Australian Amateur Radio Licences Renewal Reminder

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Australian Amateurs who allow their licence to lapse can have a journey to renew their callsign.

Holders of expired licences have to contact the WIA who need to issue a recommendation for a new licence application. One of the main reasons many Australian Amateurs suffer this process is because the Australian Radiocommunications Act does not have a requirement to advise licence holders of the renewal date.

Whilst the ACMA does its best to fill this void, in many instances, a renewal notice is not received.

An Australian amateur radio callsign is only a condition of a licence, and if the licence is not renewed, after 60 days the callsign will be put on the WIA Public List on its website. After 7 days the WIA will issue a Callsign Recommendation to whoever wants it, with ballot provisions applying to 2-letter callsign in some states.

More information - http://www.wia.org.au

RSGB Exam Syllabus Review

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Online Amateur Radio Club Essex Ham has published an update on the proposed new syllabus for the amateur radio Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced RSGB Exams

With the proposed new syllabus to be finalised by the end of 2017, with the first exams based on the new syllabus are intended to take place in January 2019.

Essex Ham RSGB Exam Syllabus Review - https://www.essexham.co.uk/news/rsgb-syllabus-review-update-oct-2017.html

 

CAS-4A and CAS-4B Amateur Radio Satellite Transponders Activated

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The Amateur Radio linear (SSB/CW) inverting transponders on the CAS-4A and CAS-4B satellites were activated on 18th October 2017. CAMSAT’s Amateur Radio payloads piggybacked on the optical remote-sensing micro-satellites OVS-1A (CAS-4A) and OVS-1B (CAS-4B), launched on 15th June 2017.

CAS-4A (call sign BJ1SK) has a CW telemetry beacon on 145.855 MHz, and 4.8 kB GMSK telemetry on 145.835 MHz. The uplink is 435.220 MHz, the downlink is 145.870 MHz (20-kHz passband).

CAS-4B (call sign BJ1SL) has a CW telemetry beacon on 145.910 MHz, and 4.8 kB GMSK telemetry at 145.890 MHz. The uplink is 435.280 MHz, the downlink is 145.925 MHz (20-kHz passband)