Category - Blog

In a series of tantalizingly close flybys to one of Saturn‘s Moons, named “Enceladus,” NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed watery jets erupting from what may be a vast underground sea.

These jets, which spew through cracks in the moon’s icy shell, could lead back to a habitable zone that is uniquely accessible in all the solar system. Photo below shows dramatic plumes, both large and small, spraying water ice from many locations near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. More than 30 individual jets of different sizes can be seen in this image captured during a flyby of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

Thermal measurements of Enceladus’s fissures have revealed temperatures as high as -120 deg Fahrenheit (190 Kelvin). That adds all the heat up to 16 gigawatts of thermal energy that are coming out of those cracks. Now that the orbit’s eccentricity has lessened, the heat emanating from the interior is a combination of heat produced today and in the past.  But since more heat is coming out presently than is being produced, Enceladus is in a cooling off stage and the liquid water is returning to ice.

Qsl cards for the UK Special Events are now arriving from UX5UO Print Shop. The cards are for the Queens Diamond Jubilee and also for the Olympic Games, both events running this Summer in the UK.

Please have a look at the links and send me an email if you would like further advice on how to purchase cards from UX5UO service. Cards can be bought in smaller batches than normal and payment is easy via Cash, Paypal, Cheque or Bank Transfer to UK address (No Foreign Transfers or Bank Charges!). For Prices for all types of cards please scroll down this message.

Send your images or designs to either Gennady or myself and we will help as much as possible. Cards are usually 3 to 5 weeks from order and all prices below include delivery to any UK address.

Email me for further info at [email protected]

Basically the prices are:-
a) Two Colours Front 1000pcs £34.00GBP

b) Full colour Front (Matt) and B & W rear 1000pcs £49.00GBP
Smaller batches of ‘’b’’ are also available;
500 at £42.00
250 at £26.00
100 at £22.00

c) Full colour Front (Gloss) and B & W rear 1000pcs £55.00GBP
Smaller batches of ‘’c’’ are also available;
500 at £46.00
250 at £29.00
100 at £25.00

d) Full colour Front (Gloss) and Full colour rear (Matt) 1000pcs £69.00GBP

We have also a new range of cards that are single sided full
colour at £29.00GBP per 1000. I have no samples of these at
this stage.

The measurement was achieved by using the solar telescope aboard a NASA satellite, thereby bypassing the blurring caused by Earth’s atmosphere that occurs when observations are made from the ground.

A group of scientists from Hawaii, Brazil, and California has measured the diameter of the Sun with unprecedented accuracy by using a spacecraft to time the transits of the planet Mercury across the face of the Sun in 2003 and 2006.

They measured the Sun’s radius as 432,687 miles (696,342 kilometers) with an uncertainty of only 40 miles (65km). This was achieved by using the solar telescope aboard a NASA satellite, thereby bypassing the blurring caused by Earth’s atmosphere that occurs when observations are made from the ground.

Marcelo Emilio (visiting from Ponta Grossa, Brazil), Jeff Kuhn, and Isabelle Scholl from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy in collaboration with Rock Bush from Stanford University, California, made the measurements of the Sun’s size with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) aboard NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

Transits of Mercury occur 12-13 times per century, so observations like this allow us to refine our understanding of the Sun’s inner structure and the connections between the Sun’s output and Earth’s climate.

The team is preparing to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun June 5. They expect these observations will improve the accuracy of their solar size measurement even further.

In less than nine weeks the Olympic Flame arrives and starts its 70-day journey around the UK.

We can now reveal where it’s going, when and who will be carrying it.

The Olympic Flame will come within 10 miles of 95% of people in the UK, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. It will enable local communities to shine a light on the best their area has to offer including celebrations of local culture, breathtaking scenes and dynamic urban areas.

Second new IOTA in the same day, that’s rare for me nowadays thats for sure!

Thanks to the guys on Kai Island IOTA OC-221 in Moluccas, Indonesia. YB8Y was another one  logged with difficulty but after 90 minutes of frustration he was logged on 15M SSB. That’s the pressure off now number #525 is in the log so may find him again on another slot in the coming days.

They have several stations on air at the same time so good planning and lets hope the DX continues in the run up to WPX this weekend!

Early morning DX? Well its not been too good for me of late. Either thro lack of enthusiasm, Qsl work or Band conditions I certainly haven’t logged too much.

This morning I had a trawl and after a quick heads up from Tim M0URX I switched on to hear A35YZ on 17M SSB. He was very strong in fact, he was so strong we didnt think it was genuine. Well it was and with a split of 15 wide I bagged him second call with 200w barefoot (TS480HX), amazing. Thats only the second slot for him but happy for the new band.

Several others eluded me this morning but with a few JA on 15M RTTY it was better than nowt. The best of the bunch was around 1000UTC with AT2DW on Bet Shankhodhar Island aka Bet Dwarka, Gujarat, India. IOTA AS-175 was a new one for me and despite his weak signal on 12m RTTY, I chose my split and worked him after about 10 minutes calling (100w FT1K).

Thanks for the new one M0OXO IOTA #524 😉

Last weekend, 17th March 2012, saw the annual CDXC (Chiltern DX Club) dinner. This is where members of the CDXC get together at Wyboston Lakes hotel in the Cambridgeshire countryside for a few beers, a meal and a good exchange of ‘war stories’ lol. This years social event went down very well and the boys from SHDXCG had a good attendance..

Rob (MW0RLJ), and Ant (MW0JZE) are travelled up from West Wales, I drove down from from Yorkshire, Tim (M0URX) and Chris (G1VDP) attended from the Midlands, and Tony (G4LDL) along with his wife Glenys drove from their home in Swindon. Tony has to be there of course as he is the current secretary of the CDXC and has organised this prestigious event.

It was a great catch up and despite speaking daily, it’s always good to get together and have a good old rag chew with many of the faces that you don’t really see too often and may only speak to Island to Island hi…….and didn’t our blue shirts cause a stir!

Next event for us is Debbie and my Silver Wedding in April, next stop Pembrokeshire chez MW0RLJ!

As expected, the flank of a CME hit Earth’s magnetic field yesterday on March 15th at around 1300 UTC.

The impact sparked a moderate (Kp=6) geomagnetic storm with perfect timing for sky watchers in New Zealand.
“The CME arrived at 2 o’clock in the morning here in Queenstown,” says photographer Minoru Yoneto. In the dark, he drove to his favorite spot on a mountain overlooking the city and recorded the storm:

The storm is subsiding now. Nevertheless, high-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as the wake of the CME continues to buffet Earth’s magnetic field.

It was a nice surprise to find the higher bands open again this weekend which was good for several contests on air not least BERU.

Beru is the only event where British Commonwealth Countries have to work each other.
This however does not deter all Europe calling and despite the sometimes frantic ”Only UK” comments by the operators, they never cease their calling. Maybe no-one checks the Contest Rules anymore 😉

Anyway none the less I had a couple of hours tuning around (mainly 10 metres) hoping for several new Band Slots and I wasn’t disappointed!

Nigel (G3TXF) as ZD7XF (continuing his highly successful DXped. in ZD7) was the first in the log at 1308UTC and here are are few others I worked (new slots in blue) and on which Band;

ZD7XF (10m), ZS1BB (10m), 9J2BO (10m), 9H1XT (10m), ZS6KR (10m), VO1HP (10m), C56XA (10m), VP9/G3PJT (10m), ZF2LC (10m), J88DR (10m), J39BZ (10m), 5H3EE (10m), ZS1EL (10m), VO1TA (10m), 6Y0A (10m), ZB2EO (15m), ZF1UM (15m), 6Y0A (15m), VK3TDX (15m).

All contacts running barefoot (200w TS480HX) into 6 Band wire hexbeam by MW0JZE. Russian DX Contest next weekend and WPX following the week after.