Southgate Amateur Radio Club News, 16 Dec 2018

Kenilworth students’ ham radio contact with space station
ARISS-UK have released a video of the amateur radio contact between students at Kenilworth School and astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor KG5TMT operating NA1SS on the ISS

QSO Today – Joel Wilhite – KD6W
Joel Wilhite, KD6W, has a long history in amateur radio, telephony and amateur radio television

2 x 1 contest callsigns – we need your feedback
The Radio Amateur Society of Australia met with the ACMA on 4 December 2018.
A number of topics were covered, including the possibility of a new callsign block, traditionally known as 2*1 callsigns (eg. VK3A, VK2B, VK7F, etc)

The 2019 SARL Blue Book
The 2019 Contest Manual or Blue Book has been released and is available for download from Contest page on the SARL website

SolderSmoke Podcast
Episode 208 of the amateur radio podcast SolderSmoke is now available

Recurring donations feature added to AMSAT website
Would you like to donate to AMSAT and/or ARISS but can only afford a little at a time? Even small amounts help, especially as they add up over time!

Post launch updates on the JY1SAT and ESEO missions
JY1SAT carry the FUNcube-6 amateur radio transponder and ESEOwith the FUNcube-4 transponder were launched on December 3, 2018

First look at the DRAWS Digi Mode Hat for Raspberry Pi
Today’s topic is ham radio and the Raspberry Pi. This is the second video in the DRAWS Ham Radio Digi Mode Hat for Raspberry Pi series. This time we take a look at what’s inside the package, have a very close up look at the hardware, then wrap up the video with a few comments and questions

Two killed in accident at Antarctic research station
Two fire technicians at a US scientific station in Antarctica have died after being found unconscious, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Variation to UK Broadband’s licence for spectrum in the 3.6 GHz band
Ofcom has granted a request from UK Broadband to vary its licence for use of spectrum in the 3.6 GHz band

Propagation de K7RA
Our recent reporting week (December 6-12) had sunspots on five of the seven days, with an average daily sunspot number of 9.7, up from 2.3 in the previous seven days. Average daily solar flux rose from 68.9 to 70.7

Foundations of Amateur Radio #184
Recently I managed to get some quality on-air time when I participated in a contest. This isn’t about contesting. Although I suppose tangentially it is

First FT8 Roundup is a huge hit
The ARRL report the first FT8 Roundup held December 1–2 attracted some 1,300 logs with about 131,200 contacts recorded

Hackaday: Weaponizing the radio spectrum
Dan Maloney KC1DJT writes on Hackaday about the talk “Electronic Warfare; a Brief Overview of Weaponized RF Design” given by radio amateur Jeremy Hong KD8TUO to the Hackaday Superconference

IEEE Microwave Society awards radio hams
The ARRL reports the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) has announced its 2019 award recipients. The list includes several radio amateurs

Updates for users of spectrum in the 700 MHz band
Work to clear the 700 MHz spectrum band remains on track, as Ofcom confirms additional funding for some spectrum users affected by the clearance programme

Half of homes could boost their broadband
Half of British households could switch to faster broadband today, Ofcom has found, as it announces a range of action to protect loyal broadband customers and help people get a better deal

DX News from the ARRL
The American Radio Relay League’s round-up of the forthcoming week’s DX activity on the amateur radio bands