Monthly Archives: April 2004

RADIO SCOUTING APRIL-MAY 2004

Posted on by
Reply

by Dave Gemmell ZS6AAW
and the Broomstick Warriors.

The 37th Springvale Cubs held a “sleep” over at Swartkop Air Force Base with the intention of badge passing.

(Please see Museum Column)

“REGISTRATION” OF JOTA/JOTI STATIONS.

(47th JOTA 16TH & 17TH OCTOBER 2004)

Remember that you don’t have to ask for permission to run a JOTA station, registration as educational stations with the SARL means that the non-licensed girls and boys can talk and use CW on the ham bands.

Secondly, you may be approached or decide to run a station just a few days before the JOTA week-end then go ahead and do it!

The registration of special event callsigns and stations is not done to annoy or inconvenience any one! Knowing what stations and therefore hams and addresses before hand is going to make my life a lot easier. Last year’s participation cards which arrived in SA only 10 days before JOTA which meant some guides and scouts only received them after the week end! Guessing which Groups and hams plus the number required didn’t make life easier!!

So this year if those of you interested in JOTA and/or JOTI please send me your name and address so that I can get the cards to you as soon as possible. Please include your e-mail address as well just to speed-up any “last minute” info (if any).

One big advantage would be after the week-end I could check with SARL HQ to see how many stations took part and which Guide or Scout Groups were involved.

JOTA 2004 CALENDAR.

Perhaps the following “calendar” could make the situation a little clearer.

January Pay the Special event call-sign license fee when you receive the “account”.
(Hopefully, the custodian is a person and not the Club!! )
April/May Check www.scout.org/jota and www.scout.org/joti as the World JOTA Report may be down loaded from this address.
June Register the special event callsign as an Ed. Station at SARL HQ.
October Preferably on the 1st day, check with SARL HQ that your callsign is still on the JOTA List.
October 16th & 17th/10/2004 (probably) THE GREAT WEEK-END!
November Please ensure that a short report of what ever activity took place has been sent to Dave ZS6AAW at:
davegemmell@bmknet.co.za
December Dave ZS6AAW compiles the National Report for SA and sends it to the World Scout HQ.

Please note the modes which can be used to contact me!!!
davegemmell@bmknet.co.za and P.O.BOX 77, IRENE, 0062 and TEL: and
FAX: 012 – 667 2153 (NB. Please ask for the FAX!)

THE QRP COLUMN APRIL-MAY 2004

Posted on by
Reply 
      QRP
THE ------- COLUMN APRIL-MAY 2004.
    80 / 40

by Dave Gemmell ZS6AAW
and the Low Power Bunch!

1. (a)

(b) Low Power (SINGLE-OP LOW or SINGLE-OP [BAND] LOW): Same as 1(a) except that output power shall not exceed 100 watts. Stations in this category will compete only with other low power stations.

(c) QRP (SINGLE-OP ALL QRP or SINGLE-OP [BAND] QRP): Same as 1(a) except that output power shall not exceed 5 watts. Stations in this category will compete only with other QRP stations.

(d) Assisted/with Packet (SINGLE-OP-ASSISTED ALL HIGH or SINGLE-OP-ASSISTED ALL LOW): Same as 1(a) except the passive use (no self-spotting) of DX spotting nets or other forms of DX alerting is permitted. Stations in this category will compete only with other Assisted stations.

Wireless Institute of Australia’s Welcome to HF QSO Party. On New Year’s Day 2004 Australian radio amateurs will gain access to the High Frequency (HF) bands using licences that do not require the passing of Morse code telegraphy tests.

The International Amateur Radio Union has been campaigning for more than three years to have code tests removed as a licence requirement to operate on amateur bands below 30 MHz, and for Australia this will happen on the 1st of January 2004.

To celebrate the occasion, there will be a “WIA Welcome to HF QSO Party.” It is going to last 35 hours – starting with the early arrival of New Year’s Day down-under at 1300 hours UTC on 31 December and concluding at 2400 hours UTC on the 1st of January.

The QSO Party is an all mode activity – on all HF bands, with most of the
activity expected on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. The event aims to welcome VK radio amateurs appearing on HF bands for the first time. These can be identified by three-letter VK call sign suffixes that begin with the letters H, T, U, X, Y and Z. WIA amateur stations will be on air to join the HF QSO Party, and these have two-letter call sign suffixes “WI” or three letter suffixes starting with “WI.”

Listen for the call “CQ WIA Welcome to HF QSO Party.”

8. SADX Club Looking For Old Members. Eddie Engelbrecht is looking for ex-members of the SADX Club (South African Short-wave Listeners Club).  A number of years ago we used to use the clubhouse of the Johannesburg Branch, SARL.  Since then the club has gone to pot for various reasons outside of our control, such as computers, etc.  I would be pleased if ex-members would contact me on my cell phone at 072-655-1895 or 011-837-5177 or on my e-mail address finetuner@absamail.co.za, for a re-union.