The West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society — WELCOME
By Al Williams
Old radios didn’t have much in the way of smarts. But as digital synthesis became more common, radios often had as much digital electronics in them as RF circuits. The problem is that digital electronics get better and better every year, so what looked like high-tech one year is quaint the next. [IMSAI Guy] had an Icom IC-245 and decided to replace the digital electronics inside with — among other things — an Arduino. Read MORE ……………
Mauritius’ first satellite has aroused overwhelming enthusiasm among students at Forest-Side State College. the 1st school in Mauritius to have decoded MIR-SAT 1, using a Ground-station and appropriate software.
They are the second school in Mauritius to be equipped with a simplified ground station donated by Radio Amateurs. Vickram Mungul, (3B8BBD) and physics teacher at this school is pleasantly surprised to see the girls’ extraordinary enthusiasm.
“The girls were very motivated, honoured and wanted to know more about the project,” he recalls. The Girls’ interest in this Mauritian satellite started over a year ago when they were gradually exposed to the operation of satellites and their importance. Since knowledge about satellites is not widespread in Mauritius, they were first introduced to the NOAA satellite and decoding through the use of appropriate software was explained.
“We were not sure of ourselves at the very beginning as this is a new subject. But, little by little, we learned new things. This is what motivated us to learn more, ”says Christa Gunnoo. She now understands how to communicate with international satellites, but especially what is taught in her physics classes.
Receiving telemetry from the Mauritian satellite was not an easy task for the college. Several tests had to be carried out. Once the tests were completed, there was no sign that the Groundstation was going to acknowledge the first signals.
Aïshani Beeharry-Panray, a Grade 12 student, explains that three software programs are essential for communication. The first concerns the radio, Tracking and the decoder. “The software allows us to know when the satellites will pass over Mauritius and its elevation. We also receive audio and images, ”she says.
The software the girls use is free. They made their own antenna using PVC pipes, solder, pieces of aluminium and glue
Extract off ICQPodcast by Colin Butler – M6BOY
“The BBC Archive shared a clip of a news item about a radio amateur’s reception of BBC TV pictures in Cape Town, South Africa in 1949, it includes an on-air contact
The BBC news item describes the remarkable reception of BBC television pictures from Alexandra Palace, London on 45 MHz by Henry Rieder ZS1P in Cape Town, South Africa.
The clip features a contact between Mr C. G. Allen G8IG of Bromley, Kent and Henry ZS1P in which G8IG asks Henry questions about the TV reception.“
https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/status/1445803539431841792
A comprehensive article about the transmission can be found on EI7GL’s Website – HERE .
And from the South African Radio League’s( SARL) – Hall of Fame; Mike Bosch ZS2FM first to receive the BBC TV transmissions in 1956 on BAND I. There is a brief description of the equipment used – HERE .
In what is certain to be a gamechanger for radio amateur community, five Hyderabad-based Ham operators have made prototypes of down and up converters for the QO-100 satellite………………more HERE !
Ukraine has declared that the enormous Duga-1 radar array is a protected cultural monument.
Almost 2,300 feet long and more than 450 feet high, the steel beams of the radar tower over the surrounding forest. From a distance, it appears to be a massive wall or the start of a cage.
Extract from Wikipedia:
“………………….Jamming the Woodpecker
To combat this interference, amateur radio operators attempted to jam the signal by transmitting synchronized unmodulated continuous wave signals at the same pulse rate as the offending signal. They formed a club called The Russian Woodpecker Hunting Club.[10] Core group members would frame the “Official Practice Target” in their radio shacks……………………”
Click HERE for more information.
The Cartagena Team group will be active from May 28 to June 6 using the callsign AM5IP with a special QSL commemorating the 170th anniversary of the birth of Isaac Peral (Cartagena, June 1, 1851-Berlin, May 22, 1895), who was a Spanish scientist, sailor and military man, lieutenant in the Navy and inventor of the first torpedo submarine, known as the Peral submarine.
He had an intense career in the Spanish Navy, intervening in the Ten Years’ War in Cuba and in the Third Carlist War, for which he was congratulated and decorated. He also excelled in scientific work and missions: he wrote a “practical theoretical treatise on hurricanes”, he worked on the lifting of the plans for the Simanalés canal (Philippines) and in 1883 he took over the chair of Physics-Mathematics at the School of Expansion of Studies of the Navy.
More info – HERE .
The documentary film Stories behind the faces: Sabina Dermota tells a story about a blind woman called Sabina Dermota. She is blind from her birth but blindness was never an obstacle for her. With extraordinary will and love for life and new experiences Sabina Dermota lives a full and fulfilling life. She skies, she went rafting on the alpine river Soča, she even went paragliding………..
Click HERE for Video and more information.
During all the month of April (2021), the special callsign EE1MGY will be aired in commemoration of the inauguration and subsequent sinking of the legendary ship R.M.S. Titanic in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. More info – HERE .
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor and the person who first adapted radio waves into a functioning communication system. After the initial idea of interconnected telegraphic systems, many people began experimenting with possibility of making it wireless. At the break between 1800’s and 1900’s wireless was completely unregulated, as nobody really knew how it worked with all the transmitters and receivers, resulting in many people experimenting with their transmitters and receivers.
It’s hard to tell who was the world’s first radio amateur. Rumours are that it could have been M.J.C. Dennis from London, UK. Influenced by Marconi’s experiments, Dennis reportedly built first non-professional wireless station in the world in 1898?
Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space in 1961. This historic flight brought him immediate worldwide recognition. However, only few people know that Russian cosmonaut was also a ham radio operator. Most of the members of today’s astronaut corps are licensed amateur radio operators.
[EDIT: Les is a Past Member of The Radio Club Of Scotland – HERE . Put his callsign in the Search Box ]
Les Hamilton was a Scottish ham radio operator who first alerted the British government that the Falkland Islands had been invaded by Argentina. During the occupation he was the only person in Britain to be in regular radio contact with the islanders.
John Sculley, the former president of PepsiCo (1977–1983), became the CEO of Apple Inc. in 1983 and he is also a licensed radio amateur. The marketing genius remained on the position for ten years and even saw the great Steve Jobs resign from his position after the fight between the two of them.
Qaboos bin Said al Said is the Sultan of Oman. And not just that. The country’s leader is a radio amateur as well! Qaboos bin Said al Said became the Sultan of the country of Oman in 1970 and has remained in the position till his death in January 2020.
From one country leader to another. Well almost. Juan Carlos resigned as the King of Spain from 1975 to 2014. His amateur radio callsign is EA0JC.
Last Tango in Paris, The Godfather, Julius Caesar… Who hasn’t heard of these cult movies? They all have one thing in common. It’s Marlon Brando, one of the best actors in history. And there’s more. Marlon Brando was a licensed radio amateur, with the callsign FO5GJ.
Original Publication – 2016
© 2019-2023 WoSARS.Club