ADMX: A Dark Matter receiver

(Image source: NASA)

(Source: Futurity)

Radio receiver ‘listens’ for dark matter particles

Researchers have developed a way to “listen” for the signs of dark matter axions, the particles that may make up dark matter.

Forty years ago, scientists theorized a new kind of low-mass particle that could solve one of the enduring mysteries of nature: what dark matter is made of. Now a new chapter in the search for that particle has begun.

The Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX) is the world’s first and only experiment to have achieved the necessary sensitivity to “hear” the telltale signs of dark matter axions.[…]

Click here to view on YouTube.

Click here to read this full story at Futurity.

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WUNC on Jazz: “America’s Coolest Weapon During The Cold War”

(Source: WUNC’s The State of Things via Kim Elliott)

During the Cold War, the U.S. Department of State sent jazz musicians around the world to sell the American way of life. This initiative took place in the 1950s, during segregation and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Jazz was gaining popularity on the international stage partly because of a Voice of America program hosted by Willis Conover, and partly because jazz musicians, like Louis Armstrong, played international tours.

The U.S. government took note of this popularity and decided to send musicians as representatives of the country, even as those representatives didn’t have the full benefits of the freedom they were touting. Many of these multi-racial, multi-gender groups were not allowed to perform within the boundaries of the United States due to Jim Crow.

Host Frank Stasio talks to Hugo Berkeley, director of the new documentary “The Jazz Ambassadors: The Untold Story of America’s Coolest Weapon in the Cold War.” Historian Adriane Lentz-Smith joins the conversation to put the story of the jazz ambassadors into context. Lentz-Smith is a professor of history at Duke University who served as an advisor to the documentary. She’s also the author of “Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I” (Harvard University Press/2011). “The Jazz Ambassadors” screens at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham on Sunday, April 8.[…]

Click here to read interview highlights and listen to the full interview on WUNC.

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The ISS will be sending SSTV in April

(Source: ARRL via Eric McFadden, WD8RIF)

Space Station’s Slow-Scan Television System to be Active in April

The Amateur Radio Slow-Scan Television (SSTV) system on the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to be active in April on 145.800 MHz (FM). The Russian segment’s MAI 75 SSTV has announced transmissions on Monday, April 2, 1505 – 1830 UTC, and on Tuesday, April 3, 1415 – 1840 UTC.

“Reviewing the crew schedule, the SSTV activity, which uses Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) radios, was coordinated around ARISS school contacts and is listed for April 2 and April 3,” said NASA ISS Ham Project Coordinator Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO.

The SSTV system, which uses the call sign RS0ISS, is also expected to be active from April 11 – 14 worldwide to mark Cosmonautics Day in Russia on April 12. Specific transmission times are not yet available. Images on all dates will be related to the Soviet Union’s Interkosmos cooperative space ventures project.

SSTV images will be transmitted in PD-120 format on 145.800 MHz (FM) using the Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver in the ISS Russian Service Module. ISS transmissions use the 5-kHz deviation FM standard. It’s possible to receive SSTV transmissions with only a handheld transceiver and appropriate SSTV software[…]

Click here to read the full article on the ARRL website.

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NHK World Radio Japan’s A-18 Schedule

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who notes that NHK World Radio Japan has posted their A-18 Schedule (March 25 – October 28) for download.

Click here to download a PDF copy.

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A Yaesu WIRES-X SWL Net?

The WIRES-X Network (Source: Yaesu)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who asks:

How many of you Amateur Radio folks reading this web page have WIRES-X capability (either with a local node on your own or have access to it via a repeater) ?? I ask this as a possibility of a casual net of some kind ? We have WIRES-X (local node) here and would be willing to at least try a test run of a weekly or semi weekly “SWL – Receiver Net” IF we receive enough feedback (even if only a few readers). So I would appreciate an email back with a thumbs up or down to this idea and that you would be at least a check in ? Also please give me ideas when you would think a good day of the week and time would be (USA) ? If I receive zero feed back, of course I will not waste my time (but I think it would be fun to at least give it a try).

I only recently acquires a WIRES-X capable handheld: the Yaesu FT2DR. Now I need to find out if there is a WIRES-X capable repeater I can hit from my home. Of course, for me it’s always finding a reliable time to meet–that’s the real challenge! Great idea, Dave!

Post Readers: Contact Dave if you’re interested–his email can be found at the top of his homepage.

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Ampegon Group encourages use of shortwave for “secure data transmission and high-speed communications”

(Source: Ampegon)

(Source: Radio World via Mike Hansgen)

The author [Dr. Simon Keens] is head of sales and marketing for the Ampegon Group.

TURGI, SWITZERLAND — There are many innovative ways the industry can use shortwave broadcasting to provide secure data transmission and high-speed communications.

The modern world increasingly requires available real-time secure communications between centralized locations and often to many receivers in unknown locations thousands of kilometers away.

[…]Information transfer via the internet or via fiber optic cable was once the reference. However, the use of such technology means that the information is only delivered to fixed points. In addition, the use of third-party infrastructures provides a security risk and increases transport cost.

Today, near-instant communication to unknown, remote receivers using shortwave is being developed as a new secure means of communications without the need for external providers, delivering signals directly to multiple, or even mobile, destinations regardless of fixed infrastructure. Messages may be dispatched much faster, thus for situations where time is critical, each additional second could be profitable and even save lives.[…]

Click here to read the full article at Radio World.

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Colin’s review of the CC Skywave SSB

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Colin Newell of DXer.ca who shares part one of his review of the CC Skywave SSB.

Colin’s review is nothing short of glowing and he obviously has a first production unit that isn’t plagued with the DSP noises five of my review units had.

As I stated in my review, the Skywave SSB is an impressive little receiver when DSP noises and birdies aren’t an issue. My Beta unit is a lot of fun to put on the air and has become my go-to “Swiss Army Knife” travel radio.

I will be testing an early second production unit of the CC Skywave SSB later this year and will post my evaluation here on the Post.

Click here to read part one of Colin’s review.

 

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Wading River: WWII FBI covert radio station listed on the National Register of Historic Places

(Photo: Camp De Wolfe)

(Source: Riverhead Local via Mike Hansgen)

A house on the bluffs at Camp DeWolfe in Wading River, covertly used as an FBI radio transmission station during World War II to gather military intelligence, has been added to the state and national registers of historic places.

FBI radio operators impersonating German agents used the Wading River Radio Station to communicate with the German intelligence service, according to the site’s registration form with the National Register of Historic Places.

Information covertly gathered by agents at the radio station was critical to inspiring the United States’ development of an atomic bomb.

The station was also involved in the Operation “Bodyguard,” which used counterintelligence to confuse and mislead the Nazi government about the upcoming Allied invasion of Europe.

The radio station operated from 1942 to 1945.

[…]In January 1942, FBI engineers installed radio equipment in the house, hid a large antenna in the woods, and built a diesel-powered generator using an automobile engine to avoid local suspicion about electricity consumption at the house, which was far greater than what was then the norm due to the radio operations. An FBI agent assigned to manage the operation moved in with his family — and two or three radio operators. The first floor was maintained as the agent’s family home, while the second and third floors were used for the FBI operation, according to the national register registration narrative. They remained there for the duration of the war.

[…]The FBI had been looking for a spot to locate the transmission station for the spying operation and were attracted by the home’s cliffside location and the site’s remoteness. According to the national register registration document:

“By January 1942 [an FBI radio engineer] had stumbled upon the Owen House located in the tiny fishing and farming hamlet of Wading River, New York. Located eighty miles east of New York on Long Island’s North Fork the spacious three story building sat on a cliff bordered on one side by Long Island Sound and acres of dense trees on the other three sides, and the only approach to the station was a bumpy, rutted quarter mile path. Even by today’s standards the house is not easy to find. In 1942 it would have been nearly impossible.”

An FBI agent’s inquiry took the Owen family by surprise. They were sworn to secrecy.[…]

Click here to read the full article at the Riverhead Local.

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ZS6OTL Club to run field station at National Convention

Southgate ARC – On Saturday 14 April, during the SARL National Convention, the ZS6OTL Club from Middelburg is planning a field station which will be situated at the entrance of the Lapa at the Farm Inn

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St. Paul Island DXpedition

Southgate ARC – Randy, N0TG, reports planing continues for activation August 1-9th. Details and updates are posted on the DXpedition Web site

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Search and Rescue exercise in Canterbury

Southgate ARC – New Zealand Police report this weekend (24 and 25 March) Canterbury will be holding its District Search and Rescue (SAR) Exercise

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Tony’s 10 Metre Band Report

Southgate ARC – The weekend improved on the rest of the week but it’s not a sign of any general improvement. Top DX was XR0YD (Easter Is) with Z60A (Kosovo) and CA2CEV (Chile) showing as well.

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