New Distance Records Set

 

RS-44 satellite (Photo via AMSAT-UK)

Jerome LeCoyer, F4DXV, has been busy setting satellite distance records. The AMSAT News Service reports that on October 19, he contacted Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ, in Idaho via RS-44 at a distance of 8402 kilometers, or 5221 miles, 8 miles farther than the previous record. Switching to AO-27, LeCoyer then contacted Michael Styne, K2MTS, in upstate New York grid FN22, a record-setting distance for that satellite of 3661 miles, breaking the previous record by more than 100 miles

But you don't necessarily need a satellite to work DX on VHF and UHF. Sometimes a tropospheric duct will do just fine … such as the contact on October 16 reported by the South African Radio League between Tom Ambrose, ZS1TA, in Plumstead, South Africa, and Garry Mercury, ZD7GWM, on St. Helena island in the South Atlantic. Those two stations are 1960 miles apart … and their contact was on 70 centimeters FM! Keep that in mind the next time someone tells you that UHF is only good for line-of-sight contacts.

Getting Technical: New Research on Superconductors and Solar Panels

Researchers at the University of Rochester in New York say they've developed a superconductor that has no resistance – zero – and operates at room temperature. But there still ain't no free lunch. According to Newsline, the combination of sulphur, carbon and hydrogen, or carbonaceous sulphur hydride, acts as a superconductor only when squeezed in a diamond anvil at approximately 300 gigapascals of pressure. That's nearly 3 million times Earth's ambient air pressure!

Checkerboard pattern solar cells (Photo by
Dr. Davide Zecca, University of York)

Across the pond in "old" York, scientists at the University of York in England have redesigned solar panels using grating lines in a checkerboard pattern – shifting from vertical to horizontal orientation in each succeeding square – and say they've been able to increase the panel's ability to absorb solar energy by as much as 125% over more common flat solar panels. Newsline reports that their paper, published in the journal Optica, says that the new design increases the diffraction rate, which in turn, could lead to thinner, lighter, more flexible and much more efficient solar panels.

British Ham Attacked While Operating Portable

 Also in the UK, police in Gloucestershire were investigating an attack on a ham operating portable near Cheltenham. According to Newsline, the unidentified amateur was roughed up by four men in a Land Rover who accused him of spying on them and recording them. There was no word on whether the ham required medical attention.

New Radio Club, New Repeater in Northern Mariana Islands

Flag of the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands (Source: CIA World Factbook)

A group of hams in the Northern Mariana Islands (KH0) is trying to revitalize the amateur radio community there, according to a recent article in the Saipan Tribune. The Radio Amateur Marianas DX Club currently has about 20 members and has recently purchased and installed a new repeater on the island. 

Club President Cris Francisco, Jr. (no call sign given in the article) is quoted as saying that a single repeater on Mt. Tapochau had been the glue that held together various amateur radio groups there and, when that repeater was destroyed by a typhoon (hurricane) in 2018, those groups fell apart. He hopes the new repeater will help re-energize the amateur community and provide public service to the broader community, especially after storms or other events that knock out regular communication channels. 

Interestingly, the club is encouraging membership by all volunteer-minded members of the community, even if they don't want to become hams. According to the article, Francisco says non-ham volunteers as well as radio operators will be needed to respond to future emergencies.