Subj : Newsline Part 4 To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri May 19 2017 08:58 am ONE CLUB'S HOMEBREW SOLUTION DON/ANCHOR: When it comes to ham radio, there's homebrew.....and then there's homebrew. When one New Jersey ham club realized it was facing a major overhaul of its repeater system, they knew they couldn't just pass the hat to raise money. So they came up with a solution that was strictly homebrew....and it involved a project that was also strictly homebrew. We hear more in this report from Amateur Radio Newsline's Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT. CARYN: How can a portable HF magloop antenna help an aging system of UHF and VHF repeaters? Actually, it can save the day when it becomes a homebrew fundraising project for a ham club. Rob Fissell, K2RWF, president of the Tri County Radio Association in Union, New Jersey, said this magloop was the right choice at the right time. ROB: W2LI has been in existence now for over 80 years at this point, and one of the big things we provide is a very wide area coverage repeater system, both VHF and UHF. That equipment is starting to show its age. We wanted to be proactive about coming up with replacements for it, and ensuring that whatever we bought would last us for a decade or two to come and with that comes with the expense of it. Rather than kind of wait for something bad to happen and all of a sudden we need to scramble, we thought we'd take the proactive approach of fundraising through a number of different avenues, or at least explore a number of different avenues and work to get the money ourselves. CARYN: Work is just what they did! Gathering on weekends with antenna components and an order of Chinese food or donuts, they held "antenna building parties." Working assembly-line style, they have already shipped 40 mag loops, and the club continues to receive pre-orders for the next batch. Rob says the little antennas are downright popular! ROB: It's a club-raising effort, and people like the concept that not only are they getting a quality product, but they are also supporting a cause at the same time. CARYN: The antennas cost $165, and every sale helps the bottom line, says Rob. Best of all, this venture is all about hams building something for other hams - and in turn, it's about hams buying something that will benefit fellow hams. Like a mag loop antenna itself, the effort all comes full circle. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT. DON/ANCHOR: If you'd like to order a magloop antenna, visit the club website at w2li.org/magloop - all sales include shipping, and are used to fund the repeater system. ** WORLD OF DX In the world of DX, John, KK7L, is using the call sign T2R from Funafuti Atoll between May 23rd and 29th. He will be operating on various HF bands and may also take part in the CQWW WPX CW contest. Send QSL cards via N7SMI, LoTW or ClubLog. Listen for Ken, LA7GIA, active as TN5E from Brazzaville between May 25th and June 4th. Find him on 80-10 meters -- and possibly even 6 meters -- operating CW and SSB. Send QSL cards via M0OXO, LoTW or ClubLog's OQRS. Janusz, SP9FIH, will be on the air as E44WE from Bethlehem in Palestine until May 30th. He is operating with 100 watts and focusing on 17 meters. Be listening as well on 10 meters and 6 meters. Send QSLs via Club Log OQRS. Finally, we have an update on the latest Summit-to-Summit event. In the Europe to North America Summit-to-Summit event last Saturday the 13th of May, a total of 36 European summits, and 18 North American summits were activated. Despite abysmal radio conditions with deep QSB and high QRN levels several trans-Atlantic QSOs were made, including some summit to summit contacts. Overall, everyone enjoyed the event, and many are already looking forward to the next event on the 18th of November, when it is hoped that conditions will be significantly improved. (IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY, OHIO PENN DX BULLETIN) ** KICKER: SPECIAL DELIVERY DON/ANCHOR: Our last story, which comes from Australia, isn't exactly about amateur radio, but it IS about changing times and changing communication. It's the story of John Riddett, a longtime postal service employee who obviously knows all too well that a message delivered effectively is always a welcome message. John isn't a ham, sorry to say, but his telegraphy skills are something many CW operators would envy. He trained in Morse Code as a teenager in 1953 at the Postmaster General's office, and he used his talents afterward to help send telegrams. That's a practice now out of use for about 50 years. Now John gets the message across by demonstrating his skills to children visiting the Telstra Museum in Hawthorne, Melbourne. This spring, however, he took a trip to Alice Springs for a ten-day gathering of former postal workers who, like him, were once fluent in the poetry of dots and dashes. It was his 24th such gathering, but this year only John and two other former telegraphers showed up. He told ABC Australia that judging from the size of the turnout, the get-together was probably going to be one of the last. With that kind of turnout, he said, he got the message - unfortunately well-delivered. (ABCNET.AU) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to ABCNET.au; Alan Labs; Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL; Belize Amateur Radio Club; Chelmsford Weekly News; CQ Magazine; the FCC; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; the IARU; Irish Radio Transmitters Society; K2BSA; the Lambton (Ontario) Shield newspaper; Ohio Penn DX Bulletin; Southgate Amateur Radio News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; WTWW Shortwave; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Please send emails to our address at 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 Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in Picayune, Mississippi, saying 73, and as always, we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. Posted by VPost v1.7.081019 .