Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Dec 03 2020 19:14:55 BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the K6SOA Repeater in Laguna Beach, California, on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. local time. ** MEET ARN'S INTERNATIONAL NEWSMAKER AWARD WINNER FOR 2020 JIM/ANCHOR: Last year, Newsline conferred its inaugural International Newsmaker of the Year Award with great pride to the West Bengal Radio Club in India. This year, we are pleased to present it to a team comprising health service workers and amateur radio operators in the UK, all responding together to the COVID-19 crisis. Here's Ed Durrant, DD5LP, who shares our pride in making this announcement. ED: The winner of Newsline's second annual International Newsmaker of the Year Award is the Get on the Air to Care project, conceived of by Paul Devlin G1SMP and operated jointly by the UK's National Health Service and the Radio Society of Great Britain. Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign has decreased social isolation in the UK and around the world by encouraging amateurs to Get On The Air 2 Care - with inactive hams returning and those who always wanted to, becoming newly licenced amateurs. It also gave rise to this season's Get On the Air 4 Christmas initiative. Most importantly, though, #GOTA2C has accomplished something amateurs work so hard to achieve: the campaign has placed amateur radio front and centre in such mainstream media channels as the BBC, ITV Wales and major newspapers, raising amateur radio's profile and attracting new licence-holders even in this era of remote-testing. Congratulations to Paul Devlin, G1SMP, who conceived of the idea as part of the NHS England Emergency Care Improvement Support Team and to the Radio Society of Great Britain and the National Health Service who have implemented it. You'll be hearing more from Paul Devlin next week when Newsline chats with him. Meanwhile, the RSGB and the NHS have added yet another element to their campaign: an NHS Charity auction beginning December 9th and ending December 19th at the start of the Get on the Air for Christmas campaign. One item for auction should surely help amateurs get on the air to care, even after the holidays. It is a Morse Code key handcrafted and donated by Roy Bailey, G0VFS, of Trowbridge and District Amateur Radio Club. Having based his design on the noted semi-automatic Vibroplex, he has dubbed his creation the Virus- PerpleXed Bug and an engraved decal bears its name. If you wish to participate, visit the Society's website for details. The URL appears in the printed version of this script on the arnewsline website. [DO NOT READ, FOR PRINT ONLY: rsgb.org/gota4c] For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP. (RSGB) ** IN LONDON, A TOWER OF GRATITUDE JIM/ANCHOR: How do you say "thank you?" Try sending Morse Code, as London's tallest building is doing. Here's Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, to tell us more. JEREMY: The Shard building, which defines the London skyline, has been the symbol of the city since its completion seven years ago. It recently became transformed into a symbol of gratitude - in a way that ham radio operators, more than most people, can comprehend. At 306- metres in height, it is the UK's tallest building, which makes its important message - flashing in blue and white LED lights at the very top - hard to miss. That message is in Morse Code. The 575 lights flash, spelling "Thank You," two words directed to the National Health Service workers whose efforts have helped protect the British public since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. City dwellers and visitors have stopped to marvel at the light show since it began on the night of Thursday, November 26th. But even London's tallest building isn't above needing a little help. That help came from the Radio Society of Great Britain. The RSGB stepped in to verify that all those high profile dits and dahs were indeed being sent correctly, ensuring that the message's delivery enjoyed a towering triumph. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. (SOUTHGATE) --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (618:250/33) .