ARDC Grants Will Expand Emergency Capabilities in Haiti and the US Virgin Islands

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ARDC Grants Will Expand Emergency Capabilities in Haiti and the US Virgin Islands

Grants from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) will benefit amateur radio emergency communication networks in Haiti and the US Virgin Islands (USVI).

The $14,864 grant to the Haiti International Friendship Amateur Radio Club (HIFARC) will enable the club to set up a network of HF stations to provide emergency communications to remote areas cut off by the August 2021 earthquake. The 7.2-magnitude earthquake made evident the urgent need for better emergency communications. The earthquake completely cut off communications to some areas of the country, making emergency responders unable to get information on the extent of the damage caused and what supplies and equipment were needed. The lack of communication capability hindered the ability of responders to deal with the humanitarian crisis.

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LoRa to the Moon and Back

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Radio amateur Jan van Muijlwijk PA3FXB along with Tammo Jan Dijkema and Frank Zeppenfeldt successfully sent an amateur radio 430 MHz band LoRa message to the Moon and back

They used a Semtech LR1110 RF LoRa transceiver chip feeding a 350 watt amplifier which in turn was fed into the 25m dish antenna at the Dwingeloo radio telescope. One of the messages even contained a full LoRaWAN frame.

The Dwingeloo radio telescope, operated by the CAMRAS foundation, has a history of being used in amateur radio experiments and is now often used for Moon bounces, but this was the first time a data message was bounced using a small RF chip.

More Information - https://www.camras.nl/en/blog/2021/first-lora-message-bounced-off-the-moon/

Volunteers Needed to Investigate Interference Problems

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Volunteers Needed to Investigate Interference Problems

Most of you will have experienced RF interference problems of one sort or another over the years. Many will have noticed that the incidence and intensity has increased. In this world of advanced digital technology and increasing wireless connectivity, the probability of interference is high and increasing rapidly.

This is giving rise to an ever-increasing pollution of the radio spectrum which is threatening all wireless communication. To counter these problems, we need to make the relevant authorities aware by taking measurements and surveying any available documents and reports. We are looking for volunteers who can help us with this work.

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