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Ham radio operators in the USA and world-wide are needed to listen on 7.1023 and 10.1466 MHz CW from 2330 EDT April 21 (03:30 Apr 22 GMT) and email readings of the balloon’s progress to [email protected]

More information about the program, including the latest projected flight path, can be found at http://www.projectbluehorizon.com/

Users can input data received from the Mission Payload via the “User Input”.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PBH5

It also has an APRS GPS tracker on 144.390 MHz [FM] with the callsign KC2ZJH and will launch from Oswego, NY around midnight Thursday [EDT].

Thanks in advance for your help!

The HF downlink exact frequency will vary 10 Hz or so with temperature. Accurate recording of frequency will be useful.

73,

Tom Triebwasser, KC2TUA

Below is an extract from the latest QSL newsletter…

It is with some sadness that I write this news letter.

Graham and I have decided to retire. We will be closing our doors for the last time at 4pm on Thursday 21st of April 2011.

In May we will be around but telephone to arrange a time as we will not be keeping to our normal opening times due to clearing out.

We would like to thank all our past and present customers for their support over our 27years of trading.

In the past we have had comments suggesting we use the motor home for pleasure and not for work. Well that is what we intend to do, put it to good use and do some travelling.

No doubt we will pop into radio rallies if we are in the area and say hello and catch up. We might even be heard on the radio as we will have more free time.

That is if we are not volunteered!!! into looking after the 5 young grandchildren especially in the school holidays.

We still have stock so please telephone or pop in some good bargains to be had. It would be nice to see anyone to say a personal goodbye, kettle will be on.

Regards

Jayne

It is my pleasure to announce that due to popular demand, SDARC will now meet daily! It seems as though you couldn’t get enough of seeing us all and felt changing the number of times we meet from once to seven was a good idea. We listened to you and made it so! See you tonight!

M1DST

UPDATE:
Obviously this was an April Fools joke. See you next Thursday!

Amateurs have bounced signals off the moon for years and there has even been a successful attempt to reflect amateur communications from Mars. But now, a group of Texas amateurs have succeeded in obtaining echoes of their signals from the surface of the sun.

“One of the biggest problems was that we needed to make our hundred-foot dish non-reflective to sunlight, but still work with radio waves”, said team leader Wayne, W9BRJ. “Our first attempts used a normal bright aluminium dish but when we pointed it at the sun we instantly vaporised the feedpoint”. Another issue was the time taken for echoes to be detected – it takes about 16 minutes for radio signals to travel to the sun and back. “So we would make an adjustment, squirt out a signal and have time for a beer before looking for a bounce.”

The team used an ERP of 1.8 terawatts and a super-cooled pre-amplifier with a noise figure of less than -3.7dB to receive the very weak reflections.

There’s an extra buzz around the studios of Hinckley’s Castle Mead Radio (CMR) this week as the country’s smallest hospital radio station goes global.

To celebrate the station’s 21st birthday and the 85th anniversary of Hospital Radio in the UK, a special radio station has been set up adjacent to CMR’s two modern broadcast studios.

But this one isn’t playing record requests for the patients and staff. OFCOM, the radio and broadcasting regulator has given them a special amateur radio licence – callsign GB0CMR (GB zero CMR) – so that news about CMR and Hinckley hospitals can be beamed around the world.

The idea came from Castle Mead Radio Trustee and BBC broadcaster Jim Lee. Jim, who has held an amateur (or ham) radio licence himself for 40 years, credits hospital radio with kick starting his career which has taken him from Mercia Sound in Coventry to his present announcer and newsreader roles at Radio 4, and the BBC World Service.

“When I heard that special event stations were being planned to mark the 85th anniversary of Hospital Radio, I got together with CMR presenter and fellow licensed radio amateur Jerry Davis to see if we could set something up at the Mount Road studios”, said Jim who doesn’t broadcast on CMR himself but acts as a trustee and trains young broadcasters at the station.

“We knew a two week event would be too much for the pair of us, so we approached John Rogers of the Hinckley Amateur Radio and Electronics Society which meets around the corner from the hospital at the Ex-Servicemen’s Club, to see if they’d be interested in coming on board. John’s enthusiasm and that of the members has meant that we’ve been able to get the whole thing off the ground in a very short space of time”.

For John Rogers who has the call sign M0JAV, it’s a chance to give something back. “Both of my parents spent a good deal of time being cared for at the Hinckley Hospital, which meant in turn that I spent a good deal of time there too and CMR’s programmes were a godsend. Operating GB0CMR is providing some of our less experienced members with much needed radio procedure practice,” says John who heads a team at the Hinckley Radio Society which instructs radio enthusiasts preparing to take the necessary exams to gain their own licences.

CMR’s station manager Paul Gardner,has made sure that the amateur radio operators have been made welcome at the studio complex. “It’s not the first time that radio transmissions have come from these studios. Test transmissions in preparation for the old Fosseway Radio came from here in the 90s. But this is completely different. I’m looking forward to seeing how far around the world GB0CMR will reach”, says Paul who was one of the founders of the Hinckley station back in 1990.

The Hinckley radio team’s efforts have been recognised by one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ham radio equipment. Icom UK were so impressed that they have provided GB0CMR with a top of the range transmitter/receiver plus accessories for the event which runs until 3 April.

CMR is up for two awards at the Hospital Broadcasting Association Conference on 26th of March and along with the CMR team, the GB0CMR operators will be keenly awaiting news.

The Board of the RSGB has today released the following announcement:

Peter Kirby, RSGB General Manager, has left the Society’s employment after the discovery of financial irregularities on his part.

For the time being, RSGB Director Don Beattie, G3BJ, will act as General Manager.

At this difficult time for the Society can I ask that everyone supports Don in his role. He may be contacted at [email protected] or 01234 832 701/07802 922 219.

Dave Wilson
President
28 March 2011

This announcement was made at http://www.rsgb.org/news/articlelinks.php?id=0122

IARU Disaster Committee report that frequencies in the 40m band of 7.030, 7.043 and 7.075 are reported as being in use from 2100 to 1100 UTC for disaster relief communications, and all amateurs are asked to avoid using them.

JARL has advised Japanese Amateurs that they may be asked to provide communications between Emergency Response HQ and local shelters on VHF UHF and HF, and are also advised that there may be delays in the restoration of electricity.

The judges this year were Ian, G3YBY and Tony, G4LDL. They did a sterling job in judging the submitted projects. There were many interesting builds and every one of them unique.

The results are as follows.

Professional (1st) – Dennis, G3LLZ – High Level Signal Source
Kit (1st) – James, M1DST – 70MHz Amplifier (300w) (Kit)
Antenna (1st) – Chris, G4AJA – 2m Portable Ground Plane
Homebrew (1st) – Ed, M0OSM – Morse Keyer

Highly Commended
Ed, M0OSM – Marker Generator
Geoff, G3TPQ – Auxiliary CW 500Hz filter
Deryck, G3YKC – ESR Meter (based on an article by M0XUK)

Icom’s latest base station offering 1.8 – 440MHz plus 1296MHz and D-Star options.

The Icom IC-9100 is Icom’s new offering for the operator who is looking for a complete high performance radio that covers HF – UHF in one box. It offers 100 Watts output on all bands up to 2m, whilst on 70cms you get a healthy 75 Watts. An internal auto ATU is included which covers HF plus 50MHz.

The receiver has excellent sensitivity and tests show that it is well up to the IC-7600 performance. This is the first Icom wide range transceiver to offer two independent receivers and full duplex. This makes it ideal for both DX HF operation and satellite work on the higher bands. Indeed the IC-9100 is a landmark radio.

It will cost a whopping £3000 and that doesn’t include the 23cm addon!

@Icom_UK tweets: There will be a world exclusive preview of the IC-9100 by Peter Hart in the April issue of Radcom.

http://www.wsplc.com/acatalog/IC-9100_Icom_HF_to_UHF_Trsnsceiver.html