20-22 April: SARL National Convention, Pinetown
The convention starts off with a getting to know you evening at the Highway Amateur Radio Club clubhouse with a finger supper. Also, learn more about how the South African electronics industry started in Pinetown. On Saturday the AGM starts with registration of proxies at 08:00, with the meeting commencing at 09:00.
You can follow the AGM proceedings on 145,750 with ZS6FCS in Pretoria, on 14,250 with Pieter and on 7082 with Quartus, ZS6EE. The audio will also be available on echolink.
On Saturday afternoon there are two exciting presentations. Build VHF antennas with Rob Cohen, ZS5LA, and DXing and Log Book of the World with Chris Burger, ZS6EZ. The annual dinner starts at 18:30 with drinks, with the dinner starting at 19:00.
The guest speaker is Dr Andrew Collier, Manager: Waves and Space Plasma Group at SANSA Space Sciences at the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory and senior lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Every person attending the dinner will take part in the lucky draw for a large number of prizes which include a dual band mobile transceiver, the YAESU FTM-10R sponsored by Verstay, watches sponsored by Natal Jewellery Wholesalers and two J-pole antennas.
The convention ends on Sunday Morning with a breakfast at the Japanese Gardens.
Register for the convention and dinner by visiting www.sarl.org.za and follow the link from the home page or call Mariska at 011 675 2393. Please do it by 16:00 on Wednesday 18 April.
If you cannot attend as a member you can give your proxy to another member who is attending. Full details on www.sarl.org.za.
17 Mar: Howick Scout Hall Mast: Quoting ZS5QM "Tower was lifted by
Boet, Martin's dad using the winch on his vehicle with Shaun and myself
guiding it up.
Thanks also goes to Stan and his family for running the extension for
electricity and installing the equipment.
We put the equipment in the kitchen on top of the fitted cupboards out
of harms way.
The so called 'room' they allocated us was a disastrous store room,
couldn't fit a matchbox in there.
Tower: 9 meters
Frequency : 50.321
Call Sign: ZS5SIX
Power: 12 watts
Antenna: Inverted V
Direction: Omni but favors NWN - ESE
Location: 29º 29' 3.80" S - 30º 12' 13.80" E
Grid Square: KG50CM
Height ASL: 1030 meters
Mode: FSK
Data: DE ZS5SIX (3 second interval) repeat.
28 Feb: Here is a picture of the Richmond repeater which ZR5S has
put together
26 Feb 2012: MARC assisted with comms again this year with the Maritzburg Marathon. It was a successful communications operation again. ZR5S followed the leaders, and was tracked via aprs and this was displayed on a big TV screen at the command post, which was manned by ZR5SF
Nov 27: Free SSTV online book:
Martin, OK2MNM has made his new book "Image Communication on Short
Waves" available free on the web.
You can either read it online or download the chapters in pdf format:
http://www.sstv-handbook.com/
Nov 13: ZR5S updated the MARC
Infrastructure
& Frequency List
Nov 5: Shaun ZR5S went to Groenekloof with a professional tower climber. First all old antennas were removed from the top pole. Then a diamond antenna was fitted to the very top for our D-Star repeater for the rx side. Amazing how he could shimmy up a smooth 50mm pipe...
Oct 20: ZS5CID and ZR5PDL got the
Zwartbeg repeater up and running at the new site. Well done guys -
nice to be able to make contact with you again on 2m
Some upcoming events
| 12/13 May | AWA Valve QSO party - 15h00 - 19h00 |
| 19 May | MARC Monthly Meeting at Rural Metro at 11h00 |
| 20May | National Museum Day: Zululand Radio Amateurs will broadcast from the Nongqayi Fort under callsign ZS5ZLB. |
| 3 June | Comrades down run |
| 16 June | National Amateur Radio day between 09:00 and 16:00 |
If you have anything of interest to post here, please email the info to zs5ml@marc.org.za
Ham Bulletin Readers
13 May - ZS5ML
20 May - ZS5AZ
27 May - ZS5SF
3 June - ZS5V
10 June - ZS5ML
17 June - ZS5AZ
24 June - ZS5SF
1 July - ZS5V
For a cool national repeater frequency map, click here. Mike ZS6TAF kindly compiled this map
Try 3D APRS tracking here. Enter the APRS station you want to follow and press "Track". Thanks ZR5S, for this link
Quick-Links
- Display a list of on-line Echo-Link stations with node numbers
- Here is another good weather site
- SA Weather and disaster information service
- every
member with an existing email address can be allocated a personalised email forwarder, where your email address
is your
call-sign@marc.org.za.
This way you can email any club member with an existing email address, without
needing the original email address - you just have to remember the call
sign :-).
Also on offer is a full POP3 email address to members who do not have email addresses at the moment. You will need an internet connection however to access these, and this can be done a number of ways, like connecting to the internet using your cell phone as a modem, connecting directly with your cell phone, using internet cafes etc.
Please contact the webmaster directly if you are interested and/or need more information (contact details are found in the "contact" link at the top of the page)
New APRS maps
New APRS maps of Namibia and Botswana have been uploaded to our map download section. They have been calibrated, and the calibration files are included in the compressed files.
The
Amateur's Code
(originally written by
Paul M. Segal, W9EEA in 1928)
1. The Amateur is always
Considerate...
He never knowingly uses the air in such a way as to lessen the pleasure
of other persons.
2. The Amateur is
Loyal...
He offers his loyalty, encouragement and support to his fellow radio
amateurs, his Club and to the South African Radio League, through which
Amateur Radio is represented.
3. The Amateur is
Progressive...
He keeps his station abreast of science. It is well built and efficient.
His operating practice is above reproach.
4. The Amateur is
Friendly...
Slow and patient sending when requested, friendly advice and counsel to
the beginner, kindly assistance, co-operation and consideration for the
interests of others. These are the marks of true Amateur Spirit.
5. The Amateur is
Balanced...
Radio is his hobby. He never allows it to interfere with any of the
duties he owes to his home, his job, his school, or his community.
6. The Amateur is
Patriotic...
His knowledge and his station are always ready for the service of his
country and his community.
Views expressed on this website do not necessarily echo those of MARC's members, in general
At MARC we are always looking for a new challenge, whether it's looking for new repeater sites to increase our footprint, helping new/old hams set up their hardware/software or simply finding a way to get away from work/family to spend some time with friends with the same technical interest!
On this site you will find links related to MARC and sister amateur radio clubs. Please feel free to browse around and be sure to come back for regular updates. Remember to click your "Refresh" button periodically.
This clubs members are mainly located in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands on the east coast of South Africa.
You can read some older history published here
Our sponsors, who make this site possible:
EdelNet and PmbNet:
Broadband solutions and
networking. Providing us with the domain name, web space and
bandwidth, Echo-Link, E-QSO, APRS I-Gate, D-Star etc.
