Blog – Page 160

Dawn’s Smooth Move

2nd August 2011

When a NASA spacecraft goes into orbit around a new world for the first time, the control room is usually packed to capacity with scientists, engineers, and dignitaries ready to leap and shout when the retro-rockets fire. It’s a big, noisy event.

The 15th July 2011, was one of those days. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft approached Vesta and became the first probe from Earth to orbit a main belt asteroid.

Dawn’s cameras revealed a desolate world of transcendent beauty, thrilling everyone who worked on the project.Needless to say, the control room was …. silent?

Using its framing camera, Dawn obtained this image of Vesta on 24th July, 2011, from a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). The three vertically-aligned craters on the left have been nicknamed “the snowman” by camera team members.

For Sale

30th July 2011

FOR SALE

Kent Classic Straight Morse Key

****SOLD****

What lies inside Jupiter?

30th July 2011

NASA’s Juno probe, scheduled to launch on August 5th, could change all that. The goal of the mission is to answer the question, What lies inside Jupiter?

There are many basic things researchers would like to know—like how far down does the Great Red Spot go? How much water does Jupiter hold? And what is the exotic material near the planet’s core?

Juno will lift the veil without actually diving through the clouds. Swooping as low as 5000 km above the cloudtops, Juno will spend a full year orbiting nearer to Jupiter than any previous spacecraft. The probe’s flight path will cover all latitudes and longitudes, allowing us to fully map Jupiter’s gravitational field and thus figure out how the interior is layered.

Jupiter is made primarily of hydrogen, but only the outer layers may be in gaseous form. Deep inside Jupiter, researchers believe, high temperatures and crushing pressures transform the gas into an exotic form of matter known as liquid metallic hydrogen–a liquid form of hydrogen akin to the slippery mercury in an old-fashioned thermometer. Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field almost certainly springs from dynamo action inside this vast realm of electrically conducting fluid.

Unlike Earth, which lights up in response to solar activity, Jupiter makes its own auroras. The power source is the giant planet’s own rotation. Although Jupiter is ten times wider than Earth, it manages to spin around 2.5 times as fast as our little planet. Click the image below for you tube clip…..

‘VK4NM’ From Fraser Island OC-142 VKFF-216 this weekend……

25th July 2011

Andrew and his colleagues will be qrv from Fraser Island IOTA OC-142 this coming weekend.

The Island is also valid for WFF with the reference ‘VKFF-216 Great Sandy”. Fraser Island is also named the ”Great Sandy National Park”.

They will be using the Callsign ‘VK4NM’ and will be operating as part of the RSGB IOTA Contest.

Please give Andrew and his team your support and maybe also try to bag yourself a new IOTA at the same time!

Qsl is Via MØOXO

GBØWSD Cards issued……

25th July 2011

Cards for GBØWSD were received this weekend and are all now processed.

GBØWSD is operated by Scouts from the Wakefield Scout District who are tutored, supervised and assisted by members of the Wakefield & District Radio Society.

All Direct and Bureau Cards have been completed and will be mailed this week.

GB0HI, GB1HI & GB2HI Qsl Cards issued…..

25th July 2011

Qsl Cards for the following operations were received from the printer at UX5UO Qsl Print on Friday;

GBØHI Holy Island
GB2HI Hilbre Island (MØTNX et al)
GB1HI Holy Island (MØOXO et al)

All the Direct and Paypal requested Cards have been prepared over the weekend and will be mailed
this week. GB1HI_2 The next job is the OQRS requested cards for the RSGB Bureau. Again these will be processed
this week ready for a large bureau drop on the second week in August.

Thanks to Gennady UX5UO again for the excellent service and to all of you who supported and worked
us on the trips.

Don’t forget IOTA this weekend!!!!

G3TXQ Hexbeam (by MW0JZE) debut at Holy Island…….

16th July 2011

The G3TXQ Hexbeam ( by MW0JZE ) is making its debut at Holy Island of Lindisfarne this weekend by the Wakefield & District Radio Society (WDRS). It’s their new Club antenna and they are trialing it this weekend on their annual jaunt to IOTA EU-120 WFF GFF-172).

The Hexbeam is at about 20 feet from the ground and is being used alongside the Cushcraft A4S which is on the neighbouring tower at 50 feet both rotatable from their mobile shack, all seen in the foto above.

The weather yesterday was great on arrival and it almost allowed us to get set up outside before we had to take cover for some showers. Heavy rain arrived around 2100utc and then this morning at 5am, we had a few hours of showers before torrential rain arrived at 10am which looks like its here for the duration hi.

Its early days to say how they compare but for sure its a very very close race. On rx the antennas are well matched but without doubt the Hexbeam has far less noise than the Cushcraft does. With 7 hours of operating yesterday (Friday) and up to 11am Saturday morning the guys logged 750 stations mainly on SSB but also some on PSK-31.

I will post more as I am available to but if you would like further info please see this link for past visits to Holy Island here;
http://www.m0oxo.com/my-dxpeditions/holy-island.html

NASA Spacecraft To Enter Large Asteroid’s Orbit…..

14th July 2011

On 15th July, NASA’s ion-propelled Dawn probe will become the first spacecraft to enter orbit around a main-belt asteroid.

Dawn will orbit Vesta for one Earth-year, studying the giant space rock at close range to help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system’s history.:

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image of the giant asteroid Vesta with its framing camera on 9th July 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers) away from Vesta, which is also considered a protoplanet because it is a large body that almost became a planet. Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers)

GFF welcomes OM0WFF………..

12th July 2011

I was pleased to hear from Viliam OM0AAO to inform us that he has now been issued with the special callsign ‘OM0WFF‘ for use when operating for WFF.

Viliam is a member of the StrumbleHead DX Group (SHDXG) and has made several trips to the UK for contests with our group. His home of course is in Slovakia and he is fortunate to live in a beautiful National Park.

OMFF-008 “Tatransky Narodny Park (TANAP)” is the oldest Slovak National Park. TANAP is covering surface 1 045km² surface including the highest peak of Slovakia called Gerlach, 2 655m asl. (more info on Qrz.Com) Click image to right for more Photographs>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

All his friends in the SHDXG wish Viliam good luck with his WFF activities and lets hope the chasers give OMFF a good welcome on the bands.once he is qrv!

Holy Island EU-120 GFF-172…..this weekend…..

9th July 2011

Please listen for me as ”GB1HI” from next Friday 15th July until Monday 18th July. It will be the yearly pilgrimage to Holy Island in Northumbria by the Wakefield & District Amateur Radio Society.

It is more of a Club event rather than IOTA/WFF activation but nevertheless we hope to work as many of you as possible. I am hoping we can be on air from Friday evening until Monday morning.

We will be taking the G3TXQ Hexbeam (by MW0JZE) and also the Cushcraft A4S which we hope to compare if circumstances allow us. For the lower bands we will use a Carolina Windom 160 which has always worked excellent at the locations in previous years.

If you are available next weekend please give us a call. Its not a rare Island whatsoever and probably everyone of you has worked in in the past but to get regulars in the log each year is very pleasing so listen out for us please.

Qsl is via MØOXO.

Category - Blog