TOUR DE FRANCE IS A TOUR DE CALLSIGNS

The route of this year's Tour de France cycling race passes through 37 towns and cities - 10 of them are new to this legendary race that has endured since 1903. Through it all, from the start in Barcelona to the finish line on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, cyclists will be making contact with local people who will watch and cheer them on.

Even if you're not near the route, you can still cheer them on by contacting any number of special-event stations organised by Réseau des Émetteurs Français. Whether the cyclists are crossing a hilly or a flat region, propagation is expected to enable contact with TM00TFR, TM40TFR, TM42TFR and similar stations in many of the regions. For details on these stations, their operating modes and diplomas available, visit the QRZ.com page for TM00TFR.

ANTENNA INSTALLATION ADDS TO TEXAS GROUP'S REACH

Members of the Deep East Texas Amateur Radio Club have been serving the community since the club's creation in 1978. They have passed crucial emergency traffic to the Angelina County Emergency Operations Center and from there to the state operations center in Austin. In one of the group's most high profile activations, hams provided support during the recovery efforts after the Columbia Space Shuttle broke apart upon re-entry in 2003.

According to local media reports, operations are about to improve for the radio volunteers as a new antenna gets installed on the center's tower to provide local, regional and statewide communications with new VHF, UHF and HF capabilities.

In addition to providing on-site support for major community events such as festivals and bike races, the club and its members will now be even more prepared for whatever kind of need comes its way.

MILESTONE MOMENT FOR PROTOTYPE RADIO TELESCOPE

A proposed new antenna array being developed will be massive, consisting of 244 antennas and stretching more than 8,045 kilometers, or 5 thousand miles. Tests of its prototype recently attracted attention for another reason: the new next-generation Very Large Array radio antenna gathered signals for the first time - a key moment for a design that is expected to provide higher sensitivity and spatial resolution than the current system. Working alongside the 27 antennas of the VLA, it tracked the Crab Nebula and the sun and it observed the bright galactic nucleus known as Perseus A.

The National Science Foundation's National Radio Astronomy Observatory sees promise in its ability to go beyond the capacity of the current Very Large Array. The test in the New Mexico desert was conducted in collaboration with the current VLA, which was built starting in the 1970s. Its encouraging results mark the prototype system's transition from being a project under construction to a tool capable of making independent observations and conducting astronomical testing. It is expected to form the basis for the eventual 244-antenna array.

HAMS LAUNCHING A TALL CONSERVATION ENDEAVOR

If I asked you what the date June 21st means to you, you’d probably say that sounds like the first official day of summer in the United States. It marks the longest period of daylight for a day this year.

Coincidentally, this date for the summer solstice this year also marks the celebration of Father’s Day in America..

So, what do “Tatu” and “Joshua” have to do with all of this?

Both of these named creatures – whose origins can be traced to the continent of Africa - are mammals and the tallest animals on the planet.

Come on, Sherlock Holmes – it’s elementary!

They are giraffes!

They’re going to be honored with a special event station to be set up on Sunday, June 21st to observe World Giraffe Day from the Lehigh Valley Zoo outside of Allentown where they both now live.

Walt Skavinsky KB3SBC is coordinating the W3G operation on behalf of the Education Alliance for Amateur Radio.

Skavinsky tells Newsline the W3G special event creates a rare intersection of wildlife conservation and communications technology.

He says [quote] "It will give zoo visitors and the public an opportunity to see real-world radio operations in action while celebrating giraffes and supporting awareness of conservation issues for them." [endquote.]

Skavinsky says giraffes in the wild face significant threats including habitat loss and poaching. He says world conservation groups use World Giraffe Day to focus on the silent extinction the gentle creatures are facing.

More details at QRZ-dot-com, search W3G in the call sign window in the upper left box.

By the way, Skavinsky observes [quote] "This may be the only special event station where the antenna is not the tallest thing around." [endquote]

YOUTH ON THE AIR SUMMER CAMP ACTIVATES W4Y

It's the season for Youth on the Air Americas Camp in Huntsville, Alabama for young amateur radio operators in North, Central, and South America. Be listening for special event call W4Y while camp is in session from June 14th through to the 19th. When the youngsters aren't on the air, they'll be engaging in a number of space-themed activities and will livestream their contact with ISS astronaut Chris Williams, KJ5GEW.

ARDC LAUNCHES DISCORD DISCUSSION THREAD

If you want to engage in a more direct dialogue with the staff at Amateur Radio Digital Communications, you can now join their new thread in the Discord app. ARDC invites discussions about project updates, 44Net, grants and other topics relevant to the kind of work that ARDC does. Anyone involved in amateur radio or digital communications is welcome. Bring your thoughts, ideas and questions.

The California-based foundation provides support to projects involved in scientific research, amateur radio, experimentation, digital communication and communication technology.

You'll find a link to the server in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

FOLDABLE ANTENNA BOOSTS DATA RATES FOR CUBESATS

Using a folded antenna design, researchers have succeeded in helping CubeSats overcome their typically limited data transmission rates. The design, known as the Origami Antenna, increases to 25 times of its stored size on board the tiny satellite. When stored, the 64-gram antenna is 10x10x6 centimetres. Its deployed size creates a surface that is 50x50 centimetres.

Researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo have found that the antenna not only supports transmissions at higher rates but strengthens signals by focusing the transmissions into a narrow beam. The antenna transmits at a frequency of 5.8 GHz and has a gain of 18 dBi.

The antenna was deployed on the 23rd of May on Science Tokyo's OrigamiSat-2 CubeSat, which was launched in late April.

The researchers' next task challenge will be a larger foldable antenna to be installed on larger satellites conducting observations of Earth.

EVACUATED ASTRONAUTS RETURN TO ISS AFTER LEAK

Five space station astronauts, including the four-member team of Crew-12, returned to the space station on June 5th after taking shelter in their Crew Dragon spacecraft where they were sent under evacuation orders from NASA. The space agency reversed its earlier evacuation order that had been prompted by an air leak discovered in the Russian service module. Cosmonauts were working to repair the recurring leak which Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said did not pose any immediate danger to the crew or the spacecraft itself. NASA and Roscosmos have been working together to determine their cause.

TIME TO SWITCH HAMCLOCK BACKEND SERVER

This is a reminder that the original backend server for the popular HamClock shack accessory is set to stop working this month. If you wish to continue using HamClock and all its features and to receive its updates, you will need to switch your backend server as soon as possible.

OpenHamClock Backend is an open-source server run by a development team that is also providing updates to the HamClock client. The client version is now at V4.26

For details, visit the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

AMSAT EXPLORES CUBESAT PAYLOAD ON ARTEMIS MISSION

AMSAT hopes to develop a CubeSat that will become a secondary payload on board one of NASA's next Artemis missions. In a letter of intent submitted recently to the space agency, AMSAT said that the high-Earth deployment offered by the missions would align well with AMSAT's own goals to bring ham radio satellites into increasingly higher orbits.

The proposed CubeSat payload would be a 6U-class spacecraft, weighing less than 14 kilograms, or 30 pounds. It should have deployable solar arrays and an amateur radio communications system developed by AMSAT to support VHF uplinks and UHF downlinks. The CubeSat would also have a 5 GHz uplink and a 10 GHz downlink. Hams around the world would be asked to provide telemetry reception using AMSAT's analysis tools.

AMSAT responded to a NASA request for interested parties for its Artemis 3, 4 and 5 missions, which can accommodate 6U and 12U size CubeSats.

NASA ANNOUNCES ASTRONAUTS FOR ARTEMIS III MISSION

The Artemis 3 mission is designed to be the last NASA mission leading up to a planned 2028 moon landing - and the four astronauts chosen for it will be responsible for tests on two commercially built lunar landers. The Orion spacecraft's pilot will be Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, an Italian astronaut from the European Space Agency. He is the only member of the Artemis 3 team with an amateur radio callsign.

The team includes test pilot and flight veteran Randy Bresnik, first-timer Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio, who holds the United States record for the single longest spaceflight - a total of 371 days. The lunar landers are being build by Blue Origin and SpaceX.

IRTS SEEKS OPERATORS FOR TEAM IN IARU HF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

As the date for the IARU HF World Championship approaches, the Irish Radio Transmitters Society is still in search of hams who can represent Ireland by calling CQ with the callsign EIØHQ. There are 12 operating slots that remain to be filled for the event, which runs for 24 hours from the 11th to the 12th of July on all the HF bands, excluding the WARC bands. If you are interested in being part of Ireland's headquarters station team contact Mark EI6JK, the contest manager, by emailing him at contestmanager at irts dot ie (contestmanager@irts.ie).

SILENT KEY: PROMINENT QATARI HAM ABDULLAH BIN HAMAD AL ATTIYAH, A71AU

Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, A71AU, was an influential presence in the leadership of Qatar and in amateur radio there. In public life, he was a former deputy prime minister and minister of energy and industry in Qatar. More recently he served as chairman of the Qatar Amateur Radio Society and was a major proponent for the development of the QO-100 satellite. Launched in 2018, the satellite, also known as Es'hail-2, carried the world's first geostationary amateur radio transponder as its payload. The project was a cooperative effort by the Qatar Amateur Radio Society, the Qatar Satellite Company and AMSAT-DL.

Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah became a Silent Key on the 27th of May. He was 73.

HAM'S EXPERIMENT WOULD ADAPT TELETEXT FOR AMATEUR RADIO

In Europe for over 40 years, TV sets have been capable of receiving a broadcast information service known as Teletext. Now the broadcasting protocol is being harnessed for a modern digital radio mode using AX.25 packet radio data links on both HF and VHF bands.

This is an experiment by Stephen Cass. KB1WNR, who reported on his work in the IEEE [Eye Triple E] Spectrum, where he is an editor. Stephen writes that he was inspired by BBC's service known as Ceefax, which even in the days of analogue TVs, enabled viewers to select what they wanted to read on screen by entering different numeric codes into their TV remotes.

This experiment works on adapting Teletext for ham radio.

Stephen wrote: [quote] "I thought it would make a great radio protocol. In fact, I thought it could be a digital counterpart of slow-scan television." [endquote] SSTV transmissions are analogue and somewhat slow and are often transmitted a few times to ensure the entire message - images plus text - can be received.

Stephen asks that hams wishing to help him to experiment contact him via the IEEE Spectrum online magazine at spectrum dot i e e e dot org (spectrum.ieee.org)

ARREST IN COPPER THEFT AT US RADIO STATION

Copper communication cables were stolen in late May from the tower site of radio station WDGG, 93.7 FM, launching an investigation by local authorities. A transmission line was also cut, throwing the station temporarily off the air. The 100,000-watt station, which is owned by Kindred Communications, has since returned to broadcasting but at a much lower power, less than 10 watts.

Within days, police announced the arrest of a 63-year-old Kentucky man, Paul Crisp, after they said he was seen fleeing the same site during what police say was a second attempted copper theft.

According to a report on the Inside Radio website, authorities used a search warrant to enter his home and found several pieces of communication cable and tools that they believe were involved in the incident.

The last few years have seen a dramatic rise in copper wire thefts in the US, according to a recent report on National Public Radio. With growing demand for use of copper, especially in AI data centers, the value of the metal has doubled. Todd Swenson of AT&T's construction and engineering division, told National Public Radio that it is also being increasingly stripped out of phone lines throughout the communications system as thieves try to capitalize on what are now a record-high prices.

AMERITRON, MIRAGE BRANDS SOLD TO ITU CORP.

Our top story this week is the sale of Mirage and Ameritron to the Indiana company that acquired the Cushcraft and Hygain brands from MFJ Enterprises earlier this year. Mirage and Ameritron, who are known for their amplifiers, are to join the amateur radio portfolio of ITU Corporation. ITU's president, Dave Carpenter, posted both brands' logos on his profile page on the LinkedIn business platform, referring to their recent acquisition.

As Newsline went to production, the official statement was covered on Linton News, a local online Newspaper where ITU Corporation is located.

This past April, ITU announced it will return Hygain and Cushcraft brands to the marketplace by manufacturing them at a 15-acre property that is the former home of a National Guard Armory in Linton, Indiana. In a joint announcement that month, Dave and Kambi Carpenter, who own the electronics supply business TekShack, announced the deal with Martin Jue, K5FLU, who closed the business he founded in Starkville, Mississippi.

GOING EYEBALL-TO-EYEBALL, OFF THE AIR

It’s not a net. It’s not a ragchew. It’s not even on the air. The Eyeball QSO Party is a welcoming room on Zoom where hams from different countries simply show up. Once a week, they share their opinions, their experiences and even images on their computer screens. It could be a view of their treasured vintage rigs, their radio-controlled planes, astronomy gear or websites about the events in the news.

The QSO Party's host, Hugh Owen, KA3TTW, said he created the room during the pandemic to help ease isolation brought on by cancellation of club meetings, hamfests and even social morning coffees. The concept is simple, he said: People show up. Some are as local as the Washington, D.C. area where Hugh lives. Sometimes they're dropping by from Canada, Luxembourg, Great Britain or even Argentina.

Although getting on the air is why so many hams got their licenses to begin with, this off-air QSO Party still fills a need. Hugh told Newsline [quote] “This does have the big advantage of people being face-to-face and people can share things on their screens.” [Endquote] So every Monday, it happens starting at 1700 UTC between March 9th and November 2nd; and at 1600 UTC the rest of the year. :

Best of all, propagation is never an issue. Everyone gets a Five-Nine.

To join the party, send an email to eyeballqsoparty - that’s one word - at gmail.com. (eyeballqsoparty@gmail.com) There is also a groups.io reflector where you can visit and subscribe. Find the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://groups.io/g/EyeballQSOParty ]

YOUNGSTERS PREPARE FOR IARU REGION 1 CAMP

Applications in the UK increased by 200 percent this year for a place in the Youngsters on the Air Summer Camp to be held in the Austrian Alps, according to the Radio Society of Great Britain. This year's session, organised by IARU Region 1's Youth Committee and the Austrian Amateur Radio Society ÖVSV [pron: "uhe fow ess fow"], will be held from the 25th of July through to the 1st of August. It is the 14th annual such camp, designed to build radio skills, foster international friendships and ensure a robust future for the next generation of hams. The RSGB has announced that it will be sending three campers: Tom, M1TJM, the 25-year-old team leader, with team members Filip, M7SZW and Milo, M9ILO, who are 16 and 17 respectively.
Last year, the camp was held in August just outside Paris.

REGISTRATION OPENS FOR MICROWAVE UPDATE CONFERENCE

The radio adventure that awaits beyond the realm of VHF and UHF can be found at 900 MHz and above -- on the microwave bands. Later this year, it will find a home off the air, for a few days, in Rochester, New York, where the Rochester VHF group is hosting Microwave Update, an international conference that draws 100 or more attendees. Registration began recently for the conference, which will be held on the weekend of October 23rd in a spacious state-of-the-art facility being made available at the L3Harris Conference Center in Rochester, New York.

Dave Hallidy, K2DH, one of the organizers, said that if you've had your eye on that higher part of the spectrum, now's the time to plan to attend the conference, which is hosted every year in a different city. He told Newsline [quote] "It's a friendly atmosphere. Everyone there are buddies." [endquote] Bill Rogers, K2TER, head of the committee, said there is also a lot of expertise and support among microwave veterans. In fact, in Rochester, many of them are current or former employees of L3Harris.

In addition to talks, there will be a tune-up clinic, and representatives from Keysight Technologies will be on site with their test equipment.

This is the Rochester VHF Group's third year hosting the conference, said another organizer, Ron Panetta, WB2WGH, and guests can take advantage of what the region has to offer. Less technical activities will take place at the nearby Doubletree by Hlton Hotel for a banquet and a flea market - and there will be a sidetrip on Thursday, October 22nd, to the Antique Wireless Museum.

To register, visit microwaveupdate dot org. That's microwaveupdate - one word - dot org. (microwaveupdate.org)

DOUBLE CENTENNIAL FOR HAM RADIO IN JAPAN

This year and next year are milestone years for ham radio operators in Japan. The Japan Amateur Radio League marks its 100th anniversary this month. The issuing of the callsign JXAX to Japan's first licensed amateur radio station marks its own centennial next year. In September of 1927, JXAX went on the air as an experimental shortwave radio telegraph and telephone station.

Now hams are setting aside the next 16 months to mark both moments in history. A full range of commemorative activities are planned from this month through to the 30th of September 2027. Operating events, awards and both the 2026 and 2027 Tokyo Ham Fairs, the world's largest ham radio event, are part of the plans, along with a commemorative publication and an opening ceremony.

So turn your attention, and maybe your antennas, toward Japan. Things are about to start happening.