Also in GB2RS this week…

Amateurs are advised that updates to a small number of band plans will occur on 1 June 2016. This follows approval of proposals agreed at the recent IARU Region 1 Interim meeting. The updates to 80m, 30m and VHF will provide greater flexibility for narrowband modes. The RSGB website and RadCom will be updated to carry details in due course.

A team of five Australian radio amateurs will activate Norfolk Island, IOTA reference OC-005, until 31 May 2016 to coincide with the Wireless Institute of Australia 2016 Annual General Meeting and Conference, also being held on Norfolk Island. The VK9NT crew plans to operate on the 160 to 10m bands using SSB, CW and RTTY. Activity on RTTY will be confined to just a couple of bands to maximise all-time new ones. The WIA Commemorative Station, VI9ANZAC, also will be active from Norfolk Island over the AGM weekend.

The Hubble Space Telescope has produced another of its stunning portraits of Mars. The red planet and Earth are nearing what is called opposition, when their orbits line them up with the Sun and put them very close to each other. This occurs every 780 days or so. The actual moment of opposition is on Sunday, the 22nd, at 1110UTC; the two planets’ closest approach follows just a few days later on the 30th. There will be just 75 million kilometres between the two planets on that day. Astronomers with smaller telescopes than Hubble will be grabbing the chance to view Mars in the week ahead. The planetary alignment means the red planet’s disc, as well as being larger in the sky than usual, is also fully illuminated. The images can be found on the NASA website.

Category: GB2RS Headlines