Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2423 for Friday April 5th, 2024

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2423 with a release date of
Friday, April 5th, 2024 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Hams are on alert after a bridge collapse in
Baltimore. Candidates in Germany prep for the country's newest class
ham license -- and a weather service outage in the US reminds hams of
their vital roles in emergencies. All this and more as Amateur Radio
Newsline Report Number 2423 comes your way right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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HAMS ON ALERT AFTER BALTIMORE BRIDGE DISASTER

NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story is the ongoing recovery following the
collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the US city of Baltimore.
Hams were put on alert and several days into the recovery, severe
weather rolled in. Kevin Trotman N5PRE has this developing story.

KEVIN: A call went out for heightened awareness among radio amateurs in
the Baltimore, Maryland area as the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed
on Tuesday, March 26th, after being struck by a cargo ship near the
Port of Baltimore. Shortly after the early morning incident, Chris Van
Winkle, AB3WB, manager of the ARRL Maryland DC section. reached out to
ARES members section wide, asking that they stand by. Meanwhile,
Maryland and Baltimore officials declared a state of emergency.

As Newsline went to production on the 4th of April, hams remained on
alert as severe weather pounded the region, posing potential
complications to recovery operations near the harbor. Sid Caesar, NH7C,
the assistant section manager and public information coordinator, said
section leadership continued to be vigilant, engaging in incident
planning in case the need arose to activate any amateur radio support
in the days ahead.

This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

(SID CAESAR, NH7C)

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NETWORK OUTAGE DURING STORM HIGHLIGHTS HAMS' IMPORTANCE

NEIL/ANCHOR: As weather-tracking and communications technology grow
more sophisticated, it's easy to think that system failures won't be a
problem in an emergency. In the American Midwest, however,
weather-watchers - and hams - got a dose of reality, as we hear from
Randy Sly W4XJ.

RANDY: Several areas across the United States received a wakeup call on
the night of April 1st when a national data network outage knocked out
radar and warning capabilities in many cities just as severe weather
began hitting the central part of the country.

In the St. Louis region, just as a storm system brought heavy rainfall,
hail, and even a tornado to the area, the Weather Forecast Office's
radar and warning systems went dark. Meteorologists had to rely on
other resources while calling on the Kansas City office to provide
backup.

Michael Musher, a meteorologist and spokesman for the National Weather
Service, told the media, <quote> "During this outage, some warning
services were impacted," <endquote> he indicated that they are working
with network vendors to determine the root cause for the 5 hour
blackout.

Radio amateurs were active across the heartland. For example, Fox 19 TV
in Cincinnati reported ham activity for a tornado in Mason County,
Kentucky. A former SKYWARN Amateur Radio Coordinator for the
Washington DC/Baltimore Weather Forecast Office told AR Newsline that
the best thing we can do for the National Weather Service is always be
ready to serve.

This is Randy Sly W4XJ.

(NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, NY TIMES, KSDK TV5, FOX CHANNEL 19)

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AMSAT-DL ADVANCES MICROWAVE AMATEUR RADIO PAYLOAD IDEA

NEIL/ANCHOR: AMSAT-DL has outlined a proposed microwave amateur radio
payload for a geostationary satellite, in response to requests from the
IARU and the European Space Agency.

The proposal favors positioning that would include eastern European
countries and large portions of eastern North America with the western
limit including Ontario and points east. In a 31-slide presentation,
AMSAT DL's Kai Siebels, DH0SK, and Matthias Bopp, DD1US, outline a plan
that they believe would include the most suitable orbit, comparing the
intended coverage to that provided by the successful OSCAR-100
satellite.

The suggested main downlink would be in the 10 GHz band, while the
uplink could be on a number of different bands, including 23cm and
13cm, to encourage experimentation. AMSAT-DL also said that the mission
would become an excellent resource for disaster and emergency
communications, noting that a GEO satellite transponder was used during
the earthquake that struck Turkey in 2023.

(AMATEUR RADIO DAILY)

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HAMS AID EXPECTED VEHICLE JAMS AT ECLIPSE EPICENTER

NEIL/ANCHOR: While hams prepare to get on the air on Monday, April 8th,
to assist with HamSCI's ionospheric studies during the solar eclipse
over North America, one group of hams in the area of totality will have
some more terrestrial reasons to be active. Jack Parker W8ISH explains.

JACK: Members of the Mid-State Amateur Radio Club in Johnson County
Indiana have been put on high alert for the upcoming Total Eclipse on
April 8th. County EMA officials requested backup ham radio
communications in case their county 800 MHz radio system becomes
overloaded during disaster communications.

With over 300,000 out-of-town visitors descending on Franklin, Indiana,
the Total Eclipse Epicenter, the sheriff is planning on all cell
service and possibly their radio system to be overloaded. When all else
fails, that's when the Mid-State ARC Auxcom Team comes into play.
Nearly two dozen hams will be on hand at six county-wide deployment
sites to handle normal and emergency traffic if needed. The hams have
been part of the planning task force since last fall. Johnson County
has two major interstates and several state highways that carry traffic
through the county and around central Indiana. Johnson county roads are
expected to be jammed with traffic before and especially after the
eclipse. In August of 2017, Kentucky had gridlocked highways for hours
following the eclipse.

Johnson County is planning for all contingencies including lost
communications. As of last week the Indiana governor declared a state
of emergency until after eclipse weekend. That's why if All Else Fails,
there will be amateur radio.

This is Jack Parker, W8ISH

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CANDIDATES PREP FOR GERMANY'S NEW LICENSE

NEIL/ANCHOR: In Germany, the DN9 licence is a GO! The race is on for
hopeful would-be radio amateurs to get their applications in for a test
for the new Class N entry-level 2m/70cm/10m licence.

Unlike in some other countries, in Germany all licence examinations are
run by the regulator - the BundesNetzArgentur or BNetzA for short and
places in the first test sessions are limited. On March 20th the
regulator opened the flood gates through an announcement on the social
media platform "X" for applications for the tests to be submitted. The
first test will take place in Dortmund on June 24th the day the new
class of licence becomes legal. Further tests are scheduled during June
in Nuremberg on the 25th and at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen on the 29th.
Ten further tests will take place in July at various locations around
Germany.

Here's to lots of activity from the new hams as soon as they have their
licences -perhaps during Ham Radio Friedrichshafen or soon after when
they have bought their new radios at the show?

(BNetzA)

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M17 PROJECT LAUNCHES NEW SOFTWARE, DIGITAL VOICE PROTOCOLS

NEIL/ANCHOR: The open-source developers of the M17 project have been
busy and they recently announced new releases. We have details from
Stephen Kinford N8WB.

STEPHEN: New open-source software, hardware and UHF/VHF digital voice
protocols have been launched by the M17 Project with the support of
Amateur Radio Digital Communications.

Further refinements to the amateur radio digital communications
protocol include a new remote radio unit, or RRU, that is described as
a "comprehensive, UHF FM/M17 repeater in a box." According to a joint
press release from the M17 project and ARDC, the unit is designed to
accommodate close antenna placement, producing better and more reliable
signal strength. Other improvements include the ability to convert a
9600-baud capable radio into an M17 transceiver through the use of the
M17 modem; and an Open HT transceiver, which uses SDR technology for
QRP dual-band operation.

The March 29th press release announced that an RRU transceiver is also
in development with the goal of providing a comprehensive FM/M17
repeater for remote sites or masts. It is expected to feature direct
antenna connection that eliminates the need for a long coax.

This is Stephen Kinford N8WB.

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EXPANDED HAMVENTION HOURS FOR VOICE OF AMERICA MUSEUM

NEIL/ANCHOR: If your plans to visit Xenia, Ohio next month for
Hamvention include a side-trip to the National Voice of America Museum
of Broadcasting in nearby West Chester, you'll be pleased to know that
the museum will once again have expanded hours. On Thursday, May 16th
and Friday, May 17th, you can visit from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., on Saturday,
May 18th, from noon to 9 p.m., and on Sunday, May 19th, from noon to 5
p.m. Admission is $10. WC8VOA, the ham radio station of the West
Chester Amateur Radio Association, will be on the air. Visit wc8voa.org
or voamuseum.org for more details.