From around the world, 70 young and budding radio amateurs recently gathered in South Africa for a week-long Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) technology immersion event from 8 to 15 August 2018. While South Africa may be at the southern tip of the African continent, for that week it was viewed as the the centre […]
Two South African amateur radio associations, the South African Radio League (SARL) and AMSAT SA, are planning to launch an umbrella association that will link up with scientists in various electronic and physics disciplines to enhance research opportunities. The two organisations are currently involved in propagation research on 5 MHz, and a study of the […]
If all goes according to plan, the Qatar Satellite Company’s second satellite, Es’hail-2, will be placed in a geostationary orbit by a Space-X Falcon-9 rocket within a few months. It will carry an AMSAT linear transponder as a secondary payload, giving radio amateurs access to a geostationary satellite for the first time. The transponder uplink frequency […]
In August 2017 more than 600 000 radio amateurs, mainly in the USA, took part in a Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP) in a coordinated initiative to research the possible influences of an eclipse of the sun on radio propagation. The solar eclipse caused a shadow of the moon traversing the USA from Oregon to South […]
The recent annual Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio (BACAR) project demonstrated how it can be a valuable science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education tool. The current BACAR project series is the brainchild of the Secunda Amateur Radio Club. On 21 October 2017 a large balloon lifted off from the TRMC Model Flying Club airfield in […]
Radio Amateurs and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) have launched an initiative for high school learners to explore near-space through a project-based learning process. Christo Kriek, ZS6LJK, project manager of the Secunda Amateur Radio club said that the group will fly experimental payloads on a weather balloon that can take the equipment […]
Decades ago, radio amateurs were on the forefront of scores of technological innovations, including television, digital communications, solid-state design and cellular networks. Amateur radio’s roots trace back to radio pioneers such as Guglielmo Marconi, who worked on long-distance radio transmission, and Edwin Armstrong who invented FM radio. In South Africa, amateur radio pioneers included […]
Radio amateurs are serious about tackling the problem of RF pollution and the resultant increase in the radio frequency noise floor. Since the beginning of the year interest groups have sprung up in various countries around the word and national amateur radio organisations are taking a serious stand and in several countries are accusing […]
Radio amateurs in South Africa have recently been experimenting with near vertical incidence skywave (NVIS) propagation. This was temporarily stopped due to licensing issues but in January 2017 restarted when the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) issued an experimental licence for 5290 kHz to the South African Radio League (SARL). This licence […]
It has been written and spoken about that amateur radio is a pasttime that contributes to communication, electronic and space activity development and training. In fact it is contained in the ITU definition of amateur radio: “A radio communication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations”. For amateur radio to stay […]
