Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Jan 11 2019 09:50 am
WYONG FIELD DAY PREPARATIONS ARE UNDER WAY
PAUL/ANCHOR: In Australia, preparations are under way for one of the
grandest gatherings of hams in the hemisphere. Jason Daniels, VK2LAW, has
the details.
JASON:The Wyong (pronounced WHY-YONG) Field Day, a Hamfest run by the
Central Coast Amateur Radio club located about an hour's drive north of
Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia is happening again. On February
24th, the sixty first CCARC Field Day takes place at the Wyong Horse
racing course. This is not only the longest-running and largest gathering
of amateurs in the southern hemisphere, it also has the largest covered
radio flea market in Australia. Commercial traders have the luxury of a
large air conditioned marquee, as they have had for the last couple of
years. Licence training will take place at the same venue on Saturday with
the exams, and the rest of the event happening on the Sunday. There will
be lectures in the main race club building, along with representation
from the national society - the WIA, national groups including ALARA, the
Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association, and local clubs.
For full details, go to the club website at CCARC (dot) ORG (dot) AU and
click on the "Wyong field day" tab or button, or follow the event details
on Facebook under "ccarcwyongfieldday."
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW.
(CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB)
**
ON FACEBOOK, HAM RADIO TAKES A PAGE FROM...KINDERGARTEN?
PAUL/ANCHOR: If you've got amateur radio pride, and you love to boast
about your shack, your rig or any other installation, this next story
from Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, is for you.
DON: There is a new Facebook group devoted to ham radio and it brings
back fond memories of a favorite Kindergarten activity - show and tell.
In fact, the group is called Ham Radio Show And Tell. As you can imagine,
it's a place for you to show off your shack, mobile installation, or
anything ham radio that you're proud of. The group's founder is Kevin
Duplantis, W4KEV, of Knoxville, TN. He tells Newsline that he noticed a
plethora of Facebook groups devoted to Citizens Band show and tell, but
he couldn't find anything like that for ham radio. CBers seem particularly
proud of their rigs and installations, so why don't we find the same for
hams? Judging by the popularity of the Show Me Your Shack segment on Ham
Nation, it's certainly an idea whose time has come. Since the Facebook
group went online on December 26th, there are nearly 300 members showing
off everything from their shack setups, mobile installations, antenna
projects, hamfest pics, and lots more. Clifton, KM4ZJL, posted a video of
his 4 year old foster son, getting on 3916 for a little chat with Santa.
We agree... the Ham Radio Show And Tell Facebook group is an idea that was
way overdue. You're invited to join in the fun, too. It's easy to find...
Just search Ham Radio Show And Tell on Facebook. Then get to showing and
telling!
For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/219702478955703/
(KEVIN DUPLANTIS W4KEV)
**
COLORADO YOUNGSTERS HAVE SKY-HIGH AMBITIONS
PAUL/ANCHOR: Science and space used to be just for the nerdy kids in
school. But in recent years, the Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math -- or STEM -- curriculum, has become very popular with a wide variety
of students. A chance to contact the International Space Station dovetails
perfectly as the students of Park County, Colorado, are finding out.
I spoke with Dan Kern, W Zero DFU, of the Park County Amateur Radio Club,
who is helping teacher Pat Shepard, K Zero TQT, to arrange the contact.
He found out that Shepard was teaching STEM classes, and suggested that
an ISS contact would be great experience for the children. She agreed,
and the plans were put in motion.
KERN: We started them out on the very basics - just learning the phonetic
alphabet - then we went into how the radio works -- and antennas, so they
learned about circularly-polarized antennas, Yagis, omni-directionals and
so forth, and how that works with the ionosphere, how it works with the
spacecraft and so forth. Then we do actual hands-on exercises with each
class, again reinforcing everything we learned from the previous classes,
then start making contacts. Part of the contact program is they have to
then go to the globe or the map, and find out where that station was, and
then using QRZ, find out how many miles away it was from the station.
Along with that, we include some math, so they're getting the basics of
all the science, technology, engineering, and math, as well as they do
the actual hands-on station setup. I have a portable station that
includes HF/VHF/UHF, analog, and digital. They get to use all of those
radios, and set up all the antennas on tripods, and actually participate
in third-party traffic throughout the world, so they're having a great
time.
PAUL/ANCHOR: Kern said that they started with a couple dozen students,
but as the excitement about the possibility of talking to an astronaut
grew, so did the number. They now have around 200 participating in the
STEM classes, and there are a few who are taking it further, and going
for their ham licenses:
KERN: I have about a dozen kids right now. We've had one person test
already. Our next VE session is coming up here in January, so I have
some more, both student and parent teams, that are actually going to
test together - they wanted to get their testing, and their license at
the same time.
PAUL/ANCHOR: The ISS contact is scheduled for the week of April 15th.
Kern said that NASA will contact them early in the week, when they have
a more specific time. He also said that this contact will be different
than many school contacts, because the amateur ground station will be
right there at the school, set up in part by the students, rather than
by using a telebridge.
**
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