Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Sep 22 2017 10:06 am
RADIO OPERATORS ASSIST IN RESCUE, RECOVERY
STEPHEN: Not all rescue missions that involve amateur radio end up
staying rescue missions. Sometimes they end in tragic recovery. When
New Jersey hiker Alex Stevens went missing earlier this month in New
York's Adirondack Mountains, a team went out to look for the 28-year-old.
The team comprised Stowe Mountain Rescue, the state Department of
Environmental Conservation, the Newcomb Fire Department, and the
Adirondack Amateur Radio Association, among others. According to news
reports, forest rangers found Stevens' body near Wallface Pond on
September 18th, and New York State Police have begun investigating his
death.
From New Zealand, comes a much more upbeat report, about a missing person.
He was found alive. We hear those details from Jason Daniels, VK2LAW.
JASON's REPORT: An 88-year-old man who had gone missing from his care home
in Invercargill, was found nearly 10 hours later following an overnight
search by police, rescue squad members and the Invercargill Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications group. The man, whose name was not released by
authorities, had apparently wandered off at about 7:30 p.m. on Monday the
18th of September. He was located on Tuesday the 19th of September at
about 5:30 in the morning. The man was found cold, wet and muddy in a
ditch about 1.5 kilometers from the home on Racecourse Road. Rescuers
transported him to the local hospital.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW.
**
TRAIN AND RAILROAD NET IS RIGHT ON TRACK
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you love trains - and we don't mean the kind you
commute to work on - you might enjoy this next story. Paul Braun, WD9GCO,
reports on a new net in this installment in our occasional series, Nets
of Note.
PAUL: Many of us have more than one interest or hobby. Often, there's a
happy intersection where two or more of those hobbies overlap. Daryl
Stout, WX1DER, found just such an overlap with the D-STAR Trains and
Railroads Net.
DARYL STOUT: This is actually a revival of a net that ran on RF and
EchoLink in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area for over eight years, but
technical issues led to it going the way of the abandoned line in early
2017. However, in working with the British Columbia Frequency Modulation
Communications Association, and with Ted, VE7LEE, I got permission to
use Reflector 26A on D-STAR for the net. The net covers anything and
everything related to trains and railroading - that's passenger, freight,
steam, diesel, excursions, museums, depots, signals, model and garden
railroads, timetables, memorabilia, railroad shows, fallen flags,
etcetera.
PAUL: This is a net that I can definitely relate to - I'm also a railroad
fan from childhood, a Chicago and North Western man through and through,
the way Don Wilbanks is a Pontiac man. There's a little North Western
passenger train on the shelf above my radios.
I asked Stout about the response to the net, and he said it's been very
positive, and many were actually involved in railroading:
STOUT: They were very happy - several had originally worked for the
railroad. My late uncle - the youngest engineer ever hired on by the
Pennsylvania Central - the Penn Central - he was also the only other ham
radio operator in the family. His call was K3VRM, Kilo 3 Victor Romeo
Mike, but he said it stood for Veteran Railroad Man. He actually had a
steam engine on his QSL card. From him, I got my love of both ham radio,
and trains.
PAUL: The net runs every Friday at 7PM Central, or Zero Hours UTC on
Reflector 26 Alpha on D-STAR. According to Stout, the net runs for about
an hour, beginning with the first round of checkins. So, if you're
interested in any form of trains or railroading, and have access to
D-STAR, the Trains and Railroads Net is for you.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO. All Aboard!
**
MILLING ABOUT ON THE AIR
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Hams in Belgium are big on enthusiasm for mill
activations even if the event is small, as we hear from Ed Durrant,
DD5LP.
ED's REPORT: The Belgian Mill Award competition is a modest-sized,
four-hour-long contest, in which hams operate phone on 80 meters, and
also on 2 meters in FM and SSB.
One participant, Leon, ON4VLM, told Amateur Radio Newsline that the fact
that the contest is small and short, makes it even more fun - usually.
It's a manageable size, and when conditions are good, there are plenty of
contacts to be had.
This year, unfortunately, solar flares and solar winds, combined to
challenge competitors on the 17th of September. Still, Leon's club
station, ON4WLR/P, has a log they can be proud of. Leon told us that
club operators still managed to work 23 of the 27 mills in the contest,
and made contact with eight of Belgiium's nine provinces.
If you want to see the club in action, we have a link to the online
slideshow in the script on our website.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQvTG4gwTl4&feature=youtu.be
(LEON ON4VLM)
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