Upcoming ZOOM presentation about the communications system for Ireland's first satellite - EIRSAT-1

 

EIRSAT-1 is due to be released from the International Space Station sometime in 2021 and this will be Ireland's first satellite in space. See previous post.

South Dublin Radio Club are organising a special ZOOM presentation with two of the EIRSAT-1 team members on Tuesday the 27th of October 2020 at 9pm Irish time (21:00 UTC).

During the presentation, they will discuss how they will communicate with the satellite from the ground station at University College Dublin and how others can listen in and contribute as well.

For  access to the ZOOM meeting, South Dublin Radio Club can be contacted here... https://southdublinradioclub.weebly.com/contact.html

Virtual tour of the historic Swedish SAQ transmitter operating at 17.2 kHz

 

South Dublin Radio Club had an interesting Zoom presentation on the 20th of October 2020 about the historic SAQ transmitter in south-west Sweden.

This transmitter operated at the very low frequency of 17.2 kHz and was established in 1924 to send telegrams across the Atlantic to the USA. Not long after its opening, low frequency stations of this type were superseded by those using the more efficient short wave bands.

What makes SAQ unique is that it is the last surviving transmitter of its type in that it generated the radio signal by mechanical means. See the photo below...

The electric motor on the right provides the mechanical force. The gearbox steps up the speed by a factor of three. The RF generator on the left is an alternator operating at 17,200 Hertz or 17.2 kHz.

The transmitted power is then fed to an antenna which is 2.2 kms in length.

The one-hour presentation is now available on YouTube...

Links...

1) Grimeton SAQ website