<*>[Attachment(s) from James-KB7TBT included below]

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2001, March 4, 2016

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 2001 with a release date of Friday, 
March 4, 2016 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Hams in Australia and New Zealand lose a 
longtime favorite retail giant. A satellite lets an unprecedented QSO 
happen between Antarctica and Argentina. Hamfests are gearing up in New 
Jersey and West Virginia. And, at long last, there's a reasonable 
explanation for the "space music" heard four decades ago aboard Apollo 
10. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2001 coming your 
way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here and Intro)

**
DICK SMITH ELECTRONICS CLOSING
SKEETER: We begin this week's newscast with news that Dick Smith 
Electronics, a longtime mainstay for amateurs in Australia and New 
Zealand, is closing. The story of the closure of this electronics giant 
comes from Amateur Radio Newsline's Graham Kemp, VK4BB

GRAHAM: It's the end of an era for loyal purchasers of gear and 
components from Dick Smith Electronics.

The giant Australian retailer, which bears the name of its amateur radio 
founder, is closing its doors during the course of the next two months, 
shutting 301 retail locations throughout Australia and 62 in New Zealand.

The closure follows an unsuccessful attempt by the company's receivers 
to complete a sale.

Founded in 1968 in a Sydney suburb by Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith 
AC, VK2DIK, Woolworths Limited purchased a majority stake in the 
business and ultimately in 1982, became the electronics chain's sole owner.

Woolworths sold the company to private equity firm Anchorage Capital 
Partners in 2012. But it was announced on Jan. 5 of this year that the 
electronics company, which had amassed large debt, was being placed in 
receivership under Ferrier Hodgson, with the hope that a sale would 
rejuvenate the enterprise.

Receiver James Stewart of Ferrier Hodgson announced in late February, 
however, that none of the offers received for Dick Smith Holdings were 
considered acceptable, either as a bid for the group in its entirety or 
for the stores in either Australia or New Zealand as standalone offers.

Smith was quoted in the Australian media as characterizing the offers as 
either being too conditional or too far below the liquidation values.

Over the years, before he sold, the stores enjoyed a robust reputation 
as the go-to place for radio components as well as kits, including the 
Dick Smith HF, UHF and VHF transceivers.

A fire sale began at all locations on Feb. 26, and Hilco, a liquidator 
based in the UK, will look over the sale of stock as locations shut.

The move leaves a total of nearly 3,000 employees in both countries 
without jobs.

The AC after Smith's name is an honor, an Officer of the Order of 
Australia awarded in 1999, for his services to the community, charity 
and business. In 2015 he was advanced to a Companion of the Order of 
Australia "for eminent service to the community as a benefactor of a 
range of not-for-profit and conservation organizations, through support 
for major fundraising initiatives for humanitarian and social welfare 
programs, to medical research and the visual arts, and to aviation.

VK2DIK was Patron of the Wireless Institute of Australia for its 100 
year Celebrations.

The Dick Smith Electronics Chain is yet another of Outlets for VK Hams 
that has closed in recent times.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB.

(ABC.NET.AU, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, NEW ZEALAND HERALD)

**

SILENT KEY: NZART'S BRUCE DOUGLAS, NL2WP

Also from New Zealand, we receive word that the past president of New 
Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters and a longtime core member of 
the organization, Bruce Douglas, NL2WP, became a Silent Key on Feb. 13.

Licensed since 1992, he became part of NZART's management team in 1999 
to help with the organization's financial business. Bruce made use of 
his vast knowledge and experience as trust lawyer to assist NZART, and 
helped establish the group's Radio Science and Education Trust document 
that is still used today.

He served as president from 2005 to 2009, stepping down for health reasons.

(WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA, NZART INFO LINE)


**
BEHIND THE BATTLE OF THE ANTENNAS

SKEETER: In Ohio, where hams have been preparing for an April 23 event 
called Near Vertical Incidence Skywave Antenna Day, organizers are 
emphasizing that this isn't just an ARES event. Hap Holly, KC9RP, of the 
RAIN Report spoke recently with Stan Broadway, N8BHL, ARRL's Ohio 
Section Emergency Coordinatoron how this one-day adventure in antenna 
research is designed to work for all hams.

[CLIP OF STAN BROADWAY EXPLAINING VALUE OF NVIS IN EMERGENCIES]

SKEETER: To hear more of this conversation between Hap Holly and Stan 
Broadway, visit the RAIN Report website, therainreport.com. You can also 
listen via Twitter at @therainreport and via iTunes. Our thanks to Hap 
Holly, KC9RP.

(HAP HOLLY, KC9RP, THE RAIN REPORT)

**
HAMFEST IN HUNTERDON

The Cherryville Repeater Association is opening the doors of its annual 
hamfest and technology expo on Saturday, March 12, at the North 
Hunterdon Regional High School in Annandale, New Jersey, from 8 a.m. to 
1 p.m.

The hamfest expects to draw a large crowd from the Flemington, N.J. area 
and beyond.

In addition to 30 vendors and a variety of seminars, the hamfest will 
also host an operating Flex Radio station so visitors can experience 
Software Defined Radio technology for themselves. There will also be a 
seminar on Digital Mobile Radio technology.

(QSL.NET)

**

SKEETER: Further south, hams in the Charleston, West Virginia area are 
prepping for that area's big Hamfest. In its 32nd year, it has a whole 
lot of new offerings. We hear more from Jim Damron, N8TMW.

[JIM'S REPORT - 1:30]

**

BREAK HERE:

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio 
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the 
Southern Michigan Repeater Network's six linked repeater systems, 
serving all of southern Michigan and parts of northern Ohio.

**

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS: JIM WEIDNER, K2JXW, AND HAROLD KRAMER, WJ1B

Two hams are stepping down from leadership roles, one at the Amateur 
Radio Lighthouse Society and another at the ARRL.

Jim Weidner, K2JXW, founder, owner and president of the Amateur Radio 
Lighthouse Society, has resigned due to health reasons. The New 
Jersey-based society, which sponsors the Intercontinental 
Lightship-Lighthouse Week as well as National Lighthouse Day in August, 
is looking for someone to take up the reins as leader. The organization 
works to promote the roles that lighthouses and hams have in preserving 
maritime safety. There are about 2,000 dues-paying members.

If no one comes forward, Weidner has said the society's activities will 
cease after June 30 of this year. For more information, contact him via 
email at jxweidner@gmail.com or phone him at 856-486-1755.

Another executive is stepping down - this one at the ARRL. Chief 
Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, has retired after 11 Years at the 
Connecticut headquarters. He has been the author of the "Inside HQ" 
column in QST Magazine, helped introduce a digital edition of the 
magazine, and served as co-chairman of the Centennial Convention. He was 
praised recently by ARRL's Marketing Manager, Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, 
with these words:

QUOTE "Through his 'Inside HQ' column, hundreds of personal tours, loads 
of hamfest and convention travel, radio club meetings, and shaking a lot 
of hands - Harold packaged the contributions of ARRL and every staff 
person, and delivered that story to members, prospective members, and 
loads of friends and visitors." ENDQUOTE

(ARRL)


**

THE HAM LICENSE EXPLOSION

Hams, you're in good company: FCC records show that growth in amateur 
licenses continued through 2015, with a 735,405 licensees -- a record - 
in the agency's Universal Licensing System database by year's end. Those 
figures reflect an increase of 9,130 over December 2014. In 2014, the 
Amateur Radio ranks grew by a net 8,149 licensees.

Not surprisingly, the largest growth area was in the Technician license 
class, which added 6,570 new hams in in 2015. There were 3,079 new 
General class licensees, and Amateur Extra class added another 3,496.

The figures reflect a steady growth in amateur radio's ranks annually 
since 2007. Looks like there'll be a lot more people calling CQ this 
year, if they haven't started already.

(ARRL)

**

SENIORS ON THE AIR

SKEETER: Meanwhile, veteran hams are showing some creativity too. A 
group of hams in a Florida retirement community have their own ham club 
... have established an emergency Neighborhood Ham Watch ... and in the 
process managed to get the blessings of their home owners association.

Amateur radio newsline's Kent Peterson KC0DGY has their story.]

[KENT'S REPORT]:

TED LUEBBERS: We live in an area prone to hurricanes and tornadoes. 
Most of our club members are very active in  the lake county ares group 
and we tho if we formed our own club here, we might be available for an
emergency in a hurricane or a tornado and report back to our local EOC 
that everybody is A OK, or B we need some help and be a funnel of 
information from our gated community to to the emergency operations center.

KENT That's Royal Harbor Radio club president Ted Luebbers K1AYZ. The 
club saw a need to include hams in their housing association's emergency 
disaster plans.

TED What we have done is actually we've actually set up an community 
emergency disaster plan for Royal Harbor specifically We presented that 
to our management board here and they have made it a part of their
overall disaster plan for Royal Harbor which has been approved by 
emergency management at EOC.  And as a matter of fact emergency 
management was so impressed with the whole thing, they tried to get 
other retirement communities to do the same thing  So its sort of become 
a model in this area.

KENT Luebbers says there also an unforeseen benefit when the club 
members got involved with the home owners management group.

TED  As a result of our club here at Royal Harbor and our good 
relationship with  the home owners association management group we've 
actually now had two of of our ham club members put on the architectural 
review committee One of the jobs of the architectural review committee 
is to sort of police any antenna situations , so you might cause it 
subversion to some extent. But it works out, the home owners association
is happy with what we do they're happy we are taking part in the 
emergency plan for the community and its given them some publicity and 
its given us some publicity as well.

KENT  When he was looking to buy, Luebbers told me he looked at several 
housing developments but asked if they allowed outside ham antennas. 
When they told him no, he kept looking.  He says there *are* 
developments in Florida which *do* allow for ham antennas, you just have 
to look around a bit to find them.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson KC0DGY

**

SATELLITE CONNECTS SOUTH AMERICA AND ANTARCTICA

It's being called a historic contact and indeed, the satellite 
communication made on Feb. 28 between Federico Mainz, LU5UFM, in Buenos 
Aires and Marcelo Duca, LU1AET, in Argentinean Antarctica was just that.

The Radio Club of Argentina and AMSAT-LU described their call as the 
first contact via satellite between Argentinean Antarctica and the 
Argentinean mainland.

Marcelo was running 15 watts and, using a handheld transceiver; Federico 
was using 4 watts. Using the SO-50 satellite, their 2-minute QSO clearly 
went the distance - their signals covered nearly 2,700 kilometers.

(ARRL)

**

KICKER: OTHERWORLDLY QRM OR QRN?

SKEETER: Was it rock and roll, reverb or something else when Apollo 10's 
crew heard a certain something on their radios while traveling on the 
dark side of the moon? Well, the odd sound heard in May of 1969 has 
finally been sorted out - and the explanation is one that's familiar to 
lots of hams the world over. We more from Amateur Radio Newsline and 
Wireless Institute of Australia's newsman, Graham Kemp, VK4BB:

[GRAHAM'S REPORT]

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to ABC.NET Australia; Alan Labs; the ARRL; 
the Cape May County Herald, CQ Magazine; DX.NET; Hap Holly and the Rain 
Report; Irish Radio Transmitter Society; the New Zealand Association of 
Radio Transmitters; the New Zealand Herald; the Ohio-Penn DX Bulletin; 
QSL.NET; QRZ.COM., Southgate Amateur Radio News; Sydney Morning Herald; 
TWiT TV; Wireless Institute of Australia; and you our listeners, that's 
all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Our email address is 
newsline@arnewsline.org. More information is available at Amateur Radio 
Newsline's only official website located at www.arnewsline.org.

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 Topeka, Kansas, 
saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.


***

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