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Amateur Radio exhibition reflects unity in Europe
European Radio Societies exhibit in the European Parliament
From the 26th until 30th of April 2010, European radio societies will provide information about the Amateur Radio service in the European Parliament building.
Under the motto European Amateur Radio Benefiting Society and sponsored by MEP Birgit Sippel, who supports the goals and the socio-political importance of Amateur Radio, this exhibition will offer the possibility to become informed about this service.
“I am very much looking forward to sharing information on this radio service with my colleagues, their assistants and anyone else who is interested”, Mrs. Sippel said when she was approached to sponsor this undertaking.
Even though the Amateur Radio service exists since 1908, and many countries even have special laws to regulate it, the service is often unknown in public. Many politicians have never heard about this radio service, making this a very good starting point for the exhibition that you are about to view.
In the European Union alone, about 350,000 people of all ages are fascinated by this hobby. They operate their radios, socializing with others throughout the world while generating a large amount of international goodwill in the process. This combination of communication, technology and sports bonds them together and makes Amateur Radio unique.
Through personal contacts and demonstrating practical examples, the exhibitors will illustrate the Amateur Radio service, its structures and benefits for society. Young people that are extremely interesting in space exploration will often find themselves in the hobby, allowing them to actually communicate via self operated satellites, or speak to the International Space Station (ISS). However, a contact to the other side of the globe with self-built equipment and very limited antennas fascinates youngsters as well.
These technology-infected youngsters are likely to become engineers or high tech specialists, benefiting the wealth and growth of the EU.
Amateur Radio also helps in cases of emergencies, even as recently the earthquake disaster in Haiti or the Tsunami of 2006 has demonstrated. Amateur Radio operators were always the first to communicate to the outside world, since the telecom infrastructure was destroyed.
During the exhibition, 10 students from a school in Brussels will contact the ISS, which will be a highlight of the exhibition. In the meantime, models of the ISS and an Amateur Radio satellite will be shown. Visitors can also test their skills in telegraphy – better known as Morse Code – which is still one to the easiest modes of shortwave operation in low signal conditions.
Some European directives affect the Amateur Radio service as well. They will be presented and discussed. Future European legislation may also affect the service, making it necessary to inform visitors about special needs that this fine hobby has.
 | Apr. 14, 2010 |
Angel Falls: The World’s Highest Waterfall |
| Today, when science and technology are deemed highly developed, people may think that mankind’s explorations have reached every corner of the Earth. Nevertheless, there are still hidden places where people can hardly set foot. The Guiana Highlands may be the king of such mysterious places.  Fig. 1. Angel Falls and Its Vicinity December 2009. The Guiana Highlands are located in northern South America, extending over Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, and Brazil. More than 100 isolated table-like mountains (mesas) tower above the Amazon rainforest, and cover a total area of about 30,000 km2, which is equivalent to the size of Belgium. The dark green and brown area in the center of the image is one such mesa, called “tepui,” (“House of the Gods”) in the native tongue. These geological features are the remains of the hard rock bed of an ancient large plateau that was eroded by rain, etc., over the course of Earth’s history. The rims of these tepuis are sheer cliffs about 1,000 meters high. Rocks of the Guiana Highlands are very old, formed about 2 billion years ago. As seen by the many groups of clouds in Figure 1, the rainfall of this area is also world class. Annual precipitation exceeds 4,000 millimeters. Because of their ancient isolation from the forest floor, an entirely unique ecosystem has evolved on the mesa tops, with various endemic species of plants, insects, and animals, including those still undiscovered. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes books, was inspired by the mysterious Guiana Highlands and novelized The Lost World, a story in which dinosaurs survived on the highland. Those outstanding figures of table-like mountains make it easy for us to believe that such imagination could be real. Water falls in abundance from the rim of the mesas to the ground below. Angel Falls is the highest among them and is located at the table-like mountain called Auyantepui in Venezuela. With a circumference of 700 km, Auyantepui is the largest table-like mountain in the Guiana Highland and as large as the Tokyo metropolitan area in Japan. Such a clear image of Auyantepui and Angel Falls is very rare since this area is cloudy most of the time. Canaima National Park, which includes Angel Falls, was added to the World Heritage of UNESCO in 1994.  Fig. 2. Enlarged Image of Angel Falls Angel Falls (kmz, 4.36 MB, High Resolution) as seen on Google Earth Angel Falls is the highest (978 meters) and most spectacular waterfall in the world with an uninterrupted descent of 800 meters. Figure 2 clearly show the white plume of the waterfall. If you listen closely, you may even hear the roaring sound. However, it has no basin because the height of the falls is so great that much of the water evaporates or is carried away as a fine mist before reaching the bottom.  Fig. 3. Three-Dimensional View of Angel Falls (Staring at the image for a long time may cause eye-strain. A color print is available inPDF. glass over the right eye and a red glass over the left eye. The difference of heights between the top of the table-like mountain and the valley, and dissipating water during the fall might also be recognized. Note that upward is north in Fig. 1 and 2, whereas the right hand side is north in Fig. 3, a result of the flight direction of the satellite. |
The collaborative message campaign held for JAXA's "IKAROS" satellites and The Planetary Society's "LightSail-1" mission has been extended until March 22, (Monday and a holiday in Japan for Vernal Equinox Day.)
