Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (D)
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Dec 11 2020 08:30:57

KICKER: MEET NEWSLINE'S INTERNATIONAL NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Last week we announced that Newsline's International 
Newsmaker of the Year Award has been given to the Get on the Air to 
Care campaign, conceived of by Paul Devlin, G1SMP, who partnered with 
the UK National Health Service and the Radio Society of Great Britain. 
This week we'd like you to hear Paul himself explain the genesis and 
purpose of this award-winning project. Here's Ed Durrant, DD5LP.

ED: If Paul Devlin, G1SMP, had his way, the world would be a healthier 
place, emotionally and physically. That was in fact his stated goal in 
2018 when he told the UK regulator Ofcom and his bosses at the NHS 
that he believed a ham radio station at the NHS could be the voice of 
global well-being especially to people in remote areas. Paul told 
them: 

PAUL: It will be the only government-level ham radio station in the UK 
and we will use it for health and well-being -- and when we promote 
global health and well-being initiatives we will reach people who are 
off the grid using amateur radio.

ED: With amateur station GB1NHS getting on the air, and carrying its 
message two years before the world knew of COVID, the arrival of the 
2020 pandemic brought a new role for GB1NHS - and indeed hams 
everywhere:

PAUL: I had an idea for a weekend project and my weekend project was 
called "On the Air to Care." I wanted to encourage just a handful of 
people where I lived really to dust their radios off and plug them in, 
fire them up and talk to a few people. I just thought "maybe Friday 
Saturday and Sunday." What I did, I went to the RSGB and asked Steve 
who is the general manager of the Society and Heather who is the 
communications manager, to just give me a little bit of support, give 
me maybe a little bit of PR around it to get people involved. Anyway, 
48 hours later "On the Air to Care, Weekend Project" became "Get On 
the Air 2 Care," a global phenomenon.

ED: The Radio Society of Great Britain spread the word and in a bold 
move, Paul even got the BBC's director-general to embrace it. Radio 
eased the social isolation of lockdown and quarantine, and a wave of 
new candidates signed up for licence exams. Paul believes the world's 
oldest and most inclusive form of social media will continue to stay 
front and center even after the age of COVID because it brings us 
together, no matter who we are.

PAUL: Amateur radio is the ultimate leveler. It sees no boundaries it 
is not discriminatory, it is not into ethnicity, into religion, it is 
into this commonality for love of radio communications and nothing 
else comes close to it. Nothing.

ED: Congratulations again, Paul, and to your team for global community 
service in these pandemic times. Good luck going forward. For Amateur 
Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP.

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE: 

With thanks to the Australian Communications and Media Authority; 
Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL; CQ Magazine; David Behar, K7DB;
Grimeton World Heritage Foundation; Mark Kleine, N5HZR; the News 
Gazette; QRZ.COM; Radio Society of Great Britain; SemiMedia; 
shortwaveradio.de; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Strata-Gee.com; Ted 
Randall's QSO Radio Show; WCIA; W5NOR.ORG; 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 Stephen Kinford, N8WB, in Wadsworth,
Ohio, saying 73, and as always, we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.
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