Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Dec 03 2020 19:14:33 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2249, for Friday December 4th, 2020 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2249 with a release date of Friday, December 4th, 2020, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. A collapse destroys the Arecibo radiotelescope. Welcome to December - YOTA month! And meet Newsline's winner of this year's International Newsmaker Award. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2249, comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** COLLAPSE DESTROYS NOTED ARECIBO RADIOTELESCOPE JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week with news that the noted Arecibo radiotelescope, famous in groundbreaking scientific research and seen in a number of Hollywood movies, is no more. Kent Peterson, KC0DGY, has the details. KENT: The historic Arecibo radiotelescope in Puerto Rico, once the largest in the world, has collapsed before its scheduled demolition could begin. The telescope, which had been shut by the U.S. National Science Foundation following storm damage, was credited with unlocking numerous astronomical mysteries for more than 50 years. On Tuesday, December 1st, the telescope's 900-ton receiver platform fell 400 feet, landing on its reflector dish. It was the final blow to the radiotelescope, where an auxiliary cable had snapped in August, causing damage to the reflector dish and receiver platform. Then last month, a main cable broke. Built in the 1960s, the telescope was part of a 1974 research project into gravitational waves that led to a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993. The telescope also followed asteroids on their earthbound paths but became quite an attraction itself, drawing some 90,000 visitors a year. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson, KC0DGY. (GUARDIAN, NOBELPRIZE.ORG, NPR) ** WELCOME TO DECEMBER - IT'S YOTA MONTH JIM/ANCHOR: Nothing speaks so well to the future of ham radio than hearing young voices calling QRZ. Jason Daniels, VK2LAW, lets us in on what's happening. JASON: If you listen on the air through the month of December, you'll be hearing the voices of the future. December is YOTA Month - Youngsters on the Air - and teams of operators younger than 26 are hoping for pileups. They're calling from Pakistan, Serbia, Iceland, Sweden, Bulgaria and places beyond. Each team carries the suffix "Y O T A", along with the hope that their logs will be filled with call signs from around the world. This is a chance to showcase amateur radio for the unlicensed, and help those newly licensed to gain confidence. Stations include TF3YOTA in Iceland, DB0YOTA in Germany, GB20YOTA in the UK and II1YOTA in Italy. You will hear them on HF, repeaters and even satellites. Because so many YOTA summer camps were cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, these young operators are more eager than ever to show what they can do. Support the world's future amateur community and who knows? You may become eligible for a bronze, silver, gold or platinum award just for working as many YOTA stations on as many bands and modes as you can. The teams have their own collective goal as well: to beat last year's total of 130,000 QSOs logged by 47 participating stations. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW. JIM/ANCHOR: Also be listening for Youth on the Air stations in the United States, where the call signs will be K8Y, K8O, K8T, and K8A. For more information about Youth on the Air in the Americas, visit the website youthontheair dot org (youthontheair.org) (YOUNGSTERS ON THE AIR) ** FCC CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI STEPPING DOWN IN NEW YEAR JIM/ANCHOR: Here in the United States, Ajit Pai, who has been chairman of the Federal Communications Commission since 2017, has announced he will be stepping down on January 20th, the day President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated. Pai served the commission for five years as an appointee of then- President Barack Obama previous to being named commissioner by President Donald Trump. He was hailed as the first Asian-American chairman of the agency. His term was scheduled to expire in June of 2021. His announcement, made on Monday November 20th, comes as the FCC reviews its proposal to charge a $50 fee for each application for an amateur radio license. (CNBC) --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (618:250/33) .