German Museum Joins Museums on the Air

The UK based Museums on the Air has now gained probably the most famous German Technical Museum in the list of Museums taking part in the MOTA weekends on 20/21  and 27/28 June 2015.

The Deutsche Museum in Munich is actually 'on the air' every day with a permanent display of radio history and an operational ham radio station.

Alfred DL8FA tells ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio European Correspondent Ed Durrant DD5LP the main aim of the volunteers manning the display is to explain the history of radio to visitors and perhaps attract some new Hams.

Operation of the station takes place between 11am and noon each day and on the two MOTA weekends, the DOKDMM group are trying to have more than one operator present so that the public can be informed of what is happening while the station is on the air. It will depend upon the volunteers whether the station DL0DM is active outside of the normal times, so those wishing to work this station need to be hunting for it at best between 0900 and 1000 UTC on 20/21 as the following weekend is the 

Deutsches Museum in Munich (in German) - http://www.darc.de/distrikte/c/dl0dm-im-deutschen-museum/

The Morse Mouse - Educational Fun with Ham Radio

Chelmsford, UK radio amateur / Ham Charlie M0PZT has released the Morse Mouse App he developed to demonstrate Morse code to young people 

By sending a series of letters in Morse Code, the program aims to develop skill as well as memory.  A laminated A4 crib-sheet is provided to assist with the decoding of each letter but that's not to say that those comfortable with 15-20 wpm contact speeds won't get some fun out of this.

Morse Mouse had its debut in March as part of British Science Week at Sandford Mill Museum when the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society (CARS) operated from the 2MT Marconi Hut. It certainly unleashed visitor's competitive streak - with people trying to better their score. Alongside some Morse keys and a practice keyer, there was some surprise that Morse Code still plays a major part in communications.

Morse Mouse - http://www.m0pzt.com/?mouse

Britain's Pirate Radio Stations

Newsweek have conducted a review of pirate radio station in London UK. The review estimates there are 100 pirate stations currently operating in the U.K.

Broadcasting regulator Ofcom continues to try and hunt down the pirates. In the last year, Ofcom conducted 154 operations against 69 pirate stations. Those who are caught face two years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.

Currently, when one transmitter gets found and shut down, another pops up. What may finally kill the pirate stations will be when the UK adopts a switch-over to all-digital radio, effectively ending the FM band.

Newsweek Review - http://europe.newsweek.com/britains-pirate-radio-stations-are-not-going-down-without-fight-328169