HAMFESTINDIA 2012 to be held at Chennai!!!

Chennai Hams welcome all amatuer radio lovers to HAMFESTINDIA 2012 to be held at CHENNAI, pls view these pages for more updates.

ChennaiHamsBlogspot Team

Watch For HAMFESTINDIA 2011

Finally the countdown has begun , HAMFESTINDIA2011 is going to take place at Gokulam Park Convention Centre, Kaloor, Kochi (Cochin), Kerala on December 10th and 11th. All hams in India have to do their best to make this event a grand success.

For more detail pls visit http://www.hamfestindia2011.com/

Aircraft Emergency Frequencies

The aircraft emergency frequency (also known as guard) is a frequency used on the aircraft radio band reserved for emergency communications for aircraft in distress. The frequencies are 121.5 MHz for civilian, also known as International Air Distress (IAD) and 243.0 MHz for military use, also known as Military Air Distress (MAD). Both are in use at the international level.

The choice of 121.5 MHz was made by the ICAO in conjunction with ARINC and the ITU as a result of its third harmonic frequency relationship with the 40.5 MHz military tactical low band ground-to-air channel. Similarly 121.5 MHz is itself a sub harmonic of the military UHF distress frequency at 243 MHz. This choice gave a number of technical and operational compatibility and efficiency gains in the context of design and proximity interference.

121.5 MHz is monitored by most air traffic control towers, national air traffic control centers, and other flight and emergency services, as well as by many airliners. Separate frequencies exist for military and other government emergency frequencies. If an aircraft violates or is on a trajectory that will violate Restricted or Prohibited airspace, it will be warned of military interception on 121.5 MHz.

The frequency may also be used by ATC to establish contact with an aircraft that has inadvertently switched to an incorrect frequency. As pilots are strongly recommended to monitor 121.5 MHz at all times, a common practice is to set a secondary communications radio in the aircraft (often COMM 2) to 121.5 MHz in order to monitor, but not transmit on, 121.5 MHz. A pilot accidentally transmitting on 121.5 MHz will often hear a reply stating that they are "on guard", i.e., that they are on the guard frequency and should switch to the appropriate frequency instead.

An Exotic QSO : VU4PB DX-pedition to Andaman Islands

Members of Amateur Radio Society of India succesfully planned and executed a DX-pedition to Andaman Islands from 15th to 31st March 2011 with callsign as VU4PB . Permission was obtained and there were 4 stations active out of Port Blair, Andaman Islands,India.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal and a Union Territory of India. The territory is located geographically 150 km (93 mi) north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated from Thailand and Burma by the Andaman Sea. It comprises two island groups, the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands, separated by the 10° N parallel, with the Andamans to the north of this latitude, and the Nicobars to the south. The Andaman Sea lies to the east and the Bay of Bengal to the west.

A DX-pedition is an expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators, perhaps because of its remoteness or because there are very few radio amateurs active from that place. This could be an island, a country, or even a particular spot on a geographical grid.

The first batch of operators and installation personnel consisted of VU2GGM-Poru, VU2RCR-Chandru, VU2GMN-Gopal,VU2MTT-Murthy,VU2ABS-Aravind,VU2CDP-Deepak,VU2SJD-Sanjay and VU2LU-Ramesh. Among Chennai Hams VU2GMN Gopal , VU2ABS Aravind, VU2DH Das and VU2SJD Sanjay participated . Operations were from 160 meters to 10meters and totally almost 32,000 QSO's were made.
A large number of log check requests were generated due to the pirate activities that unfortunately took place. The breakup of QSOs by Continent for the operation which logged around 33,000 contacts is given below:
EU – 45%
AS – 30%
NA – 20%
Others – 5%

A Small Photoprofile below:

The first batch of personnel(ops and logistic team)
Rear (left to right) VU2SMN-Suhas (rear left), VU2DH-Das,VU2MTT-Murthy, VU2GGM-Poru, VU2LU-Ramesh
Front (left to right) vud2CDP-Deepak, VU2NXM-Basappa, VU2GMN-Gopal, VU2RCR-Chandru, VU2ABS-Aravind, VU2SJD-Sanjay

Equipment used during VU4PB:

RIGS:
Elecraft K3
Two Kenwood TS-2000
ICOM 756 Pro II
ICOM 756 Pro III
Yaesu FT 847
Kenwood TS-950
Antennas:
Two Spider Beams (20-17-15-12-10m)
SteppIR 2-element Yagi (20-6m)
SteppIR 3-element Yagi (40-6m)
SteppIR Big IR vertical (40-10m)
Wire and vertical antennas for low band operation (160-80-40-30m)
18m Spider poles for Low band antennas (160-80m)
Force12 C3S Yagi (20-10m)
Amplifiers:
Yaesu Quadra VL1000 Amp
Kenwood TL-922 Amp
Yaesu FL2100 Amp
TenTec Hercules II
Ameritron ALS-500 Amp
Ameriton AL-811H Amp
Digital:
MicroHAm MicroKeyer II
RigExpert Standard
Signalink USB

For full photo profile, pls click on below links.

http://vu4pb.info/

The unusually bad weather made things very challenging at times. Having to frequently check if your antennas have not been blown away by the storm force winds tends to slow things down for sure. Band conditions were not been ideal either with a lot of QRN.

However certain mornings the weather was better which permitted low band antennas to be putup and used . VU4PB went QRT as scheduled at 1829z on 31st March 2011 and the various operators have headed home to get back to their normal lives.

I am sure it must have been a once a lifetime experience for all those who participated.

G.Vipin Shankar
ChennaiHamsBlogspot Team

A Tribute to "VU2PCP" OM Paneer

That familiar steady voice on Yercaud VHF net daily "VU2 Pappa Charlie Pappa” has become silent key & would'nt be heard anymore . Vu2PCP handle "Paneer" based at Tiruchengode passed away today afternoon 1:30 pm in Coimbatore , 12 days since hospitalization after a stroke . PCP has he was called by all was among the senior most and most active HAM's in South India and used to attend all HAM related meetings in and around India and was instrumental in setting up and maintaining the most effective VHF repeater in South India based at Yercaud. He was the custodian of the Tiruchengode Repeater Club.

PCP got his ticket in 1990’s and has been a HAM for past 20+ years. He was active on HF/VHF and was a very good homebrewer and has contributed many test equipments/antennas to the hobby.

The last HAM meet he attended was the Pollachi HAMFEST. He is survived by his wife and two children. All Chennai south HAMS salute this great HAM and his contributions to the hobby, we are sure he would be remembered always as a nice person we knew and who cherished being a HAM and contributed selflessly towards this passion all of us share.

May his soul rest in peace.

ChennaiHamsBlogspot Team