CCARC NEWS 14-21
THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
ISSUE No 14-21 6th June 2014
In this Issue:
- Upcoming Meetings
- NSW Ham Database 1911-1961
- Live HD Streaming of Earth from ISS
- Port Macquarie Field Day
- HamRadioNow: What’s a Whitebox?
- History This Week
- Broke & fixed
- Reminders
1. Upcoming Meetings
The next monthly business meeting will be on this Saturday the 7th June starting at 1330 hrs following a BBQ lunch at 1200 hrs. All are invited to attend. Please support your club and enjoy the food and the company.
Central Coast WICEN will be at the Webbs Creek Ride on Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th June.
2. NSW Ham Database 1911-1961
Database courtesy of Waverly Amateur Radio Society. An historical list of early NSW calls. A number of present and past CCARC calls are in this database.
http://www.vk2bv.org/museum/k-files/nsw-calls.pdf
3. Live HD Streaming of Earth from ISS
HDEV has placed four commercial HD video cameras on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS).
The cameras, made by four different companies – Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba, are enclosed in a temperature specific housing and are exposed to the harsh radiation of space.
Analysis of the effect of space on the video quality may help NASA engineers decide which cameras are the best types to use on future missions.
ISS orbits our planet once every 90 minutes and experiences a sunrise or a sunset about every 45 minutes. When the station is in darkness, video may appear black.
HDEV operates one camera at a time and is designed so that when the system is initially powered on, after a 1-2 minute warm up period, the cameras are turned on one at a time in a repeating cycle.
The live feed and tracking may be viewed at http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/HDEV/
4. Port Macquarie Field Day
The 2014 Oxley Region A.R.C. Field Day is set to be on the 7th and 8th of June at Tacking Point Surf Life Saving Club Hall, Matthew Flinders Drive, Port Macquarie.
Registrations are from 1000 hours Saturday.
Feel free to download an Official Program.
5. HamRadioNow: What’s a Whitebox?
It’s the opposite of Black Box – open source hardware and software. It just may be the ‘Future of Amateur Radio’
Chris Testa KB2BMH and Bruce Perens K6BP talk to Gary at the TAPR booth at the 2014 Hamvention about the product they’re working on – an open-source software defined radio for VHF/UHF that will eventually shrink down to HT size, look more like a smart phone than an HT, run apps, and multiple analog and digital modes.
Gary also talks to HackRF’s Michael Ossmann at his first ham radio show (license soon, Michael?), and TAPR’s Steve Bible N7HPR on the upcoming DCC and other stuff.
Watch Episode 149: What’s a Whitebox?
[embedyt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF9SK5f0NUM[/embedyt]
Ham Radio Now
http://www.youtube.com/user/HamRadioNow/videos
6. History This Week
A look back at events that made history this week – compiled by the Summerland Amateur Radio Club of Lismore, NSW
Monday, 2 June, 2014
780BC First total solar eclipse reliably recorded by Chinese
1752 Ben Franklin’s kite is struck by lightning – what a shock!
1783 The first hot-air balloon ascent – unmanned – flew for ten minutes. Montgolfier.
1786 First commercially-made ice cream sold (NY)
1825 The first time natural gas was used for illumination was in Fredonia, in western N.Y.
1882 Electric iron patented by Henry W. Seely, NYC
1896 Marconi British patent no 12039, a system of telegraphy using Hertzian waves.
1901 Guglielmo Marconi received a reissued patent “Wireless Telegraphy.”
1910 First round trip flight over the English Channel (C.S. Rolls, England)
1912 US army tests first machine gun mounted on a plane
1929 George Eastman demonstrated the first Technicolor movie (Rochester, NY).
1977 First personal computer, the Apple II, goes on sale.
BROKE & FIXED
No items for Broke & Fixed this week – all CCARC infrastructure is operational.
REMINDERS
This section lists important announcements and possibly items from previous CCARC NEWS editions that are still current and may need your input:
Jaycar Tuggerah & Erina will give CCARC members a trade discount – approx 10% on purchases over $25. Make sure you ask for it. Thanks Rod VK2LAX and Col VK2ZCO.
Anyone reading this on the website who is not yet a member of the CCARC, please consider joining by emailing ccarc at ccarc dot org dot au for full details.
For submissions to this newsletter from CCARC club members please email the editor news-editor at ccarc dot org dot au
For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website.
Dave VK2DLS … News & Publicity Officer …
