GB2RS News, Sunday 17 February 2013

Digital Radio switch-on at RSGB National Radio Centre

A new digital radio service was switched on at 0846 on Thursday, 14 February at the RSGB’s National Radio Centre in Bletchley Park. Serving the people of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, the new service enables listeners to hear BBC Three Counties Radio, Heart, Capital FM, Gold, MK FM and Connect FM. Chairman Bob Whelan, G3PJT, General Manager Graham Coomber, G0NBI, Amateur Radio Manager Carlos Eavis, G3VHF and RSGB Member Robert Chipperfield, M0VFC attended the event. Graham and Robert were interviewed by Heart radio during the event.

AMSAT UK talk at National Student Space Conference

Jim Heck, G3WGM, is Honorary Secretary of AMSAT-UK and project lead on the FUNcube amateur radio satellite project. He will be giving a presentation on FUNcube-1 to the UKSEDS National Student Space Conference (NSSC), which takes place in Bristol on 23 and 24 February. More information at www.amsat-uk.org.

Successful Scottish ISS contact

Students at Breadalbane Academy in Aberfeldy had an ARISS contact with the International Space Station on Tuesday 12 February. The students spoke to Commander Kevin Ford, KF5GPP, in a contact lasting a little over nine minutes. A telebridge was used, operated by RSGB DRM Bernie McIntosh, GM4WZG.

Also in GB2RS this week…

ISS astronaut releases song

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, KC5RNJ/VA3OOG, has been very busy whilst on the International Space Station. Among his activities has been creating music. Most recently he has been working with Ed Robinson of the Big Bang Theory theme song creators. The result has been I.S.S. ,Is Somebody Singing, which was recently released with a national fanfare in Canada. Check it out on YouTube by searching for I.S.S. Is Somebody Singing.

Gx100RSGB second week in Region 2

The special event callsign celebrating the RSGB Centenary continues its stay in Region 2 this week. On Sunday, 17 February, Lerwick ARS will be running an HF SSB station from Dunrossness. On 18 February, the GMDX Group will have an HF station running SSB, CW and RTTY from Culbokie, before Caithness ARS take over on the 19th from Windhaven Brough, running PSK, CW and RTTY on 30m. Then, for the 5 days from 20 to 24 February, Caithness ARS will put their HF station using SSB on the 160, 80, 40 and 20m bands from Freswick. For those who haven’t tried it yet there is a comprehensive ‘Am I in the log’ feature at www.rsgb.org/main/centenary that shows on which Regions and Bands you have contacted the Centenary station. Details of how to get your QSL card are also on the website.

IARU Interim Meeting papers now on web

Papers for the IARU Interim Meeting in April have been released and are available for download and comment on the UK C4 and UK C5 discussion groups on Yahoo. C4 is on HF matters and C5 is on VHF and microwave matters. The Interim Meeting is, as its title implies, a place for discussion and potential agreement on current issues midway between the triennial General Conferences. Your comments on the various proposals are sought. The C4 HF group is at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukc4discussion and the C5 VHF and microwave group is at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukc5discussion.

Leicester Radio Society seeks club’s start date

Leicester Radio Society is celebrating its Centenary year this year, and is trying to find out the exact date the club started. Records are scarce to say the least and so they are hoping that someone could shed some light on the subject. They know that it was formed in 1912 or 1913 but cannot find the exact date, although they know it was featured in a Model Engineer magazine of that period. Please can anyone assist? If you can help in any way, please email lrs100yearsgmail.com.

Ofcom publishes responses to Commonwealth Games spectrum consultation

Ofcom has published the responses to the radio spectrum planning consultation for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Those responding include the Radio Society of Great Britain, the BBC and the Met Office. You can read the responses by going to http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk and searching on Glasgow 2014. Then click on show responses, which is on the right hand side of the screen.

Category: GB2RS