The IARU Region1 tri yearly conference opened in
Cavtat Croatia on Sunday last. Among the guests
present at the opening ceremony were the Mayor of
Dubrovnik County, the Director of Electronic
Communications and Postal Directorate and the Deputy
President Croatian Agency for Telecommunications and
Post. Over 130 delegates representing 52 member
societies as well as IARU Headquarters and the other
IARU Regions were in attendance. The Society was
represented by the President, Fr.Finbarr Buckley EI1CS
and Sean Nolan EI7CD.
The Conference in its three main Committees had to
deal with over 120 papers on a wide range of issues
that had been submitted to it for consideration. The
days were long with meetings commencing at 8.30am
and running on until 1800, with an hour for lunch
and two short tea breaks. On two evenings there were
workshops on operating standards and on the future
direction of amateur radio which went on to 22.30.
On Wednesday evening Alexander Gulyaer of the
European Radio communications Office gave an
interesting Short presentation on CEPT Activities
related to Amateur Radio.
A new band plan was adopted for the 7Mhz band to be
effective from 29th March 2009. This is the date by
which broadcast stations should have vacated the 7.1 to
7.2Mhz segment and it becomes and amateur primary
allocation in accordance with the decision of WRC'03
On the final day of the Conference Elections were held
for the Executive Committee. The new President of the
Region is Hans Blondeel Timmerman PB2T who defeated
Colin Thomas G3PSM in the election. The new Secretary
is Dennis Green ZS4BS who defeated Angel Padin de Pazos
EA1QF in the election.
The outgoing Secretary Don Beattie G3BJ was awarded the
Roy Stevens trophy for distinguished service to the
Region over the years. The station 9A0IARU was active
over the period of the conference. We hope that some of
you managed to work it.
The next Region1 conference will be held in Sun City,
South Africa in Sep. 2011
The conference ended with a gala dinner on last
Thursday evening.
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PCSAT-1 RETURNS ON 9TH OF DECEMBER
The Amateur Radio satellite PCSAT-1 should return to full operations on 9th December.
Bob, WB4APR, writes on the AMSAT Bulletin Board:
PCSAT-1 should return to full operations on 9 Dec 08.
Plan on another Satellite Simulated Emergency Test.
This should give a few weeks for some good 2m packet contacts and the SSET, and if the ISS is also operational on 145.825, then there is the possibility for some lucky 2-hop DX contacts via both birds. Combined, that is 12 opportunities per day for contacts without any change in the radio.
Operating PCSAT-1 is just like any 1200 baud 2 meter packet repeater. Uplink and downlink are on 145.825 and the path is VIA ARISS. This path is identical to the ISS path so that you do not have to change anything between the two spacecraft. (Until PCSAT-1 is reloaded, however, its digipeating alias is its FCC call W3ADO-1.) You can hear it every day, but its packets die before completion because of poor power budget.
I just commanded PCSAT-1 yesterday and all functions are normal. All we need is the first full-sun orbit on the 9th of Dec to be able to do a full recovery; and then it should last for 2 weeks or more.
You can easily operate mobile using any of the APRS radios as is (D7, D700, D710, VX-8R, DR-135), or any other radio with an external TNC, or even any radio with no TNC if you use a sound-card packet application.
You can make two-way contacts, send beacons and bulletins and send your position so you will show up on the PCSAT web page http://pcsat.aprs.org/
I'd suggest everyone plan on testing their emergency Email capability during this time. Lets set the time window of 12 to 15 December for everyone to try to send an Email via one of these birds. Please see the Satellite Simulated Emergency Test http://www.aprs.org/sset.html. You can use any packet system and no special software is required.
More operators needed for Lord Howe DXpedition
Bill Horner, VK4FW, a member of Oceania Amateur Radio DX Group Inc. (ODXG), reports:
"We are looking for more operators (couples or singles) for the VK9LA Lord Howe Island DXpedition after securing extra accomodation at a second boarding lodge.
"As the island is almost full, we need to act now to get this finalized. The ODXG and VK9LA Web pages have details of the operation.
"As the plane is already full on the arrival and departure dates, it will be necessary to arrive a day early and leave a day later. I will change my flight to arrive a day earlier to allow me to start unpacking and setting up.
"Urgently, E-mail me if this suits any of you."
If any of you are interested, let him know at:
vk4fw@westnet.com.au
For updates, details on the DXpedition and how to donate to this operation, please visit the ODXG and VK9LA Web pages at:
http://www.odxg.org
http://www.odxg.org/vk9la.htm
Wanted: CW Operators
Jim Ward, N1LKJ, Eastern MA Section Traffic Manager writes:
If you like CW or want to improve your Morse Code Skills, the NTS Traffic Nets is a great place to do it. We are looking for operators to join us on the East MA. & Rhode Island CW Net (EMARICW).
The Net meets daily at 7:00 PM on 3.565 MHz. If you think it is too fast, just send QNS and they will slow down to anyone's speed. Try it and enjoy the fun of sending and receiving traffic. Help is available for all who want to learn.
For more information about the National Traffic system and traffic nets, please visit http://nts.ema.arrl.org
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Satellite Expected to Go QRT by End of Year
Launched in January 1990, AMSAT-OSCAR 16 (AO-16) a
digital satellite has been operating as a voice
repeater since January 2008, using FM voice on the
uplink and transmitting DSB voice on the downlink (best
received on SSB). But according to the satellite's
command team, the satellite's orbit might force this to
end sometime before the end of the year.
AO-16's uplink is 145.9200 MHz FM; the downlink is
437.0260 MHz SSB. Users are asked to restrict their
uplink power to a reasonable power level, and not to
transmit without being able to hear the downlink.
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Phoenix Mars Lander goes QRT
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications
after operating for more than five months.
As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the
robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough
sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power
necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's
instruments.
Mission engineers last received a signal from the
lander on Nov. 2.
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