NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission is scheduled to launch tomorrow, September 28, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft will lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket and is expected to dock to the International Space Station (ISS) the following day. Crew Dragon Freedom will bring NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the ISS for an approximate five-month science mission. The crewed vessel will also deliver sample collection kits for Canadian study Vascular Aging.
Following a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announcement of opportunity, Reaction Dynamics (Saint-Jean-sur Richelieu, Quebec) was recently awarded a contribution of $776,000 to support the on-orbit demonstration of its monopropellant propulsion unit, commonly referred to as a microthruster. This funding builds on Reaction Dynamics' previous work with the CSA in the development of hybrid rocket technology, which directly contributed to this in-space propulsion advancement. The demonstration will evaluate key performance parameters for space operations such as orbit maintenance, altitude adjustments, inclination changes, collision avoidance and controlled atmospheric re-entry. The ability to execute these manoeuvres with greater precision and agility will refine mission profiles and contribute to space sustainability, particularly by enabling more efficient deorbiting processes.
revealing a surprising discovery: glimmering sulfur crystals. Something never seen before on the red planet! These crystals are pure, elemental sulfur, which is unexpected on Mars. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), Canada's contribution to Curiosity, played an important role in this discovery. Mounted on Curiosity's robotic arm, the Canadian instrument bombarded the sulfur with X-rays and alpha particles, revealing their true elemental nature.
Here is the reply from ChatGPT3.5 to the following:
What relevance does AI have to the amateur radio service?
AI has significant potential to enhance various aspects of the amateur radio service. Here are some key areas where AI can be relevant:
1. **Signal Processing and Noise Reduction**: - **Noise Cancellation**: AI algorithms can be used to filter out noise and improve the clarity of received signals, making it easier to communicate in noisy environments. - **Signal Detection**: AI can help in detecting weak signals that might be missed by traditional methods, improving the overall sensitivity of receivers.
The Annual General Meeting for the Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society is re-scheduled as follows (we lacked a quorum on 16 Jun 24):
0900 MST Sunday, 16 June 2024July 28, 2024
Red Apple (on Franklin)
In person
Tentative Agenda:
election of the new officers of the Society (President, Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer)
presentation of financial statements 2023-2024
review of YARS activities during Wildfire emergency in 2023
discussion of whether to proceed to change name and objects and constitution of the Society and expand its focus to the Territories rather than just Yellowknife
plan for ARRL Field Day 2024 - June 29-30
plan for RAC Canada Day Contest 2024 - July 1 (same weekend as Field Day)
In the world of amateur radio, it is traditional for radio amateurs to take old materials and repurpose them. This tradition evolved from the days when radio equipment was difficult to obtain and incredibly expensive. Typically radio amateurs build their own equipment from what was essentially trash. The era of the Great Depression exacerbated this as did the onset of war in the 1930s and 1940s. After the war, military surplus equipment was available and cheap. Gradually the commercial availability of amateur radio equipment gave rise to the amateur radio market.
In the 1970s onwards, this same tradition was applied to home computing. Initially one could only obtain a computer in a kit form and while financially affordable, it was still expensive. With the rapid evolution of microprocessors and other computer-related technologies, home computing became more accessible and cheaper. A commercial market was established and the titans of the computer industry soared to dominate it.
End of Support for Windows 8.1 – My Laptop from 2014 is now E-Waste
On 10 January 2023, Microsoft ceased support for Windows 8.1. My home laptop had been running Windows 8.1. I tried to upgrade it to Windows 10 but ended up with a message from Microsoft indicating that my computer hardware was too old to actually run Windows 10 or 11 and that I should consider buying a new laptop – and then displayed a list of recommended laptops. I immediately tried to do a security update and it failed. Physically, there was nothing wrong with my old laptop other than it had a motherboard manufactured in 2014 (so it was 10 years old). I thought about upgrading the RAM or the solid state hard drive (SSD).
The Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society has completed its internal review in the aftermath of the 2023 wildfire events in the Northwest Territories, including the evacuation of Yellowknife. Most of the results of the review are of an internal nature and not for publication.
The Society maintains a VHF repeater system operating on the 2-metre band (and 70-cm band). This system provides continuous radio communication for amateur radio operators in Yellowknife (VE8YK) and in Behchokǫ̀ (VE8RAE). This includes continuous coverage along Highway 3 between the two communities. There is also a range of about 40 km around Yellowknife and Behchokǫ̀. The Society maintained a 24/7 radio watch on the repeater system from about May until the evacuation order of August 16, 2023. Those amateur radio operators remaining in Yellowknife continued to make use of the repeater system. The repeater system also has an operational Internet Relay Linking Project (IRLP) node. That was used at least once with a station calling from the United Kingdom. The repeater system being used during the evacuation to obtain reports of the conditions on Highway 3, including smoke and traffic conditions. The repeater system continued to operate throughout the evacuation. See: Society is Returning to Operation .
In terms of "radio", the usage of that term, along with "communications" is exclusively in respect of communications directed at the public. Under the Incident Command System this is only one aspect of Incident Command Management ("public information officer" in the ICS organization chart above).
