Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Dec 25 2020 12:45:26 SOMETIMES SATELLITES GROW ON TREES TOO SKEETER: Another Christmas tree - this one in Canada - is sending its holiday message via satellite. Well, sort of. It was a project of one amateur radio club in British Columbia. For that report, we turn to Newsline's newest team member, Randy Sly, W4XJ. RANDY: The Gulf of Georgia Cannery is a museum in a 19th century building that highlights the history of the fishing industry on Canada's West Coast. Inside the building, one of the Christmas trees on display for the cannery's holiday festival puts a spotlight on amateur radio, using ornament designs that represent CubeSats, transmitted signals and amateur radio operators themselves. The Richmond Amateur Radio Club calls its tree "Communicating to One World" and its message is that amateur radio is a universal experience that uses high tech to connect people. In keeping with ham ingenuity, many of the ornaments were homebrew. Club members created them from coasters, printer cartridges, parts of ballpoint pens, pull tabs from canned food and other household items. Although the festival and display ended on December 24th, the interest in the trees will continue through to the end of the holiday season. Visitors to the cannery as well as people viewing the trees on Facebook and Instagram, were encouraged to vote for their favourite tree. The club is, of course hoping its tree will get a good signal report. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Randy Sly, W4XJ. (RICHMOND NEWS) ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station, we are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the K7EFZ repeater in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. local time, after Eagle Rock Emergency Practice Net. ** EUROPE PREPS FOR SATELLITE CONSTELLATION SKEETER: Will the new year bring Europe its own system of low-earth orbit satellites? Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB, explores that possibility. RALPH: With 2021 about to get underway, officials in a number of European Union nations will begin a feasibility study for a constellation of low-earth orbit satellites similar to the Starlink project under way by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Europe's version of the U.S. satellite constellation is envisioned as being able to give people in isolated areas access to the internet and permit more secure communications for governments. It would reportedly cost $7.3 billion in U.S. currency or 6 billion euros. The development could lead to a rivalry in space broadband coverage as SpaceX's own beta version is said to begin service to Europe by February or March of 2021. Starlink's goal has been to deploy as many as 42,000 satellites to bring high-speed internet to different parts of the globe. Its public beta service presently serves only the northern U.S. and southern Canada. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB. (BUSINESS INSIDER, YAHOO) ** CHINA'S RADIOTELESCOPE WELCOMES THE WORLD SKEETER: With the Arecibo Observatory gone following its tragic collapse, China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, is quickly opening its doors to the world's astronomers. FAST is the world's largest radiotelescope, taking that status from Arecibo after its construction was completed in 2016. According to the French news agency AFP, China's giant telescope is taking on another role once associated with Arecibo. It is giving the international community of astronomers access to its antennas and radio receivers so they can study radio waves emitted from black holes, galaxies and stars and even transmit and reflect signals to see what bounces back. (AFP, SPACE.COM) ** RADIO EQUIPMENT STOLEN FROM RUSSIAN 'DOOMSDAY' PLANE SKEETER/ANCHOR: As hams, we can sympathize with anyone who's got a serious craving for good radio equipment, but there are times when that craving can go to extremes. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, explains. ED: The disappearance of military radio equipment at an airfield in the southern region of Rostov, Russia, remains a mystery. All that is known is that thieves broke into an airplane that was there undergoing repairs and stole electronics, that included five radio boards and other equipment. Perhaps more significantly, the aircraft was a highly classified Ilyushin Il-80, known as the "doomsday plane." It is one of four such planes designed to be used in the event of nuclear war. That means that it would serve as an airborne post for the Russian president who could get on the air and order the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles or issue other orders. The theft is believed to have occurred sometime between the 26th of November during the plane's last inspection, and the 4th of December when the theft was reported to local police. Further details have not been publicly disclosed about the stolen equipment but investigators collected shoeprints and fingerprints from the plane's interior for a possible criminal investigation. For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP. (BBC, SOUTHGATE) --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (618:250/33) .