NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is just a few hours away from making humanity’s first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet.

If all proceeds as planned, the 4-pound (1.8-kg) rotorcraft is expected to take off from Mars’ Jezero Crater Sunday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. local Mars solar time (10:54 p.m. EDT, 7:54 p.m. PDT), hovering 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds.

Mission control specialists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California expect to receive the first data from the first flight attempt the following morning at around 4:15 a.m. EDT (1:15 a.m. PDT).  ... Читать дальше »

The website Inverse has an interesting article on Amateur Radio direction finding:

Radio direction finding has existed for nearly as long as radio itself (the late 19th century). The military uses it for practical reasons, utilizing it to 'triangulate,' or locate, hidden military bases, transmitters, and submarines that would otherwise be a secret. (The basic technique, with different technological adaptations, was used in both World War I and World War II.) Now, radio direction finding has become a sport that combines the geeky charm of ham radio, the outdoor skills of orienteering, and the endurance of cross country.

Bob Frey is an ARDF athlete who has competed since 1999 ... Читать дальше »

AMSAT SA has announced the date for the 2021 Space Symposium. In view of the continuing uncertainty about the Covid - 19 pandemic the conference will be a virtual event on the BlueJeans platform. The date is Saturday 10 July 2021 starting at 08:00 UTC.

The theme of the symposium is "Unlocking Amateur Space Technology." The symposium will focus on amateur satellites, weak signal communication, space weather and allied sciences.

This is the first call for paper proposals. Prospective authors are invited to submit proposals in the form of a brief description of the subject to be covered in their paper by no later than 15 May 2021. Submit proposals in word format to admin@amsat ... Читать дальше »

This is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Free State and radio amateurs in Southern African countries.

The Sprint is run in two sessions on 40 metres with SSB activity from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC and CW activity from 15:00 to 16:00 UTC.

The exchange is RS(T) and provincial or country abbreviation. The QSY rules for Sprints apply.

Submit your log in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format by 23:59 CAT on Friday 23 April 2021 by e-mail to zs4srk@gmail.com.

... Читать дальше »

11 апреля 2021 г. в эфире работают следующие DX: