Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Jan 03 2020 11:13 am

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2201, for Friday, January 3rd, 2020

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2201, with a release date of
Friday, January 3rd, 2020, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A friend and Elmer in the New York ham
community becomes a Silent Key. Backyard radio telescopes come
to Australia -- and in our top story, Australia's bush fires
intensify.

All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2201,
comes your way right now.

**

BILLBOARD CART

**

BREAKING NEWS: AS AUSTRALIA'S BUSH FIRES INTENSIFY, HAMS RAMP UP EFFORTS

JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week's report with breaking news from Australia,
where a 7-day emergency was declared in New South Wales as of Friday,
January 3rd. Here's John Williams, VK4JJW.

JOHN: As Newsline went to production, we received this update on the
bushfires in Australia. As property losses mounted, and towns were cut
off, military aircraft and navy ships were bringing supplies into the
region. By New Year's Day, New South Wales confirmed the death toll had
risen to 15  - but toll nationwide reached at least 17, according to
news reports. Julian Sortland, VK2YJS, the publicity officer for the
Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network in New South Wales, said that
amateurs were monitoring IARU Region 3 disaster frequencies because of
communication outages. Julian said WICEN was sending communications
operations and logistics resources to the Fire Control Centres across
the State and Territory from WICEN NSW and WICEN ACT, which is part of
Canberra Region ARC. They were also staffing aviation radio operations
and telephone operations at the Bush Fire Information Line in Sydney.
Amateurs remained active supporting the Rural Fire Service, as well as
other agencies. Newsline will provide updates on this unprecedented
tragedy as we learn more.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm John Williams, VK4JJW.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS, JULIAN SORTLAND VK2YJS)

**

HAMS REUNITE MENTALLY DISABLED MAN WITH FAMILY

JIM/ANCHOR: In India, the best amateur radio contact of all turned out
to be the contact between a mentally disabled man and his family - a
reunion brought about by a local ham club. Jason Daniels, VK3DN, tells
us that story.

JASON: A mentally disabled man reported missing by his family, was
returned home to the Bardhaman district of West Bengal, India, with the
help of amateur radio operators of the West Bengal Radio Club. Hirak
Sinha, the club's vice president, told the Millennium Post newspaper
that shopkeepers in a local market in Kolkata first assumed the
30-year-old man they had seen regularly inside the marketplace was a
vagrant. It soon became clear he was mentally disabled, and had lost
his way after becoming separated from relatives. Learning his name, the
amateur radio club determined that his family had notified police some
time ago that he had gone missing. With the help of area police, he was
returned to his brother, who transported him home.

This reunion is the latest of many the club has been able to successfully
bring about.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW.

(MILLENNIUM POST)

**

NEWSLINE'S YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR CHOSEN FOR MLK JR. AWARD

JIM/ANCHOR: Congratulations to Dhruv Rebba, KC9ZJX, who was honored
last year by being named Amateur Radio Newsline's Young Ham of the
Year. Dhruv has been selected as one of five recipients of the
Bloomington-Normal Illinois Martin Luther King Youth Award for 2020.
Dhrub is the founder of the Universal Help Foundation, an international
nonprofit organization dedicated to improving people's lives through
innovation. A high school sophomore, Dhruv is an honor student, and a
volunteer in numerous organizations.

Well done, Dhruv!
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Win32
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (801:1/2)
 þ Synchronet þ Temple of Doom BBS - tod.eothnet.com

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