Southgate Amateur Radio Club News, 28 Jan 2019

Bouvet Island DXpedition – Fake news reports
OPDX report that on January 23rd, the Rebel DX Group posted strong messages (on their FaceBook & Web pages) as well as a video about bogus news being reported on their planned operation to Bouvet Island. Here are their following posts/press releases which have been edited (due to language)

PocketRxTx v3 from Dan Toma YO3GGX released
For all those who would like to try remote control of their rig from their Android smart phone or Tablet or possibly would like to have a WebSDR in their pocket, PocketRxTx version 3.0 has been released today to Google Play

Repeater Timeout kit launched
Essex-based online store HAMtronics UK launched their new Repeater Timeout kit at the recent Langdon Hills Progression Night

Ham radio vital during disasters
Ham radio enthusiasts are training volunteers on how to operate the radios to help out in emergency situations

Why ham radio still has an enduring appeal
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC reports amateur radio is not just a hobby. In a crisis, amateur radio operators provide a lifeline

Vintage TV report on Amateur Television operation
Arthur Bevington, G5KS & G6AFV/T, featured in this 1972 TV report about his amateur radio television station

Ground Hog Day special event
Look for the annual ‘Ground Hog Day Special Event Station‘, K3HWJ, to be active on Saturday, February 2nd, around 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST) or possibly later, depending upon band conditions at that time

Germany: 2018 ham radio license statistics
Germany’s Federal Network Agency, BNetzA, has released the amateur radio licence and exams statistics for 2018

Radio amateurs are always ready
No matter what crisis situation, in the event of a failure of electricity and telecommunications networks, radio amateurs are the first to re-establish contact with the outside world

Only four days for your award nominations and motions
The closing date for nominations for SARL Awards and trophies, motions for discussion at the AGM and nominations to serve on Council is midnight on Thursday 31 January 2019

Beaches on the Air (BOTA)
Sidney Friedman, ZS5SID has compiled a list of Blue Flag beaches in South Africa and submitted the list to Beaches on the Air

OrigamiSat-1 requests help for testing 5.84 GHz downlink
The OrigamiSat-1 Team is requesting suitably equipped ground stations to participate in receiving the 5.84GHz telemetry downlink from their CubeSat

AO-85 operations re-started – telemetry requested
As of 1324Z on January 26, control operator N8MH reported via Twitter that AO-85 has been returned to transponder mode, but will likely be switching in and out of safe mode. The satellite is open for use as power permits

Four-man team bound for Saba Island
Operators Bob K4UEE, Tim K5AC, Jeff NM1Y and Ned WC4X will be active as PJ6A from Jolieville, Saba Island (NA-145), during the ARRL CW DX Contest (February 16-17th) as a Multi-Single/Low-Power entry

Foundations of Amateur Radio #190
Brand New Callsign – Today I have a new callsign, it’s exciting, special, kind of strange, to be known as something other than VK6FLAB

Australian AX calls
Under a permanent agreement with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, all Australian radio amateurs may use the alternative AX callsign prefix instead of VK on Australia Day, Saturday January 26.

John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, is new ARRL West Gulf Division Director
John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, of Austin, Texas, is the new ARRL West Gulf Division Director. Stratton, the incumbent Vice Director, moved up to the Director’s chair after Director Dr. David Woolweaver, K5RAV, announced his immediate retirement during the ARRL Board of Directors meeting January 18-19

Ham radio exam question pool for the Philippines
John Fraser 4F3EW / GM4DKO has made available the NTC exam question pools for the  Amateur Radio exams in the Philippines

VK6WIA NewsWest
This week’s theme is contesting and we have ideas on setting up a portable station, details on contesting champions and segments to get you thinking about taking part in the John Moyle field day, a world wide rtty contest, the commonwealth contest for cw or the arrl dx ssb competition

South Africa to support the IARU position on WRC-19 agenda items affecting Amateur Radio
The two-day Industry WRC-19 Preparatory meeting held last week recommended that South Africa support the IARU position on agenda items that impact on Amateur Radio

WIA Board Comment
The WIA this month met with the Department of Communications and the Arts (DOCA) to discuss radio amateur representation at the forthcoming World Radio Conference 2019 (WRC-19)

Propagation de K7RA
Sunspot group 2733 appeared on Tuesday with a sunspot number of 18, and on Wednesday it increased in size with a sunspot number of 19, which was also the sunspot number on Thursday, January 24

Partial Government Shutdown impacts ham radio
Amateur radio applications in the U.S. are piling up as partial Government Shutdown continues

ARRL statement on Amateur Radio Parity Act
At its annual meeting January 18-19, the ARRL Board of Directors decided that the organization needs to “review, re-examine, and reappraise ARRL’s regulatory and legislative policy with regard to private land use restrictions

ISWL callsigns for February
The following ISWL club callsigns will be used throughout the month of February 2019

Calculate latitude and longitude at centre of Maidenhead locator
Blog post by Adrian Leggett that shows you how to calculate the latitude and longitude at the centre point of a Maidenhead locator code using simple maths

Solar wind sparks pink auroras
A stream of solar wind is blowing around Earth faster than 600 km/s (1.3 million mph)

Break your scope’s bandwidth barrier
Oscilloscope bandwidth is a tricky thing. A 100 MHz scope will have a defined attenuation (70%) of a 100 MHz sine wave. That’s not really the whole picture, though, because we aren’t always measuring sine waves. A 100 MHz square wave, for example, will have sine wave components at 100 MHz, 300 MHz, and the other odd harmonics

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