CCARC NEWS 15-02
THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
ISSUE No 15-02 23rd January 2015
In this Issue:
- Upcoming Meetings
- ARNSW Trash & Treasure
- Listen-in to 2380 MHz radar observations of asteroid
- History This Week
- Broke & fixed
- Reminders
1. Upcoming Meetings
There will be a number of events on Saturday the 7th February. There will be a Field Day planning meeting starting at 1100 hrs, then a BBQ lunch at 1200 hrs, then the Monthly Business Meeting at 1300 hrs.
2. ARNSW Trash & Treasure
The ARNSW Trash & Treasure sale is on at Dural 0930 hrs on Sunday 25th January.
http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/page_tt.htm
3. Listen-in to 2380 MHz radar observations of asteroid
On January 26, 2015 the near-Earth asteroid 2004 BL86 will pass within 0.008 AU of Earth (3.1 times as far away as the Moon). This will be the closest approach to Earth by this asteroid for at least the next 240 years
As part of an extensive campaign of radar observations to learn about BL86’s shape, spin state, and surface; and to refine knowledge of its trajectory; the Arecibo Observatory’s S-band planetary radar plans to illuminate the asteroid with a continuous-wave signal over January 27, 2015 03:45 – 04:00 UTC. Over that time, BL86’s radar echo will be received by elements of the Very Long Baseline Array and the Very Large Array in New Mexico. Anyone with an antenna and receiver capable of detecting the echo is welcome to listen in.
BL86 will be above the horizon for most observers in North and South America, and for some parts of western Europe and western Africa. To readily detect its radar echo, observers should have an antenna with an effective collecting area of at least 10 square meters. BL86 will be moving rapidly across the sky. Over Jan 27 03:45 – 04:00, it will move by ~0.5º. The asteroid’s exact position on the sky will depend on where it is observed from as well as the time, but will be near (RA,Dec) = (130º,+17º). A current ephemeris can be obtained from JPL’s Horizons system: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons
The Arecibo transmission will be tuned to give a nominal echo center frequency of exactly 2380 MHz at geocenter. Without correction for Earth’s rotation, BL86’s radar echo will appear as slowly-drifting and within 15 kHz of 2380 MHz. Predicted echo frequency as a function of time for a given location can be obtained on-request by emailing Michael Busch (mbusch@seti.org). We expect an echo bandwidth of 6 Hz or less.
Details of the BL86 radar observing campaign at the Arecibo Observatory, NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar facility, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory are available at
http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2004BL86/2004BL86_planning.html
4. History This Week
A look back at events that made history this week – compiled by the Summerland Amateur Radio Club of Lismore, NSW
Monday, 19 January, 2015
1804 – First locomotive, Richard Trevithick’s, runs for first time, in Wales
1837 – Thomas Davenport patented the first practical electrical motor.
1839 – W.S. Otis, Philadelphia, Penn., was issued a U.S. patent for the steam shovel
1872 – Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin.
1878 – Thomas Alva Edison patents gramophone (phonograph).
1886 – Aluminum manufacturing process developed
1886 – London Times publishes world’s first classified ad.
1907 – First cabs with taxi meters begin operating in London.
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:
If you experience any problems with any of the repeaters not working, please report to Repeater Chairman, Don VK2ZCZ. Do not assume that he already knows about it. As soon as problems are brought to Don’s attention, they will be fixed ASAP.
Jaycar Tuggerah & Erina will give CCARC members a trade discount – approx 10% on purchases over $25. Make sure you ask for it.
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 …
