Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2414 for Friday February 2nd, 2024

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2414 with a release date of Friday
February 2nd, 2024 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Arrests are made following the destruction of a
radio tower. An island Dxpedition becomes a memorial and a tribute
--and in New York City, one school serves as a model for ham radio
education. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number
2414 comes your way right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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TWO ARRESTED AFTER THEFT OF COPPER FROM DESTROYED RADIO TOWER

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Our top story takes us to Oklahoma, where arrests have
been made following the destruction of a broadcast radio tower. We have
that report from Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

KENT: Two people have been arrested in Texas in connection with the
recent theft of copper from a radio tower in Hugo, Oklahoma last month.
The Choctaw County Sheriff said that the two were identified by scrap
yard employees in Paris, Texas, where one day after the January 15th
incident, they tried to sell copper wiring from the coax line.
Authorities said that Payne Media Group, the broadcast station's owner,
was contacted and confirmed that the copper had come from the tower for
KITX, a 50,000-watt station serving southeast Oklahoma and northeast
Texas. Paris, Texas, is one of the communities in the station's
coverage area.

The station has been live streaming and operating with limited
broadcast range following the destruction of the tower. Its guy wires
had been cut and its backup generator also was destroyed.

As Newsline went to production, charges were still pending.

This is Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(RADIO WORLD, RADIO INK)

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WINTER FIELD DAY FOCUSES ON PREPAREDNESS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: For organizers and operators here in the United States
and Canada, Winter Field Day is over. Teams will continue to send in
their logs through the 1st of March, but Mike W4OPS told Newsline that
1,293 registered locations participated in the event on the 27th and
28th of January. Six hundred sixty seven of those were clubs. Early
results show that 54 countries appear in the log and several countries
were hosting their own Winter Field Day operations. Mike told Newsline
in an email: [quote] "We are very happy with the growth of the event."
[endquote] Planning has begun for next year, when Winter Field Day will
be held on the 25th and 26th of January.

Meanwhile, the Indian media carried a report that amateurs in that
nation also conducted an emergency-preparedness exercise known as the
ARSI National Field Day Contest. Hams from the Mangaluru Amateur Radio
Club, Manipal Ham Club, VU2MHC, the NITK System for Emergency
Assistance, Response and Communications Hub, and the NITK club station
VU2REC took part in the Amateur Radio Society of India's National Field
Day on the 27th and 28th.

(MIKE, W4OPS, THE DAIJI WORLD)

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ORGANIZERS LAUNCH STATE QSO CLUB CHALLENGE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If working state QSO parties during the year is among
your weekend amateur radio pursuits, there's a new challenge you might
want to tackle. It involves bringing your fellow hams along for the
ride. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abram-o-vich NT3V has thestory.

MARK: The people behind the State QSO Party group have thrown down the
gauntlet to QPers - as they're being called - across the US and Canada
to gather your friends together to compete in the State QSO Club
Challenge.

Dave Edmonds, WN4AFP, director of the group formed in 2020, tells
Newsline the goal is to generate more activity in the 47 QSO parties
held during the year.

The invitation is open to all - meaning you don't have to be an entrant
in a particular contest: Just get on the radio and make contacts by
scanning the bands and work any State QSO Party station.

Edmonds says a major sponsor supporting plaques and certificates wants
you to work the QSO Party in your home state as well as those in a
couple of other states. He told Newsline that the State QSO Club
Challenge - which was launched in early January -- would like to
recognize not just individuals, but radio clubs for getting members on
the air to have some fun chasing home, mobile, rover and portable
stations. Some of them operate from rare counties.

As you and your fellow club members are making contacts, he says,
there's a component for competition between individual club members as
well, All-county hunters have a chance to pick up a bunch of new
counties in pretty quick order. Of course, if you're still chasing the
Worked All States Award, this is an opportunity to fill in the gaps on
some of those hard-to-find states.

Edmonds says the club challenge runs from February 3rd until
November30th.

You'll find more at the link posted in the text version of this week's
newscast at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://stateqsoparty.com ]

I'm Mark Abramowicz NT3V.

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FOR DXPEDITIONERS, A MEMORIAL TO A FRIEND

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A group of friends is about to begin a DXpedition that
will fulfill the dream of one of its organizers who was a noted ham in
Chile. The trip will also serve as a memorial to him. Jim Meachen
ZL2BHF brings us that story.

JIM M: The sudden and unexpected death of DXpedition leader Marco,
CE1EW, late last year seemed to leave the fate of the Robinson Crusoe
Island DXpedition in the balance. Marco had been organising this trip
and coordinating the logistics with an eye toward activating. In his
honour, seven members of the team are making sure that the project goes
forward. A report from Guillermo, XQ 3 SA, the team's logistics leader,
says that the equipment is being shipped to the island in the Juan
Fernandez National Park in time to get on the air on February 10th. The
activation of the callsign CB 0 ZA will continue through to the 24th
and will be a memorial DXpedition.

The team announced on the 17th of January that the DXpedition will also
include an off-island team of more than 30 remote operators from around
the world, who will be making use of a Radio in a Box on FT8 and CW.
This operation will have the callsign CB 0 ZEW. The NexGen RiB will be
taken by Hal, W8HC, from West Virginia to the island. Operators will
access it remotely via Starlink satellite internet.

The DXpedition's page on QRZ.co recalls Marco as [quote] "an avid DXer,
park activator, family man - but most of all a terrific person."
[endquote]

The team writes that their goal is to have his contributions remembered
as [quote] "the cornerstone of this, Marco's 'last' DXpedition
project." [endquote]

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(WIA, DX WORLD)

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AMSAT MAKES PLEA TO KEEP GREENCUBE IN SERVICE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A busy satellite digipeater is scheduled to end its
service - but AMSAT hopes the satellite operators will have a change in
plans. Andy Morrison K9AWM has that story.

ANDY: AMSAT has made a plea to Sapienza Space Systems and Space
Surveillance Laboratory to postpone its scheduled shutdown of the
digipeater aboard the amateur satellite known as GreenCube, or IO-117.
The satellite was scheduled to be decommissioned on the 5th of
February.

Radio operators around the world have been making use of its digipeater
for QSOs for more than a year, including those for the high-profile
TX5S DXpedition on Clipperton Island in the Pacific Ocean. AMSAT said
this marks the first activation in three decades of Clipperton Island
via amateur satellite.

In a January 25th letter requesting the decommissioning's postponement,
AMSAT's president Robert Bankston, KE4AL, reminded S5Lab's Green Cube
team that amateur satellites such as AMSAT-OSCAR 7 often enjoy extended
lifetimes. The still-active OSCAR 7 was launched in 1974. AMSAT
committed itself to involvement in helping manage GreenCube in
cooperation with AMSAT Italia, S5Lab and other AMSAT organisations.

He said in his letter that GreenCube, amateur radio's first
medium-earth orbit satellite, has [quote] "opened worldwide
long-distance contacts via amateur radio satellite that had not been
possible since the loss of AMSAT-OSCAR 40 in 2004." [endquote]

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE)

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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 K4EX repeater in Dade City Florida on Tuesdays after the 7 p.m.net.

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DO YOU HAIKU?

Does your amateur radio experience ever inspire a bit of poetry?
Amateur Radio Newsline challenges you to immortalize that incredible
QSO or fantastic antenna by participating in our weekly haiku
challenge. Use the entry form on our website, arnewsline.org and please
follow the rules for writing your three-line haiku -- we cannot accept
any entries that aren't written in traditional haiku form. Visit our
website and check out our previous winners!

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"HAM RADIO AND MORE" JOINS DIGITAL LIBRARY COLLECTION

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you remember the show, "Ham Radio and More," that
was popular on commercial talk radio in the 1990s, you'll be happy to
know it's back - well, sort of. The Digital Library of Amateur Radio &
Communications has gained more than 300 episodes of the program for its
growing collection. The show's devotion to amateur radio eventually
took it from its home studio in Arizona and landed it in national
syndication, as guests discussed the issues of the day. If you don't
remember the show but think you might become a fan now, check it out by
following the link that appears in the text version of this week's
script at arnewsline.org