Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Aug 25 2022 18:04:43 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2339 for Friday, August 26th, 2022 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2339, with a release date of Friday, August 26th, 2022 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Experts call a national emergency alert system vulnerable to hackers. Students in Romania return from a four-day SOTA outing -- and Amateur Radio Newsline goes to Huntsville, Alabama to present its Young Ham of the Year Award. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2339, comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** US EMERGENCY BROADCAST NETWORK DEEMED VULNERABLE TO HACKERS JIM/ANCHOR: Our top story this week is about a word of warning experts have issued to the US Emergency Broadcast Network, calling it vulnerable to hackers. Andy Morrison, K9AWM, brings us those details. ANDY: The United States' national broadcast network which transmits child abduction alerts and severe weather warnings - is becoming increasingly vulnerable to fake alerts from hackers unless state and local governments fix security weaknesses in devices that connect to that system. That was the warning delivered recently by the nation's Department of Homeland Security, which repeated its cautionary message about the US Emergency Alert System at a recent session of DEFCON, a major hacking conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Homeland security officials said that ongoing vulnerabilities in the encoder/decoder devices enable hackers to transmit the bogus warnings over radio and TV stations. Cybersecurity researcher Ken Pyle, who is credited with discovering the vulnerability, told reporters recently that without a necessary software update for these devices, hackers can pre-empt broadcast signals, exploit web servers and disrupt the legitimate system. He said the problem has existed for several years and has gone uncorrected. Reporting on this issue, Cable News Network asked the Federal Communications Commission for a tally of how many devices are running the vulnerable software. The FCC had no immediate response. This is Andy Morrison, K9AWM. (CNN, ARSTECHNICA) ** NEWSLINE PRESENTS YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR AWARD IN HUNTSVILLE JIM/ANCHOR: The Huntsville, Alabama Hamfest is history now, and Newsline was happy to be there to meet with this year's Young Ham of the Year Award. Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, tells us all about it. DON: "Good afternoon everyone, it is a little after two o'clock on Saturday at Huntsville, that means it is time for the Young Ham of the Year Award. My name is Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, I'll be presenting the Young Ham of the Year this afternoon to Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN. We're so proud of her, and first off I want to say that after two years of being away, it is so good to be back at Huntsville, Alabama at the hamfest!" That was how the first in-person Young Ham of the Year presentation in two years began Saturday, August 20th on the main stage at the Huntsville Hamfest. I read off a short list of the many accomplishments that earned Audrey this honor and then the floor was hers. "Hello everybody, I am so happy to be here! Huntsville Hamfest is definitely my favorite place to be! I'm sure a lot of you can agree. I'm very honored to receive this award! My brother and I have worked in amateur radio for many years now but I can't not thank the people who helped me throughout this. Of course, my parents Tom McElroy and Janet McElroy, along with others like Carole Perry, WB2MGP, Bill Brown who is right there, WB8ELK, and tons of other people who have been mentors to me and helpers to me because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be able to do the things I'm able to do. And so I hope in the future I can continue pushing for bringing more youth into amateur radio as well as bring more women into STEM and the wonderful world of amateur radio. So, thank you all again." Representatives from CQ Communications, Yaesu USA, Heil Sound, RadioWavz Antennas and GigaParts had remarks and gifts for Audrey. Of course, we mentioned the last two honorees, Christopher Brault, KD8YVJ, from 2020, and Faith Hannah Lea, KD3Z, from 2021 who were presented their awards virtually online. Sadly, neither could attend live this year due to prior school commitments. All of us at Newsline, including our awards committee and judges wants to congratulate Audrey. She is a shining example of why Bill Pasternak was so committed to honoring the amazing young people in this hobby and service. She carries the torch high. If you would like to hear the entire, unedited presentation audio you can find it on our Extra page at arnewsline.org. Speaking for our Young Ham of the Year committee chairman Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, and our panel of judges, we can't wait for next year! See you there. I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .