Subj : Newsline Part 1
To : ALL USERS
From : DARYL STOUT
Date : Thu Mar 31 2016 08:17 pm
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2005, April 1, 2016
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 2005, with a release date of Friday,
April 1, 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Radio amateurs reach out in support friendship to
terrorist-hit Brussels. Hams share their memories of a childhood radio
colleague, the late comic actor Garry Shandling. Georgia prepares for its
55th annual QSO Party. And oh yes, it's April 1, and that means our
special correspondent, Pierre Pullinmyleg, is back with some big news.
That is, if you can believe it.
All this and more, in Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2006, coming your way
right now.
(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)
**
BRUSSELS BOMBING
JIM: We open this week's newscast with two stories in the aftermath of
the deadly blasts in Brussels on March 22. In the first report, from
Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, we hear how one radio
amateur's life was touched - almost too closely - by the tragic events.
JEREMY: Longtime contester and DXpeditioner Olivier, ON4EI, has faced a
number of challenges during his more than 20 years on the air, but
perhaps the greatest challenge in the Belgian ham's life came during
his moments off the air in Ireland on Tuesday, the 22nd of March. That
day, his wife phoned him in Ireland from the family's home city of
Brussels to say she and the couple's 8-year-old twins had been just a
short distance away from the deadly bombs detonated a short time
earlier at the Brussels Airport. The family ran to safety just in
time as the second blast went off.
Olivier's wife and daughters were not injured, but he left Ireland for
Brussels the next day to bring his family back to Ireland with him on
Friday, the 25 of March, for the Easter holiday.
Olivier then announced on his QRZ page that he would still proceed with
his plans to operate as EI1A during the WPX contest that weekend - the
26th and 27th of March - writing that his decision [QUOTE] "represents the
resistance and a beacon signal of liberty in memory of Brussels bombings
victims on the 22nd of March 2016." [ENDQUOTE]
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, in Nottingham, the
UK.
JIM: The Brussels bombings also spurred a heartfelt note of sympathy,
from one longtime ally to another: Belgium and Australia have been
close since their soldiers fought together during World War I. Amateur
Radio Newsline's Graham Kemp, VK4BB, tells us more.
GRAHAM: A message from Fred Swainston, vice president of the Wireless
Institute of Australia, has assured colleagues in Belgium that the WIA
stands in sympathy with the nation, a longtime ally, and most especially
with the Royal Belgian Amateur Radio Union.
The letter says, in part [QUOTE] "We are saddened to hear the news of
the terrorist attacks in your country. This short note is to say that
our thoughts and prayers are with you, the Belgian people, and those who
have been lost or injured by these despicable acts." [ENDQUOTE]
The Belgian radio union was an active participant in the WIA's recent
ANZAC 100 program marking the centenary of the Australian and New
Zealand Army Corps. The two nations' enduring, close relationship will
again be marked on ANZAC Day, Monday the 25th of April, in Belgium at the
Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood, just south of Zonnebeke.
Cemetery markers represent some 2,108 Commonwealth servicemen, who are
either buried or commemorated there, from the first World War.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB.
(SOUTHGATE, BELGIUM EMBASSY IN AUSTRALIA)
**
A TRIBUTE TO GARRY SHANDLING, WA7BKG/KQ6KA
JIM: Late last month, the entertainment world lost a major talent with
the death of Garry Shandling. But the news also hit hard for many in the
amateur world, especially those who knew Shandling as a young ham. We
hear from two of them: First, from a New Yorker, with whom he developed
a long-lasting, long-distance friendship. He spoke with Amateur Radio
Newsline's Kent Peterson, KC0DGY.
KENT: The news of the sudden passing of actor and comedian Garry
Shandling, had a very special significance to one person in the ham
community, Alan Davis K2WS
ALAN: It started in the fall of 1965, I was a fairly active ham radio
operator. it was just serendipity. We got to be friends. I have my old
log books in front of me, we'd talk weekly.
KENT: Shandling's call back then?
ALAN: WA7BKG
KENT: That's right, Gary Shandling was a ham radio operator who had
regular QSOs with Davis over 40 years ago. They developed a long
distance ham radio friendship
ALAN: At one point, Garry said why don't you come out to the house? And
I told him that I have a disability and he said, "no problem, we'll take
care of you."
KENT: Davis said Shandling was a jokester right from the start.
ALAN: I know he had a sense of humor, Garry had his dad print up this
award, the Dipple Award, dated February 1966, "for his oustanding display
of ignorance beyond the capability of any other radio amateur for causing u
ndue interference on the amateur radio spectrum. Keep up the bad work."
And, on the lower left hand side, was Garry Shandling's signature, "Chief
of Dipple Registration." He wouldn't send these things out. It was just a
joke. We all knew that. But it was hilarious.
KENT: Four years later, Davis once again paid Shandling a visit.
ALAN: And at that time he told me he was doing gigs in Las Vegas .. I
didn't get it.
KENT: But Shandling did go on to a successful career as a comedian,
actor, and writer, winning five Emmy awards.
ALAN: He could joke around, but on the inside he was a great guy. I'm g
etting a little emotional.
That's Alan Davis K2WS, recalling his old ham radio friend Garry
Shandling, WA7BKG, and later KQ6KA, who passed away after suffering an
apparent heart attack on March 24th. Shandling was 66.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson, KC0DGY.
JIM DAMRON: Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Massara, N2EST, spoke with one
longtime friend of the Shandling family in his Arizona hometown, where
his young friends knew him as a good pal and a jokester.
JIM MASSARA'S REPORT:
Garry Shandling grew up in Tucson, Arizona. As a teenager, that's where
he earned his first ham-radio license in 1964 -- first as a Novice,
WN7BKG, and later as WA7BKG when he upgraded to General.
An old family friend, who asked not to be identified, tells Newsline
that Shandling was part of a group of teens who all got their tickets
at the same time. Once licensed, they would hang out together, sometimes
at Garry's shack, which his parents had built for him in the family
carport. There, they'd get on the air and make contacts, mostly on 40
and 20 meters.
Shandling and the other teenagers also hung out at a local ham-radio
club, where they were most definitely noticed. "We would go to the local
club in Tucson, sit in the back, and make fun of the old hams," according
to the family friend. It got them kicked out of meetings more than once.
Shandling, no doubt, was practicing for a future career.
A few years later, Shandling enrolled at the University of Arizona, where
he first majored in electrical engineering, but later completed his
degree in marketing. That led to post-grad studies in creative writing,
and later, a move to Los Angeles, where the rest, as they say, is history.
Although many of those teenaged hams are still hams and still friends,
over the years Shandling fell out of touch with most of them, and
eventually he let his license lapse. But Shandling's old family friend
says a mutual acquaintance was very close to getting Garry to take the
Tech test and get back on the air. The only problem? As a celebrity,
Shandling was a very private person, and he was always concerned that
his distinctive nasal voice would be immediately recognized on the air.
Reporting from Atlanta for Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Massara, N2EST.
--- BgNet 1.0a12 - The Thunderbolt BBS wx1der.dyndns.org Little Rock, AR
