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PY2BIL > ARNR 20.06.25 11:24z 341 Lines 18987 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2486 for Friday, June 20th, 20
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2486 for Friday, June 20th, 2025
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2486 with a release date of Friday, June 20th, 2025 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1
The following is a QST. Scientists find radio waves with upward propagation. A DXpedition honors a Silent Key
-- and Newsline pays tribute to cofounder Bill Pasternak WA6ITF, 10 years after his passing. All this and more
as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2486 comes your way right now.
**
BILLBOARD CART
**
RADIO SIGNALS HAVE 'UPWARD PROPAGATION' THROUGH ICE, STONE
SKEETER/ANCHOR: We begin this week with a scientific discovery about radio waves that researchers say defies
the laws of physics. These signals didn't come from somewhere above - but from deep down below the surface of
the earth. Kevin Trotman, N5PRE, tells us about this so-called "upward propagation."
KEVIN: Radio signals picked up by a NASA high-altitude balloon have been leaving scientists baffled. The
balloon, part of NASA's experiment known as Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, was floating 40
kilometres above the continent, in search of neutrinos and other particles when its sensitive radio antennas
unexpectedly picked up signals that were coming from someplace below - way below - the Antarctic's frozen
surface. Physicists say that for that kind of reception to occur the radio waves would have had to have
penetrated 6,000 to 7,000 kilometres, or 3,700 to 4,300 miles, of solid ice and stone.
Although the balloon project has since been retired, researchers continue to study these unexplained
transmissions and recently published their findings in the journal, Physical Review Letters. The researchers
say that by all models of physics, the signals should have been absorbed by the rock and gone undetected.
Scientists know that these are not neutrinos - the particles that they had expected - but are still trying to
narrow down what kind of radio signals they're dealing with. Meanwhile, with the ANITA project retired, the
next instruments to have a go at the mystery will be on board a work in progress: A Pennsylvania State
University team is building something bigger and, they hope, better: The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy
Observation mission.
This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE
(GIZMODO, NEWSWEEK)
**''
ISLAND DXPEDITION WILL BE TRIBUTE TO SILENT KEY
SKEETER/ANCHOR: For one ham in the US, a return to a favorite DXpedition spot in the North Atlantic will have
another purpose this year. It will serve as a tribute to a friend for whom that island was home. Andy Morrison
K9AWM brings us that story,
ANDY: For Eric Williams, KV1J, his planned trip to St. Pierre & Miquelon Island, IOTA Number NA-032, is for a
solo activation-- but even as he calls CQ as FP/KV1J starting on the 28th of June, Eric will not be totally
alone. He will carry the memory of a local amateur who was his friend, Jean-Pierre Carrere, FP5CJ. Jean-Pierre,
who was known in the ham community as a welcoming, helpful and personable radio operator, especially to
visitors, became a Silent Key last September.
Eric will remain on the air through to the 14th of July and will participate in the IARU HF World Championship
on the 12th and 13th of July. It is his 17th trip to the island in the North Atlantic, not far from
Newfoundland.
This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.
(QRZ.COM)
**
TEEN CW CHAMP TRIES TO TOP OWN WORLD RECORD
SKEETER/ANCHOR: Here's one for the record books. A teenager from Romania is preparing to beat the world record
he set last year for speed in copying callsigns sent in CW. It's set to happen this month in Germany, as we
hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
JEREMY: Ham Radio 2025 at Messe Friedrichshafen, Germany, will have plenty to offer international visitors when
the three-day event opens on the 27th of June. One scheduled event in particular is likely to draw a crowd as
it showcases the achievement of Ianis Scutaru, YO8YNS, who set the world record in callsign receiving in Morse
Code last year.
In a demonstration sponsored by the Romanian Federation of Amateur Radio, Ianis will attempt to beat that
record before a panel of judges from Guinness World Records and the IARU. It forms part of a larger exhibit by
the Romanian amateur radio group which is demonstrating high-speed telegraphy as its centerpiece.
In case you were wondering, at the age of 13, Ianis won a gold medal at the 20th IARU High Speed Telegraphy
World Championship with a record-setting maximum copy speed of 1,126 characters per minute - an equivalent just
exceeding 225 words per minute.
This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
(LUCIAN YO8SLC)
**
CHICAGO RACE PUTS HAMS ON THE RUN
SKEETER/ANCHOR: This month, hams in the heart of Chicago showed a good bit of heart themselves during a popular
half-marathon. Jen DeSalvo, W9TXJ, takes us there.
CAREY PINKOWSKI: We’ve seen a lot of things over the years with the ham operators. They're the most dependable
way of communication.
JEN: For three and a half decades, Carey Pinkowski has been the race director of the Bank of America Chicago
Marathon, and in that time, he has watched his race grow from just a few thousand runners to over fifty-
thousand finishers in 2024.
CAREY: At the marathon last year, we had close to 2,000 medical volunteers…
JEN: And of those, about 150 amateur radio operators coordinating medical treatment and transport. The
partnership began in 2008 after a dangerous October heat wave cut the 2007 event short. On a course with all
asphalt and no shade, water became scarce, and communication was lacking.
CAREY: We didn’t have cell phones!
JEN: Runner Kate Saccany, Kilo-Eight-Sierra-Lima-Foxtrot (K8SLF), was a participant in the Chicago Marathon
that year, and like many hams, she was trained in emergency communications. It was after that event that she,
Pinkowski, and other amateur radio operators devised a plan to put hams on the run. Sixty-eight hams helped out
that first year in 2008, and since that time…
CAREY: They participate in our planning meetings and our operational design of things. A lot of it's geared
toward emergency or crisis communications.
JEN: And it’s not just for the 26.2-mile race in October. On Sunday, June 1st, 40 hams assisted medical teams
for the Bank of America 13.1, the half-marathon version. For their primary repeater, volunteer hams used a
Yaesu DR-2X in analog mode with a “paceö of 25 watts off the rooftop of Chicago’s Historic Mount Sinai
Hospital. The backup repeater had an inverted antenna mag mount and a world-class view, as it was housed atop
Chicago's tallest skyscraper, the Willis Tower, in the ABC Chicago WLS-TV transmitter suite.
These special ham teams aren't unique to Chicago.
They also assemble for other World Marathon Majors such as Boston and New York.
They play an important role at the Marine Corps Marathon and several others across the globe.
So, when distance runners are in need of a hero,
CAREY: It's the ham operators that are there to save the day.
JEN: In Chicago, I'm Jen DeSalvo, W9TXJ
**
HAMS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
SKEETER/ANCHOR: Let's face it: amateur radio can be hard work, especially lately with the sun sending some
geomagnetic storms our way. Still, it's June and for many of us that signals a chance to have a little more fun
in spite of it all. Geri Goodrich, KF5KRN, offers us a few options -- in a few modes.
GERI: Young hams around the world have once again declared this "Meme Appreciation Month," even though this
activity actually runs through to the 15th of August. From Hungary to the Philippines, Canada and Austria, the
popular activity of sharing icons and text is spelled out in the operators' clever callsigns used specifically
for this event. Most participants use FT8 and SSTV.
Meanwhile, CW operators in the Straight Key Century Club have just wrapped up another round of the monthly
RandomGram exercise, decoding randomly generated letter and number combinations. The 24-hour event began on
Thursday, June 19th.
Finally, there's Hamword, in which amateurs sharpen their skills using Winlink by playing a game based on the
wildly popular mainstream word-based guessing game - Wordle. This is the third year participants will be
transmitting five-letter words to the HAMWORD station. It's a lively, highly competitive activity in which
results are posted on a leaderboard.
For technical requirements and rules, see the websites in the text version of this week's Newsline script.
Don't forget that hams just WANNA have FUN!
This is Geri Goodrich, KF5KRN.
[DON'T READ: mememonth.ca
skccgroup.com
hambooks.org/hamword ]
**
BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin
stations around the world, including WA5AIR, the Texas Link System which carries Newsline on seven repeaters on
Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. local time.
**
THREE CHARGED WITH THEFT OF RADIO STATION'S COPPER WIRING
SKEETER/ANCHOR: There's been a setback for yet another broadcast radio station that has been hit by copper-wire
theft. Sel Embee KB3TZD brings us the latest.
SEL: Three men were arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, and charged with the theft of copper wiring from a local AM
radio station, temporarily knocking it off the air.
Radio Ambiente, WGSF 1030 AM, the city’s first Hispanic radio station which had been broadcasting for 30 years,
went silent on Sunday, May 18th. The station, which serves a regional audience, was able to return to the air
this month after the FCC granted a license for its use of the on-site translator at 101.5 FM.
According to news reports, the station’s owner discovered copper wiring and copper components were stolen after
he visited the transmitter towers to determine the source of the problem. Police said the transmitter building
had been broken into. Copper wiring that ran underground to the radio towers had been cut - the copper cables
and other components were missing. The station's owner, Sergio Butron, told local media that it appeared the
thieves gained access after breaking through a chain-link fence and several locks. An engineer at the station
said replacing the equipment will cost an estimated 070,000 on top of engineering fees.
Police report that three suspects were arrested less than a half-mile from the transmitter towers. The men were
found with the stolen copper cables in front of a nearby house.
This is Sel Embee, K-B-3-T-Zed-D.
(RADIO WORLD, WREG MEMPHIS)
**
GRANT HELPS ADVANCE ALBERTA GROUP'S IP400 DIGITAL PROJECT
SKEETER/ANCHOR: The Alberta Digital Radio Communications Society has learned it can proceed with its IP400
Project by autumn, thanks to a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications that will permit the hiring of
necessary technical personnel.
Many amateurs got a preview of IP400 at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio. The data communications system was
demonstrated using Raspberry Pi Zero H A T transceivers. "H A T" stands for Hardware Attached On Top. The
system's goal is to deliver over-the-air data speeds of at least 100 kilobytes per second, a speed that far
exceeds that of most current amateur radio data systems. According to the IP400 website, the project first aims
to present an assembled node to developers, experimenters and others for testing.
(ARDC, IP400 WEBSITE)
**
WRTC ANNOUNCES WINNERS IN SPONSORED-TEAM BIDDING
SKEETER/ANCHOR: The World Radiosport Team Championship isn't taking place until next year but this season,
there was a bit of competition before the big competition - and now there are two winners. Jason Daniels VK2LAW
tells us who they are.
JASON: Organisers of the World Radiosport Team Championship have announced that two teams of seasoned
DXpeditioners and contesters are going to the 2026 competition in the UK after placing the winning bids to
secure a place in the running. All other competitors in this international Olympic-style radio event qualify by
virtue of their contest records but these two sponsored teams -- one headed by Adrian, KO8SCA, and the other by
Cezary, SP5Y -- secured spots as winning bidders in an auction. The minimum bid was 20,000 US dollars.
The opportunity to purchase spots in the competition is a way of helping the event with its substantial budget.
All teams are bound by the same operating rules.
This is Jason Daniels VK2LAW.
(WRTC LIST)
**
WORLD OF DX
In the World of DX, HA8PX, HA8LLH and YO5OED [Y OH 5 OH E D] will be active as TCØMAR from Marmara Island, IOTA
number AS-201, from June 30th through to July 5th. Listen on 30, 20, 17 and 15 metres where the operators will
be using CW, SSB and FT8. They may also be operating their personal callsigns with the TCØ prefix. QSL via
their home calls.
Michel, F5LRL will be on the air holiday style as CN2DX in Morocco from the 25th of June through to the 30th of
August using CW, SSB and FT8. Look for Michel on 40-6 metres, QSL via his home call.
Listen for the callsign TM5RE from Re Island, IOTA number EU-032, in the Bay of Biscay until the 22nd of June.
It is being activated by the team of F2VX, F4WEO and F9IE holiday style using SSB, CW, FT4 and FT8. QSL via
LoTW.
Eric, GM5RDX and Graham, 2MØIJU are using the callsigns J38DX and J38LD, respectively, from Grenada, IOTA
number NA-024, from the 5th through to the 13th of July, operating mainly SSB with some FT8 on 80-10 metres.
See QRZ.com for QSL details.
(425 DX BULLETIN)
**
KICKER: REMEMBERING NEWSLINE'S BILL PASTERNAK, WA6ITF/SK
SKEETER/ANCHOR: We leave you this week with these final thoughts: Anniversaries aren't always for celebrating -
and what follows here is one of those examples. Ten years ago, on June 12th, 2015, Newsline lost its cofounder,
producer, writer - and friend, Bill Pasternak WA6ITF. We thought it appropriate that Jim Davis, W2JKD, one of
Bill's original team members for 36 years, rejoin us this week to mark this very personal occasion for
Newsline. Jim?
JIM: I first met Bill Pasternak in the early 1970s on a very popular 2-meter repeater while I was working as a
DJ in New York City. We quickly discovered we shared many hobbies and interests. Bill was deeply interested in
broadcasting and was also an accomplished multi-engine pilot. He and Sharon were newlyweds at the time, and my
family enjoyed spending time with them at many social events organized by our local ham radio group.
But, as is typical in broadcasting, our careers took us in different directions and to different cities. Maybe
it was karma, but both Bill and I eventually landed in Los Angeles—he had secured a job at the Fox TV station,
and I joined KHJ Radio. It was wonderful to reconnect with my old friend.
Bill was incredibly ambitious. He had more hobbies than fingers and toes! He shared with me his vision of
creating a newscast for the amateur radio community. In 1977, he brought that vision to life with the launch of
the WestLink Amateur Radio News. Bill invited me to be one of the presenters. Little did I know that would be
the start of a 36-year journey with what would eventually become Amateur Radio Newsline.
Over the next three decades, my career took me to many cities—Dallas, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles (again),
Charleston, West Virginia, Daytona Beach, Grand Rapids, Long Branch, New Jersey, back to Daytona, then
Sarasota, and finally Vero Beach. I had Mayflower Van Lines on speed dial!
In those early days during the ’70s, Bill would gather the news, write a script, and call me on the phone
(remember when long-distance was expensive?). He’d read the script aloud, and I’d type it as he spoke. Once
finished, I’d head to a production studio to record and edit the script. Then I’d drive to the post office to
air mail a 7-inch reel of tape to Los Angeles. Bill would splice in the actualities and transfer the final
version to a 20-minute cartridge tape. That tape machine was set to auto-answer the phone line at Bill
Ornstein’s home, distributing the news to the ham community.
As technology evolved, so did we. In 1981, Bill and I each bought Commodore 64 computers. With the addition of
a telephone handset modem, we reduced the scripting process from hours to minutes. Reels of tape gave way to
cassettes, and a decade later, digital audio revolutionized how Amateur Radio Newsline was shared on the
Internet. While the delivery systems changed, one thing remained constant: our friendship and Bill’s unwavering
commitment to this project.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of Bill’s passing. His legacy continues to resonate throughout the amateur
radio community. Bill was a deeply spiritual man, and I believe he would be honored to know that the Amateur
Radio Newslineteam continues to deliver this weekly missive with the same passion and purpose he instilled in
it from the beginning.
They say we are known by the company we keep, and in Bill’s case, his presence and contributions to our hobby
are truly enduring. I was personally honored to be part of his vision for 36 consecutive years.
This is my first time back behind the microphone since his passing. I find it poetic that Bill left us at age
73. In our world, that’s no coincidence.
73, my friend.
This is Jim Davis, W2JKD
**
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 Amateur News Daily; AMSAT; ARDC; David Behar K7DB; DX World; Gizmodo; Lucian, YO8SLC;
Newsweek; QRZ.com; Radio Society of Great Britain; Radio World; Shortwaveradio.de; SKCC; Wireless Institute of
Australia; WREG Radio Memphis; WRTC List; Youth on the Air; 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 Skeeter Nash N5ASH in Jonesboro, Arkansas
saying 73. As always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2025. All rights
reserved.
73 de Bill, PY2BIL
PY2BIL@PY2BIL.SP.BRA.SOAM
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
BBS: PY2BIL - Timed 20-Jun-2025 08:11 E. South America Standard Time
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