Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2254, for Friday, January 8th, 2021
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2254 with a release date of
Friday, January 8th, 2021, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. The FCC looks to add coordinators for increased
license-testing. Japan studies satellites made of wood - and a probe
into the collapse of the Arecibo radiotelescope. All this and more, as
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2254, comes your way right now.
**
BILLBOARD CART
**
FCC EYES ADDING VOLUNTEER EXAMINER COORDINATORS
STEPHEN: Our top story this week finds the Federal Communications
Commission asking: Is 14 enough? That's the current number of Volunteer
Examiner Coordinator organizations who oversee VEs, or volunteer
examiners, hams who administer the US license exams. In a notice posted
on January 5th on the FCC website, the Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau announced it would like public input on whether it should
authorize additional coordinators - as many as five - to support the
volunteer examiners' ongoing work. Since 1983, VE coordinators have
overseen the accreditation of the volunteer examiners, managing
administrative tasks connected to the exams they give, and coordinating
when the tests are given.
The scene changed last year when new rules took effect in July
permitting VE Coordinators to conduct remote exam sessions. They did so
most recently this past December in Antarctica.
The FCC notice said: [quote]: "The Commission has long maintained 14
VECs, and now seeks to consider whether they continue to serve the
evolving needs of the amateur community, or whether there are unmet
needs that warrant considering expanding the number of VECs." [endquote]
Comments are due by the 4th of February. Details about filing
electronically or on paper are available on the FCC website.
(FCC.GOV)
**
BREXIT DOESN'T CUT ALL UK TIES TO EU SATELLITES
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A late-December agreement has preserved the UK's
involvement in some European satellite programs, post-Brexit. Jeremy
Boot, G4NJH, picks up the story from here.
JEREMY: An agreement between the UK and the EU has clarified the post-
Brexit relationship between the two with regard to scientific research,
permitting the UK's continued participation in Copernicus, the EU's
Earth monitoring programme. The deal also ensures that the UK and a
number of private satellite operators based there will also retain
access to the Space Surveillance and Tracking Programme established by
the EU for space situational awareness.
The deal, however, does not provide the UK with access to encrypted or
secure services on Galileo, Europe's Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).
Galileo was established to assist emergency response-services on Europe's roads
making railways and roads safer. Although smartphone
users may not notice any difference, the UK itself will no longer have
access to the satellite services for defence or national infrastructure.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.
(GOV.UK, AMSAT, SCIENCEBUSINESS.NET)
**
WOODEN SATELLITES SEEN AS FIX TO 'SPACE JUNK'
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: How do you build a satellite that is kinder to the environment?
A partnership in Japan is exploring the answer - and Graham
Kemp, VK4BB, has those details.
GRAHAM: Solutions to the growing problem of "space junk" don't grow on
trees - or do they? Perhaps yes: In Japan, a forestry company has
partnered with Kyoto University to work on building a robust and
resilient satellite out of wood - something that would be Earth-friendly
as well as space-friendly. Their goal is to have one such satellite
ready for launch by 2023. The experimental work includes exposing
different varieties of wood to extreme temperature changes and sunlight,
to see how a wooden satellite might behave in space. An added plus: Upon
re-entry, wooden satellites could return to Earth without releasing
harmful substances or debris on the way down.
Kyoto University professor Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut, told the
BBC: [quote] "We are very concerned with the fact that all the
satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny
alumina particles which will float in the upper atmosphere for many
years." [endquote]
He said the next step is to develop the engineering model of the
satellite and after that, a flight model.
The BBC reports that nearly 6,000 satellites are now orbiting the Earth,
according to figures from the World Economic Forum. Some 60 percent of
them are considered "space junk," meaning they are no longer in use.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB.
(BBC)
**
SEA-PAC ANNUAL CONVENTION CANCELLED
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: COVID-19 precautions have led to the cancellation of yet
another major amateur radio gathering. SEA-PAC, the 2021 ARRL
Northwestern Division Convention, has been called off as an in-person
event in Oregon where it was scheduled to be held in June. Chairman John
Bucsek, KE7WNB, said alternative activities online, and on the air were
being explored.
(SEA-PAC)
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (57:57/10)
|
