Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (D) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Dec 03 2020 19:15:07 U.S. POST OFFICE SUSPENDS ACCEPTING SOME INT'L MAIL JIM/ANCHOR: Bagged some big DX? Well if you're in the U.S., don't run to the mailbox with those QSL cards just yet. Stephen Kinford, N8WB, tells us why. STEPHEN: If you're a busy DXer in the United States, and you're writing a stack of QSL cards, you may want to slow down a bit on some of them. The U.S. Postal Service has suspended international mail acceptance for certain destinations. Service to Panama, Libya, Madagascar, and Turkmenistan, has been halted as a result of foreign postal operator service shutdown. In other locations, including Brunei, Angola, Cuba, Sierra Leone, French Guiana, Maritius, Yemen, Guadeloupe and South Sudan service is suspended temporarily as a result of transportation not being available. This is not a complete list, so please visit the U.S. Postal Service website whose URL appears in the print version of this newscast's script for a full list and any updates. Until then, postal officials ask that items addressed to these countries not be mailed. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB. [FOR PRINT ONLY, DO NOT READ: https://tinyurl.com/sxvuqwb] ** HONORING RADIO'S FIRST VOICE TRANSMISSION JIM/ANCHOR: If you prefer your mic to a straight key or some other device in your shack, you owe it to inventor Reginald Fessenden to work this next special event, which celebrates the human voice. Kevin Trotman, N5PRE, lends his voice to this report. KEVIN: When special event station W4F gets on the air later this month, you can expect to hear operators calling QRZ from their home stations on all bands and in all modes - but if you can hear them on AM, that's especially significant. The Vienna Wireless Society in Virginia is operating in honor of Reginald Fessenden whose experiments in wireless telegraphy in the early 20th century led to his development of a way to transmit the human voice by modulating the radio wave's amplitude into the shape of a sound wave. That's the very principle behind AM. On December 23rd, 1900, the inventor used this technique to transmit a brief voice message between two stations about a mile apart on Cobb Island in the Potomac River in Maryland. Club member Bill Mims, W2WCM, said that the location is just south of the club's QTH and the time seemed right to mark the 120th anniversary of the transmission. He said the idea was inspired by a recent Monday night VHF net in which the net control Nancy, N1GFV, posed a question about the first wireless voice transmission. The idea grew from there. Station W4F will be on the air between the 18th and 24th of December. There will be a special QSL card for all confirmed contacts. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kevin Trotman, N5PRE. (BILL MIMS W2WCM) ** WORLD OF DX In the World of DX, be listening for Alexey, RX6A, who will be in Antarctica and will be on the air as RX6A/MM from December 7th to the 25th and as RI01ANT from December 25, 2020 to May 30, 2021. Alexey will be using CW and FT8 on 40-15m, with 50 watts. For QSL information visit QRZ.COM. The Bima DXpedition Team is active as 7C9B from the Indonesian island of Sumbawa until the 10th of December. Listen for team members on 10m to 160m using SSB and FT8. Send QSLs to DL3KZA. (DX-WORLD.NET) ** KICKER: HAM RADIO SAVES THE BACON (AND OTHER GROCERIES) JIM/ANCHOR: We wrap up this week's newscast with this very personal story of how ham radio recently saved the bacon - along with some other groceries - for one of our own Newsline team members. It happened to her when she arrived at her local store to pick up the order she had placed in advance. Unfortunately, when she arrived she discovered she'd left her cellphone at home, and couldn't call to say she was parked outside and ready for delivery. So Amanda Alden, K1DDN, reached for her mobile radio, and did what hams do best: [INSERT 3 SECOND PLEA FOR HELP AUDIO] AMANDA: Robert, KF0BVR, whose QTH is 35 minutes away, responded to my distress call. The freshness of our fruits and vegetables was at stake. Oh, and even our steak was at stake. [INSERT 5 SECOND ANSWER AUDIO] AMANDA: Robert phoned the grocery store, and got us checked in, so they could bring the groceries out to the car. [INSERT 2 SECOND "YOU'RE CHECKED IN" AUDIO] [INSERT 3 SECOND THANK YOU AUDIO] AMANDA: When all else fails - including your own memory to carry your cellphone - there's always ham radio. For Amateur Radio Newsline, with a happy and full refrigerator, I'm Amanda Alden, K1DDN. ** NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur News Weekly; Andy Meyer, N2FYE; the ARRL; Bill Mims, W2WCM; CQ Magazine; David Behar, K7DB; DX World Net; the Guardian; Israel Amateur Radio Club; NobelPrize.Org; NPR; Ohio Penn DX; QRZ.COM; Radio Society of Great Britain; shortwaveradio.de; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; WTWW Shortwave; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Please send emails to our address at newsline@arnewsline.org. More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official website at arnewsline.org. For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York, and our news team worldwide, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW, in Charleston, West Virginia, saying 73, and as always, we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2020. 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