Mon 29th August 2011

The 400 meter diameter near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55 will be making a 0.85 lunar distance flyby of Earth on November 8.

Michael Busch at the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences notes this may an opportunity for amateur satellite operators to observe the fly-by.

UCLA will be conducting an extensive campaign of radar observations with the Arecibo Observatory, the Deep Space Network Goldstone facility, and the Green Bank Telescope and the Very Long Baseline Array.

Because YU55 will be so close to Earth, its radar echo will be detectable with even small antennas (~1 m^2). YU55's echo will be a slowly drifting signal with a bandwidth of ~1 Hz within a few kHz of 2380 MHz or 8560 MHz.

This will present amateur radio operators an opportunity to receive the radar reflections off of the asteroid because of the big dish, big signals originating from Arecibo and Goldstone.

On November 8, 2011, 19:15 - 19:30 UTC, Arecibo will be transmitting a continuous wave tuned to put the asteroid's echo at a constant 2380.000000 MHz at the Green Bank Telescope. Observers elsewhere on Earth will see the echo within 2 kHz of 2380 MHz, Doppler-shifted by the Earth's rotation. It will be slowly drifting in frequency and have a bandwidth of ~0.6 Hz.

On November 9, 2011, 01:30 - 02:00 UTC, the Goldstone Deep Space Network facility will be be transmitting a continuous wave tuned to put the asteroid's echo a constant 8560.000000 MHz at a second antenna at the Goldstone site. Other observers may see the echo shifted by as much as 6 kHz, and it will have a bandwidth of ~2 Hz.

Initial information can be found on-line at:
http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2005YU55/
2005YU55_planning.html
More details will be announced as the fly-by date approaches.

Source: Amsat News, Michael Busch, UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences

Mon 29th August 2011

Absolutely nothing to do with amateur radio, but this raised a smile .. authorities say Iranian internet users chalked up more visits to pornographic sites than people from any other country on Ashura Day, a Shiite day of mourning.

The Fars news agency reports that Ebrahim Bayani, a senior official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, told a meeting of IRGC commanders and administrators that the Revolutionary Guards Cyber Army has established that among internet users from 182 countries, Iranians made the highest number of visits to “immoral sites” on Ashura Day. 

He added that these “alarming statistics” and the use of satellites mean “we cannot expect the youth of the country to have any motivation to fast or go to mosque.”

Read more from Radio Zamaneh

Source: Media Network

Geoff G4WUA Station Manager

Daniel M3CUL working the 2m station

Simon G6XHF on 21MHz

Sun 28th August 2011

A PhD student at Stanford University, Stathis Ilonidis, has found a way to detect sunspots before they are visible to the human eye. His findings could lead to significant advances in space weather forecasting.

Sunspots are the "butterfly's wings" of solar storms. Visible to the human eye as dark blemishes on the solar disk, sunspots are the starting points of explosive flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that sometimes hit our planet 150 million kilometers away.

Astronomers have been studying sunspots for more than 400 years, and they have pieced together their basic characteristics: Sunspots are planet-sized islands of magnetism that float in solar plasma. Although the details are still debated, researchers generally agree that sunspots are born deep inside the sun via the action of the sun’s inner magnetic dynamo. From there they bob to the top, carried upward by magnetic buoyancy; a sunspot emerging at the stellar surface is a bit like a submarine emerging from the ocean depths.

The analysis technique is called "time-distance helioseismology” It is similar to an approach widely used in earthquake studies. Just as seismic waves traveling through the body of Earth reveal what is inside the planet, acoustic waves traveling through the body of the sun can reveal what is inside the star.

Submerged sunspots have a detectable effect on the sun's inner acoustics—namely, sound waves travel faster through a sunspot than through the surrounding plasma. A big sunspot can leapfrog an acoustic wave by 12 to 16 seconds. By measuring these time differences, researchers can find the hidden sunspot.

There are limits to the technique, it is possible to forecast that a big sunspot is coming, but if a particular sunspot will produce an Earth-directed flare can not be predicted.

So far they have detected five emerging sunspots — four with SOHO and one with SDO. Of those five, two went on to produce X-class flares, the most powerful kind of solar explosion. This encourages the team to believe their technique can make a positive contribution to space weather forecasting.

SARL

Fri 26th August 2011

Amateur Radio operators up and down the East Coast are being watchful as Hurricane Irene approaches. Their volunteer emergency radio skills may be needed very soon.

For 75 years, their ARES program, part of the ARRL, the hams’ national association, has provided communications for many emergency response organizations. As Hurricane Irene grows stronger and comes closer, it looks like they will be needed again.

Amateur Radio operators already activated the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) for Hurricane Irene -- the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season – on Monday and now are preparing for her arrival this weekend. The volunteer radio hobbyists are supporting the National Hurricane Center staff with surface/meteorological reports from stations in the hurricane affected areas using ham radio's worldwide emergency capabilities.

ARES has formal agreements with FEMA, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and many state and local emergency operations centers.

Amateur Radio operators have an impressive history of serving in disasters when other communications systems failed, were destroyed or were overloaded. Now hams up and down the East Coast are checking batteries, testing radios and antennas, finalizing plans made with local emergency responders, and placing themselves in “standby mode.”

If the phones, Internet and other systems fail or get overloaded, the radio hams know they will become critical in getting information in and out of Irene’s disaster area. “We are not first responders,” said Allen Pitts of the ARRL. “We’re the people behind the curtain that make the heroes look good.”    

The services provided by volunteer Amateur Radio operators were life saving in Hurricane Katrina, the Japanese tsunami, Haitian earthquake, 9-11 and dozens more disasters.

As Craig Fugate, head of FEMA, stated on May 11th, “When everything else fails, Amateur Radio is often our last line of defense.... When you need Amateur Radio, you really need them.”

For more information about Amateur Radio in emergency uses, go to http://www.emergency-radio.org.

PR Web

Fri 26th August 2011

The Codar HF Radar on 24920 - 25080 kHz from Northern Italy has been stopped. A further example for an effective cooperation!

Many thanks to DJ9KR, G4BOH and 9A5W for assistance and of course grateful words to the British PTT (OFCOM) and the German PTT (BNetzA) for excellent bearings and help.

We will observe this band daily in the future, hoping that the Radar will not come back again.

DK2OM
Coordinator IARUMS Region 1

IARU R1

Fri 26th August 2011

The latest in Steve G0FUW's tutorial videos for the Amateur Radio Advanced exam is now available.

It is a short demonstration of some home made capacitors, inductors and tuned circuits using an MFJ antenna analyser.

Watch Capacitors, Inductors & Tuned Circuits

Other tutorial videos by Steve G0FUW can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/user/G0FUW

Fri 26th August 2011

The tower at the Amateur Radio station OH8X is 330 feet high but it's not just used for transmitting, people jump from it as well.

Radio Arcala, OH8X, is a team of amateur radio operators dedicating their best efforts to novel areas of their avocation. Their home base is located in the middle of nowhere near the Arctic Circle. There you can find a pretty massive antenna array, one of a kind.

Total height 100m (330ft)
Total weight 39,000kg (80,000lbs)
Antennas 1.8MHz 3-el & 3.5MHz 5-el yagis
Boom lengths 71m (215ft) & 60m (200ft)

One midsummer weekend three lucky men received permission to use the antenna tower for something completely different.

Base jumping at Radio Arcala is strictly forbidden without permission.

Watch Radio Arcala base jump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS3fQtSKCTw

OH8X
http://radioarcala.com/

Wed 24th August 2011

On the IARU-R1 website Greg G0DUB reports on the activation of the Hurricane Watch Net on August 22 and reminds us of the frequencies used by the nets.

The activation of the American Hurricane Watch Net on August 22nd in response to Hurricane Irene is a reminder that Amateur Radio continues to play a part in gathering and distributing information for the weather and emergency services each year.

Radio Amateurs in Region 1 are reminded that the following frequencies may be in use by nets in North and Central America to track and deal with the consequences of these severe weather events. It is possible for Region 1 amateurs to cause unintentional QRM to these nets so please listen carefully if operating near these frequencies:

14.300 MHz is used by the Maritime Mobile Service Net daily and as well as handling traffic from Maritime Mobile Stations, also gathers weather reports from maritime stations to assist forecasters.

14.325 MHz is used by the Hurricane Watch Net and the net is established whenever it appears that a storm may affect the US mainland. The net gathers weather information and links to the American National Hurricane Centre.

14.265 MHz is used by the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) provides Health and Welfare traffic links for those in affected areas as well as supporting the Salvation Army Disaster relief response should a hurricane strike.

Frequencies used in Cuba: 7.045, 7.080, 7.110 MHz, 3.740 MHz

Frequencies used in Central America;
Red Centro Americana : 7.090 and 3.750MHz
Guatemala: 7.075 MHz
Nicaragua: 7.098 MHz

Mexico (FMRE): 3.690 and 7.060 MHz

Cuba and Mexico co-operate with long distance relays on 40m when propagation makes this possible.

Local emergency communications groups may also activate if a hurricane approaches their area and those frequencies would be announced at the time.

IARU Region 1
http://www.iaru-r1.org/

Wed 24th August 2011

The September 2011 edition of WorldRadio Online magazine is live and posted free.

• The kids who impressed everyone at Dayton - including a guest with a "gravity callsign."

• Kurt's gaze into the Sinkhole of Erroneous Antenna Information - 75 meters.

• YLs: On the scene at hamfests, retreats and international meets.

• A bag of tips on working DX "by the numbers."

• Trail-Friendly Radio's Eye-Friendly nightlight - and you can make it.

In addition, you'll find regular columns including: QCWA, Looking West, Propagation, Rules and Regulations, Station Appearance, Hamfests and Special Events, Contest Calendar, DX Predictions and more.

To access the latest edition of WRO . . .

DOWNLOADING: The entire edition can be downloaded by clicking on the photo of the cover on the WRO Welcome page (click here).

If you'd like to download the magazine in smaller sections, click on the Table of Contents page (recommended for users with slower Internet connections).

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:  If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, simply scroll to the bottom-left of the WRO Welcome page and click for a free download.

VISIT OUR ARCHIVES: To download recent editions of WRO, click on the PREVIOUS 2011 ISSUES link on the Welcome page.

THERE'S MORE :  We invite you to visit CQ Amateur Radio's magazine's Internet home as well. You'll find highlights of the latest edition and information about other CQ Communications, Inc. publications including CQ VHF and Popular Communications magazines. You can also browse CQ's Online Store.  Visit all via the links below:
CQ Amateur Radio
Popular Communications
CQ VHF  

Wed 24th August 2011

The BBC reports that radio antennas that can be sewn directly onto clothes have been developed by researchers from Ohio State University.

Read Antenna clothes help phone signal at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14630656

Tue 23rd August 2011

A UNC-TV video shows the Voice of America Greenville B transmitter used to broadcast in many languages around the world using shortwave radio.

Shortwave broadcasting gets through even when other forms of communication fail or are cut off by repressive governments.

The YouTube description reads:
Voice of America--Clay Johnson shows us that one of the major transmitter sites for Voice of America (VOA) shortwave broadcasts is located here in the Tar Heel State. The Greenville Transmitting Station provides shortwave broadcasts for VOA, the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. (Pitt Co.) | www.unctv.org/ncnow

Watch NC NOW | Voice of America | UNC-TV

Dorset BBC World Service shortwave site may shut after 70 years
http://www.realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/08/2011/dorset-bbc-world-service-rampisham-radio-transmitting-station-closure-threat/

Tue 23rd August 2011

The Scout Member Amateur Radio Team (SMART) in the VK6 district has been given the special callsign, VI6CHOGM, to be active between October 28-30th.

Activity is to celebrate the "Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting" (CHOGM) in Perth, Western Australia, to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, and to agree on collective policies and initiatives.

They plan to operate as much as possible from the Peter Hughes Scout Communications Centre in East Cannington, although other clubs may wish to book a period to operate from their club QTH.

Activity will be on 80-6 meters using the "World Scout Calling Frequencies", mostly on SSB, as well as PSK31 and SSTV.

There may be some CW. QSL via the Bureau or direct (see QRZ.com).

For more details, updates and operating frequencies, see the VI6CHOGM Web page at: http://vi6chogm.com

Tue 23rd August 2011

In this video Randy Hall K7AGE visits Leo Laporte W6TWT's new TWiT studio that hosts the popular Ham Nation show.

Leo W6TWT had just passed his General exam (equivalent to UK Intermediate) the previous day, Friday, August 19.

The YouTube description reads:
Yesterday [Saturday] I went down to Petaluma Ca to visit Leo Laporte's new TWiT studio. Leo had recently taken and passed his Technician and General class Amateur Radio licenses.
Leo produces many pod and video cast shows, including a new ham radio show called Ham Nation.
Ham Nation is hosted by Bob Heil K9EID, Gordon West WB6NOA and George Thomas W5JDX of Amateur Logic TV. Leo now has a new and old ham radio station in his studio. Icom has provided several new radios, including the top of the line IC-7800. For the older classic equipment there is the mighty Collins 500 watt AM transmitter.

Saturday August 20, Leo hosted an Ham Radio open house. Leo, Bob, Gordon, George and many other hams were there. I came down and met the gang and shot some video.

Enjoy,

Watch Ham Nation Day Open House

The Ham Nation show airs live each Tuesday at 6:00 PT/ 9:00ET at http://live.twit.tv/

You can download previous episodes of Ham Nation at
http://twit.tv/hn

Fri 19th August 2011

At about 450 sites around the globe, hundreds of radio amateurs are going portable this Saturday and Sunday as entries participate in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.

With improving HF propagation and more than 180 in Europe alone, plus 100 in Canada and the USA areas among 50 countries involved, it will easier to make contact with them.

Central and South America will be represented in the ILLW by least Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Mexico and Uruguay. The areas of Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Russia are covered too.

We welcome new ones from Azerbaijan 4J0LH at Absheron Lighthouse, and Thailand HS0IB Golden Jubilee Light at Phuket.

Joining us lately are Alleppey Lighthouse in India VU9LHA, from Iceland TF8IRA at Gardskagaviti Lighthouse and Rorschach on Lake Constance Switzerland HB9DAR.

A number have special QSL cards including those in VE7 celebrating the 100th birthdays for their lighthouses.

Enter and activate one of them this weekend August the 20th and 21st, or check out the website illw.net

Fri 19th August 2011

Slovak Radio Amateurs are now allowed to use the entire 5258.5 - 5410.0 kHz band instead of the previous allocation of a single channel on 5260 kHz.

5258.5 - 5410.0 kHz is allowed for experimental purposes with a maximum power of 100 Watts ERP. and the licences are valid for 1 year.

Petr OK1RP 5 MHz Blog
http://60mband.blogspot.com/

Slovakia Amateur Radio Association (SARA) in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/SlovakiaSARA

Thur 18th August 2011

One of the country's top amateur radio retailers is to stock Amsat-UK's new and revolutionary SDR radio.

After months of negotiation, Martin Lynch & Sons have finally been appointment as distributor for the famous FUNcube Dongle Pro, 64MHz-1.7GHz SDR receiver.

This remarkable memory stick sized device was conceived, designed, built and bought to market in a lightning fast period of time by Howard Long G6LVB. Many thousands have been sold worldwide and was originally produced as part of AMSAT-UK’s FUNcube satellite project.

The FUNcube Dongle is the “ground segment”, or a radio receiver designed to allow anyone to try their hand at reception of satellites like FUNcube anywhere on Earth as part of a global educational collaboration project collecting information from space. However with a continuous coverage of 64MHz through to 1700MHz the FUNcube has found many alternative applications.

The new FUNcube Dongle Pro is available now for only £99 plus VAT plus postage and may be ordered via www.MLandS.co.uk

For more information and images see: http://www.funcubedongle.com

Thur 18th August 2011

The 22nd International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 General conference (Sun City, South Africa August 12 -19, 2011) have elected the Executive Committee for the next 3 years.

Elected executive Committee members with term starting September 30th, 2011 are:

President: Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T
Vice President: Hani Raad, OD5TE
Secretary: Dennis Green, ZS4BS
Treasurer: Andreas Thiemann, HB9JOE

Member: Thilo Kootz, DL9KCE
Member: Colin Thomas, G3PSM
Member: Nikola Percin, 9A5W
Member: Anders Larsson, SM6CNN
Member: Panayot Danev, LZ1US

Bulgaria was voted as the next venue for the 23rd IARU Region 1 conference in 2014 sponsored by the BULGARIAN FEDERATION OF RADIO AMATEURS (BFRA)

IARU R1

Thur 18th August 2011

Phil Karn KA9Q has suggested, if possible, turning off AGC or selecting slow AGC when trying to decode the ARISSat-1 BPSK telemetry beacon on 145.920 MHz.

On the AMSAT bulletin board he writes:
I forgot to offer some advice when receiving the ARISSat-1 BPSK-1000 telemetry beacon: turn off your receiver AGC if at all possible. If you can only choose between fast and slow, pick slow. If this causes a large variation in audio level, reduce the gain to avoid clipping on the peaks. A sound card A/D is 16 bits so you have plenty of dynamic range; don't be afraid to use it.

Ideally the background noise level should be constant with the signal going up and down.

This greatly helps the demodulator and decoder to distinguish signal from noise. The error correction uses the Viterbi algorithm, and one of its big features is the ability to distinguish between "strong" and "weak" bits; a strong '1' or '0' is considered less likely to be in error than a weak '1' or '0'. The decoder can even accept "I don't know" for a limited number of bits.

The decoder can still fix errors in strong bits. But it can fix more of them in the weak bits and still more in the "I don't knows" (known technically as "erasures").

This is especially important when the signal fades deeply, as it often does with ARISSat-1. With the AGC off, the audio signal level falls during a fade and the decoder can recognize it as a burst of erasures or near-erasures.

As with many questions in life, "I don't know" or "I think it's X but I'm not sure" are better answers than being sure of the wrong answer.

73, Phil KA9Q

How to receive ARISSat-1
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ARISSat/ARISSatHowTo.php

Wed 17th August 2011

Channel 1 TV had been causing considerable interference on 50 MHz to Amateur Radio operators in Budapest. A YouTube video shows the historic moment on August 15 when the transmitter was finally switched off.

The YouTube description reads:

Television broadcast on VHF Channel 1 from Budapest caused a lot of QRM to radio amateurs in the area. At 00:00 15 August 2011 the TV transmitter was finally closed down after 54 years in service. Hear and see the last minutes of the QRM and how clean and usable the 6m amateur radio band immediately became at midnight. CU on the Magic Band!
73 de
Chris, HA5XA.

Watch 50MHZ-TV-QRT.mpeg

Hungarian Radio Amateur Association in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/HungaryMRASZ

Wed 17th August 2011

Bletchley Park’s annual Armed Forces Weekend will take place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 September. The annual Enigma Re-union event will take place on Sunday 4 September only, and amateur radio will be there for both events.

Celebrating the role of the armed forces throughout history and in particular the role of the cadet forces, the two-day weekend event will look at how Bletchley Park assisted the armed forces during World War Two.  It will feature a range of wartime displays and re-enactment groups, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Flypasts, featuring a Spitfire* and a number of entertaining lectures about the armed forces and Bletchley Park.

The annual Enigma Re-union is one of Bletchley Park’s most special events.  On Sunday 4 September, around 100 former Bletchley Park veterans will return to their former workplace.  There will be a memorial service and an opportunity for visitors to meet and talk to very people who helped to break Enigma and other codes at Bletchley Park during World War Two. 

Telling the story of the siege of the British garrison in the township of Ladysmith in 1899, the highlight of the weekend will be a Cadet Field Gun Run competition.  The origins of the Field Gun Run competition lie in the second Boer War in South Africa when, in support of the British Army, the Royal Navy landed guns from HMS Terrible and Powerful to help in the relief of the siege. The Naval Brigade transported guns over difficult terrain and brought them into action against the Boers. The Field Gun Run competition simulates the drill that would have been undertaken to bring a naval field gun into action during the march to Ladysmith.

Commander David Moth from TS Invincible Naval Cadets said, “It’s great to be involved in this event and will be great fun, not to mention quite a challenge for our cadets.  The Cadet Force has always been closely linked to our armed forces and helps develop leadership, responsibility, self reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance.”

Other activities during the weekend will be a display by the Vintage Military Amateur Radio Society of radio equipment spanning the last 100 years, showing how communication in the armed forces has changed over time and become ever more vital.

World War Two re-enactors dressed in uniforms and civilian costumes of the day will bring Bletchley Park to life, with highlights including a 1940’s fashion show by Allied Assortment.

*All Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Flypasts are subject to weather conditions and aircraft serviceability. The Spitfire will Flypast on the Saturday and the Dakota on the Sunday.

www.bletchleypark.org.uk

Wed 17th August 2011

Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands will soon launch a new tougher policy to deal with pirate radio stations, according to a report in De Telegraaf. The illegal broadcasters may soon have a fine of 2,500 euros imposed on them as soon as half an hour after they receive a warning letter.

This the agency’s latest move in a cat and mouse game with the pirates. It used to take months before someone was punished for illegal broadcasting. That has been reduced to several weeks, and could now be cut to half an hour under the new policy.

There have already been 1600 warnings this year, and 60 people have been fined. The fine is not necessarily for the pirate, but for the owner of the land which is used for broadcasting.
The radio pirates have responded by adapting their methods. They are now increasingly using mobile stations, so after receiving a warning letter they simply move to a different place to broadcast. The collapsible masts used for the broadcasts are sometimes more than forty metres high.

The Radiocommunications Agency wants to introduce its new policy as soon as possible, so that these “nomadic broadcasters” cannot escape punishment. The pirates sometimes interfere with legal broadcasters, and can also interfere with air traffic communications.

Source: Media Network

Tue 16th August 2011

Thanks to the hard work of volunteers from the British Amateur Television Club (BATC) videos of presentations given to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium held in Guildford July 30-31 are now available online

All the video files can be downloaded to a PC and in previous years some clubs have used them to show at club meetings.

The Chair of BATC Trevor Brown G8CJS edited over 16 hours of video to produce the final versions. Among the videos available this year are:

SSSTL/SSL Update - Space Engineering at Surrey by Prof. Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO
ESMO Update - European Student Moon Orbiter by Dr, Susan Jason SSTL
STRaND-1 a Smartphone CubeSat - "The most advanced CubeSat in the Solar System" by Shaun Kenyon
FUNcube Dongle - A VHF/UHF Software Defined Radio by Howard Long G6LVB
FUNcube Satellite - AMSAT-UK's 435/145 MHz linear transponder CubeSat by Jim Heck G3WGM
UKube-1 Update -  United Kingdom Universal Bus Experiment by Mike Willis G0MJW
InKlajn-1 - New Israeli CubeSat (pronounced Incline) by Shamai Opfer 4Z1WS
The Interplanetary Internet - IPv6 in Space by Lloyd Wood
AMSAT-DL Presentation - Update on AMSAT-DL and P3E by Peter Guelzow DB2OS
QB50 Update - 50 CubeSats in Space by Neil Melville PA9N and Lars Mehnen OE3HWM

You can watch the videos online at http://www.batc.tv/
Click on the 'Film Archive' icon
Select 'AMSAT 2011' from the Category drop down menu
Click 'Select Category'
Select the video you wish to watch
Click on 'Select Stream'
Click the play icon '>' on the player
Clicking on the icon to the left of the player volume control will give you full screen display.

You can copy a video file to your PC by clicking on the 'Click Here' link under the player.

PowerPoint slides can be downloaded at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/eleven/slides 

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, that is full of Amateur Satellite information. The Spring OSCAR News can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf

Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/

AMSAT-UK http://www.uk.amsat.org/

Fri 12th August 2011

The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Friday night August 12 and should produce good meteor scatter contacts on the Amateur Radio 50, 70 and 144 MHz bands.

Although the Moon may reduce the visual impact it won't affect the impact of the shower on radio propagation. The Perseids should still provide an abundance of Meteor trails which will reflect signals in the Amateur 50, 70 and 144 MHz bands allowing distances of up to 2,500 km to be worked.

About Meteor Scatter Propagation
http://www.jt6m.org/meteor-scatter.php

G7IZU Radio Reflection Detection Page
http://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/

WSJT Meteor Scatter Software
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/

Wired - Perseids
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/
perseid-meteor-shower/

Fri 12th August 2011

A UK lawmaker called today for BlackBerry’s instant messaging service to be suspended after rioters used it to mobilise in London and other British cities.

David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, where London’s worst riots for decades began on Saturday, appealed on Twitter and on BBC radio for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion to suspend BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).
“This is one of the reasons why unsophisticated criminals are outfoxing an otherwise sophisticated police force,” he tweeted. “BBM is different as it is encrypted and police can’t access it.”

Many of the rioters favour BlackBerry Messenger over Twitter and other social media because its messages are encrypted and private, but the service is widely used and messages can easily be sent to groups. Research In Motion (RIM) said in a statement on Monday: “As in all markets around the world where BlackBerry is available, we cooperate with local telecommunications operators, law enforcement and regulatory officials.” The company declined to say whether it was handing over chat logs or user details to police.

Research In Motion’s Inside BlackBerry blog was hacked today by a group going by the name of Teampoison. The group posted a warning to the company not to cooperate with police. “You Will _NOT_ assist the UK Police because if u do innocent members of the public who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and owned a blackberry will get charged for no reason at all,” the statement said.

“If you do assist the police by giving them chat logs, gps locations, customer information & access to peoples BlackBerryMessengers you will regret it, we have access to your database which includes your employees information; e.g - Addresses, Names, Phone Numbers etc. - now if u assist the police, we _WILL_ make this information public and pass it onto rioters,” it said.

Geoff Blaber, analyst with UK telecoms research firm CCS Insight, said: “One option would be to switch it off. But BBM is highly popular and has got a big installed base in the UK.” BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM as it is popularly known, has driven sales to new audiences in recent years as it expanded from its base as a tool for executives to a more consumer and younger clientele. It has more than 45 million active users worldwide, 70 percent of whom use it daily, sending billions of messages in total every month.

Users with data plans can instantly pass text messages, pictures and other files without incurring charges from their network carrier. RIM has got into hot water in the past on the one hand for cooperating with governments seen as repressive, and on the other for not cooperating enough with the security needs of authorities in some countries. Its encrypted services, which it moves over its own servers via telecom carriers, have been blamed for aiding militant attacks in India and for allowing unrelated men and women to communicate in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In August last year, a source close to talks between RIM and Saudi authorities said the Canadian company had agreed to hand over information that would allow monitoring of BBM. A deal was also reached in the UAE, averting a threatened ban on all BlackBerry services.

The company says it cooperates with authorities around the world with a consistent standard. RIM has been relatively willing to provide authorities with access to its consumer services, such as BBM, but says it has no way of allowing monitoring of its enterprise email. In the case of India, RIM gave the authorities access to BlackBerry Messenger services but said it did not have the technical capabilities to provide interception of corporate emails on the popular device. India has demanded access to all BlackBerry services as part of efforts to fight militancy and security threats over the Internet and through telephone communications

In London, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh of the Metropolitan police said today: “Police have got extensive monitoring of this BlackBerry messaging model and actually a lot of people who are seeing these Blackberry messages are forwarding them to the police.” Police did not immediately respond to a request for more details of how they were monitoring message traffic.

Source: Media Network, Reuters

Fri 12th August 2011

The world’s first DATV QSO Party later this month is to have stations taking part directly from Melbourne VK3RTV, regional VK3, VK4 and VK7, Thailand, the USA and beyond via the internet.

Organised by Peter Cossins VK3BFG as control station, it will include the Amateur Television Network (ATN) of California and be streamed live by the British Amateur Television Club (BATC).

Peter VK3BFG said that 8pm (AEST) Friday the 26th is quite good timing to kick off the two-day event as part of the Amateur Radio Victoria celebration of its centenary.

Under current arrangements the regional stations will use skype to have their video reach the controller. Their video will then be put on DVB-S to VK3RTV2.

Melbourne and Geelong stations will respond via VK3RTV1. VK3BCU is in Thailand on holidays and expects also to be skype-linked.

On Saturday the 27th of August at 1pm (AEST) there be a link up with Don Hill KE6BXT in California and also connected with the W6ATN ATV Repeater.

As on Friday, VK3BFG will take the Skype feed through to VK3RTV2.

A lot of buzz about the ground-breaking event already exists with stations in many parts of the globe getting ready to be part of it, including the completion and testing of equipment.

Anyone anywhere in the world can watch the proceedings via the BATC streaming website (AEST is plus 10 hours UTC).

Jim Linton VK3PC

BATC streaming website
http://www.batc.tv

Fri 12th August 2011

The new Amateur Radio satellite ARISSat-1 has been switching into low duty cycle mode, even while in full sun, which has suprised some observers.

When the satellite is in darkness, in order to conserve battery power, it switches into a low duty cycle mode (also known as low power mode) where it transmits for 40 seconds and then shut down for 2 minutes. On Thursday, August 11, a number of Radio Amateurs reported that ARISSat-1 was in low duty cycle mode when the satellite appeared to be fully illuminated by the sun.

On the AMSAT bulletin board Tony AA2TX, ARISSat SDX software and hardware developer. provided an explanation, he wrote:

"My analysis indicates that at certain "bad" sun angles, the solar panels may not provide enough power to run the satellite even in full sun.

The power from the panels can actually drop to as low as 2.5 watts at really bad angles but the satellite needs around 8 watts average to run in high power mode. This means that the satellite would have to draw current from the battery to run in high power mode even though it is in the sun.

This discharge would reduce the life of the battery so to minimize the damage and prolong the life of the satellite, it will switch itself to low power mode under these conditions.

I don't know for sure if this is what is happening but this condition is within the predicted nominal operation of the satellite".

Free Slow Scan TV Software MMSSTV uses your PCs Soundcard
http://mmhamsoft.amateur-radio.ca/

The IZ8BLY Vox Recoder software enables you to record ARISSat-1 on 145.950 MHz FM while you're at work or asleep
http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/

Online Satellite Pass Predictions, select ARISSat-1
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/

ARISSat-1 Website
http://www.arissat.org/

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB)
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Fri 12th August 2011

On Thursday, August 11, Thilo Kootz DL9KCE and Kurt Meerkötter DL8DMA, from the EUROCOM Working Group (WG), met MEP Birgit Sippel, the sponsor of IARU Region 1 European Parliament Exhibition on Amateur Radio for a follow up talk.

Birgit Sippel had submited a parliamentary question to the European Commission about the radio pollution caused by PLT equipment.

Both EUROCOM WG and Birgit Sippel believe the evasive answers the European Commission gave are unsatisfactory. They discussed how to proceed to ensure that especially vulnerable radio services in residential areas (such as broadcast and the amateur radio services) can be protected in the future.

Depending on the progress in CENELEC standardization, Birgit Sippel whishes to support another parliamentary question to the European Commission. She believes the radio spectrum is a unique and irreplaceable resource that needs legislative protection.

Ban Powerline Technology ( PLT)
http://www.ban-plt.co.uk/

UKQRM are a group fighting radio pollution
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKQRM/

Fri 12th August 2011

Titans In Space. We visit the Olde Town Middle School near space balloon launch and track it from the shack using several analog and digital modes.

Peter finds use for his chinese tablet as a teleprompter.
And your viewer email and comments.

1:03 of AmateurLogic.TV fun!

Fri 12th August 2011

On August 10, the FCC announced via a Final Rule in the Federal Register that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will increase 90 cents, from $13.30 to $14.20.

The new fees take effect 30 days after publication, making September 9, 2011, the first day the new fee is in effect.

Earlier this year, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM), seeking to raise the fee for Amateur Radio vanity call signs.

"The Commission tries to keep the regulatory fee for Vanity call signs as minimal as possible," explained the FCC in its Final Rule.

"Between FY 2007 and FY 2010, the regulatory fee for Vanity call signs increased from $1.17 per year to $1.33 per year, an increase of $0.16 per year or $1.60 over a ten-year license period. We do not believe this increase is inequitable, and the Commission will continue its efforts to keep this fee as minimal as possible. The fees that are collected from Vanity call signs are used to offset the cost of monitoring and researching new call sign requests to prevent the issuance of duplicate call signs."

The vanity call sign fee has fluctuated over the 14 years of the current program -- from a low of $11.70 in 2007 to a high of $70 as first proposed in the FCC's 1994 Report and Order. In FY 2011, the FCC expects to grant 14,600 vanity call signs, bringing in $207,320 from the vanity call sign program, and looks to recover a total of $336,599,048 in fees from all the Services that it regulates.

The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity call sign for a new term. The first vanity call sign licenses issued under the current Amateur Radio vanity call sign program that began in 1996 came up for renewal five years ago. The FCC is authorized by the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended, to collect vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that program.

ARRL

Wed 10th August 2011

Space Weather reports that on Tuesday August 9, at 0805 UT, sunspot 1263 produced an X7-class solar flare - only the third X-flare of new Solar Cycle 24 and the most powerful so far.

The brunt of the explosion was not Earth directed. Nevertheless, a minor proton storm is in progress around our planet, which could affect satellites in high-altitude orbits. Also, radiation from flare created waves of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere, briefly disrupting communications at some VLF and HF radio frequencies.

SOHO coronagraphs show a CME emerging from the blast site. The cloud will probably miss Earth. At this time, however, we cannot rule out a glancing blow from the flank of the CME on or about August 11th.

Space Weather
http://spaceweather.com/

Wed 10th August 2011

The Auto-BAHN project is intended to provide smart-phone users with a method to quickly communicate with others during a natural or human made disaster when telecommunication systems are down.

Thomas Wilhelm has developed software that lets data hop from phone to phone. Messages sent via the application gradually migrates towards its intended target to keep communication going when other routes are closed. The project was unveiled at the DEF CON 19 conference held Aug. 4-7 in Las Vegas.

Read the BBC story - Mobiles become emergency data network
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14458900

Auto-BAHN project
http://hackerdemia.com/

DEF CON 19
https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-19/dc-19-index.html

Wed 10th August 2011

A new YouTube video shows how you can receive Slow Scan TV pictures on 145.950 MHz FM from the Amateur Radio satellite ARISSat-1.

The YouTube description says  The fun combining Amateur Radio and Space continues. Tune your radios / scanners to 145.950 and listen into the signal from ARISSat-1 which was just deployed from the International Space Station.

The mission was specifically designed as an education-based satellite built by amateur radio operators to specifically interest students in scientific and technological careers.

ARISSat broadcast features include voice a identification, voice, digital and morse code telemetry, stored image and on-board camera transmissions via Slow Scan TV (SSTV Robot-36 format) and digital telemetry from a Russian science experiment.
The transmitted callsign is RS01S.

Watch Slow Scan TV from ARISSat-1 ... You Can Do It

Free Slow Scan TV Software MMSSTV uses your PCs Soundcard
http://mmhamsoft.amateur-radio.ca/

IZ8BLY Vox Recoder, this free software enables you to record the signals from ARISSat-1 on 145.950 MHz FM while you're at work or asleep http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/

Online Satellite Pass Predictions, select ARISSat-1
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/

ARISSat-1 Website
http://www.arissat.org/

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Tue 9th August 2011

Hector, CE3FZL, Manager for the Diploma Faros de Chile (FEDERACHI), announced that a number of Chilean amateur radio groups will be activating several lighthouse (both north and south in Chile) for the upcoming International Lighthouse / Lightship Weekend (ILLW).

Look for the following to be on the air between August 19-21st:

CE2C - Faro Cofradia Nautica del Pacifico; Radio Club Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil/CE3RAC
CE2UNE - Baliza Rio Limari, Ovalle; Manuel/CE2UNE
XR2FCU - Faro Punta Curaumilla (CL0017); Radio Club de Valparaiso/CE2AA
XR2FPC - Faro Punta Condell (CL0015); Radio Club de Valparaiso/CE2AA
XR2FPD - Faro Punta Duprat (CL0016); Radio Club de Valparaiso/CE2AA
XR2Q - Faro Quintay (CL0018); Radio Club Carabineros de Chile/CE3ETE
XR6Z - Morro Gonzalo (CL0019); Carlos/CE6AMN
XR7F - Faro Corona, Chiloe; Radio Club Provincial Chiloé Castro/CE7BLI

OPDX

Tue 9th August 2011

Tens of thousands of Canadians may be looking at blank TV screens on 1 September.

At midnight on 31 August, television signals in major Canadian markets will be converted from analogue to digital to meet a deadline imposed by the federal broadcast regulator.

Despite government and broadcast industry assurances that the transition would be simple, inexpensive and inclusive, industry watchdogs say as many as two million people who receive TV programmes via antennae may be left with nothing on their screens but snow.

“As many as 1.4 million English-language viewers and 700,000 Francophone viewers may be left without a CBC signal,” says Ian Morrison, spokesman for Friends of Public Broadcasting.
Mr Morrison said those numbers come from a 2008 study that was commissioned by the Canadian Heritage ministry.

Read more from the Toronto Star

Source: Media Network

Tue 9th August 2011

08 August, 2011

Island activities:

AS-026. Operators Ki-Sun/HL4MC, Gyeong/HL4CEL, Wang-hyun/HL4RBR, Kei/HL2UVH, Eun-Gwang/ DS4EOI, Nao/JA1HGY and Zorro/JH1AJT will be active as D9A from Cheju Island between August 19-26th. This special callsign will be used during the 20th Asian Conference on Intellectual Disabilities from the Ramada Plaza Jeju Hotel. Activity will be on 160-10 meters, 6 and 2 meters, using CW, SSB, RTTY and FM. QSL via DS4EOI.

EU-081. (Update) A French-Belgium group will be active as TM5SM from Saint Marcouf Island (WLH LH0060, DIFM MA0001) between August 11-15th. Operators mentioned are Jean-Bernard/F4RTE, Jean- Claude/F5IL, Jacques/F5JY, Jean/F5NKX, Denis/F5RJM, Alan/F6BFH, Maryse/F8FDN (YL), Benoit/F8PDR and Francois/ON4LO.
Activity will be on 80-10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. They
will have three stations on 24 hours a day. QSL via F5RJM,
direct or by the Bureau. 32% of IOTA community needs EU-081.
Alan informs OPDX, "Now it's extremely difficult to obtain all
permissions to stay on this island (Birds reserve), and access
is dangerous. Please respect the rules of the traffic and of
the 'HAM SPIRIT', we will try to satisfy a maximum of you."
By the way, this is Alan's, F6BFH, 70th IOTA activity on 5
continents!

EU-156. Members of the "INVOKER TEAM" will be active as TM0INT from Tombelaine Island between late Saturday morning, September 10th, to early afternoon Sunday, September 11th. Operators mentioned are Christian/EA3NT, Vincent/F4BKV and Simon/IZ7ATN. They will have two 100w stations on the air using vertical dipoles. QSL via EA5KA only.

EU-189. A team of four highly experienced IOTA activators are planning to operate from the extremely rare and dangerous Isle of Rockall possibly between the end of May or the beginning of
June 2012. The team will land and stay on top of Rockall for
a maximum 48 hours. Operators mentioned are George/EA2TA,
Christian/EA3NT, Simon/IZ7ATN and Col/MM0NDX. All operators
were part of the recent larger MS0INT IOTA operation this
past June. The team is looking for funds to help offset some
of this expense. Significant contributors will be added to
their QSL card. To donate, you can use paypal at:
rockall.eu189@gmail.com
A Web site is currently under construction.

OC-130. Maarten, PA3GZU, will once again be active as DU9/PA3GZU from Mindanao Island (OC-130, WLOTA 2803) between August 12th and September 4th. Activity will be on 40-10 meters using SSB and PSK31. Operations will be with a TS520SE and TH6DXX. QSL via his home callsign, the Bureau is preferred.
 

Compiled by OPDX

RSGB IOTA website

Tue 9th August 2011

The IEEE has recently released the new 802.22 standard for Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) using white spaces in the TV frequency spectrum.

The IEEE 802.22 standard is designed to provide Rural Broadband Wireless Access using Cognitive Radio Technology.
It uses VHF and UHF TV channels between 54 and 862 MHz and is claimed to have a theoretical range of up to 33 km (20 miles). It is envisaged that subscribers would use directional antennas on the roof.

IEEE 802.22 can deliver a data rate of up to 19 Mbps in a 6 MHz wide USA TV channel. Channel Bonding, using more than one channel for Tx / Rx, can provide greater bandwidth. A single channel might be able to support 12 simultaneous users in the coverage area.

Read The Register article - Rural white space wireless standard signed off
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/01/
rural_wireless_standard/

IEEE 802.22 Presentation
http://www.ieee802.org/22/Technology/22-10-0073-03
-0000-802-22-overview-and-core-technologies.pdf

Wiki - IEE 802.22
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.22

Sat 6th August 2011

A team of four highly experienced IOTA activators have plans to operate from the extremely rare and dangerous Isle of Rockall, EU-189.

Accompanied by an expert climber, they aim to land and stay a top Rockall for maximum 48 hours, in what will be considered one of the most ambitious island activations the ham radio world has seen.

The four operators are George EA2TA, Christian EA3NT, Simon IZ7ATN and Col MM0NDX - all part of the larger MS0INT IOTA adventure group which has previously been on air from EU-059, EU-111 and EU-118. Completing the team is Nick Hancock, a climber with considerable experience in inhospitable places, thus increasing the chances of activating the islet.

Due to the fact Rockall is the most isolated speck of rock surrounded by water on the surface of the Earth, weather and seas dictate this entire expedition. The team are very aware near perfect landing conditions are required, and the skipper of their yacht has final say.

With research and historical data, we believe the end of May / beginning June 2012 is a viable time period to put Rockall on the air.

Each member will pay their own flights, additional travel costs, food, equipment and charter boat expenses.

To help offset some of this expense, the team seek generous donations from within the IOTA community, DX organisations and like-minded individual operators who all appreciate the scale involved in this difficult activation.

All donors form part of this exciting project and will be listed on our website which is currently under construction. Significant contributors will be added to our QSL card. To donate, you can use paypal: rockall.eu189@gmail.com

Thank you!

MS0INT - Rockall 2012 Team

Fri 5th August 2011

AMSAT-UK have launched an ARISSat-1 Reception Challenge to find the minimum and best type of antennas that can be used to receive the BPSK telemetry.

ARISSat-1 was deployed from the ISS on August 3. It has a composite VHF downlink that will easily fit into the FUNcube Dongle (FCD) receive spectrum. The telemetry is 1000 bps BPSK and can, of course, also be received with a normal SSB 2 metre receiver.

The expected signal levels from ARISSat-1 should be similar to those we expect from the AMSAT-UK FUNcube satellite (and also eventually from UKube) and the team are keen to discover what will be the minimum and best type of antennas for schools to use with a FUNcube Dongle (FCD) Software Defined Radio (SDR). Therefore user experience with the ARISSat-1 signals will be very valuable in making this determination.

To encourage everyone to receive ARISSat-1 signals we are offering a FUN reward for listeners!

There are a number of categories for this challenge – they include:
1+ The first FCD user, from each continent, who can post a spectrum recording of the received signal together with evidence of decoding the data using the ARISSatTLM software and of sending it to the ARISSat data warehouse .

2+ The first non-FCD user, from each continent, who can provide evidence of having decoded the signals and of sending it to the ARISSat data warehouse.

3+ The listener, using a FCD or not, who can demonstrate satisfactory reception of the telemetry in the same ways as described above, using the “smallest” possible receive antenna. The actual closing date for this part of the challenge will be announced later.

4+ All other entrants who can demonstrate that they have been having FUN!

Please submit your “entries”, including your location, station details (including FCD serial number where applicable), postal address and reports to g0auk at amsat.org

Good luck,

Download the Windows and Mac versions of the ARISSatTLM free ground station soundcard demodulator and display software:
http://www.arissattlm.org/

ARISSat-1 http://www.arissat1.org/

Join the FUNcube Yahoo Group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube/

FUNcube SDR Dongle http://www.FUNcubeDongle.com/

Read the OSCAR News PDF at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf

Join AMSAT-UK at
http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/

Fri 5th August 2011

On Wednesday August 3, at 18.43 UTC, while performing an EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity), ISS Expedition 28 Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev manually released into space the amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1/Kedr.

This is the prototype test flight of a proposed series of educational satellites being developed in a partnership with the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT), the NASA Office of Education ISS National Lab Project, the Amateur Radio on ISS (ARISS) working group and RSC-Energia.

The satellite is also called "KEDR", which means "Cedar" in Russian. This was the call sign used by Youry Gagarine during his historic space flight in 1961. Kedr commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first man in space.

ARISSat-1 was designed, developed and tested by AMSAT-NA and ARISS volunteers. The primary mission for the satellite is STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education around the world. The satellite also carries an experiment developed by the University of Kursk, Russia for the study of the atmospheric pressure in the space layer close to Earth.

Students are expected to be able to easily receive the 2m FM transmissions and use the information in classroom exercises. There are 24 greeting in 15 languages, most with a Secret Word at the end. Students or classes can email their Secret Word reception and receive a certificate.

Certificates will also be issued for SSTV image reception, voice telemetry reception, CW reception, full SSB telemetry packet reception and Kursk experiment reception. The satellite has four cameras on board that are constantly taking pictures and sending them to earth using SSTV Robot-36 format in the 2m FM transmission. The official Web site for the ARISSat-1 project is www.arissat1.org

Free software is available for the PC and Mac that will take audio from a 2m SSB receiver connected to a computer sound card and display the BPSK-1000 telemetry signal.

Students and interested observers will be able to get the experiment data and plot it as well as watch the temperature and battery voltage changes as the satellite gets closer to the earth.

A 16 kHz wide 70cm/2m (U/V) SSB/CW transponder is aboard, which can be used by Amateur Radio operators to operate through. An issue with the UHF receiving antenna is limiting the use of this transponder, but early reports are encouraging.

The 40 kHz wide signal containing FM, CW, BPSK and transponder is all being transmitted simultaneously using new SDX (Software Defined Transponder) technology.

Details are available on the following webpages :
http://www.amsat.org
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ARISSat/ARISSat.php
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ARISSat/ARISSatHowTo.php

ARISSat-1/Kedr is expected to operate for nearly 6 month before de-orbiting.

73

Gaston Bertels - ON4WF
ARISS Chairman

Fri 5th August 2011

Space Weather reports that for the third day in a row, active sunspot 1261 has unleashed a significant M-class solar flare.

The latest blast at 0357 UT on August 4th registered M9.3 on the Richter Scale of Flares, almost crossing the threshold into X-territory (X-flares are the most powerful kind). The number of energetic protons around Earth has jumped nearly 100-fold as a result of this event.

The eruption propelled a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth. Moving at an estimated speed of 1950 km/s, this CME is expected to sweep up two earlier CMEs already en route. Analysts at the GSFC Space Weather Lab say the combined cloud should reach Earth on August 5th at 13:55 UT plus or minus 7 hours: "The impact on Earth is likely to be major. The estimated maximum geomagnetic activity index level Kp is 7 (Kp ranges from 0 - 9). The flanks of the CME may also impact STEREO A, Mars and Mercury/MESSENGER." High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Check http://spaceweather.com for details and updates.

Thur 4th August 2011

The Amateur Radio satellite ARISSat-1 has been deployed from the ISS during EVA-29 on Wednesday, August 3 by Cosmonaut/ Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev.

First signals have been received by JR8LWY reporting copy of the telemetry beacon as the satellite passed over Japan.

Full operational capability of ARISSat-1/KEDR is still under evaluation pending performance evaluation of the UHF antenna.

Please submit your reception signal reports on amsat-bb and via the mission's e-mail boxes on http://www.amsat.org.

AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, observed, "Welcome to a new era as AMSAT returns to space with ARISSat-1/KEDR.
I encourage all hams, SWLs, educators, and experimenters to enjoy the unique opportunity presented by this mission to learn about amateur radio in space, enhance and improve your station, and hone your operating skills as you try out all of this satellite's features."

Barry continues, "ARISSat-1/KEDR marks a new type of satellite  which has captured the attention of the national space agencies  around the world for the unique educational opportunity we have  been able to design, launch, and now operate. By designing an educational mission aligned with NASA's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics goals amateur radio operators around the world can now enjoy a new satellite in orbit."

ARISSat-1/KEDR Project Manager, Gould Smith, WA4SXM said, "Dozens of amateur radio volunteers, AMSAT, ARRL, NASA, and Energia have teamed up for this successful mission to bring you the most unique and innovative amateur radio satellite mission flying 220 miles above your QTH at 17,500 mph! Congratulations to all who made ARISSat-1 successful!"

Continuing, Gould said, "ARRISat-1/KEDR has been developed, built, and tested by a remarkable team of radio amateurs. As the Project Manager for ARISSat-1/KEDR these past three years I have had the opportunity to work with these creative people to get to where we are now ... IN ORBIT!"

Congratulations to our ARISSat-1/KEDR team:

David Barber, G8OQW from Chelmsford in Essex, captured this image during the 01:20 utc pass over the UK.

He writes:
30dg Max elevation this pass but a fairly good signal received.

1 SSTV image plus several audio messages received.

Two audio tlm as follows:
MET = 404 minutes
IHU Temp = +26C
Control Panel Temp = +22C
Battery Voltage = 33.09V
Battery Current = +391mA

MET = 406 minutes
IHU Temp = +26C
Control Panel Temp = +21C
Battery Voltage = 33.40V
Battery Current = +263mA

Local QRM obliterating the CW/Telemetry frequency.

From the sound of the signal the satellite would appear to be tumbling slowly. Approx 6 seconds between nulls which can be seen on the SSTV image.

David, G8OQW

Thur 4th August 2011

The final touches are being put on World’s First DATV QSO Party to be held by the Melbourne repeater VK3RTV and around the world via the streaming media portal of the British Amateur Television Club (BATC).

Organiser Peter Cossins VK3BFG said it was most fitting that the event is part of the Amateur Radio Victoria Centenary which runs from August 1 through to November 30.

He has been with the amateur television scene through its black and white days, to colour imagery and more recently has, with the help of others, the digitisation of VK3RTV.

Peter VK3BFG said, “Major funding of VK3RTV from Amateur Radio Victoria and $1000 from the WIA Club Grants program enabled it to be digitised well ahead of time, and renewed interest in it throughout the expanded coverage area.

“What is planned is a DATV QSO Party to celebrate the 100th the anniversary of Amateur Radio Victoria. While the actual times are not fixed, it’s planned to be over the last weekend of August starting on the Friday evening.”

Already there’s interest around Australia and testing has been held while negotiations are being finalised with the BATC and the Amateur Television Network of California via Don Hill KE6BXT.