AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager Retires

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AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager Retires

Ray Hoad, WA5QGD has retired from the position of AMSAT-NA Orbital Elements Manager.

Hoad has held this position since 8th October 1993, when he inherited it from Dick Campbell, WR5RW (formally N3FKV). He also inherited a BASIC sorting program from Dick which has faithfully produced the AMSAT TLE format each week for almost 30 years. Today an emulator is used, but it consistently produces the format we (and our computer tracking programs) expect to see.

Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P has been developing a software-based system that pulls the TLE data directly from the internet (Space-Track, 18SPCS), formats it, and sends it out to the amateur radio community. Joe has been testing it for over a month now and it is ready to go!

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Sandringham School

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Sandringham School

The amateur radio club at Sandringham School was one of those who hosted the GB22YOTA call sign during December’s YOTA Month.

Licensed students operated five separate stations, with other students helping with set up and check logging.

Station 1 was a traditional HF station, running a K3 and KPA500 amplifier on SSB 80m to 10m. Station 2 was on FT8 running a TS590s at 25W to a W3DZZ trap dipole. Station 3 was an SDR station using a Raspberry Pi 4 connected to an SDRPlay receiver and a 15m wire antenna.

Station 4 was a Yaesu FTM-400XDR transceiver using a homemade dipole on the roof of the building connecting to a couple of the local UHF repeaters with 5W FM. This station also accessed a digital repeater using the Ide-Coverage Internet Repeater Enhancement System – allowing a broadcast FM signal to be relayed across the internet to a wider audience.

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RSGB ETC Committee Vacancy

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The RSGB ETCC Chair is looking for a volunteer to join the Emerging Technology Co-ordinating Committee (ETCC) to act as Regional Representative for the Central England region. The function of the ETCC is to assist radio amateurs seeking an NoV to operate Repeaters, Gateways or Beacons within the UK. The successful applicant will have broad experience of radio system engineering, analogue and digital modes, local topography and propagation theory. If you’re interested in this role, or know someone who might be, the first step is to email ETCC Chair Andrew Barrett, G8DOR by 9 July at etcc.chairman@rsgb.org.uk