Academic and Ham Radio Meeting in Portugal

 

The Ether Talks is a radiocommunications congress that takes place at University of Aveiro, Portugal, on Saturday, March 4th 2017. Similarly to the previous editions, on this 3rd edition it is bringing together all the radioelectric sciences enthusiasts, and especially two big communities: the amateur radios community and the academic one.

 

The first community has usually a long and exhaustive experience operating the radio and on the observation of the radioelectric phenomena, but the theoretical knowledge about the same phenomena is quite limited and of empirical nature. The second, responsible for researching and developing the technology, has naturally deep knowledge about the phenomena, but the experience on operating the equipment and on the field is much reduced. Having said that, both communities complement each other and so the exchange of ideas and experiences is of most interest for both of them. Additionally, to the operators and developers we add the remaining piece: the national regulator (ANACOM).

 

This year we will have a researcher from the Univeristy of Twente, who also works on the Dutch regulator and who not only is an amateur radio (PE5B) as also represents his country on the ITU (the international regulator) Study Group 3. Prof. Witvliet will bring us the theme Near Vertical Incidence Skywave: Antennas and Propagation and he will show how he employed his amateur radio activity on the professional scientific research.

 

We also expect to hear Dr. Sinanis from the ITU space communications division, who is an amateur radio with the callsign SV3SJ, and responsible for the ITU amateur radio station whose callsign is 4U1ITU. After presenting the ITU amateur radio activities, and together with ANACOM, we will discuss about the current state of the amateur radios and the future that is envisaged for the community.

 

Dr. Cupido, after getting a deep professional experience on the field of microwave engineering as a professional working at Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, among others, has now his own company, LC Technologies, and as an amateur radio will give us a lecture on Deep Space Communications. In fact, as an amateur radio he is one of the very few in Portugal and in the world using the Moon as satellite (EME) to communicate, he is an expert on ionospheric propagation and uses many times tracks of meteorites to establish international radiocommunications. Moreover, at home, he does what professional teams are designated for: monitoring and tracking the signals sent by space missions on the deep space as it is the case of the well-known Voyager mission, having received already several contact certificates from NASA.

 

Finally, Prof. Carvalho, professor at University of Aveiro, IEEE Fellow member and IEEE Distinguished Microwave Lecturer will provide a lecture on Wireless Power Transmission, an emerging technology that we envisage to be the natural way to charge batteries on the future. This is certainly a different way of using the radio and it will bring to the discussion how, from the law point of view, amateur radios can execute similar techniques.

 

Beyond the lectures of our invited speakers, we encourage the submission of works developed in the framework of radioelectric sciences by all of those that are as much as simple enthusiasts (not necessarily amateur radios, who have to be certified by the correspondent national regulator). In this sense, the best work will awarded with the Michelson-Morley prize.

 

The last two editions of the Ether Talks were a huge success, beyond all the expectations, therefore we invite you to come to Aveiro and to join us on this event! The Ether Talks is a singular and unique event of its kind in Portugal.

 

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