Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Sep 09 2021 21:27:47 MEET ARRL MAXIM AWARD WINNER: KATHERINE FORSON, KT5KMF DON/ANCHOR: A Texas high school honor student has received the ARRL's premier honor, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award. Paul Braun, WD9GCO, introduces us to her. PAUL: As we discover every year with our Young Ham Of The Year award, there are some amazing young people in our hobby today. One of those is Katherine Forson, KT5KMF, the American Radio Relay League's 2021 Hiram Percy Maxim Award winner. I spoke with the remarkable young woman, who was licensed as a Tech at the age of nine, and was an Extra five years later. Forson said she loves the public-service aspect of amateur radio, and participates in a variety of local events throughout the year. She's also fascinated by the opportunities that the digital modes, such as FT-8, afford operators. But what's most interesting to her is that ham radio has helped her decide her future: FORSON: This is actually pretty interesting because ham radio has helped me a lot in figuring that out. Yes, I am a trained Skywarn storm spotter - I actually want to be a meteorologist. I finished just a couple weeks ago my application to Texas A&M. They have an incredible geosciences program there and specifically meteorology. They have the oldest ham radio club in Texas on campus and they also have a student storm chasing team. PAUL: When asked if she had any advice for other young women who may be hesitant about getting into radio or science, like she did, she offered this: FORSON: If it's something you want to do, you go for it. I can remember when I first got licensed, when I was taking my test it was this room full of adult men and I was this tiny 9-year-old girl and I tried to use a giant calculator. It was awkward at first, but it's become something that I love, it's given me something that I have in common with my family, and it's helped me figure out what I want to do with my life so I think, even if it's intimidating at first, don't let that stop you. Don't let being one of the few women, one of the few young girls, stop you. PAUL: Forson is working with other Texas-area female hams to create a YL-friendly online community tied into the ARRL North Texas section website. Promoting youth in amateur radio is something near and dear to our hearts here at Amateur Radio Newsline. Our 2020 Young Ham of the Year, Chris Brault, was a former Maxim Award winner himself. Congratulations from all of us at Newsline to Katherine Forson, who has a bright future ahead. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO. ** US HAMS ACTIVATE THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL DON/ANCHOR: America's Appalachian Trail has always captured hikers' imaginations, and next month, it will be capturing hundreds and hundreds of miles of radio signals. Jim Damron, N8TMW, has that report. JIM: In the United States, the 2,190-mile-long Appalachian Trail will present 2,190 miles of possibilities for SOTA and POTA activators on Saturday, October 2nd. SOTA enthusiasts are already registering to activate summits that are within a short distance on the trail and hams will be calling between 1200 UTC and 2100 UTC throughout the day. If you're an avid hiker as well as a SOTA or POTA activator, you have time to add your name and your summit or park of choice to the list by sending an email to A T ontheair at gmail dot com (ATontheair@gmail.com). SOTA activators may also post an alert on SOTAWatch. This event is being held on the same day as the W7A s2s 10-point madness so it's recommended that SOTA chasers stand by and defer to summits calling other summits. For details visit the Appalachian Trail on the air website. The URL is listed in the printed script of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW. [DO NOT READ: atontheair.com] (SOTA REFLECTOR, ATONTHEAIR) ** LISATS HAM CLUB TO RETRANSMIT INSPIRATION4 LAUNCH DON/ANCHOR: If you want to hear history as it happens, be listening for the audio retransmissions provided by the Launch Information Service and Amateur Television System. They'll be retransmitting feeds of the countdown and the booster recovery for SpaceX's Inspiration4, a three-day mission featuring the first all-civilian crew inside a Crew Dragon spacecraft. It's a charity flight for the benefit of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. At the time Newsline went to production, liftoff was scheduled for September 15th. According to Joe Dolinsky, W0WD, the LISATS (LEE-SATS) Amateur Radio Club repeater will carry feeds of the transmissions. There is also a "listen live" button on LISATS.ORG, the (LEE-SATS) website, which has links to Broadcastify. Listening may also be possible via EchoLink at WB4ATV. (JOE DOLINSKY W0WD) --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .