Hams Invited to Monitor Meteor Scatter Events

There will be April showers - meteor showers, that is - and volunteers are needed to monitor an event this month that is known as the Lyrids shower.

This is a big year for meteor-scatter experiments to be conducted by HamSCI during the Perseids showers in August and the Geminids showers in December. For hams who are hoping to participate in either or both of the Meteor Scatter QSO Parties taking place during those events, there is important work to be done this month.

The citizen science research group is encouraging operators to get ready by setting up your equipment now in time for the Lyrids shower, which will be peaking on the 21st and 22nd of April. The days before and after those dates are also expected to provide good opportunities to take advantage of meteor scatter. Radio operators may participate either actively by calling CQ or passively, by monitoring and reporting.

Operators may use MSK144 within the WSJT-X software on both 10 and 6 metres. SWLs and hams may also participate passively by monitoring via PSK Reporter to send in their findings.

More Information - http://www.hamsci.org/msqp-poster

This Battery Looks Good on Paper Because it's Paper

Whoever said that in this electronic age we are becoming a paperless world obviously hasn't been introduced to some of the newest technology in batteries. Several of these highly portable sources of energy are still experimental. They do boast of being environmentally friendly -- and all make use of paper as a key ingredient.

Researchers are developing batteries that are made partially of paper and the results have been showing varying degrees of promise, though none of them appear ready yet for portable ham radio. In France, a company called BeFC is pioneering what it considers to be a single-use, eco-friendly alternative to the small button battery that is fully compostable when the user is done with it. More of a paper-based bioenzymatic fuel cell than an actual battery, it releases energy when moisture is released and comes into contact with the sugar and enzymes that are infused into a layer of paper between the unit's carbon electrodes. Generating only .75 (point seven five) volts, it still has a long way to go before it can power more than perhaps a sensor or medical device someday.

In Singapore, researchers at the startup company, Flint, claim that they have a rechargeable battery in the works that will ultimately replace lithium batteries for use in grid storage and electric-vehicle power. Like the French battery, it too is designed to be compostable and it makes use of the cellulose in paper for the transfer of ions.

Ten years ago, researchers in the US, at Binghamton University in upstate New York, developed what they called "microbial paper-based batteries," that is, they derive their power from bacteria's metabolism. Like its French counterpart, however, the output has been deemed too low for practical use.

So the research continues. To scientists, for now, it all looks good on paper.

South African Radio League Commits to Helping Continent’s Less-Developed Nations

As it prepares to mark its centenary in May, the South African Radio League has decided that it would be an especially wise move to nurture amateur radio's growth throughout sub-Saharan Africa. SARL president Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, told the website TechCentral that amateur radio is almost nonexistent outside of Egypt and Nigeria in the northern part of the continent and Namibia and South Africa in the south.

“You have this middle part of Africa where there is nothing, absolutely nothing”

— Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL

Finding a foothold for amateur radio in less-developed parts of the continent will be an ambitious agenda and SARL acknowledges that this kind of expansion will need political and financial support. SARL's Chris Turner ZS6GM, who has been active in amateur radio instruction and mentoring, has already had success with efforts in Mozambique. In that nation, ham radio operators are seen as an asset, especially when floods or other natural disasters require emergency communications.

SARL has already kicked off its next 100 years with a Centenary Marathon QSO Party that began on the 1st of January and will continue through to the 31st of December. Special event callsigns will include ZS100SARL.