Author - Charles M0OXO

On 18th October 1924, the first radio communication contact between the UK and New Zealand took place between (G)2SZ at Mill Hill School, the station operated by Cecil Goyder, and (Z)4AA in Shag Valley, South Island, New Zealand, operated by Frank Bell.

The Radio Society of Great Britain, in partnership with groups of UK Amateurs in the UK and New Zealand, invites participation in celebration of the 90th anniversary of this event in October 2014 by recreating that original contact between the UK and New Zealand on the 80m band. The special call GB2NZ will be active to stimulate the interest in celebrating the event from 20th September to 18th October 2014.

It is suggested that those with suitably equipped stations might like to join in the celebrations in October 2014 on 80m. Others are encouraged to make contacts with New Zealand amateurs on the HF bands.

In addition to the GB2NZ station, the unique callsign 2SZ (the call initially used by Cecil Goyder) will be active from 11th to 18th October from Mill Hill School.

The fastest way to receive any Qsl Card I manage is to request them via M0OXO OQRS

Less than two weeks ago, the sun was peppered with large active regions. Now, the face of the sun is almost completely blank.

Suddenly, the sunspot number and the sun’s x-ray output have dropped to their lowest levels in years. Is Solar Maximum finished? Probably not, but the ongoing quiet spell is remarkable.

Maybe you remember 2008 and 2009, years of spotlessness when the sun plunged into the deepest solar minimum in a century.

The resemblance, however, is only superficial. Deep inside the sun, the solar dynamo is still churning out knots of magnetism that should soon bob to the surface to make new sunspots. Solar Max is not finished, it’s just miniature.

At the IOTA Convention, Roger Ballister announced 11 new reference numbers that would be added to the programme with immediate effect.

1) AF-118 CN Los Farallones and Jaegerschmidt, Morocco
2) NA-247 PJ7 St Maarten’s Coastal Islands
3) AF-119 S7 Coetivy Island, Seychelles
4) EU-190 RI1 Viktoriya isl, Franz Josef Land
5) OC-296 Tobi and Helen, T8 Palau
6) AS-200 JA5 Shikoku Coastal Islands
7) AS-201 Sea of Marmara isl, TA Turkey
8) AS-202 A9 Hawar isl, Bahrain
9) AS-203 UA0X Sea of Okhotsk Coast Group
10) EU-191 YO Fericirii island, Romania/Ukraine
11) NA-248 VY0 Nunavut (Devon) Island

AS-201 is currently being activated by Bodo as TA0/DF8DX

As a final end to the trip by VK8NSB to the UK (see below blog entries). Tim M0URX and I attended the 50th Anniversary of the IOTA Programme in London last weekend.

It was great weekend located in Windsor, London (directly under Heathrow T5 Departures 😉 ) We were priviliged to meet Hams from many Countries including Yuri Zaruba UA9OBA & Eugene Shelkanovtsev RZ3EC from the Russian Robinson Club, seasoned IOTA activator’s Cezar-Ioan Trifu VE3LYC, Daniel Gerth DL5YWM and Bodo Fritsche DL3OCH (DF8DX). Also present were two of our JA colleagues Take Funaki JI3DST & Yoshitake Izumi JJ8DEN (KH0PR) (see photo).

You can find many photo’s from the event thanks to Nigel G3TXF on this link (click here)

Thanks to all mentioned above for a very memorable weekend !

Leo DW1OXL (formerly YC9MLL) is now on Cebu Island IOTA OC-129.

Leo has a new job at this location and is expected to be on air during his posting there. He will be using the Callsign DW1OXL/7 whilst on Cebu.

The fastest way to receive any Qsl Card I manage is to request them via M0OXO OQRS

A new image from Cassini shows band around Saturn’s Moon, Titan.

Only a sharp and careful eye can make out the subtle variations in Titan’s clouds when viewed in visible light. However, these subtle features sometimes become more readily apparent when imaged at other wavelengths of light. This infrared image clearly reveals a band around the Titan’s north pole.

This view looks toward the leading side of Titan. North on Titan is up and rotated 31 degrees to the left.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers) from Titan. Image scale is 9 miles (14 kilometers) per pixel.

I was pleased to attend Silcoates School (MX0SSW), Wakefield over the weekend where filming was taking place for the Ham Radio Programme The TX Factor.

Over two days of filming, numerous Ham radio topics that involve the School Children Operators were covered in the programme which is likely to be available in September this year. You can see the previous episodes of TX Factor by clicking this link.

Check out the QRZ.Com page for Silcoates School and if you can offer anything of use to this self-funded School Club then please contact their teacher at the School, Mr Nigel Wears M0NJW. We hope you enjoy the production!

Chris VK3FY is currently qrv from Brazil while he and his family visit the World Cup.

PY5/VK3FY will be active ‘holiday-style’ in the coming days. OQRS is now open.

The fastest way to receive any Qsl Card I manage is to request them via M0OXO OQRS