Earth-Venus-Earth Bounce a First for Netherlands

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Earth-Venus-Earth Bounce a First for Netherlands

A first for a radio telescope in the Netherlands which succeeded in bouncing amateur radio signals off Venus - the latest such achievement by scientists around the world.

Amateur radio signals that were bounced off Venus some 26 million miles away, have returned to Earth where they were picked up by the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope, PI9RD, in the Netherlands, according to news reports on the 25th of March.

The achievement - the second of its kind in Europe - means that amateur radio signals covered a distance that is more than 100 times greater than those that are traveled by Earth-Moon-Earth, or moon-bounce signals.

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Ofcom Proposes Direct Smartphone-Satellite Connections

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Ofcom Proposes Direct Smartphone-Satellite Connections

Smartphone users in the UK could soon be able to connect wirelessly to satellites under a proposal being considered by that nation's regulator.

The UK is poised to have the first European telecommunications system that enables standard smartphones to send and receive signals from space. The system, known as "direct-to-device" technology, connects smartphones wirelessly to satellites. A similar permission was recently authorised in the US by the Federal Co—mmunications Commission.

The UK regulator, Ofcom, is proposing to allocate radio frequencies for use in the UK, especially for rural and other currently underserved communication network areas and is inviting comments from the public until 20th of May. Ofcom believes that this could both facilitate sending texts and internet connections during outages, and that access would be allowed to the mobile airwaves for two-way communications between smartphones and satellite operators' networks. If approved, service could begin to roll out later this year.

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ISS FM Repeater, APRS Digipeater Could Be Sunset in Two Years

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The International Space Station (ISS) is currently scheduled for retirement in 2030, but Elon Musk has called for an earlier retirement, as soon as 2027. Musk has described the space station as having served its purpose. With the ISS potentially being deorbited in as few as two years, that leaves Hams with only 24 months to continue taking advantage of the FM repeater and APRS digipeater onboard the space station.

“I would think that right now was probably not the right time to call it quits. We have probably until 2030 in our agreements, and I think that’s probably really accurate because we should make the most of this space station for our taxpayers and for all of our international partners, and hold our obligations.”
— Suni Williams NASA Astronaut

Astronauts onboard the ISS have suggested honouring agreements to keep the ISS in orbit until 2030.