UHF and VHF spectrum planning - Call for inputs

Ofcom has published a call for input on the possibility of developing new spectrum planning models, tools and services for UHF and VHF spectrum

The switchover from analogue to digital TV; the introduction of new services such as 4G in 800 MHz; and the development of innovative new technologies like white space devices are placing new demands on this spectrum.

As a result, Ofcom has decided to review the frequency planning and spectrum management information needed to ensure that the spectrum continues to be used as efficiently as possible, while ensuring the protection of the services that use it.

The consultation closes 4th October 2013.

Consultation page - http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/uhf-vhf-spectrum-planning/

Associated PDF - http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/uhf-vhf-spectrum-planning/summary/CFI_UHF_VHF.pdf

The sun's magnetic field is about to flip

NASA report something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun's vast magnetic field is about to flip.

"It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal," says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system."

The sun's magnetic field changes polarity approximately every 11 years. It happens at the peak of each solar cycle as the sun's inner magnetic dynamo re-organizes itself. The coming reversal will mark the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24. Half of 'Solar Max' will be behind us, with half yet to come.

Full story - http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/05aug_fieldflip/

Radio hams get access to 18m EME dish

A huge tracking dish is to become available for amateur radio EME operation on 432 MHz

The InfoAge Science History Museum in Wall Township, New Jersey, plans to make a 60 foot tracking dish antenna available to hams for moonbounce, secondary to its function as a radiotelescope.

It was on the InfoAge site, then part of Fort Monmouth, that the US Army’s “Project Diana” team in 1946 first received radio signals bounced from the moon.

According to InfoAge’s Martin Flynn, W2RWJ, Daniel Marlow, K2QM, an InfoAge board member who teaches physics at Princeton, wants to use the dish, currently under rehabilitation after being dormant since the 1970s, to pursue radio astronomy for instructional purposes.

Marlow’s primary goal is to restore the TLM-18 dish antenna to working order and use it to see the 21 centimeter radiation from the Milky Way. But he also wants to observe radio pulsars, and since that activity can be performed at 70 centimeters, the TLM-18 will be made available to the Amateur Radio community for EME at 432 MHz on a secondary basis.

ARRL story - http://www.arrl.org/news/huge-tracking-dish-to-become-available-for-eme

Vintage Newsreel of Project Diana Earth-Moon-Earth - http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2013/vintage_newsreel_of_project_diana_earth_moon_earth.htm