YES!!!! TECHSAT II LAUNCH A SUCCESS

After a few weeks of delay, where the Russian launch crew made sure that everything was functioning properly, the Zenith missile took off from Kazakhstan. With the Israeli news media reporting regularly on the progress, we nervously followed the news bulletins.

The mother Russian satellite reached the proper orbit, then after the command was transmitted, our 50 x 50 x 50 centimetre Techsat II separated. It successfully drew out its arms with solar panels and its antennas. Its telemetry transmissions indicated everything functioning normally and all the temperatures well within the safe limits.

There are expected to be many more weeks of tests and experiments to be carried out by the Technion crew and it make take upwards to three months before it is released for ham store-and-forward digital communications. But as things are now, everybody is extremely optimistic, and champagne and whisky have been flowing!

Hats off to Shlomo 4X1AS, Peleg 4X1GP, Assi 4X1KX and Yigal 4Z7CBA who have been accompanying the amateur radio end of this project for the past many years, and can now rightfully enjoy their triumph.

CEPT UNIVERSAL AMATEUR LICENCE DETAILS

Israel has since 1993 been a member country of the CEPT T/R 61-02 covenant where member countries’ radio amateurs may operate on the air in accordance to their licence conditions and those of the host country for up to three months without requesting special permission. One needs only bring his valid licence along with him/her.

The countries are: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco (where visiting amateurs are requested to inform the authorities of their transmitting location), Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom.

In the past year we have also joined the CEPT T/R 61-02 signatory countries, which allows amateurs with a valid licence to receive a licence in the host country in which they are staying for more than three months, again in accordance with the regulations of the host country.

The countries participating in this arrangement are: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom.

NEWS SNIPPETS

*** Never to late to report that the April Fools’ joke this year worked on a lot of us: The IARC announced to its membership through the weekly VHF nets that the Ministry of Communications had instructed that all towers be painted red and white. Even a few IARC executive council members swallowed to story, and some of the more patriotic in spirit asked that the Ministry be petitioned to allow the painting of antenna masts in blue and white, the national colours! Why, even your scribe 4X1MK believed the story, but being a procrastinator of known repute, never got around to doing anything about it.

*** The IARC web site is expanding, with lots of interesting contributions and links. Ronnen 4Z4ZQ and Tidhar 4Z5CA are managing the server keep it up and running. You can also find personal home pages of many IARC members. Check it out: <www.iarc.org>.

*** With the increased sunspot number as well as summer season higher solar radiation in the northern hemisphere, band conditions have really picked up. Contacts between Israel and the ENTIRE North American continent are happening almost daily on 20 metres between 1900 to 0400 UTC. Other bands are hopping as well, with openings to all parts of the world. Substantiated rumours report good openings on 6 metres where a handful of 4X/4Z amateurs are operating, thanks to that band having become legal here and some of the newer HF rigs including a 50 MHz position on the bandswitch.

*** SSTV (Slow-Scan Television) is a going concern, with Tuviah "Tzalem Otah" 4X4GT, the IARC’s official photographer, one of the chief pushers of the mode. He’s started a weekly net on 2 metres - 144.500 MHz - with so far four participants on the first session. More are expected to join. Shalom 4Z4UT is another booster of SSTV, and has been distributing radio-computer interfaces and PC boards as well as the literature for getting on the air. The mode has come along way, thanks to the computer technology. Anybody remember the costly old Robot SSTV gear with the P9 green-phosphor screen, and lousy resolution. Now, for very little extra cost, hams are exchanging high quality colour pictures on the air using their PC’s. A lot of this is happening on the HF bands.