Sukwan Widajat, VA3WID, Silent Key

Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) reports its Corporate Secretary Sukwan Widajat, VA3WID/YB0SWI/AB1XM, has died while in Indonesia, a post he had held since 2015.

“We are all volunteers and know that people have other responsibilities, and he was an example of balancing these. ”

— RAC President Glen MacDonell, VA3XRA

Widajat was the Vice-President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Pak2000 in Boston. He was first licensed in Indonesia in 1998 and obtained his Canadian license in 2013. He was a DXer, RTTY, and satellite enthusiast

Armando M0PAM Champions Local Amateur Radio Rights

After his nightmare neighbour experience, Armando, M0APM is preparing a legal challenge against a nuisance that anyone who takes up amateur radio as a hobby can experience:

Unwanted attention from nightmare neighbours supported by council officials.

Stuart Dixon - G4IYK, who manages the Armando Martins Campaign, wrote: "While dealing with his council housing department, it was noted that knowledge of planning law was in short supply and his rights were affected by this. Several times he was told to take down antenna by council workers and yet these were compliant with planning rules.

“During the time we worked with Martins, council workers demonstrated no knowledge of what normal neighbourly behaviour is, or how to separate it from unwanted, aggressive and unlawful behaviour, even though they had sound policies on the topic. M0PAM’s investment in equipment to maintain a livelihood in his retirement was at risk of being trashed and we wanted to prevent the injustice.

We think:

- IT’s NOT OK to drum up false claims against a neighbour or his property for any reason.

- IT’s NOT OK for council workers to support poor neighbour behaviour by taking enforcement action before establishing the facts.

- IT’s NOT OK to condone neighbour aggression or blame the victim of it.

- IT’s NOT OK to stand by and watch such behaviour without challenging it.

There are others who came forward with stories of similar treatment. That’s why we continue to support Armando who is preparing to go to court to highlight the issues and seek a judgement that prevents such behaviour.”

More Information - https://chuffed.org/project/prevent-abusers-from-using-planning-law-to-blight-peoples-lives

SARL VHF Workgroup Coordinator Selected

Dick Coates, ZS6BUN has been selected as the Coordinator for the SARL VHF/UHF/Microwave workgroup. The formation of the workgroup resulted from discussions at the recent joint SARL/AMSATSA workshop held at the NARC.

The workgroup met on Skype this week and agreed on two main initial initiatives to get the promotion of activity on bands above 30 MHz off the ground.

As a number of beacons are already operating in South Africa, it was agreed to prepare a comprehensive list and publish the information on the SARL web and in the news. Dick is calling on beacon operators to send all the information to vhfnews@sarl.org.za.

The second initial initiative is to set up a two-metre beacon in the upper Karoo area. The workgroup will meet again on 15 November at 20:30. This is an open invitation to join the discussion. To participate make sure you have an updated version of Skype.

South African Radio League - http://www.sarl.org.za/Default.asp