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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.
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 from around the world from the Southgate ARC web page. Mouse-over for textbox description of each link. Cooper Lighthouse ZA0004 (16/08/2008) As usual the DARC is operating the Cooper lighthouse for the weekend. If you look closely at the picture below, you will see the beacon antennae. This is the reason that we do not operate from the Cooper property. All antennae become live, you can draw sparks from the ant plug on ground. Some info on Cooper.
World Space Week."Into Space With Amateur Radio" (05/08/2008)
By setting up amateur radio stations at various schools around South Africa the main thrust will be a national link-up and an opportunity to engage with people who have already been in space. To qualify and to be selected for the event learners have to take part in an essay competition.Learners under the age of 18 are invited to write an essay on “Man’s habitation of the moon: can Amateur Radio play a role?” Get more details here Club satellite antennae construction project. (05/06/2008) As advertised on the repeater there is a project underway for the construction of satellite antennas. The two antennas are the Eggbeater II and an Arrow with a Diplexer built into the handle. The idea is to set a date and get together for a day to compete the construction and testing. Planning and construction for the event will be taking place via a group email to be setup by Dave ZS5LPT after the weekend of 7 June. To join the group send an email to the clubs email address or join at the swop shop or after the club bulletins on Sunday morning. SA AMSAT and BACAR (01/04/2008) (South African Amateur Satellite and Balloons Carrying Amateur Radio.) The SA AMSAT BACAR 2008 project was set to launch on May 24 from the Gauteng Area. BACAR is the acronym for Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio. The payload includes a 2-metre beacon, a 2-metre APRS module and a 40-meter beacon on 7022 kHz. Info will be made available as recieved and the new dates posted. For more details about the various payloads and project, visit http://www.amsatsa.org.za To read an article which appeared in the February edition of EngineerIT click here 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. Electronic Tutorial and other news An electronic Tutorial has been added to the list of pages. At the moment it is just a little info on Resistors, Capacitors and Semi-Conductors with your help it will grow in the future to include much more. There is also an online resistor calculator to play with. If anyone would like to contribute information for use in this page please contact Dave ZS5LPT. Any info, suggestions, ideas or articles will be greatly appreciated. Work has started on a "Modes of operation" and a "Satellites" page for inclusion in the near future. Contributions to these would also be greatly appreciated. To see what is planned here is a link to the ISS page under the Satellites heading. There is a lot more info to add so keep in mind that this is still just a work in progress. 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 Geocaching is not Amateur Radio related but if you run APRS while you are hunting a new Amateur activity could appear. Site translation added (09/01/2008) This page can now be translated into German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian and Portuguese by clicking on the appropriate flag. |
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 |
