Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Jan 15 2021 08:06:58 BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the N2XPM repeater in Cedarhurst, New York, on Saturdays, at noon local time. ** HAMCATION NAMES NEIL RAPP WB9VPG 'EDUCATOR OF YEAR' JIM/ANCHOR: This next story is a personal one, celebrating one member of our Newsline family. Our anchor and correspondent, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, who teaches high school chemistry in Indiana, has been named Carole Perry Educator of the Year by Orlando HamCation. Newsline editor Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, spoke to Neil about his commmitment to amateur radio education. CARYN: Licensed since the age of 5, Neil Rapp knows better than most of us that ham radio is the best teacher. NEIL: Especially when I got into high school, ham radio helped me understand science. When I got to Chemistry, when everybody else was having a hard time, I already knew my metric system, when I got to Physics, I already knew Ohm's law -- because I did all of that when I was 5. CARYN: Those early lessons became the foundation for the path his life took as sponsor of school ham clubs, in the ARRL Teacher Institute and as one of the founders and camp director of Youth on the Air for IARU Region 2. For Neil, ham radio doesn't get old -- it gets YOUNG. NEIL: Yeah, we do have youth in ham radio, and we do have kids doing great things with it. There are some opportunities to make sure this continues. It amazes me that the kids that are really into CW at a time when a lot of people didn't want to learn CW and that's what kept them out of the hobby. They're also into all these cool new digital modes that are becoming more efficient and setting the pace for the commercial radio industry and cell phones and public service and all the digital stuff. A lot of that came from ham radio. CARYN: His next project? A Youth on the Air mini-camp that mixes science with the science of socializing. NEIL: What we are trying to do is build some of those social connections between the kids and that's why there is a lot of YOTA time that's at an amusement park, at Dave & Buster's, at this place and that place that may not have a thing to do with ham radio because it's social interaction time. The whole YOTA thing isn't just learning about radio and learning about technology; it's getting the social aspect there so that kids know other kids. We have seen in Europe that perpetuates the hobby. That keeps the kids in the hobby. CARYN: So congratulations Neil. Your well-deserved Carole Perry trophy will now sit beside your autographed oscillator from Carole's Youth Forum at Hamvention. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT. ** COUNTDOWN TO PLUTO'S BIG ANNIVERSARY JIM/ANCHOR: Whether or not you still think of Pluto as a planet, its discovery is still something to celebrate. Randy Sly, W4XJ, tells us why. RANDY: The Northern Arizona DX Association is about to launch the first event in its 10-year special event countdown to the 100th anniversary of its discovery in the Kuiper (KY-PURR) Belt. Be listening for club members operating between February 13th and the 21st as W7P. They'll be at the Lowell Observatory from which Pluto was first spotted and their home QTHs. One of the operators will be Doug Tombaugh, N3PDT, nephew of Pluto's discoverer, Clyde Tombaugh. He will operate as W7P/0. There will be special QSL cards each year leading up to the 100th anniversary event. A certificate with endorsement stickers for each of the 10 years of the special event and for a contact with Doug and his team will be available later as well, Visit the QRZ.COM page for more details. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Randy Sly, W4XJ. (QRZ) --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (618:250/33) .