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+---- Thread: RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for September 23, 2023 (/showthread.php?tid=1053)
RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for September 23, 2023 - Richard VE3OZW - 2023-09-23
This is V_3___, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada
with this week's bulletin.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
1. Cambridge amateur radio club off the air after equipment stolen, damaged
Cambridge's amateur radio club is off the air after the shed where the
group keeps their communications
equipment was broken into.
The CARC has been connecting via short wave radio with other amateur
radio groups across the country
and globe for 50 years, and has a wide range of age groups who
participate. The group noticed something
wasn't quite right during the Labour Day long weekend when their
repeater went off the air.
"At the time we thought: 'it was hot and extremely humid, it was 40 C
with the humidex, the repeater
probably just shut down because it was too hot,'" adding that's what the
system does when it overheats.
Scott Mitchell (president CARC) went to check the device a few days
after the heatwave ended.
When he got to the shed, he noticed garbage around the area and when he
looked inside, Mitchell
said it took him a moment for things to sink in.
Mitchell said a table and chairs were broken, and the duplexer had been
tossed across the shed.
One corner of the shed had also been set on fire. The club's repeater,
which was locked away,
only had smoke damage. A portable generator, and several tools stored in
the shed were stolen.
The break-in was reported to to police, This is the first time in 20 to
30 years that this has happened.
Harry Niezen, president of the Kitchener club said he was shocked to
hear what happened
when he got the call from the Cambridge club asking for help.
"Amateur radio is like that. We are hobbyists, we are passionate about
what we do, but as much as
what we do with the technology .. we're as much about the people we
contact and are involved with,"
Niezen told CBC News. "We do enjoy helping each other out."
Neizen said their repeater will be available for Cambridge club members
to use until the missing
equipment is replaced.
--· CBC News
2. Kingston Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Date: Saturday, October 14, 2023
Location: Royal Canadian Legion (Branch 560), 734 Montreal St.,
Kingston ON
Times: Vendors 7:30, General Admission 8:30
Cost: $5/person
Talk-in: VE3KBR 146.94(-) Tone 151.4
Description: The Fall event will be held rain or shine inside the
Legion's main hall.
More info: Contact Tim (VA3TIC) va3tic@gmail.com or Greg (VE3PJ)
greg.foster@sympatico.ca
Webpage: https://www.ve3kbr.com/main.html
- RAC events
ITEMS OF INTEREST
3. NASA Selects Five Experiments for 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
The following item is courtesy of NASA and provides an overview of the
experiments that will
be taking place during the solar eclipse in 2024. Note: the Solar
Eclipse QSO Parties are for
both the October 2023 and April 2024 eclipses.
A total solar eclipse will darken a swath of North America as the Moon
blocks the light of the Sun for
a few minutes on April 8, 2024..This total solar eclipse gives
scientists a unique opportunity to study
the Sun, Earth, and their interactions. During total eclipses, the Moon
perfectly blocks out the face
of the Sun, allowing the Sun’s corona to be seen clearly.
NASA will fund five interdisciplinary science projects for the 2024
eclipse to make the most of this
opportunity. Two of the projects also encourage participation from
citizen scientists.
- Chasing the Eclipse with NASA’s High-Altitude Research Planes
Using NASA’s WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft, one project will
capture images of the eclipse
from an altitude of 50,000 feet above Earth’s surface. By taking these
images above the majority of
Earth’s atmosphere, the team hopes to see new details of structures in
the middle and lower corona.
- Airborne Imaging and Spectroscopic Observations of the Corona
NASA’s WB-57s will also fly cameras and spectrometers (which study the
composition of light) to
learn more about the temperature and chemical composition of the corona
and coronal mass ejections.
By flying along the eclipse path, they hope to extend their time in the
Moon’s shadow by over two minutes.
- ‘Listening Party’ for Amateur Radio Operators
Note: this experiment will be held for both solar eclipses in October
2023 and in April 2024.
In an upper region of our atmosphere, energy from the Sun knocks
electrons out of atoms, making the
region ionized. This region, the ionosphere, can help radio
communications travel long distances, such
as those among Amateur Radio operators around the world. However, when
the Moon blocks the
Sun during a solar eclipse, the ionosphere can change dramatically,
affecting those communications.
During both the 2024 total solar eclipse and an annular solar eclipse
this October, Nathaniel Frissell
of The University of Scranton is inviting Amateur Radio operators to
participate in
“Solar Eclipse QSO Parties,” when they will try to make as many radio
contacts (“QSOs”) as they
can with other operators in different locations.
The radio operators will record how strong their signals are and how far
they go to observe how the
ionosphere changes during the eclipses. Similar experiments in the past
have shown that changes in the
ionosphere’s electron content due to solar eclipses have significant
impacts on how radio waves travel.
- Solar Radiation’s Effects on Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Layers
The darkest part of this eclipse’s shadow passes across several
locations equipped with SuperDARN
radars. The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network monitors space weather
conditions in upper layers of
Earth’s atmosphere, so the eclipse offers a unique opportunity to study
the impact of solar radiation on
upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse.
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, will use three
SuperDARN radars to study the
ionosphere during the eclipse, comparing the measurements to predictions
from computer models to
answer questions about how the ionosphere reacts to a solar eclipse.
- Bringing the Sun’s Magnetic ‘Hot Spots’ Into Sharper Focus
During the upcoming eclipses, NASA’s JPL, educators at the Lewis Center
for Education Research
in Southern California, and participants in the center’s Solar Patrol
citizen science program will observe
solar “active regions” – the magnetically complex regions that form over
sunspots – as the Moon
moves over them.
The Moon’s gradual passage across the Sun blocks different portions of
the active region at different
times, allowing scientists to distinguish light signals coming from one
portion versus another.
The team will use the 34-meter Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope
(GAVRT) to measure subtle
changes to the radio emissions from active regions during both the 2023
annular and 2024 total eclipses.
The technique, first used during the May 2012 annular eclipses, revealed
details on the Sun the telescope
couldn’t otherwise detect.
Related Links
· Learn more about eclipses
· Learn more about the 2024 total solar eclipse
· 2017 Eclipse Science Projects
· Chasing the Total Solar Eclipse from NASA’s WB-57F Jets
-- RAC Website
This concludes this week's bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or
clarifications?
Hearing none, This is V_3___ returning the frequency to net control.
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager VA3PC