Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Feb 18 2021 22:59:18 YOUNGSTERS' FORUM IN IARU REGION LOOKS AT SOTA, IOTA, WWFF PAUL/ANCHOR: Who doesn't want to get outdoors? Young hams in IARU Region 1 are making plans to do just that and holding an online forum, as we hear from Ed Durrant, DD5LP. ED: Summits on the Air, Islands On the Air, Worldwide Flora and Fauna and other radio-friendly outdoor activities will be the focus of discussion among young amateurs during the next YOTA Online session this month. It's being held by the Youth Working Group of IARU Region 1. The programme will begin at 1900 UTC on Thursday, the 25th of February. This episode is called "Gone exploring" and shares different ways to enjoy outdoor activations. The Youth Working Group Chair Philipp Springer, DK6SP, writes on the ham-yota.com website that, as with previous episodes in the series, there will be a question-and-answer period afterwards. YOTA Online is a monthly presentation by Region 1's youngest amateurs. The events are livestreamed on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook and the organisers are also hoping to stream the proceedings via the QO-100 geostationary satellite in DATV mode. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP. (IARU REGION 1 WEBSITE) ** U.S. HAMS RESPOND TO WINTER WEATHER EXTREMES PAUL/ANCHOR: Recent weather extremes throughout much of the United States put hams' preparedness to the test, as we hear from Randy Sly, W4XJ. RANDY: Sleet, winter storms and other severe weather systems plus power and telecommunications outages challenged hams across the nation, even as temperatures fell to record lows in parts of the U.S. South. Arctic conditions prevailed through much of the central region of the country as well. The ARRL's emergency response director Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW, reported on the league website that an ARES net was set up in Texas to track rolling blackouts taking place as the power grid there became overwhelmed by customer demand. The net also handled health and welfare needs and vehicle accident reports. Hams responded to similar conditions as well in Alabama where the Section Emergency Coordinator David Gillespie, W4LHQ, also reported on the league website that the region was dealing with power outages and temperatures below freezing. Although not every region activated an ARES group, hams were standing by just in case as the threat of the return of severe weather hung over many regions. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Randy Sly, W4XJ. (ARRL) ** AUSTRALIAN HAM GROUP HELPS MEMBERS SOLVE ACMA ADDRESS REQUIREMENT PAUL/ANCHOR: In Australia, one radio group has directed its problem- solving toward hams unable to fulfill the regulator's requirement for a permanent address. Here's Robert Broomhead, VK3DN, with more. ROBERT: The ACMA's requirement that hams in Australia provide a public postal address to be certified and licensed left some amateurs with a dilemma: they do not have a fixed address at the moment because they have been traveling or are perhaps in a vulnerable segment of the population. Leave it to amateur radio ingenuity and problem-solving to resolve this issue. The Pride Radio Group, created last year as a welcoming organisation for amateur radio operators in the LGBTQ community, has arranged a free mail redirection service for its members in Australia. It provides a post box address that can be publicly listed and is separate from the address of the ham's QTH. The radio group's founder Michaela (Mick-EYE-ALE-A) Wheeler VK3FUR/VK4XSS, said Pride is providing the mail redirection service free to its members with the help of the provider HotSnail. Michaela said members receive an address to use on their registration paperwork. If mail arrives at that address, HotSnail scans it and forwards it to the email address the ham has provided. While this service cannot be used for QSL cards, Michaela said it does solve the address problem for the ACMA's required paperwork. Michaela said that because Pride Radio Group operates as a virtual entity, using HotSnail made the most sense because the service can be managed remotely. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Robert Broomhead, VK3DN. (MICHAELA WHEELER VK3FUR/VK4XSS) ** RESEARCHERS DEVELOP SENSITIVE, EFFICIENT TERAHERTZ DETECTOR PAUL/ANCHOR: Researchers in Moscow have developed a terahertz detector with unprecedented sensitivity and it shows promise in several areas of science. Jack Parker, W8ISH, has the details. JACK: A development from researchers in Moscow has presented what researchers consider good prospects for radio astronomy, wireless communications, medical diagnostics and security systems. It involves the use of something called quantum-mechanical tunneling in graphene. The scientists have used it to create a highly sensitive terahertz detector. This solves the problem of inefficiency when mobile systems make use of extremely high frequencies beyond the traditional ones used today. Most transistors in use today in typical wireless receivers aren't fast enough to recharge at those frequencies: Wi-Fi receivers typically use signals at about 5 GHz and 5G mobile can transmit as high as 20 GHz - but going much higher usually poses a challenge. What researchers in Moscow and the University of Manchester have created is a device much more sensitive to those in commercial use now, which are based on semiconductors and superconductors. In this new development, the application of even very low voltage to the control contact or gate in a tunneling transistor aligns energy levels of the source and channel, permitting current to flow. On the website Phys.Org, one of the Moscow researchers, Dennis Bandurin writes: [quote] "The current characteristics give rise to great hopes for the creation of fast and sensitive detectors for wireless communications." [endquote] For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jack Parker, W8ISH. (PHYS.ORG) --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (618:250/33) .