Also in GB2RS this week…

In the United States, the FCC is not processing any US amateur radio applications as the partial government shutdown approaches its fourth week. For radio amateurs, the shutdown means that while the Universal Licensing System continues to accept applications for all valid purposes, the FCC will not review or act upon them until the funding stalemate is resolved. Newcomers who have passed the required examinations will have to wait until the shutdown concludes to receive a call sign and authorisation to operate. License upgrades are also on hold.

Please note that the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed for a private event on Tuesday, 15 January 2019. Outside of this, volunteers look forward to welcoming visitors seven days a week, especially RSGB Members, who can download a free entry voucher for Bletchley Park from RSGB Membership Services.

On 27 December 2018 a Soyuz launch deployed two German satellites, D-Star ONE – Sparrow and D-Star ONE – iSat. The beacons have been successfully received from both satellites, which each carry a D-Star repeater. They uplink on 437.325MHz and downlink on 435.525MHz. The December Soyuz flight also deployed the UWE-4 1U CubeSat carrying a 70cm AX.25 digipeater, with an uplink/downlink frequency of 437.375MHz. AMSAT Germany has reported that in-orbit testing of the P4-A amateur radio transponders on Es’hail-2 has begun but amateurs should not attempt to transmit on the Es’hail-2 uplink. When all in-orbit testing has been successfully completed, the satellite will be moved to its final orbital position at 26° East and availability announcements will be made.

Club Log’s latest Most Wanted List, generated on the 28 December 2018, can be found at https://secure.clublog.org/mostwanted.php. The information is derived from the half-billion or so QSOs uploaded to Club Log and available for analysis. To improve quality, only QSOs that have QSLs confirmed are considered to be worked. The most wanted charts are rebuilt once per month, on average.

Category: GB2RS Headlines