Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A)
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Thu Feb 09 2023 19:35:44

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2363, for Friday, February 10th, 2023

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2363, with a release date of Friday,
February 10th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Hams step in as tremors rock Turkey and Syria. A 
tough beginning on Bouvet Island -- and one radio repeater devotes itself 
to America's big football weekend. All this and more, as Amateur Radio 
Newsline Report Number 2363, comes your way right now.

**

BILLBOARD CART

**

AMATEUR RADIO RESPONDS TO QUAKE IN TURKEY, SYRIA

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: We begin this week with a developing story. A 7.8 magnitude 
earthquake shook southern Turkey, northern Syria and neighboring regions on 
Monday, February 6th. As the death and casualty counts continued to rise 
amid aftershocks, hams deepened their involvement in emergency response. 
Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, gives us the details Newsline had at production time:

JEREMY: With the death toll well into the thousands and many more injured 
in the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the region along the 
borders of Syria and Turkey, Aziz Sasa, TA1E, president of IARU member 
society TRAC, arrived at the disaster area shortly after 6th February. He 
assisted with frequency coordination for the teams carrying out search 
operations. Aziz has been in touch with the IARU region's emergency 
communications coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB, who provided additional 
details to Newsline. Radio has played a pivotal role here on many levels.

Other nations have also responded. Search and rescue teams from Georgia and 
Bosnia-Herzegovina arrived with hams among the group. Romania's team had no 
amateurs in theirs but was making use of communications equipment supplied 
by one of its amateur radio emergency groups. The Turkish emergency 
communications group was on VHF and UHF frequencies but also making use of
3.777 and 7.092 MHz as needed.

Little was known at the time of writing about the level of response in 
Syria. Newsline will continue to follow this developing story.

This is Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.

(IARU, GREG MOSSOP, G0DUB)

**

BOUVET ISLAND IS ON THE AIR

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Troublesome weather conditions plagued the Bouvet Island 
DXpedition 3Y0J (Three Why Zero Jay) during its first days on the air, but 
the camp came through the high winds of February 8th without issues after 
it was secured. One member wrote on dx-world.net that it was [quote] "the 
most extreme expedition I've been to." [endquote]. There were also reports 
of the callsign being pirated so those who believe they have worked the 
island will only know for sure from the team's uploaded logs on the weekend 
of February 10th. While doing the uploads on the boat, they will re-stock 
their essential food to enable them to continue the DXpedition for another 
week. The team has added two streams of FT8 in fox-hound mode. Chasers were 
advised to not work the team on FT8 if they already logged a contact on CW 
or SSB. The West Coast pilot station, Rich KE1B, said that the team has 
scaled back its expectations in response to its current challenges. 
Operators had intended to log 200,000 QSOs from the island but according to 
Rich [quote] "the team will be lucky to get 20,000 QSOs instead." [endquote]

(DX-WORLD.NET, 3Y0J.NO)

**

SILENT KEY: ORLANDO'S RAYMOND PAUL RICHARD, W4RPR

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: As Orlando Hamcation was about to get under way in Florida 
on Friday, Feb. 10th, the ham radio community there was grieving one of its 
leaders and top organizers. We hear those details from Jack Parker, W8ISH.

JACK: Raymond Paul Richard, W4RPR, of Ocala, Florida, grew up in Michigan 
where he became an active amateur radio operator at the age of 14. A 
generous donor and life member of the ARRL, he belonged to its Maxim 
Society, a group whose membership comprises ARRL benefactors. At the time 
of his death on January 30th at age 65, Ray was serving as advance ticket 
chairman for Hamcation, which is also the ARRL's Southeastern Division 
Convention.

He was active in the Orlando Amateur Radio Club and had previously served 
as its membership chairman. His range of work on behalf of the club earned 
him the group's KB4UT Wayne Nelson Amateur of the Year award in 2019. The 
award is named for the club's former president who became a Silent Key in 
2001.

This is Jack Parker, W8ISH.

(ORLANDO SENTINEL, ARRL NEWSLETTER)
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33)

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