Welcome to the webpage of the Secunda Amateur Radio Club. We are a proud member of the South African Radio League.

SECUNDA RADIO CLUB MEETINGS

Next Club Meeting - 9 June 2012 (11h00)

VENUE: Hoffie's House

SECUNDA

SECUNDA RADIO CLUB - ANNUAL MEETING

9 JUNE 2012 at 11H00

VENUE: Hoffie's House(SECUNDA)

SECUNDA RADIO CLUB - SOTA

16 JUNE 2012 @ MOREGESON (BLOUKOP)

 !! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT FOR CONTACTS !!

(MORE INFO TO FOLLOW)

SECUNDA WEATHER - HOURLY UPDATED

Up-to-date weather satellite images recorded at Secunda, South Africa.

SECUNDA WEATHER CAM LIVE

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ICASA Licence fees for 2012/2013 (SARL Forums)

Today I came across the final regulation gazette on licence fees from the 1 April 2012 to 31 march 2013 where annual amateur radio licence fees have increased from R 27 to R 120 as per regulation.
So we are going to send the renewal invoice soon as possible but if you cannot wait for a renewal invoice , you can do the following :

1. Make sure that you check the account balance on the licence and you call me or send an email

Tel No: 011 566 3313
email address: kmashile@icasa.org.za

2. EFT payment to the ICASA Nedbank Account which is as follows:

Bank : Nedbank
Account no. : 1462002927
Branch code : 146245
Branch : Corporate Client Service - Pretoria
Reference : licence number
Account type : Deposit Account

3. Licence Fee R 120

4. Link for the Licence Regulation Gazette:

Ladies and Gentlemen the sooner the better do not leave it until the last minute as you know “Procrastination is the thief of time.” and "Time is money."

Regards

Khutso Lawrence Mashile
Licensing Officer
ICASA

5 YEAR OPTION

While the ICASA account does not show the 5 year option, by paying R501, and sending an email to KMashile@icasa.org.za advising ICASA that you are taking the 5 year option you can save R99.

MAYBE NEW FREQ BAND - (472-479 kHz)

The worldwide amateur radio service has a new frequency band, 472 to 479 kHz. It is a secondary allocation. There are other services in that portion of the spectrum that must not be interfered with by the amateur operation. The SARL will work with ICASA to have the new band included in the table of allocation. No operation is permitted till then.

Amateur Radio CubeSat Masat-1 takes first pictures

Image: Masat-1 image of Southern Africa
Masat-1, the first Hungarian satellite, made history again when it captured the first satellite space photographs on March 8, 2012

The first photo showed the southern section of the African continent followed by photos of Australia and Antarctica.

Besides their sole beauty, these photos also demonstrate the careful planning and execution of the satellite’s operation, proving that even within the tight mass and energy constraints of Masat-1 it is possible to capture space images.

Masat-1 is the first Hungarian satellite, designed and built by students and lecturers of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in cooperation with the Hungarian Space Office and various domestic companies.

The satellite, measuring 10x10x10 cm and weighting 1 kg, was launched by the Vega launch wehicle of the European Space Agency (ESA) from the spaceport at Kourou in the Caribbean. Masat-1 along with seven other student built amateur radio satellites were deployed into a 1441 by 310 km orbit.

The satellite has been operating flawlessly since the launch of February 13, 2012, steadily transmitting data to the primary ground control station (Budapest University of Technology) and the secondary ground control station (Érd, Hungary). In addition to these domestic control stations, more than 120 radio amateurs have received the satellite worldwide. Their total contribution to the success of the mission exceeds 200 000 data packets.

The on-board camera of Masat-1 has a mass of about two Euro coins. The maximal resolution is 640×480 pixels. A width of 1 pixel corresponds to a distance of 1 to 10 kilometres on the photos recorded.

The call sign of Masat-1 is HA5MASAT and the telemetry transmission frequency is 437.345 MHz +/- Doppler shift, which at worst case could be +/- 10 kHz.

The Masat-1 Ground Station Client Software was prepared to process the GFSK 625/1250 bps transmission received from the satellite Masat-1.

The software provides the following functions:
- Audio demodulation
- Packet decoding
- Packet data visualization
- Frequency waterfall plot to aid radio tuning

Download the software and a test WAV file from
http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/foldi-allomas/kliens-szoftver/
Further pictures can be seen at
http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/2012/03/14/a-masat-1-elkeszitette-az
-elsu-urfelveteleket/
English language press release
http://cubesat.bme.hu/data/sajtokozlemeny/
masat-1_sajtokozlemeny_20120314_en.pdf
Masat-1 designated MagyarSat-OSCAR-72 (MO-72)http://www.uk.amsat.org/4928
- Southgate Amateur Radio News

The "DX Code of Conduct"

Operators are urged to support it:

* I will listen, and listen, and then listen again before calling. *
* I will only call if I can copy the DX station properly. *
* I will not trust the DX cluster and will be sure of the DX station's call sign before calling. *
* I will not interfere with the DX station nor anyone calling. *
* I will never tune up on the DX frequency or in the QS X slot. *
* I will wait for the DX station to end a contact before I call. *
* I will always send my full call sign. *
* I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call continuously. *
* I will not transmit when the DX operator calls another call sign, not mine. *
* I will not transmit when the DX operator queries a call sign not like mine. *
* I will not transmit when the DX station requests geographic areas other than mine. *
* When the DX operator calls me, I will not repeat my call sign unless I think he has copied it incorrectly. *
* I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact. *
* I will respect my fellow radio amateurs and conduct myself so as to earn their respect. *

SOUTHERN AFRICAN AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITE ASSOCIATION    (SA AMSAT)

SA AMSAT to build two Satellites in South Africa

1. SAiSAT (Click on SAiSAT)

2. KLETSkous (Click on KLETSkous)

Interview with Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP reporting on the progress made on SA AMSAT’s KletsKOUS CubeSat project, or download the audio mp3 version from www.amsatsa.org.za .

3. SUMBANDILASAT (Click on Sumbandilasat)

SumbandilaSat ground control team has resulted in bringing the satellite back to life with a real possibility that Amateur Radio communication may resume next month while the satellite is in sunlight.

4. AO-51 Control Team News (Click on AO-51)

NEWS SNIPPETS / INTERESTING ARTICLES

1:- Weave a flexible battery into fabric material.

2:- DEVELOPING A LIVING, BREATHING T-SHIRT (5.5 kB)

3:- Single-atom transistor developed

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