Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Oct 08 2021 05:09 am
APPALACHIAN TRAIL ACTIVATIONS LIGHT UP AIRWAVES
JIM/ANCHOR: When POTA, SOTA and Worldwide Flora and Fauna operators
activated sites along the Appalachian Trail in the eastern United States
recently, the airwaves above apparently blazed a few trails of their own.
Dave Parks, WB8ODF, brings us that report.
DAVE: Saturday, October 2nd, was a busy day for Appalachian Trail
activations, as more than 60 stations called CQ from points along more
than two thousand miles of trail. David, ND1J, and Mike, KB7THL, operated
POTA stations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, respectively, and
Jonathan, W4UYE, and Bob, AC1Z, activated SOTA summits in Georgia and
Virginia, respectively. According to organizer Mike, WB2FUV, the day ended
with at least 25 unique SOTA summits activated and at least 26 POTA
partipants in 11 of the 14 states. Mike himself was operating QRP CW on
West Mountain along the original section of the trail and logged 77
contacts. He said many SOTA stations were also making summit-to-summit
contacts with W7A SOTA stations on the 10 point peaks in Arizona.
The event marked the trail's 100th anniversary. But the celebration
extended beyond the US: Preliminary results on the event website showed
that the farthest DX went to Heinz, OE5EEP/p in the Austrian mountains. He
broke through the stateside pileups to work two SOTA stations on the
trail.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Dave Parks, WB8ODF.
(MICHAEL MORAN WB2FUV)
**
RESULTS ARE IN FOR PORTABLE OPERATIONS CHALLENGE
JIM/ANCHOR: The results are in for the Portable Operations Challenge held
in Sepember. Here's Ed Durrant, DD5LP.
ED: The Portable Operations Challenge 2021 took place on September 4th and
5th and the overall winner showed what can be done from a great portable
location and using very low power. With just six contacts and running at
one-watt CW on twenty metres, Jack Haefner, NG2E, took out the top spot
with a grand total of 615,924 points. His six contacts were from all
around the US, plus one that went all the way from his Hogback Mountain
SOTA summit W4V/SH-007 in Virginia to French SOTA chaser Christian,
F4WBN, near the French/Spanish border. All contacts took place within 32
minutes of operating, in session two of the contest.
The most efficient contact measured in kilometres per watt used was that
same Virginia - France contact with 6,340 kilometres per watt achieved.
So, this year both the overall winner and the furthest km/watt contact
title go to one person - Jack Haefner, NG2E. WELL DONE, Jack!
The number of entrants was a little disappointing. There were only
eighteen, far more had been hoped for in this, the second year, of the
challenge.
Of those entering however, there were a wide variety of power levels and
modes both from home and portable locations.
Of the eighteen entrants, fifteen were from the US, two from Europe and
one from Australia.
For the portable operations challenge, and ARNewsline, this has been Ed,
DD5LP.
**
CHINA ANNOUNCES LOSS OF SATELLITE
JIM/ANCHOR: China had great hopes for a satellite launched late last month
but following a malfunction, has declared it lost. Jason Daniels, VK2LAW,
has that story.
JASON: China's Shiyan-10 satellite was declared lost shortly after its
launch on Monday, September 27th. In releasing the news, Chinese state
media reported that the spacecraft did not function properly despite
having had a normal flight one day earlier. A report on Twitter said a
flash was seen in the sky above New South Wales, Australia. According to
SpaceNews, the flash was believed to be a sign that the launch was on
course and that this was a visible burn of the upper stage of the Long
March 3B rocket that carried the satellite as payload. The satellite was
to have entered a geosynchronous orbit around Earth. It was said to have
malfunctioned during the launch and by Tuesday, September 28th, was
officially declared a failure.
Shiyan-10's launch closely followed the liftoff of China's Jilin-1 Gaefen
02D satellite, which was reported to have achieved successful orbit.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW.
(SPACE.COM, SPACENEWS)
--- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
* Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (432:1/112)
