Category - Blog

It’s not every day that a space shuttle lands at LAX. Although this was a first for the major Los Angeles airport hub, it was a last for the space shuttle Endeavour, as it completed its tour of California skies and landed, albeit atop a 747, for the last time. During its last flight the iconic shuttle and its chase planes were photographed near several of California’s own icons including the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Hollywood Sign, and the skyline of Los Angeles.

The piggybacking shuttle was snapped on approach last week to LAX as it crossed above and beyond a major Los Angeles street.

Now retired, Endeavour was NASA’s fifth and final space shuttle to be built. Construction began on Sept. 28, 1987 and it rolled out of the assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif. in April 1991. Here are some Stats for junkies like me 😉

$1,800,000,000: The cost of space shuttle Endeavour in 1987 dollars when it was built to replace the space shuttle Challenger after the tragic 1986 launch failure that killed seven astronauts. While $1.8 billion may seem like a lot for a NASA shuttle, at the time it was roughly half the cost of earlier shuttles since NASA was able to use some spares to construct Endeavour.

Endeavour will be removed from the SCA using an elaborate set of cranes and wind restraints. It will be placed on a special transportation system and moved into a United Airlines hangar, where it will remain for several weeks while final preparations for its transport and display at the California Science Center are completed.

Hot on the heels of the last Qsl Card drop to the RSGB bureau, (and after just over 2 full days Qsl’in) almost 1000 more cards have this week been processed for both RSGB and Direct to World Bureau’s.

They are made up of the following;

4W3A 5, GB0ANT 165, CM5FZ 5, DV1UD 3, G4RCG 22, GB0HI 37, GB0PSK 10, GB0WFF 16, GB0WSD 4, GB1HI 162, GB2HI 42, GB2WHL 15, GB5HI 5, GB6WRS 2, GD7VJR 7, GO2HQ 12, GR2HQ 47, GR4RCG 4, M0IAA 46, M0BZH 37, M0KYI 57, M2G 11, M2X 3, MQ0OXO 11, MW0JZE 8, MW0RLJ 11, GB2NSF 1, PW2D 56, PX2C 3, PY2MTV 15, RA3CQ 12, GB1TAN 15, V26VR 1, V55A 56, VK4NM 12, VK4HAM 5, VK8AA 1, VP8DMN 32, ZD8UW 37 & EA RSGB Members 11.

If you are unsure whether your OQRS requests have been processed then simply log back in to the OQRS with your Callsign and Email address (click here) select ”request your bureau Qsl Card here” and you will see on the next screen the status of your requests, whether ”Pending” or ”Processed”. Any problems send me an email.

Well after a troubled weekend in the CQWW RTTY Contest I still enjoyed it.

I was plagued with problems from Ham Radio Deluxe/DM-780 (but still the program of choice none the less!) and of course there were plenty of lids in attendance but it was good fun.  I had limited time on the second day but managed a good 7 hours on the Saturday from around 0400UTC.

I was of course interested in JA and North America not only for the Contest points but also to increase my JCC/JCG (Japan Guns/Prefectures) and also WAS (Worked All States) scores.

I worked only 10 and 15 metres and had good openings East and West logging 63 JA on 10M and 41 on 15M. In total after approximately 11 hours I logged 431 q’s. I still need Saga Prefecture so if you know a Japanese Ham who is active in this area, please drop me a line! I also worked some nice NA stations on 10 into CA, UT and AZ but still missed out on WY and AK which i need for WAS RTTY……and before anyone emails me…..I know they were active in the Contest…grrr!

Can anyone out there identify the noise in this clip?

Suggestions are that it may be PL noise from a local network but not as yet identified it.

The noise is only on 10M and is in all directions that the antenna is turned. Click the image or the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVFAyeuBJM&feature=channel&list=UL

Any useful advice would be welcome please?

Thanks, Charles

Anyone who worked Keith G3SZU recently (whilst operating as KH6ZU) may be interested in seeing his You Tube clip from his operation aboard USS Missouri in Hawaii (KH6BB).

Click on the image to view the You Tube clip.

More information on the USS Missouri can be found on their website at http://www.kh6bb.org/

Qsl for KH6ZU via MØOXO

I don’t usually post the details of my mail drops as it tends to be rather boring given the 130+ Callsigns I manage. However, quite a reasonable drop of cards went to the bureau today.

Whilst visiting the national Hamfest, I took the opportunity of passing 9 Kilo of cards today to the RSGB Bureau representative. There were cards included for most callsigns I manage from a single card to several hundred.

I also sent 1,370g of cards Direct to World Bureaus (and NOT via the RSGB) for;

4W3A, CM5FZ, CM5LV, DV1UD, DX1X, JY9ET, KH6ZU, GO4RCG, MO0OXO, GQ4RCG, MQ0OXO, PW2D, PX2C, PY2MTV, RA3CQ, V55A, VK2CZ, VK4HAM, VK4NM, VK8AA, ZD8UW and ZL7M.

Thanks for the heads up this evening from Chris G1VDP informing me about RI1ANF on 10m CW. Bellinghausen base in Antarctica wasn’t a new base for me (IOTA AN-010), I have it confirmed on other bands but Antarctica on 10M (any mode) was new so pleased to rush to the shack and log him after a few calls, thanks Chris!

The Bellinsgausen station is situated on the Filds Peninsula in the south – western part of King-George Island (Waterloo island), being a part of the South Shetland Isles. The coordinates of the station are 62° 12 S and 58° 58 W, its altitude is 16 m above sea level. The station buildings are built on free of ice soil, on the both banks of the brook, rising from the small Kiteg lake and flowing into the Ardly bay. This bay is suitable for ships visits, the disembarkation is executed usually with help of floating transport, sometimes by helicopters. The King George Island is the largest island of the archipelago (its length is about 80 km, its width is 30 km). Most of the island is covered by ice with maximal glacier thickness of 326 m.

10M continues to be good…..but for how long?

Information recieved via a colleague is that the Post Office are about to start the next stage of the withdrawal of International Reply Coupons from the UK very soon.