amateur

Slow-Scan TV Transmissions from ISS

Posted on by VA3DBJ

Slow-Scan TV Transmissions from International Space Station: July 30-31

RAC/ARISS – ARISS Russia is planning another of their popular MAI Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment events. Transmissions are scheduled to begin at 16:00 UTC on July 30, then powered down at 19:30 UTC. The next day (July 31), the system will be active from 13:25-19:15 UTC. Downlink should be on the traditional 145.80 MHz frequency and the operating mode will likely be PD120.

When this event becomes active, SSTV images are downlinked from the International Space Station (ISS) at the frequency of 145.80 MHz and can be received using Amateur Radio equipment as simple as a 2 metre handheld radio or a common scanner receiver the covers the 2 metre Amateur band. After connecting the audio output of the radio receiver into the audio input of a computer running free software such as MMSSTV, the SSTV images can be displayed.

Please note that the event is dependent on other activities, schedules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and are subject to change at any time.

Please check for news and the most current information on the AMSAT.org (https://www.amsat.org/) and ARISS.org (http://www.ariss.org/) websites, the [email protected], the ARISS facebook at Amateur Radio On 
The International Space Station (ARISS) and ARISS twitter @ARISS_status.

For more information contact:

Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
[email protected]

Background information:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States and other international space agencies and international Amateur Radio organizations around the world.

The primary purpose of ARISS is to organize scheduled contacts via Amateur Radio between crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced volunteers from Amateur Radio clubs and coordination from the ARISS team, the ISS crew members speak directly with large group audiences in a variety of public forums such as school assemblies, science centers and museums, Scout camporees, jamborees and space camps, where students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies and Amateur Radio.

ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, the Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA and CSA, with the AMSAT and International Amateur Radio Union organizations from participating countries.

ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crew members onboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, firsthand, how Amateur Radio and crew members on the International Space Station can energize youth and instill an interest in science, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on their website.

World JOTA-JOTI Registration Now Open

Posted on by VA3DBJ

ARRL – Registration is open worldwide for Scouting’s Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) and Jamboree on the Internet. JOTA-JOTI take place October 19 – 21 — always the third weekend of October. JOTA Coordinator Jim Wilson, K5ND, encourages JOTA groups to register as soon as possible.

“The sign-up system this year is much simpler,” Wilson told ARRL. “There is no need to first register an account at scout.org before signing in.” Wilson said JOTA-JOTI will generate “an explosion of communication across the Amateur Radio airwaves and the internet.”

He anticipates that more than 1 million Scouts and Guides will take part in more than 150 countries. A JOTA-JOTI Participant’s Guide is available. “JOTA began in 1957 following the World Jamboree that year, when the ham radio operators gathered over coffee and thought about doing the on-the-air part of Jamboree every year,” Wilson recounted.

This year will mark the 61st JOTA (and the 22nd year of JOTI). “Many JOTA Amateur Radio stations are also starting to use JOTI channels, like ScoutLink, to more readily connect with Scouts around the world,” Wilson told ARRL. “Other channels include Skype, YouTube, and social media.”

Wilson said once groups have registered, other locations around the world will know to look for them. “Likewise, you’ll be able to see at a glance all the rest of the locations from across town to the other side of the Earth,” he added.

More information: https://www.jotajoti.info/what-is-jota-joti/
Registration : https://www.jotajoti.info/sign-up-jota-joti-2018/

VE3OBI DMR is back online!

Posted on by VA3DBJ

[UPDATED] The VE3OBI DMR is back online on 442.1375 (CC1) and my DMR page has been updated. Based on conversations so far, it seems OBI will be on the BrandMeister network and is located in the Raglan, ON area. 

Currently, there are no repeaters in the Durham area, that are on the DMR-MARC network, as the Toronto repeater has been turned off, due to jamming.

A quick update. It looks like OBI is now connected to the BrandMeister Network.

For more information on local DMR repeaters, visit my local page here.

CANWARN Spring 2018 Training

Posted on by VA3DBJ

[UPDATE] Folks, this spring’s training is now winding down. As a reminder, due to a staff crunch this summer, we won’t be travelling to the Northwest but plan on returning next year. For those of you who have recently attended a training session, please find attached the list of useful websites/books as well as the one-page reporting tip sheet that was discussed during the training.

Our last session will take place in Kingston on June 11th. Please note there has been a change in the venue. The session will no longer be held at the Calvin Park Library, it has been moved to the Sydenham St. United Church located at 82 Sydenham St. in Kingston. The start time is unchanged; the session will begin at 6:30 PM.

I would like to thank you all again for being a part of the CANWARN storm spotter program. Your timely and accurate reports of severe weather continue to play an important role in our severe weather Watch and Warning program.

June 11 – Kingston – 6:30 PM – Sydenham St. United Church, 82 Sydenham St. Kingston

Regards,
Geoff Coulson

Warning Preparedness Meteorologist, Meteorological Service of Canada
Environment and Climate Change Canada / Government of Canada
[email protected]/ Tel: 416 739-4466

 

HAM Radio Operators Still Have Role To Play

Posted on by VA3DBJ

ANNE FARRIES – The people who keep communication lines open when disaster strikes are looking for new talent.

That’s amateur radio clubs, and they’re increasingly filled by people above the age of 50, who would like to prepare the following generation to help in a crisis, says Mike Johnson, emergency management co-ordinator for Cumberland County.

“We have so much technology that we rely on, and when it’s taken away, it creates a problem,” Johnson said Thursday. “There’s no question we need new blood.”

Once licensed, amateur radio operators — or HAM operators — can “set up a radio with a 12-volt battery and transmit to the world, to let them know how things are,” Johnson said.

In a crisis, if the servers that look after cellphone and landline transmission are down, “getting hold of emergency responders gets to be difficult, because people who live in, say, a 661 prefix can’t call a 667 prefix, so they can’t get through to the emergency service,” Johnson said.

So in Cumberland County, for example, “ (HAM) radio members go to the various fire departments where we’ve already arranged equipment,” Johnson said.

“We broadcast to the public: If you have an emergency, please call the local fire department. From the local fire department that information is passed on to the amateur radio member, who relays it through to a central location where the appropriate organization — ambulance, fire, police — is able to respond to the incident.”

That system was formalized in 2008, after a backhoe on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway in Amherst cut the fibre-optic cable, Johnson said.

“All digital communication east of that point to Newfoundland went down. ATMs, all 1-800 numbers, 911 — even TMR (trunk mobile radio, used by police and fire services) linking is done by Internet, so the communication between TMR towers went down.

“It was a major communication loss.”

During that incident, fire departments radioed emergency calls to a central location, where the appropriate agency was notified.

That led to amateur radio clubs agreeing to provide service to several fire stations in Cumberland County and now, “they’re deeply entrenched with us,” Johnson said.

“They have offices in here . . . with high-frequency radios for worldwide communication, as well as VHF for local communication.

“We purchase equipment, they maintain the process. So we get a lot of free work out them and they get some equipment out of us. It works out very well.”

There are about 35 people in the Westcumb Amateur Radio Club, one of 29 clubs in the Maritimes. Members share technical tips and run field days, including fox hunts, where a low-power transmitter is hidden and the person who finds it first wins a free radio.

They also help in fundraisers, such as athletic races through areas where cellphone service is not available.

“We have a very active organization here, a forward-looking group of people, and we have a great relationship with the municipality,” Johnson said.

A list of clubs in Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick is available at http://www.maritimeamateur.ca/