Mayo Radio Rally

The annual Mayo Radio Rally took place in Castlebar on Sunday the 20th of November. There was a fantastic attendance of traders and punters on the day, with plenty of buying, selling
Including eyeball QSOs taking place. We also noted that Dave
EI9FBB, our local DXCC card checker, was kept busy.

On the Saturday night, ahead of the rally itself, Mayo
Radio Experimenters Network, the rally organisers, had
arranged presentations on Amateur Television and on
Logbook of the World. Pat EI2HX gave us an excellent introduction to Amateur Television, showing us some of his collection of antennas, transmitters, receivers and connectors. For those in the audience more used to working with equipment designed for Kilohertz or Megahertz frequencies, the "Gigahertz" hardware Pat works with seems almost exotic.

Dave EI9FBB, who is not long back from DXpeditioning
with the T32C group on Kiritimati, explained the ins
and outs of the ARRL's Logbook of the World - an online
alternative to paper QSL cards for those working towards a DXCC award. Dave outlined the steps involved in setting up and maintaining a Logbook of the World account and also covered the security measures in place
to ensure the integrity of the system.




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Space Station Active on 70 cm Packet

The Amateur Radio station located in the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station is now active on AX.25 packet radio at 437.550 MHz.

To utilize the the packet system, operators need to set their TNC UNPROTO paths to ARISS for digipeating, or they can connect to the packet BBS using the call sign RS0ISS-1. The packet beacon is set to transmit at 2 minute intervals.

Click here to see the current position of the space station in real time. You can also obtain pass predictions online from AMSAT-NA.

Story courtesy of Trevor Hawkins, M5AKA


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ARISSAT-1 May De-Orbit in April 2012:

eHam.net News -- According to predictions satellite is due to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in early April 2012. Launched from the International Space Station on August 8, the satellite is traveling in a low orbit and is steadily losing altitude. The rate of orbital decay may be accelerated by increasing atmospheric density caused by increased solar
activity. With that factor in mind, some ARISSat-1 decay predictions
suggest re-entry as early as February 1.

This is from The ARRL Letter on November 17, 2011
Website: http://www.arrl.org/


ARISSAT-1 May De-Orbit in April 2012:
According to predictions http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/arissat5.htm from Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL, the ARISSat-1 http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php satellite is due to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in early April 2012. Launched from the International Space Station on August 8, the satellite is traveling in a low orbit and is steadily losing altitude. The rate of orbital decay may be accelerated by increasing atmospheric density caused by increased solar activity. With that factor in mind, some ARISSat-1 decay predictions suggest re-entry as early as February 1. ARISSat-1 remains quite active, sending voice messages, digital telemetry and Slow Scan TV images. Amateurs have also been able to enjoy contacts through ARISSat-1's linear transponder despite the fact that the UHF antenna was apparently damaged prior to (or during) deployment. Last month, AMSAT-NA announced a competition http://www.arrl.org/news/arissat-1-team-announces-morse-code-contest to see who can record the last bits of telemetry as ARISSat-1 makes its final plunge. To decode the CW or BPSK telemetry you must use the ARISSATTLM software http://www.arissat1.org/v3/ for Windows or Mac OS. The CW signal is transmitted at 145.919 MHz and the BPSK signal appears at 145.920 MHz, plus or minus Doppler.

Source:

The ARRL Letter




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Longer Lasting Lithium-ion Batteries

Scientists boost battery strength with small holes.
Batteries for phones and laptops could soon recharge ten times faster and hold a charge ten times larger than current technology allows.

Scientists at Northwestern University in the US have changed the materials in lithium-ion batteries to boost their abilities. One change involves poking millions of minuscule holes in the battery.

Batteries built using the novel technique could be in the shops within five years, estimate the scientists.


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RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic, the world’s largest passenger ship at the time, sank on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, following a collision with an iceberg, at approximately 0245 on the morning of April 15th 1912.

1,517 people lost their lives in the tragedy.

The 100th anniversary of the sinking will be marked by several special event stations at ports associated with the ships maiden voyage.

These include Belfast, Southampton, Cherbourg, Cobh, Cape Race, VO1MCE and a maritime mobile station, VE0MGY, at the site of the sinking.

The call sign in Ireland EI100T has been issued for the year 2012 and will operate in co-operation with the Cobh Titanic 100 Committee.

The main events will happen over the weekend of April 13/14th 2012 and EI100T will also be operated regularly throughout the year.

A special award will be announced before the end of December in conjunction with the other special event locations.

Enquiries and QSLs to EI4HQ QTHR.




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Mystery of the Lunar Ionosphere

How can a world without air have an ionosphere?
Somehow the Moon has done it. Lunar researchers have been struggling with the mystery for years, and they may have finally found a solution.

Read the full NASA story here:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/14nov_lunarionosphere/



A video version of this story is available, watch ScienceCasts:
Mystery of the Lunar Ionosphere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zSrP4MacFE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks to Ken Eaton GW1FKY for spotting this item.


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Mayo Radio Experimenters Network Radio Rally

The MREN Rally will be held on November 20th this year at its now established venue of The Welcome Inn Hotel in Castlebar, County Mayo. All the usual traders attending and as always it promises to be a very enjoyable rally. An opportunity to meet old and new friends. Come and join us the Doors open at 11am.


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Sun comes alive, blasting massive solar flares

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2011-11-04/sun-storms-solar-flares-space-weather/51075488/1


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Mayo Radio Experimenters Radio Rally

The Mayo Radio Experimenters are holding their annual Radio Rally on Sunday 20th November at their usual location in the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, Co Mayo where the doors will open at 11.00am.

This is one of the premier events on the Irish radio scene each year and as well as the usual extensive range of traders, club stands, demonstrations and extensive catering facilities, the club is proud to announce even more reasons to attend this year Rally.

On Saturday evening, 19th of November we are lucky to have two of Ireland’s most experienced amateurs enthusiasts, who will talk on their respective topics:
Commencing at 7.00pm Pat Fitzpatrick EI2HX will give a talk and demonstration on amateur television (ATV).
Pat has extensive experience and many of you will be aware of his articles in Echo Ireland and qrz.com. This is a unique opportunity to explore this aspect of the hobby and Pat will allow time to answer any queries or comments you may have.

At 9.00pm Dave Deane EI9FBB will give a talk on the ARRL DXCC Program and also on the Logbook of the World system. Dave is an accomplished DX,er and is the only Irish based QSL card checker for the ARRL DXCC programme. Dave took part in the recent T32C dxpedition and will hopefully share some of his experiences on this and other expeditions. Dave will also be present on the IRTS stand on Sunday to check DXCC cards. This is an efficient and practical way to ensure your cards are authenticated so, doesn’t forget to bring any DXCC cards you have for verification.

It is expected the lecture programme will be well attended and the club has arranged some very attractive packages with the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar to enable overnight stays at affordable prices.
There are full details of the hotel packages, the lecture programme and the latest information on the Radio Rally on the club website ‐ www.ei7mre.org or you can contact Padraic Baynes, EI9JA rally director and organiser on his mobile +353 87 695 7154 or e-mail – pbaynes1@eircom.net for any information about the rally.

For overnight booking/information and details contact the Welcome Inn Hotel direct on: +353 949 022288.




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Mayo Radio Experimenters Network

The Mayo Chairperson calls for radio enthusiasts to join
their local club.

Jimmy Kelly, EI2GCB, was re-elected Chairperson of the
Mayo Radio Experimenters, at their recent AGM. This is
Jimmys third consecutive year, and, under the club
rues, he will have to step aside at next year's AGM,
because of the three year rule. Adrian Healy, EI2HAB,
was returned as Treasurer and selected for the first
time as IRTS Club Rep. The other officers elected
were: Newsletter Editor; John Corless, EI7IQ, PRO
David Hatfield, EI3ECB, Rally Director; Padraic
Baynes, EI9JA, and QSL Manager; Brendan Minish,
EI6IZ. Addressing the meeting, the Chairperson Jimmy
Kelly, EI2GCB, said the club continues to have a
strong and vibrant membership with well attended
monthly meetings and is financially solid. He
congratulated Adrian Healy on his success in the July
theory examination. He said that everyone interested
in the hobby should join their local club; the
availability of theory classes being one of the many
benefits of membership. The club performs well in
contests, he said, including winning the portable
section of the IRTS 80mts. Counties Contest. He noted
that MREN took part in the Lighthouses on the Air
event for the first time this year, which proved a
very enjoyable event. He added that the club was
delighted to support the scouting event, JOTA, again
this year. He thanked members who called in to the
club callsign, EIMRE/P, which is used in these events.
The club organised a number of publicity and promotion
events over the summer on an experimental basis. These
were public events and he reported limited success,
adding that while they were very worthwhile
endeavours, the events themselves would need tweaking
for next year. The chairperson reminded the meeting
that the Rally would be held on November 20th this
year at it now established venue of The Welcome Inn
Hotel in Castlebar. He thanked the management and
staff of the hotel for their continued support of the
club. Jimmy also congratulated John Browne, EI7FAB,
winner of the MREN annual activity, with half a point
margin over Dominic Curtin, EI9JS, in the closest-run
club event ever. The annual activity is decided by a
cumulative tally of scores recorded in the twelve
monthly competitions held by the club for its members.

He concluded his report by thanking his fellow
officers and all the members for their attendance at
club meetings and events and their support over the
year past.

The Connor Shield (for outstanding service to hobby,)
was won jointly by Jimmy Kelly, EI2GCB and Dominic
Curtin, EI9JS and the Wishing Well Shield (for
outstanding service to the club) was won by Padraic
Baynes, EI9JA






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New TV Repeater in Ireland

South Dublin Radio Club is in the process of installing a new television repeater with coverage over the greater Dublin area.

The repeater, which is located on
the three rock mountain, will transmit on 2390Mhz and
receive signal in on 1249Mhz. While not on the air yet, initial tests have proved sucessful with perfect pictures received 60 miles away at the EI2ATR Cavan
repeater site. The repeater will be linked by radio to the existing TV repeater system currently operating in Co Cavan, This repeater currently transmits on
1276.5Mhz, 2370 Mhz and 10.040Mhz and gives good
coverage of Cavan/Louth/Meath Area.

Looking forward to trying some experiments through this repeater when it's up on air.


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Some Satellite News

AMSAT to celebrate 50 years in space at symposium

The AMSAT-NA 2011 Space Symposium will be held on
Friday, November 4-6 in San Jose, California. This
year's Symposium coincides with the celebration of the
50th anniversary of OSCAR 1, the first Amateur Radio
satellite.



30th anniversary of UoSAT-1 (OSCAR-9)

On October 6, 1981 the United Kingdom's first Amateur
Radio Satellite UoSAT-OSCAR-9 was launched. Surrey
Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) celebrated the 30th
anniversary of the launch of Surrey's first satellite,
UoSAT-1. Launched into orbit on 6th October 1981,
UoSAT-1 was designed and built by a team from the
University of Surrey led by SSTL founder Sir Martin
Sweeting, G3YJO.


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CEPT proposes frequency allocation for amateur radio

A small allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of the 500
kHz band to the amateur radio service on a secondary
basis - this proposal has been made by a project team
of about 50 representatives of European governments
and other stakeholders in preparation for the next
World Radiocommunication Conference WRC12. They
followed an invitation of the Federal Network Agency
in Germany and met by the end of September in Mainz.
The discussion led to a compromise in the size of the
amateur radio band, namely 480 kHz - 472 kHz, with a
maximum power of 5 W EIRP.




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Tiree Expedition (MS0WRC)

For the 8th year running members of the Workington
Radio Club from West Cumbria are planning to visit the
Hebridean Islands off the West Coast of Scotland. This
year they will be joined once more by members of the
Sands contest group from Morecambe in Lancashire and
Brendan (EI6IZ).

The team of 11 operators will travel to the Island of
Tiree (EU-008) on the 1st October and operate
throughout the following week from their base in Caoles
on the North East coast of the Island.



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RSGB Convention

The RSGB convention takes place this year on October
7th, 8th and 9th. Full details from
www.rsgb.org/rsgbconvention


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NASA's UARS re-enters Earth's atmosphere

From Southgate Amateur Radio News;
NASA's decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) fell back to Earth between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 23 and 1:09 a.m. Sept. 24, 20 years and nine days after its launch on a 14-year mission that produced some of the first long-term records of chemicals in the atmosphere.

The precise re-entry time and location of debris impacts have not been determined. During the re-entry period, the satellite passed from the east coast of Africa over the Indian Ocean, then the Pacific Ocean, then across northern Canada, then across the northern Atlantic Ocean, to a point over West Africa. The vast majority of the orbital transit was over water, with some flight over northern Canada and West Africa.

Six years after the end of its productive scientific life, UARS broke into pieces during re-entry, and most of it up burned in the atmosphere. Data indicates the satellite likely broke apart and landed in the Pacific Ocean far off the U.S. coast.

Twenty-six satellite components, weighing a total of about 1,200 pounds, could have survived the fiery re-entry and reach the surface of Earth.

However, NASA is not aware of any reports of injury or property damage.

The Operations Center for JFCC-Space, the Joint Functional Component Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., which works around the clock detecting, identifying and tracking all man-made objects in Earth orbit, tracked the movements of UARS through the satellite's final orbits and provided confirmation of re-entry.

"We extend our appreciation to the Joint Space Operations Center for monitoring UARS not only this past week but also throughout its entire 20 years on orbit," said Nick Johnson, NASA's chief scientist for orbital debris, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "This was not an easy re-entry to predict because of the natural forces acting on the satellite as its orbit decayed. Space-faring nations around the world also were monitoring the satellite's descent in the last two hours and all the predictions were well within the range estimated by JSpOC."

UARS was launched Sept. 12, 1991, aboard space shuttle mission STS-48 and deployed on Sept. 15, 1991. It was the first multi-instrumented satellite to observe numerous chemical components of the atmosphere for better understanding of photochemistry. UARS data marked the beginning of many long-term records for key chemicals in the atmosphere. The satellite also provided key data on the amount of light that comes from the sun at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths.

UARS ceased its scientific life in 2005.

Because of the satellite's orbit, any surviving components of UARS should have landed within a zone between 57 degrees north latitude and 57 degrees south latitude. It is impossible to pinpoint just where in that zone the debris landed, but NASA estimates the debris footprint to be about 500 miles long.

For more information about UARS, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/uars





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5 MHz Newsletter now online

A new Newsletter has been launched to support the
growing number of 5 MHz operating permissions globally
- it's the 5MHz Newsletter. Edited by Paul Gaskell,
G4MWO, one of the original RSGB 5 MHz team, it aims to
be both an accurate information source of news about 5
Mhz and a platform for exchange of ideas, be they
theoretical, operational, constructional or just
general comments about the band. You can freely access
the 5 MHz Newsletter from Google Documents at
http://tinyurl.com/6fkhcmf



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Jelly Batteries

A new polymer jelly could be the next big step forward
for lithium batteries. The jelly replaces the volatile
and hazardous liquid electrolyte currently used in most
lithium batteries. Researchers from the University of
Leeds hope their development leads to smaller, cheaper
and safer gadgets. Once on the market, the lithium
jelly batteries could allow lighter laptop computers,
and more efficient electric cars.
_________________________


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Mayo Radio Experimenters Network

The Mayo Radio Experimenters, using the call sign
EI7MRE/P, activated the Blacksod lighthouse, IE0008,
which is sited on the north west coast of Mayo, on
Sunday August 21st for the International
Lighthouse/Lightships On The Air event. This was the
first time that this lighthouse was activated for the
occasion and the first lighthouse the club has
activated. Approximately 250 contacts were made into 22
countries and 6 UK and Dutch lighthouses were worked.
Best DX was Japan, Indonesia and Phillipeens. North
America was prominent too with limited openings to
South America. The bulk of the contacts were with
stations in Germany and Italy.

Plans are well underway for the 2011 Mayo Rally will be
held on Sunday Nov 20th in The Welcome Inn Hotel,
Castlebar. The Rally Director is Padraic Baynes, EI9JA.
More details about the club and its events can be found
on the web at www.ei7mre.org

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NASA Moon Mission in Final Preparations for September Launch

NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)
mission to study the moon is in final launch
preparations for a scheduled Sept. 8 launch from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

GRAIL's twin spacecraft are tasked for a nine-month
mission to explore Earth's nearest neighbor in
unprecedented detail. They will determine the structure
of the lunar interior from crust to core and advance
our understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.


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