Reaching the HamfestIndia 2009 Venue :

From Bangalore International Airport to the venue You may take the BIAS-5 or BIAS-12 Bus Shuttles which ply round the clock and get down at the "Ashoka Pillar" stop, which is about 2 Kms from the venue. You may take an auto-rickshaw from this point to the venue for less than Rs.20/- (may be a little more in the late hours).

From the Bangalore City Railway Station and Central Bus Stand (Kempe Gowda Bus Stand) to the venue You may take city bus from the city bus station on route Nos.: 36, 42, or 43 and get down at "Ramakrishna Mutt" or "Ganesh Bhavan Hotel" stop, both of which are walkable distance from the venue.

You may also take 3-wheeler auto-rickshaws to the venue (distance 4 Kms) for about Rs.30/-. The auto-rickshaws may charge extra for luggage and 1.5 times extra from 10 pm to 6 am. You may also go in for pre-paid auto-rickshaw service available at both the bus-stand and the railway station.

City-taxi service (cab) is also available. The tariff is Rs.15/- per kilometre.

Courtesy : VU2LU, OM Ramesh

CM of Orissa launches HAM Radio :

The chief minister of Orissa Naveen Patnaik today launched HAM Radio Communication network in the state. This is expected to improve the preparedness to face the natural disasters.

Read more at .....
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/naveen-launches-ham-radio/374695/

Special Event QSLs at hamfest 2009 :

VU's, attending the Hamfest2009 at Bangalore, please note.

If you have made QSO's with any of the following special event stations AT6MM, AT7CD, AT8ESP, AT8WFF, AT8LH then please bring in your cards for these QSO's. You will get your special QSL's. Lot of money and time is saved, in these days of high postage rates.

If you know someone who is very active, but, not attending the Hamfest, pse tell him and get his cards too, so that you can collect the special cards for him also, from us, either VU2UR or VU2LX.

No other VU special event organizer so far, has made such an offer. Don't miss this great opportunity.

Courtesy : Arasuji, VU2UR

2nd Arecibo Observatory activation - KP4AO :

After the huge success of the first activation, the Arecibo Observatory Radio Club - KP4AO will be on-the-air again this next Sunday November 1st, 2009 to commemorate 46 years of operations of still the single largest radio telescope antenna in the world. Also they will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Arecibo Message, which was sent on November 16, 1974,in binary code and transmitted to the globular star cluster M13, for if it is received by intelligent life, to let them know about our existence. "We had a such a great response that we had more than 100 hams operating the station in the Control Room taking turns", said Angel Vazquez - WP3R and KP4AO President who works in the Observatory.

The special event will start at 9am-4pm local time (1300 - 2000 UTC) and will be on 20 meters SSB. There will be certificates for those who make contact as well for operators. This is an activity for the who Amateur Radio Community, so if you are near, or visiting the island you are invited. (Don't forget your ham license! It's your free pass). KP4AO will be operated inside the Control Room, and the Visitor Center entrance will be half price.

The Arecibo Observatory, located in the city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico is a radio telescope operated by Cornell University under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and works as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC). From it many studies and discoveries from the cosmos has been made by Nobel-Prize winners,as well made studies of the atmosphere and even used in the SETI program.

For More information on the Message
http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Arecibo_message

Official Website:
http://www.naic. edu/

Courtesy : KP4LCL (Israel)

4th Himalayan Contest 2009 :

Date: 31st October 2009 1200 UTC(1730 IST) to 01st November 2009 1200 UTC(1730 IST).

This contest is open for VU QSOs only. Regular/Occasional Net controllers, Organisers of this contest, are not ELIGIBLE FOR ANY PRIZES. They may, however, take part and send their logs to help the participants.

Bands: 1.8 to 28 MHz except WARC and VHF/UHF.

Modes: CW, SSB, Mixed.

Contest Call: VUs call “CQ Himalaya” in SSB and “CQ HC” in CW.

Category: Single Operator Single Band CW or SSB or Mixed.

Single Operator Multi Bands CW or SSB or Mixed

SWLs: Multiband CW or SSB or Mixed

Exchange: VUs give “six digit PIN code” combination to VUs.

Restriction: A particular VU can be worked only once in any band irrespective of Mode.

Only VU-VU QSOs. If you work VU2ABC on 7 cw, no need to work him again on any other band or mode.

Scoring: Every QSO with a unique PIN code is 1 point.

All VUs located in States like JK,HP,UP,SK,WB,AS,AR count for 5 points each.

They have either the foothills or the Himalayan range in their State.

Bonus: Every CW QSO gives 5 points Bonus.

SWLs: VU SWLs must report complete 2-way QSOs of contest stations. Every station can be logged only once.

A complete QSO between VU and VU gives 5 points on any band.

Multipliers: Every unique exchange which a VU station gives is a multiplier.

Example: 600042,602002,615003, 695403,560075,571313 etc are different multipliers.

A multiplier is counted only once for all bands taken together.

Final Score: It is the (sum of QSO points from individual band/bands) multiplied by the (sum of multipliers from individual band/bands)

Logs: Mark each log sheet with your call sign and category.

Kindly send your logs by POST ONLY, to the

Contest Manager VU2UR Arasu, MIG-6, 80 Feet Road, Kengeri Upanagara, Bangalore 560060, India, before the 20th November 2009

Awards to be issued:

For VU stations, top three in every category get certificates.

For VU SWLs, suitable certificates are going to be issued.

Any feed back regarding this contest, may please be sent to: gopal.madhavan@gmail.com or vu2ur@rediffmail.com

Courtesy : OM Arasuji, VU2UR

C6APR Team tragic end :

The C6APR team, consisting of OM Pete, W2GJ, OM Ed, K3IXD, OM Randy K4QO and OM Dallas W3PP were all killed this morning (Wednesday) as their aircraft crashed on take-off from Summerville Airport, on their way to Crooked Island, Bahamas.

They were on their way to operate in the CQWW contest this weekend.

For more details : Click here

75 wpm ! KH6IJ :

Interesting story of a brave man who fought disabilities in true ham spirit.

http://hamgallery.com/Tribute/KH6IJ/KH6IJ.pdf

New QSL received from 4S7 :

Click here : To view

Solar Minimum continues :

Two sunspots, which appeared on the autumnal equinox to break several months of extreme solar quiet, have faded away, leaving the sun blank once again.

The deepest solar minimum in nearly a hundred years appears poised to continue. NASA spacecrafts are now reporting a surge in cosmic rays around Earth caused, somewhat ironically, by this low solar activity.

According to sensors on NASA's ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) spacecraft, galactic cosmic rays have just hit a Space Age high.

The cause of the surge is the solar minimum, a deep lull in solar activity that began around 2007 and continues today. Researchers have long known that cosmic rays go up when solar activity goes down. Right now solar activity is as weak as it has been in modern times, setting the stage for a perfect storm of cosmic rays.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29sep_cosmicrays.htm

We need to watch how this affects propagation?

Useful in the shack :

Some time ago I bought a bunch of 3M scrub pads (green ones) for another unusual use. I find them also useful on the bench for cleaning leads. I fold it over a component lead pull the component away to clean. You can cut a strip and use it for cleaning contacts. Works like a charm!

A strip can be nailed to a 1cm square (~1/2") of wood and used to clean battery contacts in hard to reach places.

Courtesy : OM Raj, VU2ZAP

Appropriate use of Amateur Radio :

ARRL web page has a news item and an attached document (prepared by ARRL) discussing issues related to appropriate use of Amateur Radio (commercial groups and organizations trying to use amateur radio). Here are the links:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/09/25/11094/?nc=1
http://www.arrl.org/news/files/ARRL_AppropriateUseGuidelines.pdf

Obviously this was created for conditions and FCC rules applicable to US hams. But I think it will be of interest to anyone interested in discussing similar issues.

Courtesy : VU2LID/N8LI