[continued from previous message]   
      
   he believed in educating - a natural motivation for him because   
   education was his career: He had been a professor of botany at the   
   University of Canterbury in Christchurch. He was a founding trustee of   
   the Radioscience Education Trust in 1998. The trust, which is part of   
   NZART, supports persons wishing to advance their education in radio   
   science.   
      
   John was also the widely published author of dozens of technical   
   articles and columns on amateur radio and equipment.   
      
   He was made an honorary life member of NZART in 2014.   
      
   John was 92, just three weeks shy of his 93rd birthday when he became a   
   Silent Key.   
      
   This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.   
      
   (NZART, CRAIG CRAWFORD, ZL3TLB)   
      
   **   
   SILENT KEY: GANESH SUBRAMANIAM, VU2TS   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: As Newsline went to production we also learned of the   
   death of Ganesh [GUH-NESH] Subramaniam [soo bra monny om], VU2TS, an   
   influential ham in Bangalore and beyond. Ganesh became a Silent Key on   
   the 2nd of December, reportedly after a brief illness.   
      
   In online posts on Facebook and websites, many remembered him as an   
   enthusiastic CW operator who embraced the code from the very start. In   
   an October 2019 interview on the QSO Today podcast, he spoke about his   
   enthusiastic radio beginnings as a shortwave listener, culminating in   
   taking his exam in 1960 at a time when amateur radio operators were few   
   and far between in India. He said he did not receive his licence - a   
   Grade 1 licence - until April of 1965 at the age of 29. He learned he   
   had just become the 350th ham in India.   
      
   Always active and enthusiastic, he became the founder and net control   
   operator of the Charminar (Shar Me Nar) Net and a life member of the   
   Bangalore Amateur Radio Club. He was also an avid contester and had   
   served for a time as editor of	 Ham Radio News, the Amateur Radio   
   Society of India's magazine.   
      
   Ganesh was 90.   
      
   To hear Ganesh tell his story on the QSO Today podcast, visit   
   qsotoday.com and type his name in the search bar.   
      
   (QSO TODAY, MADHU MOHAN, VU2UWZ, INSTITUTE OF AMATEUR RADIO IN KERALA)   
      
   **   
   UNIVERSITY STUDENTS LAUNCH 'LIGHT SAIL CHIPSATS'   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: Students and their professors at Cornell University are   
   hoping for smooth sailing for a project known as the Alpha CubeSat   
   mission - but they're looking for ham radio assistance to help them   
   track its progress.   
      
   Their project has deployed what are known as Light Sail ChipSats, small   
   free-flying flight computers in low Earth orbit, to transmit telemetry   
   on 437.4 MHz at 100 mW of power using LoRa transceivers. The ChipSats   
   are mounted on a retro reflective laser sail. The project, which relies   
   only on solar power, was sent to the International Space Station aboard   
   1U CubeSats developed by students at the school's Space Systems Design   
   Studio.   
      
   The project website explains the short time window saying [quote]   
   "Between the sunlight-only, low power and short orbital lifetime, we   
   need all the help we can get to collect telemetry from the sail and   
   establish LEO-to-ground communications for this new generation of tiny   
   spacecraft." [Endquote]   
      
   For details on how to participate, follow the link in the text version   
   of this week's Newsline report at arnewsline.org. You can also contact   
   Joshua KD2WTQ at the email address jsu4@cornell.edu   
      
   (AMATEUR RADIO DAILY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY)   
      
   **   
   BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur   
   Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including   
   the K2ADA repeater in Ocala Florida on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m.   
      
      
   **   
   COMPUTING IN SPACE? STUDENTS FACE THE CHALLENGE   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: Registration is open for a European Space Agency Education   
   school project that asks teachers to challenge their students to create   
   computer programs that will run successfully on board the International   
   Space Station. Jeremy Boot G4NJH brings us up to date.   
      
   JEREMY: Whether students are beginners or more advanced at coding,   
   there is a place for them in the European Astro Pi Challenge. The UK   
   Space Agency and the European Space agency are offering the challenge   
   to students up to age 19 with different levels of coding competency.   
      
   Beginners are invited to participate in the Astro Pi Mission Zero by   
   designing a piece of pixel art for display to astronauts aboard the ISS   
   on Raspberry Pi computers known as Astro Pis. Students capable of   
   handling more complex code - in this case, programming in Python - are   
   asked to be part of the Mission Space Lab instead. Their challenge is   
   to calculate the speed of the ISS by utilising sensors or a camera with   
   the Astro Pi.   
      
   Mission Zero's deadline is the 23rd March 2026 and Mission Space Lab's   
   deadline is 16 February 2026. Resources are being provided to the   
   Educators by the project.   
      
   Astro Pi's ambassador is ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, KJ5LTN, who will   
   be undertaking her first mission to the ISS in early 2026.   
      
   This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.   
      
   (AMSAT NEWS SERVICE)   
      
   **   
   MARATHON QSO PARTY ENDING FOR SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: A milestone QSO Party celebration is coming to an end for   
   South African amateurs, as we hear from John Williams VK4JJW.   
      
   JOHN: It's been quite a year for the South African Radio League - but   
   not as big a year as 1925, the year that the league came into being.   
   SARL, which launched its Centenary Marathon QSO Party in January, is   
   concluding it this month. At 23:59 UTC on the 31st of December, its   
   participating callsigns - most notably ZS100SARL - will be going QRT.   
   Contacts have been made since the first of the year on CW, Phone,   
   digital - and via satellites or repeaters. Contacts have been on HF,   
   VHF and UHF.  Even shortwave listeners have been involved, accumulating   
   points and applying for different levels of awards.   
      
   Many of these modes did not even exist 100 hundred years ago when the   
   league - formerly known as the South African Radio Relay League, became   
   a reality thanks to the efforts of hams who decided amateur radio   
   needed a unified voice to advocate for their interests.   
      
   The marathon recognises the growth and reach that SARL has attained   
   through the ensuing decades.   
      
   Even if you're getting a late start in chasing the activators, there's   
   still time. Visit mysarl.org.za [mysarl dot org dot zed ay]  for   
   details.   
      
   This is John Williams VK2JJW.   
      
   (SARL, TECH CENTRAL)   
      
   **   
   INDIAN AMATEURS HELP WOMAN LOST IN BANGLADESH   
      
   NEIL/ANCHOR: A ham radio club in West Bengal, India, best known for its   
   special skill in helping reunite family members who are lost -sometimes   
   for years - has once again made use of its robust network on behalf of   
   a woman who'd gone missing two decades ago. Jim Meachen ZL2BHF brings   
   us the details.   
      
   JIM: An older woman, believed to have been begging on the streets of   
   Bangladesh for survival for years, has reconnected with her family in   
   India through the efforts of the West Bengal Radio Club, an   
   organisation with a specialty in missing-persons cases.   
      
   The woman's disappearance was traced to a religious pilgrimage she made   
   nearly 20 years ago - an annual gathering near the Ganges River. With   
   the volume of pilgrims at the event, known as the Gangasagar Mela, it   
   is not uncommon for many attendees to get lost or to go missing.   
   According to the club's secretary, Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, the   
   woman, who is now about 70 years of age and from a village in India,   
   somehow joined a group of pilgrims from Bangladesh. That is how she is   
   believed to have taken a detour to Bangladesh instead of returninghome.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)