Also in GB2RS this week…

| May 22, 2015

RSGB President John Gould, G3WKL and General Manager Graham Coomber, G0NBI represented the RSGB at a garden party at Buckingham Palace recently. They were formally presented to the Society’s Patron, HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, KG, KT.

On Wednesday a super-secret US military unmanned spaceplane was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Also aboard the rocket were a number of CubeSats, some of which included amateur radio payloads. BRICSat-P, designed to test a novel propulsion system, carries an APRS transponder with a 145MHz uplink and 457MHz downlink. It also has a PSK32 transponder that has a 10m uplink and UHF downlink. The Planetary Society’s LightSail-A has a 9600bps FSK AX.25 packet radio downlink on 437.435MHz. Amateurs are asked to forward any data they collect from this satellite to the contact details at tinyurl.com/JD-lightsail. More information on all of the CubeSats aboard the launch can be found at tinyurl.com/20-may-launch.

While on the subject of space, the RSGB understands that it is unlikely there will be any contacts with the Columbus module station on the International Space Station until after a crew change, which will probably occur in June or July.

This year’s International Museums Weekends take place on 20 and 21 and 27 and 28 June. More information about the event, including how to register, can be found at www.radio-amateur-events.org.

Fans of Laurel and Hardy will be delighted to learn that Furness Amateur Radio Society are planning a special event station to commemorate what would have been Stan Laurel’s 125th birthday. He was born on 16 June 1890 in Ulverston—then in Lancashire, but now Cumbria. Special special callsign GB125SL will be on HF SSB from 1 to 28 June. Main activations, with a high power HF station, will be on the 16th, Stan’s birthday, plus the weekend of the 27th and 28th.

Category: GB2RS Headlines