January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Bernd, DF2ZC, reports that he has successfully held a CW contact on 144 MHz by bouncing his signal from the structure of the International Space Station.

According to his posting on Moon Net, his work was triggered by Peter Sundberg, SM2CEW’s attempts to complete a QSO by using the ISS as a reflector.

From Sundberg’s experience DF4ZC believed it would be a worthwhile attempt considering that the B PSK 63 mode would enable us to exchange all information within few seconds if he used only the EME report and QSO rules.

His second try on Sunday December 9th at 1626 UTC. That’s when he copied signals at elevations of greater than 20 degrees and within a minute exchanged all data. Signal reports were about S3 to S5 DF2ZC running only 300 watts out.

http://www.rac.ca/news/world.htm#BOUNCING

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January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Advanced Linear Devices of Sunnyvale, California have released a new family
of Field Effect Transistors that require no gate bias at all!

They start conducting well below 1 mV, making amplifiers and oscillators that
operate on a massive 20 mV (yes, that is millivolts) B+ rail feasible. Who
will be the first to design us a complete rig that runs on a lemon and
two nails? (Thanks to WIA News)

[RAC]

http://www.rac.ca/news/#News

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January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Vietnamese authorities seized more than a ton of snakes that were smuggled into the country on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Thailand. The Associated Press says “thousands of non-venomous rat snakes” were sent on the flight as cargo. The 60 boxes of snakes had been declared as live fish. AP says “many of the snakes, which were surrounded by plastic filled with ice water, died,” according to local officials. It’s also not the first time that Vietnamese authorities have had to deal with snakes. Last month, they found more than 1,540 pounds of dead snakes on a Thai Airways flight. Vietnam Airlines spokesman Trinh Ngoc Thanh says he suspects a problem with cargo inspection at Bangkok. “We plan to send a letter to the Bangkok airport authorities urging them to enhance inspection to avoid this incident from happening again,” Thanh tells AP.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2008/01/snakes-on-a-pla.html

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January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Sat./Sun. May 30-31: Henrietta, NY
Rochester Hamfest, Atlantic Division
Convention, Fair and Expo Center,
2695 E. Henrietta Rd. (146.88/R PL 110.9)
http://www.rochesterhamfest.org
Harold, K2HC, 585-424-5260

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January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Sunday, May 4 - Boonsboro, MD
Antietam Radio Assn Hamfest
Washington Co. Ag. Ctr, 7313 Sharpsburg
Pike, Boonsboro ( Hagerstown), MD.
Karin, KB3GFV, 301-432-2358 (147.09/R)

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January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Southwest Airlines will be the first US carrier to test satellite-delivered broadband Internet access on multiple aircraft. With this innovation, Southwest Customers with a wi-fi enabled device will have full access to the Internet including e-mail, music, shopping, and virtual private networks (VPN) via a high-speed connection.

Southwest Airlines is partnering with Southern California-based Row 44 and hopes to begin testing Internet capabilities on four aircraft this summer.
Read the rest of this entry »

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January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

On January 17, Neil Schwanitz, V73NS/WD8CRT, on Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands, received a signal from experimental station WD2XSH/20. This experimental station, operated by Rudy Severns N6LF, is located in Cottage Grove, Oregon — 4737 miles away from the island in the Kwajalein atoll. The 13 words-per-minute CW transmission was copyable by ear and also appeared in the Spectran capture; “SL” in the capture is from a non-directional beacon on 505 kHz located in Khomotovo, Russia.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/01/23/102/?nc=1

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January 24, 2008 by kb3ljm.

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