Subj : Newsline Part 1 To : ALL From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Jun 23 2016 08:47 pm Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2017, June 24, 2016 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2017, with a release date of Friday, June 24, 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. New Mexico ARES teams respond to deadly wildfires. There's upheaval inside the ARRL's National Traffic System. Some DXing friends prepare to take a big step. And, it looks like the North Korea activation is about to happen! All this and more, in Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2017, coming your way right now. **** BILLBOARD CART HERE **** HAMS FACE NEW MEXICO WILDFIRE CHALLENGES JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week's report with the deadly New Mexico wildfires which spurred evacuations, and prompted activation of local Amateur Radio Emergency Service volunteers. The fires also put a number of Field Day operating sites at risk. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bobby Best, WX4ALA, has that story. BOBBY: The Dog Head fire that began its deadly sweep on Tuesday, June 14, through more than 16,000 acres northwest of Tajigue, New Mexico, was still only marginally contained by the start of the week beginning Monday, June 20. As evacuation centers for both people and their pets were established in Bernalillo and Torrance counties, nearly 1,000 New Mexico responders stepped in - and New Mexico ARES members were among them. ARES teams were activated in Valencia and Torrance counties, with Sandoval County ARES placed on standby. The main emergency channels being used for Dog Head Fire responders have been the Capilla Peak 146.96 repeater, and the Tapia Mesa 147.06 repeater. New Mexico Section Emergency Coordinator Bill Mader, K8TE told the ARRL that the repeater coverage was likely sufficient for communications needs in this emergency. Meanwhile, the fire continued its deadly progression as blasting record heat pressed down upon states in the desert southwest region. Fire officials said efforts to contain the wildfires were being complicated by the excessive temperatures. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bobby Best, WX4ALA. JIM/ANCHOR: At press time, at least one Field Day site, to be operated by the Albuquerque DX Association W5UR group, had to be relocated, as others assessed their own situations. Officials said the cause of the fire was still under investigation as of Wednesday, June 22. (KOB-TV, ARRL, NBC NEWS, ACCUWEATHER) ** HONORS AND UPHEAVAL IN THE NATIONAL TRAFFIC SYSTEM JIM/ANCHOR: Major upheaval has shaken the ARRL's National Traffic System, just a day after a key ARRL committee praised the NTS for its valued public service contribution. The league's executive committee has removed the system's Eastern Area Chair, Joe Ames, W3JY, who has also been relieved of his position as Eastern Pennsylvania Section Manager. His ousting became effective immediately. According to the ARRL website, the executive committee determined that Ames acted on behalf of the NTS and ARRL, without authority to do so, and had made commitments to FEMA, violating ARRL Field Organization rules and regulations, which state that NTS communication with FEMA should happen only through authorized ARRL representatives. Ames' removal was announced barely 24 hours after the league's Programs and Services Committee asked the ARRL board to recognize the NTS for its public service role, calling its members QUOTE "the lifeblood of this important ARRL program." ENDQUOTE (ARRL) ** FRIENDS GO THE DISTANCE IN SEYCHELLES JIM/ANCHOR: What's better than starting out as a DXpeditioner? Doing it with friends! Newsline's Paul Braun, WD9GCO, tells us about one group that's going the distance. PAUL'S REPORT: They're just a group of friends who like two main things: adventure and ham radio. And from July 1st through the 10th, they're going to combine both of them as they venture to the Seychelles to mount an expedition. I spoke with Martin Wennergren, A65DC, about their plan. MARTIN: I haven't been there before. I guess the reason why we are choosing the Seychelles is that -- as it says on the web we are a small group of hams from the United Arab Emirates, and we want to do cooler and greater and bigger DXpeditions in the future. But, we need to start somewhere. We are all kids in the beginning. So I guess the choice, we were playing around with Bhutan and Vietnam, and some other places that might actually be slightly higher up on the list of wanted countries, but the Seychelles came naturally. It's easy to get to from Dubai. PAUL: Wennergren spoke briefly about their radio setup. MARTIN: We have two stations running and one backup station with us that we hope we are not going to use. But two TS-590s are going to be operating all the time we hope. PAUL: He said that the best way to keep up with them and to see if you got in the log is to watch their website, A6DX.com MARTIN: Yeah absolutely. We will try to have the current operating frequencies, we will try to communicate what we are looking for. We will have kind of short windows into North America so we are going to communicate on our website where our antennas are headed at the moment and what we are looking for, for shorter periods of time. PAUL: So listen in and add a new island to your collection -- and keep an eye on this group of hams. They've got big plans for the future! For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO. --- þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, AR - wx1der.dyndns.org .