Subj : Newsline Part 2 To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Dec 02 2016 06:41 am HAWAIIAN PARADISE FOR DX JIM/ANCHOR: What could be better than being on an island in Hawaii? Being on an island with your rig and antenna and no one else -- at least to one ham. Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, spoke with him. NEIL: Now here's a type of rare island activation story you don't hear about very often. Eric Brundage, KH6EB, is on Kaho`olawe Island for 10 days every month, where he and an assistant run a base camp to support Hawaii's efforts to restore the island, which is an old Navy facility. But, during his free time Eric, operates 20 meters using a hex beam from the otherwise inaccessible island. ERIC: The island was given back to the state of Hawaii in 1994. But, the Navy retained access to the island, so that they could do a cleanup operation to try to clean up the unexploded ordnances that were all over the island. That cleanup effort lasted until about the beginning of 2004. Unfortunately, that cleanup effort wasn't complete. They only did about 75% of the island. So, there's still a risk of unexploded ordnances throughout the island. Of that 75%, only about 10% of the island was cleared sub-surface. So there' still a lot of buried, unexploded ordnances on the island. NEIL: You can contact Eric to set up a schedule, but he is generally on the air from 6 to 7 am Hawaii Standard Time (HST), 5 to 7 pm, and again from 8 to 11pm. The next time Eric will be on the island is from December 12th to the 21st. Eric just put up a new antenna, which for the time being, restricts him to only 20 meters. ERIC: Recently I picked up a KAO Hex Beam, and I just put that up this week. And, that's only a single band hex beam. I've been working exclusively 20 meters starting this week, mostly JT65, PSK31, and a little bit of single sideband. I'm hoping in the future, I can set up another antenna, where I can go ahead and get on 15 and 40 meters as well. But, for right now, I'm limited to the 20 meter band. NEIL: Kaho`olawe Island may be a once in a lifetime opportunity, as it may be problematic to gain access to Kaho'olawe, once the island is restored. Eric explains how the island counts for IOTA. ERIC: All of the state of Hawaii is a single IOTA number, OC019. Kaho'olawe does have a different US Islands number, which is HI026S, and that information is located on the front of the QSL card. I do Logbook of the World, eQSL, and also direct. I have a special card that has been made up for Kaho'olawe, that has a picture of the island on it, and the back side has some additional information about the history of the island. NEIL: If you'd like to schedule a contact, Eric can be reached via email at wh6eey@gmail.com. Reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the 2 meter repeater of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club in Lindenhurst, N.Y., on Mondays at 8 p.m., and on Sundays at 7:30 p.m. on simplex at 147.535 MHz. ** HIS HOPES ARE UP IN THE AIR JIM/ANCHOR: The good news is that one New York ham got his ballons and tracker to travel the globe. The bads news is.......he can't find them. Amateur Radio Newsline's Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, has the details: SKEETER: All Mike Hojnowski, KD2EAT, may want for Christmas are his missing balloons, and his home-built tracker. He launched them in mid-October from Cornell University, where he works as a systems engineer. One month later, after they circumnavigated the globe, the balloons crash landed. Maybe. Maybe not. But they're somewhere. The question is: where? Mike traced them to rural Landaff, New Hampshire, somewhere on a slope with an elevation of 1,000 to 1,300 feet. He believes his tracker is somewhere in the mountains, and he's already been back twice to look for it. He even got help from one of the local ham clubs, and others who want to send up their drones but so far, no luck. The tracker, unfortunately, is now offline, and he told the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper that he's thinking it was downed by a storm, and probably fell, or broke one of its solar panels. Mike said in an email to Amateur Radio Newsline [QUOTE] "The level of interest has been astounding, frankly. I'm hoping someone in their back forty collecting firewood, or a hunter, stumbles upon it, and recognizes the tracker. It would be a thrill to have it back!" [ENDQUOTE} It seems that hope can be like one of those missing balloons - buoyant and floating - but hopefully, in this case, not destined to crash. Mike asks if anyone spots the ballons and tracker, please email him at kd2eat@gmail.com For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH. (NEW HAMPSHIRE UNION LEADER) ** HONORING TWO GREAT WORLD WAR II BATTLESHIPS JIM/ANCHOR: Two special event stations on two special World War II battleships are marking one historic day, December 7, 1941. Let's hear more from Amateur Radio Newsline's Mike Askins, KE5CXP. MIKE: Members of the Tri-State Amateur Radio Association in Huntington, West Virginia, are honoring the noted World War II battleship, the USS West Virginia. The ship sustained severe damage at Pearl Harbor, where it was among those ships struck by aerial torpedoes and bombs dropped by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941. The damage ultimately caused the ship to sink to the harbor bottom, but she was eventually raised, and put into dry-dock for repair, and did return to military service in the Pacific, including the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Iowa Jima, and Okinawa, as well as being one of the ships sent to secure the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945. Taking pride in this namesake ship, W8VA will operate on 20 and 40 meters on Saturday, December 10, between 1500 and 2300 UTC. Special QSL cards will be available. In Los Angeles, California, hams will operate from the Battleship Iowa, on Wednesday, December 7, in memory of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The amateurs will be active as NI6BB, and will be on the air on board the ship from 1800 to 2300 UTC. One group, known as the "Gray Radio Gang," will operating using legacy gear on 40 meters. The main team of operators will be on the air using both CW and on SSB, on other bands, including 20, 10 and 17. For more details about specific frequencies, visit the website biara.org Built in Brooklyn, New York, the USS Iowa was commissioned in 1943. In that same year, it crossed the Atlantic Ocean with President Franklin Roosevelt for meetings with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. The ship opened as a floating museum in July, 2012. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mike Askins, KE5CXP. (SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO, BATTLESHIP IOWA AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION, TRI-STATE AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION, PACIFIC BATTLESHIP.COM) Posted by VPost v1.7.081019 .