SOCIETY NEWS

         The next Shack Meeting scheduled for 3rd May is deferred to 10 May to take account of the long weekend after the May Day public holiday. and to allow our Hon. Treasurer Jeremy 5Z4JW to attend.  The audited accounts for last year will be available.

         Dane Novalnik, S57CQ of WFP in Dubai will not be in Kenya long enough and regretfully is not is applying for a license.

         The NCDXF beacon 5Z4B is still operating the home of Hermann Sachse, 5Z4RT, near Kiambu.

        The two meter repeater (145.675/145.075 MHz) and duplexer have been thoroughly overhauled and it is operating very well from the site made available by Don Gardner, 5Z4DE.    

        Polo shirts and caps in various colours bearing the ARSK logo are available from the Secretary, at K.Shs.1,400 for both.  Unfortunately it has not been possible to arrange for embroidery of individual callsigns.

        CCK has confirmed that certification of photocopies of documents required for licensing may be carried out by a Notary Public as well as by a Commissioner for Oaths, who are not available in some countries.

        SIX METERS

        CCK has notified their intention to phase out VHF analogue TV in favour of UHF digital TV over the period to 2015.  An application was made to allow secondary Amateur access to six meters, but CCK has refused on the grounds that one channel in Western Kenya is in use by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.  When this is given up it is likely that access will be granted.   

        PIRACY

        Piracy of 5Z4 calls is nothing new, and many batches of QSL cards received by the Bureau contain some for invalid calls.  Many pirates appear to originate from Europe, but at least one operating recently appeared to be from USA, and very, very few operate within Kenya.   Reference to the ARSK Callbook on this website is recommended for confirmation of validity, and to avoid disappointment, or the ARSK can be e-mailed directly for verification.   The callbook is maintained as up to date as possible by ARSK with the full co-operation of CCK, but may not include short term visitors. 

        PAYMENT OF ARSK DUES ETC.

        Subscriptions were due on 1st January.   Unless private arrangements can be made the advice of the Secretary or Treasurer should be sought on transmission of subscriptions in foreign currency.   Restrictions on third party cheques cashed by forex bureaux have now been lifted.   Cheques drawn on foreign banks attract high charges, however. 

        PAYMENT OF LICENSE FEES

        We pressed for a fixed US Dollar fee for applicants from outside Kenya, to ease the constantly variable exchange rate and remittance problem, but the CCK are unable to accept this.   Current (7th May 2008) exchange rates remain fairly steady at about K.Shs.60 : US$1, and K.Shs.120 : £Stg.1.   All rates vary daily and should be checked.      

        CCK WEBSITE AND LICENSE APPLICATION FORM      

        The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) website may be seen at www.cck.go.ke and a copy of the Kenya Amateur Radio license application form should be downloaded from that site.   In case of any difficulty ARSK will send a copy of the new form by e-mail on request, but at our last check the CCK website was functioning well and the Application Form RF 2 was easy to download in .pdf..   

        UGANDA AND TANZANIA

           Licensing information available to us for Uganda and Tanzania has been added below the Kenya information on the Licensing page, for the benefit of potential visitors to East Africa.   Tanzania information should be available at www.dit.ac.tz and http://tarc.dit.ac.tz/index.php .  This URL also lists conditions for reciprocal licenses in Tanzania (http://tarc.dit.ac.tz/foreigners.php).
(Thanks to Michael Fuchs, DL6MAF, for this information.)

 Please note that these offices are completely separate from the Kenya authority and must be dealt with directly.            

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        CUAGN SN! We look forward to working you on the air, seeing you here in person and hopefully in the not too distant future we may be able to assist and advise in getting visitors' licenses. Watch this space in case we get further good news for intending visitors.

        As we say here: "Kwaheri ya kuonana!" - we'll be seeing you!