Grantee Roundup, October 2024
Our grantees have had a busy summer, hard at work making headway on their projects, hosting events, and getting the word out about amateur radio. Below are some recent updates from Antarikchya Pratisthan Nepal (Space Foundation Nepal, APN), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), the SETI Institute, Ham Radio Village (K0HRV), and the University of Leeds.
Updates
Slippers2Sat Project Featured on Nepalese National TV Show
On August 3, the Slippers2Sat (S2S) project, led by our grantees at Antarikchya Pratisthan Nepal (Space Foundation Nepal, APN), was featured on the Nepalese National TV show “Bigyan Prabidhi” (Science and Technology). The S2S Mentors discussed the motivation of the project and its potential impacts, and the Junior Team members shared their experiences of being a part of the team, the work they have done, and lessons that they’ve learned.
You can find out more about APN and the S2S project by following the link here: https://www.antarikchya.org.np/.
NRAO’s Ham Radio-Related Online Courses are Open for Enrollment
Funded by a grant from ARDC, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has developed two no-cost, self-paced online courses on the SuperKnova platform that introduce amateur radio-related fundamental concepts. These courses were created in an effort to not only get learners licensed, but to also grow the amateur radio community, contributing to the hobby’s longevity. If you’re interested in becoming a ham, if you’re already a ham and need a refresher, or if you’re simply interested in the fundamentals of the electromagnetic spectrum as it applies to your career, check out the below links to enroll in one of these courses:
You can also learn more by checking out their recent press release: https://public.nrao.edu/news/unlock-the-secrets-of-the-invisible-radio-universe-with-superknova/.
ARISS Contact at Historical IAU GA
On August 9, ARISS hosted a contact at the historical 2024 International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly (GA) in Cape Town, South Africa, the first meeting to take place on the continent. At 11:55am UTC, students from Cape Town Schools made contact with astronaut Sunita Williams KD5PLB in front of an audience consisting of 1,000 students and astronomers, with VIPs from both NASA and ESA also present. You can catch the replay of the event by following the link here: https://www.youtube.com/live/7VsshsjvnTM.
SETI Institute: Connecting the Cosmos
In 2023, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute received a grant from ARDC to develop and deploy a 12-week curriculum teaching signal processing and digital communications to community college instructors, aiming to prepare the next generation of amateur radio communication experts. In late May, as part of this curriculum, these community college astronomy instructors attended a two-day workshop at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory. Led by SETI Institute’s Staff Astronomer Dr. Vishal Gajjar, the workshop covered intensive training on topics such as software-defined radio (SDR) and radio astronomy, among other things. To learn more, check out this blog post from workshop attendee Simon Steel, deputy Director at the Carl Sagan Center for Research: https://www.seti.org/whats-happening-ata-special-edition.
Ham Radio Village (K0HRV): Amateur Radio Evangelist
Image credit: Ed Wilson (N2XDD)
The Ham Radio Village (K0HRV) distributes quality educational content, offers hand-on amateur radio experiences, and hosts license testing sessions. Last year, K0HRV received an ARDC Grant for the Amateur Radio Evangelist project, aimed at attending conferences to introduce attendees to amateur radio as a lifelong hobby. Recently, the evangelists made their first stop at Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE XV), where Dan Romanchik (KB6NU) gave a well-received talk titled Ham Radio for Hackers, where he discussed amateur radio basics, showcased amateur radio projects interesting to hackers, and provided information on getting an amateur radio license. The next day, Dan gave a one-day Technician class to an engaged audience who readily asked questions, followed by a testing session, where 25 hackers got their Technician ticket! To learn more about Amateur Radio Evangelist at HOPE XV, check out Dan’s blog post, as well as a related blog post from Hackaday.
Announcements
Grantee at the University of Leeds is Hiring
Our grantee at the University of Leeds is looking for a PhD student to join their research group. If you are interested in applying and have experience with machine learning, embedded systems, wireless communications, and the knowledge to earn a ham radio license in the UK, follow this link for application instructions. If you have any questions, please reach out to Professor Leandro Soares at L.SoaresIndrusiak@leeds.ac.uk.
As always, we love to hear from our grantees: if you have any updates or announcements that you’d like us to share, feel free to send them to giving@ardc.net. If you spot us at a conference and are interested in being interviewed about your project, let us know. Don’t forget to check out our Vimeo page for past grantee interviews!
