Don’t forget to check out the monthly update of our group on the website of the StrumbleHead Amateur Radio Klub 😉
The site has recently undergone a software upgrade and new things are posted there regularly by Chris G1VDP or other members of the group.
This months highlights include a resume of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the second operation from HMS Belfast (GB2RN) by one of our members!
From RSGB IOTA;
Following the decision by the ARRL to delete Malyy Vysotskiy Island (MVI) from the current DXCC list as of 17 February 2012 the IOTA Committee has considered action to be taken with regard to the future of EU-117.
The presence of MVI in the IOTA list as a separate group was originally justified by its separate DXCC Entity status under Rule E.5.5, so the island’s deletion now calls for action from IOTA. The programme does not maintain a Deleted Groups List to record contacts by participants with deleted IOTA groups in a form similar to the DXCC Deleted Entities List. Faced with the prospect of a straight deletion of EU-117 and incorporation of the island into the EU-133 list, the Committee formulated an alternative course of action involving the transfer of a section of the EU-133 ‘box’ to EU-117, so avoiding deletion.
It put the alternatives to an enlarged IOTA management group involving for the first time the 22 checkpoints. The consultation produced a clear majority in favour of splitting EU-133 to form two groups within the Gulf of Finland, North and South. The dividing line has been set at 60 degrees, 15 minutes north. The islands now constituting the two groups can be seen via the Search facility on this page. This change, which has an effective date backdated to 17 February 2012, means that past credits for MVI will continue to stand and new opportunities are created for contacting EU-117.
Record-holders need take no action regarding existing credits as they will not be deleted as a consequence of this change, nor in the case of EU-133 credits need they be transferred unless requested. The Committee believes this to be an imaginative solution in the best interests of the programme.
The RAF’s largest ever aircraft, Voyager, has been flown by the RAF over HorseGuards Parade in London at the Queens Trooping The Colour Ceremony today.
Nearly 60 metres long from nose to tail and boasting a 60m wingspan, the new tanker will replace the VC-10 and tri-Star aircraft. Voyager is twice the size of a Lancaster bomber and can carry 291 troops for more than 6,000 miles.
14 of the models snapped up by the RAF and their deadline of the first to be in service by the end of 2011 was met.
The Voyager, a converted Airbus A330-200 airliner, can refuel another aircraft with 100,000 litres of fuel – more than that contained by two large petrol tankers. While a pump at a garage can deliver fuel at 40 litres per minute, the Voyager can refuel at a rate of 5,000 litres per minute, according to the defence ministry.
A few recent arrivals in the way of Qsl requests have made me wonder, ‘do we really know how to make a Qsl card request?’. You may be a newcomer to the hobby who finds the whole process of requesting Qsl Cards very daunting indeed.
Well, in an attempt to help both older and newer people in the hobby, I have compiled a page on my website which I hope will attempt to answer most of the common questions.
Please take a look and if you feel it is of benefit then feel free to comment. So many times people fall foul of this proceedure so I hope this helps, at least a little!
Click here to read the article.
In 1716 English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, “This is but a little Patch, but it shews itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent.” Of course, now it is modestly recognized as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, one of the brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky.
Telescopic views reveal the spectacular cluster’s hundreds of thousands of stars. At a distance of 25,000 light-years, the cluster stars crowd into a region 150 light-years in diameter, but approaching the cluster core upwards of 100 stars could be contained in a cube just 3 light-years on a side.
For comparison, the closest star to the Sun is over 4 light-years away. Along with the cluster’s dense core, the outer reaches of this one are highlighted in this sharp color image. The cluster’s evolved red and blue giant stars show up in yellowish and blue tints.
JY9ET Qsl Cards arrived yesterday and the first batch hits the mail today.
I apologise for the longer than usual delay but it took a little longer to prepare the cards due to work commitments by Paolo in Jordan. If you need a Qsl card for JY9ET (or anyone else) click here.
Also, select this link if you are new to the hobby and need general Qsl advice.
JE1SCF/6 & JG4IQC/6 will be active from the Daito Islands IOTA AS-047 between June 27 to July 2, 2012.
They will be using an HB9CV for 20/15/10m and long-wire for 40m + WARC bands. Mainly active on 20/17/15m CW.
Daitō Islands (大東諸島 Daitō Shotō or 大東島地方 Daitō-jima Chihō) are three islands that lie about 217 miles (349 km) east of Okinawa. Although these islands have long been known in Okinawa as Ufuagari (the Great East), all of the islands were uninhabited until the Meiji period, when people from other parts of Japan arrived.
Long awaited HK0NA Card arrived today. Fast work by the Qsl Managers and pleased to confirm all the band and mode slots i worked…phew! Qsl was requested by their OQRS system, very fast and efficient way to obtain your cards nowadays and recommended.
If you need cards from me for any station I manage, check out my OQRS which caters for both Bureau and Direct cards. Check out the link here…… M0OXO OQRS
How big is Jupiter’s moon Io?
The most volcanic body in the Solar System, Io (usually pronounced “EYE-oh”) is 3,600 kilometers in diameter, about the size of planet Earth’s single large natural satellite. Gliding past Jupiter at the turn of the millennium, the Cassini spacecraft captured this awe inspiring view of active Io with the largest gas giant as a backdrop, offering a stunning demonstration of the ruling planet’s relative size. Although in the above picture Io appears to be located just in front of the swirling Jovian clouds, Io hurtles around its orbit once every 42 hours at a distance of 420,000 kilometers or so from the center of Jupiter. That puts Io nearly 350,000 kilometers above Jupiter’s cloud tops, roughly equivalent to the distance between Earth and Moon.
The Cassini spacecraft itself was about 10 million kilometers from Jupiter when recording the image data.
A team of 30 operators will be operating from Kaliage Besar Island, Seribu Islands (IOTA OC-177) between July 6-9th, 2012 with the call YE0M.
Activity will be from 160 to 2m on CW, SSB and RTTY.
