Archive - January 2013

The latest video from the International Space Station (courtesy of the crew of Expedition 34) shows the view from ISS when crossing from night into day, and then slips back into night again.

ISS cross the terminator and experience this day-night cycle 16 times a day. This sped-up view shows two complete orbits on 3rd January 2013 from 11:43 to 15:49 UTC.

The sequence of shots were taken on a pass from northwestern Australia, making two complete orbits to eastern Quebec, near the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This fast-paced video features the ISS completing two and a half orbits around the Earth, crossing the terminator line several times in the process.

Click the image to view the YouTube video.

Listen out from this weekend for more special event stations on air celebrating the RSGB Centenery.

Following from their successful operations of GR2HQ and GO2HQ, starting this weekend the teams will activate on HF the Callsign ”G1ØØC” from England. Following this event we expect to see ”GM1ØØC” from Scotland, ”GW1ØØC” from Wales and ”GJ1ØØC” from Jersey also take to the air (dates and times to be fixed). You can keep an eye on who is operating and from where by clicking here.

Please keep an eye on this blog entry and I will post more information when I have it along with the website which will hold all information for these events.

Qsl route is via MØOXO OQRS (Your Qsl Cards are not required so please do not send them!). GL !!

Not being my first mode of choice albeit still vy pleased to receive the Certificate for working 600+ Prefix’s on PSK-31.

The European PSK Club, or EPC for short, is an informal club of amateur radio operators dedicated to maintaining high levels of amateur radio communications on PSK modes. Its purpose is to promote activity and good operating practice on the PSK modes on all amateur bands. Membership is FREE for any licensed radio amateur, club or SWL. All of our managers serve on a voluntary basis. A high quality and colorful membership certificate in PDF format is sent via email to new members when membership is granted. Each new member is assigned a unique “EPC Number” which is retained for life.

Well credit where its due, congratulations to ARRL LOTW (Logbook of the World) Staff after the latest upgrades to their system.

There was much criticism from some corners about the delays and performance of LOTW over the last few months but after the hardware upgrade, what a fantastic difference it has made. Logs are uploaded with incredible speed so whatever technicians have done has made a huge impact on the doubters of LOTW and a huge difference on its performance.

Granted my latest upload of my personal log was only a few Qso’s but nevertheless to process it and have the results available in less than 2 seconds is incredible (see below).

2013-01-22 08:26:04 LOTW_QSO: Successfully processed 32 QSO records in 1.571724 seconds 2013-01-22 08:26:04 LOTW_QSO: 1 QSL record entered 2013-01-22 08:26:04 LOTW_QSO: No errors encountered

It wasn’t a fluke either! I have uploaded several other logs for ‘managed’ stations and there upload has been at equal speed. If you would like to know more about LOTW then click the image above.

Well done LOTW !

Out near the orbit of Jupiter, a faint speck of light is moving through the black of space.  At first glance it doesn’t look like much, no brighter than a thousand distant stars speckling the velvet sky behind it; indeed, it takes a big telescope make out that it is a comet. But what a comet it could turn out to be…?

Later this year, “Comet ISON” could blossom into a striking naked eye object visible even in broad daylight.  

“Comet ISON is a sungrazer,” explains Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab. “The orbit of the comet will bring it very close to the sun, which we know can be a spectacular thing.”

On the 28th November 2013, this “dirty snowball” will fly through the sun’s atmosphere little more than a million km from the stellar surface. If the comet survives–a big IF–it could emerge glowing as brightly as the Moon, briefly visible near the sun in broad daylight. The comet’s dusty tail stretching into the night sky could create a worldwide sensation.

Click the image above to view the YouTube video.

Thanks again to the Award Managers in the European PSK Club for the latest Awards received. A couple of  the selection are shown here.

The European PSK Club, or EPC for short, is an informal club of amateur radio operators dedicated to maintaining high levels of amateur radio communications on PSK modes. Its purpose is to promote activity and good operating practice on the PSK modes on all amateur bands. Membership is FREE for any licensed radio amateur, club or SWL. All of our managers serve on a voluntary basis. A high quality and colorful membership certificate in PDF format is sent via email to new members when membership is granted. Each new member is assigned a unique “EPC Number” which is retained for life.

David ZS1BCE has been appointed as the new radio technician for Marion Island until 2014.

He departs from Cape Town in April this year and will only be active once the ship departs with the old team about 4 weeks later. He will be active on most HF bands; SSB only.

No call sign has been applied for yet, but David wishes to apply for ZS8D. Our old friend Pierre Tromp ZS1HF / ZS8M will be his Qsl Manager.

All enquiries strictly via ZS1HF.

No apologies being made for adding these sorts of items on the Blog.

This incredible short video gives us a brief insight into some of the many visible locations on the Moon. The video by NASA can be viewed on YouTube.

Here are a few facts too, just for the geeks amongst us 😉

Like the rest of the Solar System, the Moon is about 4 1/2 billion years old. Most of the cratering occurred in the first billion years of its life, when leftover debris from planet formation was abundant.

The Moon is only one-fourth the diameter of the Earth.

Because of a loss of orbital energy to gravity from the Earth, the Moon is very gradually moving away from the Earth. In the early history of the Earth, the Moon looked about 3 times larger in apparent size in the sky, because it was closer to the Earth.

Simply click the image and enjoy, just a shame it isn’t a little longer !

Two Coronal Mass Ejections (CME’s) are expected to impact the earth in the next 24 hours and a G1-Class Geomagnetic storm will be possible shortly after.

Solar activity is expected to go quiet again after these active regions rotate off the earth-facing disk over the next 36 hours.

Click the image to see the YouTube video.