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)
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* Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (57:57/10)
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