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All the facilities available on this website are free and available to all D.A.R.C.club members and non-members alike. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
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All the facilities available on this website are free and available to all D.A.R.C.club members and non-members alike. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
Allways Refresh this page by pressing "Ctrl-F5" to ensure you see the latest updates.
Geomagnetic
Field: 
From: n3kl.org (10 min updates) Click on the above pictures and visit www.spaceweather.com and www.spaceweather.co.za for more info on space weather and how it affects us.
VHF Aurora:
144 MHz E-Skip in Europe: 
144 MHz E-Skip in North America: 
From GoodDX.net
| Home Club History About "Ham" Radio Electronic Tutorials Club Activities Committee Projects and Kits Contests Bulletins and Ham Magazine CQ Newsletter Repeater Links Swap Shop Guest Book Forum Contact Us The South African Radio League  |
Worldwide
Ham News. Latest news
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ARC web page.
Mouse-over for textbox description of each link. SA-AMSAT Space symposium 2010 Durban 17 April 2010 www.saamsat.org.za University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering Howard College Campus, King George V avenue Glenwood Durban 08:00 Registration 09:00 Space Symposium 16:30 SA AMSAT Annual General Meeting Programme Highlights Opening Address Professor Fambirai Takawira Telkom Professor of Digital Communications / Dean of Engineering Keynote address Dr Phil Mjwara, Director General Department of Science and Technology Lessons learnt from SumbandilaSat (Oscar-67) commissioning, what can go wrong and how to recover. K. F Mathapo SunSpace & Information Systems (Ltd) The String Vibrator Experiment (SVE), an Experimental Payload on SumbandilaSat Mark Gordon Eskom VLF Experiment on SumbandilaSat Andrew Collier, Department of Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal The Durban University of Technology Indlebe Radio Telescope Stuart Macpherson Durban University of Technology A new generation of South African student satellites D.F. Visser, French South African Institute of Technology Cape Peninsula University of Technology AfriSpace: Thinking local. Acting orbital S. Bradford Inggs, Founder of AfriSpace Lalea - a around the world balloon project John Willescroft ZS6EF Building an SA AMSAT CubeSat Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV Open forum chaired by David Long ZS5FR SA AMSAT President Get full programme here Watch this space for attendance Prizes FEES Early bird bookings before 9 April 2010 SA AMSAT and SARL members R 70.00 Non members R130.00 After 9 April 2010 SA AMSAT and SARL members R 100.00 Non members R 170.00 Students and Learners The Department of Science and Technology is sponsoring 25 students to attend free charge. Student card/proof of being a learner must be provided. Attach a copy to the registration form Register now. Early birds who register before 9 April get a discount. Click here to get form CAN WE GET ANOTHER SATELLITE PAYLOAD FOR AMATEUR RADIO? SA AMSAT will be making proposals to DST. We need your imput. We are planning to hold a teleconference of interested amateurs in the next few weeks to discuss the type of payload. A linear transponfer 2m up and 70 cm down would be of great benefit to promote amateur radio in Africa. Send us an email if you would like to participate: saamsat AT intekom coza If you are not already a member of SA AMSAT, join now. membership is only R60.00 per year and subs are now due. There is a thread on this subject on the SARL Forums and the subject can be discussed on the DARC Facebook page. Get your thinking caps on and let's be prepared with some well thought out ideas. Digital Modes, Software and the Club CD There have been requests for the club CD again recently. If you would like to order one for delivery at the next Meeting or Swap-Shop contact Dave ZS5LPT and have your call put on a disk. SMS Dave on 083 736 6935 or email via the club email. The club CD has nearly all of the software you would require for working digital modes, antennae design and much more. In total there is 700MB of Software on the CD. The cost of the CD is a R 10.00 donation to the club. All proceeds from the sales are donated to the club. Another use for your GPS Your GPS can be use for more than just APRS. Get the whole family involved in a little adventure. There are hundreds of little treasure hunts around This page can now be translated into German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian and Portuguese by clicking on the appropriate flag. |
Club Facebook page A DARC facebook page has been set-up. Feel free to add pictures and do the facebook thing. Follow the link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=209621312845&ref=nf Links to items heard in the Sunday Bullettin and other intersting stories  Radio depends on propagation and in order to use the all the information available you need to have a basic understanding of how it all works. In the earth’s atmosphere, particularly a region extending from a height of about 50 km to over 500 km, molecules are ionised by radiation from the Sun to produce an ionised gas. This region is called the ionosphere. Ionisation is the process in which electrons, which are negatively charged, are removed from (or attached to) neutral atoms or molecules to form positively (or negatively) charged ions and free electrons. It is the ions that give their name to the ionosphere, but it is the much lighter and more freely moving electrons which are important in terms of high frequency (HF: 3 to 30 MHz) radio propagation. Generally, the greater the number of electrons, the higher the frequencies that can be used. During the day there may be four regions present called the D region, 50 to 90 km, E region, 90 to 140 km, F1 region, 140 to 210 km and F2 region, over 210 km. During the day, sporadic E is sometimes observed in the E region, and at certain times during the solar cycle the F1 region may not be distinct from the F2 region but merge to form an F region. At night the D, E and F1 regions become very much depleted of free electrons, leaving only the F2 region available for communications; however it is not uncommon for sporadic E to occur at night. Only the E, F1, sporadic E when present, and F2 regions refract HF waves. The D region is important though, because while it does not refract HF radio waves, it does absorb or attenuate them. The F2 region is the most important region for high frequency radio propagation because it is present 24 hours of the day; its high altitude allows the longest communication paths, it usually refracts the highest frequencies in the HF range. The lifetime of electrons is greatest in the F2 region which is one reason why it is present at night. Because the F1 region is not always present and often merges with the F2 region, it is not normally considered when examining possible modes of propagation. If you would like to read more follow the Introduction to HF Propogation in PDF format on the IPS Space and Radio web site. Sunday Bulletins Every Sunday morning following the S.A.R.L. Bulletin (Afrikaans 08H15 and English 08H30), the Durban Amateur Radio Club presents a bulletin of news and information (at 08H45) to keep members and interested listeners up to date. 145.650Mhz duplex is the prime frequency with a relay on 7.058MHhz in the 40m band. This bulletin is re-broadcast every Sunday evening at 18H00 only on 145.650Mhz, Thanks to OM Jimmy ZR5Z. and is followed by an evening of interesting conversation. Ham Magazine Ham Magazine follows the DARC bulletin at approximately 09H00. Ham magazine is an interactive program run so as to include you, as an active participant not just a listener. Take advantage of the program and participate. The lineup also consists of the following inserts.
The world renown ARMI follows the Ham Magazine between 10H00 and 11H00. Visit the Amateur Radio Mirror International web site for more information. Club Contact details: 17 Brownlee Place, Bluff, Durban, 4052 or |