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eHam.net News for Saturday 7 February 2015
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eHam.net via rec.radio.info Admin
Feb 7, 2015, 6:24:27 PM2/7/15
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eHam.net News
///////////////////////////////////////////
As Technology Shrinks, Space Opens Up to Students and Researchers:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:06 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34020
Historically, missions executed by NASA (and others) were on a grand scale
- massive spacecraft built with massive budgets and a massive labor force,
but in the past decade, an education and industrial focus has emerged on
sending nano-satellites, known as CubeSats, into orbit (so named for their
cubical shape). For some size perspective, standard CubeSats have
dimensions of 10cm x 10cm x 10cm - roughly the size of a coffee cup. In
contrast, a standard GPS satellite is roughly the size of a bus. Currently,
universities and research institutions across the world are using CubeSats.
What are the consequences of this proliferation of CubeSat technology?
Logan Sisca, Command and Data Handling Lead for MXL, says exploration of
science from space is opening to more people. "The barrier to entry for the
general public is also fairly low due to the use of commercially-available
components," says Sisca. "This has even allowed high school students to
launch CubeSats, and amateur radio operators around the world can
contribute to on-orbit operations by receiving telemetry beacons." The
increased access to space means more individuals can contribute ideas and
research to the scientific community, potentially broadening our scientific
knowledge.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Your Chance to Talk to Astronauts on the International Space Station:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:05 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34019
The International Space Station is flying hundreds of miles above our
heads, but keeping in contact with the astronauts on the space station
isn't as difficult as it sounds. In fact, ham radio operators can listen,
and even speak, to the astronauts every once in a while. Indeed, anyone
with a radio licence and the right equipment can transmit to the crew and
talk to them. A licence is not required to listen in, however. In order to
make contact with the space station, the ISS has to be flying overhead,
because radio operators need line of sight with the station. Once they
connect, it's possible the operators could hear comments from the
astronauts aboard the station or even talk to them. And occasionally, radio
operators can even pick up actual images sent from ISS.
///////////////////////////////////////////
How to Chat with Astronauts Aboard the ISS:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:04 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34018
Amateur radio - also called ham radio - operators were dealt a treat this
weekend, when Russians aboard the ISS communicated with Earthlings. And one
first-time enthusiast received a welcome surprise when, using a USB dongle
and other equipment, he was able to receive the transmissions from the
cosmonauts orbiting Earth. By analysing the bits of data they sent, he was
able to piece together images and sounds from the space station that
commemorated moments in Russia and the Soviet Union's space history.
Astronauts and cosmonauts on the station regularly communicate with people
back on Earth using ham radio. Indeed, anyone with a radio licence and the
right equipment can transmit to the crew and talk to them. A licence is not
required to listen in, however.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Man Completes 69-Year Goal that Began with Deadly Fire:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:03 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34017
On Jan. 27, 1946, 14-year-old Frank Cooper had given up. He was working on
building a short-wave receiver radio that he saw in Popular Mechanics but
had gotten too tired to continue working that night. Not long after falling
asleep, he had a dream. "During my sleep I had this terrible dream that the
ceiling was on fire," he said. "There was this little hole in the ceiling
and as I watched the hole got bigger, the fire spread." Cooper soon
realized it wasn't a dream -- his room was on fire. He woke his sister and
stepfather and tried to run down to the lobby of the Grand Hotel in Monroe,
where they were living, but it was engulfed in flames. His family escaped
out a hallway to a veranda off the back of the hotel that overlooked the
Ouachita River. "As we got to that veranda, I could hear thumps and
realized that people were jumping out of the windows and jumping into the
river," he said. "The river was farther down. They weren't making it. As I
recall, it burnt up pretty quickly." "There went my radio and all of my
possessions," he said. "I never got to build that radio. Years later, I
became a ham radio operator and thought about that radio a long
time. "Finally I decided I would find that article. I went through Popular
Mechanics magazines trying to find all the issues in 1945 and 1946. Here
recently, I went to Google and was able to look at all the issues from
1944-1946 and determined that the February 1946 issue was the short-wave
receiver." Sixty-nine years later, Cooper, now 83, is finally putting the
pieces together. "I've acquired most of the parts to build the receiver,"
he said. "It feels like a completion. Something that I wanted to do all
these years. It's feeling really good to do it and like I'm completing a
project I started so many years ago. It's like things haven't been
completed until I do that." Cooper, who now lives in Friendswood, Texas,
hopes to finish the radio soon.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Farewell RadioShack: How Technology Made and Unmade an American Icon:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:03 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34016
Bankrupt at the age of 93, the store that once proclaimed itself "America's
#1 Electronics Store - Nobody Compares!" will shutter its shops and declare
its chapter over in the saga of technology of the past century. RadioShack,
maybe more than any other American company, has charted the history of
modern technology even through the store's messy, prolonged demise. More
than a decade after its first shop opened in Boston in 1921 to sell radios
to ship captains who had small radio houses on board their vessels,
RadioShack's first catalogue advertised radios alongside the latest
microphones, record players and and "custom built Taylor Tubes".
RadioShack's long story ended in a new century as messy and marked by
technology as the retailer had been at its highest success: a bizarre
collection of America's most advanced contraptions and its most trivial and
weird diversions, and all of it for sale. Unfortunately for the retailer,
Americans outpaced it in both ingenuity and consumption, with no heed for
the fact that RadioShack had helped wire their world together.
///////////////////////////////////////////
John Bigley, N7UR, Appointed as Nevada Section Manager:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 09:39 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34015
John Bigley, N7UR, of Las Vegas, has been appointed ARRL Nevada
Section Manager, succeeding the late Gary Grant, K7VY, of Reno, who
died February 1 after a period of ill health. Field Services and
Radiosport Manager Dave Patton, NN1N, consulted with Pacific
Division Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, and made the appointment
effective on February 5.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Propagation Forecast Bulletin #6 de K7RA:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 09:39 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34014
Solar activity rose over the last week, with average daily sunspot
numbers rising from 89.1 to 139 in the seven days ending February 4.
Average daily solar flux rose from 136.8 to 151.1. This is the
second week in a row with higher sunspot numbers and solar flux than
the previous week. Predicted average solar flux for the next 7 days,
February 5-11 is 141.
///////////////////////////////////////////
ARNewsline Report 1951 -- Feb 6 2015:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 09:44 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34013
The following is a QST. The K1N, Nevassa Island DXpedition takes to the
airwaves; the ARRL makes public its legislative agenda for 2015; the
Raspberry Pi Foundation announces its latest system on a chip; hams
involved in the Tour de France receive honors and a popular ham radio-based
radio program of the 1990's is coming back via an Internet archive. Find
out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1951 coming your
way right now.
///////////////////////////////////////////
As Technology Shrinks, Space Opens Up to Students and Researchers:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:06 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34020
Historically, missions executed by NASA (and others) were on a grand scale
- massive spacecraft built with massive budgets and a massive labor force,
but in the past decade, an education and industrial focus has emerged on
sending nano-satellites, known as CubeSats, into orbit (so named for their
cubical shape). For some size perspective, standard CubeSats have
dimensions of 10cm x 10cm x 10cm - roughly the size of a coffee cup. In
contrast, a standard GPS satellite is roughly the size of a bus. Currently,
universities and research institutions across the world are using CubeSats.
What are the consequences of this proliferation of CubeSat technology?
Logan Sisca, Command and Data Handling Lead for MXL, says exploration of
science from space is opening to more people. "The barrier to entry for the
general public is also fairly low due to the use of commercially-available
components," says Sisca. "This has even allowed high school students to
launch CubeSats, and amateur radio operators around the world can
contribute to on-orbit operations by receiving telemetry beacons." The
increased access to space means more individuals can contribute ideas and
research to the scientific community, potentially broadening our scientific
knowledge.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Your Chance to Talk to Astronauts on the International Space Station:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:05 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34019
The International Space Station is flying hundreds of miles above our
heads, but keeping in contact with the astronauts on the space station
isn't as difficult as it sounds. In fact, ham radio operators can listen,
and even speak, to the astronauts every once in a while. Indeed, anyone
with a radio licence and the right equipment can transmit to the crew and
talk to them. A licence is not required to listen in, however. In order to
make contact with the space station, the ISS has to be flying overhead,
because radio operators need line of sight with the station. Once they
connect, it's possible the operators could hear comments from the
astronauts aboard the station or even talk to them. And occasionally, radio
operators can even pick up actual images sent from ISS.
///////////////////////////////////////////
How to Chat with Astronauts Aboard the ISS:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:04 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34018
Amateur radio - also called ham radio - operators were dealt a treat this
weekend, when Russians aboard the ISS communicated with Earthlings. And one
first-time enthusiast received a welcome surprise when, using a USB dongle
and other equipment, he was able to receive the transmissions from the
cosmonauts orbiting Earth. By analysing the bits of data they sent, he was
able to piece together images and sounds from the space station that
commemorated moments in Russia and the Soviet Union's space history.
Astronauts and cosmonauts on the station regularly communicate with people
back on Earth using ham radio. Indeed, anyone with a radio licence and the
right equipment can transmit to the crew and talk to them. A licence is not
required to listen in, however.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Man Completes 69-Year Goal that Began with Deadly Fire:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:03 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34017
On Jan. 27, 1946, 14-year-old Frank Cooper had given up. He was working on
building a short-wave receiver radio that he saw in Popular Mechanics but
had gotten too tired to continue working that night. Not long after falling
asleep, he had a dream. "During my sleep I had this terrible dream that the
ceiling was on fire," he said. "There was this little hole in the ceiling
and as I watched the hole got bigger, the fire spread." Cooper soon
realized it wasn't a dream -- his room was on fire. He woke his sister and
stepfather and tried to run down to the lobby of the Grand Hotel in Monroe,
where they were living, but it was engulfed in flames. His family escaped
out a hallway to a veranda off the back of the hotel that overlooked the
Ouachita River. "As we got to that veranda, I could hear thumps and
realized that people were jumping out of the windows and jumping into the
river," he said. "The river was farther down. They weren't making it. As I
recall, it burnt up pretty quickly." "There went my radio and all of my
possessions," he said. "I never got to build that radio. Years later, I
became a ham radio operator and thought about that radio a long
time. "Finally I decided I would find that article. I went through Popular
Mechanics magazines trying to find all the issues in 1945 and 1946. Here
recently, I went to Google and was able to look at all the issues from
1944-1946 and determined that the February 1946 issue was the short-wave
receiver." Sixty-nine years later, Cooper, now 83, is finally putting the
pieces together. "I've acquired most of the parts to build the receiver,"
he said. "It feels like a completion. Something that I wanted to do all
these years. It's feeling really good to do it and like I'm completing a
project I started so many years ago. It's like things haven't been
completed until I do that." Cooper, who now lives in Friendswood, Texas,
hopes to finish the radio soon.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Farewell RadioShack: How Technology Made and Unmade an American Icon:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:03 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34016
Bankrupt at the age of 93, the store that once proclaimed itself "America's
#1 Electronics Store - Nobody Compares!" will shutter its shops and declare
its chapter over in the saga of technology of the past century. RadioShack,
maybe more than any other American company, has charted the history of
modern technology even through the store's messy, prolonged demise. More
than a decade after its first shop opened in Boston in 1921 to sell radios
to ship captains who had small radio houses on board their vessels,
RadioShack's first catalogue advertised radios alongside the latest
microphones, record players and and "custom built Taylor Tubes".
RadioShack's long story ended in a new century as messy and marked by
technology as the retailer had been at its highest success: a bizarre
collection of America's most advanced contraptions and its most trivial and
weird diversions, and all of it for sale. Unfortunately for the retailer,
Americans outpaced it in both ingenuity and consumption, with no heed for
the fact that RadioShack had helped wire their world together.
///////////////////////////////////////////
John Bigley, N7UR, Appointed as Nevada Section Manager:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 09:39 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34015
John Bigley, N7UR, of Las Vegas, has been appointed ARRL Nevada
Section Manager, succeeding the late Gary Grant, K7VY, of Reno, who
died February 1 after a period of ill health. Field Services and
Radiosport Manager Dave Patton, NN1N, consulted with Pacific
Division Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, and made the appointment
effective on February 5.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Propagation Forecast Bulletin #6 de K7RA:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 09:39 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34014
Solar activity rose over the last week, with average daily sunspot
numbers rising from 89.1 to 139 in the seven days ending February 4.
Average daily solar flux rose from 136.8 to 151.1. This is the
second week in a row with higher sunspot numbers and solar flux than
the previous week. Predicted average solar flux for the next 7 days,
February 5-11 is 141.
///////////////////////////////////////////
ARNewsline Report 1951 -- Feb 6 2015:
Posted: 06 Feb 2015 09:44 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/34013
The following is a QST. The K1N, Nevassa Island DXpedition takes to the
airwaves; the ARRL makes public its legislative agenda for 2015; the
Raspberry Pi Foundation announces its latest system on a chip; hams
involved in the Tour de France receive honors and a popular ham radio-based
radio program of the 1990's is coming back via an Internet archive. Find
out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1951 coming your
way right now.
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