Category - Blog

JW0W – Prins Karls Forland Island, Norway

28th July 2021
The Team are back home after a successful Dxpedition to Prins Karls Forland Island, Norway, (IOTA EU-063) having made just under 16,000 contacts in the four day trip.
 
The full log has been uploaded to M0OXO Bespoke OQRS and OQRS is now open. The Log will also be on Clublog for statistic purposes only.
 
All funds go Directly to the Dxpedition Team so if you wish to make an extra donation at the time of requesting your card they would be very grateful.
 
Qsl Cards are being designed and further news on this will be posted when available.
 
Please use the Missing QSO Form in OQRS to report any missing or busted calls. This is for your convenience and is the fastest way to get your enquiries dealt with. Enquiries via Social Media will not be accepted.
 
Thank you,
 

9X2AW Rwanda

23rd July 2021
Harald (DF2WO) will be qrv as 9X2AW from Kigali, Rwanda between the 13th & 28th September 2021 from Grid KI48xe.
 
He is preparing his 160m antenna and will build a Hexbeam with Bamboo Sticks for working on the Bands 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. He will also use wire Dipoles to cover the 30 and 40m Bands.
He will be running CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8.
 
As usual, QSL will be via M0OXO OQRS or Direct Post Mail.

A43MI / A44M Oman

23rd July 2021
Listen for the guys from the Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society this week operating as A44M from Masirah Island (IOTA AS-014), Sultanate of Oman during the RSGB IOTA Contest.
 
Outside the Contest the Team will work as A43MI.

NL0H Alaska (IOTA Contest)

23rd July 2021
Henry NL0H is preparing to be active for the next few days including during the RSGB IOTA contest from St. Lawrence Island IOTA NA-040.
 
He has been trying to set up a 10-80 end fed at the top of the mountain, his main obstacle on the Island. Although low to the ground to the South, on the North side it is 500ft above the water. He is not sure how good it will work but he is hopeful it will make a significant improvement. He has been hearing good sigs from VK on 80m, EU on 15m and also VU and Asia on 17m.
 
He will be qrv 15-20-40-80 during the contest although his focus will be on 20-40 and his only anticipated problem is how long his batteries will work for.
 

9X2AW Kigali, Rwanda

20th July 2021
Harald (DF2WO) will be qrv as 9X2AW from Kigali, Rwanda between the 13th & 28th September 2021 from Grid KI48xe.
 
He is preparing his 160m antenna and will build a Hexbeam with Bamboo Sticks for working on the Bands 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. He will also use wire Dipoles to cover the 30 and 40m Bands.
 
He will be running CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8.
 
As usual, QSL will be via M0OXO OQRS or Direct Post Mail.

RSGB IOTA Contest 2021

16th July 2021
Well just a week away from the RSGB IOTA Contest 2021.
 
Keep up to date with the latest announced operations on the fabulous website of Bill NG3K, without doubt the best place to find any new ones you may be waiting for.
 
There is always some surprise activation’s in this Contest so keep your eyes peeled over the next week as the stations start tuning up!
 

Farside Explosion reaches Earth

16th July 2021
 
Imagine an explosion on the farside of the sun so powerful, we could feel it here on Earth. It happened on July 13th. The debris emerged in a circular cloud known as a ‘halo CME. When space weather forecasters first saw this explosion, there was a moment of excitement. It appeared to be heading directly toward Earth. However, data from NASA’s STEREO-A spacecraft indicated otherwise. The CME was heading directly away from us–a farside event.
 
Now for the interesting part: Although the explosion occurred on the farside, separated from Earth by the massive body of the sun, it still peppered our planet with high-energy particles. The Energetic and Relativistic Nuclei and Electron (ERNE) detector onboard SOHO recorded a surge in radiation not long after the CME appeared.
 
How did this radiation reach Earth? Rami Vainio, a professor of space physics at the University of Turku (Finland), who works with ERNE data says “it’s not possible to answer that question definitely without a detailed analysis involving multiple spacecraft.” However, she speculates that the lift-off of the CME may have created a global shock wave on the farside of the sun. Particles spilling over the edge might have spiraled toward our planet.
 
Of particular interest are the green data points (51 to 100 MeV). These are the most energetic protons ERNE can detect. An uptick in green after the CME indicates unusually “hard” radiation—the kind accelerated in the leading ed8ge of a fast-moving CME.
 
The source of the blast might have been the same sunspot (AR2838) that produced the first X-flare of Solar Cycle 25 on July 3rd. That sunspot is currently transiting the farside of the sun approximately where the CME came from. Within the next week AR2838 is expected to return–and then, maybe, the real fun begins. Stay tuned!
 

A big Glowing Cloud of MarsDust

7th July 2021

Dust storms on Mars are bigger than we thought; they even spill into space. According to a recent paper in JGR Planets, Mars appears to be leaking dust, filling a huge volume of the inner solar system with gritty debris. You can see it with your naked eye. The bright triangle in this image from the Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii is marsdust.

It’s called Zodiacal Light, and astronomers have long wondered what causes it. The usually faint triangle is sunlight scattered by dust in the plane of our solar system. The dust, it turns out, comes from Mars.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew through the dust cloud en route to Jupiter between 2011 and 2016. Dust grains smashed into Juno at about 10,000 mph, chipping off submillimeter pieces of spacecraft. Juno’s oversized solar arrays turned out to be excellent dust detectors, registering as many as 200 hits per day.

Ironically, the sandblasting allowed researchers to map the cloud for the first time. One theory of Zodiacal Light held that asteroids were responsible. Yet, as Juno flew through the asteroid belt toward Jupiter, impact rates sharply dropped, sometimes to zero. Asteroids were not the answer. Instead, they realized, the dust must be coming from Mars. Orbital elements of the dust grains essentially match that of the Red Planet.

Mars is the dustiest place in the Solar System, with dust storms that envelop the entire planet for months. But how does this dust escape? During storms, dust is sometimes launched to very high altitudes in the Martian atmosphere; researchers call it ‘rocket dust’. However, leaving Mars requires overcoming escape velocity (~5 km/s), and even rocket dust has trouble doing that. Dust grains would have an easier time launching from Phobos and Deimos; however, those small moons don’t produce enough dust to explain the Zodiacal Light.

So, there’s still a mystery here. Mars has the dust, but researchers haven’t yet figured out how Mars delivers it. Lead author John Leif Jørgensen (Technical University of Denmark) and colleagues hope other scientists will help them solve this final piece of the puzzle.

credit spaceweather.com

KL7RRC Alaska IOTA News

5th July 2021
Sunday, July 4, 2021 2200UTC
 
Members of the Russian Robinson Club, operating as KL7RRC from Alaska’s Adak Island (NA-039) are sad to report that due to circumstances beyond their control, they will be cutting short this IOTA activation originally set to occur on both Adak and Kiska Island (NA-070).
 
You may recall that original plans were for the five member team to fly into Adak and be met by a chartered sailboat. Two weeks ago, SV Seal was one day from Dutch Harbor to pick up the team’s gear when an unfortunate medical emergency forced it to return and cancel the charger.
 
Tim NL8F, who lives in Dutch Harbor, AK was able to locate a suitable replacement vessel to take the team out the 240 miles to Kiska with the “new” vessel picking them up in Adak and transferring them to Kiska on July 6 or 7.
 
The team agreed to continue with the project and flew to Adak on Wednesday, June 30. For the past five days they have set up their stations and antennas and currently QRV with three stations.
 
However it was learned earlier today that a mechanical failure on this new vessel has forced it to cancel as well. Today, efforts were made in Adak trying once again to locate a suitable vessel. After exploring all possibilities and in consideration of safety factors involved with sailing out into some of the most difficult waters of the Bering Sea, it was collectively decided to not further pursue last-minute options. The team is obviously disappointed in this outcome but feel the decision being made is in the best interest of safety. They have also agreed to pursue another attempt to get to Kiska next year.
 
Meanwhile, KL7RRC will continue to operate from Adak until Friday, July 9 in hopes that everyone still needing NA-039 will find a way into the log.
 
Conditions from Adak have been good and their log shows over 5,200 QSO‘s following four days operation. But the real surprise has been conditions on 6 m. Yesterday (July 3-4 UTC), KL7RRC experienced a great 6m opening that resulted in 468 JA QSOs. A few stations were also worked from BY, DU and HL. They will continue to place emphasis on 6m during their remaining time on Adak.
 
Team leader Yuri N3QQ has indicated that due to the fact this IOTA Expedition emphasized the Kiska portion of the project, anyone who donated to the project wanting a refund, should contact him directly
 
QSL information can be found on the RRC website: https://na-234.com