eHam.net News

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High School Chosen to Make Special Radio Call to Astronaut Tim Peake:

Posted: 03 Apr 2016 05:04 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/36502


A BURY high school will be one of only two in the North West to hold an
amateur radio call with British astronaut Tim Peake. The call from The
Derby High School to the International Space Station will take place on the
week commencing April 25, but because the link is dependent on the exact
orbit of the ISS and the crew schedules, the exact dates and times for
possible calls will not be known until around 10 days before the link up is
scheduled. The Derby was selected to host a call after applying to take
part in the Amateur Radio competition, a collaboration between the UK Space
Agency, the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) and the European Space
Agency (ESA).


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On the Lookout for Bad Weather:

Posted: 03 Apr 2016 05:03 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/36501


Spring is officially here and with it comes tornado season, the busiest
time of year for storm spotters. So what drives a person to risk life and
limb to go out in the dangerous weather to report storm activity? Is it the
excitement of the chase or the need to protect fellow citizens in times of
emergency? Storm spotters at Thursday's SKYWARN class seemed to agree it
takes both traits to be successful. According to 20 year veteran storm
spotter Rick Covert, storm spotting is like spending "two hours of boredom
punctuated by 10 minutes of terror." Like other storm spotters, Covert
relies on a trusty ham radio to relay "ground truth" to the National
Weather Service in Tulsa to help them track potentially damaging storms.
Along with ham radios, the National Weather Service and emergency managers
also utilize a private chat room to relay reports and provide critical
forecast and warning updates, said Covert. "Doppler Radar cannot see below
600 feet, so they need spotters on the ground to report what they are
seeing (hence the name "ground truth") , said Covert who is the Franklin
County Emergency Management Deputy Coordinator in charge of Severe Weather
Operations and Emergency Communications (EMCOMM). He also has an
appointment from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) as the ARES
(Amateur Radio Emergency Services) Coordinator and Net control operator for
the Franklin and Logan County Skywarn Net. This is a dual county net
because the amateur radio repeater we are granted access to is located on
the western end of Mount Magazine, said Covert.


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Watch Heard Island DXped Live April 5th:

Posted: 03 Apr 2016 01:43 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/36500


Tune in Tuesday night April 5th at 8:00 PMCT
to Amateur Radio Roundtable to see and
hear a live report from Heard Island
DXpedition.


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Crypto Museum Needs Help Identifying Radio:

Posted: 03 Apr 2016 11:26 AM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/36499


It doesn't happen very often, but here we have a Cold War spy radio set of
which the origin is a mystery to us. For this reason we are asking your
help in identifying it. The set is described in Louis Meulstee's book
Wireless for the Warrier, Volume 4 [1] as the 'French 1950s Miniature', but
recent research has revealed that it most likely is not French but probably
East-European. The modular spy radio set consists of three small
identically sized metal boxes, each of which has a top lid and measures
approx. 16.5 x 8.5 x 6 cm. A complete set consists of a mains power supply
unit (PSU), a transmitter (TX) and a receiver (RX). At least two different
versions of the set have so far been identified.