Subj : Newsline Part 1 To : ALL From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Jun 02 2016 10:15 pm Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2014, June 3, 2016 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 2014, with a release date of Friday, June 3, 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Amateur radio climbs to the mountaintops of Nepal and beyond. Hams carry on a Memorial Day tradition. A $29,000 gift to DXers honors the memory of one pioneering California DXer. And, hams in Canada prepare for the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2014, coming your way, right now. (Billboard Cart Here and Intro) ** PUTTING SUMMITS ON THE AIR FOR SAFETY STEPHEN: We begin this week's newscast with word of a life-changing and perhaps even life-saving change that is coming to mountain peaks such as the Himalayas, via amateur radio. Up there, climbers often know that the hardest summits they may ever face are the heights of safety. Amateur Radio Newsline's Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has the story. GRAHAM's REPORT: In what's being called an unprecedented move, nearly two dozen Bengalese mountaineers earned their amateur radio licenses in late May, and will soon be using portable radios to provide climber safety, emergency rescues and, if need be, help with searches for missing and fallen climbers. A report in the Hindustan Times identifies two of the new hams as Dipankar Ghosh and Subrata Dey, both well-known veteran mountaineers. According to Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, of the West Bengal Radio Club, the climbers' license are likely the first ever to be issued to any mountaineer. He said that in addition to carrying HF radios in their backpacks with an antenna, the guides will also be outfitted with transmitters that automatically send their position to base camp for tracking purposes in case of an emergency. The West Bengal Club's founder helped train and prepare the climbers for the recent licensing examination in late May. Dey told the Hindustan Times that the licenses were a long time coming, and that such capability might have saved the life of his friend who collapsed and died on Mount Dhaulagiri in Nepal, the world's seventh-highest peak, just this past 19 May. Earlier that same day, a Nepalese sherpa guide fell to his death from the world's fourth largest peak, Lhotse Face, while fixing ropes for an expedition of soldiers from India. And just a day later, May 20, Melbourne University lecturer Marisa Strydom, died while descending Everest. In her case, it had been feared her body would remain in Nepal, but it has now been retrieved and returned to Australia. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB. (THE HINDU, THE HINDUSTAN TIMES) ** A MEMORIAL DAY WITH EXTRA MEANING STEPHEN/ANCHOR: This past Memorial Day Weekend, one group of hams in Fort Wayne, Indiana hosted an event that made the word "memorial" into "memorable" for the military. Amateur Radio Newsline's Paul Braun, WD9GCO, explains. PAUL: Honoring America's military members, whether they are veterans or those in active service, is a treasured tradition on a number of national holidays. But how do you publicly express the nation's gratitude to the men and women who died in service to their country? When you're a ham radio operator, you honor those sacrifices by organizing a tribute to those who are still serving today. That notion is what inspired Emery McClendon, KB9IBW, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, to create an event called "A Salute to Those Who Served" 13 years ago, as part of Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day, or ARMAD. This past Memorial Day weekend, that was the message these hams carried -- and from all reports, signals were clearly copied. For just a few hours outside the Praise Lutheran Church in Ft. Wayne, ARMAD saluted past and present military members, and even heard from a number of them personally. Two veterans were among the guest speakers during the brief ceremonies - one from World War Two, and another from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to his profile in QRZ, McClendon is a veteran himself, and knows the hard work of the military first-hand: A Life Member of Disabled American Veterans, he served in the U.S. Air Force for four years, and the Indiana Air National Guard for two years. He is also a strong proponent of promoting amateur radio by connecting it, whenever possible, to military-related special events. As for this past weekend's event, the connection was strong - and it showed that sometimes the clearest and most heartfelt message any ham can deliver is this phrase: "THANK YOU FOR GIVING ALL YOU HAD." For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO in Valparaiso, Indiana. (WANE-TV, ARMAD.NET, QRZ.COM) ** $29,000 GIFT GOES THE DISTANCE STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A radio museum that was to rise on land once used by a notable California DXer won't be built after all. But a generous gift from the foundation behind the museum project will end up helping DXpeditioners elsewhere. Here's more from Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. NEIL'S REPORT: THe Northern California DX Foundation has received a $29,000 gift from the Don Wallace Museum Foundation, which is shutting its Rancho Palos Verdes, California site after nearly three decades. The museum site was named for Don Wallace, W6AM, a radio pioneer and premier DXer, who became a Silent Key in 1985. The land, which the board of directors had hoped would one day house a museum and radio shack, is now being developed for residential use. It was formerly used for Wallace's noted "antenna ranch." Museum board chairman Joe Locascio, K5KT, said there are no restrictions on use of the funds by the DX Foundation, a private, donor-supported organization, created in 1972, to support amateur radio projects and related scientific undertakings. He said the gift to the DX Foundation is being given in the spirit of the same DXing goals cherished by Wallace himself. The Northern California group assured museum officials that the donation will go toward helping making top DXpeditions happen. But Locascio noted that the site itself will retain one remnant of its former use: An 18 by 24 bronze plaque visible at the entrance to Wallace's former ranch. It serves as a permanent marker of the property's former glory days in amateur radio. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. --- þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, AR - wx1der.dyndns.org .