Tuesday 7 July 2020

Successful Alexanderson Day 2020


 


The odds were not optimal this year, with the ongoing Corona pandemic. In the early Sunday morning, the rain was pouring down and heavy wind gusts made it hard to even take a peek of the antennas outdoors.

The transmitter hall was empty except from five individuals from the Alexander Association, appointed to perform the transmissions, any visitors was directed towards the visitor centre.

Two transmissions was done, at 11:00 (09:00 UTC) and at 14:00 (12:00 UTC). On the first transmission the rainy weather was making it hard at first to reach good output to the antenna, but after a few minutes with the VVV VVV VVV de SAQ loop, the system started to dry up and the amps increased.

I the afternoon the skies cleared and we even got a little bit of sunshine, making the second transmission easier and we managed to get around 60A into the antenna, which is optimal. more...



Thursday 28 May 2020

ARRL: Historic SpaceX Launch Carrying Radio Amateur, Fellow Astronaut, to ISS is Scrubbed

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley will have to wait a few more days to see if the can make US space history, as human spaceflight is poised to return to the US for the first time in almost a decade. SpaceX and NASA scrubbed the launch, which was set for 1833 UTC on May 27. It has been reset for Saturday, May 30, at 1922 UTC.

“Standing down from launch today due to unfavorable weather in the flight path,” SpaceX tweeted minutes before its Dragon spacecraft was to head off into space for the “Demo-2” test flight powered by a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and headed to the International Space Station (ISS).

The next back-up launch opportunity is on Sunday, May 31, at 1900 UTC. The Demo-2 is the final major test for SpaceX’s human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the International Space Station, SpaceX said.

Launch video from the Kennedy Space Center will be available on the SpaceX website.