Inside - Vadim Sadovski

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is such a crazy, turbulent storm (the largest known storm in the universe) that it creates sound waves that travel hundreds of miles up and actually heat the planet’s upper atmosphere.

I repeat: sound waves are heating Jupiter’s atmosphere. The area above the Spot is a thousand degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the surrounding atmosphere.

Here’s the journal paper. Here’s our story.

Image credit: Space Telescope Science Institute/NASA

Comets by David Cartier

The Pillars of Creation and Spotting Comet Lovejoy

This week in space news, a new makeover for one of the Hubble Telescope’s most famous images, and tips on spotting Comet Lovejoy in the night sky.

General Ham: CW Procedures/Abbreviations

Have I mentioned that the General Ham License Manual has a ton more information than the Technician manual?  If I haven’t already, it’s true.  It’s awesome.

So it’s a lot of work to spell out the full text of all words and phrases, so telegraphers developed an extensive set of abbreviations and procedural signals called prosigns.  These are two letters sent together as a single character as indicated by an overbar.   So the prosign  AR  is used to indicated “End of Message”.

And then there are abbreviations to shorten common words such as “AND” is “ES” and “GOING” is “GG” and “WEATHER” is “WX”.

Calling CQ on CW is about the same as on phone/voice.  "DE" is an abbreviation used in place of “form” and the procedural signal K replaces “over”:

CQ CQ CQ DE W0TTV W0TTV W0TTV K

A response might look like the following:

W0TTV DE W1AW W1AW W1AW K

There’s no need to send the CQing station’s call more than once unless there’s interferences or the signal is weak.  When signals are strong and clear, those responding to CQ may even just send their call once or twice.

Good idea is also to respond at the speed of the calling station but if you’re uncomfortable receiving at that speed, send the Q signal “QRS” (send slower) before the final K.  Or if you want to go faster, QRQ.

Also adjust your transmitting frequency so that your signals is “zero beat” with the other signal so that you will be on the same frequency.  This means the two signals produce the same audio tone in a receiver.  Check the radio’s operating manual for instructions on how to zero beat another signal.

And once you’re in contact with another station, the prosign KN is used instead of K to prevent other stations from breaking in during the contact.  It means “Only the station with whom I am in contact should respond”.  When asked if you are ready to receive, “QRV” means “I’m ready to copy.”  After receiving the message, “QSL” means  "I acknowledge receipt.“

Then when it’s time to end the QSO, the prosign SK is used to let any listener know that the contact is completed: W1AW DE W0TTV SK and if you’re going off the air, add CL for closing station.

Phew!

@atdiy/@tymkrs

The second closest planet to the sun, Venus. Venus is about the same size as Earth, having a 12,104 km diameter. Venus has phases, like our moon, that can be seen as a crescent to a full circle. When visible at dusk and dawn, Venus is the brightest shining object in the sky (besides the sun & moon of course), brighter than mercury and mars. It is the hottest planet, and it’s surface temperature can reach up to 470 degrees Celsius. This is because Venus traps the sun’s heat, unlike mercury which doesn’t. A day on Venus lasts longer than its year, lasting for 19 days over. Venus is definitely a planet we could explore more, we just need to find a way to combat the blistering heat! ☀️

Getting ready for 8/21/17

I am making a journal as I get ready for the total eclipse of the sun on 8/21/17 and you can find it on http://www.astrotidbits.com.  Irregular posts as I do something new or learn new ways of doing things.

NGC 1291 This 12 billion year old barred galaxy is located in the Eridanus constellation. Young stars dot the outskirts of the galaxy (shown in red) and older stars reside in the center (shown in blue).

The Clansman PRC-320 - Plessey RT-320 Military Manpack Transciever [HD] - M0VST (by markbeermonster)

Starry Night,

Vincent Van Gogh

Ham radio operators for Vogue

(Nina Leen. 1941?)