Latest News on Malaysian 40Meter Band

Thanks to MCMC ...............

The Spectrum Plan issued 15 November 2006 has been revoke.. The latest Spectrum Plan
Amendment September 2011 now took place. 

MCMC today officially published 7.000 - 7.200 Mhz is for Amateur Band which shows that
we have wider spectrum............
For More info ...http://www.mcmc.gov.my/attachment/pdf/Spectrum_Plan_final_Sept2011.pdf

On behalf of Radio Hams we thanks all those who involed in this Spectrum Planing....
Hope in future we have more freq....

Masih Lagi di Takuk Lama

Baru-baru ini terbaca satu blog 9Ws….sungguh menarik dengan gambar2 radio handy. Namun apa yang penulis lihat ada di kalangan generasi ham hari ini masih menggunakan istilah “SWAL” saya kira perkara ini sudah berakhir.. Penulis kira sudah beberapa kali di terangkan mengenai perkara ini….

Walaupun ianya satu perkara yang mungkin kecil namun apabila kita publishkan di laman web, seluruh dunia akan baca dan ini memberi impack yang tidak baik pada kita. Tolonglah delete kan perkataan ‘SWAL” dan gunakan ayat yang betul dan tepat
Tak ada istilah SWAL di peringkat IARU. Kita akan di ketawakan oleh rakan-rakan radio amatur dari luar Negara….
Lagi satu jika anda memulakan panggilan QSO atau pecah masuk di VHF atau di HF semasa ada beberapa ham berQSO janganlah gunakan perkataan “CONTACT…CONTACT….”
CARA YANG BETUL IALAH SEBUTKAN CALLSIGN ANDA…..

Heathkit Returns to the Kit Business

A notice on the Heathkit website announces that the venerable kit manufacturer, well-known to all Amateur Radio operators of a certain age, will be reentering the kit business in late August. The notice states, in part: “Heathkit will debut their new line of Do-it-Yourself kits for common around-the-house items. The first kit will be a Garage Parking Assistant (GPA). The Garage Parking Assistant kit lets you build your own system that uses ultrasonic sound waves to locate your car as it enters the garage. The system signals to the driver using LED lights mounted on the wall when the car is detected and in the perfect spot for parking.

“The GPA-100 kit consists of two primary assemblies -- the LED Display in kit form and the pre-assembled ultrasonic range module. The kit will include everything you need to complete the project except a soldering iron and hand tools.

“Next on the market will be a Wireless Swimming Pool Monitor kit followed by many more. Heathkit wants to continue to bring to its customers interesting, unique Heathkit products. Heathkit is interested in learning what types of products kit builders would like to build. Kit builders can submit their suggestions through this website using the Contact Us email.”

Although there’s no indication that Heathkit Educational Systems is planning to reenter the Amateur Radio market, the St Joseph, Michigan-based company is actively looking for kit suggestions.

After several decades of successful kit manufacturing, Heathkit left the kit business in 1992. Heath sold Amateur Radio equipment, at first only kits and later its own line of non-kit products, from 1954 to 1992. The company has been sold a number of times since its founding back in 1912 as an aircraft company.

Spratly DXpedition 2011 “Permanently Cancelled”

Article from ARRL News........... 9 Sep 2011

After numerous setbacks, Chris Dimitrijevic, VK3FY, announced on the DX0DX website that the planned 2012 DX0DX DXpedition to the Spratly Islands has been “permanently cancelled.” No explanation was given for the cancellation and Dimitrijevic did not respond to e-mails from the ARRL. Spratly currently sits at #32 on DX Magazine’s “Most Wanted” List.

The DX0DX Spratly DXpedition had been pushed back at least twice. It was first supposed to happen in January 2011, and then it was delayed until April. According to Dimitrijevic, the postponement to April 2011 was “due to circumstances beyond the control of the DX0DX Team and in the best interests of the Team of Operators.” On April 10, 2011, Dimitrijevic sent out a notice that said that 10 of the original 37 operators of the planned 2011 DX0DX DXpedition indicated that they will return in April 2012, but that will not be happening.

In April 2012, however, another group is planning a DXpedition to the Spratly Islands. According to the September 4 edition of the Ohio/Penn DX Association’s bulletin, members of the Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitter Society (MARTS) are planning a “2012 Project” to activate Pulau Layang Layang (AS-051) in the Spratlys during the first two weeks of the month. The team leader is C.L. Neoh, 9M2CLN, with support by Tack Kumagai, JE1CKA, and the 9M4SDX Team. The DXpedition coordinator is Tex Izumo, 9M2TO. MARTS is Malaysia’s IARU Member-Society.

 

The Spratlys

The Spratlys are a group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea between Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Malaysia and Brunei. They comprise less than 4 square kilometers of land area, spread out over more than 425,000 square kilometers of sea.

Small, remote islands such as the Spratlys have little economic value in themselves, but are important in establishing international boundaries. There are rich fishing grounds and geological surveys indicate the area may contain significant oil and gas reserves. As such, many countries claim the islands for their own, including the Philippines, Vietnam, the People’s Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan). Additionally, Brunei claims Louisa Reef, as well as an Exclusive Economic Zone around that and neighboring reefs. Malaysia claims portions of the state of Sabah, as does the Philippines.

On March 31, 1979, just three days after departing Brunei, North Borneo -- six hams -- Harry Meade, VK2BJL; Stew Woodward, K4SMX; Bill Poellmitz, K1MM; John Ackley, KP2A, Austin Regal, N4WW, and Bob Schenck, N2OO -- were on the boat Banyandah that would take them to the Spratlys. The boat was captained by the husband-wife team of Jack and Judith Binder. In the February 1998 issue of QST, Schenck recounted their trip: “We all cheered when we first spotted Amboyna Cay in the distance. It first appeared as a small white speck on the horizon. It was sheer torture in slow motion as we slowly crept closer. As we watched, our mood went from joy, to confusion, to despair, to hope, to sheer horror!”

When the boat was about one mile from the island, they saw that there were structures on the beach. Since the aerial photographs from only months before showed no structures and no people, the hams and crew were perplexed. “We saw no flag or other indication as to what country was represented on the island,” Schenck wrote. “Could they be Filipino fishermen?”

Binder wrote in his ship’s log that as the boat got closer to the island, “three distinct groups of people visible on that tiny mound of sand, a group at each end with a smaller number on the top. The ‘top’ hardly more than two meters above the sea. The smaller centralized group has begun signaling us with semaphore flags.”

At that point, Jack Binder and Woodward decided to go to the island in the dinghy and check things out. “Suddenly the person sending the semaphore threw down his flags,” Schenck recalled. “Within seconds, we heard four loud canon blasts from the island! The shells missed us by a wide margin, but their message was clear -- we were not welcome.” Binder wrote in his log that as they began their final approach to the island, one operator was at the radio scanning the bands and listening for a possible contact with the island. They were then shot at by the people on the island and got out of the area quickly. “We quickly put the 2 knot diesel into gear, put up the sails and steered away from Amboyna Cay,” said Schenck.

The boat returned to Brunei. Regal went back to the States, but Ackley and Schenck stayed in Brunei while the other three amateurs went back out in search of an island; Ackley and Schenck agreed to maintain a backup operation as VS5KV and VS5OO. Eventually, Binder assisted Mead, Woodward and Poellmitz get to what he called “a tiny scrap of sand.” The reef was Barque Canada Reef, a 30 foot wide sand cay that was only a foot or two above water at high tide. Here the three amateurs set up what became 1S1DX, making nearly 14,000 QSOs

In 1982, a Singapore yacht operated by the owner and his wife were carrying four German hams on a DXpedition to Amboyna Cay in the Spratlys. The boat was fired upon by Vietnamese forces. Diethelm Mueller, DJ4EI, was hit by an artillery round and fell overboard as the yacht caught fire. The rest of the party drifted for 11 days on debris, but Gero Band, DJ3NG, passed away from thirst the day before the group was rescued by a passing Japanese freighter and taken to Hong Kong. -- Thanks to Bob Schenck, N2OO, and Captain Jack Binder for some information

Lightning & Grounding Part 1

Beaware Of Lightning

The devastating threat of lightning strikes can be further magnified with the knowledge that Malaysia has one of the world's most highest number of lightning days recorded in a year and we are ranked at no 2. Statistics has shown that Malaysia has an average of 204 lightning days which is equivalent to 40 strikes per square kilometer per year………..

Monday 21 August 2011 ...according to the local newspaper 11 struck by lightning "six foreigners dead and five injured in two separate incidents....which happened during a heavy storm in Sungai Choh near Kuala Kubu Baru & Jalan Reaktor Glenmarie.

So is a shoking….no wonder we heard many of radio hams….have this experienced

The anecdotal evidence is backed up by hard facts – according to our Meteorological Department places like Subang (Selangor), Bayan Lepas (Penang) and Kluang (Johor) have a whopping 180 to 200 “thunderstorm days” (TDs) per year (the number of days that thunder can be heard at the weather monitoring stations

Lightning surge damages household electrical equipment such as radio, television and others. It can also damage machines and equipment in factories. Thus, surge protection is necessary in order to protect these machines and electrical devices regardless whether it is used in homes, factories, offices or others.

To be continue...