Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Sep 09 2021 21:27:52 IN SWITZERLAND, HIGH-FLYING QSOS IN HOT AIR BALLOON DON/ANCHOR: Hams who are up for some high adventure in Switzerland are taking their ambitions seriously by operating from a hot-air balloon. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, tells us about their plans. ED: Plans for the Helvetia Telegraphy Club's next big activation are up in the air. In fact, the radio operators hope to get up in the air and stay there for at least two hours aboard a hot-air balloon. Their scheduled launch date is the 14th of September when they hope to start operating sometime after 0530 UTC. The callsign HB9HC/AM will be activated by members of the USKA/HTC National Mountain Day Commission as hams ascend to the sky over Switzerland, operating all the while on 40m, 30m and 20m. They will be transmitting with 15 watts of CW power, making use of vertical dangling antennas. If you're interested in a contact, watch the Reverse Beacon Network or the DX clusters. You can also use APRS if you're interested in tracking the balloon's exact position. Are the radio operators' hopes perhaps a bit overinflated? Probably not: They're already advising everyone to get familiar with such important Q codes as QAH for Altitude, and QAL for Landing. All details are on their website at the URL given in the script on our arnewsline.org website. (DO NOT READ: https://hb9htc.clubdesk.com/hb9htc5/aktivitaeten/hb9hcam_on_air) For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP. (QRZ.COM, SOTA REFLECTOR, HELVETIA TELEGRAPHY CLUB) ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the K7MMA repeater in Spokane, Washington, on Fridays at 5 p.m. Pacific time. ** BBC INTERVIEWS DEVELOPER OF WORLD'S FIRST MICROSATELLITE DON/ANCHOR: If you're a satellite enthusiast, you owe a bit of thanks to one notable homebrewer, tinkerer and distinguished professor in the UK. Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, tells us about a recent BBC interview with him. JEREMY: With an imagination fueled by NASA's Apollo missions a decade earlier, Martin Sweeting, G3YJO, went on to launch a new era in space himself: the age of microsatellites, which began as a homebrew project built partly at home and partly on the University of Surrey campus. That first, very basic microsatellite - U0Sat-1, the granddaddy of all that would come later - was eventually launched by NASA in 1981. Martin, an amateur radio operator since his student years, recalls in a new interview with the BBC what it was like being the creator of the first microsatellite in a pre- internet era. More than amateur radio communications tools, today's microsatellites aid the world in navigation, scientific research, weather and environmental monitoring. As satellite mega- constellations now revolutionize communications yet further, Martin, a Distinguished Professor of Space Engineering at the university, also makes a plea to clean the skies of the hazard of space junk. The BBC posted the half-hour interview on its website. That URL is available in the script of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. [FOR PRINT: DO NOT READ www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct2h26] (BBC SOUNDS) ** YL AWARDS INTRODUCED INTO OCEANIA DX CONTEST DON/ANCHOR: The Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association is introducing a new twist or two on an old favorite DX contest now in its 76th year. With those details, here's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF. JIM: If you're looking for contacts with stations in the Oceania region and you happen to be a YL, you're in luck. The Oceania DX Contest is taking place on two consecutive weekends - October 2nd and 3rd for phone and October 9th and 10th for CW - and this year, the spotlight includes two awards being introduced specifically for YLs. Both awards, sponsored by ALARA, the Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association, are being given to a single-operator YL who achieve the highest combined score in phone and CW. YLs inside the Oceania region are eligible for the Florence McKenzie Award, named for Australia's first known licensed female ham radio operator who received the callsign A2GA in 1925. YLs in the rest of the world are eligible for the Austine Henry Award, named for a prize-winning homebrewer who was a member of the YASME Foundation, the RSGB, NZART and the ARRL. She became Australia's third licensed YL in 1930 when she received the callsign VK3YL. YLs who want to be considered for either award should select the YL box on their entry form when they submit their log. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF. (YL BEAM) --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (954:895/7) .