Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Mar 25 2021 19:28:08 BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the K6TZ repeater in Santa Barbara, California, on Wednesdays, at 7 p.m. local time. ** NETS OF NOTE: THE FOOD NET JIM/ANCHOR: Our occasional series, Nets of Note, turns to another popular obsession among amateur radio operators. You guessed it: food. Here's Paul Braun, WD9GCO. PAUL: This time on "Nets Of Note," we bring you the Food Net, started by Daryl Stout, WX4QZ. As evidenced by the fact that any time a group of hams get together, there will be food involved, this is one net that should appeal to all of us. I asked Stout to tell me more. STOUT: Food Net was founded on the premise that "H.A.M." stands for "Have Another Meal" and you don't call us Late For Dinner. And on some nets when some hams talk about what's cooking...invariably, one will chime in with something like, "I'll be there in 5 minutes!!" Before COVID-19, food was a major part of hamfests and Field Day, and hopefully these activities will be able to resume. The net itself discusses cuisines, recipes, meals, cooking methods, et cetera. The bottom line is that everyone has to eat. One ham said his wife marinated pork chops in an Instant Pot with Coca-Cola and cooking them. He said they were the best pork chops he had ever eaten. The Net meets on the Quadnet Array on the 3rd Saturday of each month at 4PM Eastern. For details go to https://openquad.net for connection options via D-Star, DMR, WIRES-X, and Fusion. PAUL: The next net will be on Saturday, April 17th. Stout said that if you go to the website referenced on his QRZ page, you can find spreadsheets with information on many other nets that he's involved with. Now, please excuse me while I go eat dinner. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO. ** HAMS TO ASSIST AT POLLING STATIONS IN REMOTE AREAS JIM/ANCHOR: In West Bengal, India, amateurs will be bringing their radios to some polling stations at election time. Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, tells us why. JIM M: Just as they did in 2016 and 2019, amateur radio operators in West Bengal, India are assisting at polling stations in remote locations to help with reporting votes to the Election Commission. The commission has accepted the offer from the West Bengal Radio Club to relay results in areas lacking a strong mobile communications network. The hams' involvement recently won approval from the Wireless Planning and Communication Wing of the Department of Telecommunications located within the Ministry of Communications. Amateur radio is regulated by the ministry. According to club secretary Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, 30 hams will be deployed to a total 130 polling stations in the Sunderbans area which is a remote part of Bengal. They will be using the special call sign AU2ECI, between March 29th through to April 1st. All the participants assisting with communications have received training from the Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management. Votes are to be counted on May 2nd. For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jim, Meachen, ZL2BHF. (AMBARISH NAG BISWAS VU2JFA, TIMES OF INDIA, MILLENNIUM POST) ** SUMMIT AWARD SCHEME EXPANDS TO SOUTHERN GERMANY JIM/ANCHOR: If you're hearing this newscast this in southern Germany, get ready for a new operating challenge coming your way starting April 5th. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, has those details. ED: The mountain award scheme known as HEMA is about to arrive in southern Germany. Created 10 years ago in the UK, it appeals to hams interested in the range of operating challenges that exist between the Global Mountain Award and Summits on the Air schemes. In fact, HEMA hams are more interested in achieving interesting contacts with or between summits than merely collecting points. Inclusion of the new Alpine "DL" area means that any hams interested in getting their first contact as a chaser or activator should be near their radios on Easter Monday, the 5th of April onwards. For rules, see the HEMA webpage at hema dot org dot uk (hema.org.uk)/ where you can register and access the spotting page. Then, keep your eye out for activations of those newly authorised summits. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm HEMA DL coordinator, Ed Durrant, DD5LP. ** SOYUZ ROCKET DEPLOYS NEW AMATEUR SATELLITES JIM/ANCHOR: Fourteen new amateur radio satellites are in orbit following their launch on March 22nd from Kazakhstan. They were deployed by a Soyuz rocket. All are operating on bands allocated to the amateur satellite service and have been coordinated by the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel. Three other satellites launched with them: KMSL from Korea, UNISAT-7 and WildTrackCube-Simba from the University of Rome -- do not have amateur missions. (SOUTHGATE, AMSAT-UK) --- SBBSecho 3.13-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (454:1/33) .