IK8LOV

The Voice of Russia invades 40 m.

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:09:00 +0100

Check on 7200 kHz and listen to the strong signal of The Voice of Russia. From St. Petersburg (RUS) the Russian BC Radio Station started its transmissions since February 1st, 2011.

Ulrich Bihlmayer DJ9KR, Vice Co-ordinator IARU-MS Region 1, reported the intrusion in the last IARU Monitor System bulletin of Feb 03, 2011. Moreover he invites everybody to write a Complaint to the respective National Telecommunications Authorities and email to the Russian Embassy too.

This is a screenshot of The Voice of Russia on 7.200 MHz received from Italy, few minutes ago.

A sample soundfile of the BC Radio (from IARU Region 1 Monitoring System)

In Italian language on www.ik8lov.com

Illegal intruders in Amateur Radio bands 2010

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 12:59:00 +0100

New report from IARU about 2010 illegal intruders on Hamradio bands in Region 1/Europe.

Among all charts in the document, a couple of them are particularly representative for my own opinion.

It shows the situation on 40 m. Still a lot of broadcast stations invading our band expecially from Africa and Asia. Sound of Hope is indeed from China. Fortunately OTH Radars aren’t so much like in the past.

If we give a look to all HF spectrum, 10 m is the most outraged among all Amateur Radio bands. 80m, 20m…follow in the list.

Let’s defend and protect our bands from intruders. Let’s join IARU Monitoring System.

Useful links:

IARU Illegal Intruders Report
IARU Monitoring System page

Italian version here: http://www.maxlaconca.com/ik8lov/1454/intrusioni-illegali-bande-radioamatori-pubblicato-rapporto-2010/

NASA asked amateur radio operators' aid

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:37:00 +0100

From Physorg.com:

Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST:

Amateur ham operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify NanoSail-D is operating. This information should be sent to the NanoSail-D dashboard at: http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm .
The NanoSail-D beacon signal can be found at 437.270 MHz.

NASA thanks:

Thanks to all the ham radio operators for their help in following NanoSail-D. A beacon signal has been received and NanoSail-D appears to be operating nominally and is scheduled to unfurl at 10 p.m. EST. The NASA team will confirm the sail has deployed with a ground based image as soon as it is available.

Tweets on NanoSailD’s Twitter channel:

PA3GUO published a very interesting video showing how to receive telemetry data from the satellite using SDR

…a suggestion for FunCube Dongle owners! ;)

For Italian readers:

http://www.maxlaconca.com/ik8lov/1427/nasa-aiuto-radioamatori-satellite-smarrito/

"Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a..."

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:31:00 +0100

“Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house”

- La scienza è fatta di dati come una casa di pietre. Ma un ammasso di dati non è scienza più di quanto un mucchio di pietre sia una casa.

Jules Henri Poincaré

Problems on the Solar Dynamic Observatory? A screenshot of...

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:03:00 +0100

Problems on the Solar Dynamic Observatory?

A screenshot of “The sun Now” page, right now.

UPDATE - The answer:

Every three months (plus/minus) we do some calibration maneuvers. These are fun and always give us some entertaining images.

Today at 13:15 UT, the EVE Field-of-View Instrument Calibration Maneuver began. This takes one hour and 31 minutes to complete and is conducted roughly every three months on-orbit. The EVE FOV raster scan consists of 25 points on a 5x5 square grid.

At 16:30 UT, the HMI/AIA Flat-field (Off-points) Maneuver began. This takes 2 hours and 50 minutes to complete and is typically always done with the EVE FOV. The is offpoint by approximately 15 arcminutes in 20 steps.

This will help us check-up on the instrument calibration. In general, we like to do the HMI/AIA Flat-field at the same time as the EVE FOV for comparison.

Credit: NASA SDO

Understanding Propagation data Twitts

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:20:00 +0100

Since Nov 16, 2010 I started to Tweet a daily Propagation data ticker on the main Solar-Activity indices, useful for our Hamradio DX activity. It isn’t so easy to zip everything in just 140 characters so that the risk to tweet a puzzling stream of acronyms and numbers is very high. In the following lines I’ll try to explain the actual Tweet configuration. Let’s give a look at it:

SSN - SESC Sunspot Number by SWPC-NOAA. [example of data source]

ISN - International Sunspot Number by SIDC. [example of data source]

Area - Total Sunspots Area is millionths of the Sun’s visible hemisphere

New AR - New Active Regios numbered by SWPC-NOAA

SF - Solar Flux Index @2800 MHz measured in Penticton

Flare max - Max X-ray event occurred in the last 6 hours

A - Geomagnetic index on daily variation of Terrestrial magnetic field

K - Geomagnetic index of horizontal component of Terrestrial magnetic field

Every index is essential to understand Propagation conditions and its trends in the next few hours. How?

…to be continued!

Real-time satellite tracking with Linux

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:37:00 +0100

ENG - I usually use Orbitron or Ham Radio Deluxe satellite-tracking module. Both of them are installed in my Windows partition.

A couple of hours ago I switched to the Linux Ubuntu partition, where I’m organizing a new Hamradio environment for my needs. Gpredict will be surely my favourite satellite tracking sw under Linux. It’s my day suggestion for today! ;)

ITA - Conosco Orbitron e il modulo per satelliti di HRD, che uso sotto Windows. Da un paio d’ore ho riaperto la partizione con Linux Ubuntu, dove sto organizzando un ambiente alternativo per i miei usi radioamatoriali. Gpredict è sicuramente l’eletto che ha guadagnato la mia simpatia. Questa la pillola per oggi.

Forecast vs. current Sunspot level: the gap is still wide. Just...

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:26:00 +0100

Forecast vs. current Sunspot level: the gap is still wide.

Just a look to the last NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) progression chart… really a not encouraging news: Sunspot count is still lower or forecast levels are still higher?

Here is the plot for Solar Flux:

"The 3 fastest means of communication: Telephone, Television, Tell-a-woman."

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:30:29 +0100

“The 3 fastest means of communication: Telephone, Television, Tell-a-woman.”

- from a RT by DC9FO

PERSEUS REMOTE - Part 2 SDR over IP: beyond the borderline of...

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:45:23 +0100

PERSEUS REMOTE - Part 2

SDR over IP: beyond the borderline of technology

Using Perseus SDR though internet [not in remote desktop mode]

ENG - Technological “bi-localizations”. In the 1st video Giuseppe Campana, IK3VIG shows the remote operation of Nico Palermo IN3NWV’s Perseus via internet (TCP/IP). In the Part 2 is shown a testing session of CAT functions with BobCAT and Tmate connected to Marco Bruno IK1ODO’s server.

ITA - Bilocazioni tecnologiche. Nel primo video Giuseppe Campana, IK3VIG opera in remoto attraverso il Perseus di Nico Palermo, IN3NWV via rete internet (TCP/IP). Nel secondo è mostrata una sessione di prova delle funzioni CAT con BobCAT e Tmate connesso al server di Marco Bruno, IK1ODO.