Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Mar 09 2018 09:21 am
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2106, for Friday, March 9, 2018
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2106, with a release date of
Friday, March 9, 2018, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Australia's summits have a microwave moment.
Swedish hams may be powering up -- and in Ohio, careful radio
listening helps save a life. All this and more, as Amateur Radio
Newsline Report 2106, comes your way right now.
**
BILLBOARD CART
**
SUMMITS' MICRO ACHIEVEMENT ON A MACRO LEVEL
DON/ANCHOR: We open this week's report with this question: How high
can you go when you're activating a summit? In this case, the steep
climb doesn't necessarily refer to scaling a peak -- but the band
itself, as we hear from Robert Broomhead, VK3DN.
ROBERT: In Australia, the VK1 association took a Summit-to-Summit
adventure to a higher plane recently, by making contacts on 2.4 GHz -
that's the 13 cm band - in the mountains around Canberra in the
Capital Territory.
Three activators accomplished their microwave contacts on March 1 -
Matt, VK1MA, on Black Mountain, Andrew, VK1DA, on Mount Coree, and
Andrew, VK1AD, on Mount Taylor. To round out the experience, they
were joined by Al, VK1RX, who became the first VK1 operator to be
a chaser on 2.4 GHz from his home QTH.
These are Australia's first three SOTA summit-to-summit contacts on
that frequency band. Other summit-to-summit operations were already
planned for 13 cm in the days that followed, this time with five
summits involved.
When all was said and done, the hams then moved down to 1.2 GHz for
a bit of a ragchew. It's probably not hard to guess what they talked
about.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Robert Broomhead, VK3DN.
DON/ANCHOR: Speaking of SOTA summits, the Polish-led DXpedition team
to Bouvet Island, 3Y0I, will have the added benefit of being able to
activate one as part of their visit to the remote island. The SOTA
management team has classified Olavtoppen, the island's highest point,
as a valid SOTA summit, with the identification code of 3Y/BV-001.
Olavtoppen's is 780 meters, or not quite a half-mile high, and worth
10 points. If activated between the 16th of June and the 15th of
October, the activator receives an additional 3 winter bonus points.
**
RADIO, AND A REPEATER, TO THE RESCUE
DON/ANCHOR: Ham radio teaches us the art of careful listening. This
month, that art of listening provided a lifeline in Ohio. Neil Rapp,
WB9VPG, explains.
NEIL: So, you're sitting in the ham shack, casually working some FT8,
when all of the sudden your VHF radio is blaring with someone yelling,
"Emergency! Emergency!" You answer the call, and start calling 911.
It's what we do, and that's what happened on March 3rd to Ken Gunton,
W8ASA. of Centerville, Ohio.
KEN: While I'm on the air, I'm always have my VHF/UHF radio scanning
the local repeater frequencies. And, on the W8BI, that's the DARA
repeater 146.94, I suddenly heard this guy saying, "Emergency!
Emergency!" So, I put my attention on the radio, and grabbed the mic.
So I called and said, "This is W8ASA. How can I help?" He said, "My
wife is suffering from extremely low blood sugar, and I need to get
an ambulance out here right now. Right now!" And he was very distraught,
as you would be in an emergency like that. And, I found out from some
other hams later that he called out on several repeaters, and was
telling people, "I can't find my phone. I can't find my phone." I told
him I would call. I would take care of it.
NEIL: Ken was in Centerville, which is 54 miles south of Sydney, Ohio,
where the emergency was taking place. He was able to call his local
911 service, and was eventually relayed to the proper authorities in
Sydney.
KEN: I called back to the police department, just to see if perhaps it
was a hoax, or if the people were all right. And the lady who answered
said, "Yes, they have a squad there, and they are taking care of it.
And no, it's not a hoax." And, she appreciated my efforts. And so, we
hung up, and I went on from there. So, I was just glad to help. That's
what we're here for.
NEIL: For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, in Bloomington,
Indiana.
--- SBBSecho 3.03-Win32
* Origin: RadioWxNet: The Thunderbolt BBS wx1der.dyndns.org (801:1/2)
� Synchronet � Temple of Doom BBS - tod.eothnet.com
