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AMSAT UK calls for papers for ISC 2007
Amateur radio satellite group AMSAT UK has put out
a call for papers for its 22nd International Space Colloquium 2007.
Taking place from Friday 20 July to Sunday 22 July at Surrey
University, Guildford, the colloquium is the flagship amateur satellite
and space event in the UK. The event always boasts a line-up of expert
speakers.
If you would like to present a paper at this year’s event, send your
submission to event organiser G4DPZ as soon as possible. The absolute
latest deadline is mid-June 2007. Submissions should be sent by email
to g4dpz@me.uk.AMSAT-UK also invites
anyone with requests for program topics to submit them as soon as
possible to G4DPZ. Invitations for any papers on specific subjects will
be included in future calls for papers. Likewise if anyone knows of a
good speaker, please send contact and other information to G4DPZ. You
can find out more about the 22nd International Space Colloquium 2007 on
the web at www.uk.amsat.org
Satellite Shorts from All Over
- Information received from Techsat’s Ground Control Station, 4X6EM / 4Z7DFC reports on software upgrades to the GO-32 satellite, “During next 4 weeks we will try to add some features to the I/O file System in Techsat1b satellite. GO-32’s BBS’s services will be suspended from time to time. In some cases the BBS content will be lost. We apologize for the inconvenience to all GO-32 BBS’s users. We hope that after we will finish, the system will work again according to theRadio-Amateurs community’s expectations.”
- The Union of Concerned Scientists has published a new version of the UCS Satellite Database, which includes launches through April 6, 2007. This has been posted at http://ucsusa.org/satellite_database.
Avis offers wireless Internet service
Avis Rent A Car System is offering customers a wireless Internet service to use in its rented cars,
hotel rooms and other places a traveler might go. The new Avis Connect service, priced at $10.95 per day,
can transmit a Wi-Fi signal to multiple laptops and other mobile devices at the same time. The service is provided
with a portable device developed by Autonet Mobile that gets its Internet connection from a cellphone network. The
company declined to disclose which one, though the cellular technology involved suggests that it is being provided
by either Verizon Wireless or Sprint Nextel. The service debuts Monday at San Francisco International Airport and
will continue to roll out in the coming weeks in San Jose, Calif., Los Angeles and Newark, N.J. In the third quarter,
it will be available in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York, San Diego and Seattle.
Hawaii moonbounce a hit
Bruce Clark, K0YW, operating as KH7X from the station of Alex Benton, KH6YY, made the first successful 2.3 GHz EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) contact from Hawaii April 23 (UTC). "This is the first time EME from Hawaii has been worked on this band," reports Ron Hashiro, AH6RH, who assisted in the effort. Clark made contact with well-known VHF/UHF and moonbounce enthusiast Al Ward, W5LUA, in Texas. Hashiro says the Hawaii operation was set up in a tent pitched next to the 12-foot TV receive-only (TVRO) dish used for the antenna, in order to minimize feed line losses. "The CW signal was just above the noise level and sounded 'watery,' as if the speaker were being held underwater," Hashiro reported. "The warbling tone was much worse than Arctic flutter." He said Doppler shift was on the order of 3 kHz. CW was sent at about 10 WPM. K0YW made additional contacts with several other stations on 2.3 GHz as well as on 1.2 GHz EME, Hashiro said. News of Clark's temporary Hawaii moonbounce setup made the April 21 edition of the Honolulu Advertiser. In addition to Benton and Hashiro, others assisting in the moonbounce experiment included KH6ND, KH7U, WH6GS and AH6NF.
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