Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Dec 15 2017 10:31 am
GRANTING ONE HAM'S FINAL WISH
DON/ANCHOR: Wish fulfillment holds a special place in everyone's hearts
at this time of year. For one terminally ill amateur radio operator,
the fulfillment of a wish to get on the air one more time, meant
everything, as we hear from Paul Braun, WD9GCO.
PAUL: Spending time listening to certain parts of 20, 40 and 80 meters
often makes you wonder about our hobby. But, then something happens
that reminds you why a lot of us got into amateur radio in the first
place. The story of John Nugent, WA2EQJ, will hopefully restore your
faith in your fellow hams.
I spoke with Chris Brown, NY9X, of the Lake County, Illinois RACES
organization about how granting a dying Vietnam veteran a final wish
came to happen:
BROWN: John is at the Federal Health Center over here at Great Lakes,
and has cancer and apparently does not have much time left. He had
talked to his caseworker about being a ham radio operator, and his
love for the hobby. He's been a ham for most of his life. He had a
wish of getting on the air one more time, and so the case worker
started asking around as to how we could get this done, is there
anybody who would be willing to help?
PAUL: They finally got in touch with the hams at RACES, who quickly
came up with a plan to make that possible:
BROWN: Our guys went over, and set up a wire antenna outside, on the
grounds of the hospital, and ran the coax in the front door, and had
a table there. They brought him down. We had a radio that was there -
he loves his Yaesu, so they brought that down and just set it on the
table next to him.
PAUL: Brown next went looking for possible contacts:
BROWN: I just went down the band - I went down 20 meters and there
was a QSO just wrapping up. There was a guy from California and I
broke in and said, "Hey, is there any chance you can do me a favor,
and come up the band?" I explained what was going on, that we were
Lake County RACES, and before I knew it he was already up there and
he was almost like net control for 10, 15 minutes with John.
PAUL: The afternoon was a success and created a definite bright spot
in the final days of the long life of one ham.
BROWN: His son was on the air, too, and just thanked everybody, and
said the expression on John's face was fantastic, with what he could
do and he was talking.
PAUL: Hams helping another ham in time of need. That, at the core,
is what this hobby is about. All of us here at Amateur Radio Newsline
will keep John Nugent and his family in our thoughts, as he nears the
end of his journey. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun,
WD9GCO.
**
SPOTTING THE SUNSPOTS OF LONG AGO
DON/ANCHOR: It is said that there is nothing new under the sun - or
even inside the sun, as Mike Askins, KE5CXP, tells us.
MIKE: Sunspot patterns, it seems, have been a human obsession for at
least 200 years -- at least that's what can be believed from a recent
discovery made in the state of Maine.
A report that appears on Space.com, tells of a journal found inside a
small house in that New England state, with pages containing writings
from some 200 years ago. The subject? Sunspots!
The journal's contents in an academic paper co-authored recently by
solar scientist William Denig, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and historian Michael McVaugh, of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The 19th century devoted sun-watcher was a Congregational minister
named Jonathan Fisher. The clergyman had at one time practiced a more
scientific look at the heavens, as a math and science student at
Harvard University, in the 18th century. When he graduated, however,
he took up the clerical cloth. Still, he never forgot his lessons in
science and when the Northern Hemisphere experienced what historians
recall as a "year without a summer" in 1816, the reverend kept
meticulous drawings of his observations in those now-faded pages.
Clearly, we have more advanced ways of tracking sunspots now, but it's
a comfort to know we hams aren't the only ones who have a tradition
of keeping a watchful, and sometimes nervous eye on the sky.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mike Askins, KE5CXP.
(SPACE.COM)
**
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