Page 28 - EngineerIt January 2021

AMATEUR RADIO
Regulation holds back progress in

South Africa
field, on a single shared channel. As
defined, this protocol will work equally well
in either half- or full-duplex amateur radio For the past few years, a lack of clear new regulations for type approval of
environments. This protocol has been communications equipment which may be used in South Africa, has been holding South
designed to work equally well for direct African radio amateurs back. Equipment manufacturers keep ahead of developments and
connections between two individual bring new equipment onto the market, which requires type approval. In Europe and the
amateur packet radio stations or an USA, regulatory authorities have adopted an approach of self-certification. In South Africa,
individual station and a multiport controller. ICASA has been in the process of developing type approval regulations, but after five years
The use of packet radio for terrestrial we do not seem to have moved ahead. Currently type approval requires that an
communication has diminished but is still independent test laboratory must verify the manufacturer's specification. There are
widely used in satellite communication, however no such accredited laboratories in this country.
both for amateur radio satellites and The South African market is small, and vendors cannot afford to have the tests done
CubeSats developed by universities. The overseas. This has led to a lot of frustration. ICASA’s regulatory processes are too slow and
transmission speeds typically range from even more complicated now with the requirement to involve the National Regulator for
300 bps on the HF bands to 1200 and Compulsory Specifications (NCRS) in the development of type approval regulations and the
9600 bps on VHF or UHF. type of equipment that could be exempted. Radio amateurs are licenced and the
While interesting, this is a historical condition under which a licence is issued gives ICASA the ability to direct an amateur
perspective of digital transformation in radio station to be shut down, should it cause interference to another licensed service. So,
amateur radio; most of its history has been the requirement for type approval of amateur radio equipment is superfluous. n
overtaken by a host of weak signal
communication digital modes which were
developed by Nobel laurate professor Joe
Taylor. Joe Taylor, K1JT, as he is known in
the amateur radio world, developed digital
communication modes that operate well
below the noise. His latest development is
FT8 which has captured the imagination of
the amateur radio community. The new
mode is named after its developers,
Steven Franke (K9AN) and Joe Taylor PK-232, typical packet Terminal mode controller
(K1JT). The numeral designates the
mode’s eight-frequency shift keying format.

Born to experiment
Joe Taylor was born to experiment. He
was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in
1993 for the discovery of a binary pulsar, a
discovery which has opened new
possibilities for the study of gravitation. In
his acceptance speech, he talked about
his early boyhood days where the
direction for his career path developed. He
told the learned audience at the Nobel
Prize ceremony that among his fondest
memories is, together with his brother Hal,
erecting numerous large rotating ham
radio antennas high above the roof of their
three-story Victorian farmhouse. “With one
such project we managed to shear off the
brick chimney, flush with the roof, much to
the consternation of our parents.” That
incident was one of many practical
lessons of his youth, often involving ill-
advised shortcuts toward some goal. In
their school years, the two brothers filled
most of the third floor of their farmhouse
with working ham radio transmitters and
receivers. Their rigs were mostly built from
a mixture of post-war surplus equipment
and junk television sets. FT8 Screen

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