Sun Dimming as Solar Minimum Approaches

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Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, SpaceX launched a new sensor to the International Space Station named 'TSIS-1'

Its mission: to measure the dimming of the sun. As the sunspot cycle plunges toward its 11-year minimum, NASA satellites are tracking a slight but significant decline in total solar irradiance (TSI). TSIS-1 will monitor this dimming with better precision than previous satellites as Solar Minimum approaches in the years ahead.

Solar Maximum & Minimum Chart - http://www.auroraborealispage.net/solarmax.html

 

UK Police Radio Delays to cost $400m

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Police chiefs fear they will be hit with a £400 million bill for a disastrous Government project to replace their crucial radio systems. Senior officers have been privately warned that further delays to the overdue scheme could cost them the equivalent of the annual pay and training costs for 8,000 constables.

The £4 billion upgrade to emergency services communications is already years behind schedule, and there are growing concerns that critical elements of it cannot work.
Incredibly, the technology does not even exist to operate the new generation of radios in police helicopters, while hundreds of extra phone masts must be built before the network can be used in rural areas. 

Police leaders fear these unresolved problems will push the start date for the Emergency Services Network (ESN) back again, leaving them with a huge bill for keeping the existing Airwave radio system switched on as they pay for the development of its replacement.

The idea behind ESN is to give police and firefighters the ability to share photos and videos of incidents on new digital handsets. But the scale of the plan, and the fact it has never been tried anywhere in the world, means its introduction has already been pushed back repeatedly

Media Story - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4959474/Delays-police-radio-cost-salaries-8-000-PCs.html
 

RF pollution from LED bulbs in Germany

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The German Amateur Radio Club (DARC) has issued a press release identifying domestic LED light bulbs as a source of electrical interference

The increasing popularity of these light sources has led to a significant increase in reports of radio traffic disturbance, interruption of radio services and even poor DAB reception. In their opinion, the electrically noisy LED lamps are a result of a bad government policy which simply ignores regulations applicable to EMC and the generation of EMI by electrical equipment.

According to DARC, the recommendations outlined in the regulations governing electromagnetic compatibility have simply been ignored.

Some of the spectrum areas affected include

  • Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) 174 - 240 MHz
  • Marine VHF 156 - 162.025 MHz
  • Amateur Radio 2 metre band 144 - 146 MHz
  • Airband 118 - 136.975 MHz
  • FM Stereo broadcast 88 - 108 MHz
  • Baby monitors 49.30 - 49.89 MHz
  • High-frequency services, inc. long range marine & airband, Shortwave broadcasts, Amateur radio allocations, Citizens' Band radio, plus wireless devices operating on 27MHz 3 - 30 MHz

The result is that LED lamps currently on sale and in use generate considerable wideband RF interference.

Full article - https://www.elektormagazine.com/news/led-rumpus

UKQRM LED Bulb radio interference page - https://www.ukqrm.org.uk/lighting.php