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Thanks to sponsorship by the American Radio Relay League, HamSCI will be a part of the 2017 Dayton Hamvention from May 19-21, 2017 at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. Throughout the entire Hamvention, HamSCI members from the New Jersey Institute of TechnologyVirginia Tech, the MIT Haystack Observatory, and Citizen Scientists from the general amateur radio community will be at the HamSCI booth in the ARRL EXPO area in Building 2 to discuss HamSCI programs, activities, and mission. The 2017 Total Solar Eclipse and Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP) of August 21, 2017 will be among the most discussed topics at this year’s HamSCI Hamvention Booth. Other topics include using RBNWSPRNet, and PSKReporter for space weather research and a demonstration of how to operate a Reverse Beacon Network receiver

HamSCI member Joshua D. Katz, KD2JAO, was recently announced as a winner of the 2017 NJIT Provost Undergraduate Summer Research award for his research proposal entitled Estimating Ionospheric Parameters Using Real-Time Data Sources. This $3000 grant will allow Mr. Katz to conduct this research at the New Jersey Institute of Technology Center for Solar Terrestrial Research during the upcoming summer, where he develops software solutions to computationally intensive physics problems in the domains of simulation and big data analysis. Mr. Katz's summer research will be supervised by Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, a researcher in the NJIT-CSTR. The proposal abstract is listed below.

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Organized by the Harvard Wireless Club, W1AF

On April 29th, 2017 the Harvard Amateur Radio Symposium (1st edition) will be held in historic Harvard Yard at the center of Harvard University. The symposium will be an opportunity for radio enthusiasts and experts at Harvard, other universities, and beyond to gather to hear speakers present on topics related to amateur radio, both historical and technical in nature. The symposium is being put on by the Harvard Wireless Club, W1AF (HWC), a Harvard owned, run, and sponsored amateur radio society dedicated to the pursuit of amateur radio activity, education, and volunteerism. The HWC has decided to hold this symposium as a means of celebrating our interest in amateur radio as well as to encourage and promote the continuation of the use of amateur radio in the future.

By Fleet Belknap, KJ4ZWA

Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC

Observable solar eclipses are rare events, and a lot is still unknown about how they interact with earth’s atmosphere.  The August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse will provide a treasure trove of information, as it will take place across the United States.  In order to study the atmosphere during the solar eclipse, NASA is partnering with over 57 teams across the continent to launch balloons that will provide live video of the eclipse. While this looks like an interesting opportunity, it is way too expensive for the average Amateur Radio enthusiast; each team has a budget anywhere from $6,000 to $25,000.

By Dr. Chuck Higgins, Middle Tennessee State University

Radio Jove is a NASA-affiliated education and outreach project that began in 1999 and gives students, teachers, and other interested individuals a hands-on experience in learning radio astronomy (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov). Radio Jove is a not-for-profit organization, led by a team of about eight volunteer scientists and engineers, which provides a mechanism to distribute radio telescope education kits and educational resources. Participants may build a simple radio telescope kit, make scientific observations, and interact with professional radio observatories in real-time over the Internet. Dedicated observers can help answer science questions about the nature and characteristics of low frequency radio emissions coming from Jupiter and the Sun, as well as, to understand the variability of Earth’s ionosphere. Radio Jove maintains a data archive to facilitate in the exchange of information and the validation of other ground-based and space-based radio data.

By Bill Liles, NQ6Z

Editor’s Note: The HamSCI-related eclipse efforts comprise of a number of sub-projects. This article describes the EclipseMob project, which is an experiment led by a team at George Mason University and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. EclipseMob will study eclipse-driven ionospheric effects using the Very Low Frequency (VLF) and Low Frequency (LF) bands. Results of this experiment could aid in understanding propagation at the proposed 2,200 meter ham band.

Since 1912 there have been many efforts to collect and analyze data during a solar eclipse to help understand the ionosphere. These efforts have been conducted in frequencies ranging from VLF to VHF.  In most cases, individuals or small teams have collected data from disparate transmitters.

On behalf of Flávio Jorge, Chairman and Organizing Committee Member:
 
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.

HamSCI scientists met at the Fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco during the week of December 11–17, 2016. The Fall AGU meeting is one of the largest gatherings of geoscientists in the world, with approximately 24,000 people attending. During the meeting, HamSCI scientists presented ham radio-based research, discussed possibilities for upcoming experiments, and networked with members of both the Citizen Science and Space Science Communities.

On October 19 – 20, 2016, two new Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) receivers were installed at the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey (UACNJ) Observatory at Jenny Jump State Park in Hope, NJ. These receivers, assigned call signs K2MFF-2 and K2MFF-3, are sponsored by the New Jersey Institute of Technology Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (NJIT-CSTR). These receivers will listen for amateur radio Morse Code signals on the high frequency (HF, 1.8–30 MHz) bands and report “spots” back to the main RBN web site. These spots will be used by ham radio operators to find other hams to communicate with, and by scientists to study shortwave propagation and the ionosphere.

The November Frequency Measuring Test will begin at 0000 UTC, November 3 (8:00 PM EDT November 2).  Transmissions will take place on three bands: 20, 40, and 80 meters. The 20 meter transmission will have two parts - the first beaming east from California and the second beaming toward Japan. Participants are to submit only one 20 meter measurement, but are encouraged to measure both transmissions and compare the measured frequency and signal characteristics in their comments.