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 […]
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 […]
In August 2018, 80 young radio amateurs between the ages of 16 and 25 years old, representing 34 countries from Europe and Africa, including a group of South African radio amateurs, will be exploring near-space during YOTA 2018 which will be hosted by the South African Radio League. YOTA is the acronym for youngsters-on-the-air, and […]
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 […]
There appears to be a misconception amongst many young people that engineering is not cool. This may be because engineers are not stepping up to share the great things they do. The new developments in electronics and communication we all enjoy just don’t happen by themselves. They require the skills of engineers, scientists, and inventors. […]
