Something is happening this month which will help you to open your eyes in the morning, even better than coffee –
Four bright planets are aligning in the morning sky.
Look out any east-facing window about a half hour before sunrise. If you have a clear view of the horizon, you’ll see Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter clustered together in a patch of sky less than 10o wide. If you wanted to, you could hide them all behind your outstretched hand—but don’t. The view is too good hi!
May 11th is just the beginning. Throughout the month, the quartet of worlds will rearrange themselves on a daily basis, forming different shapes in the pre-dawn sky.
Keep an eye on Venus in particular. As the sun rises and the sky fills with morning blue, the ‘Goddess of Love’ does not fade away. You can actually see Venus in broad daylight if you know where to look.
On May 20th, a new triangle will appear. This time the vertices are Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Observing tip: Mars is not as bright as the others. Binoculars may be required to help you find and fully appreciate the red planet in morning twilight.
The show comes to an end on May 30th when an exquisite crescent Moon joins the four planets for a Grand Finale–five heavenly lights dotting the eastern sky all at once.
What a way to begin the day!!!!
**Dont rush the NASA video (click above image), if you think it has stopped just give it a few seconds and it will continue.
Solar activity is low, but it’s not zero. Just look at what happened yesterday.
On May 20th, an enormous filament of hot plasma and magnetism reared up from the edge of the sun and …. (click on the image) …it jumped!
The magnificent leap spanned more than 200,000 km of fiery starscape.
This is the sort of thing that happens routinely when a 1027ton nuclear explosion (a star) is “quiet.”
Kevin MØTNX will be activating Hilbre Island (IOTA EU-120) over the next few days, the second Island on his recent IOTA trips.
Hilbre Island is based in the mouth of The Dee estuary, part of the beautiful Wirral Penninsula and Country Park. This is on the North West coast of the United Kingdom, approximately 10 Km south from Liverpool and 15 Km North of the ancient City of Chester.
Hilbre is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the Island is unique with it’s chain of three islands, Hilbre, middle and little eye. They are composed of Bunter Sandstone. Hilbre can only be accessed at certain times of the day due to its tidal position.
Kev will be qrv today (Friday 20th), tomorrow (Saturday 21st) and Sunday (22nd) from this rare Island.
Check out the GB2HI Website for more information – GB2HI.co.uk
Qsl via MØOXO ……………….Please give Kevin your support!
For anyone wondering about their ‘Royal Wedding’ Cards ordered from ‘UX5UO‘, I am informed that he is making good progress with the orders and they will be mailed soon.
Most of the cards ‘managed by MØOXO’ have arrived and all direct requests will be answered today and mailed on Monday (23rd May). Qsl cards for the ‘Royal Wedding’ event that were requested by MØOXO OQRS system will also be done next week and will go with the next batch to RSGB Bureau. Stations from Japan will receive their cards pretty quick as they will be all done en mass and sent direct to JARL in the next 10 days.
Thanks for your support during the event, reports on my activities can be seen here.
….. and tnx to Tony GR4UZN for the copyright above 😉
Qsl cards processed and ready for Bureau:
CU2/G7VJR – 50
G7VJR – 59
GD7VJR – 7
GJ7VJR – 88
GM7VJR – 10
GU7VJR – 45
JW/G7VJR – 27
JX/G7VJR – 67
JX/SQ4MP – 49
ZD8UW – 277
The Qsl Cards for my Welsh operating callsigns have now been sent.
Over 160 cards for ‘MWØX’ and 225 for ‘MWØOXO’ have been packaged this week for the bureau and will leave in a shipment in the next 10 days.
Anyone still needing this card should request the card via the OQRS and a card will be dispatched as soon as possible.
Qsl Cards for Andrew VK4NM have now been received from UX5UO Print Shop.
Direct requests received both in Australia and here are now in the mail bag awaiting posting on Monday next.
If you need a card from Andrew please request it here on the OQRS Form.
Qsl cards processed and ready for Bureau:
GB0ANT – 330
GB4IPY – 265
G3SZU – 40
2E0KYI – 100
MW0RLJ – 61
MW0RLJ – 42 (Direct)
G4RCG – 120
MØOXO – 180 (to Japan)
Also –
2.4Kg Parcel direct to JARL
240g Parcel to EA Operators
Well its all over for me and the ‘MRØOXO‘ logbook is closed for the last time.
The event seemed to be welcomed by most and after 25 hours operating, here
are my results:
06/05/11 – ( 8 hours operating) – 527 Q’s (163 were Japan) All SSB
07/05/11 – ( 7 hours operating) – 167 Q’s ( 83 were Japan) All Digi
08/05/11 – ( 4 hours operating) – 143 Q’s ( 52 were Japan) All Digi
09/05/11 – ( 6 hours operating) – 164 Q’s ( 88 were Japan) All Digi
TOTAL – 1001 Q’s
I was very pleased with how things went and many stations were reporting huge pile-ups
and qso numbers. Band conditions were ok for me albeit most of my contacts were
on 15 and 17m apart from 6 JA stations i managed to bag on 12m RTTY.
Thanks to all the stations that supported me and not least the guys (and one YL!) in Japan
for their part in achieving the 477 JA q’s, it made the event very worthwhile for me so
thanks.
If you would like one of the special qsl cards (shown above) then click here to find
details of how to claim your confirmation and card. Qso’s are already on LOTW.
Thanks again for supporting our event 😉 and don’t forget, if you need Qsl cards
printing for your Callsign in this or any other event, have a look at UX5UO who
can assist with the printing service!
