ON THE AIR

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Portable radio enthusiasts are thrilled with the news
that Parks on the Air has added two new countries. Here's Vance Martin
N3VEM with the latest.

VANCE: In Parks on the Air News, in October we welcomed Ireland and
India to Parks on the Air! So please join me in saying dia duit and
namaste to our newest POTA friends! October was another record-setting
month, with an all-time high for both number of activators and number
of QSOs, with 1,630 activators making a combined 329,019 QSOs.

In our last news item for the month, POTA is excited to officially
announce that for our 2022 summer plaque event, we will be adding
several plaques for DX QSOs. There will be up to 6 DX plaques
available, pending sponsorship - one each for the most QSOs made as an activator outside of the continental United States for IARU Regions 1,
2, and 3, and 1 each for hunters who make the most QSOs with activators
in those same regions. If you or your organization is interested in
sponsoring one of these new DX plaques in 2022, please send an email to n3vem@parksontheair.com for details. This is November 3 Victor Echo
Mike with your October Parks on the air Update. Be sure to visit parksontheair.com for information about the program, and pota.app for
spotting, park information, leader boards, and more. (PARKS ON THE AIR)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the world of DX, be listening for special event callsigns ON75AF,
ON75BAF and ON75BFS from Belgium. These callsigns are helping amateurs
in the Belgian Air Force Amateur Radio Association mark the air force's
75 year anniversary. Be listening through the end of the year on HF,
VHF and UHF where operators will be using CW, SSB and the digitalmodes.

In Rwanda, members of the Holy Land DX Group will be using the callsign
9X4X starting on the 24th of November and running through to the 1st of December. Listen for them on 160m through 10m where they will be using
CW, SSB, RTTY and FT 8. They will also be in the CQ WW DX CW contest on November 27th and 28th. Send QSLs to Ruben, 4Z5FI. Ferdy, HB9DSP,
becomes a first-time DXpeditioner with the callsign 5Z4/HB9DSP when he
operates from Kenya between December 2nd and the 16th. Listen for Ferdy
on 20, 15 and 10 meters where he will be using mainly SSB with some
FT8. Send QSLs to his home callsign, direct, by the Bureau or LoTW.

(OHIO PENN DX)

**
KICKER: A TRANSATLANTIC FRIENDSHIP POWERED BY STEAM

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Learning about technology isn't always what it seems.
As a group of girls in England recently found out, technology can lead
to something wonderfully personal....called friendship. Jeremy Boot
G4NJH picks up the story from here.

JEREMY: The 11- and 12-year-old girls are called the STEAMettes, a name
that's a nod to their shared interest in Science Technology
Engineering, Art and Maths. For the past four years the Kent County
youngsters have been guided by John Hislop G7OHO, a retired physics
teacher and an ambassador in STEM learning. Most recently John has
taught them such basics as soldering and the coding of a microbit
computer they were going to use to send CW they'd learnt. After Larry
Olson W9INE saw a presentation by John and the STEAMettes at the QSO
Today ham expo in August, Larry introduced them to Colorado teacher
Ravi Davis, KF0FYL. Ravi has several newly licensed hams in her
sixth-grade school who have also been coding microbits. Since the
STEAMettes have studied Digital Mobile Radio in preparation for their Foundation licence, they put their knowledge to use in a transatlantic
QSO on October 29th via DMR. The Colorado students used radios loaned
to them by the Estes Valley Amateur Radio Club. Ravi told the local
newspaper that this was the first DX contact for her students. They
talked about their schools, their lives and the differences in their
respective communities. Suddenly, even with 7600 km between them, the
students felt none of that distance at all.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(JOHN HISLOP G7OHO, SOUTHGATE, FACEBOOK)

**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to the the ARRL; CQ-DATV magazine; CQ
Magazine; David Behar K7DB; Facebook; John Hislop G7OHO; Manfred Meier
DF6EX; Mike Gregoric S55G; Ohio Penn DX; Parks on the Air; PHYS.org;
QRZ.com; Radio Society of Great Britain; Southgate Amateur Radio News; shortwaveradio.de; Taka 7K1BIB; Wireless Institute of Australia; World
Wide Flora and Fauna; and you our listeners, that's all from the
Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at newsline@arnewsline.org.
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.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and
our news team worldwide, I'm Stephen Kinford N8WB in Wadsworth Ohio
saying 73. As always we thank you for listening.

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

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