Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2395 for Friday September 22nd, 2023

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2395 with a release date of Friday
September 22nd, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A club goes QRT after vandals destroy their
equipment. Hams in Latvia celebrate the mechanical key -- and hams,
it's almost time to head for the bunkers in the UK. All this and more
as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2395 comes your way right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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VANDALS DESTROY CLUB'S SHED, EQUIPMENT, IN CANADA

PAUL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with the story of a ham radio club in
Canada that is struggling with the loss of important radio equipment
that was the heart and soul of the group. We hear about them from Sel
Embee KB3TZD.

SEL: The Cambridge Amateur Radio Club VE3SWR went QRT earlier this
month following a break-in at the shed where the club stores its
equipment. The Kitchener-Waterloo Amateur Radio Club helped get them
back on the air. While the Cambridge club sorts out the damage and the
losses from the early September incident, members have been given use
of the Kitchener-Waterloo club's equipment and repeaters. Harry Niezen,
VE3HZ, president of the Kitchener club, told the CBC that it was
natural for the club to open its doors to help fellow hams.

According to a story on the CBC website, Scott Mitchell, VA3GGT,
president of the Cambridge club, said that the club's electric
generator went missing along with numerous tools after the break-in.
Part of the storage shed had been set on fire and the club's repeaters
suffered smoke damage. The club's duplexer had been thrown to the other
side of the shed and was destroyed.

Scott said he discovered the damage in early September after going to
the shed to check on why the club repeater had not been on the air for
a few days. He thought perhaps the extreme heat in that part of Canada
had caused the shutdown. Temperatures were 40 degrees Celsius,
including the humidity index.

Scott posted on the club's Facebook page that although much of the shed
was ransacked [quote] "thankfully our repeaters were the only thing
they didn't break into." [endquote]

The incident has been reported to police. According to a report on
iheartradio Canada, the losses and damage are estimated at between
$2,000 and $3,000.

This is Sel Embee, KB3TZD.

(CBC, IHEARTRADIO. CAN, FACEBOOK)

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MAINE HAMS ADDING EMERGENCY RADIO TOWER

PAUL/ANCHOR: In Maine, hams are getting ready to take on a lifesaving
project that addresses a need in one part of their region of the state.
Andy Morrison K9AWM fills us in.

ANDY: An amateur radio club in Maine says there is something important
missing in one region of Aroostoock County: an emergency amateur radio
tower. The group, the Caribou Emergency Amateur Radio Service, plans to
change that. Members are raising the estimated $35,000 they will need
to build a 190-foot tower filling the radio void that exists between
Caribou and the St. John Valley. The hams plan to install the tower on
a 1.5-acre plot of land donated by Caribou Emergency Amateur Radio
Service president T.H. Merritt, KL5YJ, and his wife, Terri. They said
the land's high altitude makes it an especially good location for
atower.

When completed, this will be the Caribou group's fourth tower for use
by area hams for communications every day and in emergency situations.

The new tower will also be a welcome addition to communicators around
the region, according to Darren Woods, KC1ERZ, the director of
Aroostook's Emergency Management Agency. He told the Bangor, Maine,
Daily News that all first responders in the area will benefit from
having this kind of expanded radio access in a crisis.

The funds being raised are expected to cover the cost of the tower, a
backup generator that relies on solar and battery power, and other
items. The Caribou radio group, which is a nonprofit organization, has
also applied for a $8,590 community safety grant from the local
utility, Versant Power, to purchase a repeater.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(BANGOR DAILY NEWS)

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MISSOURI HAMS ADD DEFIBRILLATOR TO EMERGENCY TOOLKIT

PAUL/ANCHOR: The amateur radio operator's tool kit for disaster
assistance usually consists of towers, radios, antennas and other
communications equipment. Now one club in Missouri has just added a new
device - one that communicates with the heart. Randy Sly W4XJ brings us
the details.

RANDY: The Sedalia-Pettis Amateur Radio Klub has a new addition to its
emergency communications trailer. It's an AED, an automated external
defibrillator which is capable of restoring the heart's natural rhythm
in cases of cardiac arrest. The small device was donated by an
organization called Wear Red for Women, which raised the funds to buy
it during a luncheon and auction earlier this year.

The club's vice president, Richard Camirand, KE0QYA, told local media
that the AED will be placed in the emergency communications trailer
that hams use during disaster drills as well as real emergencies.

This is Randy Sly W4XJ.

(KMMO RADIO, THE SEDALIA DEMOCRAT)

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HAMS IN LATVIA CELEBRATE THE MECHANICAL KEY

PAUL/ANCHOR: You may have worked the Latvian Contest Group YL1ZX in
any number of major contests on the band over the course of any year.
Well, now those same hams are involved in another activity - one that
its members have organized as a kind of celebration. We hear about it
from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: Something special will be happening on 80 metres in a few short
weeks: It's a celebration of the mechanical key used by many CW
operators. This one-hour activity featuring bugs, side-swiper and
straight keys will encourage amateurs to shake the dust off on the 13th
of October and engage in as many QSOs as they can using a simple
exchange. The activity frequencies will be between 3.520 MHz and 3.560
MHz. Operators will be calling "CQ MK," of course, for "mechanicalkey."

This is the third activity of this kind that the group will have hosted
this year in the hopes of recognising these keys' increasing
popularity.

For details and to see the operators' simple exchange, see the link
that can be found in the text version of this week's newscast.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

[FOR PRINT ONLY: http://yl3jd.fizioikskile.lv/mkey/ ]

(QRZ.COM, LATVIAN CONTEST GROUP)

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AMATEURS AMONG RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA HONOREES

PAUL/ANCHOR: The ham radio community can once again be proud of some of
the award-winners being recognized by the Radio Club of America. Who
are they? Neil Rapp WB9VPG tells us.

NEIL: A number of amateur radio operators are being recognized by the
Radio Club of America for their contributions to radio and the wireless
community. Ruth Willet KM4LAO, was chosen as the first recipient of the
Radio Club of America's Carole Perry Young Professional Award.
According to the RCA website, her selection was based on her work with
the RCA's Youth Activities Program and recognizes her pursuit of a
career in the wireless industry. Ruth previously received the RCA's
Young Achiever Award while she was an undergraduate at Kettering
University in Michigan.

The other recipients include Ray Novak N9JA of Icom America, who will
receive RCA's Special Service Award. Tim Duffy, K3LR, the CEO of
DXEngineering is being recognized for products their business has
provided to the wireless industry. They will join a number of others at
an awards banquet in November in Denver, Colorado.

The RCA has also announced the inauguration of two awards named for
scientsts prominent in the field of radio. The awards are named for
entrepreneur and scientist Ulrich Rohde N1UL/DJ2LR and Nobel
Prize-winning radio astronomer Arno Penzias. The first recipients will
be named next year. The Ulrich L. Rohde Award for Innovation in Applied
Radio Science and Engineering recognizes innovation and major
contributions to wireless communications. The Arno A. Penzias Award for
Contributions to Basic Research in the Radio Sciences recognizes
research in RF and related subjects.

This is Neil Rapp WB9VPG.

(RADIO WORLD)

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SPECIAL EVENT STATION SAYS 'COME AND GET WYOMING'

PAUL/ANCHOR: If your heart is set on getting that elusive Worked All
States award and the state of Wyoming is still missing from your log,
wait no longer. Special event station W7Y will be listening for you
from September 22nd to October 2nd. When operators around the state
call "QRZ" what they're really saying is "Come and Get Wyoming" - which
just happens to be the name of the event being organized by the ShyWy
Amateur Radio Club. Just as in previous years, Wyoming contacts are out
there for the taking so get on the air and go for it. For additional
details visit QRZ.com and look for W7Y - "come and get Wyoming."

(ROBERT BRAGG, WY7AA; QRZ.COM)

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BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club's KV3B repeater in Rockville Maryland
on Sundays at 7:30 p.m. local time.