| August, 2008 |  |
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W1AW/KL7 to Operate from Arctic Circle
Just 300 miles south of the Alaskan Arctic Ocean -- where the Arctic Circle crosses the Dalton Highway (66 degrees, 33 minutes north) -- W1AW/KL7 will be on the air (grid square BP56) July 26-August 10 on all bands from 160-6 meters. This ARRL 2008 Alaska State Convention Special Event Station plans to run two HF stations operating CW, SSB and digital, one satellite station and one station devoted to 146.52 MHz. The Alaskan summer skies are ablaze with gray line-enhanced propagation effects, providing six to eight hour spurts of activity to most of the ham radio world. W1AW/KL7 plans to be active from 0600 UTC-1400 UTC to maximize gray line propagation. From Alaska, signals will take off in both directions at the same time: Europe to the East on one side, with Asia to the West on the other side. For an illustration of how Arctic gray line propagation works, see page 21 in the August 2008 issue of QST. The 2008 Alaska ARRL Convention will run from August 1-4, 2008 in Anchorage. -- Information provided by Bill Balzarini, KL7BB
No passenger falloff at BWI
While airline cuts have passenger traffic on the decline at many U.S. airports, Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) reported its busiest May ever this year. According to the airport, 1,913,777 passengers flew through BWI in May, an increase of 1.8% when compared to the same month a year ago. Southwest was the airport's top carrier in May with 1,008,912 passengers, a 1.5% increase for the carrier from May 2007. AirTran was BWI's fastest-growing airline in May. AirTran's year-over-year passenger count at BWI soared 27.5% to 270,984. BWI says it has had 21.4 million passengers during the last 12 months it has statistics for, making that the busiest 12-month period in the its history.
Kansas Ham, Son, Electrocuted While Erecting Antennas
While putting up backyard antennas on the afternoon of Sunday, July 13, Edward Thomas, KC0TIG, of Kansas City, Kansas, and his son were electrocuted. The elder Thomas, 65, was pronounced dead at the scene. His son, 27, was rushed to the hospital but died later that day. Initial reports suggest that the antenna they were installing came in contact with 7620 V power lines. Neighbors reported a "loud popping sound" and the electricity went out on the block.
Eye movements could replace tactile electronics controls
Rolling your eyes to turn up the volume of a portable music player and tapping your fingers to turn on a DVD player are among technologies Japan’s top mobile carrier is testing for “wearable” gadgets.
In one version, sensors and chips inside headphones detect electrical current produced by movements of the wearer’s eyeballs, says Masaaki Fukumoto, executive research engineer at NTT DoCoMo.
“We are working on a cellphone of the future,” he said at a suburban Tokyo research center.
NTT DoCoMo believes wearable control technology will be adapted for mobile devices that download music, play video games and allow users to shop online and keep up with their e-mail.
In a demonstration Tuesday for The Associated Press, researcher Hiroyuki Manabe wore a giant headset covered with wires to show how computer graphic lines in a monitor connected to the headset darted wildly whenever his eyes moved.
He turned up the volume on a digital music player by rolling his eyes, and he jerked his eyes twice to the right to fast forward.
The new technology may also enable cellphone cameras to read bar codes used in Japan to get product information, download music and coupons when the user simply looks at the codes, researchers said.
Fukumoto showed a wearable cellphone shaped like a ring about the size of a ping pong ball. When a wearer sticks his fingers in his ears, the sound travels as vibrations through his bones and into his ears, where it is heard as sound again.
Another iteration of the technology appears in a wristwatch that can detect the wearer’s thumb and forefinger tapping together to work as a remote controller for such gadgets as a DVD player.
The days when wearable technology looks like fancy cumbersome space-suits are over. The latest look is everyday and inconspicuous, blending into the routine, Fukumoto said.
“Japanese don’t like to stand out,” he said.
But when such technology will become real products, if ever, is still unknown, he said.
| August, 2008 | |
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