YOTA Month

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Category: Latest

Published: Saturday, 26 November 2016 07:09

Written by Dennis Green, ZS4BS

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The Youngsters on the Air will be active again during the entire month of December. The idea for this event is to show the amateur radio hobby to youth and to encourage youngsters to be active on the amateur radio waves.

Participating stations include  3V8YOTA,  4O1YOTA,  4O2YOTA, 7X2YOTA,  9A0YOTA, 9A16YOTA,  A2YOTA,  A60YOTA, DA0YOTA,  E71YOTA,  ES9YOTA, ET3AA/YOTA, GB16YOTA, HA6YOTA, HB9YOTA, II2YOTA, II5YOTA,  J62YOTA, LX4YOTA, LY5YOTA, OD5RI/YOTA, OE16YOTA, OH2YOTA, OM9YOTA,  ON4YOTA, PA6YOTA, PD6YOTA, SH9YOTA, TM0YOTA, YO0YOTA, YT16YOTA and ZS9YOTA.  QSLs via Club Log's OQRS.

See www.ham-yota.com/december-yota-month/ for all the information on the event and the award.

Caribbean Tropical Storm Otto

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Category: Emergency Communications

Published: Tuesday, 22 November 2016 23:15

Written by Greg Mossop

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The following information has been received from Cesar Pio Santos HR2P about preparations for Tropical Storm Otto.

The storm is threatening Nicaragua and Costa Rica through the remainder of this week. The Nicaraguan Government has raised the alert level for parts of the country to prepare for the storm and the Radio Experimenters Club of Nicaragua (CREN) is also activating their National Emergency Network on the following frequencies;

7098 Main Frequency
7105 Alternate Frequency
3798 Primary Frequency
3805 Alternate Frequency
146,520 Simplex

The Radio Club of Costa Rica is also activating their Network on 7080kHz as an emergency frequency starting at 00:00 UTC 23 November.

Radio Amateurs are requested to listen carefully before transmitting and avoid causing QRM to emergency traffic on those frequencies.

Latest edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter - No 17, Summer/Autumn 2016 - now available

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Category: Latest

Published: Saturday, 19 November 2016 12:41

Written by Dennis Green, ZS4BS

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Hi all,

The latest edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter – No 17, Summer/Autumn 2016 - is now available for free PDF download from the RSGB 5 MHz page at http://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/hf/5mhz/  

Wikipedia 60 Meter Band page ‘External Links’ section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60-meter_band or directly from http://tinyurl.com/jqh2y5l

This edition features 5 MHz news from Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg, Latvia, Belarus, Andorra and South Africa, Exercise ‘Blue Ham’ and Two Important Reminders for UK 5 MHz operators.

Cheers

Paul Gaskell, G4MWO 
Editor, the 5 MHz Newsletter

New Zealand Earthquake - 13 Nov (Final)

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Category: Emergency Communications

Published: Tuesday, 15 November 2016 00:28

Written by Greg Mossop

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The deep seated major earthquake of magnitude 7.5 quake that struck the South Island of New Zealand on Monday still has people cut off from road transport due to massive slips and damage.

IARU Region 3 Director, Don Wallace ZL2TLL reports that Amateur Radio Emergency Communications National Director Jeff Sayer ZL4JS advises that AREC offered its services, but were not needed as the civil infrastructure was coping well.

AREC served well during the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, and the latest tremor brought back memories to many of that disaster.

Graphic pictures of roads cut, landslides, rail track dislodged and building damaged in the mostly rural area show the effects of the 'quake, with some seismologists predicting it was possible to have further earthquakes.

– Jim Linton VK3PC, IARU Region 3 Chairman, Disaster Communications Committee.

New Zealand Earthquake - 13 Nov

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Category: Emergency Communications

Published: Sunday, 13 November 2016 15:07

Written by Greg Mossop

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A strong 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand at 1103UTC 13 November ( just after Midnight local time ) causing damage and local tsunami alerts, mainly for the East coast of the country.

The local emergency communications group AREC part of NZART are believed to have been operating on their normal frequency of 3.900MHz USB.

Initial media reports are of property damage over a wide area but the situation will not become clear until daybreak and the end of the possible Tsunami threat.

Radio Amateurs in the area with allocations around 3.900 MHz are encouraged to listen carefully and avoid QRM to any ongoing work by AREC.

Call for application: Youngsters On The Air UK 2017

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Category: Youth Section

Published: Sunday, 06 November 2016 20:35

Written by Lisa, PA2LS

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The 7th edition of Youngsters On The Air will take place in the United Kingdom. The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) will be hosting this event led by its very own Youth Committee and supported by a dedicated organising committee.

The venue will be Gilwell Park, the home of Scouting, set in many acres of woodland north west of London, and easily accessible from a number of airports, the railway network and with good road access. The site has some great facilities and a dedicated radio shack, complete with a number of antenna towers and beams.

2017 will see a week of activities that comprises of a great mix of amateur radio related activities and general fun! Here’s a brief summary from the draft activities plan:

- Intercultural evening
- Visit to the historic Bletchley Park (home to the National Radio Centre and the codebreakers who managed to crack the Enigma code)
- A day in London to explore its Science Museum, famous landmarks, and maybe do some souvenir shopping
- Building your own radio kits
- UK Foundation Licence Practical Assessments and Exam
- Build your own radio receiver
- Take part in the EU HF Contest
- Operate the GB17YOTA station
- Rifle shooting , kayaking , raft building, archery , zip wire, leap of faith
- Antenna Building & SOTA Activation

Much more to come! It will be a great experience for all participants which they will never forget. To get a better feeling about this, have a look at the gallery and movies from previous events.

When: 5th to 12th August 2017

Participants:
Each IARU R1 member society is invited to take part with a team. A team consist of maximum 4 persons, 3 Persons with the age 15-25 years plus one person who is dedicated as team leader.
All participants, including team leaders, should take part in the entire program.
We ask member societies to select motivated participants and preference to participants who have not attended a YOTA camp before.

Team leaders:
Team leaders should be appropriately qualified to lead young people and also able and willing to take part in the activity programme.
A team leader must be in the age range 18-30 years, the ability to manage a team of youngsters is most important.

Location: Gilwell Park, North London.

Fees: €50 per participant
All other costs (accommodation, food, activities) will be covered.
Travel to the UK is the responsibility of the visiting Team. The event will collect Teams from local airports (Luton, Stanstead, Heathrow) or Chingford Railway Station.

If your member society is interested to participate, please respond to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 31st December 2016 by sending in this application form. Remember, there is a limit of 80 participants. Make sure you will apply in time. We will announce the participating countries shortly after the deadline.

For any questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities

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Published: Thursday, 03 November 2016 14:48

Written by Riri, OD5RI

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The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrating on Saturday 3 December 2016. Member Societies are asked to celebrate this day like in previous years. The IPHA recommends that Member Societies observe the day to promote Amateur Radio among Disabled persons.

If you are planning any event or media releases for the day, please contact Riri, OD5RI, the IPHA Coordinator on e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2016 ITU Radio Regulations released

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Published: Thursday, 03 November 2016 14:37

Written by Dennis Green, ZS4BS

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The 2016 ITU Radio Regulations have been released. They are available as a free download via the ITU website, in English and five other languages

"Following the successful completion of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015, I am pleased to announce the issue of the ITU Radio Regulations, edition of 2016 which will come into force for all the signatory parties on 1 January 2017," said François Rancy, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.

"This global treaty known as the ITU Radio Regulations, and upon which mobile communications and all other uses of the wireless technology internationally depend, is celebrating its 110th anniversary," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. "An incredible success story!"

"I look forward to welcoming the ITU membership to the celebrations in honour of the 110th anniversary of the Radio Regulations, which will take place during the World Radiocommunication Seminar (WRS-16) being held in Geneva from 12 – 16 December 2016."

You can download your copy of the ITU Radio Regulations via 
https://www.itu.int/pub/R-REG-RR-2016