Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri May 14 2021 08:40:56 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2272 for Friday May 14, 2021 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2272, with a release date of Friday, May 14, 2021 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Hams bring compassion and critical supplies to COVID-ravaged India. A solar probe unlocks mysteries of a planet's ionosphere -- and a shipboard amateur delivers some very rare grid squares. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2272, comes your way right now. *** BILLBOARD CART ** INDIAN HAMS ASSIST WITH SUPPLIES TO COVID PATIENTS STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Our top story this week is a tale of compassion and community service arising out of a landscape in India ravaged by the deadly pandemic. John Williams, VK4JJW, brings us those details. JOHN: As COVID-19 continues to devastate India, amateur radio operators in West Bengal are helping health care workers and patients by providing a network of support. Club secretary Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, told Newsline that the West Bengal Radio Club and the students of the Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management are providing access to food as well as to lifesaving medicines, plasma and oxygen, assisting the neediest with admission into health care facilities. The academy is an amateur radio training institute headed by Rinku Nag Biswas, VU2JFB. He said other hams in these two groups are also arranging for mental health support to be provided online for those who need it. Meanwhile, club members Arnab Roy Chowdhury VU3JWN, Arub Bhattacharya (Botta-Charr-Ya) VU3ZIB, Debdutta (deb-DUTTA) Mukherjee (Mook-Er-Gee), VU3JXA, and Jayanta (Jiy-YONTA) Baidya (BYE- DEE-YA), VU3YJB, have been working around the clock, even as two other members of the club became stricken with COVID and are now receiving treatment. Ambarish Nag Biswas told Newsline: "We are happy to help people in this crisis period. We believe 'ham' stands for Help Always Mankind.' " For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm John Williams, VK4JJW. (AMBARISH NAG BISWAS VU2JFA) ** BRAZILIAN AMATEURS SEEK EQUIPMENT TAX EXEMPTION STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In Brazil, hams are renewing their efforts to have taxes eliminated on amateur radio equipment, as we hear from Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. JEREMY: Brazil's national amateur radio society has intensified its ongoing efforts to have ham radio equipment declared exempt from import tax and the tax on industrialized products. The exemption being sought by the Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Rƒ¡dio Emiss†o would be granted to any qualified amateur radio operator and participant in Rener, the National Amateur Radio Emergency Network or member of Sindec, the National Civil Defense System. The bill was introduced in 2009 but there has been no action on it since 2018 when it was given to lawmakers in the Finance and Taxation Committee. LABRE is asking hams in Brazil to push for a renewal of the effort to get parliamentarians to vote on the measure. LABRE is collecting signatures on a petition on its website to send to the National Congress. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH. (SOUTHGATE, LABRE) ** DEBRIS FROM CHINESE ROCKET SCATTERS IN INDIAN OCEAN STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Although China successfully launched the first module for that nation's space station, the mission launcher re-entered Earth's atmosphere along an uncontrolled path. We hear more about its fate from Jason Daniels, VK2LAW. JASON: The uncontrolled low orbit of a Chinese Long March rocket ended in a flare of light over the Arabian Peninsula before the rocket plunged into the Indian Ocean near the Maldives. The dramatic re-entry into Earth's atmosphere came late on Saturday May 8th, quieting nervous speculation that the space debris from the empty core of the Long March 5B would land in a populated region. The Chinese space agency said much of the rocket was consumed during re-entry. At 22 tons, it was considered one of the largest objects to re-enter the atmosphere with an uncontrolled trajectory. Its path had been followed by the US Space Command's Space-Track Project and European Space Surveillance and Tracking. There had been concern that the rocket's fate might have been similar to that of the first Long March 5B. During a similar uncontrolled re-entry in May of last year, debris from that rocket fell in an area of Ivory Coast in Africa where it damaged several buildings. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW. (WASHINGTON POST, CNN, REUTERS) --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .