eHam.net News for Sunday 5 February 2017
 

eHam.net News

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Danbury Calling: Students Make Contact With Astronauts On Space Station:

Posted: 04 Feb 2017 10:47 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38575


DANBURY, Conn. -- It's interesting to learn about astronauts from a
textbook. But about 20 Danbury students got the once-in-a-lifetime chance
Thursday to speak directly to an astronaut who is in outer space. The
students, from Danbury's Westside Middle School Academy's seventh grade
STEM program and the fourth and fifth grade at South Street Elementary
School, asked questions of astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who is on the
International Space Station orbiting the earth. "It was really fun," said
Marianna Teixeira, 12, who is in the Westside STEM program. "I liked
talking to the astronaut because it was cool. It was really exciting
because I've never done anything like this before." Marianna said her class
had been preparing for six months. "We worked a lot on questions and ideas
that we wanted to ask," she said. "We had to brainstorm questions that
could not be answered by a 'yes' or 'no.'" They faced a unique challenge in
composing the questions. "Also, the questions couldn't be ones you could
look up on Google to find the answer to," Marianna said.


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Ofcom Licensing System Update:

Posted: 04 Feb 2017 10:46 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38574


Ofcom updated its licensing system for radio amateurs on 30 January.
Changes include the ability to request a Notice of Variation for standard
special event stations; a verify my details button, which prompts users to
confirm or update their personal details annually after login; a display
showing the date your personal details were last verified; and some
accessibility improvements with larger system icons.


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WIA: Band Planning Plays an Important Role:

Posted: 04 Feb 2017 10:47 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38573


The Wireless Institute of Australia is reviewing the digital segment in its
band plan for the 80 metre band and for several other HF bands where the
Australian band plan does not correspond to the plans applying in other
countries. It is also making other proposals for the narrow 30 metre band,
and wants your feedback. Activity on a band can include various modes. The
best way of avoiding clashes is to set aside different band segments for
each of these activities. That is what the WIA does. Apart from avoiding
interference, band plans which are voluntary agreements, make it easier for
us to find other radio amateurs with the same interests. The WIA Technical
Advisory Committee, led by John Martin VK3KM, reports that for many years
our 80 metre band plan has included a digital segment at 3620 - 3640 kHz.
The original reason for adopting this segment was the licensing
restrictions that applied at the time to Novice operators. These
restrictions no longer apply; so the band plan should be updated to bring
it into line with accepted operating practices, which include a greater use
of digital modes.