Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2064 for Friday, May 19, 2017
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2064, with a release date of Friday,
May 19, 2017 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Germany gets a new band on a trial basis. A
former amateur with a long combative history becomes a Silent Key --
and we meet two hams honored at Hamvention. All this and more, as
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2064, comes your way right now.
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BILLBOARD CART
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AT HAMVENTION, HAMS WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
DON/ANCHOR: We begin with - what else? - Hamvention, which gets underway
as this report goes to production. One of the highlights of this annual
event is the recognition of amateurs who've made a difference for others
in our hobby. The honorees this year have done just that. Let's hear more
about them from Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
NEIL: The celebration of ham radio that is the Dayton Hamvention is
underway as we go to broadcast. And, part of the celebration is
recognizing the Hamvention award winners. Two of the winners accepted
the invitation to be featured on a recent episode of Ham Talk Live! This
year's Amateur of the Year is Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. Frank is the
international chairman of the Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station project. He worked for NASA and other space related companies
for 4 decades. Frank has worked on several projects tying ham radio with
space. And, his current one involves maintaining a ham radio presence on
the ISS.
FRANK: It is hard to believe that two weeks after the first crew came on
board, we inaugurated the amateur radio station. And, we have been
operational ever since. And so, that was back in November of 2000. Since
then, we've done over a thousand contacts. We're almost up to 1100
contacts at this point. And what the team has accomplished has been
phenomenal, being able to allow hams around the world to talk to the
astronauts on orbit. When we get a crew member that [is] interested in
talking to hams on the ground, and all of the students, and getting
students excited about amateur radio. That's a very important thing, not
only excited, but actually getting licensed.
NEIL: Bauer also reflected on the connection between space and ham radio.
FRANK: This is that melding of amateur radio into other activities,
scientific activities and engineering activities, where this hobby is
just phenomenal. And, I'll say I'm forever grateful for the fact that I
got involved in amateur radio because it has helped my career, and it has helped
everyone on earth from that perspective.
NEIL: Ram Mohan, VU2MYH is this year's Special Achievement Award winner.
Ram is the Executive Vice Chairman & Director of the National Institute
of Amateur Radio in Hyderabad, India. Ram's efforts to bring youth into
amateur radio in India has been exemplary.
RAM: Evidence of this activity in India is still on the lower side, I
would say. We are just trying to introduce and create awareness on the
activities for the youth to get involved, and join, have fun, and
interacting with people all over the world, get to learn things about
wireless communications, as they practice the art of amateur radio. And
interestingly, this grown into leaps and bounds. A lot of young people
getting involved into the activity. They're all excited to get into the
world of amateur radio. Do-it-yourself concept helps in building a skill
for them. And a lot of technical institutes are coming forward and
encourage the students to get involved in amateur radio. And it is our
effort to get the message across to all the young people who want to get
involved in the amateur radio activity.
NEIL: Ram has also been involved in communications efforts for several
natural disasters, such as the recent Nepal earthquake.
RAM: In India, we have several kinds of natural calamities hitting the
region, really pretty bad ones. The ones that happened Gujaratin 2001.
The earthquake took a toll on a lot of people, and there was a major
disaster and hams could provide instant communications at that point in
time. The super cyclone of 1999 was a major disaster here in India, and
the tsunami of 2004.
NEIL: Ram is grateful for the recognition from the Dayton Amateur Radio
Association.
RAM: We are very fortunate that the award comes back to our organization
again after so many years.
NEIL: Another winner of the prestigious awards is Rob Brownstein, K6RB,
who won the technical achievement award for his work with CW Ops. And
the Clark County Amateur Radio Club, W7AIA, which serves Southwest
Washington and Northwest Oregon, received the Club of the Year award for
their efforts with youth, licensing, and visual situation reporting. For
more information about this year's award winners, go check out the
official Hamvention program at Hamvention.org, or tune into the entire broadcast
on hamtalklive.com.
Reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
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* Origin: Temple of Doom BBS - tod.eothnet.com (57:57/1)
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