Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Nov 25 2022 02:40:20 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2352 for Friday, November 25th, 2022 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2352, with a release date of Friday, November 25th, 2022 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Ham radio reunites a family after a 23-year absence. Imagine a micro-sized battery with a lifespan of almost two decades -- and when is a QSL card also a thank-you card? All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2352, comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** HAMS REUNITE LOST FATHER WITH SONS AFTER 23 YEARS PAUL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with the tale of a poignant reunion between an octogenarian in India, and the grieving family, who had presumed he had died after a deadly cyclone that claimed thousands of lives 23 years ago. That reunion happened with the help of amateur radio. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has that remarkable story. GRAHAM: After a super cyclone flattened the coast of Odisha in India in 1999, Kritichandra (Kritty-Chondra) Baral (Bah-RAHL) lost his family and his memory - the latter possibly from some kind of trauma. Meanwhile, never learning for certain the fate of their patriarch, his sons presumed their father was one of the thousands who lost their lives in that natural disaster. The man survived, however, and lived as a vagrant on the streets of a city in Andhra Pradesh, existing for years on handouts and people's generosity. Ten years ago, he was taken in by a group known as the Missionaries of Charity after one of his benefactors discovered his health had deteriorated, and asked that he be accepted into their care. The charity's ongoing efforts to locate his family failed until Nov. 19, when they contacted the West Bengal Radio Club, which has extensive experience in assisting with reunions of missing persons and their families. The hams had helped the charity before, and the group was hopeful that the radio amateurs would succeed where the charity had not. Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, the club's secretary, said after some time, the amateur radio club was able to locate the man's sons. He told various Indian news media outlets that two of the sons: [quote] "were dumbstruck when they saw their father's photograph, and then started weeping. They are a well-to-do family, and said their father went missing after the cyclone and was presumed dead." [endquote] In videos shared with Newsline by Ambarish Nag Biswas, the family can be seen with their father at the Missionaries of Charity residence. They are overcome by emotion, hugging one another for the first time in more than two decades. This is Graham Kemp, VK4BB. (AMBARISH NAG BISWAS, VU2JFA; GULF NEWS) ** BIG PROMISE FROM ULTRA-TINY BATTERY PAUL/ANCHOR: Battery technology continues to change, and the latest evolution announced recently is a super-small rechargeable "micro-battery" with a high tolerance for variations in temperature - and a lifespan of between one and two decades. Kent Peterson, KC0DGY, tells us about this new development, and what scientists are saying about it. KENT: A company in France believes it has come up with the latest solution to provide battery power for micro-power devices. The company, ITEN, has developed an ultra-small rechargeable lithium battery. At first glance, the surface-mount solid-state battery might easily be mistaken for an SMD chip, as its housing is only slightly larger than the battery's own dimensions of 3.2 by 2.5 mm. They are, of course, not chips: These batteries have a capacity of between 0.1 mAh and 0.5 mAh. They were found capable of tolerating temperatures between minus 40 degrees Celsius, or minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, all the way to 85 degrees Celsius, or 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Their ability to deliver peak currents make them especially useful for powering RF transmissions such as Bluetooth, Sigfox, and LTE, to deliver packets of data via sensors. The website, CNX software, also sees the batteries as being useful for sensor data loggers, beacons and backup power supplies for microcontrollers. The solid-state technology is considered another plus, contributing toward a usable lifespan of between 10 and 20 years. The company has said the batteries are also fast-charging. The website, Hackaday, poses the following challenge: [quote] "We'd be particularly interested to learn about their temperature sensitivity when it comes to soldering, as we've taken to heart the warnings about soldering to more traditional lithium cells." [endquote] The website noted that there are apparently some evaluation kits available directly from the company in France. This is Kent Peterson, KC0DGY. (ITEN.COM, HACKADAY, CNX-SOFTWARE) --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .