vu2wsm

Light House on Air

2011-12-28T00:16:00.000-08:00

THE DAMAN GANGA LIGHT HOUSE, IND.128 and the Old Lighthouse IND 129 were activated between the 23rd to the 26th of December 2011 by the members of the Thane Amateur Radio Association.(TARA). The participants were VU2SWS, YL Sarla Sharma and VU2IZO, Milind (Micky) Korde. The Lighthouses are located in the Union territory of Daman, in Gujarat, grid location ML60jj.

Click here for Photos

Thanks to vu2izo providing the info and photos.

HFI 2011_ A Memorable Event

2011-12-18T06:45:00.000-08:00

Ham Fest India 2011, conducted on 10 &11 December2011 at Kochi, was the largest gathering of Radio Amateurs in India so far. Radio Amateurs and SWLs from nook and corners of the country and invited guests from other countries enjoyed the two-day event. The feedback indicates that it was a dream come true gathering which has left pleasant memories that might linger for many years….

More photos from my Camera available at : Click Here

More Photos by

1.YNS Click Here
2.SOH Click Here
3.HFI11 Click Here
4.ANIL Click Here
5.OPD Click Here
6.Ganesan Click Here
7.PLG Click Here

Later few of us had a site seeing at Guruvayoor Temple, Alleppy Back Waters, Kalady and Athirappally : Photos Here

Light House on air from VU

2011-08-22T01:25:00.000-07:00

This years greatest movement was to have two special event Light House stations operated from different locations. One from Uttan near Mumbai (Maharashtra State) and another from Alappuzha (Kerala State).

Details :

Call : VU9LHA
Location : Alappuzha (Kerala State).
Period :  from 12th to 22nd August 2011
More info : http://www.qrz.com/db/VU9LHA
Photo Links : Photos 1 (VU9LHA)
Photo Links : Photos 2 (VU9LHA)

Call : AT0ULH
Location : Uttan , Near Mumbai (Maharashtra State).
Period :  from 19th to 21st August 2011
More info   : http://www.qrz.com/db/AT0ULH
Photo Links : Photos 1 (AT0ULH)

HFI 2011 Website is up!

2011-07-02T00:52:00.000-07:00

Hamfest India 2011 website is up now

http://www.hamfestindia2011.com is online! Please send your comments!
Some more contents and features may be added in due course.

During the last 20 years, Hamfest India has helped to create a platform for Radio Amateurs to meet and exchange ideas and share technologies. Hamfest has been a friendly event for eyeball QSO for many friends who have met only on radio band. Hamfests have always been a recharging venue for Radio Amateurs and SWLs.

HamFestIndia 2011 - the count down has begun

2011-06-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

Finally the countdown has begun! HamFestIndia 2011 is going to take place at Gokulam Park Convention Centre, Kaloor, Kochi (Cochin), Kerala on December 10th and 11th.

All hams in Kerala/ India have to do their best to make this event a grand success.

You may post your comments in HamfestIndia2011.

Let us all work together to make it a grand success.

The website is almost ready and will be up by July 1st.

Courtesy : Ravi, VU2RDN,Hamfest2011 Volunteer.

Amitabh Bachchan and Amateur Radio

2011-04-16T02:33:00.000-07:00

One of India's most famous actors, 68 years old Amitabh Bachchan, expressed his interest to get back in to Amateur Radio (HAM Radio). He mentioned in his blog that while he returning to Mumbai, he had an interaction with the Flight captain, who is also an Amateur Radio operator. Amitabh Bachchan have a Amateur Radio License with the call sign VU2AMY.

Amitab Bachchan mentioned in blog "Yes I am a member and had become one soon after my ‘Coolie’ accident when I was in Delhi recuperating. I had attended classes privately and has also given an examination, received my identity and had become a recognized member. But time and circumstances never permitted me to pursue its activities and so I stopped operating it. Now, I am too far gone in another direction and forgotten all the training that I received, as also my ID to be operational again."

Read more at : http://bigb.bigadda.com/?p=7758

We, all HAMs waiting to have a word with him on air soon…

QSL to A47RS

2011-04-08T01:15:00.000-07:00

As usual, having a qso with VU2PJM on Mumbai repeater in the morning, we had a small qso with VU2TOO at around 7.20 am on Matheran repeater (VU2BBB_http://vu2bbb.blogspot.com). Further we copied VU3JPD OM Vinu from Gujarat and had a comfortable qso with him. It seems the VHF Band condition is favorable because VU3JPD located around 500Km away from the repeater and putting 5W of power with his directional Antenna. After the QSO, I continued with the Echolink and checked in to VU2PUM, VU2TCD and VU2HEN nets. Then as usual become busy with my harmonic to send him to school.

I had kept my radio on on 145.000 + (VU2BBB) with a low volume because the fishermen pirates are regular. Suddenly I copied some DX station on air coming through the repeater. Due to the morning QRL I cant able to closely monitor the frequency so I called my SWL friend Bijoy and asked to monitor the repeater.

Before reaching to QTH after dropping my harmonic to school, Bijoy provided the info that he copied and understand that it is A47RS Repeater and thought that some one patching the Echolink to the repeater.

As my Echolink station was on, I checked that any station from near by and patching.. Nothing noticed, then I connected to A47RS-R and gave a call......... I heard my own voice at my 2M rig which was coming through A47RS -and-VU2BBB Repeater. ( It was at 08.05 am to 08.45 am local time )

The info provided in A47RS-R in Echolink cleared my doubts as A47RS having the frequency with 145.600 with negative shift and 145.600 is the input for VU2BBB.

Operating frequencies for the VU4PB DXpedition

2011-03-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

operating frequencies for the DXpedition now underway in Port Blair and more information are available on www.arsi.info . Online log search etc will be operational shortly

Operating Frequencies

BAND	CW	RTTY	SSB
160²	1824	-	1845
80^1,2	3504	3584	3695
40^1,3	7004	7044	7095
30	10104	10144	-
20	14024	14084	14195
17	18074	18104	18145
15	21024	21084	21295
12	24894	24914	24945
10	28024	28084	28495
6	50104	-	50134

Note:

80 & 40m CW frequencies shifted due to JA Emergency nets
On 80 & 160m listen to the operator - Up or DN splits will be used
On 40m SSB - we will use 7140 for NA
The following split frequencies will be followed as far as possible:

CW Split - UP 2 to 10 khz
SSB split - UP 5 to 15 khz
RTTY split - UP 2 to 10 khz

We will listen in the US Novice bands segments where required

WORLD AMATEUR RADIO DAY -Celebrations by Q.A.R.L.

2011-03-08T23:37:00.000-08:00

The world Amateur Radio Day is celebrated every year on 18^th April to commemorate the formation of International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) on this day in 1925 at Paris.

The Quilon Amateur Radio League (QARL ) celebrates the event every year on 18^th April or the nearest Sunday by conducting HAMFAIR. This year the programme will be held on Sunday, the 17^th April. Lake City Contest and VHF Fox Hunt are also held in connection with the Amateur Radio Day celebrations.

A special issue of ‘QARL News’ will also be published on this occasion. You are requested to contribute articles and advertisements well in advance.

The QARL invite you along with your family and friends to participate in the programme and make it a grand success.

Prgramme Schedule :

1. LAKE CITY CONTEST

The Lake City phone contest will be conducted from 5.00 P.M on 12/3/2011 to 5.00 P.M on 13/3/2011. The contest will be for 7 MHz only. The participant will get one point for each contact including DX contact. Copy of log may be sent to: The Quilon Amateur Radio League, P.O.Box No.335, Kollam – 691 001 OR by e.mail to vu2syt@yahoo.com so as to reach on or before 31/3/201.

2. QARL 15th Kerala VHF Fox Hunt :

The QARL 15th Kerala VHF Fox Hunt will be conducted on 16 April, 2011 at 2.00 PM. Venue: Jaladarshini, Thevally, Kollam. Fox hunt is open to all hams and SWLS. The CSD rolling shields will be awarded to the team leaders of the first three winning teams, in addition to cash awards and certificates. The participating teams are requested to register with the secretary by post or over telephone in advance.

3. HAM FAIR, 2011

The HAMFAIR 2011 will be conducted on 17th April 2011 at Jaladarshini mini Auditorium,Thevally, Kollam. Registration of delegates will start by 09.00 am and the Inauguration & Prize distribution will start by 10.00am Chief Gust will be Smt. S.Lalithambika, District Collector, Kollam. The Exhibition will be 11.30 am to 4.00pm (Exhibition and sale of new as well as old wireless equipments and components are arranged)

for more information visit http://www.vu2qar.com

VU4PB- DXpedition -Andaman Islands

2011-03-03T00:23:00.000-08:00

ARSI to take a DXpedition to the Andaman Islands- VU4PB - March 15th to 31st 2011

ARSI, who had taken a very successful expedition to Lakshadweep in December 2006, are all set to go to Port Blair in the Andaman's in the second half of March 2011.
All permissions are in hand for a group of 17 operators to be active between the 15th and 31st March, with the call sign VU4PB
Four stations are planned, operating on all bands and modes, from three locations - The Sinclair Bay View Hotel, The Megapode Nest and the Megapode Camping Resort.
The first batch of eleven operators will fly out on the 12th March and be followed by the rest.
Operating Frequencies
BAND CW RTTY SSB
160 1824 -
1845
80 3524 3584 3695
40 7024 7044 7095
30 10104 10144 -
20 14024 14084 14195
17 18074 18104 18145
15 21024 21084 21295
12 24894 24914 24945
10 28024 28084 28495

for more details visit :http://www.arsi.info/

Portable Antenna Terminal Connection Types

2010-12-13T00:26:00.000-08:00

While spending the time for searching for some radio info, I got the following and hope it may be helpful to know about HT's antenna connection type

CONNECTION	AS USED BY:
BNC coaxial connector	Cleartone, Icom, Nabishi, Yaesu
M6 thread	Alcatel
MX thread	ICOM, Kenwood, Maxon, Midland, Motorola, Nabishi, SIMOCO,SMC,Tait, Yaesu
MV thread	SIMOCO
PR710 thread	SIMOCO
PRP73 thread	SIMOCO
SE140 thread	Ascom
TNC coaxial connector	Alcatel, Ascom, Bosch, Icom, Kenwood Trio, Nabishi, Philips SAGEM
TNK coaxial connector	Grundig, Key, Kyodo
TNM coaxial connector	Key, Kyodo, Niros

Source : http://www.g5-cz.com

New Amateur Radio digital mode - V4

2010-12-06T23:14:00.000-08:00

V4 is a new data mode optimized for amateur radio keyboard contacts using Viterbi FEC and 4FSK modulation.

It is designed to provide good copy even in weak signal or poor propagation conditions.

V4 can be implemented on most computers using standard PC sound cards with radio interfaces.

An Alpha version of the software can be downloaded from the files section of the V4 Protocol Yahoo Group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/V4Protocol/

V4 Protocol and V4 Chat document
http://www.winlink.org/webfm_send/169

Source : www.southgatearc.org

Five new Amateur Radio Satellites in orbit

2010-11-22T05:18:00.000-08:00

FASTRAC-1, FASTRAC-2, NanoSail-D2, O/OREOS and RAX were launched at 01:24 UT on Saturday Nov 20, reports of the signals are needed.

So far signals have been reported from FASTRAC-2 (Emma), O/ORES and RAX.

Nominal Frequencies:
- FASTRAC-1 "Sara Lily" 437.345 MHz FM AX.25 1200bps
- FASTRAC-2 "Emma" 145.825 MHz FM AX.25 1200bps
- RAX-1 437.505 MHz
- O/OREOS 437.305 MHz
- Nanosail D2 0.5 sec beacon every 5 sec on 437.275 MHz.

RAX Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RAX-Ra...68658456492859
RAX Twitter: http://twitter.com/RAX_2010

FASTRAC Facebook http://www.facebook.com/fastracsats
FASTRAC Twitter http://www.twitter.com/fastracsats/

O/OREOS http://www.crestnrp.org

NanoSail-D2 http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm

Amateur radio operators - help track the FASTRAC satellites
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/nov...c_tracking.htm

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB)
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Orbiter Forum
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=219924

Source : QRZ Forums

Linkage established via HAM radio network during Election

2010-10-27T01:46:00.000-07:00

Elections to the first tribal panchayat in the Kerala State, India, which is beyond the reach of any communication system, information on polling trend was established through HAM radio communication network. Polling began at Idamalakkudy in Idukki district on Monday, 25th October 2010 and 33 HAM operators, 28 stationed at Idamalakkudy and the rest at the collectorate, were busy in assessing the situation and passing messages to the district headquarters via HAM radio, The District Collector Ashok kukar Singh approached the Ham Radio Club as the district was experiencing intermittent failure in power supply and getting immediate connectivity through phone was tough. The facility was arranged by the office-bearers of the HAM Radio club, government employees and section of students in the district. All arrangements were made a day ahead of polling day and we received the messages at the collectorate on an hourly basis, Singh said.

Edamalakkudy, 38 km from Munnar hill station, has no motorable road, no power or communication network.

There are 700-odd families of Muthuvan Scheduled Tribe, which live in small settlements at Edamalakkudy, situated amidst dense forest.

To fill the communication gap at the village where even police wireless system fail to work, the administration has roped in ham radio operators. The private hams have put up a temporary station and posted operators at all 13 booths to hotlink the hamlet with Idukki district administration on the polling day.

To reach Edamalakkudy, one has to trek 18 km through dense forest, after alighting at Pullumudi, 20 km away from Munnar. Only four-wheel jeeps can climb the hills up to Pullumudi from Munnar.

The first batch of polling officials left Munnar on Saturday. After walking through forest along with armed police, HAM Radio operators and forest officials, the polling personnel would reach their destination safely. The polling staff has been furnished with medical kits, sleeping bags and special shoes for trekking. They have even taken a traditional healer to attend to snake-biting cases, if any.

Amateur Radio Operators Provide Communications Support During Chilean Mine Rescue

2010-10-18T00:37:00.000-07:00

As the last of the 33 miners who were trapped 2300 feet deep inside (and 3 miles from the mine entrance) the San José Mine -- located about 27 miles from the Chilean town of Copiapó in the Atacama Desert -- rose to the surface at 0055 UTC on October 14, the world cheered in unison. The miners, who were underground for 69 days -- the longest time ever for miners to be trapped and survive -- all emerged relatively healthy.

EchoLink for Android

2010-09-29T00:56:00.001-07:00

EchoLink for Android provides access to the EchoLink network from your Android device. You can use this app to connect to the EchoLink system from almost anywhere, using either a WiFi or cellular (3G) connection.

for download visit : http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.echolink.android

Hamfest India 2010 at Pollachi

2010-08-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

The 19th Hamfest in India, HamfestIndia 2010 is being conducted in Pollachi city, Tamilnadu, on November 13th and 14th. The venue is P.A. College of Engineering and Technology, Palladam Road, Pollachi, Coimbatore - 642 002.

for registration and more details, visit : http://www.hamfestindia.com/

Transmission 2010

2010-08-03T01:41:00.000-07:00

Radio communication is a vital part of today’s world.

British Wireless for the Blind Fund invites your Club to take part in Transmission 2010, our annual competition to make as many contacts across the world as possible and raise money for a very worthwhile cause at the same time.

British Wireless for the Blind Fund is a registered charity providing specially adapted radios and audio equipment on free permanent loan to registered blind and partially-sighted people in need in the U.K. Every year we receive requests for around 5,000 sets at a cost of approximately £750,000. All sponsorship money raised from Transmission will go towards continuing our much valued service.

This year’s competition will be taking place over the weekend of the 18th/19th September and I very much hope that your Club will consider taking part. By getting friends and family to sponsor the number of contacts you make, we are able to keep people with sight loss in touch with the world.

Join the fun – make as many contacts as possible from across the world, compete against other amateur enthusiasts and try to beat last year’s record of 802 contacts (individual category) or 1113 contacts (Clubs).

To enter the competition, please either complete go to our new web-site at www.blind.org.uk and fill in the on-line form. Sponsorship forms and a poster can also be downloaded.

Once your registration has been received I will send out QSL cards, a copy of the Rules and sponsorship forms.

There are trophies to be won for:-

· Most contacts made by an Individual or a Club

· Most money raised by an Individual or a Club

· Young persons individual or group special achievement award

I also hope to have prizes for each category. As soon as these are confirmed, I will put the information onto the web-site.

I do hope you will decide to take this year and aim to raise sufficient funds to provide a radio set for someone in need in your area. The average cost of a set is £150.

As an independent charity receiving no government funding or lottery money, BWBF are entirely reliant on the kindness and generosity of our supporters. Only with your help can we continue our work of supplying radios and audio equipment to people with sight loss.

Yours sincerely,

Frances Fielding

Fundraising Manager

British Wireless for the Blind Fund

Registered Charity No. 1078287

Registered as a Limited Company in England.

Company No. 3870182

Registered Address:

10 Albion PLace

Maidstone

Kent

ME14 5DZ

Tel: 01622 754757

Source : www.southgatearc.org

Rastrapathi Award To VU2RBI

2010-07-19T01:28:00.000-07:00

Mrs.D.Bharathi Prasad, VU2RBI, received the Best thank award from Her Excellency Smt. Pratibha Patil, The President of India at Rastrapathi Bhawan , New Delhi on 14th July at11.30 AM

Mrs.D.Bharathi Prasad, VU2RBI, Chief Coordinator, National Institute of Amateur Radio received the "Thanks Badge" from the President of India for her meritorious service for Amateur Radio activities of the Bharat Scouts & Guides.

Rupee has a Symbol

2010-07-16T02:47:00.000-07:00

Finally, the Rupee has a symbol like other major global currencies!

In a historic event, a five-member jury set up to finalise symbol for the rupee selected the design presented by D Udaya Kumar.

The Union Cabinet approved the symbol on Thursday noon. The Indian rupee is now the fifth currency in the world to have a distinct identity. The rupee will join the elite club of US dollar, British pound-sterling, Euro and Japanese yen to have its own symbol.

D Udaya Kumar said: "My design is based on the Tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between. I wanted the symbol for the Rupee to represent the Indian flag. It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters: a capital 'R', and Devanagari 'ra', which represent rupiya, to appeal to international and Indian audiences."

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said after the Cabinet meeting in Delhi on Thursday that the symbol will be printed or embossed on currency notes and coins. The government will try that the symbol is adopted within six months in the country and globally within 18 to 24 months. The symbol will feature on computer key boards and software so that it can be printed and displayed in electronic and print.

Soni said it would also help in distinguishing the Indian currency from rupee or rupiah of countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

A close up of Doppler Shift

2010-06-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

My searches about Soppler Effect on Doppler scenarios for low Earth orbiting satellite operation reaches here..

Many amateurs have been confused by the Doppler shift encountered during satellite operation. In essence, Doppler shift is simply the apparent change in frequency that is observed when an object moves towards or away from an observer. It is a property common to wave propagation. Almost everyone has experienced Doppler shift in everyday life. Here's a couple of common examples:

Read on : http://www.qsl.net/vk3jed/doppler.html

Call for Papers :: ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference - 2010

2010-06-14T23:56:00.000-07:00

Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 29th Annual ARRLand TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 24-26,2010 in Portland, Oregon. These papers will also be published in theConference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the conference to haveyour paper included in the Proceedings) .

The submission deadline is July31, 2010.

Please send papers to:

Maty Weinberg

ARRL

225 Main St

Newington,

CT 06111

or you can make your submission via e-mail to: maty@arrl.org

Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will retainall rights.

73 . . . Steve, WB8IMY
sford@arrl.org
ARRL

HAMSAT approaches 5th birthday

2010-04-23T00:50:00.000-07:00

On May 4, the Indian Amateur Radio satellite HAMSAT (VO-52) will have completed 5 years in orbit and Mani, VU2WMY is requesting information from radio amateurs regarding its usage.

Since it was launched HAMSAT has provided consistent service to the Amateur Radio community using its two 435 to 145 MHz transponders.

One of the transponders was developed by Indian Radio Amateurs with the expertise of ISRO and the experience of AMSAT-India. The second transponder was developed by Dutch Radio Amateur William Leijenaar PE1RAH.

On the AMSAT bulletin board Mani VU2WMY writes:
On behalf of the Programme Director, Mission Director, Operations Director and the entire "HAMSAT" project team, I convey their message to the Global Amateur Radio Satellite enthusiasts & users through my mail.

It gives us a great pleasure to inform the World Amateur Radio community that, on 4th May 2010, HAMSAT (VO-52) is completing 5 years of successful existence in Space rendering useful and fruitful services to the Amateur radio community.

We as well take this opportunity with great pleasure to inform the Global Amateur Radio community, that the overall system health and performance of "Hamsat" - "The gift from INDIA/ISRO to World of Ham Radio" is good and satisfactory.

To commemorate this milestone achievement, we have intended to bring out a 'Comprehensive Performance & Utilization Report' of the payload (Transponder) based on the user feed back from across the Globe.

In this regard, we request all the Amateur Satellite Enthusiasts and users to kindly send us their feed back about the performance and utilization of the transponder. A detailed report expressing their views, suggestions, comments, ratings and preferably a comparison note made with other linear transponders, those already been flown and currently available one's would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to hear from you all.
Thanking you
73 de
Mani, VU2WMY
Secretary & Station-In-ChargeUpagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC

ISRO Satellite CentreAirport Road,

Bangalore-560 017.

Phone:(O)91-80-2508 2054/2192/2537

Mobile: 91-80-98803 41456

E-mail ID: wmyisac.gov.in

vu2wmy_maniyahoo.com

isrohamsyahoo.com

The full email including a copy of the request from the Operations Director at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) can be seen at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/48hour/msg79250.html

ISTRAC is responsible for providing Space Operation services that include spacecraft control, TTC support services and other related projects and services, for the launch vehicle, low earth orbiting spacecraft and deep space missions of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and other space agencies around the world.

HAMSAT (VO-52) : http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/hamsat.php
AMSAT-India: http://www.amsatindia.org/

Courtesy : www.southgatearc.org

EchoLink for iPhone

2010-03-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Being a holiday today, have spend some time on my vhf, then came to my favorite program Echolink. Even though I am using GPRS connection for my internet and echolink, I am looking for something to enhance performance of my Echolink node (VU2WSM-L) (Node No. 375663). This time the visit to the Echolink’s home page given me some more interesting information.

Let me start with Echolink : EchoLink^® software allows licensed Amateur Radio stations to communicate with one another over the Internet, using streaming-audio technology. The program allows worldwide connections to be made between stations, or from computer to station, greatly enhancing Amateur Radio's communications capabilities.

Now EchoLink for iPhone

EchoLink for iPhone is an edition of the EchoLink software that runs on an iPhone or iPod touch. If you own one of these devices and are a validated EchoLink user, you can access the EchoLink system from nearly anywhere where WiFi networking is available. If you have an iPhone, you can also use it to access EchoLink over the cellular data (3G or EDGE) network. EchoLink for iPhone is available free of charge from Apple's App Store.

For more info visit : http://www.echolink.org/faq_iphone.htm

New Digital Mode

2010-02-22T00:53:00.000-08:00

ROS is a brand-new Amateur Radio digital spread spectrum mode with the first HF contact taken place on Thursday February 18, 2010

The first contact with ROS took place on February 18, 2010, at 20:56 UTC from Vitoria in Spain to the University of Twente in the Netherlands covering a distance of 1265 Km on 7.065 MHz.
The HF frequencies currently used for ROS are USB 3.600, 7.053, 14.101, 28.300 MHz

To use ROS you just need your HF radio, a PC and a basic PC sound card interface.

The software for ROS is free. You can download it along with the User Guide and Introduction at http://rosmodem.wordpress.com/

An Innovative 2-Meter Transceiver With New Concept.- PUA2M - "Eureka"

2010-01-25T00:03:00.000-08:00

Last week, when enjoying the qso using Echolink, I have connected VU3PUA, OM Rakesh. We had a several qso's previously and he is a great home brewer and given me a lot of suggestions/tips on my small projects. He passed me good news (a New Year gift for the HAM community) about his 2meter homebrew transceiver and we checked the same as he is coming as a Link station in Echolink. The report is marvelous.
Finally he is presenting the same to the HAM world. Have a look.

Yesterday onwards there is huge pile-up on his link station.

HAM Radio activity from Haiti

2010-01-15T00:26:00.000-08:00

Some ham radio activity from Haiti is beginning to be heard, following devastating earthquake.

Father John Henault, HH6JH, in Port-au-Prince, made contact lateWednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and TrafficNet (IATN) on 14.300 MHz, the IARU Global Centre of Activityfrequency for emergency communications. Based on relays monitored atW2VU, Father John reported that he and those with him were safe, buthad no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery powerand hoping to get a generator running later in the day. He asked thestation copying him, William Sturridge, KI4MMZ, in Flagler Beach,Florida, to telephone relatives with information that he was OK.

The following frequencies are in use for earthquake-related trafficand should be kept clear unless you are able to provide requested assistance:14300 (IATN), 14265 (SATERN); 7045 (IARU Region II) and 3720 (IARURegion II) kHz. Additional frequencies may be activated on different bands at different times of day, so be sure to listen carefully before transmitting to make sure you are not interfering with emergency traffic.

Earthquake Net Frequencies - 7045, 3720 kHz - Please keep clear

2010-01-12T23:06:00.000-08:00

Major earthquake in Haiti

From the CQ / WorldRadio Online Newsroom:

All radio amateurs are requested to keep 7045 kHz and 3720 kHz clear forpossible emergency traffic related to today's major earthquake in Haiti. International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region II Area C EmergencyCoordinator Arnie Coro, CO2KK, reports that as of 0245 UTC on January 13, nothing had been heard from radio amateurs in Haiti, but that the above frequencies were being kept active in case any Haitian hams manage to get onthe air, and in case of other related events in surrounding areas, including afters hocks and a possible tsunami.

The following is from an e-mail from CO2KK:

A few minutes after the earthquake was felt in eastern Cuba's cities, theCuban Federation of Radio Amateurs Emergency Net was activated, with netcontrol stations CO8WM and CO8RP located in the city of Santiago de Cuba,and in permanent contact with the National Seismology Center of Cuba locatedin that city. Stations in the city of Baracoa, in Guantanamo province, were also activatedimmediately as the earth movements were felt even stronger there, due to itsproximity to Haiti. CO8AZ and CO8AW went on the air immediately , withCM8WAL following. At the early phase of the emergency, the population ofthe city of Baracoa was evacuated far away from the coast, as there was aprimary alert of a possible tsunami event or of a heavy wave trains sequenceimpacting the coast line at the city's sea wall ...Baracoa could not contact Santiago de Cuba stations on 40 meters due to longskip after 5 PM local time, so several stations in western Cuba and one inthe US State of Florida provided relays. CO2KK, as IARU Region II Area CEmergency Coordinator, helped to organize the nets , on 7045 kHz and also on3720 kHz, while local nets in Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa operated on 2meters.As late as 9,45 PM local time 0245 UTC we have not been able to contact anyamateur or emergency services stations in Haiti.Amateurs from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela were monitoringthe 40 meter band frequency, that I notified to the IARU Region II executiveRamon Santoyo XE1KK as in use for the emergency, requesting that 7045 kHz bekept as clear as possible ...We are still keeping watch on 7045 kHz hoping that someone in Haiti may haveaccess to a transceiver and at least a car battery to run it.All information that has so far come from the Cuban seismologists tell us ofa very intense earthquake, and also of the possibility of other eventsfollowing.Following the advice of the geophysicists, we are keeping the 7045 and 3720kiloHertz frequencies active until further notice.

New Indian Amateur Radio Satellite- STUDSAT

2010-01-08T23:57:00.000-08:00

India's first student satellite-STUDSAT(STUDent SATellite)-The first pico-satellite being developed indigenously in India, by an enthusiastic group of under-graduate students from across India, with support from Indian Space Research Organization and seven different Engineering Academic Institutions.

This project started off in December,2007 as an ambitious aspiration of a bunch of under-graduate students. Today, it is heading towards completion, manifesting the undaunting spirits of the team of students. With most of the technical work under the credit of students in the team,we want to be an example for further such endeavours for all students, within and outside India.

StudSat is slated for a March 2010 launch and will carry a camera capable of 90 metre resolution. The IARU Satellite co-ordination page says it is planned to launch in March 2010 on an Indian launcher.

The satellite resembles a small cube of size (10 cm x 10 cm x 13.5 cm), weighing about 850 gm and has a volume of 1.1 litres. The satellite is intended to be launched in 700 km Sun-synchronous orbit.

It will perform the function of a remote sensing satellite and take images of earth’s surface with a resolution of 90 metres, the best achieved by any “PICO” category satellite in the world.

It is proposed to use a 10mW CW beacon on UHF and also a half duplex 9k6 or 4k8bps FSK TC/TLM link with 1 watt output also on UHF.

Further information on StudSat can be found at http://www.teamstudsat.com/
STUDSAT - IARU Satellite Frequency coordination page http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/formal_detail.asp?serial=164

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2009-12-31T10:18:00.001-08:00

Wishing you all HAPPY NEW YEAR

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T00:17:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a Blessed Merry Christmas

“Ernst Krenkel Memorial” – International Contest RAEM

2009-12-24T00:16:00.000-08:00

Year 2009 end is fast approaching meaning that the most memorable event for all true CW Operators is coming: “Ernst Krenkel Memorial” – International Contest RAEM . The uniqueness of the contest is in non-trivial number exchange that requires operators to show their true CW skills.

We invite you to participate in this exciting event. If you love CW please come on the air and support the contest. Even if you can’t spend all of the 8 hours please consider making a part time effort - that will be greatly appreciated by all contest participants. Taking a part in the contest will be one more opportunity to pay tribute to the famous polar explorer/radio operator Ernst Krenkel. The Contest Committee is looking forward to receiving your log, that will help with more accurate scoring and decision on the contest winners.

The contest will take place from 02:00 till 09:59 UTC on the 27th of December 2009. The Contest Rules are available on SRR web site at
http://www.srr. ru/CONTEST/ cup_raem_ engl_09.php
or on the contest home page
http://www.raem. qrz.ru/contest/ raem_2009/ rules_eng_ 2009.php

We are pleased to announce that special category awards will be given this year in addition to the awards in the main contest categories. The plagues will be awarded in the following special categories:

RAEM Memorial station
SINGLE-OP YL
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND ARCTIC CIRCLE
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND UKRAINE
SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH ASIA (NO RUSSIA)
SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH EU RUS
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND GERMANY
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND ES EU LY YL
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND SCANDINAVIA
SINGLE-OP ALL LOW EU RUS
SINGLE-OP ALL LOW EU (NO RUSSIA)
SINGLE-OP ALL LOW ASIA (NO RUSSIA)
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND AFRICA
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND N.AMERICA
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND S.AMERICA
SINGLE-OP ALL BAND VK ZL OCEANIA
SINGLE-OP 20M EU RUSSIA
SINGLE-OP 20M EU (NO RUSSIA)
MULTI-ONE WORLD (NO RUSSIA)

We do realise that a single station may be eligible for more than one award: in a main and in a special category. Should this happen the station will receive one award only and will be awarded with a plaque reflecting the highest achievement. The special category plaque will be awarded to the station with the next highest score.

The full list of all awards, the award sponsors and the photos of the sponsors are available on the following web page (sorry, in Russian only).

http://www.raem. qrz.ru/contest/ raem_2009/ raem_donor_ 2009.php

Software supporting this contest:
TR4W: http://tr4w. qrz.ru/
N1MM Logger: http://www.n1mm. com
AALog: http://www.dxsoft. com/aatest. zip

Your comments and photos are very welcome.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and see you in the contest.
73!
RAEM Contest Committee

Courtesy : vu2ptt

China's 1st ever amateur radio satelite XW-1 is in space now!

2009-12-15T00:27:00.000-08:00

ANS Special Bulletin AMSAT China Says XW-1 Has Been Launched.

AMSAT China reports it was launched at about around 0230 UTC on December 15, 2009. The beacon was received in Sanya after launch.XW-1 was a secondary payload aboard the CZ-4C rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center into a sun-synchronous orbit about 1200kilometers high. The primary payload of this launch is the Yaogen-8Remote Sensing Satellite.

The preliminary keplerian elements for the satellite are:

XW-1

1 99999U 09349.11987269 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 00006

2 99999 100.4859 046.2958 0001760 147.4703 038.6343 13.15267150000017

The XW-1 communications payload includes a beacon and three crossband transponders operating in FM, linear, and digital modes.

Here is a Spacecraft Summary:

Common Name: XW-1

Alternate Name: CAS-1

Satellite Type: Microsatellite

Launch Date: TBD

Launch Location: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center of China

Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C(LM-2C) Rocket

Apogee: 1200km

Perigee: 1200km

Inclination: 105 degrees

Period: 109 minutes

Local time of descending node: 21:30

Weight: 50kg

Frequency Information:

Mode V/U (J) FM Voice Repeater (30 dbm (1 w)):

Uplink: 145.8250 MHz FM, PL 67.0 Hz.

Downlink: 435.6750 MHz FM

Mode V/U (J) Linear Transponder (Inverting) (30 dbm (1 w)):

Uplink:145.9250 - 145.9750 MHz SSB/CW

Downlink:435. 7650 - 435.7150 MHz SSB/CW

Mode V/U (J) PacSat BBS (30 dbm (1 w)):

Uplink:145.8250 MHz AFSK 1200 BPS

Downlink: 435.6750 MHz AFSK 1200 BPS

Mode Beacon (23 dbm (200mw)):

Downlink:435. 7900 MHz CW

You can get XW-1 Telemetry Format at :

http://www.amsat. org/amsat- new/satellites/ documents/ XW-1_Telemetry_ Format.pdf

Details of the XW-1 satellite are available at:

http://www.camsat. cn/index. php?option= com_content& view=article& id=56&Itemid= 67

[ANS thanks David Chen, BD5RV/4 and Alan Kung, BA1DU for the above information]

Courtsy : Mani, VU2WMY

How to Participate in a Ham Radio Contest

2009-12-09T01:14:00.000-08:00

A ham radio contest, often referred to as an amateur radio contest, is a challenge offered by various ham radio groups, clubs and publications. Contesting, also known as radio sport, offers individual ham radio operators and teams to test their skill and speed in contacting as many stations as possible in a designated period of time.

Courtesy :www.ehow.com

ICOM IC-706MKIIG - the final word!

2009-12-08T00:13:00.000-08:00

Amateur Radio Victoria reports that the Icom IC-706MkIIG transceiver will definitely cease production.

In a news report just received, they say:

Despite deniers in the USA, it has been confirmed that Wednesday 9 December is the last day that the ICOM plant in Wakayama, Japan will produce the IC-706MKIIG transceiver.ICOM Australia said it has checked with Japan and been reassured that the earlier advice received that the popular transceiver has been discontinued is correct.The reason is that some components used in the IC-706MKIIG are no longer available and the model had to cease production.For more on this story see the news section of the Amateur Radio Victoria website www.amateurradio.com.au

Sources: Amateur Radio Victoria , G4TUT (QRZ.COM)

Garden City Net and South India Net

2009-12-01T01:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends
I am starting of Gardencity net at 9.00pm on every day on freq. 7085 from 01/12/2009 to study the propogation at the night in india on 40 meters all are requested to join.

On 80 meters there is a net at 8.30pm on freq 3636.36 please check into that net also.

The name of the net is southindia net.

Regards
vu3iti(varadan)

Logbook of the World

2009-11-23T00:26:00.000-08:00

About Logbook :

ARRL's Logbook of the World (LoTW) system is a repository of log records submitted by users from around the world. When both participants in a QSO submit matching QSO records to LoTW, the result is a QSL that can be used for ARRL award credit.

for moe info and download : http://www.arrl.org/lotw/

40m band expaned for VU

2009-11-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

VU (India) Amateur Radio operators are now authorized to use 7.00 to 7.20 MHz (previously it used to be 7.00 to 7.10 MHz). Here is an extract of a message from ARSI (Amateur Radio Society of India which represents India in IARU) :

"I spoke to WPC just now and they have confirmed that the extra bandwidth has been officially released to VU radio amateurs based on the petitions given by ARSI on 15 April 2009, soon after the band was to be released as per agreement inWRC2003 The notification will appear on the WPC webpage shortly VU hams can now officially use that extra band width.They have also confirmed that the other requests made by ARSI regarding 10 MHz and 50 MHz are also under consideration, so please wait for further news

73 Gopal VU2GMN"

Be alert and Take Care.

2009-11-17T00:57:00.000-08:00

Suspect quake of around 5.5M over KOYNA, MAHARASTRA

within the next 15 days (max.)from 15th November 2009.

Be alert and take care.

-VU2RSSQUAKE PREDICTOR R.Shanmugasundaram, Coimbatore, India

I am a regular user of ECHOLINK and managed to have a lot of contacts all over the world. One day I got VU2RSS, OM Shan and the qso was verymuch interesting because of his another hobby he described. He wakes up early in the morning to watch the rising sun, as everyone do occasionally, but he watches it carefully on daily basis and then do some calculations and he predicting the earth quake.

I haven't taken care of much about the same and sometimes visit his site to read his predictions and results.On October 02, 2009, was a holiday for me and I have visited his site and noticed his prediction on 01-10-2009 about the expected quake in Koyna, Maharashtra and the same taken place...

To See latest predictions and results visit http://earthquake.itgo.com/today.htm
Preparedness: SOME USEFUL HINTS DURING QUAKE TIME

Hamfest India '09-HAMFEST INDIA'10

2009-11-11T00:30:00.000-08:00

The Hamfest India 2009 in Bangalore went very well almost 700 delegates attended in it. All enjoyed the eyeball. It was represented by many states of india. Congratulations to the Hamfestindia 2009 committee members and Bangalore Hams for making the Hamfest India 2009 a remember one to all Delegates.

Hamfest 2010 will be in Pollachi (Tamilnadu.) VU2WDP OM Vijayan and his Team from Pollachi are Takes the Next Hamfest to Pollachi and the proposed date in 10.10.10.

More info about Pollachi : Pollachi is a town and a municipality in the Coimbatore district of the Tamil Nadu state of India. It is located 40 km south of Coimbatore. It is satellite town for Coimbatore City.Due to its proximity to the Western Ghats, Pollachi has a pleasant climate throughout the year. Pollachi is also famed for its market especially for jaggery and cattle. The Jaggery Market in Pollachi is Asia's biggest Jaggery Market.

Airport : Coimbatore airport is the nearest international airport to Pollachi. International and domestic flights are available Domestic airlines fly to Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Mumbai and other Indian cities.
Bus Stand : Pollachi has a central bus stand which is used by TNSTC, and the private operators. This is situated inside the town.
Railway Station: Pollachi has a railway junction. Presently only metre gauge trains are operated in this section, the major routes being Coimbatore - Pollachi - Dindigul and Palakkad - Pollachi - Dindigul. broad gauge conversion of this section is in progress and are expected to be completed shortly. Once this completion is over then Pollachi, Udumalai, Palani will get direct link to Chennai, Bangalore and all other parts of India. Pollachi - Podanur section was recently been added to the Palakkad Railway Division.Broad gauge work from Palakkad side has been started by the Palakkad Division, soon Pollachi & Palakkad will be connected by BG trains.
More information about Pollachi will be added soon..

Hamfest India 2009

2009-10-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hamfests are events organized by amateur radio enthusiasts, for social gathering and comparison and sales of radio equipment. Most hamfests feature a flea market, where the attendees buy and sell equipment, generally from and for their personal stations. Some of the larger hamfests have another section, separate from the flea market, where vendors and manufacturers of new equipment demonstrate and sell their products at trade show-like booths. Some hamfests offer seminars on technical, operational, and legal aspects of amateur radio. Hamfests are usually annual or semiannual events lasting from several hours to several days, usually over a weekend.

Hamfest India is the biggest annual event in India. The 18th Hamfest in India, HamfestIndia 2009 is being conducted in Bengaluru city, Karnataka, on 7 & 8 November 2009.

The venue is Sri Nijagunara Kshetra, opposite to Bull Temple, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru.

The brief outlay of the two day programme is as below

Day One: Saturday, 7 November 2009
8.00 am - 9.30 am : Breakfast at the venue
8.45 am - 11.00 am : Inaugural of HamfestIndia 2009 Lighting of the Lamp Welcome address by General Convener Talk by Special Guest Talk by Chief Guest Inauguration of Exhibition & Stalls
11.00 am -11.15 am : Tea Break
11.15 am - 1.30 pm : Presentation by representatives of various Amateur Radio Clubs in India
1.30 pm - 2.30 pm : Lunch at the venue
2.30 pm - 4.00 pm : Technical presentations by Hams & SWLs
4.00 pm - 4.15 pm : Tea Break
4.15 pm - 5.30 pm : Technical presentations by Hams & SWLs
6.30 pm - 8.30 pm : Cultural Programme
8.30 pm - 10.00 pm : Dinner at venue

Day Two: Sunday, 8 November 2009
8.00 am - 9.00 am : Breakfast at venue
9.00 am - 11.00 am : Inauguration of Golden jubilee Celebration of Bangalore Amateur Radio Club - VU2ARC Lighting of the Lamp Welcome address by President of BARC Talk by Special Guest Talk by Chief Guest Distribution of prizes for winners in the events conducted through the year 2009
11.00 am -11.15 am : Tea Break
11.15 am -12.00 pm : Bidding and Handing-over of Hamfest Flag
12.00 Noon - 1.30 pm : Valedictory Function
1.30 pm - 2.30 pm : Lunch at the venue
2.30 pm - 3.30 pm : Auction sale of New & Used Equipment
3.30 pm - 4.00 pm : High Tea and Farewell

For more Details, visit http://www.hamfestindia.com/

Jota-Joti 2009 Photos

2009-10-30T00:30:00.000-07:00

Some Photos of Jota - 2009 held at V.K.High School, Panvel on 18-10-2009 available at the following link.

Jota_Joti 2009 Photos

JOTA-JOTI -2009

2009-10-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

Jamboree Of The Air (JOTA)
Jamboree Of The Internet (JOTI)
Yes, it is on again!
Come in and talk to the world!

Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) and Jamboree On The Internet (JOTI) is an annual event (an international day for Scouts & Guides! ) in which around 500,000 Scouts and Guides from all over the world make contact with each other by means of amateur radio and the internet.

Every Member of Scouts can make friends, exchange stories, experience different cultures and have fun as part of the largest activity in world Scouting. JOTA-JOTI also gives Youth Members an awareness that they belong to a worldwide Movement.

You don't need any technical knowledge to join in - just ask the right people to help you. To participate in JOTA you must have a licensed Amateur Radio Operator(HAM)to assist you. Please find out the HAM near by you, and your operator will provide all the necessary equipment and expertise.

for more information visit :

http://www.scout.org/en or mail to vu2wsm@gmail.com

The Magic Wand Antenna

2009-08-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

After my first on air Experience, I want to be on air all the time. I started searching for vhf radio and the antenna.

To get a new radio is not much easier and my friend Bijoy helped me to get one old Motorola GP300 handi programmed with the HAM frequency from his HAM friend. By this time VU2PJN, OM Prakash made an Magic Wand Antenna for me.

I hanged the antenna on my window and started working….

The Antenna

The antenna is basically a quad, 1 full wavelength at 2 meters. Part of a wavelength on top and part on the bottom in the form of two loops connected together. The feed point is in the vertical plane of the antenna between the loops so it’s basic polarization would be vertical. Read more …

On Air

2009-08-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

When I got the license in my hand, I made calls to HAM friends to inform the good news. Everyone greeted and asked me to come on air as soon as possible.

On the same day evening,

VU2SGW, OM Sai, reacted quiet differently (he is bit different, who contacted more than 100 countries within a short period, also designed eyeball/QSL Cards for his friends at free of cost) asked me to reach is QTH immediately. I reached there around 8.00pm.

After having tea and snacks, we went to the terrace where he had installed diamond X50 dual band antenna along with Dipole for 20 Mtr and inverted “V” for 40 Mtr. He tuned hand held radio-Yesu FT 60 to the local repeater frequency, 145.000 + (VU2BBB) and show me how to operate. He made CQ calls and got reply from one station.

The station was VU2IIA, OM Mahesh, and both of them started passing the signal and WX reports. ( I know Mahesh, a nice person with good technical knowledge and a home brewer ) SGW told IIA that, one more station is there with him and asked to standby. Sai handed over the mic to me to have qso with Mahesh. I pressed the PTT, but unable to talk…. after short while, had a small qso with OM Mahesh., my very first on-air experience.

Then we returned to his shack, beautifully arranged with HF and VHF sets along with different types of Power supplies, antenna tuner and SWR meter. The time was around 9.30p.m, the time for the local VHF net (Night owls net)

The net control was VU2PJM, YL Perviz . SGW explained me about the net and the procedures, and we both checked-in. The net lasts up to 10.00 pm and later I had a small qso with VU3CGL, OM Leon.

I thanked Sai and returned to my QTH with the fulfillment of the first time on air.

HAM Radio and Me...

2009-07-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

I think I will start with the way I reached this hobby.

I don't remember how the virus of electronics entered into my blood in school days. My village is electrified after my 10th exam. I managed to get the books related to electronics and made some circuits like dancing light, music bells etc. etc. also to damage radio in our house.

I am a frequent visitor to a shop to get the components and made a friend –the shop owner Mr.Unni. One day he told me about the wireless communication and explained about HAM Radio. He had a good knowledge about this hobby and introduced to two of his friends having the license, one is VU2BHF, Mr. Basheer the First HAM I met in my life.

One day BHF told me about the HAM meet in Cochin and asked me to visit there. I visited the HAM meet venue (unfortunately I couldn't find Basheer there). The air demo was really amazing, a great experience and that was the first step towards a Ham Radio .

I have tried to get more info to get a license, but by that time Basheer had gone to DX for his Mqth Job.. Then I also shifted to Mumbai to win my Bread and Butter. I tried to know about HAM activity but in vain and I gave up the idea of becoming a HAM

Then after years I saw a news about HAM radio in a news paper in Mumbai. I got in touch with the HAMs related and finally ….. VU2WSM on air since 2007

First Post

2009-06-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is my first post.

Would like to thank all my friends who inspired me to get in to this blogging world....