eHam.net News

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Stillwater's Amateur Radio Club Celebrates 25 Years:

Posted: 09 Jun 2017 05:44 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39398


STILLWATER -- This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Stillwater
Amateur Radio Association (SARA). SARA members affectionately refer to
themselves and each other as "hams," originally a pejorative term referring
to "ham-fisted" operators who were not skilled at Morse code. Morse code is
no longer a requirement, but at one time all operators needed to understand
it. Amateur radio operators are officially licensed by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). "Amateur applies only the sense that we
are not paid for any of the things that we do," said SARA President Joe
Heitzinger. "In every instance, we are far from amateur. We've had to study
a whole bunch of information in order to pass the test." The club offers
classes for those interested in amateur radio to become licensed at a
beginner level. May 18 was New Ham night to let those newly licensed radio
operators test out their skills and even win some prizes. Hams can also be
trained to be part of Skywarn, a severe weather spotting service. Classes
are hosted around the Twin Cities area, and the first one of the year takes
place at Stillwater Library. The idea for a Stillwater radio club came from
a man named Hans Wald who spent his summers in Stillwater. He learned
there was no radio club in the area, and eventually connected with
well-known local personality and ham Joe Simonet, who passed away in late
2016. They joined forces with Claudine Will and, between the three of them,
officially formed SARA in 1992. Since then, the group has grown to more
than 80 members. Three original members remain with the group today,
including Shel and Mary Mann.


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Exercise to Test Response of Amateur Radio Operators:

Posted: 09 Jun 2017 05:43 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39397


BRETZVILLE -- The Dubois County Emergency Management Amateur Radio
Operators will participate in the Amateur Radio Relay League Field Day
event, which runs from 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 24 to 2 p.m. on Sunday,
June 25 at the shelterhouse No. 4 at the Dubois County Park, located behind
the 4-H Fairgrounds in Bretzville. The field day is a nationwide exercise
that tests the amateur radio operators' equipment and their ability to
operate under adverse conditions such as those that may occur during a
disaster. The exercise involves amateur radio operators across the U.S. and
Canada who set up temporary stations, many using emergency power from
generators, batteries or solar power. From the temporary stations, they try
to contact as many other stations as possible. There are more than 725,000
amateur radio licenses in the U.S. and more than 2.5 million around the
world.


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Hopkins Scientists Readying Mission to Touch the Sun:

Posted: 09 Jun 2017 05:42 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/39396


Scientists have been trying to figure out how to explore the sun since the
1950s -- such a daring mission was on a short list that helped spur the
inception of NASA. After nearly 60 years -- not to mention millennia of
solar worship, folklore and fascination -- a spacecraft being built in
Laurel will get closer to the sun's surface next year than any man-made
object before it. Engineers at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory are
putting finishing touches on the $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe, which
will pass through the blazing shroud known as the sun's corona two dozen
times over seven years. Key to the mission is an engineering feat that
created a 4.5-inch thick carbon shield that will face temperatures of up to
6,000 degrees on one side while keeping scientific instruments at about
room temperature on the other. The hope is that observations by the probe's
sensors and camera will help explain why the sun's outermost layer is so
much hotter than its surface -- and what causes it to periodically and
unpredictably spew torrents of energized particles known as coronal mass
ejections.