Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Mark Campbell (W0GZR) is mostly from Iowa where he served the Iowa Department of Public Safety for over 31 years, but is now retired and resides in Athens, GA. He holds an FCC Amateur Extra Class license and has been a HAM since 1982.

His presentation will include a tour of the WHO Radio transmitter site in Des Moines and the popular contest station of Tony Radebaugh, N0NI, in Rippey, Iowa.

The WHO Radio transmitter went on the air April 26, 1924 and is still in operation today. WHO (1040 kHz "Newsradio 1040") is a commercial AM radio station in Des Moines. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station broadcasts with 50,000 watts which is the maximum power permitted for AM stations in the United States.

The popular contest station of Tony Radebaugh (N0NI) on his acreage outside of Perry, Iowa. This unique facility has over twenty radio towers and an unknown number of antennas from which to transmit.

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory (SSRL)

Annie Dmitrieff KQ4NJC (B.S. Astrophysics, 2027) is the team lead for the UGA Small Satellite Research Laboratory (SSRL) ground station/radio team, COSMO (Center for Orbital Satellite Mission Operations). She holds an FCC Amateur General Class license (KQ4NJC) and is a student pilot.

She will present the current educational/outreach satellite in development, MEMESat-1, which will act as an amateur radio repeater and is specifically designed to spark community engagement in amateur satellite operation. She will share the ideas behind the project and how it incorporates into the broader student-led satellite work. Additionally, she will present the COSMO ground station which operates the satellite tracking and contact workflows, the SDR setups, pass planning, decoding, and share the day-to-day operational challenges that come with running a primarily student-operated station.

If time allows, she will share her experience last summer at MIT Haystack Observatory working with groups focused on satellite tracking, radar, and ionospheric research as it relates to radio astronomy using the EDGES instrument to detect RFI/ionospheric interference (Sporadic E).