1st May 2010 : Chennai VHF Repeater 145.775 Mhz(-600) VU2MRR celebrates 22nd Birthday

On this day 1st May 1989 Chennai's oldest and veteran HAM VHF repeater VU2MRR was given life . A team of 10 members formed The Madras radio repeater Club to buy and installed a VHF repeater in Chennai . Several Good hearted people/HAM radio enthusiasts donated generously for the fund.

With great difficulty the equipment was cleared from the customs and readied for installation . For its untiring service over the last two decades we salute VU2MRR for the contribution and it’s a tribute to all those great HAM’s/Radio lovers who brought this dream alive.

The Madras Repeater Club Team consisting some of the veteran HAM's to date

Chennai repeater Story in the words of VU2MRR – 145.775(-600Mhz)

I was installed on May 1st 1989 at Kesari Kutti ram Building in Royapetttah .The Inaguration was done by the then City police commissioner . My call sign/name given by HAM’s/WPC was VU2 MRR. My RF power capacity is 10 W . I am consisting of basically three parts , the Yaeus FTR2410A Repeater, Wacom WP-639 Band pass-Band reject filter and Diamond F-23 Antenna.

Royapettah building where I was first installed

From all parts of chennai I am accessible 24/7 for any type of HAM VHF traffic . After 14 months to increase my coverage area I was shifted to The Residency Tower Hotel at T Nagar . From that time till today I am working round the clock serving Chennai regions HAM community.

My new residence at Residency Towers hotel from where I have a better line of sight.

I had two major technical surgeries and few minor replacements in the past . My final amplifier was replaced twice. Stations from various parts South India including Tamil Nadu, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Bangalore, calcutta and Srilanka have accessed me and through me reached out to local hams in Chennai . To my knowledge I am the only VHF repeater in India serving for a long time with minor problems, offcourse lot of credit to those HAM’s go have birth to me and continue to take care of me.

That's me growing old but still going strong "VU2MRR"

On my 21st Birth day I thank all users and my well wishers for keeping me in good health. Even though I am healthy a few adjustments, small alignments , repairs are required in due course to ensure I can keep boosting the voice of all Chennai HAMS for decades to come.

To serve you better in a long way kindly trigger me more often with voice signal and look forward to listening to all.

Bye Bye
VU2MRR - 145.775 Mhz (-600)

Amateur Radio Service Rules in India Amended!!!!

Finally the Govt of India official gazette concerning amateur radio operators has been published by Wireless Planning and Co-ordination department . Amateur Radio in India is governed by Telegraphy Rules and WPC works under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Primarily WPC site tells that there have been two amendements to the rules after1978, one through Gazette Notifications GSR 385(E) on 9th July 2005 & otherthrough the recent GSR 280(E)dated 1st april 2010. The only link WPC has posted is of 2009 amendment and not the 2005 one. Not sure if anyone has got the link for 385(E)2005 amendment which was not published in the gazette for longtime , all our search yielded not results.

First Amendment: THE INDIAN WIRELESS TELEGRAPH (AMATEUR SERVICE) AmendmentRules, 2005 . Gazette Notification GSR 385(E), but no copy available.The key changes that have been made in this 2005 amendment are:

1. Category of license From earlier four categories, the new rules have mergedGrade I and Advanced as General, while Grade II and Restricted have been clubbedtogether as Restricted Grade.

2. Fees Structure Instead of 5 year renewal cycle, amateur radio operators cannow apply for 20 years or lifelong license. They would have to pay INR 1000 for20 years or INR 2000 for life long application.

Second Amendment: THE INDIAN WIRELESS TELEGRAPH (AMATEUR SERVICE) AmendmentRules, 2009 , GSR 280(E). The key changes that have been made in this 2009 amendment are:

1. In rule 8 , sub rule (1), which stated "The examinations for the grant of a licence shall be held at a place and on adate as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time"

amended to as below

"The examinations for the grant of a licence as per syllabus shall be held at aplace and on a date as may be notified by the Central Government from time totime".

2. Rule 13 which says "A holder of licence shall use, as appropriate to thelicence, such frequency bands, power and classes of emission as are set out inAnnexure V of these rules"

amended to as below

"A holder of licence shall use, as appropriate to the licence, such frequencybands, power and classes of emission as authorised by the central government"

Annexure V talks of all the different freq bands in VHF/UHF/HF allotted toAmateurs in India, question is if Annexure V is no more valid what's the newfrequency allocation and when that would be published in the gazette.

3. Annexure- I, II, V which are basically application forms has been ommitted,not word on which forms to be used moving forward.The 2005 amendment made some sense, not sure the objective behind cosmeticamendments in 2009, which seem to be only causing confusion.

Vipin , SWL

ChennaiHamsBlogspot Team

18th April 2010 - World Amateur Radio Day Highlights

Each year on 18 April, radio amateurs celebrate World Amateur Radio Day. On that day in 1925 the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) was founded. In 2010, the theme of the event is

"Amateur Radio: Combining communication experience with modern digital techniques."

Amateur radio has truly entered the 21st Century. In less than 100 years amateur radio communications has evolved from crude spark-gap technology to digital signal processing and software-defined radios. The amateur's HF choice between voice and CW has been expanded to a broad range of communication choices from television to spread spectrum. Amateur digital communications has evolved. At the end of World War II until the early 1980's, radioteletype, also known as RTTY, was the only HF digital mode available to amateurs. In the 1980's, AMTOR made its debut along with the increased popularity and availability of personal computers.

AMTOR was the first amateur digital communication mode to offer error-free text transmission. From the early 1980's, the rate of change increased dramatically. Packet Radio emerged and for a period of time was the most popular form of amateur digital communication. As microprocessor technology became more sophisticated, there was a rise in modes such as Clover, PACTOR, and G-TOR that were capable of error-free exchanges under marginal band conditions. In the late 1990's, there was an invention that harnessed personal computer technology to create PSK31.
In the VHF-UHF frequency ranges, Packet Radio had less activity at the close of the century than it did in the 1980's and 1990's.

However, Packet Radio was reborn as the popular Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) and traditional packet systems still exist to support public service activities with greatly enhanced functionality. Thanks to individual amateurs, hams now enjoy digital meteor scatter contacts and even moonbounce on VHF and UHF frequencies with modest stations. An ordinary computer sound device and software that can be downloaded free from the internet is all that is needed.

The Japan Amateur Radio League developed the D-STAR digital voice and data standard and there has been significant amateur growth as amateurs establish D-STAR repeater networks on the VHF, UHF and microwave bands. All of these development have inspired amateurs around the world to experiment in their own HF, VHF, UHF and microwave band digital communication.
Activities on the occasion of World Amateur Radio Day 2010 can be a great opportunity to spread the word about what the "hams" are doing in the 21st Century.