yl.beam #36 july 2016

 yl.beam      #36       july 2016 

Contents:
Events:Night of Nights ;  DM88YLF;  TM88YL ;  IOTA
Ja-Well-No-Fine
Yasme Excellence Award - Carole Perry, WB2MGP,
Calendar

Night of Nights 2016 - MRHS (Maritime Radio Historical Society)
The Historic RCA Coast Station KPH, located north of San Francisco, returns to the air for commemorative broadcasts every year on July 12 at 5:01 pm PDT (13 July at 0001 GMT).
The broadcast commemorates the closing of commercial Morse operation in 1999.

https://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/events_nightofnights.htm

DM88YLF - French-German-Friendship YL Aktivitäten vom 1.Juli – 31.Juli 2016 

organised by Johanna DJ5YL & Tina DL5YL;  f
Operators :  DL5YL, Tina (CW);  DJ5YL, Joana (SSB);  DL/F4DHQ, Sophie (SSB); 
DK2YL, Siggi (SSB, Digi-modes)
QSL manager : Johanna DJ5YL dj5yl@darc.de    

https://qrz.com/db/DM88YLF

TM88YL - YL DE FRANCE are celebrating by activating TM88YL.
Duration: 15 days - 14 to 31 juillet 2016    https://qrz.com/db/TM88YL
QSL manager : Claudine F5JER    f5jer@radioamateurardennais.org

RSGB Islands on the Air (IOTA) Contest
The aim of the contest is to promote contacts between stations in IOTA island groups and the rest of the world, and to encourage expeditions to IOTA islands.
2. The contest always takes place over the last FULL weekend of July.
     12:00 UTC Saturday 30th July to 12:00 UTC Sunday 31st July 2016.
3. BANDS AND MODES    3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28MHz, CW and SSB.

http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2016/riota.shtml

Local is Lekker
Recently our local club, the Hibiscus Coast Amateur Radio Club, held another of its  'open shack' days and it was the turn of our 2-shack village to be the hosts.  Our 'shack' is minimalist and the OM is very proud of his 80m stealth loop which is pretending to be an abandoned telephone wire!  The 2nd shack demonstrated 'home-brew' projects and digital modes – more importantly, refreshments! We've enjoyed these opportunities to share ideas, view other rigs, antennas, power set-ups etc. and see how others have solved problems. An opportunity to mentor and, whether you've been a Ham for years or are just starting, there is always something to learn.- ZS5YH

Ja-Well-No-Fine 
We welcome the following ladies to our community  and congratulate them on successfully passing the RAE in May, 2016: ZS2DG Denise Gray, ZS2SD  Sheena Dippenaar,  ZS5BH Hester Joubert, ZS6IEA Irene Myburgh, ZS6 RJB Rachel van den Berg,  ZS6VJ Vironica Jansen, ZU6DV Dunnè Duveen.  Congratulations also to ZU5MAM Mary Ann Meyer, on her upgrade to ZS5MAM.

    Our thanks to Web-mistress Val VE5AQ who posted last month's article on the SAWRC to YLRL, CLARA and BYLARA sites, be sure to visit them. On the subject of past YL's please share information about yourselves and others, its easier and more fun to capture their and your exploits before becoming Silent Key.

A reminder about the Women's Day YL Sprint held annually on 9th August in South Africa – its only a month away! Now I realize that its usually difficult wrestling the rig away from the OM but hopefully the family will be watching the Olympics and you can make some YL contacts. Its only an hour. Do not be deterred when you don't hear anyone – keep calling cq.

I mention this because during a recently held 40m sprint, I did not hear any local stations and without knowing it, some of us were operating on the same frequencies! Propagation has been odder than usual and several nets have been forced to move from 40m to 80m.

    South African 'Hammies' (young Hams) celebrated 'Youth Day'  with a 'sprint' on June 12. The article below is about YL Carole Perry (WB2MGP) who has spent many years teaching and mentoring youth, its both topical and inspirational.

33 & 88 Editor,     Heather, ZS5YH      zs6ye.yl@gmail.com
Facebook: Ham Yl – All yls welcome, please join us.

Yasme Excellence Award
 “The Yasme Excellence Award is made in recognition of Carole’s many years of contributions to teaching and mentoring youth interested in Amateur Radio and her efforts in organizing and promoting the interests of young operators,”  announced The Yasme Foundation 05/26/2016

The award was presented to Carole Perry, WB2MGP,  at the Dayton Hamvention, 2016   

Carole Perry, WB2MGP,  has captured the imagination of Staten Island, New York,  public school kids for almost thirty years. Her Secret Sauce to teaching almost 900 kids per year about ham radio - "enrichment class, not a license class.”
Her interest in  amateur radio began when she worked at an electronics company in the early 1970s. During her lunch break, she observed engineers as they talked on the device and she thought it looked like fun. First licensed as WB2MGP, in 1977,Carole Perry worked at Rapidcircuit Inc. for 16 years.  In 1980, when the company relocated she returned to Intermediate School 72 in Staten Island, NY where she worked until her retirement in 2004. 
    Many radio amateurs are also schoolteachers.  The premise of Carole Perry's course is to stimulate interest in other areas of the school's curricula; social studies and geography are enhanced through the use of amateur radio. What can compare to a student actually contacting a citizen of a foreign country that he has been studying about?  The children are always excited when they are able to contact places they've only read about Carole Perry said. The children were thrilled to hear a missionary Father Mike, describe where he lived in Sierra Leone, a country in Africa.  One child immediately located Sierra Leone on the globe and another pulled a piece of string from New York to Sierra Leone on a big classroom wall map. The human contact, she said, was incredible.  Father Mike described how lonely it could be in such desolate areas of the world.  He told them how amateur radio has helped to relieve this loneliness and how he is able to reach out to others for help and relay messages to his family back home.  This gave the children a terrific feel for the value of radio communications. 

Carole Perry started with a pilot program in 1981,  teaching ten classes a term to approximately 350 students. She wrote the curriculum for "Introduction to Amateur Radio"  then taught it to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders for the next 30 years.

She encouraged the children to study the Morse code and radio theory at home with a parent or sibling.  Carole has received many letters from parents over the years, thanking her for providing a curriculum that the whole family can get involved with, both as an activity for studying together and as a hobby.
 
During a three-hour forum at a worldwide convention held in Dayton, Ohio (2011), Carole Perry was told someone wanted the microphone. She wanted to stick to her schedule and knew there wasn't much time for interference, but when Ms. Perry looked up, she realized the 400 people in attendance needed to hear what this person had to say. "It was (astronaut) Doug Wheelock," she said.  "He was in his full astronaut jumpsuit uniform. He told the kids about how he was so thrilled to speak to the ham community around the world."  Wheelock was one of 10 astronauts the retired teacher has spoken to in the past.

“The kids loved it when we made contacts with the International Space Station, to me, that was one of the most exciting things we were able to do."

Her students always loved working with technology and once contacted the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. "Somebody got on . . . for 40 minutes. He gave lessons on how to design a space suit,".

Her conversations via ham radio, have stretched across the Atlantic Ocean and into space.  "It opens up adventures to kids they wouldn't ordinarily have a chance to experience in the schools," said Ms. Perry. "It's a hobby and a service as well. When communications go down, it's a ham you want to be standing next to."

Global reach
In 2014 Perry spoke at the world’s second-largest amateur radio convention in Friedrichshafen, Germany. She and her German counterpart set up an exchange program where for one year, three young ham operators received technical magazines from each other's country.

    Last year at the Dayton Ham Convention in, Ohio, USA, Perry conducted a session with young presenters, as she has for 28 years. She had eight young U.S. presenters in the session and a 16-year-old ham from India, Tom Jose.  Perry has been invited to go to India to visit schools and see how they are teaching amateur radio.
 
She would like to establish a global recruiting network for youth hams. “The ripple effect for the past 40 years or so that I’ve experienced with young people is amazing, along with their networking and communicating worldwide,” she said.

During a road trip late 2015,  before leaving Los Angeles, Ms Perry accepted an invitation from ham friend John Amodeo, NN6JA, producer of the TV show “Last Man Standing,” to visit the set. Star Tim Allen’s character, Mike Baxter, is a ham (as is Tim in real life); she found it was great fun to sit at the actual radio station at the studio Rocky Mountain High.
            
Carole Perry ’s Ham Radio Awards:
1987 Dayton Ham of The Year Award
1987 ARRL Instructor of The Year Award
1991 Marconi Wireless Memorial Award
1993 QCWA President's Award
1996 RCA Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio Award
2009 RCA President's Award
2012 RCA President's Award
A fellow and director of the Radio Club of America (RCA). She sits on the RCA Scholarship Committee, and she chairs the RCA Youth Activities Committee, which she established in 2007. She has moderated the Dayton Youth Forum for 29 years.
She is a member of QCWA, RCA, ARRL, DARA, (Dayton Amateur Radio Association) AWA, (Antique Wireless Association) and Brandeis Women.    ( 2014)
RCA Technical Symposium Nov. 21, 2015 : presented with the Vivian A. Carr Award, recognizing her contributions as a woman in wireless communications.

Calendar
16 to 23 July     IARU Region 1 - YOTA (Youth on the Air) Summer Camp
16 July     SARL Winter QRP Sprint
18 July        Nelson Mandela's birthday
24 July     ZS2 Sprint
30-31 July     RSGB IOTA Contest
5-21    Aug     Rio 2016 Olympics
7 August     SARL HF Phone Contest 1300Z-1630Z
9 August     SARL YL Sprint  S.A. Womens Day

Sources:
-http://qrznow.com/qso-today-episode-51-carole-perry-wb2mgp 7/26/2015
-http://www.arrl.org/news/carole-perry-wb2mgp-to-moderate-hamvention-forums-focusing-on-youth
-http://www.qcwa.org/wb2mgp-31513.htm
-http://www.campevans.org/_CE/html/p-13WB2MGP.html   The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast January 14, 1989
-http://www.radioresourcemag.com/Features/FeaturesDetails/FID/635
Sandra Wendelken is editor of MissionCritical Communications and RadioResource International magazines. Contact her at swendelken@RRMediaGroup.com.
-http://www.silive.com/westshore/index.ssf/2011/07/teacher_carole_perry_gets_a_bo.html
www.cq-amateur-radio.com Jan. 2016 • CQ • 15: On The Road with WB2MGP by Carole Perry.

yl.beam #35 june 2016

Contents:

• Silent Key
• Ja-Well-No-Fine
• Data-base
• South African Women's Radio Club ZS2AA Iris Hayes
• ZS6GH – Diana Green. The History of the SA Woman’s Radio Club
• ZS5KG Muriel Neill
• QRZ Calendar

Silent Key:

Josée Demaio ZS1CJ passed away unexpectedly but peacefully 28/04/2016

Greatly missed by Geno Demaio ZS1GI. 

Ja-Well-No-Fine

June is YL Birthday month. Its 5 years since our first letter in June 2011.

In October 2010, Anette, ZR6D, started a YL net and from those initial contacts grew the current data-base.

In our 2nd newsletter August 2011, quote: 'The important thing is to locate all of us.'

That remains as important now as then, as does your input.

Data figures below show our numbers have increased but there are many not included.

And, on June 2, 1952 (64 years ago) the SAWRC (South African Women's Radio Club) was founded.

This newsletter is about some of the early YL's.

Its a bit like a jig-saw puzzle with missing pieces and I appeal to you to share any 'bits' that will help fill in our history.

Another reason to celebrate is that during May 2016, amongst the initial inductees into the S.A.R.L. Hall of Fame was ZS2AA Iris Hayes (SK).

Licensed 1937, first YL station in South Africa.

So ladies - pick up your mics and glasses and celebrate!

88 & 33 Heather (ZS6YE/ZS5YH)

Data-base:

(The data-base remains a work-in-progress. Email updates & corrections. )

Area Jan. 2012 June 2016

Div 1. W Cape 18 69

Div 2. E Cape 20 22

Div 3. N Cape 2 10

Div 4. O.F.S. 16 25

Div 5. KZN 19 29

Div 6. old TVL 80 170

Listeners -- _10

155 335

DX 4 150

Australia ___ 34

Email sent 126 519

e-failed 11 74

?/Archive 22 122

Totals YL’s 159 715

Facebook 33 120

SAWRC (South African Women's Radio Club)

Founded June 2, 1952 the only YL club in S hemisphere; it was affiliated to the SA Radio League.

Started with 33 members and by end of 1952 they had 71. The club was very active in the 1950's and 60's with over 120 YL members and even had its own magazine, "YL Beam", which regularly comprised of over 18 pages, and even had a Christmas edition of 30 pages.

Founders: ZS2AA Iris Hayes President

ZS5KG Muriel Neill Vice-President

ZS6GH Diana Green Secretary

ZS6KK Marie Kramer Cormack Secretary

Only other YL club was YLRL (in USA) which is still surviving. (See http://www.ylrl.org)

ZS2AA Iris Hayes Trophy for Good Fellowship. First presented to Max Fisher ZS2DL in 1951 and is still in use. Last year (2015) it was presented to Andrew Middleton ZS2EL – son of the late George Middleton ZS2KG.

[Iris Hayes was covered in Newsletter #20 May/June 2014, 'In Memory']

ZS6KK Marie Kramer Cormack (SK) 1949 licensed HF

SARL Call books show she lived in Bellevue East, Johannesburg 1950 - 1997

ZS6GH Diana Green (nee Tuck) DOB 22/04/1916. - SK 27/07/1997

1938 licensed. 1st Jewish radio ham in South Africa. OM Reg Green, ZS6J

1948 YLRL President

1950-60 +- Joint sec. of SA Womens Radio Club ran it for 30 years or so until 1990

1982 President SAWRC Editor of "YL Beam".

1976 Jack Twine Award

Editor of YL column Radio ZS; YL editor for SARL bulletin; bookkeeper and stamp collector.

Travelled through Europe, Canada and U.S. resulting in many personal QSOs.

The SARL Call book shows Diane Green as resident in Johannesburg from 1950-1997= 47 years

February 1978 Radio ZS: Diana Green ZS6GH mentions that the SAWRC had been in existence for 30 years, and is in recess, until a Council can be raised in terms of the Constitution.

Source: Irvine Green, ZS6BPE, 20.09.2001 “I am the son of Diana Green, ZS6GH, licensed in 1938 aged 22. She was born April 22, 1916. - My father was Reg Green, ZS6J, licensed 1933, age 22. - Mom went silent key July 27, 1997, and ZS6J died June 26 1993. - I got my licence on July 28, 1976, age 21. - My mom was the first Jewish radio ham in South Africa. - My mom started the SA Women's Radio Club and ran it for 30 years or so until 1990 (I think.) . - She kept in touch with Louisa Sando W5RZJ, Evelyn Scott, and many others, including Maxine Willis, W6UHA, and wrote for CQ magazine (Louisa's YL notes.) We, as a family, also did DX Expeditions to the 'homelands' in South Africa (H5ADX, H5ASC, V9ADX) between 1980 and 1989.

The History of the SA Woman’s Radio Club – by Dianna Green ZS6GH Article August 1975 Radio ZS

The editor of Radio ZS has asked me to record the historical events of the first YL Club in Southern Hemisphere. At the time the South African Club was founded, the only other organization existing for women hams was the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL) in the U.S.A. Since the ZS Club was formed, the Canadian, New Zealand, and Italian ladies have started their own organizations.

On the 2nd June, 1952, the S.A. Women’s Radio Club came into being, with Iris Hayes, ZS2AA, as Organizing President, Muriel Neill, ZS5KG, Vice-President, Marie Cormack,ZS6KK, and myself (ZS6GH), as organizing Secretaries, the subscription being the magnificent sum of 50 cents. On formation, 33 ladies joined and by the end of 1952, we had 71 members, consisting of YL hams and interested listeners. Now we have approximately 160 in 17 countries. By the time the Club was formed, there were a good numbers of LYL’s (Licensed YL’s) in South Africa, Iris Hayes ZS2AA, having been the first woman to break into the man’s field in this country, closely followed by Vi Cruikshanks, ZS2BR. Among the other YL newcomers to ham radio were the late Laura Percival, ZS5DD, Meg Campling (Weightman), ZS5DF and myself. Not one of us had a ham in the background in those days, so we had to manage on our own.

As mentioned in a speech at a Cocktail Party held during the Pretoria Annual General Meeting this year, our subscriptions were raised to 75 cents in 1957, and not since! This will give the readers some food for thought! We will use up some of our reserves before increasing the membership.

To keep our members in touch, we produce a magazine called YL Beam, which is printed on a Duplicator we have nursed for 18 years, and before it came into our possession, it was a demonstration model! It has its idiosyncrasies and can be temperamental, but it produces excellent copy! The magazine consists of 19 pages as a rule, but we have had up to 33 pages! Our covers always have an African theme, many having been drawn by members and artists. Toni Bauman, ZS6YL, is responsible for having done much of the artwork, before her illness, for which we are very grateful. Quite a few Oms, who are of course not members, pay subscriptions to receive YL Beam. It is especially popular in the U.S.A. to encourage members to write articles and enroll new members, etc., Pat WOODLAND, ZS1MU presented the Club with a big Trophy, to be awarded to the YL who gains the most points in the Members Competition.

Our constitution provides that each Division holds office in rotation, but Division 6 has administered the affairs of the Club on sixteen occasions, with Division 5 relieving, but all Divisions have held office at one time or another.

Affiliation was granted to us by the S.A. Radio League at the A.G.M. in 1954 and we have had a pleasant association with the League all these years.

I wish to record that I have spent 16 years on Council, having been President for 12 years and Secretary on four occasions, in addition to being Editor of YL Beam innumerable times. Toni Bauman, ZS6YL, was Vice-President, for 9 years and Editor for 6 years. I want to thank her for her devoted service in the past.

To put the S.A. Woman’s Radio Club on the map, we have issued two Certificates, the W.A.Y.L. (Worked All YL), the rules being drafted in Division 1 with the help of Iris Hayes, ZS2AA, in 1955, and the K.K.K. (Key Keen Klub) being suggested by Gwen Smith, ZS6NQ (now ZS1NQ). To obtain the W.A.Y.L. Certificate, hams must work 12 LYLs in Southern Africa south of the former Belgian Congo from the 2nd June, 1952, submitting QSLs and enclosing a remittance of 25 cents. For the K.K.K. Certificate, copies of Logs must be sent duly certified for 100 C.W. contacts, 500 or 1000, together with 50 cents. Contacts must be made from the 31st December, 1956 (midnight S.A.S.T.) Certificates are free to our members.

Thanks to the wonderful work done by Margery Snyman, ZS1RM, for 18 years and two other Custodians, our Certificates hang in the shacks of hams all round the world. We pay tribute to Margery for being so conscientious and publicizing our Club throughout the world. As from the 1st January, 1975, our new Custodian is Miss Susan Smith, ZS1SM, 3 Bournemouth Road, Muizenberg, Cape, 7945.

Our Club members participate in S.A. Radio League Contests and are awarded special Trophies by the S.A. Women’s Radio Club. These have been donated by Iris, ZS2AA, the late Eddie Yazbek, ZS4NQ, the late Edith Bennett, ZS6BD, and myself.

LYLs are asked to join our Nets every Wednesday at 2 p.m. on a frequency of approximately 7070 kHz.

Our members participate in WRR and quite a number have joined Hamnet. Those who have not registered are urged to do so now.

May I also express my appreciation to other members who have served in office in all the Divisions and to Divisional Secretaries for the news supplied for the magazine. If there was more space, I could list all the names! Without the support of our faithful members, there would be no S.A.W.R.C., so THREE HEARTY CHEERS to the gals for they are JOLLY GOOD LYLs and MYLs (married Yls). 

Below are some extracts, together with observations by Pam Momberg ZS6APT,Chairman/Treasurer of the Centurion ARC.

February 1978 Radio ZS:

Council for 1978, Congratulations to the following who have been elected :-

President – Mrs Elizabeth Wessesl. ZS6AMO

Vice President – Mrs Rhona Schoeman. ZS6BRF

Hon Secretary – Mrs. Pam Momberg ZS6APT

We were in office for a number of years, with Kuki de Beer ZS6AMO joining us. She was responsible for the graphics in the YL Beam. At that stage Liz and I were co-editors.

(Interesting fact – Liz, Rhona and Pam passed the RAE together in 1975. Each getting allocated a ZR Licence. Liz and I (Pam) went on to get our ZS licenses six weeks later in 1976. Unfortunately Liz has let her license lapse and I lost touch with Rhona some time ago when she moved down to Cape Town. I notice that also no longer has a license.)

In the October 1985 Radio ZS I noticed the following:

Glynis Johnson ZR1GW had been writing a YL column for the Radio ZS on a regular basis.

ZS5KG (ZSL5L) Muriel Neill (SK)

1950 YLRL President

1952 Vice-President SAWRC (SA Women's Radio Club) founder member

1965 Jack Twine Merit Award 1972 Willy Wilson Gold Badge

SARL Call books show Mrs. Muriel Neill, lived in Durban, Natal. /50- 80 =30 yrs

From: ZS5LP Louis de Bruin , 1 JAN 2016:

I joined the SARL in October 1958, fees 75 cents, the secretary of the Durban Branch of the SARL at the time was Muriel ZS5KG. Her OM Albert ZS5GK was the treasurer of the Branch.

Muriel was a wonderful YL, and at the time guided me to obtain my licence a few years later. In fact I delayed doing the CW, but dear Muriel made an appointment with Peter Smoog, the RI and forced me to go. I was grateful as I passed.

Muriel biggest happiness was the Kiddies Christmas tree event every year. During the year she would find all sorts of items - for presents - and organize the event. A large Christmas tree and one or other of the old timers would be dressed up as Father Christmas, his responsibility would be handing out the numerous presents. these events would be at a Shell-hole if possible, otherwise she arranged one or other Church hall. At the time we had almost 50 plus juniors and she knew them all by name etc.

In 1969 I became a committee member of the Durban Branch, Muriel loved that and encouraged my every activity. 1971, I became Chairman and a few years later Muriel retired as Secretary. Muriel was the CQ NEWS LETTER Editor up to the time she retired from admin activities. In AGM photos up to the middle seventies, you will see Muriel and Albert.

BIG thank-you to the sites below where you will find yl.beam newsletters :

WEST RAND ARC wrarc-anode.blogspot.com 

https://wrarc-anode.blogspot.co.za/

and 

USA YL - ARNETHA HAYNES 

http://ka1uln.blogspot.co.za/

QRZ CONTACTS:

zs6ye.yl@gmail.com zr6d@ymail.com

Facebook ‘HAM Yl’ Hope you are one of our Facebook friends? (YLs only)

AWA – invites you to join them for the mid-year get-together of the Antique Wireless Association of Southern Africa, on Saturday the 4th of June as part of the Westrand Amateur radio club’s flea market Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort (coordinates: 26°08'28.4"S - 27°55'07.3"E)

Saturday 4 June 2016 - NZART Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of NZART (New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters)

24-26 June brings the largest gathering of Radio Amateurs in Europe and the largest gathering of Emergency Communicators at HAMRADIO 2016 in Friedrichshafen.(Lake Constance, S Germany)

Calendar

02 June 64 Aniversary SAWRC (South African Womens Radio Club) Founded 1952

5 years since YL Group newsletter #1 June 2011

4-5 June IARU Reg 1 CW Field Day/RSGB CW Field Day

4-5 June SEANET (South East Asia Net) Contest (24 hours). Starts Sat. 1200UTC

12 June Hammies ZS6 Sprint (Youth)

16 June Youth Day South Africa

17 June World QRP Day

18-19 June International Museums Weekends. 3rd & 4th weekends in June

19 June Father’s Day

20 June Winter Solstice

23-27 June SARL Top Band QSO Party

25-26 June International Museums Weekends. 3rd & 4th weekends in June

2-3 July Marconi Memorial HF Contest 1400Z, Jul 2 to 1400Z, Jul 3

3 July SARL ZS5 Sprint

Raspberry Pi Session Latest

To get the latest regarding the recent Raspberry Pi session, visit John's Blog.

yl.beam #34 may 2016

Contents

• Fox Hunting
• Norfolk Island. WIA (Wireless Institute of Australia) AGM 2016 
• Arlene “Buddy” Clay, KL7OT
• Samuel Morse - LOL in the age of the telegraph 

Radiosport

No matter if you call it T-Hunting [Transmitter], Fox Hunting, Hounds and Hares, Radio Orienteering, Bunny Chasing, Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF), or Radiosport, one thing you are sure to find is that hunting for a hidden transmitter translates into a lot of fun.

T-hunting emerged as a school activity in Northern England in the 1950's.  By 1961 the activity had spread across the continent and co-mingled with the Scandinavian activity of "orienteering" and the first European Radiosport Championship was held in Stockholm, Sweden.  Under the auspices of the International amateur Radio Union the activity has been an international competition ever since.

Besides being a hobby/play activity, Radio Direction Finding has a serious side.  RDF is used to find downed aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitters, lost persons (hikers, climbers), also useful for tracking down sources of electronic interference. RDF can be used for ground recovery when tracking an  APRS balloon.

What does it involve?

Fox hunting, also known as hidden Transmitter hunting is fun, like going on a treasure hunt or playing hide and seek. A fox-hunt starts with a transmitter on the 2-meter band that is hidden and is “hunted” or located using radio direction finding techniques. The transmitter is usually on the air intermittently and automatically identifies itself in Morse code. When the transmitter is on the air, the hunters “take bearings” using directional antennas by determining the direction where the signal appears to be the strongest. This is done throughout the hunt until the transmitter is found. The “winner” of a T-hunt is the person who finds the hidden transmitter first. The winner (the hound) is then the person who will hide the transmitter on the next hunt, becoming the fox. The hidden location is usually a good place to hold a 'braai' (BBQ).    

Hams Chase Radio Foxes on a Special Weekend

CQ Worldwide Fox-hunting Weekend (CQ WW FW), 14-15, May 2016.  

This is the 19th year that CQ Communications has sponsored a fox-hunting weekend.
  

It's not a QSO contest, just a time for clubs, schools and Scout groups to try this exciting radio-sport.  There's no license requirement to receive, so everyone can participate.  (Keeps the costs down too).

On-air competition is a ham radio tradition dating back nearly to the birth of the hobby and fox-hunting has been part of that tradition for at least 60 years.  Fox-hunting may be done by car or on foot, and the magazine is encouraging ham groups to use either one or both during the CQ WW FW.  

Norfolk Island. 

WIA (Wireless Institute Australia) Annual General Meeting 2016 -   May 27, 28, & 29 

Norfolk Island is an external Australian territory in the Pacific Ocean about 1,600km north-east of Sydney. In addition to being one of Australia's most geographically isolated communities, it is also one of Australia's oldest territories. Passports are required to visit Norfolk.

Norfolk Island's total population in 2011 (excluding visitors or tourists) was 1796.

VK9NT Norfolk Island  - A team of Australian radio amateurs will activate Norfolk Island from 20th May until 31 May 2016 to coincide with the Wireless Institute of Australia’s 2016 Annual General Meeting and conference, also being held on Norfolk Island.

WIA Commemorative Station VI9ANZAC will also be activated over the AGM weekend.

There will be plenty of activity at this DX entity in what is believed to be the biggest Amateur Radio DXpedition of its kind. 

It is hoped that Mt. Bates will be a SOTA Activation and Jacki Jacki peak on nearby Philip Island.  

http://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2016/vk9nt-norfolk-island

http://www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/2016agm

Centenarian Frontier's woman

Silent Key Arlene “Buddy” Clay, KL7OT, died on February 11, 2016. She was 103. 

In 2015 at age 102,  "Buddy" was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame for her work in rural justice administration among the Yup’ik people.  

Husband Earl and Arlene Clay came to Alaska after reading an ad in QST - a monthly magazine dedicated to amateur radio - that the CAA was looking for husband-and-wife teams to join the Civil Aeronautics Administration. She was 32 and World War II was raging when they arrived in Alaska in 1944  The couple spent the next decade fishing for food in the summers and travelling the region by sled-dog team in the winter. After Earl's death in 1956, she stayed in their cabin near Aniak and went to work to support herself and the dogs. She drove dogs for 35 years.

She was as a magistrate for 18 years, travelling thousands of miles from village to village in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region of Alaska.

In 1986 the stove in her cabin exploded and caught her and her house on fire. She had extensive skin grafting, but both her feet had third-degree burns, and as a result she used a wheelchair to get around.

She lived in the cabin they built overlooking the Kuskokwim River for 67 years - before health issues forced her to move into the Primrose Retirement Community.  Buddy the only Ham radio operator at the Wasilla retirement community, said during an interview: "That's the reason I decided to come to Primrose, because they let me have my radio with me," 

The couples' first Ham radio set was a "Homebrew" rig built on an aluminum cake pan running 10 watts powered by a 1.5-volt dry pack. 

Buddy has been KL7OT since she earned her license in 1948 and began calling the Thursday night 'Snipers Net' for the Matanuska Amateur Radio Association.  She called this net each week from her retirement home in Wasilla,  it was her voice you would hear taking roll on the Snipers Net. Tom Rutigliano  delivered the roster of net members to Buddy each week and helped install the antenna for her Ham radio at Primrose. 

http://www.nevadahamradio.com/

http://snipersnet.kl7.net/photos.php?gallery=17 Some great pics of Buddy and friends.

The Snipersnet has been on the air continuously, every night, seven days a week since February 24, 1973. It now holds the distinction of being the oldest continuous net in the state of Alaska.  

6PM local Alaska Time on 3920 kHz.

                   ================

International Morse Code Day is celebrated on  the birthday of Samuel Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) who contributed to the invention and the  commercial development  of the telegraph system and was a co-developer of the Morse code. 

LOL in the age of the telegraph        

September 1, 2015  http://theconversation.com/lol-in-the-age-of-the-telegraph-42578

From “lol” [laugh out loud] to “brb,”[be right back] the internet and text messaging gave rise to a unique form of short form language – “text-speak” – in which almost all of us are well-versed. But long before the internet revolutionized communication, humans experienced a different sort of technological innovation: the telegraph.

In 1837, the first commercial telegraphs were released by Samuel Morse, William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone, and this machine – as journalist Tom Standage argues in his book The Victorian Internet – mirrored the impact that the internet has had in modern times. The result was an entirely new way to wield language – one that, in a number of ways, resembles today’s text-speak.

Using electricity, the telegraph could communicate quickly over long distances – at speeds unheard of. Soon it was developed for both government and commercial use. And because we were suddenly able to transmit interactions over large distances, new types of language were created to fit the medium. One of the forms of communication developed for the telegraph that’s still familiar today is Morse code, which used sequences of dots and dashes (or dits and dahs) to represent letters and numbers. More than just a cipher, Morse code had its own short forms and abbreviations to make messages as concise as possible; in this way, it’s an early predecessor to today’s text-speak.

Telegrams were written communications in Morse code sent over a wire (or, later, radio waves) across great distances, which were then translated into written language for the recipients.

But if you wanted to send a telegram, companies like the Electric Telegraph Company and Western Union charged by the word, with messages of 10 words costing as much as 10 cents (or US$2 in today’s money) – significantly more than current standard texting rates!

So as you can imagine – just like with modern character-constrained mediums like Twitter – people developed short forms to get their message across in as little space (and, consequently, for as little money) as possible. 

Numerous guides to the telegraphic codes were published. Many of these shortenings look familiar even to us today. Take one account from an 1890 New York Times article, which details telegrams sent between two telegraph operators who had never met each other, but had developed their own lingo for their personal messages. You can see a short form “Hw r u ts mng?” which can be parsed as “How are you this morning?”  It looks a little bit like a long text message today, or a heavily truncated tweet, from one person to another.

Some codes from this era remain with us today, including the distress call SOS, which was first introduced in 1905 as part of German government radio regulations.

Throughout its history, Morse code has undergone its own evolution as different people started to use it for different purposes. In a 2008 talk, historian Jason Scott describes this evolution from the telegraph to amateur radio. Referring to it as the “first social network,” Scott describes how amateur radio operators sent each other messages and updates using codes. They also used this technology to send each other images over the radio using sequences of characters and codes that were intended to be decoded and printed out.

These images, sent by slow-scan television methods, which stemmed from similar technology used to send images from space exploration, often included the call signs of their sender and other jargon, and might be an early analogue to online avatars or user profile images.

Thus, as people immersed themselves in technological innovations, they adapted their language to new forms and uses.

HI HI: LOL of the 19th century? Many of the patterns developed by amateur radio users are familiar to those who use text-speak or online lingo. Ralph Wallio, an amateur radio enthusiast, shared with the author the existence of abbreviations in Morse code, specifically one for laughter. The sequence HI HI, …. .. …. .., is a short form for laughter and is a favourite among amateur radio communicators. It could even be seen as an early predecessor to LOL. HI HI is quite similar to traditional text representations of laughter hehe and haha, which have been in use since the time of Chaucer and Shakespeare. Wallio suggested that using HA HA in Morse code would be read as …. .- …. .-, which would be more time-consuming to transmit, hence the use of HI HI instead.

Morse code today has quite a few of these short forms, and some of them will be familiar to those who chat online or send text messages today – not the forms, necessarily, but the things that are being abbreviated. “Thank you,” which is often reduced to “ty” in text messaging and other online communication, appears at “TU” in Morse code. “Please” appears as “PLS” in Morse Code, and “plz” in many forms of communication online. The phonetic reductions of “you” to “u” and “are” to “r” are represented in Morse Code as well.

Short forms have existed throughout human history of using different mediums to communicate, and the short forms themselves are representative of the possibilities that the medium affords.

Some of these have withstood the test of time, some haven’t; nonetheless, it goes to show how adaptable language is, and how communication technology almost always breeds new forms of writing.

B4N - Bye For Now BCNU - Be Seeing You BFF - Best Friends Forever 

IMHO - In My Humble Opinion IRL - In Real Life ISO - In Search Of

TTYL - Talk To You Later WYWH - Wish You Were Here

See more at: http://www.netlingo.com/top50/popular-text-terms.php

Amateur Radio, the Sky is the limit.

HELP – Your input, stories, articles needed!

QRZ CONTACTS:   zs6ye.yl@gmail.com   zr6d@ymail.com

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Calendar 

6, 7,8  May   AWA Valve QSO Party / AWA AM and SSB Contest 

8  May   Mothers Day/SARL Youth Net  

15  May  ZS3 Sprint  

14-15  May  CQ's 19th Annual Fox-hunting Weekend

19  May   Radio Amateur Examination 

20 -21 May   Dayton Hamvention 

20-22 May  SARL National Convention  2016, hosts Sasolburg Amateur Radio Club.

22  May  SARL Digital Contest 

28  May   AMSAT-SA Space Symposium, Innovation Hub in Pretoria 

28 - 29 May  CQ WW DX WPX CW Contest 

27 - 29 May  WIA (Wireless Institute of Australia) AGM 2016 - Norfolk Island.

02  June        64 Aniversary SAWRC (South African Womens Radio Club) Founded  1952

04  June West Rand Amateur Radio Club Flea market 

4-5 June  IARU Reg 1 CW Field Day /  RSGB CW Field Day

4-5 June SEANET (South East Asia Net) Contest (24 hours). Starts Sat. 1200UTC

06  June  Start of Ramadan 

Oct    3-10 BYLARA  (only 5 Months away)Early notice to enable travel reservations: 

yl.beam #30 jan 2016

Our new name above in recognition of SAWRC (South African Women's Radio Club)

Founded 1952 which had its own magazine, "YL Beam"

Contents:

• Sprites and Trolls at the Edge of Space
• Local is Lekker: ZS3LAC Dr. Lisa Crause astronomer
• Sutherland and SAAO
• Sutherland Repeater.
• SOS Radio Week (RNLI) Royal National Lifeboat Institution
• YLs Essex repeater (Network)http://spaceweather.com/
• Dutch YLs in ARRL 10m contest
• Further Afield – Solo YL; ALARA 40th
• Simpatie
• Calendar & QRZ

SPRITES AND TROLLS AT THE EDGE OF SPACE: 

We all know what comes out of the bottom of thunderclouds: lightning. But rarely do we see what comes out of the top. On August 10th, 2015, astronauts on-board the International Space Station observed red sprites dancing atop a cluster of storms in Mexico. Photos show their red forms reaching all the way from the thunder-storm below to a layer of green air-glow some 100 km above Earth's surface. This means sprites touch the edge of space, alongside auroras, meteors and noctilucent clouds. They are a true space weather phenomenon. A few minutes after the astronauts saw the sprites, they spotted a related creature--a "Troll." It jumped up to the left of the sprites. Sprites can actually pull Earth's ionosphere down toward the thunderstorm. When the gap shrinks and the local electric field intensifies, Trolls appear.

Editor: After hearing that the ISS celebrates New Year's Eve 16 Times (last issue #29) its a good thing the above sighting did not occur at this time of year! (hi-hi)

We hope that you celebrated 2016 in a spectacular fashion and wish everyone lots of “Pixie Dust” (aka propagation) for the New Year.

Local is Lekker

ZS3LAC Dr. Lisa Crause 19/12/2015

I'm an astronomer in the Instrumentation group at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town, but spend lots of time up in Sutherland - since that's where much of the cool stuff happens! I'm incredibly lucky to work with absolutely amazing people while getting to do all kinds of interesting things :) My brother took the attached pic when he visited up here earlier in the year, while I was working on something inside the payload of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).

The Observatory's in a beautiful, peaceful place & there's an endless amount of work to be done looking after the various telescopes & instruments. Both on SALT & on the SAAO's smaller telescopes, like the 74-inch (1.9-m) which we've recently finished building a new spectrograph for. Check out http://saaospup.blogspot.co.za/ for more on the building & commissioning of this latest SAAO instrument, now dubbed SpUpNIC.

There's also a whole series of posts on the SALT Astronomy blog, starting in early September 2013 describing the installation & commissioning of SALT's latest spectrograph, the HRS (High Resolution Spectrograph). 

See 

http://saltastro.blogspot.co.za/2013/09/welcome-hrs-airfreight-including.html 

& work your way up through the posts to see it going together, then there are a couple more about the HRS in October & November 2013.

A few years ago I was involved in a project to fix SALT's spherical aberration corrector & kept my first blog about that adventure:

http://saltiqmission.blogspot.co.za/2009/04/time-to-fix-southern-african-large.html.

If you ever find yourself passing through in the Karoo, you should aim to pop by the Obs & come see what the place is about.

(Ed.: There are 9 YL's in Div 3. N Cape; 3 at Sutherland – rare DX!)

Sutherland and SAAO

Since the early 1970s, the major telescopes of the SAAO (South African Astronomical Observatory) have operated on a hilltop near the Karoo village of Sutherland, about 370 km inland. from Cape Town and 1800 metres above sea level. GPS: [20°48’38.5″E 32°22’46″S]

This small village is in the Northern Cape, a semi-desert region, with vast stretches of arid bushland between towns. This emptiness has made the province a major hub for astronomical observations – there's little artificial light, pollution, or radio waves to interfere with optical and radio astronomy.

In addition to its remoteness, the Northern Cape has a low topography that is suited to radio astronomy, with mountains providing extra shielding against radio waves from distant metropolitan areas. The main gate and Visitor Centre is about 14 km from Sutherland.

In winter the narrow, tarred road to Sutherland (R354) can have a layer of snow or ice on it. Drive carefully as there is wildlife in the area including tortoise, baboon, snakes, bat eared foxes, rabbits, antelope, black eagles and lots of flowers in spring.

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and among the largest in the world. It has a hexagonal primary mirror array 11 metres across, comprising 91 individual 1m hexagonal mirrors, with a light-gathering surface of 77.6 square metres. The last of the 91 smaller mirrored hexagon segments was put in place in May 2005. First light with the full mirror was declared on 1 September 2005. 2006 - 2009 was a period of commissioning and performance verification. Since September 2011, it has begun realising its potential as Africa’s Giant Eye on the Universe.

The southern hemisphere is the perfect place for astronomy because it sees more of the sky than the northern hemisphere. The centre holds Open Nights, which include a talk, a site tour and weather permitting, star gazing. Entrance is free. 

http://www.saao.ac.za/

http://www.southafrica.info/about/science/salt-telescope.htm#.VnaucUp97rc#ixzz3ursaH200

ZS3VIC- Vic Moore: Sutherland Repeater. - With the grateful assistance of HAMNET Western Cape we have recently commissioned a 2m Repeater in Sutherland. RX 145.600 Tone 88.5 Hz which would not be possible without the gracious assistance of ATNS South Africa (Air Traffic Navigation Systems) for hosting the repeater. It is situated at the ATNS radar site approximately 1850 metres above sea level.

We now have 2m coverage over an extensive area not previously covered by Cellular or any other communication method. This has greatly enhanced the safety of travellers in the area. (licensed amateurs only)

It will also be of great importance should disaster communications in the area be required

We now have an APRS Igate operating at 1810 m asl - ZS3OBS-10. 32°22.59' S 20°48.65' E

SOS Radio Week (RNLI) : 23-31, Jan. 2016 - Nine days of fun, non-competitive, operating. A fund raising event by Radio Amateurs in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)

The event takes place at the end of January to coincide with the RNLI’s own SOS fund raising day. Run since 2009, the event is open to Amateur Radio operators in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. http://www.sosradioweek.org.uk/

YLs wake a quiet Essex repeater

GB3DA, the repeater in Danbury near Chelmsford is one of repeaters looked after by the Essex Repeater Group (UK). Of an evening when no net is scheduled its pretty quiet. On the 27th of August (2015), the repeater quickly livened up after Kelly, M6KFA started an impromptu net.

Kelly presents an online technology radio show and during a brief pause in recording, put out a call on the repeater. Thanks to the help of a mention on Facebook and Twitter, an impromptu net of 12 was under way. Kelly was joined on-air by fellow YL Dorothy M0LMR, prompting talk of a YL net. There’s much discussion taking place about how to get more activity on 2m, and now we know what the answer may be - encourage our YLs to take to the air!

http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2015/august/yls_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

http://pi4ylc.nl/nl/2015/12/12/dutch-yls

Dutch YLs in ARRL 10m contest Posted on 12/12/2015 by pa1eng

In de meeste contesten waar PI4YLC aan mee doet wordt er op meerdere banden gewerkt. Dit weekend is de ARRL 10m contest. Het is doel is om zoveel mogelijk QSOs te maken over de hele wereld met alleen de 10m band (meer informatie: www.arrl.org/10-meter). Omdat het huidige team van PI4YLC vooral een contestteam is, hebben Lisa PA2LS en Claudia PD5AX besloten om aan deze contest mee te doen vanaf de home-QTH van Claudia. Hun score is te volgen via cqcontest.net

(ED. - miskien will ons Jong Dames iets in Afrikaans deel?)

Further Afield

YL Solo Sailor

Heather ZS6YE wrote to ZS1SAM: Don't always remember the call-sign but never forget a voice - so when I heard Susanne N1QFE check in with Sam on the S African Maritime Net, Monday 14/12/2015, I checked my address book. In 2003 after several QSO's we met Susanne N1QFE and OM Tony aboard their yacht “So Long” on their arrival in Hout Bay, W Cape.

ZS1SAM replied: I’ve been speaking with Susanne for the past few weeks; she is way down south on her way to Australia. Her last port was the Canary’s, so it’s been a long passage. She is single handed; on a new boat, S/v NEHAJ.

My beam is pointed to the SE of Cape Town, my sked with her is at 06:20 UTC - 14,316 KHz

I have alerted the Australians and NZ that Susanne is on her way to them, gave them my frequency and time, and this morning VK6NDE – Ted – came onto frequency plus a whole bunch of other stations and they made contact with Susanne. I am really pleased about this; at least she will have company should we lose contact.

Keep a listening watch and track her on:

http://www.yachttrack.org/yacht_info/getShipInfo.php?MyCallSign=N1QFE

YLRL (Young Ladies Radio League) website have lots of pictures of ALARA (Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Assoc.) celebrating their 40th birthday.

http://www.ylrl.org/index.php/alara-s-40th-birthday-party

Simpatie

Bertha Kappetijn is op nuwejaarsdag oorlede, vrou van ZS6KR Hans Dagsê Vriende. Dis met groot hartseer dat ek verneem het van 'n baie goeie Vriend se afsterwe. Anton de Beer (ZS6AG). Baie sterkte aan Fransis (ZS6FRA) en die kinders.

2016 January Calendar

Jan. 9-10 45th Hunting 'Lions on the Air' Started 1971

Jan 13 Schools re-open

Jan. 23-31 SOS Radio Week - (RNLI)Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Jan 23 SARL Summer QRP Sprint Contest

Jan 23-31 SOS Radio Week – (RNLI)

Jan 25 closing date for February Radio ZS articles

QRZ CONTACTS: zs6ye.yl@gmail.com zr6d@ymail.com Facebook ‘HAM Yl’