Amateur Radio Activities Trivandrum: 2013

Sunday, 29 December 2013

The Formation Of Radio Amateur Society Of Ananthapuri (RASA)

It has been a long awaited wish for all the active amateur radio operators in Trivandrum to come together to meet at a suitable location for sharing our experiences. As being a group of active hams, we were having almost regular communication over the 2m VHF band and it was decided that we call for a meeting off-the-air for sharing our personal experiences. The necessity of having such an off-the-air meeting was paramount due to the fact that we often talked over the air but was not able to get in touch with one another. The meeting would provide a platform for eyeball communication as well as sharing amateur radio experiences among the community of hams in Trivandrum (Ananthapuri) area. We also felt the need for creating an organization so that we may able to do radio activities as a team and also take it further from here. So we decided to meet at the QTH of VU2BRD, who was a member of our team and an active participant in the group.

RASA Emblem

All active hams in Trivandrum area met at the QTH of VU3BRD, and we shared all our experiences and concerns that are related to amateur radio activity and also the issues affecting hams. We came to the conclusion of creating an organization of radio amateurs in Trivandrum that can cater to the needs of the amateur radio community in Trivandrum. The formation of an amateur radio society was necessitated because of the social, organizational, as well as legal needs of the community. The formation of the organization was proposed by one of the eminent members of the team VU3DDE and seconded by VU2OOH and VU2JQX. All other members of the team supported the motion, which became instrumental with the creation of RASA, the Radio Amateur Society Of Ananthapuri. Under the directions of the organization's terms, a Governing council was made with different positions prescribed with certain duties that has to be performed by individual hams. We have also gone through different activities and projects that needs to be implemented by the Society in one year's time.

The official inaugural opening of the RASA was conducted on 23/03/2013 at the QTH of VU3BRD. All our team participants were there at the venue and it was a pleasant experience.Our official guest ham was VU2MTE, OM John from Thodupuzha. We had a good talk and discussion and some nice treats. It was a wonderful get-together. Later we had several subsequent meetings conducted at various different locations at the QTHs of hams on 20/04/2013 at VU3DDE and on 04/05/13 at VU2OOH.

The list of hams that attended the meeting of RASA 2013.

1. VU3BRD OM Binoy.
2. VU2JQX OM Anil
3. VU3DDE OM Joseph.
4. VU2OOH OM Zakir Hussain
5. VU3SQG OM Saji
6. VU2LVJ OM Lesley
7. VU3REG OM Regi
8. VU3RLW OM Rajesh
9. VU3SFJ OM Shaji
10. VU3AUE OM Abed
11. VU3AUZ OM Allen
12. VU2MTE, OM John
13. SWL Midhun
14. SWL Prabin

More members will be included :)

Thursday, 14 March 2013

VHF Slim JIm Antenna Workshop 2013

The VHF antenna workshop 2013 was conducted by the Trivandrum Amateur Radio Society at Kerala State Science and Technology Museum & Priyadarsini Planetarium on 24th February 2013. The type of antenna that was constructed at the workshop was the Slim Jim antenna. This is a high-gain type vertically polarized omnidirectional end fed antenna. Because there are many VHF operators in the Trivandrum city area and with few external antenna set up at their location, we have decided to go ahead with this type of antenna. It really helps with the station contact through the simplex mode which is mostly the direct station to station contact, that extends up the range and communicability of small handheld devices and much better with the base stations. So it is possible with these external devices to maintain a connection between stations around 15 to 20 kilometer radius within Trivandrum city.

The timing of the antenna workshop was 9:30 in the morning till 4:00 o'clock in the evening, and it was a Sunday, which is mostly a holiday after the regular church sessions. The workshop was conducted by Allen, VU2AUZ and the coordinators were Joseph, VU3DDE and Saji, VU3SQG. Alexander, VU2PAG was the convenor. Old man Rajan, VU2RJR inaugurated the workshop. Other distinguished faces were old man Binoy, VU3BRD and old man Zakir Hussain VU3OOH. Everything went according to the plans and we had a fantastic antenna workshop get together. Around 30 participants in and near Trivandrum attended the session. Those who are enrolled in the workshop need to pay for the workshop and they were able to take their constructed antennas back home. It is a pleasure that myself, VU2LVJ have also made an antenna number for my location.