Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C)
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Jun 22 2018 08:42 am

BREAK HERE:

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the Spokane,
Washington UHF Repeater of K7TMF and K7MMA, on Fridays at 5 p.m. Pacific
Time.

**

NEW QUESTION POOL FOR TECHNICIAN CLASS EXAM

NEIL/ANCHOR: In the U.S., the question pool is changing for the
Technician Class license exam as of July 1st. Every four years, the
questions are changed, modified, and brought up to date by the National
Conference of Volunteer Exam Coordinators. So as of July 1, you can
consider all the old license test preparation materials like manuals,
online practice tests, Power Point presentations, and such, to be
outdated. Approximately 60 of the Technician license questions were
replaced. Most of the questions focus on the same concepts, but wording
changes will bring the material up to date. If you are part of a
Volunteer Exam team, you must use the new exams starting on July 1st.

So VEs, be sure to change out those tests. And, if you're studying with
old books, be aware that some of those questions will change while the
topics, for the most part, won't. If you've been studying with the old
books, June 30 is your last chance to take the test before the big change.

**

GET YOUR FEET WET WITH 'BEACHES ON THE AIR'

NEIL/ANCHOR: Now here's an awards program that will have you wishing for
an endless summer. Mike Askins, KE5CXP, is our man on the beach, for this
story.

MIKE: While some people bring suntan lotion and a surfboard - or maybe
just a good book -- to the beach, others wouldn't be seen on the shore
without their rig, and an antenna. Because a beach day can also be a ham
radio day, the program known as Beaches on the Air, is encouraging hams
to operate portable, and qualify for awards as activators. Chasers - the
hams who contact them - can also compete for honors.

The idea took root in a conversation in 2013, between Diego, EC1CW, and
his friend Ernesto, EA1LQ, a fellow ham, and SOTA activator. Diego told
Newsline that the awards scheme really took off sometime after December
of 2015, when he chose the windy Atlantic coastline of the Spanish beach
at Riazor (ree-ah-Zore) for the first activations. Beaches on the Air was
on the map at last. International users now call CQ from the shore in
Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, the UK, and elsewhere around
the world.

In fact, just a few weeks after Diego's first activations, Vlado, Z35M,
an amateur in Macedonia, requested that the program include the beaches
there. A ham for nearly 35 years, Vlado is a big proponent of portable
operations, and a frequent activator. BOTA covers not only sea-side
beaches, but also those on inland lakes and rivers. A full list of the
approved sites, and the awards that can be earned, is at
beachesontheair.com.

So, with summer arriving in some parts of the world, be listening, as
hams on the beach catch a wave - a radio wave, that is.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mike Askins, KE5CXP.

(DIEGO VARELA EC1CW)

**

IN AUSTRALIA, GETTING KIDS WIRED OVER ELECTRONICS

NEIL/ANCHOR: Some school kids in Australia are getting ready to have
a summer of solder and circuit boards. Robert Broomhead, VK3DN, has
more, on these special summer workshops.

ROBERT: What do crickets, frogs, and grasshoppers, have to do with ham
radio? Everything, if you ask the organizers of the School Holiday
Electronics Workshops being offered for school kids in July. The
Bendigo Amateur Radio and Electronics Club, has organized the workshops
in Castlemaine, to help grow the next generation of engineers and, of
course, radio amateurs as well. In sessions geared to beginners age 7
and older, students will learn the basics of electrical circuitry, and
get to build a solar-powered grasshopper of their own. The workshop for
students 10 and older, will teach the basics of soldering. Those students
will get a homebrew cricket or frog. The club is also planning a third
workshop for returning students, who already have been through the basics
in previous workshops. For information about fees and schedule, contact
the club via email at secretary at barec dot net dot au
([email protected])

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Robert Broomhead, VK3DN.

(BAREC)
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