RSSLNEWS

October 2001

NOTICE OF MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING OCTOBER 30^TH TUESDAY 2001

Please be informed that the General Meeting for October 2001 will be held on the 30^th of October 2001 at Committee-room of the Tourist Board, Galle Road, Colpettey, at 0530 PM. Please note that we are holding the meeting on a Tuesday because Wednesday is a Poya holiday. Please also take note of the venue.

AGENDA FOR OCTOBER MEETING

The agenda hasn’t been fixed yet because there is to be a council meeting before the general meeting. Anyway the Secretary informs that the fixing of the date for the AGM will be taken up at the October meeting.

MONTHLY MEETINGS

Please note that from now onwards unless otherwise notified, monthly General Meetings will be held at the Ceylon Tourist Board Headquarters at Colpetty, opposite Hotel Lanka Oberoi on the last Wednesday of the month at 0530.pm. Please also monitor the RSSL net regularly on 145.625 MHz at 0900 p.m. for RSSL announcements

NEW RSSL SHACK

The RSSL is happy to announce that negotiations between the Ceylon Tourist Board and the RSSL have been very successful and a MOU (!)was arrived at between the two parties. The Chairman of the Tourist Board, Mr. Renton de Alwis and Romesh 4S7RF were the prime movers in this venture. Romesh had the blessings of the Council, and the President and other council members were involved in the discussions and did much towards the final outcome.. The Tourist Board has already given us space for our shack and in future, meetings will be held at the Committee room of the Tourist Board.

The first meeting at the Tourist Board complex will be on the 30^th and we earnestly request our members to be present. Your presence will be a great source of strength to the RSSL. There is parking within the premises. If you like you can also park at the Crescat basement or in the Oberoi Car park!

The RSSL hopes to have a small soft opening ceremony on the 30^th. The Chairman and a few others from the TB will be present. Therefore we urge you to come and give your support to make a good first impression. Hi!

HF USE BY AMATEURS.

There was a flurry of activity some weeks ago when a letter was circulated by the TRC to all licensed members informing them that transceivers capable of transmitting throughout the HF spectrum will not be allowed. This was a sequel to a letter from the MOD. This letter was misunderstood by some members and also the TRC initially to mean that all HF operations were not being permitted! However, it was very clear what the letter meant was that general coverage transceivers that could operate outside the Amateur Bands

would not be allowed. While general coverage receivers have entirely due to the always been permitted only Amateur band transceivers have been allowed throughout the ages. The misunderstanding was due to the inability to understand the finer points of the Queen’s language in some quarters. Anyway to set things right the RSSL met the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and they stated very clearly that at no time was anything implied even about restricting HF operations. The RSSL had an excellent meeting with the MOD and cleared all outstanding matters regarding the importation of equipment, mobile licences and many issues relating to Amateur Radio.

IMPORTING OF EQUIPMENT

Only the import of transceivers need prior approval from the Telecom/Ministry of Defence. The MOD insists on having specifications from the manufacturers manuals for clearance. Details from web sites in the internet are not sufficient. However if you are unable to get such information which often become very difficult you can obtain information from the Internet which the RSSL can certify. Such certified copies will be accepted by the TRC/MOD. The RSSL will be glad to help member hams naturally.

JAMBOREE ON THE AIR

The Jamboree was worked out this year during the weekend of 20/21^st October. Stations were operated by members in Matara Colombo and Ibbagamuwa. The RSSL thanks Sarath 4S7SW who operated from Matara, 4S7VJ Vijey and Utpola 4S7UV from the Blind School 4S7SB, 4S7IP from St. Joseph’s by 4S76TP, 4S6AS,4S7VK,

Scouts HQ by 4S7DF Dhammika and 4S7PR Adrian, Burani Serendip School 4S7AA/A Operated by 4S7AA, Asgar and Fauzulla; 4S7MM Sarath and 4S7AI Ananda from Ibbagamuwa and 4S7DZ Dimuthu from D.S.Senanayake Collee, Colombo.

MEMBER ID CARDS

Please contact Dhammika to obtain your RSSL ID cards. These will help you in future to enjoy all the privileges as a member

MEMBER SUBCRIPTIONS- Members will be able to update their memberships by paying their subscriptions to the Treasurer at the monthly meetings. You can also contact RSSL Hony. Treasurer Jagath Bandaranayake 46JB 171 Wewelduwa Rd, Kelaniya.

POWER CUTS As I write this the power cuts have been reduced to 1hour and 0 minutes. Let’s hope that too will disappear soon. Our VHF net has suffered immensely due to the power cuts.

EDITORS NOTE I am sorry that I couldn’t come out with a newsletter in August and September. The power-cuts didn’t help at all and urgent family commitments also came in the way. Your contributions are welcome for the November issue which I promise will be a full issue making up for all the lost time. Please get them to me by the 10^th of November.

73 and Good DX until then.

4S7VK