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   JANUARY 2025   
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   Our I.A.R.U. celebrates its centenary this year (2025).   
      
   Since its founding in Paris, France, IARU has worked tirelessly to   
   promote innovation in amateur radio and to encourage the growth of   
   the service in communities throughout the world.   
      
   VI 100 IARU is a special event callsign transmitting from VK3 to help   
   celebrate the IARU Centennial.   
      
   qsl via MO 0 OXO   
      
   (qrz.com)   
      
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   During 2025 the SARL will be on the air with special event callsign   
   ZS 100 SARL, as well as the permanent callsigns ZS6SRL and ZS9HQ and   
   possibly other special event callsigns.   
      
   (sarl)   
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   Callsign C 5 RK from the Gambia is on air 4 and 5 of January   
   before moving onto Senegal.   
      
   Senegal on the 11th and 12th will be using callsign 6 W 1 RD.   
      
   SSB and FT8/FT4 on 80-10 metres and all QSLs are via EA7FTR.   
      
   (newsline 2461)   
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   8 R 1 TM from Georgetown, Guyana, now until the 8th of February.   
   CW, SSB and digital modes on all bands.   
   (newsline 2461)   
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   Listen for Earl operating from Trinidad as 9Y4/WA3DX now until the   
   14th of January using FT8 and FT4 on 40-10 metres.   
   (newsline 2461)   
   ------------------------------------------------------------*   
      
   QNEWS WORK BENCH   
   Measure twice cut once.   
   blubrry.com/arrlontheair/   
   Conventional wisdom has it that the solid state era in electronics   
   began in 1948 with the invention of the transistor, or if you wish to   
   split hairs, with the 1930s invention by the Russian, Oleg Losev,   
   of an early form of tunnel diode.   
      
   But thereâ€(tm)s an earlier amplifier technology that used a solid state   
   circuit which is largely forgotten, and AWA Communication Technologies   
   Museum has featured it in a new video. Weâ€(tm)re talking of course about   
   the carbon microphone amplifier, a piece of telephone technology which   
   made its way into consumer electronics.   
      
   The carbon microphone is a container of loosely packed carbon granules   
   acted upon by a diaphragm. Vibrations from sound compress and   
   decompress the granules, changing the electrical resistance of the   
   carbon. It was the standard microphone used in telephone handsets for   
   most of the twentieth century. Being a resistor it can be placed in a   
   potential divider circuit that produces some significant voltage   
   swings, so when the vibrations come from a high-impedance earpiece it   
   can make an amplifier.   
      
   Itâ€(tm)s not a very good amplifier, it has lousy bandwidth, distortion and   
   noise characteristics, but it was just about good enough to be paired   
   with a 1920s crystal set.   
      
   In the video shown in the link in this weekâ€(tm)s text edition of   
   WIA NATIONAL NEWS,   
      
   youtube.com/watch?v=_wrqAHjzwGE   
      
   You will see a variety of the devices, and even hear them in action   
   sounding very tinny indeed. At the time it must have seemed miraculous   
   to be at the forefront of the new technology though.   
      
   (Hackaday)   
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   WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER   
   AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org   
      
   CONGRATULATIONS VK5DG   
      
   David from Mt Gambier has made the GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers   
   January 2025 Rankings.   
      
   The January 2025 rankings for the Top 100 Rovers (Mixed LEO/MEO/GEO) in   
   satellite operations, as determined by @GridMasterMap on Twitter, has been   
   released. The ranking is determined by the number of grids and DXCC   
   entities activated, taking into account only those grids where a minimum   
   number of QSOs logged on the gridmaster.fr website have been validated by   
   a third party.   
   During 23 and 24 much of VK5DG'sy time was spent on Greencube IO-117.   
   That is before it went silent in August 2024, David made 2500+ contacts   
   while activating 84 parks, 13 SOTA and 57 grids in VK1, 2, 3, 5, and 7.   
      
   Grid numbers do not directly reflect the exact number of activations.   
      
   Satellite operators are encouraged to upload their LoTW satellite contacts   
   to bit.ly/3COBg9Y   
   in order to provide more accurate data.   
      
   These figures were updated Boxing Day, 2024.   
      
   (amsat/qrz)   
      
   NASAâ€(tm)s Deep Space Network Upgraded   
      
   Installation of the latest antenna took place on Dec. 18, when teams at   
   NASAâ€(tm)s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California,   
   installed the metal reflector framework for Deep Space Station 23,   
   a multifrequency beam-waveguide antenna.   
      
   When operational in 2026, Deep Space Station 23 will receive transmissions   
   from missions such as Perseverance, Psyche, Europa Clipper, Voyager 1, and   
   a growing fleet of future human and robotic spacecraft in deep space.   
      
   â€œWith the Deep Space Network, we are able to explore the Martian landscape   
   with our rovers, see the James Webb Space Telescopeâ€(tm)s stunning cosmic   
   observations, and so much more,â€� said Laurie Leshin, director of JPL.   
   â€œThe network enables over 40 deep space missions, including the farthest   
   human-made objects in the universe, Voyager 1 and 2.   
      
   With upgrades like these, the network will continue to support   
   humanityâ€(tm)s   
      
   exploration of our solar system and beyond, enabling ground breaking   
   science and discovery far into the future.â€�   
      
   tinyurl.com/ANS-364-Deep-Space.   
      
   (na)   
      
   IT'S IN THE BOOK.   
      
   Or is it?   
      
   Satellite enthusiasts have only until the 10th of January to submit their   
   logs for contacts made during the global competition that celebrated the   
   22nd anniversary of the launching of SO-50, also known as Saudisat 1C.   
      
   This low-earth orbit satellite was the centrepiece of an event organized   
   by the Saudi Amateur Radio Society between the 13th and 22nd of December.   
      
   Hams were challenged to make as many contacts as possible in different   
   Maidenhead grid squares. To submit your log, or get technical help see   
   the email addresses in the text version of this week's WIA National News   
      
   Best read at wia.org.au   
      
   SUBMIT LOGS TO: log@sars.sa   
      
   WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ASTRONOMY (and Wireless Weather)   
      
   Android Smart Phones Help Map the Ionosphere   
      
   Hi Iâ€(tm)m Richard VK2SKY   
      
   Some very clever people at Google Research have worked out and   
   demonstrated a way to study the ionosphere using millions of Android   
   smart phones.   
      
   Normally, Global Navigation Satellite System ground stations provide maps   
   of ionospheric Total Electron Content, but their observations are limited   
   to where such ground stations exist.   
      
   Google Research has shown that by using Android phones as a distributed   
   sensor network, and analysing the GNSS signals picked up by the phones,   
   they can fill in large gaps in the ionospheric data, effectively doubling   
   the global observational coverage. This can be especially useful in areas   
   like India, Africa and South America, where GNSS ground stations are   
   lacking. The system proved its worth by mapping ionospheric plasma bubbles   
   over these areas during the large geomagnetic storms we experienced   
   in May last year, 2024.   
      
   You can read more in the summary published by TechRadar and the original   
   paper in Nature, which are both linked in the text edition of this news.   
      
   Iâ€(tm)m Richard VK2SKY. This is WIA National News.   
      
   tinyurl.com/mv49bssc   
      
   nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08072-x   
      
   WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - IOTA   
   iota-world.org/   
      
   SA-099 â€" Curacao.   
      
   W 2 APF announces that he will be operating from Curacao as PJ2/W2APF   
   starting January 12 until April 8 on 80-10m; CW, SSB & FT8.   
      
   QSL via Home call, W2APF, LoTW.   
      
   (dx-world)   
      
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   Back a little closer to home is  OC-065 - Temotu Province.   
      
   Active is H 40 DA from Pigeon Island, Reef Islands IOTA Group (OC-065) in   
      
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   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)