Recent spectacular two-way communication between South Africa’s West Coast Radio amateurs and St Helena during good tropospheric propagation condition has raised the question whether horizontal polarisation (H-Pol) of the antenna would yield better results than a vertically polarised (V-Pol) antenna. Operating on the simplex frequency of 145,500 MHz making a two-way contact over a distance […]
CubeSat space frames are commercially available today from several manufactures, but come at a high cost. The Rand/Dollar relationship of recent years means purchasing one was not an option for AMSAT SA, when the amateur radio group started its CubeSat project (Kletskous) several years ago. The group of volunteer satellite builders opted to develop their […]
Amateur radio is not immune to advancing technology and electronics. One of the more recent developments in communication control systems is enabling radio amateurs to set up their stations at a remote site and operate the equipment from a smartphone, tablet or any other computing device. If the proverb, “Beauty is in the eye of […]
The International Amateur Radio Union and many of its member societies are expressing serious concerns about the increasing high frequency (HF) spectrum noise floor and are making their voices heard. It was in June 2016 that the world started taking note, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) office of engineering and technology technical advisory council […]
Marconi may be the big name when talking about the development of radio at the beginning of the previous century, but several radio amateurs have made their mark in the history of communication. One of them is Joseph Taylor, a farm lad from Philadelphia in the USA who is today leading the digital transformation of […]
During the years in the eleven-year cycle with high sunspot numbers, we have often seen the maximum usable frequency rising above 145 MHz and resultant very high frequency (VHF) long distance (DX) contacts being made over distances in excess of 3000 km. This, however, does not mean that during the rest the 11-year cycle DX […]
When South Africa was invited to host the International Amateur Radio Union’s Youngsters on The Air (YOTA 2018) summer event there were several challenges. The main one was: What could South Africa offer young people, aged between 16 and 25, coming from all over Europe and Africa that was different and something they had not […]
The versatility and broad spectrum of activity that encompasses amateur radio has attracted interest from BinarySpace, a Makerspace Group in Vanderbijlpark. It has taken their activity to a higher level and introduced many new challenges by launching their projects into a near space orbit. Makerspaces are relative unknown in South Africa. A Makerspace is a […]
Radio amateurs are known to carry out crazy experiments like bouncing signals off the moon and meteors, and using sophisticated software to receive signals that are under the noise level. One of current activities is reflecting radio waves off aircraft to achieve a radio contact on very high frequencies (VFH) over much larger distances than […]
Amateur radio is known for its community support when communication needs arise; however, little is known about the valuable service radio amateurs provide to yachts that sail the world’s oceans. Early every morning, Graham Griggs (ZS2ABK) in Bushman’s River, Eastern Cape, studies the synoptic weather charts supplied by the SA Weather Bureau and prepares a weather […]
