Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri May 17 2019 11:49:24 LOOKING FOR NEWSLINE'S NEXT YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR JIM/ANCHOR: In the schools and elsewhere, the next generation of amateurs will carry the future of our hobby. If you know a bright young U.S. or Canadian radio amateur, who gives of himself or herself to the hobby and the community, nominate them by May 31st to be Amateur Radio Newsline's next Young Ham of the Year. The honor is named in memory of Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF. Information about candidate eligibility is available on our website, arnewsline.org, under the YHOTY tab. You can download a nomination form there as well. Don't forget, the deadline is May 31st - and that's coming up fast. ** SOTA ACTIVATION BY TRIO ON MOUNT ETNA JIM/ANCHOR: It seems that Mount Etna was particularly active recently - but no worries, there was no lava involved at this volcanic site. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, explains. ED: This trio of hams only had a short time on the summit -- but this summit happened to be Mount Etna, site of an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, so they made the most of their time. Beppe, EYE-ONE-W-K-N (I1WKN), and his friends, Riccardo, EYE-ZED-ONE-G-D-B (IZ1GDB), and Fabrizio, EYE-ZED-ONE-D-N-Q (IZ1DNQ), hiked up with all their gear on the 12th of May, but did not go to the very top. Beppe told Newsline that inclement weather, and the park rules at this UNESCO World Heritage site only permitted them a short time for their activation. They set up a distance of 20 meters below the top, on the south west border of the crater, and operated between the rocks for protection against the winds. According to Riccardo, wind speeds reached as much as 80 or 90 kilometres per hour - or more than 50 miles per hour. The team managed to have a few QSOs on 40 metres and 20 metres - contacting Italian operators, and hams elsewhere in Europe, including Spain and the Czech Republic. Beppe told Newsline he hoped to return to Etna, but he plans to wait for better weather and warmer temperatures. For AR Newsline, this is Ed Durrant, DD5LP. (BEPPE I1WKN, RICCARDO IZ1GDB) ** SOUTH AFRICAN AMATEURS PREPARE FOR NEW BEACONS JIM D/ANCHOR: Members of the South African Radio League are prepping for a workshop that will help shape the future of beacons they have planned. For those details, we turn to Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF. JIM M: The South African Radio League is putting up two new 2-metre beacons, and the project's final shape will be discussed on Saturday, the 25th of May, when SARL and AMSAT SA hold a joint VHF workshop. Issues on the agenda include the debate over whether horizontal or vertical polarisation would be better utilised for long distances on VHF. The project is considering whether an assortment of Yagi antennas would be the best choice to get the widest coverage possible. One beacon will cover Karoo, and the other will serve the Bethlehem area. The workshop at the SARL National Amateur Radio Centre is expected to last about five hours, and will conclude with a presentation by SARL President Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QLX, on the future of VHF and UHF in amateur radio. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF. (SOUTHGATE, SARL) ** HONORS FOR THOSE WHO PUT OSCAR 100 IN SPOTLIGHT JIM D/ANCHOR: The Radio Society of Great Britain has conferred honors on some of the hams who played major roles in the Oscar 100 satellite mission. JEREMY: The Qatar (KAT-R) Oscar 100 mission already made big news last year when it was launched as the first geostationary satellite with amateur radio transponders on board. Now some of the hams behind the project have landed in the spotlight by being honoured at the annual general meeting of the Radio Society of Great Britain for their work on the mission. They include satellite expert Peter Glzow, DB2OS, who received the Louis Varney Cup for Advances in Space Communication. He was recognized as a team leader on the project. Another award - the Fraser Shepherd Award for Research into Microwave Applications for Radio Communication - went to four British hams. They are: Dave Crump, G8GKQ; Phil Crump, M0DNY; Noel Matthews, G8GTZ, and Graham Shirville, G3VZV. The quartet was recognised for its development and installation of a WebSDR to receive the narrow band transponder WebSDR, and wide-band transponder spectrum monitor. Both allow listeners to use a standard web browser to receive communications on QO-100. The satellite, a joint project between the Qatar (KAT-R) Satellite Company, the Qatar (KAT-R) Amateur Radio Society and AMSAT Deutschland was launched last November from the Kennedy Space Centre in the United States. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. (RSGB) --- SBBSecho 3.07-Win32 * Origin: ILinkNet: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (454:1/33) .