Also in GB2RS this week…
Sad news that Dave Powis, G4HUP became a silent key on 9 February. Dave was a well-respected tutor and mentor and a very active member of several radio clubs, mentoring many candidates to gaining their amateur radio licences. He joined the Examinations Standards Committee in 2007 and spent much of 2016 working with the Exams Group on revising the licence syllabuses. Late in 2016 he became RSGB Exam Standards Committee Chairman and was just beginning to bring his newest ideas to bear. He also was well-known for the excellent surface mount soldering classes at the RSGB Convention in recent years. Our thoughts are with his family and many friends at this difficult time.
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Alaska will soon undertake its first scientific research campaigns since the facility was taken over by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute 18 months ago. Among the investigators is UAF Researcher Chris Fallen, KL3WX who will be working under a National Science Foundation grant. The HAARP transmissions will take place within the facility’s transmitter tuning range of 2.7 to 10MHz and should be audible outside of Alaska and may even produce visible effects within the state. Fallen’s experiments will be carried out between the 19 and 22 February.
The RSGB has appointed Youth Committee Deputy Chair, Milo Noblet, 2E0ILO as the UK team leader for YOTA 2017. He will lead the UK young amateurs during the IARU Youngsters on the Air 2017 summer camp the RSGB is hosting at Gilwell Park in August. Plans for YOTA 2017 are progressing and you can help the RSGB to make the YOTA 2017 event a great success by becoming a financial supporter—any one who donates more than £15 receives a supporters’ pin. Find out more at rsgb.org/yotasupporter.
The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System newsletter reports a mysterious ‘foghorn’ that is a Chinese over-the-horizon burst radar operating in the amateur radio bands. The mysterious foghorn on 7, 10, and 14MHz is often jumping with the signal frequency modulated on pulse with 66.66 sweeps-per-second bursts. The latest IARUMS newsletter also reports strong splatter from Radio France International on 7,205kHz down to 7,186kHz. The French REF has informed RFI and French telecommunications authorities. Full details on these and other interference matters can be found at www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/news2017/news1701.pdf (21-page/1.5 MB PDF).
The Indian Space Agency has successfully launched the amateur radio satellite Nayif-1 along with 103 other satellites, a record for a single launch. The PSLV-C37 lifted off at 0358UTC on 15 February. Nayif-1 started transmitting about an hour after launch and radio amateurs in the west of the USA reported the first signals. Ken, GW1FKY reports he received his first frames of data when the satellite came in range of the UK at 1007UTC.
Category: GB2RS Headlines
