Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Feb 22 2019 10:50 am
CINCINNATI AMATEURS PREP FOR MAKER FAIRE
PAUL/ANCHOR: Skill and inventiveness in the fields of engineering and
science, are the hallmarks of the modern maker fairs, and there's one
coming soon to Cincinnati, Ohio. Jack Prindle, AB4WS, filed this report,
for the Amateur News Weekly podcast, and we share it here.
JACK: The Cincinnati Mini-Maker Faire has announced the 2019 date. The
Faire returns to the Cincinnati Museum Center at the restored Cincinnati
Union Terminal, for one day only, on Saturday April 13, from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. The OH-KY-IN amateur Radio Society hosted a booth last year, and
was very successful. if you are interested in volunteering to man the
booth, please contact Cesi at kd8oob at gmail dot com(
[email protected])
Covering your Amateur Radio News in the Greater Cincinnati Area, and the
Commonwealth of Kentucky, this is Jack Prindle, AB4WS, normally in Big
Bone, Kentucky, by tuning in this week from sunny Clearwater, Florida.
(AMATEUR NEWS WEEKLY)
PAUL/ANCHOR: Our thanks to our friends at Amateur News Weekly for that
report. For more news in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, visit
amateurnewsweekly dot com (amateurnewsweekly.com).
**
BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the K7MMA repeater
in Spokane, Washington, on Fridays at 5 p.m. local time.
**
OSCAR SATELLITE SUCCESS FOR SOUTH AFRICAN AMATEURS
PAUL/ANCHOR: Imagine the excitement of a receiving signals from the first
geostationary amateur radio satellite. Well, there's a ham in South Africa
who didn't use his imagination -- just his rig. Jason Daniels, VK2LAW,
tells his story.
JASON: The Qatar (KAT-R) OSCAR 100 transponders on-board the Es'hail
(S-HAIL) Two satellite create the first geostationary amateur radio
satellite, and is covering the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, and
indeed, there's one ham in South Africa, who is mighty glad for that:
Rickus de Lange, ZS4A, is credited with being the nation's first amateur
radio station to monitor QSOs on the OSCAR 100, after his dish received
the satellite's signals on the 13th of February, on the eve of its
official Feb. 14 inauguration. The satellite became available for
amateur use on an experimental basis on the 12th of February.
Rickus told Newsline in an email: [quote] "What an experience it was,
eventually running around in the rain at night, to quickly put up the
Dish on a Tripod, and getting it aimed correctly." [endquote] He had
received the LNB as a gift from his friend Leon, ZED-S-ONE-MM, and Leon
had converted it to a lower Local Oscillator frequency. Rickus told us
[quote] "I started playing with it, and searching for the Engineering
beacon for 2 weeks, but with no luck." He told Newsline that contributing
to the lack of initial success, was the fact that he was unaware the
first dish was an offset-fed one too. But he was encouraged. He said:
[quote] "The first signals that I could hear on the WebSDR was the kick
in the backside that encouraged me further to put more effort in."
[endquote]. He switched to a normal DSTV Offset 60cm Dish, and from
inside his shack, where his laptop was using an SDR dongle, he could
see the signals on the waterfall, and hear the SSB signals clearly.
That's when he ran outside in the rain, and put up the station outside.
He said it felt great hearing hams operating out of Europe, and
surrounding countries, instead of just hearing OSCARS flying past. Two
days later, Rickus and Leon shared another "first" - Leon called him in
CW, becoming the first ZS station to transmit over the satellite.
Rickus said [quote] "This is a fantastic Bird that they have put up,
and this will help a lot of hams to be able to DX on UHF, which is
otherwise only possible via EME and not so easy to do." [endquote]
We think Rickus speaks for many hams who welcome OSCAR 100 to the sky.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jason Daniels, VK2LAW.
(AMSAT-SA, SOUTHGATE)
**
HAMS SIMULATE CYCLONE RESPONSE IN INDIA
PAUL/ANCHOR: Hams in India spent two days recently preparing for the
cyclone they hope will never come. Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, shares this
report.
JIM: The gathering of hams in the Indian state of Odisha, was part
Field Day and part amateur radio camp. Members of the Amateur Radio
Society of Odisha spent two days on an uninhabited island, unreachable
by conventional communications, and simulated a scenario of natural
disaster. The exercise on February 16th and 17th, was designed to
sharpen the operators' readiness, in case of such calamaties as
cyclones, which are not uncommon in that region.
The drill did not go unnoticed by public officials. Officials from the
Puri district administration visited the island to observe the hams in
action. They had a stake in the outcome of the exercise too: During
Cyclone Titli in October of last year, Gajapati district was cut-off
from the outside world for a few hours, but communications stayed intact
because of ham radio.
Meanwhile, the hams had a very proud showing by the end of the exercise
on Sunday evening. Using solar power and their radios, the eight
operators were able to contact 130 hams - many from elsewhere in India,
but also in Denmark, Russia, Australia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF.
(THE HINDU NEWSPAPER)
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