NCRC’s Field Day 2016 page is up and running. For details on Field Day activities please click here!
Category Archives: Announcements
NCRC Unveils New Logo
NCRC commissioned the design of a new logo to represent the club going forward. The design was inspired by an original drawing from Willy, W1LY, showing the iconic Newport Bridge and a yagi, and it retains some elements of the original logo (the circular shape and text surround). Paul, N1PSX, has been working with the designer for several weeks, and seeking advice of Board members. The final product is shown below. Plus you can see a new website “header” shown at the top of the page.
ARISS Contact to be Friday May 6
The ARISS and NASA organizations have just announced that the All Saints Academy contact with the International Space Station will take place on Friday May 6th.
Both Thursday and Friday will be busy days for the NCRC members working at the event, with equipment tests and walkthroughs the day before, and getting things ready prior to the event start just before noon.
Our orbit will be a descending one, beginning at approximately 12:44 PM local time and continuing until approximately 12:54 PM. It will rise above the horizon to our northwest, pass to our southwest, then set to our southeast, reaching a maximum elevation of 56 degrees.
ARISS Orbit for All Saints Academy Contact Friday May 6: 12:44 to 12:54 PM Local Time
The NCRC RF Team will be able to practice on an earlier orbit from 11:07 to 11:17 AM local time, so we will know that our gear is good to go before the main event.
NCRC RF Team members should report to ASA at 9:00 AM Friday May 6.
Guests will start arriving at 11 AM, and all guests must be seated prior to 11:56 AM when the official event begins. The long call to N1ASA “NA1SS this is All Saints Academy, N1ASA, do you copy?” will begin at 12:43 and continue until contact is established. From that point, RI students will ask as many questions as possible during the 8-10 minute window of communication.
Our Astronaut will be Jeff Williams. Colonel Williams has many ties to Rhode Island. He is a 1996 Graduate of the US Naval College, and received an Honorary Doctorate from Johnson & Wales University in 2007. During this mission aboard the ISS, Expedition 47, Jeff is expected to break the cumulative days in space record currently held by Astronaut Scott Kelly.
Astronaut Jeff Williams, International Space Station Expedition 47
Members meet RUKU
Paul, K1YBE, gave a presentation at last night’s meeting on a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program he developed in conjunction with UMass Dartmouth, to encourage young women to consider engineering degrees.
The ultimate goal is to capture the imagination of young people and encourage their future education choices, while illustrating some basic principals like teamwork, design trade offs, and continuous improvement. All those “boring” things were wrapped up in a project that was interesting and challenging — building a robot that can solve a Rubik’s Cube puzzle.
Paul’s slideshow can be found by clicking here.
NCRC Meeting Mon Apr 11 @ 7PM
We will have a regular meeting of NCRC on Monday, April 11th, 7 PM, at KVH Manufacturing. During our regular business meeting we will cover the Executive Committee’s anticipated budget for 2016, and several new procedures related to expenditures. After the meeting, a presentation will be made by Paul, K1YBE, on the use of a Raspberry Pi in robotics.