Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Thu Apr 01 2021 07:43 pm
ALABAMA TORNADOES HIT HOME FOR ONE AMATEUR
NEIL/ANCHOR: In Alabama, where tornadoes raged through part of the
landscape in late March, one radio amateur made an especially painful
discovery about the importance of preparedness. Randy Sly, W4XJ, brings us
that story.
RANDY: James Spann, WO4W, is no stranger to severe weather. As chief
meteorologist for WBMA in Birmingham Alabama, he is a familiar TV face
during tornado activations, always reminding viewers that they need a
severe weather plan. If fact, when he and his wife built a new home a few
years ago, they included a storm shelter
Last week, tornadoes and other severe weather pummeled the state, wrecking
buildings and killing at least five people in one county. During his report
on a long track of violent storms, he suddenly said, "What I'm doing is
texting my wife to be sure she's in the shelter.." -- He moved off camera
with a co-worker taking over.
Rejoining less than 15 minutes later, he shared some bad news with viewers.
His home was hit by a tornado.
"The reason I had to step out," he explained, "We had major damage at my
house. I had to be sure. My wife is okay, but the tornado came right
through there and it's not good. It's bad. It's bad."
However, their preparedness made the difference. "My wife got the warning,"
he said, "she had a plan, she was in the shelter and she's fine."
Then, Spann was back to work making sure others would be informed and safe
too.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Randy Sly, W4XJ.
**
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM HAMSCI EVENT
NEIL/ANCHOR: If you missed the HamSCI virtual event which was livestreamed
on March 19th and 20th, you can attend via YouTube where videorecordings of
the workshops are now available. This is the second year HamSCI went
virtual in response to the global pandemic. The free program, supported by
the National Science Foundation and the University of Scranton, featured
presenters on such topics as personal space weather stations, mid-latitude
sporadic-E, weak signal VHF propagation and related topics.
A link to the recorded programming for Days 1 and 2 can be found in the
printed version of this week's newscast script at arnewsline.org
FOR PRINT, DO NOT READ:
FOR DAY 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfhAxuViTYQ
FOR PRINT, DO NOT READ:
For DAY 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrvuS0h9XA
**
WORLDWIDE BALLOON LAUNCHES MARK EQUINOX
NEIL/ANCHOR: Spring in the Northern Hemisphere isn't just about flowers
waking up and starting to bloom. It's also about..... balloons! Mike
Askins, KE5CXP, explains.
MIKE: When the medium altitude balloon launched by science teacher Jill
Gravante took to the sky on March 20th from an upstate New York junior high
school, the event was part of a wide-ranging celebration dispatching 14
such balloons, linking students and teachers involved in STEM activities
worldwide. In what was called the Equinox Balloon Launch, each balloon
carried a lightweight Skytracker APRS and WSPR payload, all solar-powered.
They were launched from various spots in the US, Argentina and Australia on
paths that, one week later, had them sailing over Siberia, China and South
Africa. After the launch at Winburn Middle School in Kentucky, science
teacher Jenny McCall, and Ron Malinowski, WX4GPS, later tracked the balloon
named "Bessie" over southern Siberia, heading into Mongolia. Although it's
not spring in his part of the world, the launch even attracted involvement
by Melbourne teacher Greg Hellard.
Bill Brown, WB8ELK, the designer of the Skytracker technology, said the
launches were coordinated by Washington State high school teacher Trevor
MacDuff, KS1LAS, with help from Los Angeles science educator Joanne
Michael, KM6BWB. The enthusiasm, however, needed no coordination at all.
In fact, Joanne posted on Facebook that befitting a project that involved
students, it was a "textbook launch."
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mike Askins, KE5CXP.
(BILL BROWN WB8ELK)
**
BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including WA5AIR, the Texas
Link System which carries Newsline on seven repeaters on Wednesdays and
Saturdays at 7 p.m. local time.
--- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
* Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (432:1/112)
