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Ärende: AR Newsline 11 July 2025
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2489 for Friday, July 11th, 2025
 
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2489 with a release date of Friday, July
11th, 2025 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1

The following is a QST.  A POTA activator suffers a tragic death. ClubLog is
getting an upgrade -- and Hamshack Hotline prepares to say farewell. All this
and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2489 comes your way right now.

**
POTA ACTIVATOR ELECTROCUTED IN NORTH CAROLINA

NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week takes us to the scene of a tragedy in
North Carolina in which a well-known Parks on the Air activator died after
being electrocuted. We have more details from Jim Davis, W2JKD.

JIM: Tripp Owens, N4NTO, a well-regarded POTA activator died on Friday, July
4th, when, according to investigators, his antenna mast made contact with an
overhead power line at the Chicora Civil War Cemetery near the Averasboro
[pron: aver-us-burro] Battlefield Historic Site, US-11375. According to several
local news reports, emergency crews were called to the scene after Tripp was
found unconscious in the parking lot. One news report said that fire crews
found him with his foot touching the mast beneath the power lines. Power
company crews turned off the power to give the responders access. Tripp was
pronounced dead at the scene.

A report on the QRPer.com website relayed information from Dave W4JL, who said
Tripp had been spotted on the Reverse Beacon Network between 12:02 and 12:13
UTC that morning but noted on the POTA spots page that he was going QRT.
QRPer's Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL added: [quote] "This is heartbreaking news for
those of us in the Parks on the Air and WWFF communities. Tripp was a
well-known and well-loved North Carolina POTA operator?a dedicated hunter and
activator whose callsign appears in my logs many times over the years."
[endquote]

Tripp's death was ruled accidental. Within hours of the news, the ham radio
community offered condolences to his family on social media and shared memories
of a man who they praised for his spirit of mentorship and his gentle sense of
humor. Mark Gibson, N4MQU, praised him for his achievements as a top CW
operator and a devoted contester.

He had been a ham since 1985. "Ambrose 'Tripp' Owens the third was 57 years
old.

This is Jim Davis, W2JKD.

(ABC-11, WRAL NEWS, QRZ.COM, QRPer.COM)

NEIL/ANCHOR: On a personal note, Newsline would like to remind all our
listeners, especially those operating portable stations, to please exercise
utmost caution especially during setup and takedown.

**
HAMSHACK HOTLINE TO BE DISCONTINUED

NEIL/ANCHOR: Say goodbye to Hamshack Hotline, the free VOIP telecomm service.
The service announced it would be discontinued, effective the 29th of August.
The project began in 2018 and grew to be a global communications network with a
peak establishment of 7,000 interconnections across numerous servers. Hamshack
Hotline's board of directors said it will donate whatever cash reserves it may
have to a charity that supports military veterans. 

(HAMSHACK HOTLINE)

**
FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT TO SPEAK AT DALLAS 'MOON DAY'

NEIL/ANCHOR: In Dallas, Texas, a former NASA astronaut will be the guest
speaker at an educational event that marks the anniversary of the Apollo 11
moon landing and celebrates advances in space exploration. Sel Embee KB3TZD has
that story.

SEL: Retired Colonel Carl Walz, formerly K-C-5-T-eye-E, will deliver the
keynote address at the Dallas Frontiers of Flight Museum during Moon Day, which
celebrates space exploration and encourages attendees to participate in
activities involving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Moon Day
is taking place on the 19th of July, a date close to the July 24th anniversary
of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. The Ohio native, a former ISS astronaut,
spent more than 18 hours conducting spacewalks to evaluate tools for the
refurbishment of the Hubble Space Telescope.

AMSAT Ambassador Thomas Schuessler (Shoose-slur), N-5-H-Y-P, will join with
satellite enthusiasts from North Texas to demonstrate CubeSats using models and
a simulator, and talk about amateur radio in space. Members of the Dallas
Amateur Radio Club will be on hand to also share amateur radio's role in
supporting science education.

For details about attending - or if you live nearby and want to volunteer -
email Tom at N5HYP-at-arrl-dot-net. (n5hyp@arrl.net)

This is Sel Embee, K-B-3-T-Zed-D.

(AMSAT NEWS)

**
YOTA AMERICAS CAMPERS LAUNCH FARTHEST BALLOON TRIP

NEIL/ANCHOR: Thirty two campers traveled from all over the world to Thornton,
Colorado in June to attend the annual Americas wide camp for amateur radio
operators aged 15 to 25 called Youth On The Air.  Jack McElroy, KM4ZIA, has
been the leader of the YOTA balloon launch team since he was 14 years old at
the camp's first in person event in the Americas.

In 2022, Newsline shared Jack's story of one of his personal balloons becoming
the closest any amateur radio balloon has been to the South Pole.  At this
year's YOTA camp, the youth team in cooperation with Edge of Space Sciences
launched a high altitude balloon, tracked it by APRS, and brought back video
from near space after reaching a height of 96,600 feet.  But, thunderstorms
prevented the launch of the two pico balloons scheduled for that afternoon.

Instead, the balloons were transported to NIST radio station WWV in Fort
Collins the next day, where the campers were taking a tour of the facility and
operated portable stations.  The wide open spaces and clear sky at WWV proved
to be a great launch site for these balloons as they started the longest
journey of any YOTA Americas balloons yet.  At the time of recording this
edition of Newsline, one balloon is flying over Hawaii and is closing in on an
entire orbit around the Earth, while the other balloon made it to western Iran
before returning to the ground.

Jack told Newsline, "This all would not have been possible without the
curiosity and efforts of the campers, for they were the ones assembling,
balancing, and launching the balloons.  I hope that through experiences like
this, youth can be inspired to bring their amateur radio expertise into areas
that they never thought possible, from research projects to future careers." 
The balloon launch was sponsored by the North Fulton Amateur Radio League.  You
can follow the trek of these balloons on WSPRNET.ORG under KM4ZIA and on
APRS.FI under W?Y-1 and W?Y-11.

(YOUTH ON THE AIR)

**
SILENT KEY: AUSTRIAN MILITARY RADIO SOCIETY's MONIKA WLCEK, OE3YUP

NEIL/ANCHOR: An active and influential YL in Austria has become a Silent Key.
We hear more about her from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: A near-fatal shooting in the head during an armed robbery in Vienna
more than three decades ago nearly claimed the life of Monika Wlcek, OE3YUP.
She ultimately emerged from a coma and recovered, though she was left partially
paralyzed for the rest of her life. Her love of amateur radio, which she shared
with her husband Helmut, OE3HCB, kept her in the forefront of the amateur radio
community until she became a Silent Key on the 10th of June of this year. Her
death was reported recently in the YL Beam newsletter.

Monika was an active member of the Forest District of the Austrian Military
Radio Society and an active participant in YL activities each year at Ham Radio
Friedrichshafen.

Monika was 79.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(YL BEAM)

**

NYC PROPERTY OWNER GETS "PIRATE" LETTER FROM FCC

NEIL/ANCHOR: In New York City, which the FCC considers one of the most active
locations for unlicensed radio activity, another broadcaster has been charged
with radio piracy. Kent Peterson KC?DGY has the details.

KENT: The Federal Communications Commission has sent a letter to a property
owner in the New York borough of the Bronx, charging them with permitting
unlicensed broadcasting from that location. The FCC cited complaints about a
broadcast on 89.3 FM coming from an apartment above ground-floor retail
establishments in June and November of 2024 and again this past January.

The letter was sent under the PIRATE Act of 2020, which strengthened the FCC's
enforcement authority and raised possible penalties against pirate
broadcasters. The property owners are required to respond to the agency within
10 days.

Under the PIRATE Act, the FCC can issue a maximum fine of $2.5 million if the
broadcasts continue after the response period has passed.

The RadioWorld website, which carried the report, said one of its readers in
New York City identified the broadcast as coming from an entity known as
"Digital FM WDYM."

This is Kent Peterson KC?DGY.

(RADIO WORLD, FCC)

**

BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the multimode
Jacksonville Hub which connects to such modes as the AB4KK-R Echolink node
number 626636, Allstar 510740 and TGIF TalkGroup 33333.

**
BRAZILIAN SPECIAL EVENT CELEBRATES 105-YEAR-OLD YL

NEIL/ANCHOR: At 105 years of age, the Brazilian radio operator known as
"Grandma Alda" still keeps the word "young" in YL. Graham Kemp VK4BB tells us
about the on-air celebration held for her.

GRAHAM: The special event callsign PP105ASN was on the air for 11 days in June
- but the YL being honoured has been on the air for 49 years - and she has been
on the planet for 105. Her name is Alda Schlemm Niemeyer, who is known widely
as "Grandma Alda." 

To mark her 105th birthday this past spring, her fellow members in the Blumenau
Amateur Radio Club used SSB and FT8 on HF -- as well as 2m FM simplex. The
club's president, Mauro Cerqueira Leite, PP5BSD, told Newsline there were a
total of 1,200 QSOs and they were acknowledged via digital QSL,

This is Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(YL BEAM, BLUMENAU AMATEUR RADIO CLUB)

**
'NIGHT OF NIGHTS' HONORS LONG-GONE MARITIME TRADITION

NEIL/ANCHOR: Every year, devoted volunteers return the tradition of maritime
radio to the air in California. Ralph Squillace KK6ITB tells us how.

RALPH: The silencing of the last maritime radio station in the US in California
in 1999 gave voice to an effort to create the Maritime Radio Historical
Society, K6KPH, to preserve its treasured Morse Code tradition.

Every year, the event, "Night of Nights," celebrates this tradition on the
anniversary of the day that the station signed off - ensuring that July 12th
would not mark the station's final signoff, after all. Broadcast engineers,
radio operators and history enthusiasts have seen to that. They volunteered to
bring new life to the receive site at the Point Reyes National Seashore and to
the Bolinas Radio transmitter site - returning Morse service to the station
known as KPH/KFS. 

This year's 26th edition of "Night of Nights" is a collaboration of modern
skills and classic style equipment, including "Marconi T" type antennas at both
the transmitter and receive sites. KPH and KFS will be operating on assigned
commercial frequencies while K6KPH will be operating on several HF amateur
radio bands. For times, frequencies and QSL information, please check the
Maritime Radio Historical Society website at radiomarine.org.

This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

(MARITIME RADIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY; QRZ.COM)

**
DOUBLE CENTENARY FOR AMATEURS IN JAPAN

NEIL/ANCHOR: The practice of amateur radio in Japan is feeling its age - 100
years old next year - and hams there are ready to send a message that the best
is yet to come. Jim Meachen ZL2BHF tells us what's planned.

JIM: Japanese amateurs are marking a double anniversary - both spanning 100
years: They're celebrating the establishment of the Japan Amateur Radio League
in June of 1926. The league was created to assist innovators and experimenters
who were conducting their radio research without benefit of a licence. That
changed in September of the following year, when the callsign JXAX was assigned
by the government to the first of what would soon become a handful of radio
telegraph and telephone stations. Ham radio kept growing so that just before
the Second World War, the nation had 300 such stations.

Hams in Japan will be marking those two formative moments in history during a
celebration designed to last 16 months -- the same time period between the
events 100 years ago. Awards, ceremonies, special event stations, contests and
an anniversary book are among the activities planned.

Clearly there's a lot to celebrate in that 100-year stretch which last year
landed Japan in the Guinness Book of World Records for putting JS1YMG, the
first amateur radio station, on the moon.

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(JAPAN AMATEUR RADIO LEAGUE, AMATEUR RADIO DAILY)

**
GRANT WILL HELP WITH CLUBLOG OPERATIONS UPGRADE

NEIL/ANCHOR: Expect improved operations soon from ClubLog, thanks to some grant
money to cover the costs. Here's Jeremy Boot G4NJH with the details.

JEREMY: ClubLog, a service that has become a mainstay for DXers worldwide, has
received an $8,000 grant in US currency for a hardware upgrade to improve
operations. The funding from the Northern  California  DX  Foundation is being
given to Michael, G7VJR, ClubLog's author. In a DX foundation press release,
ClubLog reminded users that the expensive upgrade of its servers is necessary
to support expanded activity.  Michael said: [quote] "...once the new servers
are deployed, Club Log will be using cutting edge servers which are faster,
more energy efficient and ready for years of high-endurance 24/7 work. "
[endquote]

According to a press release from the DX foundation, the free ClubLog
statistics service supports an estimated 130,000 callsigns worldwide and stores
records of 1.25 billion QSOs. 

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, Nicolas, F5TGR will be on the air from Iceland as TF/F5TGR
from July 26th through to August 9th on 40, 30, 20, 15, 12 and 10m. Nicolas
will be using CW, SSB and FT8. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Andre, HB9HLM is on the air holiday style as CN2NE from Morocco from the 15th
through to the 22nd of July.  Listen for him on 40-6 metres from grid locator
IM63. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Special callsign TM5VDL is on the air through to the 19th of July from Dunkirk.
This activation is taking place during the second stage of the Tall Ships
Races. QSL via F8KGS.

Take [TAH-KAY], JI3DST, is using the callsign JI3DST/1 from Shikine [SHUH KEE
NAY] Island, IOTA number AS-008, on the 24th through to the 28th of July and
will be in the IOTA Contest. See QRZ.com for details.

Listen for Vlad, OK2WX, using the callsign JW?V from Longyearbyen, IOTA number
EU-026, Svalbard from the 14th through to the 23rd of July. Vlad will be using
CW, SSB and FT8 on 80-10 metres. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: HEADQUARTERS FIELD DAY FOR OUR 2022 YHOTY WINNER

NEIL/ANCHOR: On the amateur radio calendar, ARRL Field Day is one of the most
anticipated days of the year. For one YL in particular - and for Amateur Radio
Newsline, the late-June event was one for the logbooks. Our final story for
this week is about her - as we hear from Don Wilbanks AE5DW.

DON: With 1,536 sites in ARRL's Field Day locator, one in particular stands
out: Headquarters station W1AW in Newington, Connecticut. Operators at the
Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station were, of course, calling "CQ Field Day" but
if you were lucky enough to log this 6F-class station on Saturday, June 28th
there's a good chance you may have worked Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN. Audrey was
the Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the
year for 2022. The Georgia resident has been in Connecticut working on an
internship in support of her electrical engineering studies at Georgia Tech.
Audrey is, of course, a Field Day veteran and a former operator for the Dave
Kalter Memorial Youth DX Adventure to Curacao. Dayton Hamvention attendees may
have also met her in Xenia, Ohio, as a presenter.

This year's Field Day at W1AW was a proud moment for us here at Newsline and we
wish Audrey continued success and, of course, good DX.

This is Don Wilbanks AE5DW.

(ARRL)

**
IT'S HAM RADIO HAIKU TIME

A good QSO can be like poetry - sometimes! So why not write a haiku about
amateur radio and join the Newsline haiku challenge? It's as easy as writing a
QSL card. We can only accept the correct haiku format - that is, a three-line
verse with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five in
the third. Submit your work on our website at arnewsline.org - each week's
winner gets a shout-out on our website, where everyone can find the winning
haiku.

NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to ABC News; Amateur News Daily; AMSAT News; ARRL; Blumenau Amateur
Radio Club; David Behar K7DB; DX World; 425DX Bulletin; FCC; Japan Amateur
Radio League; Maritime Radio Historical Society; QRPer.com; QRZ.com; Radio
World; Shortwaveradio.de; Wireless Institute of Australia; WRAL News; YL Beam;
YOTA Americas Camp; Zero Retries Newsletter; 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 Neil Rapp WB9VPG in Union,
Kentucky saying 73. As always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio
Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2025. All rights reserved.

** MP3 of this report has been uploaded to The Rat's Den AMIGA.

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