University students' first Amateur Radio balloon mission a success (May 27,
2005)
Members of the University of Tennessee Amateur Radio Club (AA4UT)
launched their first balloon carrying Amateur Radio equipment on May 14. The
team used APRS to track the balloon--designated UX-1--which had ATV equipment on
board to provide a video feed back to Earth. The balloon reached an estimated
altitude of approximately 52,000 feet (the GPS units would not read above 32,000
feet) and covered some 90 miles before bursting and descending by parachute. The
balloon payload was recovered intact. Mike Coffey, KJ4Z, and Dan Bowen, K2VOL,
were the prime movers behind the project. "This is an outstanding effort by
young Amateur Radio operators in pursuit of their hobby," commented Tennessee
Assistant Section Manager David Bower, K4PZT. Bower says the UT ham club has
greatly benefited from the support of local radio amateurs dedicated to
promoting Amateur Radio to younger licensees and prospective licensees. "Thanks
to these local hams, they have an excellent HF amateur radio station at the
University of Tennessee, including a tower and HF beam," Bower said. "We in East
Tennessee are all very proud of them." Another launch now in the works for June
4 may get media coverage by CNN. There's much more information, videos and
photos on the UX-1 Web site. [ARRL Web Extra]
ARRL Propagation Bulletin
ARLP021 de K7RA
There was so much remarkable solar and geomagnetic activity over the last weekend that we put out a
special bulletin Sunday night. If you missed it, find it at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/, which has an
archive of past propagation bulletins. The last bulletin reported a TV DXer in Florida who copied a
channel 2 television broadcaster in Iowa. Bill Smith, W0WOI of Jefferson, Iowa wrote to say that the TV
DX was probably due to sporadic-E skip. This is propagation through the E layer of the ionosphere
(lower than the F layers) that occurs in May, June and early July, and is responsible for a many 6 and
10 meter openings, even when there aren't many sunspots. Bill said that KGAN "is one of the more
frequently reported stations nationwide due to its geographical location and channel 2 frequency, just
above 6 meters." By the way, Bill is the former editor of "The World Above 50 MHz," the monthly column
devoted to VHF in QST. Ray Bass, W7YKN in Sparks, Nevada reports that last Friday he was working
W7QCY in Portland, Oregon on 40 meters, and around 9:40 AM local time signals started to fade. A few
minutes later, the band was completely dead, no doubt due to the effects of the coronal mass ejection.
Dave Greer, N4KZ in Frankfort, Kentucky wrote that Tuesday, May 17 was a very interesting day for
6 meter fans. He worked stations all over South and Central America as well as the Caribbean (LU, CX,
TI, VP5, ZF, HK) from late afternoon into evening. He said there were many strong signals, but for some
stations the conditions weren't reciprocal. He heard HK3JRL in Bogota call CQ repeatedly with no answer
to responses. He heard a number of YV and KP4 stations that he could not work.
Intel Launches Dual-Core Chips for PCs;
Plans to Target Home Users Needing More Power
Intel Corp. unveiled its first mainstream home PC microprocessor with two computing engines on a single
chip Thursday and vowed to sell millions of them by the end of the year. The Pentium D processor and
supporting chips will target home computer users, particularly those who run more than one program at
once or have software that is designed to take advantage of the extra computing horsepower of the chips'
dual cores. "We're shipping 100,000 this quarter, and we're going to ship millions by the end of the year,"
said Gerald Holzhammer, vice president of Intel's Digital Home Group. "This is a big deal for us. It's the
first time dual core will make a real impact on the marketplace." Intel also is hoping to persuade PC
makers to include other technologies that make up the chip maker's "digital home" platform, including a
chipset that improves graphics, sound, storage and security capabilities. It's part of Intel's recent strategy
to supply more than just microprocessors to computer markers. The move started in 2003, when Intel
launched its Centrino technology that includes a processor, chipset and wireless radio tuned to work
together in notebook computers. The home desktop platform has not received a brand name, though
executives said the matter was under consideration. The Pentium D is not Intel's first dual-core chip.
Earlier this month, Intel started shipping its Extreme Edition Pentium for PC enthusiasts and gamers.
But its steep price tag -- as high as $1,000 per chip -- has kept it from the reach of most home users.
When purchased in volume, Pentium D prices range from $241 to $530 with speeds from
2.8 gigahertz to 3.2 GHz. Supporting chipsets range from $38 to $42.Next month, Intel rival Advanced
Micro Devices Inc. is expected to launch its first dual-core chips for mainstream desktop computers.
AMD has already launched a dual-core chip for servers.
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