Also in GB2RS this week…
RadCom and other magazines often include photographs of instantly recognisable buildings, but this may have to stop if a new EU restriction on the so-called freedom of panorama is voted in on 9 July. Many organisations including Wikipedia and the Royal Photographic Society are strongly opposed to the restrictions. A change.org petition has been set up to oppose the legislation. The RSGB encourages people to read and sign the petition, which can be found at tinyurl.com/freepanorama.
The RSGB Convention takes place over 9 to 11 October at Kent’s Hill Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. Two more lectures have been confirmed. The Kit Building Editor of CQ magazine, Joe Eisenberg, K0NEB, will be speaking on successful kit building techniques. Dr Alwyn Seeds, G8DOH, will be discussing high performance VHF/UHF contest stations. Details can be found at www.rsgb.org/convention.
The RSGB presents a variety of awards and trophies every year. Presentations take place at the AGM and the RSGB Convention. A gallery of the AGM trophies is now available to Members on the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/agm-trophies and further galleries, including contest awards, are under preparation.
Surrey Satellite Technology was 30-years-old on Monday. There’s a GOV.UK blog post about it and it’s interesting to note that the two photos on the page both feature UoSAT-1, even though it isn’t mentioned that it was an amateur satellite. Apart from being a world-class space company, Surrey Satellite Technology has had a close association with Arkwright Trust students.
Emergency communications on 20m arising from the Nepal earthquake have now been cut back. Main communication systems in the area are now generally working normally and although there may still be emergency-related traffic on other frequencies, 14.215MHz is essentially now clear. Partly as a result of the amateur radio response, the Indian government is planning a number of amateur radio-equipped emergency operation centres.
In the USA, the Federal Communications Commission is inviting comments on its recent proposals to permit a Secondary amateur radio operation on 137kHz and 479kHz. Amateurs would share some of the frequencies with other users such as unlicensed power line carrier systems. Comments are due in by 31 August; depending on the results, the bands may become available some time after that.
Category: GB2RS Headlines
