DECEMBER IS  YOUNGSTERS ON THE AIR (YOTA) MONTH

During the entire month of December, stations in several coun­tries will be on the air seeking contacts using “YOTA” as their call sign suffix. YOTA is growing fast, and every week more youngsters are asking to participate.

The SARL has been granted a special call sign, ZS9YOTA, to be used by young amateurs during YOTA month from 1 - 31 December  2014 . It will be the first worldwide YOTA event. If you are 25 years old or under you are invited to apply to use the special callsign either as an individual or  as a club station operated by young people. Send you request to Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL at zs6ql@mweb.co.za.

Slots will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Include a photograph of yourself operating your station for inclusion on the ZS9YOTA page of the IARU website. Click here

See who is operating ZS90YOTA when. Click here

Read more about YOTA

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SARL YOUTH NET

Join the SARL youth net every first Sunday of the months at 15:00 local time on 7070 kHz.

What is Amateur Radio?

Amateur radio is a hobby, a leisure time activity much like a sport such as soccer, rugby or cricket. As with a sport you have to be trained to participate but not in a physical way on a filed but in a classroom or through self-study. You have to acquire some technical skills in radio communication and basic electronics.

So while Amateur Radio, or hamradio is a hobby by participating in it you will acquire skills that will be useful as a stepping stone when choosing  a career in electronics or communication.

What do Radio Amateurs do?

Radio Amateurs or Hams as they are often called use two-way radio communication to make contact with other radio amateurs all over the world. They are able to use satellites and on occasion speak with astronauts on the International space station. Radio Amateurs can do this from home or while mobile in cars, boats or on foot.

Radio Amateurs have a full range of communication modes at their disposal. These include plain voice, Morse code, numerous digital computer modes and even graphical modes like television. As a licensed radio amateur you will be able to joining experiments using all these modes.