HOLIDAY SPIRIT IS IN -- AND ON -- THE AIR
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Because the holiday season itself is a special event, it
inspires hams to get extra creative with events of their own. Here are two
stations you'll want to be listening for. We hear first from Amateur Radio
Newsline's Graham Kemp, VK4BB.
GRAHAM'S REPORT: The annual OF9X Special Event Station - an amateur radio
world tour that has featured Santa for more than three decades - has begun
making its rounds from the Arctic Circle. Station operations will continue
through the 31st of December - this time featuring Santa and his dozen
elves, who not only assist Santa, but double as multipliers for contacts.
All 12 will operate as Old-Father-9-Christmas, OF9X, and will identify
themselves further as elves with an additional three-letter designation,
such as ART for "Arto" or NIK for "Niko." So if you've contacted an elf,
you'll hear OF9X/ART, or something similar.
There are a number of prizes available for different point scores, but no
doubt the biggest prize of all for childen of the participating amateurs
will be the opportunity they have to win a QSO during Christmas week with
the person the website is calling "the true and live Santa."
Be listening on the bands - and BELIEVE!
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB.
(OHIO PENN DX BULLETIN, RADIO ARCALA)
**
A CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM BETHLEHEM
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Jim Damron, N8TMW, tells us next about some amateurs in
Georgia, who are bringing the Bethlehem experience a little closer to
home.
JIM'S REPORT: How about a Christmas QSO with Bethlehem.........Georgia?
The Barrow Amateur Radio Club in Winder, Georgia, is heading back to
nearby Bethlehem, where from 2010 to 2014, the club activated the
Bethlehem City Park pavilion each Christmas. After a brief hiatus, the
special event station is back! Be listening for WR4BC on the afternoon
of December 10th and 11th, starting on 20 meters, and then moving later
in the day to 40 meters. The club will also operate a second station on
10 meters. All operation will be SSB, and there'll be a special QSL card
for all successful contacts.
This time, however, instead of operating in the pavilion, the club will
be in Bethlehem itself, going mobile and portable from a hilltop parking
lot in town.
Sorry, there won't be any overnight operation. QSOs stop at about 5 p.m..
It may not be too cold for Santa, but these hams need to be roasting by
an open fire.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW.
(BILL WILSON KJ4EX, BARROW AMATEUR RADIO CLUB)
**
BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the SPARC club
repeater for the Sportsman's Paradise Amateur Radio Club, K4WAK, in
Wakulla County, Florida, in time for the Friday afternoon commute.
**
AMATEURS TEAM UP TO ENCOURAGE DISABLED HAMS IN SWITZERLAND
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Hams in some parts of the world set aside December 3 to showcase
what radio can do for the disabled. Here's Amateur Radio
Newsline's Ed Durrant, DD5LP.
ED'S REPORT:
When members of the Union of Swiss Shortwave Amateurs, the USKA, operated
a special event station recently at the Swiss Paraplegic Centre, an
emergency and rehabilitation facility in Nottwil, they were grateful for
the possibilities. Operators weren't just looking to score some good
contacts while working with the patients there; they were eager to show
those patients, most of whom have spinal cord injuries, the possibilities
radio holds for quadriplegics and paraplegics.
On Saturday, the 3rd of December, the Swiss radio amateurs were among a
handful of radio groups, including those in Egypt and the UK, who were
marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Using the
special call sign HB9IPHA, the Swiss amateurs worked on 20 meters at 100
watts with a FlexRadio3000, but were also on VHF and UHF, with a Yaesu
FT-857D.
Thomas Huber, HB9FXU, the Switzerland coordinator for the IARU's
Information Programme for Handicapped Radio Amateurs, said in an email
that the feedback from patients, visitors, and hospital employees, was extremely
positive. He told Amateur Radio Newsline that the response was especially
encouraging, as some participants got on the air for the first
time. Thomas said the opportunity for outreach was also gratifying - and
next year, the hams plan to do more outreach to disabled men and women
throughout Switzerland, and get them involved and on the air -- and not
just on one day every year.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP.
(THOMAS HUBER, HB9FXU)
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