Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Dec 01 2022 18:54:22 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS SPECIAL EVENT IS BACK STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you're counting down the days until Christmas, here's a little help with counting things down. Just count to twelve - for the return of the popular 12 Days of Christmas Special Event. Mike Askins, KE5CXP, tells us how to get in on the action. MIKE: Is that a partridge in the pear tree, or did someone just hang a dipole in its place? And are those nine drummers really drumming....or are they actually DXing? With the return of the 12 Days of Christmas Special Event this year, you just can't be sure what those nine drummers, ten pipers or seven swans are up to, but we do know that hundreds of hams around the world will be listening for them. Their special-event call signs will be on the air for a fourth year starting on December 14th and ending on Christmas Day, December 25th. Operators will be using CW and SSB and making use of one satellite. As in previous years, they will be using 1 x 1 calls that begin with either a W or a K -- but this year things will be easier for those who wish to rotate their beams: The calls will also contain a stroke and the operator's numerical call area. So get ready to start listening for all those calling birds -- and earn a downloadable certificate to make the season as bright as those five golden rings. This is Mike Askins, KE5CXP. (SALLI ROSATO, K2RYD) ** DECEMBER IS YOTA MONTH STEPHEN/ANCHOR: December is going to be a busy month for the younger generation of amateur radio operators around the world. Using the YOTA suffix - Y O T A - in their call signs, hams ages 25 and younger will be on all the bands using all the modes at various times of the day and night. At any given time you will be able to hear Argentina's young amateurs using LR1YOTA, hams in Honduras using HQ2YOTA or young operators in El Salvador calling QRZ as YS1YOTA. Here in the United States, the call signs will be K8Y, K8O, K8T and K8A, with the single- letter suffixes spelling "YOTA." Last year's young amateurs logged 119,516 QSOs. Can they top that this year? The month will also present them with challenge of Round 3 of the YOTA contest, which will take place on the 30th of December from 1200 to 2359 UTC. For more details, follow the link in the text version of this week's newscast script at arnewsline.org [FOR PRINT ONLY: DO NOT READ https://events.ham-yota.com/ ] (YOTA.COM) ** AUSTRALIANS ON THE MOVE WITH A PTOTA ACTIVATION STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Amateur radio can be very portable and very public, as we know. Now an awards program created by a group of amateurs in Australia combines both -- in a very practical way. John Williams, VK4JJW, explains. JOHN: You can trade the trails and the treetops for trains and trams thanks to an awards programme from the School Amateur Radio Club Network, VK3SRC. It's called Public Transport On The Air - PTOTA (pronounced "puh-toe-tah") - and it encourages students and other commuters to grab their handhelds and call CQ while enroute to their destination on some means of public transportation. Contacts can be made via digital or analogue voice modes and can utilise any netwok or device. The only requirement is to have the QSO on an amateur band. Based in Australia, the club network unites schools in which students belong to an amateur radio club. The clubs are promoted and assisted by Julie, VK3FOWL, and Joe, VK3YSP. SARCNET administers a number of programme awards, including PTOTA. PTOTA awards are issued as annual certificates. Participants' points are re-set every 1st of the year. The SARCNET website encourages students to make ham radio visible to the public in this way but does offer two important caveats: Before leaving the train or tram, check your seat for any equipment you may have left behind -- and perhaps, more importantly, try to avoid morning and afternoon rush hour. Additional details are available at sarcnet.org This is John Williams, VK4JJW. (WIA, SARCNET) ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the Silvercreek Amateur Radio Association's 2 meter repeater, W8WKY, Tuesdays at 7:30 PM local time, in Doylestown, Ohio. --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .