SOTA now active in VK2

Sunday 1st September 2013 10am local (UTC 00:00) saw the start of summits being activated in the Summits on the Air scheme in Australia's VK2 (New South Wales) area.

This start coincided with Fathers Day in Australia and so there were less activators and chasers present than may have been but there were still enough stations active for several hours of interesting communication.

The SOTA "activators" and "chasers" only got to know the previous week that VK2 may be accepted into the award scheme on September 1st. (having had its summits verified and accepted)and the final "green light" only came on Saturday evening at 23:30 local.

Despite this those who have been preparing for some time for this day managed to get passes from their families to be away for a few hours and were rewarded with a beautiful first day of spring for their efforts. Activators in VK3 (Victoria) and VK5 (South Australia) also came on air either on mountain tops or at least out portable to take part in the party as well. The third already authorised state (VK1 - Australian Capital Territory) was almost empty of SOTA operators as they took the short trip over the border into VK2 to activate some of the new summits.

The VK2 "association" adds 1100 new Summits to those available in this worldwide award scheme.

As well as VK2 (New South Wales, Australia), VK4 (Queensland, Australia), KH6 (Hawaii, USA), W5A (Alabama, USA) and K8O (Ohio, USA) also went "live" on September 1st. This could be the most new associations to join the scheme in one day, so far. Thanks to the UK based Management Team for making this happen so quickly. The data for New South Wales (VK2) association was only submitted two weeks previous.

Ham video transmitter onboard Columbus

A DATV transmitter on S-band is being added to the ARISS equipment onboard the International Space Station has been related in an announcement recently circulated by the ARISS.  

The ARISS Ham Video transmitter is presently onboard Columbus.

The transmitter was delivered by Japanese cargo spacecraft HTV-4, which launched 4 August 2013 and docked 5 days later.

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano IR0ISS reported that the bags are stored in Columbus. There are two bags: one for the transmitter, the other for the power, camera and antenna cables.

Installation will be done by US astronaut Michael Hopkins KF5LJG who has been trained for the commissioning of the Ham Video equipment.The commissioning is planned later in the year, possibly end October when there are favourable passes over Italy. Indeed, the tests transmissions for the commissioning of the onboard equipment will be received by the ground station of the “Centro di Geodesia Spaziale” of the Italian Space Agency, located in Matera, Southern Italy.

ARISS will report in due time on the commissioning procedure which will involve a series of tests to be performed during 3 or 4 ISS passes.

Possibly, the Ham Video transmitter will transmit continuously between the commissioning steps offering amateur ground stations the opportunity to test and tune their receiving equipment. The transmissions will be performed in automatic mode, without requiring crew time. The camera, which runs on a battery, will not be used and the ground stations will receive a black image.

Meanwhile, commissioning is being prepared steadily. The kick-off meeting took place November 2012 at ESTEC, the European Space Research and Technology Centre, located in Noordwijk the Netherlands. Detailed procedures are examined and finalized during weekly ESA/ARISS teleconferences. A preliminary EST (Experiment Sequence Test) is planned 28-29 August. The test will involve the ARISS ground station IK1SLD, located in Casale Monferrato in Northern Italy.

IK1SLD, which is an ARISS telebridge station often used for educational ARISS school contacts on VHF, has been upgraded for S-band reception. Ham Video manufacturer Kayser Italia has delivered a 1.2 meter dish, a down converter and precision tracking motors, which are part of the ESA funded equipment.

For the EST, the station will receive a DATV signal from a local low power S-band test transmitter. The decoded signal will be webstreamed to the BATC server. The British Amateur Television Club offers ARISS free access to their server. ESA examiners will connect to the BATC server and evaluate the reception. Test transmissions at IK1SLD will cover the different frequencies and symbol rates available on the Ham Video transmitter.

Web streaming will take advantage of the special software developed byJean Pierre Courjaud, F6DZP. References are available in the HamVideo.pdf.

When the Ham Video transmitter will become operational, it will be used for ARISS educational school contacts. Video will be for downlink only. Uplink will be VHF FM audio. The Ericsson transceiver onboard Columbus will be used for reception onboard. This cross band and double mode operation is called Ham TV. Ham Video is the name of the DATV transmitter.

Annocement - http://www.ariss-eu.org/HamVideo.pdf

Red Star Line Amateur / Ham Radio Special Event

Between 1873 and 1934 the Ocean liners from the Red Star Line company sailed to the United States with more than two million adventurers and fortune-hunters on board.

Special callsign ON70REDSTAR will be aired in SSB on shortwave ham bands from 21 September till 21 October 2013 to commemorate the Red Star Line and to celebrate the opening of the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp on 28 September 2013.

QSL via the information on QRZ.com - http://www.qrz.com/db/ON70REDSTAR