Subj : Newsline Part 2
To : ALL USERS
From : DARYL STOUT
Date : Fri Apr 08 2016 03:49 pm
SPEND YOUR SATURDAY, APRIL 16, AT A HAMFEST
The Splitrock Amateur Radio Association's annual Hamfest kicks off early
-- and we do mean early -- on Saturday April 16. People will be arriving
for setup starting at 6 a.m. at the Roxbury Senior Center at Horseshoe
Lake on Eyland (EEE-LAND) Avenue in Succasunna, New Jersey. Buyers begin
arriving at 8 a.m. Bring your QSL cards! The hamfest will have DXCC
card-checking available, along with a VE Session if you're looking to
upgrade - or even get your ticket for the first time. VE registration
starts at 8:30 a.m. and the exams start a half-hour later, promptly at 9.
Yes, the hamfest will also be on the air. Talk-in on the 146.985 repeater,
K2GG, and you can be there in spirit.
For more details, visit splitrockara.org -- and make your plans.
Meanwhile, details are also being finalized for the 11th annual North
Central Indiana Hamfest, being held Saturday, April 16, as well. The
half-day event is open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Miami County 4-H
Fairgrounds north of Peru, Indiana. The hamfest will also include VE
testing from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and as an extra incentive, anyone who
qualifies for a new license after the testing is admitted free. Otherwise,
admission is $5 at the door, and free for anyone 17 years of age or
younger.
(ERIC BUDINGER, N2KOJ; RALPH MURRAY, KB9WSL)
**
TWO AT THE HALF-CENTURY MARK
DON: With age comes wisdom, right? Well, two ham radio clubs are both
hitting the 50-year mark this year - and they're not shy about sharing
their smarts. We hear more from Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
NEIL: Between them, they have 100 years on the air. On one side of the
Atlantic, the Mid-Ulster Amateur Radio Club in Northern Ireland is marking
its 50th year - and just across the Pond, so is the Montgomery Amateur
Radio Club in Maryland.
The club in the Washington, D.C., suburbs is doing its 50th birthday in
grand style, with a special event station, K5O (Kilo-Five-Oscar) running
through Sunday April 17 - in various modes, and on a number of the HF
bands - and QSL card designed to mark the occasion. According to its
website, the club meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month in
Rockville, Maryland. For the club, which has the call sign KV3B, it's
been a great 50 years.
For the Mid-Ulster club, call sign MNOVFW, it's been a half-century of
growth - the modest-sized group now counts one member for each year
they've been a club. And they have a notable local track record, getting
involved in everything from local marathons to Scouting events to QSOs
with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. They've even
launched a program geared toward younger hams, called MUARC Youth --
because one of the joys of being 50 is offering a helping hand to those
who still have a few decades to go to get there too.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, in Bloomington, Indiana.
(THE LURGAN MAIL, JEFF DAHN, KB3ZUK)
**
BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including Wednesdays on the
WD9HSY repeater operated by the Tri-Town Amateur Radio Club in Hazel
Crest, Illinois.
**
A FRIENDSHIP DAY FOR AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS
Hams around the world may not be close enough to extend their hands in
friendship, so they extend their antennas instead. That's the spirit
behind World Amateur Radio Day, a day of even more on-air fellowship than
usual. That would be April 18, which falls on a Monday this year. The date
marks the founding in 1925 of the International Amateur Radio Union.
The IARU is encouraging groups to promote their activities on that day
via social media, using the hash tag #WARD2016, and to make use of a
poster and flyer, both downloadable from their website at iaru.org
(INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR RADIO UNION)
**
HAM RADIO BOOSTS VIRGINIA BIKE RACE
DON: One of the largest bicycle races in the Mid-Atlantic region had some
amateurs along for the ride. But they weren't exactly pedaling: these hams
were riding the bands instead. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Damron,
N8TMW, with the details.
JIM: There's kilocycles, there's megacycles and then there's two-wheeled,
multi-geared racing cycles.
And, when a full racing contingent of those kinds of cycles set out
recently in a road race in Virginia's Albemarle County, the only thing
that seemed to ensure that they'd keep moving forward safely were the
other types of cycles, the kinds that come with radios. That's what
brought the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club back to help out the Jefferson
Cup Road Race on Sunday, April 3, as it has for more than a
quarter-century. The goal was to see that participants along the various
routes, which top off at 80 miles in length, stay safe as they follow
their course.
The race is one of the biggest in the mid-Atlantic. But cell phones don't
work reliably in that part of the county, according to Mike McPherson,
KQ9P, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service emergency coordinator for the
county. And for the cyclists to stay safe, and to keep motor vehicle
traffic diverted from them, reliable communications was a must.
It's not just a commitment the hams make to the race, it's a trial run
for the real thing. McPherson told the Daily Progress newspaper: QUOTE
"This is great practice. With any luck, there aren't very many real
emergencies, so we use these events to practice our procedures, and make
sure our equipment works." ENDQUOTE
McPherson has other goals too, that include making cconnections with the
ham radio club at the University of Virginia, W4UVA, and helping Elmer
even younger people who want to get into the science and the experience
of radio.
That, after all, doesn't just move bicycles in a forward direction. It
also keeps the hobby safely on course.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW.
--- BgNet 1.0a12 - The Thunderbolt BBS wx1der.dyndns.org Little Rock, AR
