Category: SOUNDS INTERESTING

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Forest-Side State College Girls Pick Up Signals From MIR-SAT1

Forest-Side College ‘Satellite’ Girls

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

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BBC TV Archive Clip of 1949 Ham Radio Contact – BBC TV Rx’d In ZS

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.“

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 .

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The Russian Woodpecker Becomes A Tourist Attraction

Wikipedia Information – CLICK

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.

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AM5IP – 170th Anniversary of the birth of Isaac Peral

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 .

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Stories Behind The Faces – Sabina Dermota S53YL

Gallery/Post
Story Behind The Faces: SABINA DERMOTA – S53YL – CLICK for QSL Card & QRZ

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.

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Did You Know – 6 Famous Radio Amateurs?

Juri Gagarin

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?

1. Yuri Gagarin (UA1LO Used by another Russian Amateur?)

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.

2. Les Hamilton (GM3ITN)

[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.

3. John Sculley (K2HEP Not QRZ.com Listed?)

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.

4. Qaboos bin Said al Said (A41AA)

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.

5. Juan Carlos (EA0JC)

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.

6. Marlon Brando (FO5GJ)

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

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Copy CW Signals More Easily With Two Tones

By –

In CQ – January 2018 – Pete, N8PR (SK) wrote that you should set up your receiver to produce two tones 65 to 80 Hz apart to make copying weak CW signals more easily. The theory behind this is that the dissonance between the two tones makes copying a CW signal more copyable than just a single tone. I like this  idea. I played around a little bit last night with this technique, and it did indeed seem to work better than using just a single tone.

Read original POST – HERE .

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