CCARC NEWS 15-29
THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
ISSUE No 15-29 12th September 2015
In this Issue:
- Westlakes Field Day on Sunday
- ICQPODCAST – Microphones in Amateur / Ham Radio
- NASA Television to broadcast Friday return of space station crew
- Telstra dial-up modems end this year
- Centenarian amateurs honoured
- History This Week
- Broke & fixed
- Reminders
1. Westlakes Field Day on Sunday
Sunday 13th September 2015, commencing at 0900 hours will be the Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Field Day.
2. ICQPODCAST – Microphones in Amateur / Ham Radio
In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Ed Durrant DD5LP and Matthew Nassau M0NJX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is a review of a Microphones in ham radio
News stories include:-
Secondary School Students Decode ISS Images
South African 40 MHz (8m) ham radio contact
FreeDV digital HF Voice Mode QSO Party
Senator Thanks Radio Amateurs
FCC Considering Proposal to End Modification of IT devices
Expected September Release of 5 MHz in Netherlands
Outcome for 5 MHz at WRC-15 Remains in Limbo
Improving Amateur / Ham Radio Club Websites
he ICQPODCAST can be downloaded from http://www.icqpodcast.com
Source: Southgate AR News
3. NASA Television to broadcast Friday return of space station crew
Three crew members aboard the International Space Station are scheduled to leave the orbiting laboratory and return to Earth Friday, Sept. 11. NASA Television will provide complete coverage of their departure and landing.
Expedition 44 commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and visiting crew members Andres Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency will undock their Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the space station at 5:29 p.m. EDT and land in Kazakhstan at 8:51 p.m. (6:51 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12, Kazakhstan time).
Three International Space Station crew members are set to return aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft, which has been docked to the station since March. Credits: NASA
Activities and NASA TV coverage times, all Eastern, are as follows:
- 1:45 p.m. — Farewell and hatch closure coverage (hatch closure scheduled for 2 p.m.)
- 5 p.m. — Undocking coverage (undocking scheduled for 5:29 p.m.)
- 7:30 p.m. — Deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn scheduled for 7:59 p.m., with landing at 8:51 p.m.)
- 10 p.m. — Video file of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities
The three crew members’ return will wrap up 168 days in space for Padalka since launching from Kazakhstan in March. Mogensen and Aimbetov spent 10 days in space, arriving at the station Sept. 4 with Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos. The trio delivered a new Soyuz spacecraft that will return NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos at the end of their one-year mission next March, along with Volkov.
With landing, Padalka will have logged a record 879 days in space on five flights, more than two months longer than cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, the previous record holder.
At the time of undocking, Expedition 45 will formally begin aboard the station under Kelly’s command, along with crew mates Kornienko, NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonauts Volkov and Oleg Kononenko and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Expedition 45 will continue research and operational support of the station as it passes through the 15th anniversary of a permanent human presence on the laboratory that will be marked on Nov. 2.
For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
Source: Southgate AR News
4. Telstra dial-up modems end this year
It started off the Internet revolution putting many in email touch, but the future of the old technology of dial-up modems is numbered, long replaced in many areas by reliable faster access.
Australia’s biggest telco, Telstra, stopped selling dial-up modem services in February and will pull the plug on them in December. All Telstra dial-up service users will be offered alternative means and some assistance. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates 150,000 still have dial-up connections.
However Telstra has a few hundred. Most dial-up users are in rural or remote areas that have been slow to get faster access, or must keep waiting until satellites are launched. Websites rich with pictures, video or other applications are not possible, or can take an enormous time, when compared uninterrupted faster technologies.
Optus and some other players have not decided to end dial-up. The advances in high-speed internet access technology mean most have access at home, the office and while mobile.
Source: Amateur Radio Victoria
5. Centenarian amateurs honoured
Two long-time radio amateurs have been in the news this week.
The Quarter Century Wireless Association has honoured 105-year-old Charlie Hellman, W2RP for his 90 years in amateur radio.
Charlie got his licence in 1925 when he was just 15.
Two of his siblings also held amateur licences. Robert, now a Silent Key, was W2JAN and Benjamin, 96, is W2VB.
Another long-lived radio amateur is Harry Wolf, W6NKT who is 106, although he’s ‘only’ been licensed since 1936.
Source: RSGB News
BROKE & FIXED
The Kariong antennas have been damaged and are being repaired.
REMINDERS
This section lists important announcements and possibly items from previous CCARC NEWS editions that are still current and may need your input:
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 …
