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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2398 for Friday October 13th, 2023

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2398 with a release date of Friday
October 13th, 2023 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Israeli hams work to locate the missing.
Flood-stranded students in India find a way out through ham radio --and
a volcano is active but not with lava or ash. All this and more as
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2398 comes your way right now.

**
BILLBOARD CART

**
ISRAELI HAMS' NETWORK WORKING TO LOCATE MISSING PERSONS

SKEETER/ANCHOR: We open with a special report about how amateur radio
is helping families locate those who have gone missing amid the
Israel-Hamas conflict. Kevin Trotman N5PRE tells us about their
efforts.

KEVIN: We begin this week's report with a developing story in the
Middle East: The ongoing conflict between the Gaza-based militant group
Hamas and Israel that began on Saturday, October 7th with an attack by
Hamas that killed at least 900 people. As Israel responded to the Hamas
rocket launches with airstrikes of their own, there have been ongoing
media reports of Israelis, Israeli-Americans, Americans and others
being shot, kidnapped and taken hostage.

The Israeli Amateur Radio Club has been working to address the world's
concern for the well-being of friends and family members who they have
been unable to contact. The president of the club, David Ben Basat,
4X1WH, told Newsline that the hams have established an emergency
network that includes the use of the WhatsApp smartphone app to enable
people to reach out to amateurs in Israel to locate lost friends and
family amid the conflict. David said that amateurs wishing assistance
can email him directly at david b b b b at gmail dot com
([email protected]) His email address also appears in the text
version of this week's news report at arnewsline.org

This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

(CNN, DAVID BEN BASAT, 4X1WH)

**
HAMS HELP TRANSPORT AND GUIDE THOSE STRANDED BY FLOODS

SKEETER/ANCHOR: In India, young students and their guides who were
stranded by massive flooding in the northeast region, were able to
return safely after amateur radio operators stepped in. John Williams
VK4JJW shares their journey.

JOHN: Torrential rain caused a glacial lake to burst through a dam in
the Himalayan region of northeastern India on the 5th of October and
the death toll continued to rise as the icy floodwaters left hundreds
stranded and missing. Some of the more fortunate among those stranded
were guided to safety - or driven there - by amateur radio operators.

Those stranded included 140 Bharat Scouts & Guides who had traveled
from five schools for camping in West Sikkim. According to a report in
the Times of India, the students and those accompanying them were
rescued with the assistance of amateur radio operators after the hams
provided vehicles and created a network to guide those vehicles to
safety over the challenging terrain.

The students, who were between the ages of 10 and 15, were preparing to
depart the camp in Sikkim where they were staying since October 1st
when their leader realized the route to the scouts' return home by bus
was going to be impassable. The scout leader reached out to the West
Bengal Radio Club. The club's secretary, Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA,
told the Times of India that the club was able to round up 15 or 16
vehicles to be deployed for transport along the treacherous roads,
which were beset by mudslides and loose boulders.

The ham club also provided navigation assistance to 12 tourists from
Gujarat who had gone to Sikkim for a holiday. One of the tourists told
The Print of India that his longtime friend Soumik Ghosh, VU3IAZ, is a
member of that club and when he reached him by phone, he had been
monitoring weather conditions. The radio amateur provided the tourists'
driver with a safer route through lesser-known roads so they could
successfully reach Darjeeling.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(THE STATESMAN, THE TIMES OF INDIA, CNN, THE PRINT OF INDIA)

**
RSGB HONORS LONGTIME VOLUNTEER

SKEETER/ANCHOR: Congratulations to this year's Volunteer of the Year
who was honored by the Radio Society of Great Britain at the National
Radio Centre. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us about him.

JEREMY: Trevor Hughes, G4WKJ, has accrued more than one claim to fame
during his many years as a volunteer at the National Radio Centre at
Bletchley Park. He has donated his time on a weekly basis since the
centre's opening day in 2012 -- and he is the creator of the Snail
Morse Key, a simple and popular kit used by the RSGB to introduce
children to Morse Code.

On Friday, the 6th of October, RSGB General Manager, Steve Thomas,
M1ACB, honoured Trevor for donating his many hours of time and
expertise as well as for his design and the introduction of the widely
used Morse Code kit.

Martyn Baker, G0GMB, the centre's coordinator, said the immense amount
of time Trevor has donated to the centre has helped ensure its
successtoday.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(RSGB)

**
ARRL DEBUTS ITS NEWSLETTER FOR TRAFFIC HANDLERS

SKEETER/ANCHOR: There's a new free newsletter in circulation serving
amateurs who participate in various nets and pass emergency traffic.
The publication was released on October 3rd by the ARRL. Here's Jack
Parker W8ISH with the details.

JACK: The NTS Letter is a monthly digest keeping hams up to date on the
ARRL's National Traffic System, a landscape that its editor, Marcia
Forde, KW1U, knows well. Marcia is section traffic manager for the
ARRL's Eastern and Western Massachusetts and Rhode Island sections and
is a longtime handler of traffic.

The NTS involves both new and experienced hams in emergency
communications and allows newcomers to receive training in the skills
of sending and receiving vital messages. This training can then be put
to use in real emergencies when amateur radio can provide lifesaving
links to emergency personnel and agency partners. The system
encompasses voice and CW traffic as well as messages sent via the
digital modes.

ARRL members can receive the NTS Letter free by visiting the link at A
R R L dot ORG stroke OPT HYPHEN IN HYPHEN OUT. (arrl.org/opt-in-out)
You must be logged in as a member on the ARRL website to complete the subscription process.

The newsletter makes its debut only days before the ARRL's annual
Simulated Emergency Test took place throughout the country on October
7th and 8th.

This is Jack Parker W8ISH.

(ARRL)

**
ZOMBIE SHUFFLE'S A MONSTER HIT WITH CW OPERATORS

SKEETER/ANCHOR: Horrors! In some parts of the world, it's THAT time of
year again. The special pre-Halloween event known as the Zombie Shuffle
is back from the dead. Here with the gruesome details is Don
WilbanksAE5DW.

DON: Are you one of those awkward CW operators whose fist is a real
horror show? You'll fit in just fine on October 27th with the annual CW
QRP event known as The Zombie Shuffle. For the past 26 years, the
organizers have been promoting this event, reassuring even the most out-of-practice CW ops that you don't have to operate until it kills
you. Even a handful of well-placed contacts with other QRP operators
will be sure to lift your spirits.

There is an established exchange and it helps to have a Zombie Number
assigned to you since that's part of the exchange. See the website in
the text version of this week's Newsline for more details on how to
apply for one. You are also encouraged to select a Zombie name for
yourself to use on the air.

Like all good Zombie-related activities, this event springs to life
quite suddenly in the afternoon. Zombies begin shuffling on the bands
at 1500 local time across all time zones. Then when the clock strikes
midnight, it's all over. So don't be haunted by your own regrets at
sitting this one out.

This was Don Wilbanks AE5DW.
**

BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the Lookout Mountain Amateur Radio Community's N4LMC repeater and
digital systems in Georgia on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. local time.

**
A "PEAK" EXPERIENCE FOR HAMS ALONG HISTORIC SCENIC BYWAY

SKEETER/ANCHOR: Hams in Colorado too a trip back in time to mark a big anniversary for a local scenic route. We hear more about this from Andy Morrison K9AWM.

ANDY: It only takes a few hours to travel by car along Colorado's Peak
to Peak Scenic Byway that runs from Interstate 70 in the south to Estes
Park in the north. At this time of the year it delivers spectacular
autumn foliage. On the 30th of September, seven groups of radio
amateurs traveled that distance - and beyond - for eight hours by being
on the air. The Longmont Amateur Radio Club was among those marking the
105th anniversary of the highway, which has been presenting spectacular mountain views since it was built in 1918.

Chuck K0ITP, president of the Longmont club, said seven clubs sent
operators, including the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club, the Mile
High DX Association and the Indian Peaks Radio Club. A look at the log
reveals 604 non-duplicate contacts and even with some of the same
contacts being made on different bands, there were still 572 distinct
callsigns in the logbook, most of them made on SSB.

The scenic byway clearly delivered its celebrated fall colors well
beyond the boundaries of Colorado. Chuck told Newsline that in addition
to making contacts in 46 states, operators logged calls from Austria,
Canada, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Venezuela and Argentina. One of the
stations was in a National Forest and contacts there also scored some
POTA points.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(CHUCK POCH K0ITP)

**
WRTC ANNOUNCES CHANGES IN QUALIFYING CRITERIA

SKEETER/ANCHOR: There have been some changes to the criteria by which
teams will be chosen for the next World Radiosport Team Championship.
Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us what they are.

JEREMY: The World Radiosport Team Championship competition to be held
in England in 2026 has announced some changes being made to the
selection criteria which the organising committee believes will make
the qualification process fairer. The announcement by event vice
chairman Lee Volante G0MTN, writing in the WRTC2026 groups.io
email-list, comes as the first of several qualifying events takes place
this month.

Two new sub-groups will be created in the qualification area comprising Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. This will allow contesters to
compete more directly against other local operators for qualification
points. Competitors in the United States call areas of 1, 2, 3 and 7
are also seeing changes which the committee believes will better
accommodate propagation differences in the region. For qualification
scoring among Western US operators, Nevada, Utah and Arizona will now
be grouped into one sub-area with Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana
and Wyoming into another. The northeastern US call areas will be
grouped into three sub-areas for scoring purposes. The states of Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island
will be in one sub-group; New York, New Jersey and the United Nations
call of 4U1UN will be in a second sub-group and the third group will
comprise Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

There will also be more sub-areas for Alaska and Canada.

Lee explains why requests for some new sub-groups were denied, writing
[quote]: If there are too few contesters within a sub-region, then it
becomes unfairly easier for entrants to score maximum qualification
points in contests. This would put the integrity of the qualification
process at risk." [endquote]

The 15 qualifying events are taking place between October 2023 and
March 2025. Competitors can submit scores from as many as eight
qualifying events.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

**
SWAINS ISLAND DXPEDITION ON THE AIR

SKEETER/ANCHOR: The Swains Island W8S Team got on the air after a
slight delay to its start. And yes, they want to work YOU! The
operators got on the air on the 7th of October, posting a short note on
their website that read "Good Hunting." The team is operating on CW,
SSB, RTTY and FT8. For the first time, Swains Island has EME
capabilities with a dedicated station for 6M. Many of the earliest
reports were on 12m and 30m CW as well as 30m and 20m FT8.

The hams are working in rotating shifts around the clock and began with
four stations on the air at all hours. They said on their website
[quote] "We're doing our best to work as many as possible of you!"
[endquote] The DXpedition was scheduled to end on the 17th of October.

The rare DX is IOTA number OC-200 and has the Parks on the Air
designation of K-9754.

(SWAINS ISLAND DXPEDITION WEBSITE)

**

WORLD OF DX

Elsewhere in the World of DX, listen for Helmut, DF7EE, operating as
CT9/DF7EE from Madeira, IOTA number AF-014. You can hear Helmut
from the 22nd to the 31st of October and during the CQ WW DX SSB
Contest where he will be operating as CQ3W. Outside the contest listen
for him on 60, 30, 17 and 12 metres where he will be using SSB and FT8.
See QRZ.com for QSL details on both callsigns.


(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: NO LAVA OR ASH AT THIS VOLCANO'S ACTIVATION

SKEETER/ANCHOR: For our final story, we visit an active volcano -active
with the sound of hams calling CQ, that is. Ralph Squillace KK6ITB
takes us on that long hike up the mountain.

RALPH: The notorious Mount Saint Helens volcano in Washington State was
active last month in a way no geologist could predict: Six hikers
-three of them SOTA activators - were not concerned about the
likelihood of lava and ash spewing up from below. They were more
interested in the radio contacts from above. At an altitude of more
than 8,000 feet at the summit - a height reached after three hours of
strenuous hiking -they called CQ. When the contacts came, it was not as
a volcanic eruption but at a steady, amateur radio-friendly pace.

With each first contact to the summit worth 10 SOTA points to chasers,
Tim N7KOM, Tyler, ND7Y and Andrew, N7LFO, got busy, using a pair of
hiking poles as two legs of a makeshift tripod that included the mast
for the wire antenna. It was a busy afternoon. Tim told Newsline that,
by the end of the activation, he had logged 20 QSOs on 2 meters FM, 6
QSOs on 40m SSB, 1 QSO on 30m CW, and 10 QSOs on 20m CW. The path of
ash, sand and rocks leading up to this popular SOTA summit had led to a
smooth afternoon of operating. A portion of that afternoon can be seen
in the hams' YouTube video on the N7KOM Mountaintop Portable Radio
channel.

People on the US West Coast may still remember the deadly eruption from
the volcanic peak in the Cascade Mountains in 1980 - one of the
deadliest of its kind in North America. But these three hams and any
other activators with their sights set on SOTA Number W7W/LC-001, are
grateful the mountain continues its long slumber for now.

This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

(TIM K7KOM)

**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily; CQ Magazine; Chuck
Poch K0ITP; CNN; David Behar K7DB; David Ben Basat, 4X1WH; 425DXNews;
Radio Society of Great Britain; shortwaveradio.de; the Statesman;
Swains Island DXpedition website; Tim Sherry N7KOM; the Times of India;
and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. We
remind our listeners that Amateur Radio Newsline is an all-volunteer
non-profit organization that incurs expenses for its continued
operation. If you wish to support us, please visit our website at arnewsline.org and know that we appreciate you all. We also remind our listeners that if you like our newscast, please leave us a 5-star
rating wherever you subscribe to us. For now, with Caryn Eve Murray
KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and our news team worldwide, I'm
Skeeter Nash N5ASH in Shelbyville Tennessee saying 73. As always we
thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2023.
All rights reserved.

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