Page 31 - EngineerIT October 2022

AMATEUR RADIO

technological developments. Radio amateurs launched their own Myth number five: radio amateurs can no longer
satellite, OSCSAR 1 (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) build their own equipment
four years after the Russians launched Sputnik 1. Todate the Radio amateurs suffer as much as the industry in terms of the
amateur radio fraternity has constructed and launched well over lack of supplies of electronic components and devices. It is true
one hundred satellites. for most radio amateurs that constructing equipment using
To bring it closer to home, two South African satellites, surface mount technology (SMT) is a problem. The tendency is to
SunSat and SumbandilaSat, included amateur radio transponders focus more on systems design using various machine fabricated
designed and built by radio amateurs. Currently AMSAT SA is modules to configure and build their own equipment. There are
building a CubeSat based on the latest software-defined radio many partially machine-built kits on the market where all surface
technology. mount components are machine mounted and the balance is
Radio amateurs are experimenting with some of the latest supplied for self-construction.
technology and communication software and are developing The concept of building from scratch is outdated, and
a next-generation digital beacon network to advance VHF and the new focus is on developing systems and utilising as many
UHF propagation research, contributing to the South Africa machine pre-fabricated modules as possible, writing the
knowledge economy. necessary software to make it all work.
Amateur radio remains a valuable resource for disaster The world of amateur radio is an ever-expanding one. It
communication, using some of the latest technologies including a does not take away from communication over radio with other
geo-stationary amateur radio satellite transponder. Work is being radio amateurs. There are many challenges even in that simple
done with various agencies to ensure there is communication, process, where software makes things possible, which, not many
even if all else fails. years ago were considered impossible. n