Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (D
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Jun 19 2020 08:52 am
WORLD OF DX
In the world of DX, listen for John, W5JON, in St. Kitts, where he's
using the call sign, V47JA, from Calypso Bay, until July 2nd. He is
operating from 160 metres to 6 metres, using SSB, and FT8. Send QSLs
via LoTW, or send directly to his home call sign.
Be listening for Giorgio, IU5HWS, who is on the air from Iraq until
mid-July. You can listen for him on 40, 20, and 10 metres. For details
on his activation, visit his YI/IU5HWS page on QRZ.com, which he is
updating regularly.
**
KICKER: UP UP AND AWAY - TO VICTORY
NEIL/ANCHOR: We close this week's report with a story that we hope
proves uplifting, amid the present turbulence in the world. What,
after all, is more uplifting than a helium-filled mid-altitude
balloon? Well, perhaps FOUR such balloons, all equipped with solar
panels and APRS transmitters. Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB, brings us the
tale.
RALPH: On June 8, Liam Kennedy, KN6EQU, became a big winner, when his
mid-altitude balloon crashed in a tree by a lake outside Liverpool,
Nova Scotia, Canada. The balloon was one of four launched from the
West Coast of the U.S. just days earlier in a race across the continent,
that was part of an educational project for students during lockdown.
For the California amateur, who has a long history supporting the
International Space Station's radio contacts with students, this race
against educators who are seasoned balloon competitors, had him feeling
a bit like a newbie.
LIAM: "When everyone launched, all of their balloons were way higher,
going way faster, and mine was just bobbing along. And, I just wanted
it to just survive, just go at least for another day."
RALPH: That single day turned into several days, and Liam's balloon
made it all the way to the Eastern Time Zone, crossing the finish line
first.
LIAM: "I didn't deserve to win, in terms of the effort everyone else
put through."
RALPH: Humbled but happy, win he did! His grand prize? Sharing that
victory with his friend, Ted Tagami, KK6UUQ, of Magnitude.io the
second-place winner, who'd actually funded the very balloon that beat
him. Liam had also helped educators teach students about jet streams,
weather predictions, and of course, ham radio. His other prize: finding
joy in following the crash recovery days later, as volunteers from the
Annapolis Royal Space Agency, the Annapolis Valley Amateur Radio Club,
and other hams in Nova Scotia, retrieved the tracker, turning the
expedition into an international effort.
LIAM: This provided a type of community working together, to recover
something that is now going to add on some more interesting opportunities
in learning going forward. So, it is almost like paying it forward.
RALPH: Community - and a hopeful eye toward the future. Two things as
uplifting as those adventurous balloons themselves.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB.
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to ARISS; Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL;
CQ Magazine; David Behar, K7DB; DX-World; Essex Ham; European Space
Agency; the Mid Somerset Amateur Radio Club; NASA; Ohio Penn DX;
QRZ.COM; shortwaveradio.de; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's
QSO Radio Show; Twitter; WTWW Shortwave; Youngsters on the Air Oceania;
and you, our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline.
Please send emails to our address at
[email protected]. More
information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official
website at arnewsline.org.
For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York,
and our news team worldwide, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, in Bloomington,
Indiana, saying 73, and as always, we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.
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