Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (D
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Feb 14 2020 01:28 pm

BUILDING A RADIO COMMUNITY, ONE HUT AT A TIME

PAUL/ANCHOR: Hams in New Zealand went outdoors recently, with some
low-power gear, and started off on a new adventure. Jim Meachen,
ZL2BHF, tells us what happened next.

JIM M: A group of hams is hoping to build a big community by starting
with a small back-country hut. That's the concept behind the Huts on
the Air awards scheme, taking shape in New Zealand. The programme,
which began earlier this month, is still in its infancy, according
to Matt Briggs, ZL4NVW, one of the organisers. The hope is to get the
backcountry buzzing with contacts, most of them operating QRP. New
Zealand has more than 950 huts, managed by the Department of
Conservation. For locations to qualify in this programme, it should
be a D.O.C. or club hut, or a private back-country hut that is off
the grid.

Matt said that the number of registered users has begun to grow, and
he is encouraged that its momentum will continue. Both hut activators
and home-based chasers can qualify for points. Matt said this is an
ongoing programme, with no set dates for specific events. HOTA
participants should just get out there with their radios, and activate
whenever the opportunity presents itself. For additional details,
visit the website hota dot qrp dot nz (hota.qrp.nz)

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF.

(MATT BRIGGS ZL4NVW)

**

WORLD OF DX

In this week's world of DX, Members of the Low Bands Contest Club,
based in the Czech Republic, are using the call sign 5H4WZ, from Pemba
Island, off the coast of Tanzania, until the 18th of February. Be
listening on all bands 160 -10m on CW, SSB, RTTY, and FT8. QSL using
Club Log OQRS.

Wolfgang, DL5MAE, will be on the air from Laos, from the 13th to the
20th of February, using the call sign 3W2MAE, in his spare time. He
advises hams to bear in mind that the location has heavy local QRM.
Send QSLs using the German bureau.

Be listening for special event station 8A17BJR, between February 19th
and 21st. Hams in Indonesia are celebrating the 17th anniversary of
the local ORARI Kota Banjar radio club. They'll be on 80, 40, and 2
metres, using CW, SSB, and the Digital modes. There are special
certificates available. Visit their page on QRZ.com.

Be listening for Charles NK8O (En Kay Eight Oh), and Fred, N8AX,
operating as 5H3DX, and 5H3AX, respectively, from Tanzania, between
the 24th of February, and the 21st of March. Maximum power in Tanzania
is 100 watts, but they will be using a variety of antennas, including
some directional verticals. Listen for them on 160-10 meters, where
they will be operating holiday style. CW will be their primary mode,
but will occasionally use FT8, JS8-call and PSK-31. Send QSLs direct
to NK8O (En Kay Eight Oh).

(OHIO PENN DX)

**

KICKER: REALLY PUTTING THE "D" IN "DX"

PAUL/ANCHOR: Finally, is anybody out there calling QRZ? We're talking
about deep, deep, deep DX here - and we'll let Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB,
explain just what we mean.

RALPH: If there are extraterrestrials out there, is it possible they
have a band plan of their own? Scientists have been receiviing mystery
radio signals from beyond our earthly environment for a long time now,
but a new report from British Columbia, Canada, has detected a pattern:
these are fast radio bursts arriving precisely in 16.35-day cycles.
They include 1 or 2 bursts per hour during a four-day period. Then they
stop for 12 days, only to renew the pattern.

This pattern is no trivial matter to astronomers at the Canadian
Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst Project,
or CHIME/FRB. No fast radio bursts previously recorded by scientists
on Earth have adhered to quite so steady a pattern, if they had a
pattern at all. In fact, most did not. These bursts, first detected
in 2017, appear to be coming from a star-forming galaxy some 500
million lightyears from our solar system. Gamma-ray radiation
telescopes are attempting to pin down their identity further.

An imaginative ham radio operator might have other ideas. Could this
be a special event station adhering to a very strict extraterrestrial
band plan, and activating only at certain hours? A report in nature.com
indicates the bursts have a central frequency of 1.7 GHz, and a
bandwidth of 128 MHz. So far, however, no hams have spotted anything
on the DX Cluster. Keep listening.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB.

(SPUTNIK NEWS, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, NATURE)

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE:

With thanks to Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL; the Associated Press;
Cornell University; David Behar, K7DB; DX World; FCC.GOV; Gurudatta
Panda, VU3GDP; IARU Region 3; IEEE Spectrum; Matt Briggs, ZL4NVW;
Nature; RAST; shortwaveradio.de; Southgate Amateur Radio News;
Sputnik News; Ted Randall's QSO Radio Show; the U.S. Marine Corps;
the Wireless Institute of Australia; 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 at arnewsline.org.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York,
and our news team worldwide, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO, in Valparaiso,
Indiana, saying 73, and as always, we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.
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