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Ärende: AR Newsline Report 2538 - 19 June 2026
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// BREAK //

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2538 for Friday, June 19th, 2026
 
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2538 with a release date of Friday, June
19th, 2026 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A prototype radio telescope has a milestone moment.
Hams in India help bring a troubled young mother back home -- and a typhoon
ends the flight of a well-traveled pico balloon.  All this and more as Amateur
Radio Newsline Report Number 2538 comes your way right now.

**
BILLBOARD CART

**
MILESTONE MOMENT FOR PROTOTYPE RADIO TELESCOPE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Radio astronomers are celebrating a milestone: the first
capture of signals by a prototype radio telescope in New Mexico that will
eventually succeed the Very Large Array of the US National Science Foundation.
Kent Peterson KCØDGY has those details.

KENT: A proposed new antenna array being developed will be massive, consisting
of 244 antennas and stretching more than 8,045 kilometers, or 5 thousand miles.
Tests of its prototype recently attracted attention for another reason: the new
next-generation Very Large Array radio antenna gathered signals for the first
time - a key moment for a design that is expected to provide higher sensitivity
and spatial resolution than the current system. Working alongside the 27
antennas of the VLA, it tracked the Crab Nebula and the sun and it observed the
bright galactic nucleus known as Perseus A.

The National Science Foundation's National Radio Astronomy Observatory sees
promise in its ability to go beyond the capacity of the current Very Large
Array. The test in the New Mexico desert was conducted in collaboration with
the current VLA, which was built starting in the 1970s. Its encouraging results
mark the prototype system's transition from being a project under construction
to a tool capable of making independent observations and conducting
astronomical testing. It is expected to form the basis for the eventual
244-antenna array.

This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY.

(UNIVERSE TODAY, IEEE SPECTRUM)

**
ANTENNA INSTALLATION ADDS TO TEXAS GROUP'S REACH

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: An antenna installation is always filled with promise,
especially for any group involved in providing emergency communication or
support for community events. There's a new antenna going up in Angelina
County, Texas, and Ralph Squillace KK6ITB tells us what's going to happen next.

RALPH: Members of the Deep East Texas Amateur Radio Club have been serving the
community since the club's creation in 1978. They have passed crucial emergency
traffic to the Angelina County Emergency Operations Center and from there to
the state operations center in Austin. In one of the group's most high profile
activations, hams provided support during the recovery efforts after the
Columbia Space Shuttle broke apart upon re-entry in 2003.

According to local media reports, operations are about to improve for the radio
volunteers as a new antenna gets installed on the center's tower to provide
local, regional and statewide communications with new VHF, UHF and HF
capabilities.

In addition to providing on-site support for major community events such as
festivals and bike races, the club and its members will now be even more
prepared for whatever kind of need comes its way.

This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

(KTRE)

**

TOUR DE FRANCE IS A TOUR DE CALLSIGNS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Sure, the cyclists of this year's Tour de France are fast but
what's even faster than these elite athletes? HF signals being sent by numerous
clubs and groups wishing the competitors well as they pass through their
region, starting on the 4th of July. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has those details.

JEREMY: The route of this year's Tour de France cycling race passes through 37
towns and cities - 10 of them are new to this legendary race that has endured
since 1903. Through it all, from the start in Barcelona to the finish line on
the Champs-Élysées in Paris, cyclists will be making contact with local people
who will watch and cheer them on.

Even if you're not near the route, you can still cheer them on by contacting
any number of special-event stations organised by Réseau des Émetteurs
Français. Whether the cyclists are crossing a hilly or a flat region,
propagation is expected to enable contact with TM00TFR, TM40TFR, TM42TFR and
similar stations in many of the regions. For details on these stations, their
operating modes and diplomas available, visit the QRZ.com page for TM00TFR.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(AMATEUR RADIO DAILY, QRZ.COM)

**
NASA DECLARES MARS 'MAVEN' MISSION OVER

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Six months after it sent its last signal, NASA's Mars MAVEN
spacecraft has ended its run in space. Travis Lisk N3ILS has that story.

TRAVIS: Since 2013, the project known as MAVEN - for Mars Atmosphere and
Volatile Evolution - was on a mission to study that planet's upper atmosphere,
ionosphere and its interactions with the Sun. The spacecraft's signal was lost
on the 6th of December after a pass behind the red planet, prompting NASA to
immediately begin a review of what actions the agency would take next. At a
media teleconference earlier this month, officials declared MAVEN to be no long
useful and said there will be no attempts at recovering it.

Although MAVEN's original mission was to last only a year, it proved useful for
more than a decade beyond that period as it continued to transmit data, even
serving as an antenna during the delivery of the Perseverance rover to Mars in
2020.

Preliminary findings of MAVEN's failure determined that its batteries may have
drained, shutting down its communications system, when it emerged from its
orbit behind Mars. A review board is studying the mission to discover the cause
while NASA decommissions the MAVEN program and archives its data.

This is Travis Lisk N3ILS.

(NASA.GOV, NBC NEWS)

**
INDIAN HAMS HELP FAMILY FIND TROUBLED YOUNG MOTHER

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In India, a 30-year-old mother of two boys whose life has been
marked by family tragedy since childhood, has been returned to her village with
the intervention of amateur radio operators. We hear her story from Jim Meachen
ZL2BHF.

JIM MEACHEN: Already traumatised by a number of tragic deaths in her family - a
young woman suffering from mental trauma has been returned to the home village
in Uttar Pradish that she had wandered away from five months ago in apparent
confusion and grief. According to media reports, the woman, Usha Devi, had
stopped talking coherently shortly before her disappearance. Usha had been
troubled for most of her life by a series of deaths in her family, beginning
with the incident in which her father was hit by a passing train - a death that
she witnessed. Relatives told police that the recent death of her husband this
year preceded her disappearance by several weeks. Like her father, her husband
was fatally struck by a train in an incident she also witnessed.

The hams had been told by police that the woman had been found in the care of a
shelter home for her mental trauma where she was taken after having wandered on
the streets of West Bengal for some time. 
The hams connected with their contacts in Hindi-speaking regions and across
several states, reaching out through numerous amateur radio networks until
relatives could be located. Usha recognised family members during a video call
arranged by the club.

The club's secretary, Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2FJA told Newsline in a text
message that Usha returned to her village on Friday the 12th of June.

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(TIMES OF INDIA, MSN)

**
RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA SEEKS NOMINATIONS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The Radio Club of America would like to recognize outstanding
achievers in the fields of radio and wireless technology and the deadline for
nominations is the 30th of June and it is approaching fast. If you know of
someone devoted to preserving the history of wireless, consider sending in
their name for the Ralph Batcher Memorial Award. If you would like to honor
someone whose contributions to the field have advanced electronic
communications, submit their name for the Sarnoff Citation. The club will also
be presenting the Wireless Innovation Award to someone who has developed a
groundbreaking product or concept.

There are also two business-related awards. The Excellence in Sales and
Marketing Award and the Wireless Small Business Award.

Visit the website radioclubofamerica dot org, that's radioclubofamerica - one
word - dot org for more details (radioclubofamerica.org)

(RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA)

**

BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the AH6LE
repeater in Beavercreek and Wilsonville, Oregon, on Sundays at 6 p.m. local
time.

**
TEXAS AMATEURS TO RUN OPEN-SOURCE VERSION OF HAM.LIVE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Ham radio operators in Texas have adopted an open-source
service that has gained popularity among many hams running or checking into
nets. Kevin Trotman N5PRE tells us what's happening and how you can get
involved.

KEVIN: It was a race against the calendar to keep the service known as Ham.Live
[pron: Ham Dot Live] on the air while it made the transition to an open-source
model at the end of this month. With so many amateur radio net participants
relying on it for net logging and realtime chat, the June 30th deadline loomed
large. Now it has been picked up as an open-source service by the Sachse
Amateur Radio Club N5SAC, which is asking fellow hams to help beta test its
operation on a new server.

Keeping communications going under challenging circumstances is a specialty of
this group, which comprises both the Sachse RACES and ARES teams. To help with
the effort in testing Ham.Live, visit their website at sachseraces.org - 
that's spelled s a c h s e r a c e s dot org.

Other clubs or individuals wanting to develop and run Ham.Live for their own
activities can visit the link on Github that appears in the text version of
this week's script at arnewsline.org.

[DO NOT READ:  https://github.com/Constant-Digital-Holdings-LLC/hamlive-oss  ]

This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

(AMATEUR NEWS DAILY)

**
TYPHOON OVER JAPAN DESTROYS FLORIDA STUDENTS' PICO BALLOON

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: When you are a world traveler, making your way  across 53
countries in more than 6 laps around the globe, there's no shame in meeting
your match - and your demise - at the hands of a typhoon in Japan. Jim Davis
W2JKD explains.

JIM DAVIS: The little Sky Tracker pico balloon enjoyed a triumphant launch by
Sky Academy students and the Englewood Amateur Radio Society in February. It
carried the callsign N4EAR-1 and a lot of hope and ambition as it soared,
communicating via APRS -- that is, until it met the Category 1 storm known as
Jangmi over Japan on the 2nd of June. Its journey of 153,468 miles or 24,689
kilometres, ended there, 103 days and 14 hours after it had first begun.

There was loss, yes, but no grief.

As club president Bill Reed K7WWR wrote in an email to Newsline: [quote] "It
was a great weak-signal learning experience and a great kickoff of our STEM
support of Sky Academy and a great learning experience for the students."
[endquote] 
The flight of the little balloon not only launched the school's STEM program
but the partnership with the amateur radio society.

This is Jim Davis W2JKD.

(BILL REED K7WWR)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, special event callsign DQ40CNP is on the air through to the
11th of July, marking the 40th anniversary  of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Plant disaster. The special activation reminds the public that during that
challenging time, hams in what was known as the German Democratic Republic, or
East Germany, were able to use their stations to assist with public-health
needs during the crisis.

Members  of the  Emirates Amateur Radio Society are on the air as A6ØPC through
to the 30th of June. Other stations will be active as A6ØPC/Ø,  A6ØPC/1 and so
on. The special event represents pride and loyalty to the UAE and its
humanitarian values.

To mark the 90 th anniversary of Akashvani [UH-KAHSH-VAH-NEE], also known as
All India
Radio, the state-owned public radio broadcaster in India, VU3YBH is active as
AT9ØVANI until the 16 th of August. The station is operating using FT8 and SSB
on the 20,
15, 12 and 10m bands.

Listen for Sarath, VU2RS, operating as VU4R from Port Blair in the Andaman
Islands, IOTA Number AS-001, in July. Sarath will be active from the 22nd
through to the 27th of July and will participate in the RSGB Islands on the Air
contest. Listen for him at other times on 40-10 metres where he will be doing
mainly SSB.

For QSL information and other details, see the pages on QRZ.com for each of
these callsigns.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: IN CANADA, RADIO HAS A "SENIOR MOMENT" TO REMEMBER

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Our final story takes us to Canada, where a broadcast radio
station celebrated its 100th birthday by helping out on the amateur side of the
radio spectrum. John Williams VK2JJW tells us how it happened.

JOHN: The newest centenarian in town at the Lethbridge Senior Citizens
Organization in Alberta, Canada is attracting a lot of attention. The
organisation, which serves adults age 55 and older, focuses on recreation,
well-being, nutrition and education as well as providing support to older area
residents in their homes.

The new 100-year-old newcomer will be reaching out to the community - if not
the world.
 
Radio Station CJOC, 94.1 FM, is marking its centennial year on the air by
forming a partnership with the senior group's amateur radio club, honouring
radio's roots in the years before the birth of its broadcast counterpart. The
result of that partnership is the newly renamed CJOC Amateur Radio Club and
Radio Room, which the commercial station has pledged to support. The ham club
has the callsign VE6LSC.

The club predates its partnership with the broadcaster: It was established
under a different name in the 1970s inside the senior centre. Its shack is a
museum of sorts displaying vintage equipment that provides a visual narrative
of radio history.

This new effort, in the digital age, is anything but backward-looking: It has a
promise from the commercial station that it will promote the hams' activities
through its social media channels and on-the-air coverage. CJOC-FM is also
supporting training efforts to involve more people in broadcasting as well as
amateur radio - as its second century of radio begins.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(LETHBRIDGE HERALD, WIA)

**
NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily, AMSAT News; Bill Reed, K7WWR; David Behar,
K7DB; 425DX News; IEEE Spectrum; KTRE; Lethbridge Herald; MSN; NASA.gov; NBC
News; QRZ.com; shortwaveradio.de; Times of India; Universe Today; Wireless
Institute of Australia; 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 Stephen Kinford N8WB in Wadsworth Ohio saying 73. As
always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright
2026. Amateur Radio Newsline retains ownership of its material even when
retransmitted elsewhere. All rights are reserved.

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