Southgate Amateur Radio Club News

France: A threatening radio amateur has equipment seized by ANFR
France’s National Frequency Agency has taken action against a radio amateur who allegedly used threatening language on the air. ANFR used an EMF regulation as the justification for seizing the equipment

Ongoing Licence renewal issues
The SARL has not received any communication from ICASA this week. It appears that the ongoing spectrum auction issues have taken up the executives’ time

Soviet QSL graphia
Interested in the QSL cards from the former Soviet union? Andy, G0SFJ has taken a historian’s view and you’re invited to send him your comments

EI6YXQ Activation
Members of Kerry Amateur Radio Group will be QRV on Friday 19th March as EI6YXQ to commemorate the 102nd Anniversary of the First East to West TransAtlantic telephony transmission, from Ballybunion, Co Kerry to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

SpaceX adds 60 more satellites to its Starlink satellite broadband network
Elon Musk’s SpaceX division has announced that it has launched an additional 60 Starlink satellites, as part of its satellite broadband project

Fiji – new ham
Joanna ‘JK’, 3D2ZK, from Denarau, Nadi, Fiji, posted the following: I’m very new to the HAM radio family. Please be patient when you hear me

German special callsign
Look for the special callsign DQ11WCA to be active until April 17th, from different WCA (World Castle Award Program) and WWFF (World Wide Flora Fauna) areas

Propagation Report from Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low levels

Foundations of Amateur Radio
Making observations – Amateur radio is an environment for infinite possibilities. I’ve spoken about the way that contacts can happen, seemingly out of the blue, how propagation has so many variables it’s hard to predict what will happen at any given moment. During a contest you might scan up and down the bands looking for an elusive multiplier, a contact that’s worth extra points, or a missing DXCC country, in your quest to contact a hundred or more. It’s easy to get swept away in the excitement and disappointment that comes with success and failure

RSGB’s Direct Entry to Full licence consultation
Have you shared your views yet in the RSGB’s Direct Entry to Full licence consultation?
Hurry as the survey closes tomorrow, Sunday 14th March

Solar Activity and Propagation
With entering a new solar cycle, we all are curious about how it will change conditions. A look into the rear window mirror may help: there are millions of data available for free from ionosndes around the world through several solar cycles

Radio Interference
Germany’s Federal Network Agency instituted a ban Friday on the sale and use of a New Age ‘water vitalizer’ device, citing numerous reports that the device sold by Swiss company Wassermatrix AG was transmitting on the frequencies allocated for ham radio users

DXing in England, 1933 – Aluminum disc recordings of US AM broadcast stations
These audio clips were recorded on aluminum discs using more of an embossing than cutting action

Ultimate Antique Radio Upcycling – A trash to treasure Glass Cased Radio
In 2015, Robert Lozier recreated a glass cased TRF receiver design from 1926 and in this video he shows how he used a derelict homebrew radio that he picked up at a radio meet, and transformed it into a work of art

The Great Quebec Blackout
New research into the Great Quebec Blackout of March 13, 1989, is revealing surprises. Turns out, it was not just one solar storm, but two