“Menuntut ilmu bukan hanya untuk mengisi otak dan fikiran, tetapi juga untuk memperhaluskan perasaan dan menyuburkan kebijaksanaan. Apa yang dicari bukan hanya semata-mata ilmu, tetapi juga manfaat dan keberkatannya. Justeru, jagalah adab-adab ketika menuntut ilmu untuk memperolehinya.”
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Ham Radio Is a Dead Hobby??
Is amateur (ham) radio a dead hobby?
The hobby
is not dying. It is dead. I got interested in Ham Radio way back in the late 70’s. when I was in secondary school…..I don't think ham
radio is dead. What is dead or at least appears that way is HF propagation.. It will get better
from here and be enjoyable again. I recently listened to 20 meters spinning the
dial throughout the entire band and not one QSO was in progress. That's just
the way it is.
Of course VHF and UHF repeater operations don't have the
usual propagation woes. I would have to say that for the most part, the
repeater use is marginal. Repeater use was quite high in the late 90's when the
Telecoms introduce Class B Licence. Cell phone was relatively a newcomer. Then
for some unknown reason, repeater used slowed and appears to have leveled off.
With the telecoms introducing Class B at least for a while increase the number
of hams here in Malaysia and repeater use appeared to surge. Currently it has
dropped to the previous level again with it's particular clientele who frequent
it.
Bottom line, at least my 2 cents worth, is that we are
seeing the lack of use in the amateur bands due to (1) solar cycle, (2) poor
economy, (3) cell phones, and (4) folks dropping out of the hobby. And now with
the new era of 3G and now 4G most youngsters used Smart Phone with whatsapp and many more
features….. It will improve as time goes on. We don’t need to install antenna !
Just used our smart phone to communicate….. Just like propagation, it appears
itself to be cyclic in nature.
Who says The hobby is dying look at the latest report from
FCC…….as for June 21, 2013 there are
about 767,063 Licence Hams operators in
US………
|
|
|
|
Ham Radio has/had basically 4 aspects to it;
1. experimantation
2. emergency communications
3. social activities
4. competetive events
1. Experimentation has steadily declined since the late
1960s to a point where there is but a trickle left. There is scant mystery left
in propogation. The new rigs designed with a staff of engineers and computers
and produced with assembly line robotics hardly provide incentive to create in
your garage. Most of the technology now is borrowed from commercial products,
not created in Ham Radio like it was so often prior to the 1960s. Even the
"new" digital modes are a matter of logistics; not anything new.
2.Emergency communications, while still slightly viable is
dramatically on the wane.
With the advent of cell phones, now close to 90%
penetration, routine road emergency and assistance is not needed anymore. With
Inmarsat and other satcomms, the lonely hf op in the middle of the hurricane
with his/her generator is becomming obsolete. The NSC is forcing commercial
carriers to have backup resources, and they learn from every disaster. Sooner
than later Ham radio will not be needed for emcomm even in a tertiary.
3. Social interaction is where most of ham radio is now, and
that aspect has been growing since the 1950s. The internet has greatly cut in
to even this part of amateur radio, especially with young people. I can think
of no incentive for a kid/youngsters to
get into ham radio when there is the internet; and without the kids/youngsters
we are dead. Still, the social part of ham radio will hang on awhile longer. As
I have said before, ham radio had energy 1970s ,1980s and 1990s with characters
situations which had entertainment value. The great ones like 9M2LC (Our Late Lesli Row),9M2AT (Our Late Tengku Achibald),
9M2DW (Our Late Dato Tan), 9M2CR (Our Late Collin Richard),9M2DY, 9M2LN, 9M2FK, 9M2FR,9M2AP, 9M2EG,9M2AV,9M2DD,9M2WT,9M2CM,9M2GV,
9M2GL(Our Late Hj Idris) , 9M2LF,9M2SS,9M2PV,9M2RI, 9M2RJ,9M2RS,9M2LC(Lim),9M2CF, 9M2KK, 9M2PZ,9M2SX,9M2NZ,9M2ST,
9M2FX, 9M2FF,9M2SB,9M2KM,9M2ZA, 9M2AR, 9M2RB,and many others.
4.Competition, i.e contests, will be the last great holdout
of amateur radio. These guys have resources and are well organized. But... even
this group doesn't seem to be getting enough young people, so, unfortunately, I
don't think there will enough of them to sustain ham radio indefinitely.
Of course there are exceptions to the above, but probably
not significant enough to save the hobby. Incentive licensing, no code, and
easier tests have all contributed to ham radio, either slowing or speeding up
its demise. but the Internet and the Smart Phone has probably made that quite impossible now.
Everthing changes or evolves. I believe that things could have been done
differently in order to slow the decline of Amateur Radio, but the outcome is
now and always has been, inevitable.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Spratly Island- Island With Many CALLSIGN
The region is also one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. During the 1980s, at least two hundred and seventy ships passed through the Spratly Islands region each day, and currently more than half of the world's supertanker traffic, by tonnage, passes through the region's waters every year. Tanker traffic through the South China Sea is over three times greater than through the Suez Canal and five times more than through the Panama Canal; twenty five percent of the world's crude oil passes through the South China Sea.....
Lets look into Ham Radio activities we can called this Island as one of the ISLAND with many callsign - Spratly Island ….I
heard about this island in early 90’s …...
9M0S OPERATE FROM SPRATLY ISLAND IN 1993
.jpg)
9M0A OPERATE
IN SPRATELY ISLAND-
PULAU
LAYANG-LAYANG IN 1994
.jpg)
9M6OO OPERATE IN
`1997
.JPG)
9M6PO OPERATE FROM SPRATELY ISLAND IN 1997
9M0F OPERATE FROM
SPRATELY ISLAND 2000
9M0/9M2TO OPERATE IN
2006
9M4SDX OPERATE AT
LAYANG-LAYANG ISLAND IN MARCH 2007
9M2/PG5M OPERATE FROM
LAYANG-LAYANG ISLAND IN APRIL 2007
9M6/N1UR OPERATE FROM LAYANG-LAYANG ISLAND MARCH 2008
9M6/LA9DL & 9M6/LA6VM OPERATE FROM LAYANG-LAYANG ISLAND
APRIL 2008
9M6/OH2YY OPERATE IN
MARCH 2012
Operate
From Layang-layang Island April 2012
Operate From Layang-layang
Island August 2012 & March 2013
In the world of Radio Hams there are a lot of Islands Hunters....most of the operators who operate
from the "Sprately Islands" are foreigners. The writer would like to suggest that the "Administrative"
should look seriously on the "callsign" why don't we maintain as 9M0S OR 9M0L keep it short and simple please try to understand the world of HAM RADIO.
from the "Sprately Islands" are foreigners. The writer would like to suggest that the "Administrative"
should look seriously on the "callsign" why don't we maintain as 9M0S OR 9M0L keep it short and simple please try to understand the world of HAM RADIO.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Broadcast Radio Jamming
Broadcast group condemns China over radio jamming
Updated
An international broadcast association has condemned the deliberate jamming of shortwave broadcasts, including those from the ABC's Radio Australia service, into Asia.
The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) says English-language broadcasts from Radio Australia, the BBC World Service and the Voice of America are being jammed.
Chief Executive Simon Spanswick has told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia program research has indicated the jamming signals appear to be coming from within China.
For more news go to: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-08/an-broadcast-group-condemns-china-over-radio-jamming/4560514
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Watch New CubeSat Launch Feb 25
Watch live video of UK STRaND-1 CubeSat launch
The UK smartphone amateur radio
satelliteSTRaND-1 is expected to launch from India on Monday, Feb.
25 at 12:25 UT you can follow the launch on Twitter or watch live video.
STRaND-1 and other
ham radio CubeSats are planned to launch on the ISRO PSLV-C20 rocket into a 785 km orbit.
STRaND-1 carries an amateur radio 9600 bps AX.25 packet radio downlink on 437.568 MHz. It is hoping to be the first ever satellite to carry a smartphone into space and also be the first satellite to use a part produced using a
3D printer.
STRaND-1 and other
ham radio CubeSats are planned to launch on the ISRO PSLV-C20 rocket into a 785 km orbit.
STRaND-1 carries an amateur radio 9600 bps AX.25 packet radio downlink on 437.568 MHz. It is hoping to be the first ever satellite to carry a smartphone into space and also be the first satellite to use a part produced using a
3D printer.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
10 Meter Band Report
Tony Dixon G4CJC
And yet again a dreary week but a sparkling weekend. The
weather was bad and I had to travel so not much time for me on Ten Metres.
Good DX about, ZK3T (Tokelau Is), 3B8/HB9ARY (Pointe aux
Sables), 6W/F6IRS/P (Senegal), 5X8C (Uganda) who just about gets top dog for
the week, certainly for the weekend.
It seems that there is a good radio path to Malaysia judging
by the number of contributions this week.
A first report from Zamri, 9W2NMX. Tuesday he worked SP8AWL
5/8, 9W2YND 5/7, 9W2KJW 4/0 and heard IW2HAJ 5/9, 9W2GEO 5/3 and 9M2AIA 5/0.
Excellent, do let us know who else you work and what your
equipment is. And another first Mohd, 9M2AIS, worked JA3TJW 5/8 and JK6IMF 5/9
on Monday. On Wednesday he worked BD7IS 5/9, OK3EE 5/7 and 9W2KJW 5/8 and heard
VU2DK 5/7. He is obviously delighted because he comments, “I'm very happy
because I got my first time contact with OK3. I’m using a homebrew antenna
dipole 30feet from the ground.”
If you have any photos of the antenna send them to me. And
thanks for the report. On Monday, Sallehan, 9W2SBD, worked I4LEC 5/9, YO9FTN
599 ( PSK 31), US1US 5/9, UR4QQF 5/9, UV5EEO 5/9, UR5UO 5/9, UA3RKK 5/9, RV4CC
5/9, S57S 5/9 and JK6IMF 5/9.
He says, “I worked 10 station in 1 hour on QRP.. My Lucky
day for me.. "Malaysia Boleh””
Zaki, 9M2ZAK (just love that call) worked RW3PK, 599 long path on Tuesday. On Saturday last weekend he says “Feb 9-10, 2013 - I managed to joint my 1st digital mode contest in CQWPX RTTY 2013 contest as SOSB 10M low power category. Wkd 66 QSOs & 47 different prefixes world wide!”
Zaki, 9M2ZAK (just love that call) worked RW3PK, 599 long path on Tuesday. On Saturday last weekend he says “Feb 9-10, 2013 - I managed to joint my 1st digital mode contest in CQWPX RTTY 2013 contest as SOSB 10M low power category. Wkd 66 QSOs & 47 different prefixes world wide!”
That’s pretty damn good.
From Andy M0HLT comes this report. “Hi Tony, it's been a
while since I last posted, but away working again, also I have not really heard
too much at weekends, although there always seems to be a early morning
openings to eastern Russia / Europe.
Also the Hy gain Triband vertical is full of water, even
though I have brought shares in self amalgamating tape!!! So it's come down and
been replaced with a Sirio 4000 7/8 wave mobile (cut for 10metres) whip on a
relevant angle bracket with a so239 mounting, first call after installing a
couple of weeks ago was into the Dominican with a 5/5 report. More info read
here http://www.southgatearc.org/bands/10metres/february2013/february_14.htm
Monday, February 4, 2013
Salah Tafsir Dan Salah Faham Dalam Radio Amatur
“Check Net” – Ini satu lagi istilah yang tidak tepat penulis
tidak tahu bagaimana ianya diujudkan. Sepatutnya “Check In The Net” Contohnya
“Have you check in… the 2 meter Net?” Kalau istilah “Check Net” ini di terjemahkan
ianya membawa maksud kita Check Network mungkin ada kerosakan pada Network
berkenaan…mungkin ayat nya berbunyi begini. “Tolong Check Network saya……..” sila baca di sini...
http://advanced-skynet.blogspot.com/2012/06/salah-faham-salah-tafsir-dalam-radio.html
http://advanced-skynet.blogspot.com/2012/06/salah-faham-salah-tafsir-dalam-radio.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)