Ham radio club's 90th birthday

Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Association has been 'hamming it up' for 90 years.

The Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Association, a 'ham radio' club in Beaver County, is turning 90 years old this month, and radio operators from all over the world are invited to join in on the celebration.

In honor of the anniversary, the club will be holding an on-air "Special Event Station" under the ham radio call sign W3SGJ from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday on the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter ham radio bands.

Read the article - http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-west/beaver-valley-amateur-radio-association-hamming-it-up-for-90-years-683063/

Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Association - http://www.w3sgj.org/

Warwick University students fly CubeSat

On Saturday 6 April 2013 students from the University of Warwick sent a CubeSat 30km into the stratosphere  

Starting from near Welshpool, the CubeSat travelled high into the stratosphere, to over 30km above the Earth's surface, where the balloon popped and a parachute safely carried the CubeSat back to Earth. The prototype was successfully recovered from near Banbury following the 2 hour flight.

The CubeSat carried three cameras and a radio communications link to transmit data and images. The transceiver used was a XBee-PRO 868 operating in the licence exempt 868 MHz band (the UK amateur radio licence prohibits aeronautical operation).

“The successful test launch - and recovery - is said to pave the way towards a longer-term plan to put a small satellite, built almost entirely by undergraduate students in the School of Engineering, into low-earth orbit at around 2,000 km”,

“The eight students have been working for the past year on the Warwick University Satellite (WUSAT) Project, which has been building a 10cm CubeSat capable of carrying equipment including cameras and sensors.”

Read the article in The Engineer - http://www.theengineer.co.uk/channels/skills-and-careers/news/balloon-launch-for-students-prototype-satellite/1016026.article

WUSAT Warwick University Satellite Project - http://www.warwick.ac.uk/cubesat

WUSAT Winter 2013 Newsletter - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/meng/wusat/media/wusat_newsletter_2013_winter.pdf

The Michael Owen Plaque

IARU Region 3's highest scoring single operator at the IARU HF Championship in July will receive the Michael Owen Plaque.

In announcing the new plaque, the Wireless Institute of Australia aims to encourage excellence in IARU Region 3 contesting in memory of his vast work and dedication.

Michael Owen served both the IARU and the WIA over many years. He was involved with the Amateur Radio Service since the 1960s, starting in Victoria, moving to the Federal arena, and served as IARU Vice President from 1989-1999.

At the time of his death he was both the IARU Region 3 Chairman and WIA President. He passed away last September 22, aged 75.

The plaque in his memory is for any mode or bands and shall be awarded annually to the single operator scoring the most points in the IARU HF Championship, run for 24 hours on 13-14  July 2013.

Wireless Institute of Australia website - http://www.wia.org.au/