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19 March 2004

E-Bulletin Backscatter

Amateur radio science in Bahrain

Dear SAS,

My name is Vivek Joshi, by origin Indian but currently residing in Bahrain.

I am operating a ham radio station in Bahrain with the call sign a92gn.

I am interested in doing lot of research in radio technology and antennas and want to become amateur radio scientist.

May I request you to guide me on how do I start?

Many thanks,

Vivek (vimon@batelco.com.bh)

SAS replies: Thanks very much for contacting us, Vivek. The fastest way to learn about virtually anything is to do a web search. For example, a search on www.google.com of the keywords "amateur radio science antennas" yielded 23,600 hits. This search could be easily narrowed down to specific areas by adding such radio science keywords as whistlers, radio astronomy, ionospheric gravity wave detection, sunspots, solar flares and day-night experiments. Perhaps some SAS members will also send you ideas. Editor.

NASA replies about Mars images

Dear Mr. Mims,

Thanks for sharing the information about what you and your readers see in those images. I have forwarded the information to a scientist on the project. I expect that you have an idea how busy the rover team is. You may not be aware how many suggestions and questions are pouring in from other people who are examining the thousands of images posted on the Web.

If you would like to include a comment from JPL's Dr. Joy Crisp, project scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project: "The science team is carefully examining every image received, but the team is receiving so many suggestions and questions about shapes that people are perceiving in the images, that we cannot respond individually to all the requests for science-team responses. So far, the team has not seen any shapes that require an organic origin or a biologic mode of formation. Physical and chemical inorganic processes could be responsible for everything we have seen. Examination of inorganic rocks and minerals on the
Earth, at the spatial resolution of 30 micrometers per pixel, reveals an amazing array of shapes and textures."

I see your other message asking if one of the pictures you sent earlier had a circle from a rock-abrasion tool cut. The image I found as an attachment -two versions with different labeling but both the same image -- is a microscopic image in which most of the area shown is within the area where the RAT has ground away the surface.

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory