BenDoubleU

"Barring extraterrestrial contact, if you want to step up your DX game you’ll want to try to contact some of our deep-space probes."

Linked to hackaday since actual content link is a PDF.

In an exciting first, we managed to successfully complete a two-way contact by bouncing a signal off a geostationary satellite. The satellite in question, Inmarsat GX-5, is stationed at an altitude of over 35,000 kilometers, and together with Dan, HB9Q, in Switzerland, we alternated between transmitting towards the satellite and receiving reflections. This first ever amateur QSO over geo satellite the remarkable capabilities of modern amateur radio technology when paired with large, high-gain dishes.

originally found on https://hackaday.com/2025/01/24/bouncing-signals-off-of-satellites-other-than-the-moon/

A quick look at how the movie The Exorcist from 1973 has links to the late great Alan Turing via Mike Oldfield’s album Tubular Bells, Scotland and Amateur Radio.

Winter Field Day is this weekend, January 25 - 26!

Do you have any plans for it?

Let us know how it goes!

#hamradio

This weekend, January 18-19, 2025, is the winter Support Your Parks event for Parks on the Air (POTA).

Anyone plan on activating at a local park or hunting for one?

RIP David

Copied from the reddit post:

Hi all, last night, a post from last year from my personal X account suddenly became a topic of discussion here on Reddit. I want to share a few thoughts on this to provide clarity to the community on what is Proton's policy on politics going forward.

First, while the X post was not intended to be a political statement, I can understand how it can be interpreted as such, and it therefore should not have been made. While we will not prohibit all employees from expressing personal political opinions publicly, it is something I will personally avoid in the future. I lean left on some issues, and right on other issues, but it doesn't serve our mission to publicly debate this. It should be obvious, but I will say that it is a false equivalence to say that agreeing with Republicans on one specific issue (antitrust enforcement to protect small companies) is equal to endorsing the entire Republican party platform.

Second, officially Proton must always be politically neutral, and while we may share facts and analysis, our policy going forward will be to share no opinions of a political nature. The line between facts, analysis, and opinions can be blurry at times, but we will seek to better clarify this over time through your feedback and input.

The exception to these rules is on the topics of privacy, security, and freedom. These are necessarily political topics, where influencing public policy to defend these values, often requires engaging politically.

The operations of Proton have always reflected our neutrality. For example, recently we refused pressure to deplatform both Palestinian student groups and Zionist student groups, not because we necessarily agreed with their views, but because we believe more strongly in their right to have their own views.

It is also a legal guarantee under Swiss law, which explicitly prohibits us from assisting foreign governments or agencies, and allows us no discretion to show favoritism as Swiss law and Swiss courts have the final say.

The promise we make is that no matter your politics, you will always be welcome at Proton (subject of course to adherence to our terms and conditions). When it comes to defending your right to privacy, Proton will show no favoritism or bias, and will unconditionally defend it irrespective of the opinions you may hold.

This is because both Proton as a company, and Proton as a community, is highly diverse, with people that hold a wide range of opinions and perspectives. It's important that we not lose sight of nuance. Agreeing/disagreeing with somebody on one point, rarely means you agree/disagree with them on every other point.

I would like to believe that as a community there is more that unites us than divides us, and that privacy and freedom are universal values that we can all agree upon. This continues to be the mission of the non-profit Proton Foundation, and we will strive to carry it out as neutrally as possible.

Going forward, I will be posting via u/andy1011000. Thank you for your feedback and inputs so far, and we look forward to continuing the conversation.

A ham radio operator in Idaho must pay a record $34,000 penalty for causing interference with communications during a fire suppression effort.

ARRL 10-Meter Contest is this weekend starting on Saturday, December 14 at 0000 UTC (Friday evening in North America), and concluding on Sunday, December 15 at 2359 UTC. Stations may contact any other station, regardless of location, using CW and phone.

When disaster strikes, and conventional communication systems fail, amateur ham radio operators step in to bridge the gap, providing a crucial link between those in affected areas and the outside world.