ARNALDO CORO ANTICH (CO2KK) DIED TODAY AT THE AGE OF 80, report Horacio A. Nigro, CX3BZ, from Uruguay, and Carlos Alberto Santamaria Gonzalez, CO2JC, coordinator of the FRC national emergency network and emergency coordinator of IARU R2.

Here is the text:

“In the early hours of 8 January 2023, our colleague Arnaldo de Jesús Coro Antich (CO2KK) passed away in a hospital in the capital at the age of 80 due to complications from his chronic illnesses.

Coro’s interest in radio began, he recounted, when he received a gift from his father: a coil with a galena stone and headphones to listen to radio stations. At the age of 12, he joined what was then the Radio Club de Cuba, the association that brought together radio amateurs in the capital in the late 1950s.

In 1957, he started working at the CMBA television station Channel 7, owned by the Mestre brothers, where he brought a lot of knowledge and experience to his work.

As a journalist he worked for the press and radio, his greatest passions. We remember his column on science in the magazine Juventud Técnica and his contributions to the radio station Juventud Rebelde. He also acted as a consultant. In radio, he was a member of the team of Radio Habana Cuba until his death, his programme “DXers Unlimited” in English reached all corners of the world, from where he received a lot of listener mail. Many foreign colleagues knew him as “Arnie” Coro. He also produced columns on science and technology in programmes on Radio Progreso, Radio Taíno and Radio Metropolitana.

Arnaldo was passionate about popularising science and technology and was always on the lookout for the latest discoveries and inventions to share with listeners and friends.

As a teacher, he also taught at the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales “Raúl Roa Kourí” and at the International Institute of Journalism “José Martí”. However, his teaching activities were not limited to these; he constantly passed on his knowledge to everyone.

Since its foundation in 1966, he was a member of the Federation of Radio Amateurs of Cuba and an active member as well as a member of technical commissions and other positions, always looking for solutions to technical problems. He founded and produced the programme “Rueda del Multímetro” for a long period of time, in which he contributed to the understanding of the technical issues of amateur radio and gave answers to problems that many of his colleagues brought to him.

He actively contributed to rounds such as the Hurricane Net as well as the “Encuentro Capitalino” (Capital Meeting), where he offered his knowledge of solar activity and radio wave propagation, one of his favourite subjects, here he was a true connoisseur.

Another subject to which he devoted special interest, time and effort was emergency communications by radio amateurs. His radio station was always ready to help in case of emergencies and disasters in our country and region. At the time of his death, he was the Emergency Coordinator for Area C of Region 2 of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU R2).

I will always be grateful for our exchanges by radio or phone about the extreme weather events that threatened our area.

Coro, who was born on 2 July 1942, received the National Radio Award 2017 radio prize.

We extend our condolences to his family on his passing.

Rest in peace my friend. We will miss you.

Carlos Alberto Santamaría González (CO2JC)
National Coordinator of the FRC Emergency Network.
IARU R2 Emergency Coordinator.

IARU R2 info on Horacio Nigro Geolkiewsky, CX3BZ, Uruguay.“


RIP, te echaremos de menos.
Tom DF5JL
IARU R1 HF Manager

(Translation DF5JL; photo: RHC)

As announced, the signals of the “HAARP Asteroid Bounce Experiment” from Gakona/Alaska could also be received in DL and other parts of Europe at 9600 kHz today (27.12.) around 11 am UTC. This is shown by some reports which reached the DARC HF department on Tuesday morning. Those interested can listen to the 30 kHz wide sweep signal as a short recording at t1p​.de/​o​r​cll

“Today’s experiment by means of the HAARP facility in Gakona/Alaska is only the first preliminary stage of an attempt to investigate the interior of asteroids by means of shortwave signals from Earth,” says Tom Kamp, DF5JL, HF officer of the DARC and IARU Region 1. However, only the next few days will show whether echoes of asteroid 2010 XC15 were received at all. Until then, numerous data from the HAARP facility as well as reception reports from radio amateurs and hobby radio astronomers will be evaluated.

After all, the diameter of asteroid 2010 XC15 is only about 150 meters.

It is also twice as far away from the Earth as the Moon. In addition, radio astronomy in the short-wave range is still in its infancy.

Although Karl Jansky, a US physicist, and radio engineer, was already able to assign signals around 20 MHz to a radio source outside our solar system in 1930. In 1932, Jansky was able to determine the direction more

precisely: The signals came from the constellation Sagittarius in the center of the Milky Way. A detailed article on this and on shortwave radio astronomy, in general, is planned for the February issue of CQDL, the monthly members’ magazine of DARC.

An exciting topic not only for professionals: “The ‘Radio JOVE’ project of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which observes so-called Jupiter bursts on 20.1 MHz, has proven to be particularly suitable for those interested in radio astronomy”, says Tom DF5JL. Due to their frequency and high signal strength, the signals are easy to receive even with modest means: “An eventful and usually worthwhile attempt to check one’s HF reception equipment as well as to get a taste of radio astronomy in general.”