Subj : Newsline Part 2
To : ALL USERS
From : DARYL STOUT
Date : Fri Feb 19 2016 12:11 pm
QUAKE WAS FAKE BUT RESPONSE WAS REAL
JIM/ANCHOR: The only thing real about the earthquake in Utah earlier this
month was the response it got from hams and other emergency team members.
But that's what made the mock drill such a success. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Bobby Best, WX4ALA, has this report:
[BOBBY's REPORT:]
For more than just a moment, no one had trouble believing that an
earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 had just rocked Cedar City, Utah.
Responders from Iron County Emergency Management joined the Utah National
Guard 213th Forward Support Company, area fire and police departments and
radio amateurs at various locations in distress. And on Wednesday, Feb. 3,
the scene was set.
But it was only a scene, after all - it was a mock 3-day drill called
"Operation Seismos" that was designed to test emergency response. As
various responders turned up, so too did some 160 members of the Rainbow
Canyon's Amateur Radio Club, ready to relay messages from the scene of
the fictional disaster: the interstate was to have buckled in two spots,
a fire station was to have collapsed, and building fires were scattered
throughout the area.
Don Blanchard, WA7GTU, of the Rainbow Canyon's Amateur Radio Club, said in
news reports that the club's teams gave damage assessments from various
simulated problem sites, reporting some of their findings by voice, others
by digital mode, entering the details directly into the necessary
government forms by email.
Emergency Management Coordinator John Higley called the hams' use of
digital communications via email "groundbreaking." He told the St. George,
Utah, news "we are doing things not done elsewhere in the world as far as
communications with our ham radio operators. We are not just practicing
voice communication, but they are using digital communications."
He said this was the first time the technique was used in an emergency
simulation setting but it won't be the last: Another drill is set for
March.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bobby Best, WX4ALA.
(IARU, the St. GEORGE NEWS)
**
FIELD DAY IN AUSTRALIA
The Central Coast of Australia is having a field day. Or rather, the hams
there are. It's set for Sunday Feb. 28, 2016 at the Wyong Race Course in
New South Wales, and is considered one of the major gatherings of radio
amateurs in Australia, offering seminars, workshops and, of course,
license assessments for all amateur grades. The all-important Foundation
license class itself will be held the day before, on Saturday the 27th.
Seminars are being held on the first floor of the main building at the
race course, covering a range of topics from power supplies to
DXPeditions.
Admission is $15 for all amateurs older than 17. No admission is charged
for hams younger than 17.
For more details, visit the website www.fieldday.org.au.
(CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA)
**
AUSTRALIA'S CALLING ALL HAMS AND HOPEFUL HAMS
JIM/ANCHOR: Speaking of hams in Australia, the Wireless Institute of
Australia wants to see and hear more of them. Lots more of them. So it's
been busy attracting new and returning licensees by sending out a message
that says, at least in spirit, "you can run but you cannot hide!" Here's
more from Amateur Radio Newsline's Graham Kemp, VK4BB.
[GRAHAM's REPORT:]
Once a ham, always a ham. Right?
Well, the Wireless Institute of Australia believes this is true, and has
been casting a wide net to encourage and attract radio returnees - people
they are calling "lapsed" radio amateurs.
In a way, the WIA is calling CQ.
And yes, that call is being heard. Former licensees are finding their way
back home to the bands, as the WIA reports that it has seen in recent
months what it's deemed a "small avalanche" of callsign recommendations
from returnees.
But that hasn't stopped the WIA from calling. Its awareness campaign has
touched the very young and those much, much older - from the schools and
professional organizations to the Grey Nomads as they hit the open road
in search of adventure on the vast Australian landscape. The WIA has also
sought publicity in the Rotary and Lions, as well as the newsletters of
the Returned and Services League of Australia.
In short, the WIA wants hopeful hams and returnees to know that it's
never too late to get a license, and start calling CQ themselves. You
never know who'll answer.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham, Kemp, VK4BB.
**
A HAND FOR HAMS IN INDIA
Australia isn't the only country hoping to bring more amateurs onto the
air. In India, the Indian Institute of Hams has, likewise, begun an
awareness campaign that reaches out specifically to youngsters in the
port city of Mangaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka (car-NOT-a-kah).
The institute's director, S. Sathyapal, said that it makes sense to have
more active radio amateurs in a coastal location such as this, which is
vulnerable to flooding and other disastrous conditions. He said only 100
hams are registered in Mangaluru and, of those, only 30 radio amateurs
are considered active.
Even though disaster communication is a priority, the institute is
stressing, among young recruits, radio's opportunities for global
friendship and communication, as well as learning technical skills. In
India, youngsters 12 and older are eligible to become licensed amateurs.
(THE TIMES OF INDIA)
**
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the W8GK repeater
in Charleston, West Virginia.
--- BgNet 1.0a12 - The Thunderbolt BBS wx1der.dyndns.org Little Rock, AR
