Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Aug 09 2019 01:38 pm
SILENT KEY: RADIO 'GODFATHER' FRITZ NITSCH W4NTO
NEIL/ANCHOR: A well-decorated World War II veteran, and a Morse Code
enthusiast known as the "godfather of ham radio in Spartanburg County,
South Carolina" has become a Silent Key.
Reynold Lepage "Fritz" Nitsch, W4NTO, a four-time winner of the Bronze
Star for his military service, died at his home on the 5th of August,
according to the Spartanburg County Community Emergency Response Team.
As a young soldier, Fritz's earliest assignment had been to conduct
Morse Code training at Camp Croft in Spartanburg. As a veteran, who
kept up his skills, his talent and love for mentoring eventually
earned him the nickname of the "godfather" of hams in the county.
Fritz was the last surviving charter member of the Spartanburg Amateur
Radio Club, founded in 1952. As a Red Cross volunteer, he was given
the Clara Barton Award for Meritorious Volunteer Service in 1984.
Fritz was 100.
(FOX CAROLINA)
**
AN AMATEUR RADIO RECORD FOR INDIA
NEIL/ANCHOR: There's nothing like setting new records in ham radio,
and this one - for licenses - belongs to India, as John Williams,
VK4JJW, tells us.
JOHN: Hams in India have set a new record, according to statistics
from that nation's Department of Telecommunications. Tracking the
number of new ham radio licences issued in the financial year
2018-2019, officials tallied a total of 1,155. They called that number
a "significant increase" over the previous financial year's total of
838.
The statistics also show that 1,414 amateur radio examinations were
given during the same 12-month fiscal period, ending on March 31, 2019.
India has two licence classes: General and Restricted. A 20-year licence
costs one thousand rupees, the equivalent of 15 U.S. dollars, and a
lifetime licence costs two thousand rupees, or the equivalent of 30 U.S.
dollars.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm John Williams, VK4JJW.
(SOUTHGATE)
**
RADIO CAROLINE SETS SAIL ON THE HF WAVES
NEIL/ANCHOR: A legendary home of pirate radio in the UK came alive with
amateur radio recently, and our own Ed Durrant, DD5LP, was on board.
Here's his report.
ED: The Martello Tower group ran the special event call sign GB55RC last
week-end to celebrate 55 years since the first UK offshore radio station,
Radio Caroline went on air. The group report a good number of contacts
in the log, following their activation on board the Ross Revenge. The
Radio Caroline ship is moored in the River Blackwater estuary in Southern
England as a floating pirate radio museum.
Your own Amateur Radio Newsline reporter Ed, DD5LP, was lucky to be able
to book a place on the tour, to and around the ship, on August the 3rd,
when the activation was in full swing. Contacts from VK, North and South
America, were already in the log by Saturday afternoon, and the final
totals were 1699 SSB and 959 FT8 contacts.
For further coverage, please check out the upcoming feature in Edition
302 from our friends at icqpodcast.com, and of course GB55RC on QRZ.COM,
Martello Tower Group dot com, where Martello Tower Group is written as
one word, and Radio Caroline dot co dot uk on the web.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP.
**
ISS EVENT PAYS TRIBUTE TO SILENT KEY WHO WAS RADIO PIONEER IN SPACE
NEIL/ANCHOR: Hams recently received some memorable images of a pioneering
astronaut and amateur, thanks to the ISS, and slow-scan TV. Dave Parks,
WB8ODF, has that story.
DAVE: Using slow-scan TV, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
has ensured that the images of Owen Garriott, W5LFL - the first astronaut
to operate ham radio during a space mission - will live on. For four days,
beginning on the first of August, ARISS hosted a global commemorative
event honoring the radio operator, who became a Silent Key in April. It
was his example, and his influence that led to the later establishment of
the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, or SAREX, that paved the way for
ARISS.
Hams who received the images are eligible to receive something else: an
SSTV ARISS Award, which is being given to radio operators who have posted
their images for viewing by the public. To view these images, which were
received by hams worldwide, visit spaceflightsoftware dot com slash ARISS
underscore SSTV (spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV)
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Dave Parks, WB8ODF.
