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Ärende: Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1510 - July 21, 2006
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Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1510 - July 21, 2006
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1510 with a release date of
Friday, July 21st, 2006 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a Q-S-T.
Hams respond after terrorists attack trains in India and more
controversy surrounding the outcome of W-R-T-C 2006 as word of a
mystery station surfaces. Find out the details on Amateur Radio
Newsline report number 1510 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAMS REPLACE CELLPHOES FOLLOWING MUMBAI INDIA TERROR
ATTACK
When al-Quida linked terrorists attacked trains in Mumbai, India, on
July 11th, the city's cellular telephone network failed. But there was
an alternative that residents could turn to in the person of the city's
ham radio operators. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News has the
details report:
--
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay is where the attack occurred. The
blasts on several commuter trains killed 181 people and injured another
890. A little known terrorist the Lashkar-e-Qahhar that clkaims ties
to al-Quida has claimed responsibility for the blasts. But if part of
the terrorists plan was to cause panic due to lack of personal
communications, the bad guys failed -- anf failed miserably. The
reason: Ham radio was there to step in when the phones went out. .
According to the Thursday, July 13th edition of India Business News as
reported on IBNlive.com, as word of the attacks spread across Mumbai,
the first reaction of citizens was to reach for the cellphone and ring
up the loved ones. And with almosy 9 million phones simultaneously
fighting for a small patch of bandwidth, the cellular networks all
crashed.
With mobile phones totally inoperative, it was the turn of a new set of
people to fill the communications gap. The city's corps of ham radio
operators.
According to the news report, the local ham radio community was more
than ready for the challenge. Radio amateurs all across Mumbai took to
the airwaves using hand held and mobiles. Hams not only passed health
and welfare messages locally and world-wide. They also helped
government agencies pick up information on what was happening across
the city.
Zyros Zend, VU2ZRS, is a radio amateur living in Mumbi. He told I-B-N
Live that radio amateurs in India consider it a moral duty to sign on
to the air when disaster strikes. He said that many Mumbai hams carry
their hand-held radios with them and rush to the nearest spot of crisis
when an alert goes out.
At airtime, its not known how many of India's hams responded in this
emergency. As previously reported, emergency planners in Mumbai
recently invited hams and cellular phone service providers to the
meeting as both are seen to play a major role in disseminating
information. At that time several Standard Operating Procedure papers
were penned and the government said that it would enlist ham radio
operators to the cause. This, to have alternate channels of
communication ready to deal with any situation. This time the hams
were there before the government even had to ask.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline. I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News
reporting from Brisbane, Australia.
--
As a nice post script to this otherwise tragic story. As a result of
the swift response by India's hams to this terrorist attack caused the
news report to coine a new expression to describe the hobby.. Now in
Mumbai, India the three letters H-A-M has come to mean: 'Help All
Mankind'. (IBNLive.com, Hindu Daily, Bloomberg News, Malaysia Star,
Hindustan Times)
**
RESCUE RADIO: INDONESIA - JAVA TSUNAMI
A tsunami caused by a strong undersea earthquake off the south coast of
Indonesia's Java island killed at least 80 people on Monday, July 17th.
Waves several meters high crashed into the fishing village of
Pangandaran following a 7.2 magnitude undersea earthquake.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake that caused the
tsunami hit at 6.24 p.m. local time. News reports say that its effects
were felt as far away as Jakarta. The epicentre was more than 40
kilometres under the Indian Ocean, 180 kilometres off Pangandaran
beach.
Jakara Age dot com says that most initial reprts came by way of ham
radio. It quotes officials as saying that at least 580 people died and
many others were badly injured or missing. Fitri Sidikah, an official
at the Indonesian Red Cross disaster center says the number can climb
because communications has been hampered and people may have been swept
away by the wave.
News of the disaster spread panic across a region still recovering from
a tsunami less than two years ago that left nearly 230 000 people
killed or missing, mostly in Indonesia. But there were no reports of
casualties or damage in any other country from Monday's tsunami.
(Irish Examiner, TheAge.com, others)
**
WRTC 2006: MYSTERY STATION PUTS SERBIA TEAM IN 11TH PLACE
A new puzzle surrounding the recently concluded World Radiosport Team
Championships in Brazil. The ARRL Letter says that what amounts to a
mystery station was the real cause of the Serbia-Montenegro team
winding up in 11th place. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF,
has the rest of the story:
--
The ARRL Letter says that preliminary scoreboard numbers had the
Serbia-Montenegro team of Ranko Boca, YT6A, and Djurica Maletin, YT6T -
- operating as PT5L -- apparently scrambling from 11th to 3rd place in
the final hour of the event. When the smoke cleared, however, they
ended in 11th place after all. The reason: Far to many unique calls in
their logs.
In a news release July 10, Jarmo Jaakola, OH2BN, said Boca had set up
his team's logging software as if the pair were in Montenegro --
calculating the team's points as though operating from Europe, not
Brazil. The erroneous software configuration and the team's score were
corrected after the event ended, but PT5L's fall from 3rd to 11th place
was unrelated to the software configuration issue.
In a follow-up statement on July 14th, WRTC-2006 officials explained
that the PT5L log contained an unusually high number of "uniques."
These are call signs that appeared rarely or not at all in the logs of
more than 1000 IARU contest participants or of other WRTC-2006
competitors. The officials said audio from the PT5L station was
recorded, so it was possible to confirm that the QSOs had in fact taken
place.
But here is where the story takes a turn to the strange. The statement
goes on to say that it appeared to the judges, from listening to the
recording while examining annotated log extracts identifying the
'uniques,' that there was a small number of stations, probably more
than one, feeding 'phantom QSOs' to PT5L. As a result, the judges and
log-checking committee decided to reduce the threshold for determining
a unique QSO to a relatively small number of logs and to delete all
uniques from the logs of all 46 competing teams. While this resulted
in most teams loosing about 15 QSOs, the action resulted in the
deletion of 240 contacts -- nearly all "manufactured" at the other end
-- from the PT5L log. This in turn lead to the teams loss of the
bronze medal.
Signing the statement were Atilano de Oms, PY5EG, as WRTC-2006 Steering
Committee Chair, along with judges David Sumner, K1ZZ, and Roger
Western, G3SXW. Also putting their names to the document were Log-
Checking Committee members Larry "Tree" Tyree, N6TR, and Phil Goetz,
N6ZZ. The five WRTC-2006 officials said it appears most likely that
the "phantom QSOs" were intended to sabotage either one or both of the
PT5L operators specifically or a randomly selected WRTC station.
In a related matter, officials said three other W-R-T-C 2006 stations
also showed a high number of uniques. They said that the reason for
this was clearly that the nationality of the W-R-T-C station had been
identified and communicated within the home country of the team. In
some cases, multiple QSOs clearly had been made by the same station
under different call signs. This, says the officials, is contrary to
the spirit of WRTC, which is to provide a level playing field for all.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, reporting.
--
WRTC-2006 has made available the log checking reports of all competing
stations. Officials also have issued a strongly worded statement
condemning the mystery station and other attempts to affect the
outcome. It says that such behavior, by amateur operators outside the
event is reprehensible, illegal and deserves to be thoroughly
investigated. (ARRL, others)
**
Break 1
From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the K8KZO
repeater serving Portage, Michigan.
(5 sec pause here)
**
RESCUE RADIO: FCC BEGINS RULEMAKING TO ESTABLISH A NEW
"MEDRADIO" SERVICE
Back in the United States, the FCC has begun a proceeding to establish
a new service for advanced medical radio communication devices. In
its July 13th Notice of Proposed Rule Making, the FCC proposes
designating an additional two-megahertz of spectrum for these devices
at 401 to 402 MHz and 405 to 406 MHz. This is adjacent to the
existing Medical Implant Communications Service band at 402- to 405
MHz.
This would add up to a total of 5 megahertz specifically designated
for medical device radiocommunications. Underscoring the
flexibility and scope of potential uses under this new service, the
FCC proposed to revise its nomenclature and designate the entire 401
to 406 MHz band as MedRadio service.
In making it's announcement, the FCC noted that an ever increasing
number of medical devices are coming to rely on radio
transmissions for critical aspects of their functionality. The
agency says that these medical devices are improving the health
care of all Americans by providing relief and recovery of
function from many types of illness and injury. (FCC)
**
RESCUE RADIO FCC INVITES COMMENTS ON KATRINA PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS
Comments are due Monday, August 7, in response to an FCC Notice of
Proposed Rule Making regarding recommendations of the independent panel
that reviewed Hurricane Katrina's impact on communication systems. The
ARRL Leter says that some of the wide-ranging proposals in the N-P-R-M,
released in June, could affect the Part 97 Amateur Service rules.
The FCC asked if it should explore amending its rules to permit
automatic grants of certain types of waivers or Special Temporary
Authority in declared disaster areas. After last year's devastating
hurricanes, the FCC issued a handful of STA's to permit licensees
lacking HF privileges to operate on HF for emergency purposes.
The NPRM further offered three specific areas for consideration. First
is a waiver of Amateur Radio and license-exempt rules, permitting
transmissions necessary to meet essential communications needs. Next
is a waiver of application filing deadlines, something the FCC did last
fall for amateurs living in hurricane-stricken states. Last is a
streamlined S-T-A process.
A we said, comments on EB Docket 06-119 are due no later than August
7th. Reply comments are due by Monday, August 21. Interested parties
may file comments and view the comments of others via the Electronic
Comment Filing System at www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs (ARRL)
**
RESCUE RADIO: MISSISSIPPI GOES PTT CELL AND HAM RADIO
Still with hurricane Katrina related news, word that emergency agencies
across south Mississippi will use cell phones and ham radios to talk to
each other if another hurricane disrupts normal communications systems.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Damron, N8TMW, reports:
--
According to a story in the Hattiesburg American, ham radio will be an
important part of the regional emergency plan.
The paper says that directors of emergency management agencies in four
interior and three coastal counties met several times this summer to
patch together a communications system. As a result of these
discussions, the Forrest County Emergency Management District and
several others are getting Cellular South phones with the Push to Talk
walkie-talkie feature. Law enforcement agencies, a local ambulance
service and some government departments in Hattiesburg and Forrest
County will have at least one of the phones.
But these responders are also hedging their bet on cellular technology
by carving out a major niche for ham radio. Amateur Radio operators
will being recruited to help maintain communication when traditional
lines are down.
Between 30 and 35 radio operators have been already been qualified at
Forrest General Hospital. The training of about 20 ham radio employees
at Wesley Medical Center is now taking place. Another class of about
two dozen recently met at an area church.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW, reporting.
--
Hurricane Katrina ripped through south Mississippi last August 29th,
tearing down communications towers and traditional telephone lines.
Since then the Mississippi Department of Public Safety received $17
million in supplemental hurricane funding for its integrated
communications public safety fund. While the monies are now there,
safety officials say that the improvements can't be made in time to
help if a hurricane hits this year. (Hattiesburg American)
**
TELECOMMUNICATIONS LAW: BROADCAST INDECENCY CHALLENGE UPDATE
A group of the nations most powerful broadcasters have banded together
to challenge the FCC's ruls governing indecency. Burt Hcks, WB6MQV,
has the details:
--
The CBS, NBC and Fox television networks have urged speedy court review
of a decision finding some of their shows violated decency standards.
In doing so they say that they oppose a delay sought by the Federal
Communications Commission
About two weeks ago the FCC asked an appeals court to postpone hearing
the networks' challenges and return the case to the regulatory agency
for two months. This, so it can review television broadcasters'
arguments in the cases.
But the Fox television stations and its affiliates are calling the
government's request a continuing attempt to delay and possibly evade
any judicial review of its new indecency enforcement regime. On the
other side, the FCC says that the ABC network and its affiliates
supported the agency's request for the delay.
The networks are challenging the FCC's March decision that profanity
uttered on ABC's "NYPD Blue", CBS's "The Early Show" and the 2002 and
2003 Billboard music awards shows on Fox was indecent. This, even
though the agency did not propose or issue any fines.
--
An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the filings by CBS, Fox and
NBC. (Published reports)
**
HAM RADIO RECOGNITION: WISCONSIN CLUB GETS LAUDED FOR SHUTTLE
RETRANSMISSIONS
Meantime, Wisconsin's Rib Mountain Repeater Association got some nice
press last week related to the ARISS program. This, for its work in
providing local space enthusiasts without Internet access a way to
listen in to the astronauts' in space using their scanner radios.
In a full page article in the Wausau Daily Herald, the club was given
high marks for its work in bringing the complexities faced by
astronauts into peoples homes. The article explained that the club
picks up transmissions from NASA via satellite dishes at Northcentral
Technical College, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and dishes in
members' backyards. It then replays the signals through transmitters
over its repeater on 147.06 MHz on Rib Mountain.
The Rib Mountain Repeater Association broadcast both the live air-to-
ground audio and television transmissions during the now concluded
Space Shuttle Discovery's mission. (Via e-mail)
**
VHF DX: MAINE TO WISCONSIN ON 2 METERS
In D-X, Maine to Wisconsin on 2 meters may not be a D-X record, but
its also not an ordinary contact for that normally line of sight band.
But that's what it was for Paul Kelly, N1BUG in Milo, Maine, and John
Wilke, K9RZZ, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 14th. And John had his
tape recorder running as N1BUG attempted to work K9UHF in West Bend,
Wisconsin. Take a listen:
--
Actual on-air contact audio
--
According to a note from K9RZZ, he was listening to 6 meters and the
East coast stations were very loud into his location. Just on a hunch
he tuned up to 144.200. At 1948 CDT and heard WA1T in grid Milton, New
Hampshire grid FN43 calling CQ and worked him. A minute later he heard
N1BUG in Maine grid square FN 55 on 144.205 calling CQ and easily
worked him as well. K9RZZ says that N1BUG was S9+20 to 40 db for 45
minutes. That's when he was recording and captured the audio you just
heard.
Then, K9RZZ went back to 6 meters where he ran across Joe Demaso, K1RQG
in grid FN54. Demaso is located about 40 miles South - East of N1BUG.
In a 6 meter QSO it was arranged for K1RQG to listen for K9RZZ on 2
meters but nothing was heard. Even so, K9RZZ says that it was all a
lot of fun while it lasted. (VHF Reflector, K9RZZ)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: IARU REGION 3 THIRTEENTH REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN
INDIA
The 13th International Amateur radio Union's region 3 Regional
Conference will be held August 7th to the 11th in Bangalore, India. The
Amateur Radio Society of India is hosting the gathering. It says that
all is well on track and that it has a team of volunteers helping the
officers run the meetings. Also, most of the preparatory work has
already been completed and all foreign delegates have been registered
and confirmed.
Concurrent with the conference are the IARU Region 3 Directors meeting
and the IARU Guidance Committee meetings. These are being held
between August 1st and the 14th at two hotels in Bangalore. (WIA News)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: THE JOPLIN HAMFEST IN AUGUST IN MISSOURI
Our friends at the Joplin Amateur Radio Club in Missouri have announced
a date change. The 2006 Joplin Hamfest has bben moved to the 4th
weekend in August and is now slated for August 25th and 26th. The event
hotel is the Joplin Holiday Inn which is walking distance from the
convention. More information on this fun ham radio happening is on
line at www.joplin-arc.org. (Joplin Hamfest)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: MARITIME DX FORUM IN NOVA SOCTIA IN AUGUST
And the Halifax Amateur Radio Club is inviting all contesters, DXers
and HF enthusiasts to the Third Maritime DX Forum scheduled for
Saturday, August 5th. Five major forums are planned. George
Nicholson, N4GRN, of the 3Y0X operation will talk about the recent
Peter the First Island DXpediton. Among others, Jim Fisher, VE1JF,
will moderate a panel discussion on contesting that will include
several well known operators.
The venue this year is in Upper Tantallon, Nova Scotia, just outside
Halifax at the head of St. Margaret's Bay. More information is on line
at www.halifax-arc.org/harcweb/Events/DX%20Forum/MDXForum.htm (Via e-
mail)
**
BREAK 2
This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the United
States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the
world from our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being
relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio amateur:
(5 sec pause here)
**
CHANGING OF THE GUARD: CHRISTINE MACK, K9RFY - S.K.
The changing of the guard in ham radio continues. This, with word
that Christine Mack K9RFY lost her life in a one-car accident in Tinley
Park, Illinois, on July 8th.
According to Jim Riley, KB9CYL, Christine Mack was the first female
president in the 73-year history of Hamfesters Radio Club. She was
also chairperson for the club's upcoming annual Hamfest.
Riley tells Amateur Radio Newsline that K9RFY was as an avid nature
lover and a ham who especially enjoyed Field Day. Riley says that Mack
was on her way home from the July club meeting when the mishap that
claimed her life occurred. She was only age 41. (KB9CYL)
**
WORLDBEAT - NEW ZEALAND: CHANGES IN NEW ZEALAND LICENSING
Some changes are coming to ham radio rules in New Zealand. Jim
Meachen, ZL2BHF, is back again and tells us part of the change has to
do with the nation becoming a signatory to the European Conference of
Postal and Telecommunications Administrations better known as CEPT:
--
The New Zealand Administration's Radio Spectrum Management group has
advised NZART that the European Radiocommunications Office has advised
the acceptance of New Zealand' application to participate in CEPT TR61-
02 arrangements for mutual recognition of radio amateur operators
certificates.
NZART's Administration Liaison Officer Fred Johnson ZL2AMJ says that
New Zealand with it's one-grade licence now has both TR61-01 and TR61-
02 recognition and that this is a significant milestone and brings
great international portability for the New Zealand qualification.
Other changes in New Zealands Radiocommunications Regulations include a
General Users Radio Licence for Amateur Radio Operators. This GURL is
common to all New Zealand's Radio Amateurs and contains the terms,
conditions and restrictions with which they work. Each Radio Amateur
will have a General Amateur Operators Certificate of competency that
will carry the individual operator's unique Callsign. The GURL provides
for the ZL/ZM callsign prefix facility to be decided by individual
operators for contests and special events.
In Auckland New Zealand I'm Jim Meachen ZL2BHF for Newsline
--
Nations agreeing to CEPT minute TR61-02 permit radio amateurs from
other CEPT signatories to operate portable to the extent the privileges
and limitations on their home nations license. (NZART News)
**
WORLDBEAT - UK: NEW REGS TO PERMIT REMOTE OPERATIONS
Remote operation will be a standard feature of the new United Kingdom
Amateur Radio license due to come into force on October 1st.
After that date, U-K Full license class holders will be allowed to
remotely control an unattended station for their personal use. For
example, they could run a home station from elsewhere or operate a
remote-base system located at another site.
The remote control link can be a simple radio system on permitted
Amateur frequencies. Or, it can use any publicly available system
including dial-up, I-S-D-N, the Internet or even Wi-Fi
In addition, all U-K licensed amateurs will be allowed to remotely
control their station within a range of 100 meters. Under the new
license structure, this will not be regarded as unattended operation.
(GB2RS)
**
WORLDBEAT- GREAT BRITAIN: UK HAMS GETS 5 MHZ / 60 METER TIME
EXTENSION
Still in the U-K, the Radio Society of Great Britain has submitted
proposals to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense and to
telecommunication regulator Ofcom. This, to allow radio amateurs on 60
meters beyond the experimental period that ends July 31. And Ofcom has
said yes. Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, brings us up to date:
--
July 2002, following agreement with the Ministry of Defense (the
"MOD"), Ofcom was able to permit operation of stations by amateur radio
(full) licensees ("Full Licensees") using specified frequencies in the
5 MHz band. Those Full Licensees who expressed an interest to operate
in the 5 MHz band were granted permission to operate through a Notice
of Variation ("NoV") to their existing license.
These NoVs have been issued on the condition that operation in the 5
MHz band (which is suited to Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS)
operation) is for experimental purposes. Those Full Licensees who were
issued with a NoV were encouraged to submit reports of their findings
to the Radio Society of Great Britain. These NoVs are due to expire on
31 July 2006.
Although activity in the 5 MHz frequency band does not appear to be
significant, there is still some interest from Full Licensees and the
RSGB has requested that Ofcom permit the continued use of the 5 MHz
frequency band and, furthermore, include some additional channels.
Ofcom has agreed with the MOD to permit such experimental operation
until 30 June 2010. It is understood that not all existing NoV holders
are participating in the experiment and hence
Jeramy Boot, G4NJH
--
Ofcom has also decided to issue new NoVs on the basis of new
applications for operation in the 5 MHz band. (GB2RS, OfCom)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ASTRONAUT SPEAKS WITH KUWAITI STUDENTS
Turning to ham radio in space, June 28th was a big day for the ARISS
program. That's when students at the Scientific Center of Kuwait spoke
via Amateur Radio with astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, operating as
NA1SS aboard the International Space Station.
Maryam Aljoaan, 9K2MD, coordinated the 10-minute radio contact for the
center. Among other things, the astronaut told the students that there
's continuous noise aboard the ISS. The contact marked the first such
QSO with a school in the Middle East (ARISS)
**
HF DX
Turning too DX on the High Frequency bands, WQ7R, will be active from
Honduras as HQ9R during the CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest from October
28th to the 29th as Single-Op/All-Band entry. Look for him to also be
active with his home call portable HR9 before and after the contest.
QSL via N6FF.
Also. several members of the Las Palmas Section of the Union de Radio
Aficionados Espanola will be active from the Canary Islands as ED8URL
between July 19th and the 21st. This, to celebrate the 44th anniversary
of that group. Activity will be on all bands and modes. QSL via the
bureau to EA8URL
Lastly, keep an ear open for members of the QLF DX-Team to be active as
OJ0LA from Market Reef from September 8th to the 14th. Activity will be
on all bands from 160 through 10 meters and on CW, SSB and RTTY. The
QSL manager is LA9VDA. And for those who never heard the colloquial
ham radio term QLF, it means to please stop sending Morse with your
left foot.
(Above from various DX sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: WRITER FINDS MORSE ROOTS IN HAM RADIO STORY
And finally this week, a reporter for The Morning Call newspaper in
Allentown, Pennsylvania discovered while doing a story about a small
group of amateur radio operators known as "Polar Bears" a few months
ago that she is a descendant of Samuel Morse. Yes, that's Samuel F.
B. Morse, as in the inventor of the Morse Code. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has the story:
--
Diana Morse grew up in Maine, and followed her husband to Pennsylvania
a few years ago when he took a teaching job at a college in the Lehigh
Valley.
Her decision to change careers from the financial industry to
journalism would lead her to discover amateur radio and her family
connection to the man who invented the Morse Code.
Diana says her journey of enlightenment began last the winter when she
started on-line research to find a local Polar Bear Club - the swimming
club that generally takes a dip on New Year's Day.
"So, I Googled 'Polar Bears,' 'Lehigh Valley Polar Bears,'
'Pennsylvania Polar Bears," Morse recalls.
"One of the very first things that came up was the EPA QRP website. I
went in and started reading about it and thought, 'This isn't swimming!
This has nothing to do with New Year's Day.' So, I read on. It was very
intriguing because I had never heard of any club that did Morse Code. I
kind of thought it had kind of died out after World War II or
something. I hadn't followed that."
Diana says she e-mailed the group and was invited to accompany them on
one of their Polar Bear Full Moon operating expeditions from near the
Appalachian Trail. She recalls it was a cold, but very satisfying
experience.
"We just stood there in the silent night air watching the lights of the
town below and everyone had had some really good contacts on their
individual radios," she recalls. "It was a relaxing time, a fun time."
But there was something more - a nagging question hanging in the air.
Was she related to THE man who brought CW to the world?
Diana published her story about the ham radio Polar Bears - complete
with photos - and resolved she needed to answer that question.
"I knew right then that I was going to find out my direct relationship
with Samuel F.B. Morse because I knew there was a relation, I just
didn't know what it was," Morse says.
"I had a family book that I had never read. I came up with some dead
ends. I mean it's really hard to devote a lot of time to things like
this. It took awhile. I got up to as far as I could with my book then I
had to go look at England. The Morse Society was pretty helpful and
that's how I found out for sure that I was related.
"If you were related, it said 'If you are related - and this guy is in
my direct line - to Anthony Morse who came over in 1635 then you are
related to Samuel F.B. Morse.' "
She learned she is a fifth cousin, five times removed.
With encouragement from the EPA QRP group, Diana says she began license
classes to get her ham ticket. As the day arrived to take her test,
Diana was confident for the written portion - she "aced it." As for the
CW?
"As I was copying, my hand started shaking," Morse says "And, I hoped
nobody in the room noticed. But I knew they were all looking at me. I
was in the front row and it was just absolutely terrifying."
She passed and was granted the call sign KB3NNP.
Her first contact was with Ron Polityka WB3AAL, president of the EPA
QRP Club and one of Diana's primary "Elmers."
The EPA QRP group helped outfit Diana's shack with a used HF
transceiver and antenna and recently presented her a special Vibroplex
Morse Code key at the group's Field Day to honor her achievement.
For her part, Diana is still relishing the feeling of being a licensed
ham.
"I made my first two QSOs on my birthday and it's also interesting, I
got my ticket on Cinco de Mayo," she says. "So, every year, now, on
Cinco de Mayo, I've got something really special to celebrate."
And, while several countries have dropped their Morse Code requirement
for an amateur radio license - the U.S. may be next - Morse says that
won't deter her from keeping her family heritage through CW alive.
"Kids today don't even know what the Morse Code is, " Morse says. "They
don't know what it means. So it's our responsibility to maybe go into
schools, maybe run the workshops, get into the Scouts and Campfire and
show them you can do this, you can do this. This is something that
changed the world."
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in
Philadelphia.
--
Diana says she's looking forward to many QSO's - on CW, of course - in
the coming months. (ARNewslineT)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ
Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain,
the RSGB and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all from the Amateur Radio
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information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline'sT only official
website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or
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For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening." Amateur
Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Roy
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* Origin: Hacienda de Rio de Guadalupe * South * Texas, USA * (1:1/22)
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