As the death toll climbed in a number of countries, emergency communication took on paramount importance in the South Asian nations hit by the earthquake. Its strength was felt in Bangkok, Thailand, affecting that city's high-rise buildings. The search for survivors continued beneath the wreckage of one prominent tower that had been toppled while under construction in the city. Jakkree Hantongkom, HS1FVL, emergency communications director of IARU Region 3, told IARU Region 1's Greg Mossop, GØDUB, that members of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand have been assisting the government with emergency communications in the city and in the surrounding area utilising VHF.
The death toll in the region itself was climbing well into the thousands as search and rescue efforts continued.
COURT HALTS WHITE HOUSE ACTION AGAINST VOICE OF AMERICA
We begin this week with a developing story. Its long run of disseminating news to overseas countries under restrictive regimes may not be all over after all for the Voice of America. VOA has succeeded in its court challenge to the US government's decision to dismantle the international news service. Workers at the VOA were among a number of international news services within the US Agency for Global Media who were told they were being taken off the air and put on administrative leave.
Responding to a lawsuit by a group of VOA employees, a Manhattan federal judge acted on March 28th to halt the order that originated from the White House. The US District Court judge called the agency's action "a classic case of arbitrary policymaking." Radio Free Asia, another international news organization, is also seeking court action to halt its shutdown.
Meanwhile, the news service Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was spared its own announced shutdown after a different US District Court judge ruled that the continued operation of these news services was in the public interest. Funding has since been restored through the end of the current federal fiscal year. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been on the air since the beginning of the Cold War.
SKYWARN YOUTH NET PREPARES NEXT GENERATION
RANDY: If you worked NØA during the last half of March, you were talking with a member of the SKYWARN Youth Net, which meets weekly to encourage severe weather monitoring by young hams across the United States. As most hams who are active during severe weather are beginning to age out, groups like this can help encourage a new generation of SKYWARN supporters.
The net was founded in 2016 by Jim Sellers, NØUAM, who is now a silent key, to encourage youth participation in reporting severe weather. Net manager Caleb Sfair, KEØFOE, got his license in 2015 at age 11 and joined the net two years later at the encouragement of his father, George, KJ6TQ. Caleb told ARNewsline about the beginnings of the SKYWARN Youth Net by Sellers.
CALEB: “He was the Deputy Director of SkyWarn in Southwest Missouri. Simply put, he just wanted to have a simple check-in net that young hams would run to give them a chance to practice passing traffic and to try to encourage other youths to participate and then share and learn about basic weather information.”
RANDY: The SKYWARN Youth Net uses a system of linked repeaters from various parts of the United States along with AllStarLink, Echolink, DMR and Yaesu Fusion. Meeting on Sunday evenings at 7:30pm Central time, the Net gives young hams an opportunity to share weather reports and learn more about participating in severe weather activations. Anyone, young or old, is invited to check in. For more information, you can visit skywarnyouth.net.
SUCCESSFUL AMATEUR CONTACTS FOR FRAM2 SPACECRAFT
Hours after the launch of the private Fram2 spacecraft from the US on March 31st, astronaut Rabea [ROBBIA] Rogge [RAGGA], LB9NJ/KD3AID, began the space team's scheduled transmissions of SSTV imagery, an exercise conducted as part of a high school and university competition for students. It was, however, a voice contact with the DKØTU amateur radio club at the Technical University of Berlin that was among the Fram2's earliest QSOs. The brief question-and-answer session from space took place at the university where the German-born astronaut had been a student herself once.
Much of the Fram2's ham radio activity was designed to be SSTV transmissions from space, carrying the four astronauts' views of the polar regions. They were transmitted in fragments, puzzle-style, challenging students around the world to piece them together to form a complete picture.
The Fram2 mission is named to honour the Norwegian-built ship, Fram, that carried researchers on polar explorations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This amateur contact -- and all transmissions that were to follow - engaged in another form of exploration. In anticipation of the decommissioning of the International Space Station by 2030, hams have been in search of other possible sources for radio contacts from space.
To hear the QSO between the astronaut and the students in Berlin, see the link in the text version of this week's script at arnewsline.org
SILENT KEY: LONGTIME PITTSBURGH-AREA DJ, RADIO HOST JIM QUINN, W3VEX
Jim Quinn, W3VEX got his start on the professional side of radio at KQV-AM as a Top-40 DJ and later with the giant WTAE. In the years that followed, his broadcast career delivered roles as a morning DJ on other music stations during the rise of FM TOP 40 radio. Moving later to WPGB-FM, Jim became cohost of a conservative radio talk show. He was a well-known voice on the air, particularly among Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania listeners.
Jim became a Silent Key on Sunday, March 30th. No cause of death was immediately given.
In all, he had more than four decades in commercial radio, from Pennsylvania to Cleveland to New York City and upstate Buffalo, New York. His amateur radio career lasted even longer, according to his page on QRZ.com. Jim was first licensed as a teenager while living in his native New Jersey.
He was 82.
SILENT KEY: DAN CROUCH, KF7DC, MINGUS MOUNTAIN ROUNDTABLE MODERATOR
It took very little time for Dan Crouch, KF7DC, to find a home with the Mingus Mountain Repeater Group in Arizona. Not long after he got his license in 2012, he found his way there and soon became part of the Mingus Mountain Round Table. He served as a moderator of the roundtable for many years..
Dan became a Silent Key during the weekend of March 15th.
He was a fulltime minister for more than 50 years, serving for 20 years at the Fountain of Life Community Church in Prescott Valley.
In announcing his death on Facebook, Patrick Brower, N7ATG, vice president of the Mingus Mountain Repeater Group, recalled the prayers and strength Dan was able to provide for others, especially when members of the ham radio community or their families experienced a loss.
ANTARCTIC RESEARCH BEACON GOES SILENT AFTER 46 YEARS
There are no more signals from VP8ADE from Adelaide Island, the ice-covered island off the Antarctic peninsula's west coast. The last day on the air for the 28-MHz low-power research beacon was the 21st of February. It was put into service in the summer of 1979 at the British Antarctic survey base of Rothera. Its tour of duty was originally supposed to have lasted only 3 years as one part of a research programme, according to Laurence Howell KL7L, who was the base radio operator at the time. The beacon's collection of critical data on global ionospheric propagation at the F2 layer proved so invaluable that it continued operating for another four decades. The beacon shared a small wooden hut with a 1950-era aircraft navigation beacon and with research equipment used for ionospheric D-layer scintillation research used by students of ionospheric researcher Dr. Roy Piggott. VP8ADE was proposed by the Radio Society of Great Britain. It was coordinated with the British Antarctic Survey and the Falkland Island radio regulator.
IOTA SEEKS VOLUNTEER TO SERVE AS CHECKPOINT FOR BRAZIL
The Islands on the Air awards scheme is in need of an experienced amateur who can serve in the voluntary position of checkpoint for Brazil, a post filled since 2009 by Luciáno Sampaio de Souza, PT7WA.
However he has recently informed the board that he now needs to step down. The ham who fills this post must demonstrate knowledge of the IOTA programme and rules, have good English proficiency, and possess the ability to process online applications.
Interested applicants should send details of the skills they would bring to the task. Email Roger Balister, G3KMA, at the address that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org
Applications are due no later than the 21st of April.
NOMINATION DEADLINE NEARS FOR CQ AMATEUR RADIO HALL OF FAME
The names included in the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame represent the best of the best that ham radio has had to offer through the years. Originated by CQ magazine, the Hall of Fame is now overseen by Hamgallery which selects amateurs with impressive personal operating records as well as achievements that have enhanced the lives and experiences of their fellow amateur radio operators.
Inductees may be living or Silent Keys and they are chosen via nomination. The nominating window is drawing to a close. You have until the 15th of April to submit the names of your nominees to Tom Roscoe, K8CX using email address K8CX at ham gallery dot com. That’s k8cx at ham gallery - that’s one word - dot com (k8cx@hamgallery.com)
Notifications will be sent out by the 30th of April as to whether the nomination was accepted or not.
See the website hamgallery dot com (hamgallery.com) for more details.
COMMUNITY'S FONDNESS FOR TOWER IS A TALL ORDE
American science fiction writer Stephen King is author of, among many things, the "Dark Tower" series of books. Now another tower that used to be his - an AM radio tower more than 400 feet tall - has gone dark. It was formerly used by WZON 620 AM in Maine, one of three of the region's radio stations that used to be owned by the writer. The tower had stood since 1937 when it was first used by WLBZ, the radio station's callsign in its earliest days.
Citing the financial struggles of three area radio stations he owned in Maine, King announced last year they were going to end their run. WKIT, known for its classic rock format, is still on the air, having been saved at the last minute after being bought by a media partnership known as the Rock Lobster Radio Group.
WZON-AM and WZLO-FM went silent on the 31st of December. However, recent local news reports say that both stations will return under new ownership: A company called Mix Maine Media was buying them from King along with an FM translator.
WZON's tower, however, still had to go. Local residents' affection for this longtime familiar sight drew them out to the scene of the demolition on Wednesday, March 26th. The prospect of the station's return, however, did cheer them -- and so when WZON played its final song last December before turning off its transmitter, its words rang true, but only for the tower.
The song was REM's "The End of the World As We Know It."
SPECIAL EVENT IS TRIBUTE TO DXPEDITIONER ZORRO, JH1AJT/SK
The DXer, DXpeditioner and humanitarian known as Zorro, JH1AJT, left enduring footprints on the planet where so many entities in Asia and Africa spelled adventure for him on his activations. His legacy reflects his commitment beyond merely calling QRZ from those locales. His many humanitarian works include the establishment of the Foundation for Global Children in 2010. He also gave an endowment to the INDEXA’s Humanitarian Aid Fund. Zorro sought to improve the lives of people wherever his travels took him, especially children.
When he became a Silent Key in March of 2022 at the age of 72, his death from cancer left a void that his friends continue to fill in the same spirit with which Zorro lived his life. The special event station, 3D2AJT, has been on the air from Fiji since the 16th of March to honor Zorro and will continue through the end of April, with operators using CW, SSB, FT4, FT8 and VARAC. Four-page QSL cards will be available after the activation, featuring a collection of photos from Zorro’s life, and the statement from him: [quote] “I shall go wherever I am needed and I shall do whatever needs to be done.” [Endquote]
Three years after his passing, Zorro - Yasuo Miyazawa - continues to be remembered with this memorial activation, even as his other good works carry on as well.
For more details, see the QRZ.com page for 3D2AJT.
2 NEW INDUCTEES INTO CANADIAN AMATEUR RADIO HALL OF FAME
Congratulations to John Schouten, VE7TI, who has been inducted into the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame for 2024. John was a founding member of the Vancouver Emergency Community Telecommunications Organization, where he has also been a director. He has also served as the local emergency coordinator for Radio Amateurs of Canada for Vancouver. Over the years, John has been regional amateur radio representative and local municipal amateur coordinator for the British Columbia Provincial Emergency Program. He is active with the Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio group and Surrey Amateur Radio Communications, where he serves as director and developer of its course for the Basic amateur radio exam. He is also editor of the club's newsletter, The Communicator.
The hall of fame honor was also given posthumously to Adam Farson, VA7OJ, who became a Silent Key in March of 2024. A winner of the Technical Achievement Award at Hamvention in 2022, Adam's wisdom and expertise was much sought after on a wide range of HF transceivers and amplifiers. The retired telecomm engineer was a longtime member of the North Shore Amateur Radio Club.
HAMS AID ELDERLY WIDOW LOST FOR 2 MONTHS
The Hindu pilgrimage known as the Gangasagar Mela left an 80-year-old participant lost and alone at the end of the event this past January. She had become separated from the group she had traveled with from her home state. Unable to speak, she was eventually taken to the local police station where officers assumed she was ill and transported her to the district hospital.
That’s when another group - an amateur radio organisation known as the West Bengal Radio Club - was called in by police to solve the mystery of where she was from. The club’s members are widely known for their robust communications network which has assisted scores of displaced persons over the years. Using amateur radio and other means, the club circulated information about the woman - and sent her photograph to amateur clubs around the country. Within a few hours, the response came back that the woman was from the state of Uttar Pradesh and had traveled to the annual pilgrimage by train with a group from the district of Ballia. The hams learned that during the past two months, several people from Ballia had returned to West Bengal to look for her but without success.
The hams provided the missing pieces to the puzzle and according to Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, secretary of the radio club, the police in her home district have since been directed by the local magistrate to bring her safely home.
A CW EVENT TURNS THE CALENDAR BACK TO 1935
It’s time to put away your software-defined rig and enjoy being behind the times - way behind the times. The George Batterson 1935 QSO Party will devote two weekends in April to rigs that were either manufactured or home brewed in 1935 or before. CW ops will be looking to make QSOs on the weekends of April 5th through 7th and April 12th through 14th to honor the Silent Key George Batterson, W2GB, who was one of the original founders of the Antique Wireless Association based in upstate New York.
The CW ops are hoping for contacts with as many other 1935-era stations as possible on 160, 80, 40 and 20 meters – and they expect that, like the rigs themselves, the experience will be a classic.
COURT DELAYS DEFUNDING OF RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY
In related news, a federal court in the United States has declared that Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, one of the government-run news services marked for dismantling by the White House, cannot be terminated. The US District Court said that the news services' continued operation, serving listeners overseas, was [quote] "in the public interest." [endquote] According to a report on the Radio Wold website, the judge's ruling on March 26th concluded that [quote] "irreparable harm" [endquote] would result from any shutdown.
VOICE OF AMERICA MUSEUM REASSURES VISITORS
Although the US administration is making cuts to the parent agency of Voice of America and other international news services, the Voice of America Museum in West Chester, Ohio is assuring visitors that it is not affected by these government decisions. The museum is a standalone not-for-profit entity that relies on support from the public - not federal funding.
The museum's executive director, Jack Dominic, released a statement reassuring concerned hams and other callers that the museum will continue to tell the story of the Voice of America, even as the news agency itself goes silent. As always, the museum looks forward to seeing hams from around the world during Hamvention this coming May. Museum hours during Hamvention will be from noon to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday - that's May 15th through to May 17th - and on Sunday, May 18th, from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door. Amateur radio station WC8VOA will be on the air so bring a copy of your license.
HAMS REACH OUT TO BOOST AUTISM AWARENESS
The call for autism awareness will be heard around the world during the week of April 2nd through to April 8th. Hams will be calling "CQ Special Event Autism Awareness Week," encouraging inclusion and awareness of the autism spectrum disorder.
This event is being organized for the third year by James Gallo, KB2FMH, who believes the best impact the activation can have is its engagement of other operators in ragchews or short chats about their experiences with autism. James says that because this is not a contest, the real prize is the experience of meaningful contact and conversation - spreading the word that it's OK to be different.
During last year's event, that message traveled far and wide. According to the QRZ.com page for W2A, operators around the world logged 17,129 QSOs, with signals traveling nearly 83 million miles.
In the US, listen for the callsign W2A. Listen for other stations around the world, including GB2AA, 8A2AAW, S76A, VO1BIG/VE3 and 7A2M.
Visit the QRZ.com page for W2A to see which callsigns are participating and to learn more about the autism spectrum disorder, which is an often-misunderstood diagnosis - or may go altogether undiagnosed.
OFCOM PROPOSES DIRECT SMARTPHONE-SATELLITE CONNECTIONS
The UK is poised to have the first European telecommunications system that enables standard smartphones to send and receive signals from space. The system, known as "direct-to-device" technology, connects smartphones wirelessly to satellites. A similar permission was recently authorised in the US by the Federal Communications Commission.
The UK regulator, Ofcom, is proposing to allocate radio frequencies for use in the UK, especially for rural and other currently underserved communication network areas and is inviting comments from the public until 20th of May. Ofcom believes that this could both facilitate sending texts and internet connections during outages, and that access would be allowed to the mobile airwaves for two-way communications between smartphones and satellite operators' networks. If approved, service could begin to roll out later this year.
There has already been a promising field test of the technology in January, under a trial licence issued to Vodafone, who, using a standard smartphone, completed the first satellite video call from a remote part of Wales currently without standard mobile network coverage.
EARTH-VENUS-EARTH BOUNCE A FIRST FOR NETHERLANDS
Amateur radio signals that were bounced off Venus some 26 million miles away, have returned to Earth where they were picked up by the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope, PI9RD, in the Netherlands, according to news reports on the 25th of March.
The achievement - the second of its kind in Europe - means that amateur radio signals covered a distance that is more than 100 times greater than those that are traveled by Earth-Moon-Earth, or moon-bounce signals.
Scientists’ fascination with using Venus-bounce dates back several decades when radar was bounced off the planet from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology here in the United States. Much later, radar from the Arecibo [ARRA SEE BO] Observatory in Puerto Rico was bounced off Venus and the signal's return to Earth was picked up by the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The radar trace was used to create imagery of the planet's surface.
It was a German observatory that achieved what is considered a first for Europe using amateur radio waves: A team from AMSAT-DL achieved bounce and successful reception 16 years ago at the ground station at the Bochum observatory sending a CW signal. Until the Dwingeloo Venus-bounce, this was the only such achievement to date of its kind.
Meanwhile, in the US, a California not-for-profit group, the Open Research Institute, has begun a project as well involving Earth-Venus-Earth experimentation. ORI asks interested hams to contact them via their website, openresearch dot institute. That’s openresearch - one word - dot institute. (openresearch.institute)
FOR AM RADIO, SIGNOFF IS A SIGN OF THE TIMES
The website for New York radio station W I R Y-AM, screams: [quote] "Hometown radio. Playing all the hits from yesteryear to today." Now after 75 years, however, there will be no hits played for any tomorrows. The upstate New York State broadcaster has announced it is going silent, the result of a changing audience and a changing media environment.
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are presently debating whether a law is needed to ensure that carmakers keep AM radio in vehicles sold in the US -- but for this broadcaster, a locally owned station in the Champlain Valley, the argument is over and AM radio has lost. WIRY made its announcement earlier this month. The announcement did not specify the last day before its transmitter would go silent.
