Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Nov 10 2017 05:39 pm
COMMEMORATING A DOOMED GREAT LAKES FREIGHTER
JIM/ANCHOR: Two special event stations have been marking a Great Lakes
tragedy that happened 42 years ago. Kevin Trotman, N5PRE, has that
story.
KEVIN's REPORT: It's a tragedy that still captures the American
imagination: the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald 42 years ago in the
storm-tossed waters of Lake Superior. The entire 29-person crew was
lost on November 10th, 1975, shortly after the Great Lakes freighter
passed the Split Rock Lighthouse. Minnesota's Stillwater Amateur Radio
Association kept the HF bands busy November 3rd, 4th and 5th, as
operators made contacts from Split Rock Lighthouse State Park during
a Special Event Station, that it has organized for 13 years.
Hams who missed making contact with W0JH get to try again, though.
Special Event Station W8F is also commemorating the sinking. In
Michigan, the Livonia Amateur Radio Club's station goes on the air
on Sunday, November 12th, at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle
Island in Detroit. Even if you're not able to work W8F on that Sunday,
stay tuned to the HF bands anyway. Members of the club are operating
from their own QTHs, and keeping the Special Event Station going right
through the 20th of November.
For Amateur Radio Newsline in Aiken, South Carolina, I'm Kevin Trotman,
N5PRE.
(STILLWATER ARA; LIVONIA ARC)
**
MORSE CODE TO THE RESCUE
JIM/ANCHOR: Another boating story - one that didn't end in tragedy -
comes to us from Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. It happened in late October.
JEREMY'S REPORT: Now here's a twist on the saying: "When all else
fails, there's amateur radio." This version says: "When all else
fails, there's Morse Code."
A yacht sailing off the coast of Cornwall recently was observed as
being on a collision course with the Dales rocks, which are submerged
at high tide, and not visible. The rocks posed a definite risk for
grounding. A watchkeeper at the National Coastwatch Institute at Bass
Point, however, could not reach the crew. They did not have an
Automatic Identification System beacon, and could not be reached on
VHF radio to be warned of the danger ahead.
The watchkeeper turned to an old relic - an Aldis lamp, which emits
pulsing light, and he flashed the crew a Morse Code message - the
letter "U" - which warns of danger. The craft had come within 10 boat
lengths of the rocks, when it was seen to respond by changing its
course to head south, where it resumed its journey to Falmouth.
Bass point NCI station manager Peter Clements was quoted in news
reports afterward, as saying that such flashing lamps are more
commonly seen these days in vintage movies about the Second World
War. But in this case, an old wartime tool turned out to take on a
hero's role in peacetime too.
For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.
(CORNWALL LIVE)
**
SILENT KEY: MARIO AMBROSI I2MQP
JIM/ANCHOR: The president of the Italian radio association, and a CQ
amateur Hall of Famer, has become a Silent Key. We hear more from Ed
Durrant, DD5LP.
ED'S REPORT: Hams are grieving the loss of a noted DXer, and active
member of Italy's amateur radio community. Mario Ambrosi, I2MQP, has
become a Silent Key. Mario, who was inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio
Hall of Fame in 2005, was president of the ARI - the Italian amateur
radio association. He had a lifelong love of radio that began at age
14, when he heard the first Sputnik satellite broadcasts using homemade
equipment.
On Oct. 25, 1975, Mario made his first QSO - that was just the
beginning. At the time of his death, he had logged more than 222,000
QSOs in 352 countries, and collected numerous top awards, including
those given for operation in CW and RTTY.
Mario had been president and secretary of the A.R.I. - the Italian
radio amateur association - a director of Radio Rivista, a writer for
the DX News Bulletin, and a QSL card checker for the DXCC, and WAS
programs of the ARRL, as well as several programs for CQ Amateur Radio.
Mario Ambrosi died on November the 6th. Vale Mario, I2MQP.
JIM/ANCHOR: Thanks for that report Ed Durrant, DD5LP.
(FILIPPO RICCI IK7YCE)
**
BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the
Lookout Mountain Amateur Radio Club's W4EDP Repeater in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
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