Show #2

On the island and welcome once again to another edition to on the airwaves with your host brad low k5bdl you can find us at radio k5bdl at blogspot.com our email k5bdl at arrl.net that's k5bdl at arrl.net as i begin this show i also want to let you know that this show is by no means replacement of existing shows about hand radio there are many out there already and i will be referencing them often in this and future shows i would rather you hear information more than once than not at all knowledge is key to keep you your family and your community safe the first news story i want to talk about in this week's show is regarding the wildfires in yellowknife northwest territories in canada back in june the canadian government passed legislation known as bill c18 or also known as the online news act and it's a law that will make tech giants like meta which is known as facebook and also google to pay news outlets for posting their journalism on their on their platforms and as a result of the move meta's canadian users will no longer be able to click on links to news articles posted to facebook and instagram so anything relating to like recently the fires that there's nothing available for them to get the word out on social media however radio comes through the canadian broadcast company has moved some of their transmitting site radio equipment to calgary in support of the northwest territory fires and so this next segment is coming from the international radio report from ckut sheldon harvey and jill eterno with more on that next we have an audio clip that we're going to play for you it comes from the conversation and was posted on the sw welling post uh while as canadian wildfires rage facebook's news band reveals the importance of radio so let's take a listen to this report you are listening to an audio version of a story from the conversation amid the wildfire crisis in the northwest territories and the august 16th order to evacuate its capital city yellowknife the outcry over meta's canadian news block has reached new heights the issue has become even more pressing as evacuees face challenges getting essential updates i was visiting politac a remote part of nwt almost 900 kilometers northwest of yellowknife when the evacuation order was issued i was aware of the news band on facebook but i was also able to turn to cbc north's radio broadcast for updates cbc north moved its broadcast base from yellowknife to calgary to provide continued coverage throughout the unfolding situation based on my recent personal experience in the region i was reminded that although social media has been vital for disseminating crisis information am and fm radio still play an essential role as well there is a necessity for a diversity of media sources especially in moments of crisis following the order to evacuate yellowknife many expressed their frustration with the news ban and called on meta formerly facebook to revoke its embargo of news in canada so evacuees could access and share real-time updates in a rapidly evolving emergency news organizations reflected on the urgency and published a flurry of articles with headlines like quote canada demands meta lift reckless ban on news to allow fires info to be shared unquote meta's canadian news embargo is the corporation's response to canada's online news act which passed in june the federal government legislation may require large social media platforms to enter into revenue sharing agreements with canadian news publishers this new law has been divisive with some lauding it as vital for preserving quality journalism and others arguing it's a misguided approach advocating alternative methods to achieve similar goals meta's news block is significant because it affects both facebook and instagram although meta has claimed quote users don't come to us for news unquote there is little doubt that social media is an indispensable tool for many to stay connected on current events and to share information among friends and family especially during emergencies studies have shown that social media is vital for disseminating crucial information to the public during crisis situations even with declared states of emergency in both the northwest territories and british columbia meta has made no changes to its policy news and critical updates are still accessible by going directly to news publishers websites for example the cabin radio website based in the northwest territories remains a dependable and frequently updated information source for citizens even though it is blocked on facebook and instagram in more extreme scenarios such as when fires disrupt critical infrastructure including telecommunications internet accessibility is compromised in many communities except perhaps for those with satellite-based services this underscores the fragility of internet dependent communications during emergencies relying exclusively on social media or the internet exposes us to a kind of single point of failure in our emergency communication system in fact reading about the meta news block may lead people to mistakenly assume that social media is the only source of information on the current wildfire situation in nwt and colona it's not broadcast radio in delivering reliable and trustworthy information citizens broadcast radio has persevered ensuring critical updates reach citizens during emergencies especially radio is a dependable and easily accessible source of timely information particularly when internet and phone networks falter and when people are on the move traveling between urban centers where there may be no internet service it's not a matter of choosing between one or the other but rather ensuring we don't underestimate the lasting relevance of free-to-air radio as a form of complementary redundancy the two systems can work hand in hand the internet and social media may be somewhat less reliable during a crisis but can nonetheless be exceptionally effective at sharing a rich variety of media content including maps and interactive exchanges of information this includes user-generated updates when there are no reporters or local media on the scene am radio in particular continues to play an important role for farmers and others in remote areas for market and weather reports as well as emergency updates recent decisions by several automobile manufacturers to phase out am radio from cars has some lawmakers in the united states concerned we've come to rely on social media as a vital source of information during emergency events but meta's continued ban on news in canada during the wildfire events in the northwest territories and british columbia serves as a reminder of the enduring value of free-to-air broadcast radio even in the digital age you know it raises a lot of interesting points about the fact that yeah there's a lot of people that actually get some of the news on via facebook and now that's not there anymore where do you get that news you've got to search for it a little more yeah when yellow knife for example um i was tuning around online trying to find some radio stations there aren't that many in yellow knife to begin with and most of them were just playing music there wasn't any news being put out other than the cbc outlet which was set up i believe they were operating out of calgary if i remember correctly and feeding the information through on the on the yellow knife station we'll see what happens with this if they if they do reverse their decision for a little while at least but uh so far you know as all of us here being affected by this ban of news information on facebook and our thanks again to sheldon harvey and jill eterno from the international regular report in ckut up in montreal and also that just another reminder that well the social media should not be fully relied upon that the reliability of radio to get critical news and information out to its citizens it perseveres and this next segment got a little treat from you from one of our local hams uh roy maynard kj5 evp from the online articles of the federalist i have a segment here to read to you about uh ham radio in this new digital age and that it's uh ham radio is known as part social media and also part prepper and a new story they has related is uh from last fall two ham operators named shannon vor and her friend cj bouchard were out four-wheeling last fall and when a passing trucker warned them of what looked like an atv accident nearby they said they'd investigate deep in the rocky mountains of northwest idaho where they were there were no towns nearby and no cell phone service but both vor and bouchard were newly licensed amateur radio operators they found the accident site and also two critically injured teenage girls after establishing contact with another ham on the national calling frequency that's at 146.520 megahertz bouchard to hand off the microphone to vor and began some basic medical treatment he stopped one of the girls bleeding with a tourniquet for the next few hours vor worked through a ham operator 20 miles away and cordelin who was on the phone with 9-1-1 she she relayed information and instructions to bouchard and an off-duty emt who also came upon the scene adding urgency to an already dire situation a storm was blowing in and a life flight network helicopter was grounded before it could make an air rescue two teams of emts were dispatched by ground and the cordeline ham guided them to the site with instructions from vor and both were both of the girls were transported to a hospital but due to the actions of the radio equipped good samaritans both will recover so that's a wonderful thing about that this is uh where um like an increasing number of people as such as vor and bouchard and many others like us have rediscovered an american anachronism ham radio what they found is more than a means of communication they found a community and connection in a fractured nation with a toxic public square ham radio even in this always online digital age is a thriving part of civil society it's a signal in the noise and what's more it's a robustly american institution but more on that in a moment the word reliable in an emergency you need something that works something you can count on for over 70 years ham radio operators have been there passing critical messages in emergencies working in the background to make other people look like heroes and while hurricanes fires floods earthquakes and tornadoes still happen you can count on the amateur radio emergency services to still be there too ham radio it's reliable ham radio is booming it has been spurred on by several trends back during when covid was so prevalent lockdowns forced people to stay home old radios were dusted off while thousands of new ham operators were licensed to take to the airwaves ham radio is an increasingly popular with off-roaders who find that amateur band signals can carry much further than citizens band or general mobile radio service or gmrs at the other end of the call there's likely a ham operator who is trained trained in emergency and disaster response many come to ham radio through prepping the hobby's usefulness in a grid down situation was demonstrated recently in the maui fires over in hawaii when amateur radio operators stepped in after the cell phone system went down passing along information to civilians and first responders alike the nature of ham radio cleans away the fringes of preppers it is governed by the federal communications commission and it requires an exam license and registration with the federal government that leaves the rest of us every american who recalls the empty store shelves at the height of the pandemic and every texan who remembers a deadly freeze of 2021 to benefit from ham radio you and speaking of those maui fires over there in hawaii there's a little segment i found from khon tv channel 2 in honolulu regarding how ham radio has played a critical part in providing communications for citizens over there in the midst of hurricane season preparedness is a must this is kilo hotel six mike michael miller is part of the volunteer amateur radio operators also known as hams in the event of an emergency with severe infrastructure failure they could be our last resort to push life-saving information if we're hit by a hurricane and that's what this drill is simulating what's going to happen is the internet will go down on one or more islands and counties will not be able to communicate so what we're going to be able to do is set up our radios and our computers to be able to send voice messages miller says there are more than 3 000 people who are fcc licensed to operate high frequency radios the hams are planning on doing an emergency training exercise next month the idea is to share information between the islands hams will be encouraged to deploy their stations using off-grid power basically pretending that electricity and cell phone services have gone dark every day at nine o'clock noon and four o'clock there's an inner island net that connects all the islands together so if one island was out of power or out of cell service you could still communicate with the other islands the hawaii department of health recommends people have at least 14 days supply of food if a hurricane does approach the islands and families should have an emergency plan and a meetup location if separated for miller operating high frequency radios has become a hobby but it's a hobby that could save a life when it's needed most with that we'll send it back to you michael k 6 ml w h 6 k max rodriguez khon to news working for hawaii and thanks again to our friends and at khon channel 2 and holly for that news story and it's time now once again for this week's arl audio news more information about ham radio can be found at arl.net this is a rl audio news your weekly summary of news highlights from the world of amateur radio if you retransmit audio news through a repeater listen for the morse code k character followed by four seconds of silence that's your cue to stop transmitting so that your repeater timer can reset i'm john ross kd8 idj and this is the arl audio news for friday september 1 2023 arl volunteers served in critical roles as hurricane idalia roared across florida georgia and the carolinas arl sierra harrop w5dx has the details sierra hurricane idalia made landfall on wednesday august 30th as a category 3 storm with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour on florida's big bend region along the gulf coast arl volunteers staffed key positions in the affected region section emergency coordinator of the arl northern florida section arc tems w4cpd led the activation of amateur radio emergency service volunteers the state eoc will reach out and request that we staff their radio room there at the state eoc in tallahassee with amateur radio operators and we'll do that on a 24-7 operation until they release us from that the florida statewide amateur radio network or sarnet was the primary emergency communication system used the system is a series of linked uhf repeaters that covers the entire state the federal communications commission approved an arl requested emergency waiver to hf symbol rate limits to allow higher speed data communications in the amateur radio service response arl director of emergency management josh johnston ke5 mhv says that opens up options for hams that the feds already use this allows the use of pector4 on the amateur vans in ocala florida the marion county emergency radio team was activated to support shelter operations and to prepare the county mobile command vehicle for deployment to harder hit areas many of the other counties across florida were activated as well the hurricane watch net hurricane void nep and the wx4 nhc amateur radio station at the national hurricane center passed along surface reports and other traffic sierra harrop w5dx newington thanks sierra and you can find a full wrap-up on arl.org on friday august 25 2023 section manager of the arl northern new jersey section robert boost w2od and section manager of the arl southern new jersey section tom preacher and to xw signed a memorandum of understanding mou with representatives from the american red cross arc new jersey region the mou focuses on disaster planning and response for communities within new jersey during and after a disaster event for the first time in a long time both the northern and southern new jersey sections will be working together said preacher it's critically important we know who we're working with and develop a good relationship to help make our responses effective every time he said and boost agreed stating it's really a win-win for everyone we've worked with the red cross for many years and this goes a long way to strengthen relationships and provide help in all types of situations he said as part of the mou amateur radio emergency service aries teams in new jersey will aid with communications and support of disaster relief through training testing and exercises and by providing emergency communications to support local shelter operations this is especially important when normal communications are disrupted or overloaded aries teams throughout new jersey have been supporting arc shelter disaster communications and operated arc emergency communications for some time for example the arc princeton office is maintained and operated by the mercer county team and the gloucester county team supports the arc pensaken office they're joined aries radio amateur simple emergency services and auxiliary communications teams have provided arc shelter services during the past emergency situations arl is set to announce a john core kx7 yt section manager of the arl oregon section from 2016 to 2018 passed away suddenly on august 11 2023 he was 80 years young core first earned his novice class license in 1970 he upgraded to his general class license in 1971 and his advanced class license in 1976 and finally to his amateur extra class license in 2000 with the call kx7 yt he was a passionate dx hound and contester he was an active member of the valley dx club and a huge amateur radio emergency service activist for oregon amateurs as the arl oregon section manager he was instrumental in coordinating oregon aries operations during the cascade arising simulated emergency test that's a set exercise in 2016 john wrote an article for qst that was published shortly after highlighting the set results and all john penn no less than five articles for qst between 2001 and 2016 mostly related to oregon aries activities and his experience operating in bangladesh during his tenure as section manager john was a key part in ensuring reasonable amateur radio legislation related to distracting driving laws that were under consideration in oregon among the many tributes from hams that knew him was one from the state communications officer for the oregon department of emergency management doug havanis w7dmj that uh stands out i met john for many years ago he said and when he was a rrl section manager for oregon he was a good friend and volunteer for odm one of his recent projects have been to coordinate the setup of vara fm digipeters to ensure contact between odm and the north coast of oregon in the event of a disaster i really enjoyed working with john and learning new things from him this is a huge loss he will be missed thanks to a rrl northwest division director mike ritz w7vo for this story about john core and you can read more at a rrl.org and there are some changes in the aro oregon section to report this week section manager jonathan wenzer kk6 gxg has decided to step down from the role signing personal reasons wenzer assumed the role on july 1st 2023 with the intent of serving for the remainder of the term a rrl field services manager mike walters w8zy has appointed scott rosenfeld and 7ji to complete that term rosenfeld from eugene oregon has served as a volunteer examiner as well as an amateur radio instructor he will continue as section manager of the oregon section through the current term ending june 30th 2024 the 16th annual ohio state parks on the air ospota contest will be held on saturday september 9th 2023 this contest is always held on the first saturday following the labor day holiday this year 75 ohio state parks will be open for the event operating hours will be from 1400 utc to 2200 utc 10 a.m to 6 p.m eastern time to sign up and read the full list of rules visit ospota.org on september 11th 2023 the handy ham radio club in minneapolis minnesota will operate a day in the park special event qso party to honor the 56th anniversary of the courage kenny handy ham program and handy ham radio camp courage kenny handy ham program provides tools for people with disabilities to learn amateur radio and technology skills and to earn their amateur radio licenses the goal is to contact as many stations as possible throughout the united states and beyond the exchange for this special event will be your name state or province and your country contacts will be confirmed via a commemorative handy ham special event qsl card if requested for a list of frequencies times and qsl card information visit the arrl special event stations database at arrl.org special event stations bruce page kk5do is here with this week's amsat report bruce thank you john from brown university and the amsat news service we have learned that students at the university successfully demonstrated a low-cost solution to address space debris by re-entering their cube satellite s-b-u-d-n-i-c into the earth's atmosphere the satellite was scheduled to last about six years but they re-entered it after only 445 days in orbit this has been one of the items the fcc has been looking at how to mitigate possible collisions from satellites that are either no longer functional or have exceeded their usefulness some of the restrictions to getting permission to launch satellites is that the orbit must be such that will allow the satellite to naturally re-enter this research and testing will progress and some form of their plastic drag sail will help return many satellites this is bruce page kk5do back to you john and thanks bruce for that report saturday september 2nd marks the 85th anniversary of the hiram percy maxim memorial station w1aw it also marks the 154th anniversary of maxim's birth the station is located on the arrl headquarters campus in newington connecticut w1aw also transmits bulletins and code practice sessions and is usually the highlight of a member's visit to the arrl there are guest operating hours each business today and arrl welcomes members to come operate under the historic call sign look for the 2024 arrl wall calendar featuring images from this iconic station that will be available soon in radio sport this week the year-long arr volunteers on the air voda continues as their website you can see state activation schedules for w1aw portable operations including august 30th through september 5th ohio w1aw slash 8 and arizona w1aw slice 7 then september 6th through september 12th oregon w1aw slice 7 and main w1aw slash 1 upcoming contest september 2nd and 3rd the all asian dx contest that's phone on september 2nd wake up qrp sprint that's cw september 2nd through 3rd as well the sarl field day contest cw phone and digital the colorado qso party cw phone and digital and the iaru region one field day that's single sideman and you can visit the arrl contest calendar for more events and information and some upcoming section and state division conventions september 1st through the 3rd it's the shelby ham fest hosting the arrl north carolina section convention that's in shelby north carolina september 10th the arrl southern new jersey section convention and ham fest in malachi hill new jersey september 22nd through the 23rd the hro super fest hosting the arr wisconsin state convention that's in milwaukee wisconsin and september 23rd the red river radio amateurs 2023 sponsoring the arrl dakota division convention that's in west fargo north dakota and a reminder that our headquarters will be closed on monday september 4th 2023 in observance of the labor day federal holiday there will be no w1aw bulletin or code practice transmissions arrl headquarters will reopen on tuesday september 5th at 8 a.m eastern daylight time visit the special events sections database to find out on the air events and commemorations for this weekend and arrl wishes its members and friends a safe and enjoyable holiday and finally thanks to the lookout mountain amateur radio club in chattanooga tennessee for airing the arrl audio news on their repeater 7-3 and that concludes arrl audio news for this week our thanks to all contributors to this week's report arrl audio news is produced by the american radio relay league the national association for amateur radio for more information on amateur radio or the arrl visit us on the web at arrl.org you can also find us on facebook and twitter by searching for arrl if you have a question or comment about arrl audio news email us at audio news at arrl.org this program is copyright arrl all rights reserved 73 and thanks for listening and that's all the time we have for this week tune in next week for more on on the airwaves 73 uh