SOMETIMES SATELLITES GROW ON TREES TOO
SKEETER: Another Christmas tree - this one in Canada - is sending its
holiday message via satellite. Well, sort of. It was a project of one
amateur radio club in British Columbia. For that report, we turn to
Newsline's newest team member, Randy Sly, W4XJ.
RANDY: The Gulf of Georgia Cannery is a museum in a 19th century
building that highlights the history of the fishing industry on
Canada's West Coast. Inside the building, one of the Christmas trees on display
for the cannery's holiday festival puts a spotlight on amateur
radio, using ornament designs that represent CubeSats, transmitted
signals and amateur radio operators themselves. The Richmond Amateur
Radio Club calls its tree "Communicating to One World" and its message
is that amateur radio is a universal experience that uses high tech to
connect people. In keeping with ham ingenuity, many of the ornaments
were homebrew. Club members created them from coasters, printer
cartridges, parts of ballpoint pens, pull tabs from canned food and
other household items.
Although the festival and display ended on December 24th, the interest
in the trees will continue through to the end of the holiday season.
Visitors to the cannery as well as people viewing the trees on Facebook
and Instagram, were encouraged to vote for their favourite tree. The
club is, of course hoping its tree will get a good signal report.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Randy Sly, W4XJ.
(RICHMOND NEWS)
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BREAK HERE:
Time for you to identify your station, we are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the
K7EFZ repeater in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. local time,
after Eagle Rock Emergency Practice Net.
**
EUROPE PREPS FOR SATELLITE CONSTELLATION
SKEETER: Will the new year bring Europe its own system of low-earth
orbit satellites? Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB, explores that possibility.
RALPH: With 2021 about to get underway, officials in a number of
European Union nations will begin a feasibility study for a
constellation of low-earth orbit satellites similar to the Starlink
project under way by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Europe's version of the U.S. satellite
constellation is envisioned as being able to give people in
isolated areas access to the internet and permit more secure
communications for governments. It would reportedly cost $7.3 billion
in U.S. currency or 6 billion euros.
The development could lead to a rivalry in space broadband coverage as SpaceX's
own beta version is said to begin service to Europe by
February or March of 2021. Starlink's goal has been to deploy as many
as 42,000 satellites to bring high-speed internet to different parts of
the globe. Its public beta service presently serves only the northern
U.S. and southern Canada.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB.
(BUSINESS INSIDER, YAHOO)
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CHINA'S RADIOTELESCOPE WELCOMES THE WORLD
SKEETER: With the Arecibo Observatory gone following its tragic
collapse, China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or
FAST, is quickly opening its doors to the world's astronomers. FAST is
the world's largest radiotelescope, taking that status from Arecibo
after its construction was completed in 2016.
According to the French news agency AFP, China's giant telescope is
taking on another role once associated with Arecibo. It is giving the
international community of astronomers access to its antennas and radio
receivers so they can study radio waves emitted from black holes,
galaxies and stars and even transmit and reflect signals to see what
bounces back.
(AFP, SPACE.COM)
**
RADIO EQUIPMENT STOLEN FROM RUSSIAN 'DOOMSDAY' PLANE
SKEETER/ANCHOR: As hams, we can sympathize with anyone who's got a
serious craving for good radio equipment, but there are times when that craving
can go to extremes. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, explains.
ED: The disappearance of military radio equipment at an airfield in the
southern region of Rostov, Russia, remains a mystery. All that is known
is that thieves broke into an airplane that was there undergoing
repairs and stole electronics, that included five radio boards and
other equipment.
Perhaps more significantly, the aircraft was a highly classified
Ilyushin Il-80, known as the "doomsday plane." It is one of four such
planes designed to be used in the event of nuclear war. That means that
it would serve as an airborne post for the Russian president who could
get on the air and order the launch of intercontinental ballistic
missiles or issue other orders.
The theft is believed to have occurred sometime between the 26th of
November during the plane's last inspection, and the 4th of December
when the theft was reported to local police.
Further details have not been publicly disclosed about the stolen
equipment but investigators collected shoeprints and fingerprints from
the plane's interior for a possible criminal investigation.
For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP.
(BBC, SOUTHGATE)
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