Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Mar 23 2023 22:02:59 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2369 for Friday March 24th, 2023 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2369, with a release date of Friday, March 24th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Fire destroys an important lifesaving repeater in Oklahoma. The Dayton amateur radio community loses a leader -- and a victory atop an Australian summit for one young operator. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2369, comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** FIRE DESTROYS VITAL REPEATER IN SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA NEIL/ANCHOR: A vital repeater in southern Oklahoma has literally gone up in smoke, leaving a region without an important emergency communications resource. Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB, has that story. RALPH: Fire has destroyed the W5BLW repeater in southern Oklahoma, taking down a critically important resource for SKYWARN, the Red Cross and local emergency operations in five counties of the region. According to Vance Smith, KE5BAL, of the Ardmore Amateur Radio Club, it will be a slow road back for the repeater, which stood for more than 16 years. Vance told Newsline that the repeater was consumed by a controlled burn that went the wrong way on the private ranch property where the repeater stood. By the time the damage was noticed on the mountaintop, it was too late. Now the scrambling - and the hard work - begins so that emergency communications can resume when needed. Vance said he has an old repeater that can be put up temporarily on another site, but it will be a while before a full power repeater will be back in action at the site on top of Arbuckle Mountain. He told Newsline [quote] "We have a lot of work to do up at the site. We are going to need a tower climber to do work up top, and along the side of the tower." [endquote] The Ardmore Amateur Radio Club repeater bears the name and callsign of Ardmore club member Charles M. Dibrell who became a Silent Key in 1998. He had been a licensed ham since 1929. Vance told Newsline: [quote] "This is a very important piece of radio equipment for southern Oklahoma."[endquote] This is Ralph Squilllace, KK6ITB. (VANCE SMITH, KE5BAL; QRZ: LLOYD COLSTON, KC5FM) ** FCC SEEKS GUIDELINES FOR CELLPHONE SATELLITE OPTION NEIL/ANCHOR: A recent move by the FCC means that increasing numbers of smartphone users may discover what hams already know: that when there's no terrestrial service, additional coverage is readily available from satellites. Dave Parks, WB8ODF, has the details. DAVE: Smartphones may soon have a direct connection to satellites when necessary, following a move by the US Federal Communications Commission to set out guidelines for such service. While space-based connections are already a reality on a limited basis with Apple phones and are in the works for T-Mobile, SpaceX, Qualcomm and Iridium, guidelines are still needed to sort out the rules for broader implementation. A recent draft document by the FCC seeks to explore this kind of supplemental service and how it would work. The FCC said in a news release that this would require agency authorization for terrestrial-based providers, so they could provide licensed operation on a part of the spectrum reserved for them. Phones would switch to the satellite signal when no other signal is available. This is Dave Parks, WB8ODF. (TECH CRUNCH) ** SILENT KEY: HAMVENTION'S RON CRAMER, KD8ENJ NEIL/ANCHOR: A leader in the Dayton, Ohio amateur radio community, and a force in the annual Dayton Hamvention, has become a Silent Key. We hear more from Patrick Clark, K8TAC. PATRICK: Amateurs in Dayton, Ohio and beyond often looked to Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, for leadership. He was the vice president of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association, which he had one time serve as president, and he was general chairman of Dayton Hamvention. Ron became a Silent Key on Saturday, March 11th, after a brief illness. His skills at organizing and leading especially came to the forefront as part of the group that worked to provide Hamvention with a smooth transition to the Greene County Fairgrounds after more than five decades at Hara Arena. In a message on the ARRL website, DARA president Jack Gerbs, WB8SCT, described Ron as [quote] "a hardworking, dedicated, wonderful person who had a positive impact on everyone he encountered. His only fault was, he would never say no." [endquote] Ron Cramer was 75. This is Patrick Clark, K8TAC. (DAYTON DAILY NEWS, ARRL) --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (454:1/33) .