Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 20:48:00 +0000

The Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI)

Its always nice to know what is going on around the World with Amateur Radio, the newsletters from the Indian Society always make good reading (in English); why not have a look at ARSI.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 18:24:00 +0000

Register now for Free Foundation Online Training course

The next free amateur radio Foundation Online training course run by volunteers from Essex Ham starts on October 4

The RSGB's introduction of online exams that can be taken at home has led to a surge in demand for free online amateur radio training courses such as that run by Essex Ham.

You can find out more about online training and register to join a course at
https://www.essexham.co.uk/train/foundation-online/

Essex Ham
https://www.essexham.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/EssexHam

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 18:22:00 +0000

Geomagnetic storm warning

A solar wind stream is heading for Earth, and it could spark the strongest geomagnetic storm in more than a year.

NOAA forecasters say storm levels could reach category G2 (moderately strong) when the gaseous material arrives on Sept. 29th.

Bright "equinox auroras" are already dancing around the Arctic Circle. If the G2-storm unfolds as predicted, Northern Lights could descend into upper-tier US states as well.

Get the full story at Spaceweather.com

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 17:04:00 +0000

IOMARS Full Licence Course 2020. Starts 7th October 2020 in Ballasalla.

The first session will cover resistors, capacitors, and inductors and make a start on semiconductors roughly covering chapters 4 and 5 of the manual.

By popular request the start has been put back to 19.30, so people have more time to get from work.

World Amateur Radio Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 13:50:00 +0000

The 18th April 2019 (Thursday) is "World Amateur Radio Day". This event is organised by the IARU and on that day the World will hold a number of activities to promote Amateur Radio.

For more information go to World Amateur Radio Day

History of the BNC connector

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 20:26:00 +0000

Interesting article on the development of the BNC connector.

BNC Connector

M7 licences now being issued by OFCOM

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 13:58:00 +0000

Foundation Licences (OFCOM)

Now issuing

M7 + 3 letters

Formerly issued

M3 + 3 Letters
M6 + 3 Letters

New Amateur Radio Licence Syllabus for Great Britain.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:21:00 +0000

The Radio Society of Great Britain have now issued a new Syllabus which comes into effect from August 2019. There will be three levels of examination (and licence) The Foundation, the Intermediate and the Full licence.
Details are as follows:

licence syllabus for 2019

How much time do you spend on the Internet - OFCOM report.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:34:00 +0000

The following OFCOM report makes for interesting reading (? are you using Network Radio)

OFCOM report

New Zealand may ban the import of certain Radio's

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:25:00 +0000

New Zealand's RSM Compliance team are working on a Prohibition Notice to limit the import and illegal use of a range of low end two way radios. There are a variety of these radios on the market, like Baofeng, Pofung and Woxun for example. They allow users to programme their own frequency from the front panel or via a USB cable. Although designed for the Amateur Radio Operator, these radios in the wrong hands have been attributed to malicious calls on police, forestry and rail frequencies. The import of Amateur two way radios locked to the Amateur bands won’t be affected by this new Notice.

UK Callsigns at 5th July 2018

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:21:00 +0000

OFCOM have supplied the following information about live UK callsigns registered on their database.

Call Sign Count of Live Prefix Call Signs
20 8612
21 1596
G0 8615
G1 4910
G2 164
G3 4631
G4 9157
G5 58
G6 4901
G7 5829
G8 4837
M0 8363
M1 2275
M3 9961
M5 297
M6 13777
Grand Total 87983

• Foundation are M3 and M6
• Intermediate are 20 and 21 (in use a Regional Secondary Locator is inserted after the 2)
• Full are all the other prefixes
............................................................................................................
Another OFCOM statistic say the following:

OFCOM can confirm that the total number of individuals holding one or more current UK Amateur Radio Licenses is 9971.

(at 1/4/2018)

(? 8 callsigns per individual, something adrift with OFCOM stats?)

RSGB reviews licence examination results for 2017

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 19:35:00 +0000

RSGB Report (Examinations)

(Click on the above link for the full report)

The 2018 RSGB Examinations Standards Committee report has been released. It discusses the UK amateur radio exams system in detail, including pass statistics, ongoing work on the administrative system and comments on the question bank, among many other topics.

Irish amateurs get new frequencies.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:52:00 +0000

Additional Frequencies

In December 2015 ComReg published a Draft Radio spectrum Management Strategy 2016-2018. The Society responded with a comprehensive submission to this draft and a summary of this was published in the March 2016 edition of Echo Ireland.

In June 2016 ComReg published its final Radio Spectrum Management Strategy 2016-2018 and indicated its intention to grant some additional spectrum to the amateur service. This has now been done and is in line with some of the requests made in the Society’s submission.

The 70 MHz band has been extended to 69.9 MHz to 70.5 MHz. This is an increase of 275kHz over the existing band of 70.125 to 70.450 MHz and is the full band that may be allocated to the amateur service under the European Common Allocations table.

Further spectrum covering all modes including digimodes has been granted on a secondary basis at 30 to 49 MHz and 54 to 69.9 MHz. The latter band also includes digital television in addition to all other modes. These new frequency bands are listed among the bands available generally to radio amateurs in Annex 1 of a recently revised version of the Amateur Station Licence Guidelines document ComReg 09/45 R4 which is available on the ComReg website.

The new bands in the 40 MHz and 60 MHz regions will, among other things, facilitate modern type beacons in the region of these frequencies as well

(Thanks to the IRTS for this information)

Latest 5mhz News Letter

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:40:00 +0000

5mhz News

Group for Earth Observation magazine.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sun, 17 Dec 2017 22:41:00 +0000

Earth Observation and Weather Satellite Enthusiasts

A very interesting magazine (free) with some fantastic satellite images of the Earth.
Well worth a read, even though this may be the last publication from this group.

(click on the above image for a great view)

Latest 5MHz news letter.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sun, 17 Dec 2017 16:56:00 +0000

5MHz news

DMR network for Mountain Rescue Volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 09:39:00 +0000

(Click on the above for a clear image)

(Thanks to Southgate ARS for this news)

7 UK repeaters to close down

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 20:33:00 +0000

(click on above for a clear image)

(info. provided by Southgate ARS)

Caribbean Hurricane Irma frequencies - please keep clear.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 10:53:00 +0000

(Click on the above for a clear image)

Thanks to Southgate ARS for this news

OFCOM have issued new guidance for UK licensed Amateurs.

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:16:00 +0000

OFCOM licence guidance

Has 5MHz band become a "chat band"

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 12:11:00 +0000

The 5MHz band is now available to many areas of the World, but there seems to be no international co-ordination about it's use. Listening to it's daytime use in the UK it does seem to have become a regular chat band for many Amateurs.

The German Amateur Radio Society (DARC) is presenting a paper to the next IARU meeting , reminding Amateurs that allocation to this band was intended to develop emergency communications facilities and not to be used for regular long chats.
The paper may be of interest.

(Click on the above for a larger image)

OFCOM New draft UK syllabus for Amateur Radio examinations after 1st July 2018

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 15:27:00 +0000

This 86 page document proposes new examinations syllabus for Amateur Radio licences to be taken in 2018. You can send comment to RSGB (before 21st July 2017).

Examination review

5 MHz news letter (most of Europe now able to use the band)

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Wed, 10 May 2017 09:23:00 +0000

The latest 5 MHz news letter is now available to read. Many more countries have now been allocated access to this band.

5MHz newsletter

NJ7H to operate from the Isle of Man

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sun, 07 May 2017 19:54:00 +0000

Crown Dependencies on the satellites

Gabriel 'Gabe' Zeifman NJ7H arrived in Jersey (MJ) on May 6 and will be active on the satellites from there as well as from Guernsey (MU) and Isle of Man (MD) in the following days

On the AMSAT Bulletin Board he writes:

I will be on the 0142Z pass of FO-29 as my first North America bound pass. Today (May 7) I will be on whatever AO-7 (if it somehow manages to be in mode B or C) and FO-29 passes that will work for NA and other passes for EU.

On the 8th (around 1100Z) I will be heading to Guernsey, and on the 10th to Isle of Man, with similar goals from all three. I should have a great horizon to the west from all these places, sea cliffs over the ocean.

Interesting news from India

noreply@blogger.com (The Isle of Man Amateur Radio Soap-Box) — Sat, 06 May 2017 19:46:00 +0000

NO MORE ONLINE SALE OF WIRELESS RADIOS

By Satish Nandgaonkar, Mumbai Mirror | Updated: Apr 29, 2017, 06.15 AM IST

Decision comes from Centre as unlicensed equipment could leave law enforcement agencies vulnerable.

Following a complaint by a group of ham radio operators that wireless equipment being sold online on e-commerce sites can pose a serious national security threat, the union Telecommunications ministry has now ordered the ecommerce websites to stop selling wireless equipments online with immediate effect.

In November 2016, a group of 78 ham operators had written to the Wireless Advisor in the Telecommunications ministry at Sanchar Bhavan warning them about a national security threat posed by unidentified wireless transmissions being heard on the VHF frequencies used by the ham operators. In the same letter, they had also drawn the attention of the ministry and Prime Minister’s Office, the Intelligence Bureau, the three defence chiefs to the unrestricted sales of open band, VHF, UHF two way radios, wireless sets, walkie-talkies and base mobile stations.

Taking cognizance of letter, the Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing of the Telecommunications ministry issued orders on Wednesday, April 26 to e-commerce sites including Amazon.in, Ebay.in, Flipkart.com, Tolexo.com, Cart2India.com, Grabmore. in, Fabtolab.com, Junglee.com among others to stop selling these equipments immediately.

Such sales are in violation of the rules Indian Wireless Telegraphy (Possession) Act, 1965, which mandate that any person using wireless telegraphy equipment needs to acquire a licence and those selling such equipment need to acquire a Dealers Possession Licence.

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Ankur Puranik, spokeperson of Ham Radio Operators, Mumbai, said, “Cash on delivery facility is also being made available on these sites, and our concern is that the powerful equipment can fall into wrong hands and be misused. More importantly, these twoway radios can tune into any frequency including confidential frequencies used by law enforcement agencies. They can be misused to listen to confidential wireless conversations.

“Moreover, it is possible to obtain system generated logs of call records in case of mobile phone calls. However, it is not possible to obtain any details or system generated logs of radio call records of illegally operating wireless stations unless they are under surveillance,” said Puranik.