The Wirral & District Amateur Radio Club

Club Members' News Page

With the latest Amateur Radio and Technical News
from Wirral, UK and around the World !

The RSGB NEWS for Radio Amateurs & SWL's

Fri 9th May 2008

On May 5th, experienced sky watchers in Northern Ireland were surprised by a sudden apparition of electric-blue noctilucent clouds (NLCs).

This marks an unusually early beginning to the 2008 NLC season and may herald a spectacular summer of high-latitude "night shining" clouds.

NLCs first appeared in the 19th century mainly around Earth's poles. Since then, for reasons unknown, they have increased in number and range, with sightings in recent years as far south as Utah and Colorado.

Visit http://spaceweather.com to see the first photos of 2008 and to learn what to look for in case NLCs visit your part of the world in the nights ahead.

NLC alerts: During summer months, subscribers to Spaceweather's PHONE service are alerted whenever bright noctilucent displays are underway.
Sign up at http://spaceweatherphone.com

Fri 9th May 2008

Members of the Hong Kong Amateur Radio DX Association (HARDXA) are pleased to announce that they have received official permission from the 'Office Of The Telecommunications Authority' authorising them to use the special event callsign VR2008O for the period between July 15th and August 31st, to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Operations will be primarily HF from 40-10 meters and VHF on 6 meters.

The modes used shall be primarily SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL direct only to VR2XMT: Charlie Ho, PO Box 900, Fanling Post Office, Hong Kong. There will be no e-QSL or LoTW.

Preliminary information and QSL card design has been put onto QRZ.com at: http://www.qrz.com/vr2008o

Wed 7th May 2008

A cheaper geographical telephone number for RSGB HQ has been made available on the web.

The web site http://www.SayNoTo0870.com/ campaigns against the use of 0870 numbers and is giving the number 01234 831496 as the alternative to 0870 9047373 (See next news item below).

Dialling an 0870 number from mobile phones and even landlines under some call contracts can result in high phone charges.

To call 0870 from a mobile can cost between 11 and 15 pence a minute, but if the 01234 831496 number is dialled instead, it can be counted as part of the phone's inclusive minutes, which for many people will mean the call is effectively "free".

The http://www.SayNoTo0870.com/ website provides a lookup facility that enables the user to find cheaper geographical alternatives for a wide range of 0870 and 0845 numbers.

Sat 3rd May 2008

The Radio Society of Great Britain has completed its relocation to Bedford and is fully operational.

The new mailing address is 3 Abbey Court, Priory Business Park, Bedford, MK44 3WH. The phone number is unchanged, 0870 904 7373. Email addresses also remain the same.

For the time being, QSL Bureau cards should continue to be sent to PO Box 1773, Potters Bar, EN6 3DP. They are being forwarded to the new QSL handler, Norcomm Services.

The Bedford office is purely administrative and will not be open to visitors. A purpose-built visitors’ centre, the RSGB Pavilion, will be set up at Bletchley Park. It will include the National Amateur Radio Library and Museum and the GB3RS shack.

Details will be published in RadCom and on GB2RS as they become available.

 Source: RSGB

Thur 1st May 2008
Episode 20: Hy-Gain Factory Tour

George, Tommy, and Peter are back with the long-awaited episode 20. Tour the Hy-Gain Factory and see how antennas and rotors are built.

Peter tells us all about those mysterious ‘Numbers Stations’ on short wave.

Plus an update on what your hosts have been up to lately, viewer emails and timely topics.

It’s 41:42 of Ham Radio Fun.

http://www.amateurlogic.com/blog/

Thur 1st May 2008

The authorization for a second 70MHz Amateur Radio experimental campaign in Italy has been granted from April 30th 2008.

The first experimental period ran from July 12th 2007 to December 31st 2007.

The second experimental period lasts from April 30th until December 31st 2008 covering the Sporadic-E season which is just starting.

The technical parameters and the operational conditions are the same as for the 2007 experiment which were:

Modes: all (SSB, CW, AM, FM, RTTY, digital modes, etc.)
Frequencies:
70.100 MHz ± 12.5 kHz
70.200 MHz ± 12.5 kHz
70.300 MHz ± 12.5 kHz
Maximum RF power: 25W EIRP

Operational area: the whole italian territory except for a 30 km strip from the Austria, France and Switzerland borders

Antenna types: omnidirectional or directional

Italian Amateur Radio 70-MHz Experimental Campaign

 Sat 25th April 2008

Europe's quest to build its own version of GPS is about to take an important step forward with the launch of a test spacecraft, Giove-B.

The demonstrator must prove the key technologies in the Galileo satellite navigation system before the full network begins its roll-out in 2010.

These include the atomic clocks which provide the precise timing that underpins all sat-nav applications.

The launch is a big moment for Galileo which has suffered severe delays.

Read the Article by Jonathan Amos, Science reporter, BBC News website

Peter G3PYU went Silent Key last August, and as many will know he was a long standing member of both WADARC and Chester & District Radio Society.

Following discussions with Chester, we decided to hold an Inter-Club Quiz with a trophy donated by us, to perpetuate the memory and high regard with which Peter was held by all members of both Clubs.

Last night (23rd April) we held the first of what we hope will be many Inter-Club Quiz nights with Chester & District Radio Society .. at our ICC HQ.

A packed house enjoyed an excellent evening, and you can see more photos, including those of the winners, on our 'Activity Reports' page .. from the main menu.

 Sun 20th April 2008

The start of the Sporadic E (Es) season means enhanced propagation on the 28, 50, 70 and 144 MHz bands.

KA5DWI has just made available an article on "Es" season predictions.

Art Jackson KA5DWI has been collecting Sporadic E for the last 3 years analysing over 42000 items of data.

He has now made available a PDF document, Spring/Summer “Es” Season Predictions, summarising his findings.

It can be downloaded from: http://www.swotrc.net/ProbabilityEs.pdf

eBay is considering flogging off Skype, the VoIP provider it paid $2.6bn for in 2005.  It has failed to integrate the technology into its core auction business, and although Skype continues to pick up users, it is still struggling to find a way to make much cash out of them !

Read the full story from The Register

 Thur 17th April 2008

How many times have we received an email, often in ungrammatical English, telling us we have won a lottery for thousands of Euros which we have never entered ?  Send us your Bank account details and we will send you your money !! Sure ...

Well, Spanish police have arrested 87 Nigerians suspected of defrauding at least 1,500 people in a postal and internet lottery scam.

Read the full story from the BBC website.

Tue 8th April 2008

"I have just been informed by the Elvaston Castle Committee that this year's rally has been cancelled.  This is due to rising costs and the decline of Amateurs coming through the gates.  There will be an announcement on GB2RS and a statement in Radcom in due course".

"As you know, Elvaston Castle was the 2nd biggest Rally in the East Midlands".

Jim G0EJQ RSGB Regional Manager 13
(Posted on the RSGB East Midland website)

Main Elvaston Castle Website

(Picture from the Guardian article)

On Thursday the 3rd of April, Kurt Jacobsen wrote a fascinating article in the Guardian saying:-

"Removing lead from solder may seem a smart idea environmentally, but the resulting microscopic growths called tin whiskers could be just as problematic"

It was brought to my attention by Phil G6IIM and would commend you all to take a few minutes to read Kurt Jacobsen's article from the following link.

www.guardian.co.uk

Thur 10th April 2008

On Wednesday, Ofcom announced a Public Service Broadcasting Review consultation. What is different about this consultation is Ofcom will also be running a blog for people to debate the issues.

The Public Service Broadcasting Review sets out alternative ways that public service broadcasting (PSB) can be funded in the future.

The review covers all public service broadcasters, both publicly-owned (the BBC, Channel 4 and S4C) and commercial (ITV1, five and Teletext).

Read the Consultation.
 

In addition to the formal consultation, Ofcom also launched today an online blog for people to debate the issues in the review.

Go the the PSB Review Blog site.

Thur 3rd April 2008

The UK regulator Ofcom have announced their plans for high definition digital terrestrial TV.

They say:
"The MPEG-4 and DVB-T2 technologies should be introduced to one universal coverage multiplex (Multiplex B as currently operated by BBC Free to View Limited); this should enable carriage of three HD (or up to 15 standard definition (SD)) sized services from 2009 and a fourth service available from 2012."

"Capacity should, in principle, be reserved for core PSB services on universal coverage ( PSB) multiplexes, including Five and S4C, TG4 and the Gaelic Digital Service (GDS) - if approved for DTT carriage by the BBC Trust.

The reorganisation should be linked to DSO (Digital switchover)and should start in the Granada region in late 2009. The first three blocks of Multiplex B capacity should become available at that point with a fourth expected in 2011 or 2012.

The BBC Trust should retain oversight of the use of one of the first three blocks. The other two of these blocks should be available for award by Ofcom through a comparative selection process later this year with the fourth block awarded by Ofcom, if appropriate, sometime in 2009/10 after conclusion of the PSB Review."

Once an HDTV multiplex is introduced it is likely that at some point in the future the remaining Multiplex will switch over to MPEG-4 and DVB-T2 as these technologies would enable up to 4 HDTV or perhaps more importantly 20 standard definition channels, over double the current capacity, which will result in a significant increase in viewer choice.

MPEG-4 and DVB-T2 are incompatible with current Freeview set top boxes.

The Future of DTT Statement by Ofcom

Separately, Ofcom has published a joint statement with the BBC Trust on the process to upgrade DTT.  Read the full News Release

Mon 3rd March 2008

It is reported on www.70mhz.org that the authorities in the Czech Republic have announced that they are soon to issue twenty special permits for the band 70.2 to 70.3 MHz with 10 watts ERP on all modes.

The permits will be valid initially until the 31st of December 2008.

It is interesting to note that the Czech Republic was among the countries supporting the Irish regulator ComReg's proposal about 70 MHz at the recent meeting of the CEPT Frequency Management Working Group.

Source: IRTS

Wed 20th Feb 2008

The Herald Tribune has published a story by Doreen Carvajal on the ending of BBC shortwave services to Europe.

It says:
"The British public broadcaster has been reducing its shortwave transmissions over the past seven years, eliminating services to North America and Australia in 2001 and South America in 2005. Last March, the BBC started reducing European transmissions, finally cutting off a transmitter that reached parts of southern Europe on Monday."

"There comes a point where the shortwave audience in a given region becomes so small that spending money on it can no longer be justified," the broadcaster said in a statement.

Modern modes of communication have been squeezing out shortwave services in developed countries, where programming is available on FM radio, on the Internet and on iPods with wireless connections.

The article quotes Jonathan Marks, a former radio executive and consultant for international broadcasting as saying the decision by the BBC was simply another sign of shortwave radio's "long, slow fade."

Read the full story

Sun 17th Feb 2008

A Video on the Amateur Radio Digital Voice dongle was been made available on YouTube.  This unit will enable you to communicate with a D-Star internet gateway and users hanging off the gateway on D-Star radio's .. all from your PC or laptop using a headset and no D-Star radio.

Further DV Dongle information can be found at: http://www.dvdongle.com/DV_Dongle/Home.html

Mon 11th Feb 2008

The consultation by the UK regulator Ofcom on the future of Digital Terrestrial TV has generated a number of responses one of which raises the prospect of digital UHF TV from a satellite.

EADS Astrium submitted a well produced and illustrated Annex titled - "Satellite Delivery of High Definition Digital Television - Can satellite make DTT future proof?"

On page 11 it shows how UHF Satellite DTT could provide HDTV to a simple UHF Yagi which could potentially be mounted near to the ground.

The Annex can be seen at
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/dttfuture/responses/astriumannex.pdf

Ofcom - The Future of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/dttfuture/

Sun 10th Feb 2008

Information on the DAMSON and WHISPER HF propagation research projects has been made available on the QinetiQ website.

The Doppler and Multipath SOunding Network (DAMSON) is an ongoing collaboration between QinetiQ, the Canadian Communications Research Centre, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and the Swedish Defence Research Agency.

The Wideband HF Ionospheric Sounder for Propagation Environment Research
(WHISPER) is a recent development based on a prototype software radio, and allows sounding of HF channels up to 80 kHz bandwidth.

QinetiQ - DAMSON Doppler and Multipath SOunding Network (animation near bottom of page) http://www.cpar.qinetiq.com/damson.html

HF Channel Sounding
http://www.cpar.qinetiq.com/damsonwhisper.html

WHISPER - Wideband HF Ionospheric Sounder for Propagation Environment Research http://www.cpar.qinetiq.com/whisper.html

Digital television transmitter location maps

Fri 8th Feb 2008
On Thursday the UK regulator Ofcom published maps showing the locations of the television transmitters which will be converted to digital operation as part of the digital switchover programme.

Ofcom had previously published transmitter maps for the first four ITV regions to switch over. The new maps show transmitter locations for the remaining eleven ITV regions, and update the original maps.

They can be seen at:  http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/tech/transmaps/

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UK mast owner plans to cut radio transmission costs

Working in Haiti, Shawn Frayne, a 28-year-old inventor based in Mountain View, California, saw the need for small-scale wind power to juice LED lamps and radios in the homes of the poor.

Conventional wind turbines don’t scale down well—there’s too much friction in the gearbox and other components. “With rotary power, there’s nothing out there that generates under 50 watts,” Frayne says.

So he took a new tack, studying the way vibrations caused by the wind led to the collapse in 1940 of Washington’s Tacoma Narrows Bridge (aka Galloping Gertie).

 
Frayne’s device, which he calls a Windbelt, is a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils. Prototypes have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines.

You can read the full story of this unique wind generator - which also includes a video demonstration - on the Popular Mechanics website

Video - Making a Triode

A fascinating video about making a triode has been made available on the web.

The video, posted by F2FO, shows step by step the making of a Triode valve (tube).

It is called "Fabrication d'une lampe triode" but the soundtrack is simply background music so there are no language difficulties.

The construction is fascinating to watch, see it at Making a Triode

F2FO website:-  http://paillard.claude.free.fr/

New prefix for Bosnia-Herzegovina officially announced

In response to a request from the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina in August, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) withdrew the call sign prefix allocation T9A-T9Z for Bosnia and Herzegovina and made a new allocation, E7A-E7Z.

Read this article from the ARRL

New York emergency radio network fails first major test  !

The Inquirer reports that a $2 BILLION radio network failed its first major test.

The system is intended to connect emergency responders throughout New York state.

The full Inquirer story can be read at

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/12/20/ny-emergency-radio-network

NASA spacecraft make new discoveries about auroras

NASA's fleet of THEMIS spacecraft, launched less than 8 months ago, has made three important discoveries about spectacular eruptions of Northern Lights (aurora borealis) called 'substorms' and the source of their power.

The discoveries include giant magnetic ropes that connect Earth's upper atmosphere to the Sun and explosions in the outskirts of Earth's magnetic field.

"The satellites have found evidence for magnetic ropes connecting Earth's upper atmosphere directly to the Sun," says Dave Sibeck, project scientist for the mission at the Goddard Space Flight Center. "We believe that solar wind
particles flow in along these ropes, providing energy for geomagnetic storms and auroras."

A "magnetic rope" is a twisted bundle of magnetic fields organized much like the twisted hemp of a mariner's rope. Spacecraft have detected hints of these ropes before, but a single spacecraft is insufficient to map their 3D structure. THEMIS's five satellites were able to perform the feat.

Full story at :- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/11dec_themis.htm

Read about the Mystery of Auroras

John Harrison and the Longitude problem

For those members that stayed at home for the 'Chairman's Night' missed an excellent presentation by our Chairman Gordon G8MMM. The subject was John Harrison, and how he came to win the £20,000 prize for solving how to measure Longitude on a ship at sea.

Sailors and navigators in the 17th century could measure the local time, wherever they were, by observing the Sun, but navigation required that they also know the time at some reference point, e.g. Greenwich, in order to calculate their longitude. Although accurate pendulum clocks existed in the 17th century, the motions of a ship and changes in humidity and temperature would prevent such a clock from keeping accurate time at sea.

In what turned out to be almost a lifetime's goal, John Harrison designed clocks .. the last of which.. the H4 lost only 5 seconds when sailing between the UK and Jamaica in the West Indies.

Great Story and a Top Night .. thanks Gordon.

Do you know what D-Star is ?

D-STAR is an exciting new form of Amateur Radio that compliments other parts of the hobby including VHF, HF operation.  Utilising digital communication and the Internet, D-STAR allows you to communicate worldwide with other operators who are connected to D-STAR repeaters.

At the moment it's only supported by ICOM but that's because other manufacturers have been slow to join the bandwagon which is rolling at an increased speed month by month.  Icom not only supply D-Star mobile transceivers but handhelds and D-Star repeaters as well.

Browse the attached website to learn all about the facilities D-Star offers  ICOM UK

'Stealth' antenna made of gas, is impervious to jamming !

A new antenna made of plasma (a gas heated to the point that the electrons are ripped free of atoms and molecules) works just like conventional metal antennas, except that it vanishes when you turn it off.

That's important on the battlefield and in other applications where antennas need to be kept out of sight. In addition, unlike metal antennas, the electrical characteristics of a plasma antenna can be rapidly adjusted to counteract signal jamming attempts.

Plasma antennas behave much like solid metal antennas because electrons flow freely in the hot gas, just as they do in metal conductors. But plasmas only exist when the gasses they're made of are very hot. The moment the energy source heating a plasma antenna is shut off, the plasma turns back into a plain old (non conductive) gas.

As far as radio signals and antenna detectors go, the antenna effectively disappears when the plasma cools down.
 

You can read more on this at the Scientific Blogging website

Antenna pictures of the USSR 'Woodpecker'

Pictures of the impressive antenna system used by the USSR for their 'Woodpecker' HF over-the-horizon radar system are now available.

The pictures show the DUGA-3, a 900 metre-long radar system based just outside Chernobyl that was used during the cold war to detect anti-ballistic missiles from thousands of miles away.

The signal it transmitted sounded like a woodpecker, hence the nickname. It was so strong that it resulted in worldwide complaints following disruptions to various broadcasts.

The pictures can be seen at http://deputy-dog.com/2007/08/27/the-duga-3-radar/

Pin-Outs for EVERYTHING !

Denis G3UVR has sent me a really excellent site for finding the pin-outs of almost any plug or socket you can think of .. Bus slots, Memory Cards, Motherboard Connectors, Video Cards, PC Multi-media pin-outs, PSU Connectors, Network Connectors, Input Peripheral pin-outs, Interface pin-outs, Hard Disk pin-outs, all types of Cell Phone pin-outs, PDA and GPS receiver pin-outs, Digital Camera pin-outs, Video Game connectors, Car Interfaces and many many more.  Take a look and see .. it has more than you will ever dare to use.

I've located it for reference on the "Technical Articles" page so it will always be available from our website.  http://www.pinouts.ru

Largest radio telescope plans unveiled

Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire is to become the headquarters of a global plan to co-ordinate the next generation of radio telescopes.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be 50 times more sensitive than the current most powerful radio telescope.

Thousands of antennas will be placed in either Australia or South Africa, and will be co-ordinated via the centre. Construction is due to begin in 2012.

Full story at BBC News - Largest telescope plans unveiled

USA goes MPEG-4 for high def services

The US move to MPEG-4 is another sign of the forthcoming worldwide switchover from the current MPEG-2 digital TV standard to MPEG-4. It won't be just for HDTV but for standard definition channels as well.

Such a move enables operators to either cut transmissions costs or increase the number of channels and could spell the end of the UK's Freeview boxes in a few years time.

Read the full story from DigitalSpy
By James Welsh, International Editor

Why the World Service still matters

It was a lifeline to Alan Johnston, and it's a trusted friend to millions of other people around the globe.

Read this article by the Independent's Robert Hanks on the enduring importance of the BBC World Service.

Long Delay Echos

Long Delay Echos (LDE) have long been a source of fascination to Radio Amateurs. Over the years there have been a number of reports of Radio Amateurs hearing their own transmission delayed by as much as 9 seconds.

Sverre Holm LA3ZA has created a valuable web resource on this subject with extensive references and are well worth a read with the title:-  Mystical delayed radio signals received in Oslo

Phil, Chris, Gordon, Andy, John, Bob, Roy
& Neil behind the camera

HAM RADIO 2007

Friedrichshafen

You can now read our report, and see a selection of photographs from our visit.

As mentioned elsewhere, 18,100 people visited the Rally with 207 exhibitors, and hundreds of tables in the 2½ halls allocated to the flea market.

Have you booked for 2008 yet ?

Click on 2007 Report

Titan's Full Disk

Photo: ESA

Titan's mysterious radio wave

Huygens scored a first in 2005 by measuring the electrical conductivity of Titan's atmosphere. The results hint at a new way to investigate the subsurface layers of Titan and could provide insight into whether or not Titan has a subsurface ocean.

The Permittivity, Waves and Altimetry (PWA) sensor on the Huygens Atmosphere Structure Instrument (HASI) detected an extremely low frequency (ELF) radio wave during the descent. It was oscillating very slowly for a radio wave, just 36 times a second, and increased slightly in frequency as the probe reached lower altitudes.

Read the full Story from the European Space Agency

A Coffee Table Computer  ??

This is the next generation of computer from Microsoft, which is expected to arrive in stores in the USA from the end of 2007 initially in the form of a coffee table.  It is the first of it's kind and is called "Surface Computing".  It features multi-touch technology which employs a multi-finger/multi-user interface.

Spare a few minutes to watch the video of tomorrow's technology today !

Read about more gadgets and future technological ideas at:-  www.popularmechanics.com

(Thanks to Phil G6IIM for the information)

Radio ’screams’ from the Sun warn of radiation storms

ESA’s (European Space Agency) SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) has helped uncover radio screams that foretell dangerous Coronal Mass Ejections, or CMEs, which produce radiation storms harming infrastructure on ground, in space as well as humans in space.

Dr. Natchimuthuk Gopalswamy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and his team compared observations from both SOHO and Wind and looked at 472 CMEs between 1996 and 2005 that were fast and covered a large area of the sky.

They discovered that those CMEs which generated a radio signal also produced radiation storms, but CMEs without a radio signal did not.

Strong CME shocks accelerate electrons in the solar wind, which in turn produce the radio signal. The same strong shock must also accelerate atomic nuclei in the solar wind, which produce the radiation storm, according to the team.

Read the fascinating full ESA article complete with animated diagrams.

DAB radios to be obsolete in a few years ?

All current DAB radios could be unable to receive anything in a few year's time due to use of the new AAC+ audio codec instead of the old MP2 format.

The new DAB+ standard is incompatible with all existing DAB receivers, which could upset consumers. The reason for it's adoption is that it would be possible to as much as double the number of stations on a multiplex.

Pure Digital recently announced their intention to switch over to DAB+ receivers by the end of 2008 and other manufacturers are expected to follow suit.

Pure Digital were recently quoted as saying the following with regard to the change of format:

"Since the status is varied from country to country, this process will take place rather quietly, especially in those markets already well advanced in DAB, thus holding at bay the risk of disconcerting consumers and destabilising the market by the innovations."

Pure Digital reveals DAB+ plans

Overview of DAB and DAB+ in Europe

All DAB radios will be obsolete in a few years' time

The most remarkable DXpedition EVER ?

BS7H to Scarborough Reef  - (April 2007)

Latitude: 15° 07' N. -  Longitude: 117° 45' E.

Quote from their website:-

Everyone on the team has cuts from the coral. The closest access to any of the rocks is over coral and no one has been spared coral scrapes and cuts. Add to that over 100 degree heat and sunburn and you have a dangerous environment for all.

During the day each shift is 6 hours in heat and a dry wind under a small umbrella. If you are lucky enough you get to operate at night. You are left on a rock for 13 hours barely 4 feet above the water in pitch black sitting in a folding chair, no where to walk and stretch and getting a constant salt spray. You can't see the other rocks nor the ship and if something goes wrong there is no chance of rescue.

The steppIR verticals and one Yagi are up. Two stations will stay on 20 mtrs while the other two will search 15, 17, 30 and 40 for openings.

So as you sit there in your comfy shack complaining on the cluster and sending us emails about your lack of a QSO and the do's and don'ts, think what our team is going through to bring you "the chance of a QSO".

Now, look at the photographs they took of the 4 stations !!

Absolutely amazing !!!

The Sunday Times claims :

Low-energy light bulbs can block shortwave reception

In addition to their often murky powers of illumination, low-energy light bulbs have been shown to disrupt television remote controls.

Scientists have found that the infrared waves given out by some models of the bulbs are almost exactly the same frequency as those from the hand-sets.

Sometimes this means the controls fail altogether. On other occasions the channels may be spontaneously switched by the "impostor" rays of the bulbs.

For the same reason, says the Sunday Times, they can even stop a radio from receiving shortwave programmes.

Read the article

25 years ago - BBC man in Amateur Radio Scoop !

The story of how, 25 years ago, BBC journalist and radio ham Laurie Margolis used amateur radio to get the Falklands invasion scoop when no other means of communications was available.  Read the story

BBC Digital Medium Wave - Your questions answered

In conjunction with the BBC Radio Devon Medium Wave Digital Radio trials, the BBC has published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ') page about Digital Radio.

It includes all the questions you want to know about ..

• What is Digital Radio Mondiale ?
• Do I need to buy a new radio to listen to digital medium-wave ?
• When will the BBC make other services available on digital medium-wave ?
• How can I take part in the trial ?
• Where can I find out more about DRM ?

What is noteable is that the BBC are starting to move away from the term DRM.  This more commonly stands for Digital Rights Management so can cause confusion when it's used to mean Digital Radio as well.

The BBC say they are going to refer to the technology as 'digital medium-wave'.

BBC Digital Medium-Wave FAQ's

Ofcom Online Licencing - Guidance

The new Online Licensing system introduced by Ofcom in December has caused some Radio Amateurs difficulties, especially those who've upgraded from Internet Explorer 6 to IE 7 or who have new computers which use the Vista operating system.

To make the service easier to use there is now a guidance page.

To help with the specific Vista/IE7 issue, Ofcom have now produced a document that gives simple step-by-step instructions to overcome the difficulties.

               Related URL's

               Ofcom Licensing Centre

               Ofcom Amateur Radio Page

               Sample UK Amateur Radio Licence

               IR 2028 Amateur Radio UK Interface Requirement

Solar & Geomagnetic Reports

If you use HF, and have wondered why some days the bands are crap ? then the simple solar monitor of live data on the right by N3KL may be able to help unfold the mystery.

Find out more information
(The monitor is auto-updated every 10 minutes)

Solar X-rays

 Geomagnetic Field
 .

DXPORTAL - A New Search Engine for Ham Radio!

I see there is a new search engine for amateur radio - DXPORTAL v0.1 (beta) - http://beta.dxportal.com/

The DXPORTAL search engine claims to have been built using Google's core search technology, which prioritises search results based on amateur radio websites.

No spam, no trash, only useful ham radio websites with quality content !

Everyone can help build DXPORTAL!  .. all you do is submit your favourite or recommended sites at - http://beta.dxportal.com/submit_site.php

Certainly a different approach so give it a try .. it really works !

© 2006. Web-development by Alex Savenok  - 4Z5LZ

For more than 40 years the giant satellite dishes have loomed from the heath land of the Lizard peninsula like a space-age Stonehenge, a testimony to human ingenuity and the urge to communicate. But to the anger of many local people and the despair of local politicians, the satellite side of Goonhilly, the largest earth station in the world, is facing almost certain closure.

Read the Guardian article

The most energetic electrons are confined to two belts around Earth. These belts are related to solar weather.

Mysterious radio hiss blamed on space weather

By Robin Lloyd (SPACE.com)

Weather that originates at the sun, not here on Earth, is responsible for radio waves that cause an unusual shape of two belts of radiation that encircle Earth and contain 'killer electrons' that can damage satellites and pose a risk to space travellers, scientists report.

Read the full CNN article.

Hamtests.co.uk re-launched

Earlier in September 2006, www.hamtests.co.uk  has been re-launched.

The old system was quite inefficient and not nearly as powerful as the Moodle.org software which is now being used.

Hamtests.co.uk was created to allow you to take Mock United Kingdom Amateur Radio (ham) exams using their ever increasing mock questions pool. There are questions available for Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced exams.

Registration is required so the system can help you keep track of your progress. All the courses should be used in conjunction with external courses and/or training due to practical elements, hands on experience and of course the actual exams.

This site is only intended as an aid in learning, not a replacement.

Many consumers and businesses will lose valuable data because of the mistaken impression that conventional silver CDs are more or less permanent storage devices.

While typical discs may achieve a several year life span (and storing the discs in cool/dark/dry places will extend their lifetimes), genuine archival discs are definitely needed.

One attractive solution to the "data rot problem" is Kodak's new "Preservation CD-R" and "Preservation DVD (-R)" discs.

According to the marketing agent for these products, the new discs and CDs use a 100% 24K gold reflective layer and special substrate formulations to yield expected data lifetimes of up to 300 years for the CDs, and 80-100 years for the DVDs.

See the following URL's for specific info on the new Kodak products:
http://www.earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Gold_10_PMA_06.doc
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/gipwg/StabilityStudy.pdf
FAQ's from Kodak
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/faqs/faq1630.shtml

 Source: CGC Communicator

 Gold CD's & DVD's available in the UK from Warehouse Express under the DELKIN brand for that special archiving.    (Webmaster)

(Click to enlarge)

WADARC Poloshirt (with Callsign)

Available from:
S|L Embroidery
Unit 16
Carrock Road,
Croft Business Park
Bromborough, Wirral CH62 3RA
(Open weekday only)

www.slembroidery.co.uk

Tel. 334 9711

£10.58 each (Inc. Callsign)