HAM Radio

Life around the HAM radio

Perseid Meteor Shower

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On a nice, cloudless night in Mid-August one can observe a beautiful spectacle of nature: The Perseid showers.

Perseid Shower - Creadit APOD
Perseid Shower over Mount Shasta - Creadit APOD

According to Bill Cooke from NASA this year will be exceptional good, where normal rates are somewhere between 50-75 meteors per minute, this year we could have peaks up to 150 and even 200 meteors per minute.

The meteors appear to originate from the constellation Perseus, giving the shower it's name.  In reality the meteor comes from a debris field, left behind of 109P/Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet was already known by the Chinese in 188.
The shower can be seen as Shooting Stars, leaving a small trail of ionized gas behind them.

During the whole travel through the debris field in July and August one can see the Perseid shower, but in the range from 12. - 13. August there will be a maximum. The peak is expected on 12. August between 13:00 and 15:00 UTC.

For HAM-operators this peak is interesting. Because of the increase ionisation of the Ionosphere, sporadic-E-Emission are way more likely to happen. Also long echoes in the 2m band are possible during the Perseid shower.

Emergency Communications - Earl

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Tropical Storm Earl. Credis: gdacs.org
Tropical Storm Earl. Credis: gdacs.org

The tropical storm earl is currently heading across Central America. HAM Radio Amateurs in the IARU Region 2 gather informations and support the local emergency services.

Everyone is requested to stay away from the following frequencies, since they are reserved for the emergency usage.

Mexico: 7.060 & 3.690 MHz
Guatemala: 7.075 MHz
Belize: 7.177MHz
USA Hurricane Watch Net: 14.325 MHz

For the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season, Radio Amateurs are reminded of the following frequencies which have been notified from previous seasons:

Caribbean Emergency & Weather Nets: 7.162 & 3.815 MHz
Eastern Caribbean Narrow Band Emergency System Net: 7.036 MHz USB (Olivia & MT63)
Caribbean Emergency: 14.185 MHz
Republica Dominicana: 7.065 & 3.780 MHz
Cuba: 7.045, 7.080, 7.110, and 3.740 MHz
Central America: 7.090 & 3.750 MHz
Nicaragua: 7.098 MHz
Panama: 7.085 MHz

USA:
Maritime Mobile Service Net: 14.300 MHz
Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN): 14.265 MHz

Source: http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/emergency-communications

Turkey revokes 3213 ham radio licenses

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Just for the archive.

Turkey revokes now 3213 ham radio licenses. (Found via qrznow.com, [Link to original source])

On the original source, there also some interesting numbers listed

Turkey’s coup in numbers

21,000 private teachers have licences removed
15,000 suspended from education ministry
8,000 police officers detained or suspended
6,000 soldiers detained
1,500 staff at Ministry of Finance dismissed
3213 ham radio operators with license revoked.
2745 judges dismissed
1,577 deans – Education board demands resignation
492 sacked from Religious Affairs Directorate
399 from Ministry of Family and Social Policies stripped of responsibilities
257 fired from the prime minister’s office
100 intelligence officials sacked
47 district governors dismissed
30 provincial governors dismissed
20 news websites blocked

Source - Checked 21-07-2016 at 10:45

DRC: Notfunk nach Erdbeben in Taiwan

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Der Dolomites Radio Club hat einen zusammenfassenden, kleinen Artikel über den Notfunk nach dem Erdbeben in Taiwan veröffentlicht:

Der Notfunkverkehr findet auf 7060 kHz und mit geringer Sendeleitung statt. Reservefrequenzen sind 7050 und 3560 kHz. Alle Funkamateure werden gebeten, die genannten Frequenzen frei zu halten.

Am 5. Februar um 19:57 UTC gab es ein Erdbeben der Magnitude 6.4M. Das Ereignis erhielt Orange Warnstufe im GDACS (Global disaster altert control system) der Vereinten Nationen.

eq1118615_2
Ăśbersichtskarte. Quelle: GDACS

vy 73 de OE7PHX