The September RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel on September 2, 2018 was well attended with around 50 members and guests present, including several new faces. The formal part of the meeting, after the buffet lunch, began with a surprise birthday cake for Charly, HS0ZCW who was celebrating his birthday. The cake, which had been sent to the event by his XYL, was presented with nine candles flickering as those present at the meeting sang the "Happy Birthday" song. Charly was all smiles as the staff cut the cake into slices to help him share it with others in the room.
RAST President Jakkree (Jack) began by saying that RAST's participation in the Tokyo Ham Fair the previous weekend had been a success, where RAST had a booth with over a dozen RAST officers and members taking part.
Jack then said that the next major item on the agenda would be the 17th IARU Region 3 Conference scheduled to take place on September 10-14 in Seoul, Korea when he along with four other RAST delegates would be participating.

At left, Pop, HS1JZT, and Martti Laine, OH2BH, in front of the RAST booth.

The RAST President revealed that RAST would be seeking support from representatives of other amateur radio societies at the meeting for a request to be submitted to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to seek permission for licensed amateur radio operators in other Asian nations to be permitted to operate here for up to three months with a temporary callsign HS0/homecall RAST would also be looking for support at the IARU conference from other societies to endorse an appeal for a 400 KHz allocation on the six metre band, from 50.000 to 50.400 MHz.
While in Seoul, Jack said he also hoped to have the opportunity to propose to the Organisasi Amatir Radio Indonesia (ORARI) that RAST would like to host the 47th Southeast Asia Net (SEANET) Convention next year in Phuket. This year, ORARI is hosting the convention in Jogjakarta from October 18-21.
At the meeting, E23PXX presented to Jack an educational video about amateur radio that was made by E23PKO, Pomchanok, a RAST committee member. (A link where the video can be downloaded will be provided on this website in the near future.)
In addition, the next Advanced Class amateur radio examination in Thailand will take place on October 21, 2018 for which a total of 122 candidates have registered, while the next FCC VEC examination will be conducted at noon at the KMIT North Bangkok campus on September 22.
The next RAST meeting will be on Sunday, October 7.



These Yaezu caps were received at the Tokyo Ham Fair and were distributed to RAST members at the September meeting in Bangkok.

The highlight of the August RAST monthly get-together at Sena Place Hotel on Sunday, August 5 was an account by RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC of his trip to Germany to participate in the World Radiosport Team Championship 2018 last month.
He was invited to speak following announcements by RAST President Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL, which included mention of upcoming trips to the Tokyo Ham Fair later this month where RAST will have a booth and participation in the IARU Region 3 Conference in September (Sept 10-14) in South Korea. Jack will lead delegations to both events, accompanied by RAST Secretary Champ, RAST Registrar JC Goi, E20NKB and RAST Committee member Apinant (Pop), HS1JZT.
Jakkree also mentioned that RAST intends to celebrate its 55th anniversary at the end of next February with a dinner party at a riverside restaurant or resort in Bangkok, the location of which has yet to be decided upon.


On the projector screen Benjamas, HS6SSE holds the "Thailand" sign with Ralf, HS0ZET, (at right) while Zaki, 9M2ZAK, at left, along with Champ and Goi look on.

Champ then took the microphone and illustrated his presentation with slides and a video taken during his trip to Germany, which had been the second time that he had participated in the WRTC Championships. This year he was joined by Zaki, 9M2ZAK from Malaysia in the Asia team.
He explained that he flew to Frankfurt on July 6 with baggage weighing 70 Kg and which had included equipment such as bandpass filters for use in the contest. While in Germany, he visited the Icom Europe office where he met Helmut, DF7ZS who helped by training him in the functions of the Icom 7851 which he would be using in the contest.
Then Champ travelled on to Wittenberg, the centre for the WRTC Championships this year and he observed that few Asians had been participating -- with only nationals from Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Israel. He also praised Benji and Ralf (Benjamas, HS6SSE and DJ5BK, and Ralf Klinger, HS0ZET and DF6RK) who had taken good care of them in Germany.


The Spiderbeam antenna which had a problem with a high SWR and the balun and cable had to be replaced during the contest, forcing Champ's station off the air for three and a half hours.

The location for taking part in the contest as well as the callsign to be used was assigned through a lucky draw and they did not know the callsign they would be using until 15 minutes before the contest would begin, while the prefix of the callsign assigned -- Y86P -- was rare and had not been issued since 1990, he said. Champ also praised Fred, HS0ZAR and K3ZO, who, along with the PVRC (Potomac Valley Radio Club), had sponsored the tent used during the contest.
The antenna used had been a Spiderbeam, while there was a team of four local volunteer hams -- DL1UHU, DL6UD, DL7AT and DL9MWG, with the site manager being DM3BJ. The set up and testing of the station, which was located a long way out in the countryside, had begun one day before the contest would begin.
Once the contest was underway, Champ said he did not eat anything, and he had been on the radio non-stop, however, it turned out that there had been a big problem with the antenna balun and the connector which had lasted for three and a half hours. After one hour spent looking up at the antenna, the support team finally took the antenna down and then had to drive for two hours to fetch a replacement, which cost the team some 1,500 QSOs.
In all, the team made over 2,000 QSOs on both CW and SSB in 24 hours but having been forced off the air cost the team many points and they came in 61st place out of a total of 63 teams. The full results, with Lithuania coming in first place, Germany second and the USA in third place, can be seen here.
Champ ended his presentation by saying that he hopes to get a chance to participate in the next WRTC Championships in four years' time because of the antenna problem this year.
RAST, thanks to many contributions from donors, both corporate sponsors and individual members, had supported Champ's trip to Germany with a total of 189,000 baht, while Champ had only spent 149,000 baht and at the meeting he handed 40,000 baht back to RAST President Jack who said that the funds would help subsidise the upcoming trip by RAST members to the Tokyo Ham Fair.


Jack pulls the names of 10 sponsors of Champ's trip to Germany to participate in the WRTC Championships out of a jar who were the lucky winners of Yaesu hats following Champ's presentation.

Champ then donated 10 Yaesu hats to members who had donated 1,000 baht or more who were selected in a lucky draw and the meeting closed with Jack thanking Champ for his presentation and for returning the 40,000 baht he had not used on his trip.
The next RAST meeting will be on Sunday, September 2, 2018 at Sena Place Hotel.



RAST Treasurer Pornpimol, HS0VDX was one of the lucky winners of a Yaesu hat.

There was a good turnout at the July RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel where application forms were available for the upcoming Advanced Class examination and certificates for those who had passed the Intermediate Class exam were presented by RAST President Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL.

(An Intermediate Class amateur radio certificate is presented in the photo at right)

There was a table dedicated to providing the application forms for the Advanced Class exam, with Kamol Nakchum, E20EHQ making announcements as members numbering over 50 gathered in the restaurant/meeting room at the hotel where a buffet lunch was available.
After the formal part of the meeting had begun, and a dozen or so visitors or new members had introduced themselves, the RAST President asked everyone to take a minute to pray for the 12 students and their coach who have been trapped in a cave in Chiang Rai for over a week now and who had yet to be found.
Then Jack invited Champ, E21EIC, the RAST Secretary, to take the microphone to thank those who had supported his upcoming trip to the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) in Germany with donations, beginning with G. Simon Radio and W&J Engineering.



After that, he handed out T-shirts to those members who had supported the expenses for his trip and who had made donations during the June RAST meeting.

(At right, Champ, E21EIC presents a T-shirt as a "thank-you gift" for support from Surachart, E20QVD, one of many RAST members who supported his upcoming trip to Germany financially. Champ will set off on Friday, July 6, 2018 to take part in the WRTC Championship.)

Total donations had amounted to over 200,000 baht and Champ is most grateful for this support and since it had exceeded his anticipated travel costs, he said he had donated 50,000 baht to RAST in order to support RAST members, helping them to afford a trip to the Tokyo Ham Fair in August.
Then representatives from W&J Engineering, an Icom distributor, announced features in a new Icom handheld with extended D-Star capabilities, which is the model ID51E-T (where the "T" refers to Thailand). Jack also mentioned that the special callsign HS50IARU had been requested and obtained from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) Secretariat, being the callsign of the RAST Headquarters station and it is for participating in the IARU 50th Anniversary Award (for more details, please see below).
In addition, RAST will take part in the IARU HF Championships later this month (July 14-15, 2018) and operators at the RAST club station where the callsign E2HQ will be used were asked by the RAST President to select the size of their T-shirt and to notify JC Goi, E20NKB.
The next RAST meeting will be on Sunday, August 5 when members can look forward to an account from Champ of his participation in the WRTC along with Zaki, 9M2ZAK, representing Asia.
May we take this opportunity to wish them every success. This is the second time that Champ will be participating in the WRTC Championships, having taken part in Brazil in 2006.



RAST President Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL asks staff from W&J Engineering a question about the Icom ID51E-T during the meeting.

RAST has applied for and has received permission to operate a Special Event station with the callsign HS50IARU to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 3. Activities using this callsign began on June 7 and the callsign will continue to be active until October 31, 2018.
The IARU Region 3 (Asia-Pacific Region) will grant the 50th Anniversary Award to radio amateurs who certify having contacted at least five contacts (QSOs) on different modes or bands with Special Event Stations for commemorating the 50th Anniversary of IARU Region 3 from eligible countries are those in Region III whose amateur societies are members of IARU Region 3.
Special event callsigns will have the number "50" as the prefix number and IARU as their Special Event Call Sign Suffix. (ie. YB50IARU, 9M50IARU, JA50IARU, VK50IARU, HS50IARU, BY50IARU, BV50IARU, VR50IARU. VU50IARU, etc)
The anniversary award rules can be found here.

The June RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel was well attended with around 50 members and guests present when RAST Secretary Champ Muangamphun, E21EIC provided a briefing about the upcoming WRTC 2018 (World Radiosport Team Championship 2018) for which he has been selected to represent Asia, along with 9M2ZAK, Zaki, of Malaysia.
The WRTC Championship takes place every four years and participants are invited based on their performance in various amateur radio contests over the previous three years. It is a privilege -- and a challenge -- to be invited, since the contestents will be competing with other top contest operators, and this year the event will be hosted in Germany.
This will be the second time that Champ has been a WRTC participant, the previous occasion being in Brazil in 2006, and Champ explained the various aspects of participating in the WRTC event in a presentation he made during the June meeting.



Khun Nopparat of G. Simon Radio (left) pledges support with a donation 30,000 baht towards Champ's expenses in his trip to Germany next month to participate in the WRTC championships.

RAST is supporting Champ financially with a 20,000 baht donation, while at the meeting, G. Simon Radio, the Icom dealer, also stepped forward to announce a donation of 30,000 baht towards his expenses. Meanwhile, RAST President also appealed to members at the meeting for donations to support his expenses for a three week trip to Germany, saying that those who made a donation of 1,000 baht or more would receive a free T-shirt.
Champ also mentioned that Zorro, JH1AJT and the Foundation for Global Children (FGC) was also supporting his participation with a donation.
There will be a total of 63 teams of WRTC contestants in Wittenberg, Germany this year and they will take part in the IARU Radiosport Championship next month.
Prior to this briefing by Champ, RAST President Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL announced the results of the May, 2018 intermediate class amateur radio exam, which had a total of 70 candidates participating of which a total of 24 passed both the theory and the Morse code components. Morse appeared to have been the biggest challenge, with only 25 candidates passing this component.



Khun Orn donates a TS440S transceiver that had belonged to her late husband, Lyle Greeno who passed away last October in the United States. At left is RAST President Jakkree, HS1FVL and at right Champ, E21EIC.

Among those present at the meeting was the XYL of the late Lyle Greeno, HS0ZAM and W0OMK, Boungorn Greeno, (Khun Orn), HS0ZDU and KC0BVH, who donated a Kenwood TS440 transceiver and a Ballantine oscilloscope to RAST. Her husband had passed away in October last year after a bout of pneumonia at the age of 96. Originally from Thailand, she would be returning to the United States shortly after the meeting.
The day the meeting took place, the ARDF championships for Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn trophy were taking place in Surat Thani Province in the south of Thailand and before the meeting had ended the winning team had been announced: it was from Suphan Buri Province. The RAST participant had come in third place.
As the June 3 meeting took place, so the Friedrichshafen Ham Fair was underway in Germany, which is the largest ham radio convention in Europe, where RAST also had a booth -- thanks to a team of RAST members living in Germany.
During the meeting, RAST managed to make a brief video contact with those at the RAST booth in Friedrichshafen but unfortunately the Internet link was not sustained and what both parties had intended to be a live video stream -- RAST had a computer connected to a projector with a screen -- did not work well and there was insufficient time to troubleshoot the problems.
At left: RAST President Jack, HS1FVL can be seen at the notebook with the Internet connection. Unfortunately, the link worked only very briefly before failing altogether.

Only a brief contact was made and RAST offers its apologies to everyone in Germany who had worked towards this which everyone had hoped would have been a highlight of the meeting.
The next international ham radio convention where RAST will have a booth will be the Tokyo Ham Fair in Japan in August and the next meeting of RAST should be on Sunday, July 1, 2018.

Bob HS0ZIA - N6BK became a silent key on 18 April 2018 after a short illness. Last rites were at Wat Luang in Pai in Mae Hong Son Province on 21 April. He is survived by his XYL Duen and sister Kris to whom we extend our sincere sympathy.
Born in 1955, Bob was first licensed as WN6CNX in 1970, and inherited his father's call N6BK in 1979. N6BK senior was the first to reach 300 countries DXCC.
Retiring from a career in dentistry, Bob came to Thailand, at first operating HS0ZIA from his home in Pai. He began the HS0ZIA HF contest station project in 2007. Located out in the paddy fields near Doi Saket northeast of Chiang Mai, HS0ZIA has been active in most international contests usually as a multi-op entry.
By the beginning of 2018 the station was at an advanced stage of development with a workshop and generator house plus a ham shack with all conveniences. The shack is set up with two operating positions with K3 and Flex radios. There is an extensive antenna farm, the pride of which is the 60m rotating tower with yagis covering 80 to 10m.
HS0ZIA has scored many honours in contests, but more importantly has been a gathering place for local and visiting hams to experience high level contesting as guests of a genial and generous host.
Bob was a man of many talents, not only on the air but in it. He was a past member of the US national sailplane team and an expert aerobatic pilot. In Thailand he enjoyed flying his microlight and gained the name 'Cloudhopper' for his exploits with his back pack hot air balloon. An experienced yachtsman, Bob cruised his 56ft catamaran Shaman from December to May each year. He fell ill at the end of his 2018 voyage. It goes without saying we will not see his like again.

RAST hosted a party in Rayong Province entitled "RAST on the Beach" on the weekend of April 21-22, 2018. The event began at 1 p.m. on Saturday April 21 with a US FCC amateur radio examination overseen by a team of VEC examiners led by RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC.
Located at the Fah talay Resort & Spa and hosted by RAST's HS0AC club station team, this was the second year that such an event has been staged in Rayong and there were many amateur radio activities on both HF and VHF and in various modes.



In the evening there was a dinner party with refreshments. Kamol, E20EHQ, had also announced at the April RAST meeting that special event T-shirts (displayed here at right) would be available for 220 baht each at the party.
The April RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel welcomed several new faces, including Stan, G4NQB, Brad, VK2BY and his XYL, Ken, KH6F, HS1SEY, HL4CAF, who said he had been living in Thailand for 20 years, and Simon, HS0ZIB (pictured below introducing himself at the meeting) who now lives in Naypyidaw where he was recently assigned the call XZ2A, which he said was the first amateur radio callsign issued to a resident of Myanmar since amateur radio had been banned there in 1962.
RAST President Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL kicked off the announcements at the meeting by informing members that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has offered to change the wording on Advanced Class amateur radio licences, which currently says "Advance Class". Anyone with such a licence who would like a revised version of their licence can obtain one free of charge from the NBTC Secretariat on Phaholyothin Soi 8.
Next month will be when the NBTC's next Intermediate Class amateur radio examination will take place and which will be overseen by RAST. This will be on Saturday, May 5 and consequently there will be no RAST meeting the following day at Sena Place Hotel. The next monthly RAST meeting will take place on June 3, 2018.
Jack also announced that VHF transceivers are now available that are capable of transmitting from 144 MHz up to 147 MHz, allowing Thai hams to communicate in the additional spectrum that has been allocated by the NBTC.
The RAST President also reminded everyone of the recent NBTC announcement authorizing additional spectrum in the 80 metre band and in the six metre band for a list of contests, as members had been advised by email and on the RAST websites.
Details, which extends contest activities on 80 metres from 3.5-3.6 MHz to 3.5 - 3.9 MHz and authorises activities on six metres from 50-54 MHz can be found below, and Jack reminded members at the meeting that for each contest that they intend to participate in they must inform RAST in advance, while also uploading their contest logs afterwards.
Members at the April meeting were also advised that the Belgian amateur radio association, the Royal Union of Belgian Ham Radio, or UBA, will celebrate its 70th anniversary later this year with 59 special event stations that will be active during the month of May 2018. The special callsigns of these stations begin with the prefix "OT70" and there are three classes of awards: bronze, silver and gold.
Sam, HS0ZDY also brought along a stack of QST magazines donated to RAST by Karl, K4YT and HS0ZDG.

There is good news for contest operators. Thailand's regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), has granted temporary permission for intermediate and advanced class amateur radio operators and club stations with HF operators to operate throughout the 80 metre band and on 6 metres in total of 14 amateur radio contests.
This authorisation, contained in a notification sent to RAST by the NBTC Secretariat earlier this month (March 2018), covers HF and VHF contests in 2017 and 2018 and allows licensed intermediate and advanced class amateur radio operators to operate on frequencies from 3.5 MHz to 3.9 MHz during eight international HF amateur radio contests and from 50-54 MHz during six VHF amateur radio contests.
Unfortunately, the dates for six of these contests that were approved have passed by, but another eight contests scheduled for later this year are upcoming.
This permission dramatically increases the bandwidth on 80 metres which is otherwise limited to 3.500 - 3.600 MHz while 6 metres (50-54MHz) is otherwise off limits. Potential operators should note that this permission is granted on a secondary basis and is valid until the last contest on the list which is in September this year.
A list of the authorised contests is displayed below and includes the upcoming CQ World Wide WPX Contest from March 24-26.
In order to take advantage of these opportunities, licensed RAST members are required to register in advance in order to participate in each one of these authorised contests on 3.500 - 3.900 MHz or on the six-metre band on VHF (50-54 MHz).
Registration, which is obligatory, should be done at the RAST website by following this link and operators are also required to submit an electronic log of their activity to RAST within one week following the contest.
This authorisation also stipulates that only equipment that has been licensed by the NBTC may be used and RAST will be responsible for all operations and must file a report to the NBTC following each contest.

RAST President Jakkree Hangtongkom, HS1FVL, was re-elected for a two-year term as President of the society at the 2017 AGM meeting on Sunday, March 4, 2018, along with nine committee members being elected, all of whom who had served for the previous two years on the RAST committee.
The meeting at Sena Place Hotel had been well attended with a over 70 members participating and after registration, a quorum of 50 members was achieved.
There was an announcement of RAST's activities over the past year, while a detailed summary can be found here. The RAST auditor for the current year was appointed and RAST Treasurer Pornpimol Suksansomphop, HS0VDX summarised the income and expenses of RAST over the past year. An increase in the annual fee for the auditor from 7,000 baht to 9,000 baht was also approved during the meeting.
Presiding over the AGM meeting was Sakol Nakin, HS1JNB, while the vote to approve Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL as RAST President was unopposed and unanimous. The outcome of the votes for a total of 17 nominees to be committee members was recorded on a white board as they were counted the details can be seen in the picture above.
The nine elected members will automatically serve on the RAST committee for the next two years, while the President has the authority to appoint another five committee members. In addition to this, there was a vote during the meeting to approve an increase in the number of committee members by 3 to 5 persons to respresent regions of Thailand, notably, the North, Northeast and the South.
There was also a vote to revise the regulations regarding notification of an AGM by registered postal mail to members. In future, RAST will be able to notify them electronically, by email or by providing links to a website in lieu of this -- unless the member specifically requests notification by postal mail.
RAST Secretary Champ also announced the QSL statistics for 2017, with a total of 28,453 incoming QSL cards and 20,101 outgoing QSL cards for the year, a slight increase in the number of incoming cards when compared to the previous year.
The AGM meeting, which had formally begun at noon, drew to a close shortly before 15.00.

Over 70 members and visitors attended the February RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel on Sunday February 4, 2018 where application forms to sit the next Intermediate Class amateur radio examination which will take place in May were available for Thai novice licence holders who would like to take the exam.
There were several new faces at the meeting, along with some returnees, plus at least one expatriate, Ernst, DL1GES, who is now resident here and who would like to apply for a Thai amateur radio licence.
After the buffet lunch, members were advised that the RAST Forum, a website for discussions about amateur radio issues in Thailand, is now down since, without notification, PayPal had suspended auto-payments to the website host for the past three years. RAST is now looking into this and may authorise a new web host for the forum and we will notify readers accordingly as soon
as we learn of the outcome.
Next weekend will be the CQ WPX RTTY Contest and the RAST club station HS0AC will be participating for the 48 hours of the contest (February 10-11) at its new location at Rajapruk University in Nonthaburi -- members interested in participating or in visiting the station during the contest are welcome.
RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC then took the microphone to outline the Eritrea DXpedition that took place from January 14 to January 22 when a total of almost 34,000 QSOs were made by himself, Zorro, JH1AHT and others on the team.
He then awarded souvenirs to two Thai stations with the most QSOs on different bands with the station, including to Nikorn, HS5NMF, a RAST committee member (pictured at right).
RAST President Jack, HS1FVL also made a few other announcements and ended the formal session of the meeting by inviting everyone to attend the Annual General Meeting of RAST on March 4, 2018 when a new President and committee will be elected for a two year term.

The RAST New Year party was attended by over 100 guests. A summary of the event with photographs can be found by clicking on this link

Thailand's regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), staged "Amateur Radio Day 2017" on Saturday, December 2 in the grounds of its secretariat where amateur radio clubs from all over Thailand converged to particpate with booths and exhibits.
With the theme being "Innovation for Amateur Radio," the annual event featured a series of seminars where the speakers included President of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand under Royal Patronage (RAST) Jakkree Hantongkom, HS1FVL, Nimit Hongyim, HS1IFU, and former RAST President Pornchai Semjang, HS2JFW (pictured together on stage above).
Along with Suebsak, E20JFX, Deputy Secretary of the Telecommunications Assocation of Thailand (TCT) under Royal Patronage, they spoke about technology trends for amateur radio in Thailand.


The event's theme of innovation was also reflected in a competition that displayed equipment that had been created by Thai hams to help out in emergencies, to save on energy resources and to help cultivate crops.
Various products in four different categories were on display, including a battery-powered bicycle, a bicycle that can charge a battery, portable equipment for use in emergencies, including a mobile repeater and equipment for smart farming.



A team of judges evaluated the equipment in each entry and listened to the contestants' explanations as to how it operated and was beneficial before awarding prizes in the evening.




Nimit, HS1IFU won two of the awards (shown at right) and NBTC Commissioner Gen Sukit Khamasunthorn presents one of them during a ceremony on Saturday evening.



The Icom booth (above) was popular while at the RAST booth, which was next to it, the society was demonstrating operating on HF using the special callsign HS17NBTC, along with a VHF station and also a satellite station that made contacts over the LAPAN-A2 (IO-86) Indonesian satellite.



There was also a presentation about the role of amateur radio in case of an emergency or a national disaster when the speakers were Voluntary Radio Association (VRA) Deputy President Manas Songsaeng, HS1DE, Gen Sawasdi Sawateuk, E24SCW of the National Disaster Warning Centre and Thida Denpreuktham, HS1ASC, Editor of 100 Watts Magazine.



In the afternoon there was a fox-hunting (ARDF) competition in the extensive grounds of the NBTC Secretariat which is in the northern suburbs of Bangkok off Phaholyothin Road.
Amateur Radio Day has been staged by the NBTC since 2014, although last year the event was cancelled to respect the passing of His Late Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This year, Amateur Radio Day began with a ceremony in respect of the late monarch, who was the patron of RAST and had held the callsign HS1A, as well as VR009, and who had been an inspiration to all Thai radio amateurs.



There was also a display of His Late Majesty's radio equipment at the exhibition and in the evening the event concluded with a memorial ceremony with candles in his honour.

On December 17 RAST will be conducting the first ARDF Trophy Championships at the King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) Prachinburi campus.
There will be six categories for winning contestants to receive a trophy from RAST in conjunction with our supporters and there will also be a special prize for a lucky contestant.
Details can be found in Thai in the poster above and contact information is on the RAST Thai-language website here.
KMUTNB's Prachinburi Campus is located at 129 Moo 6, Tambon Noenhom, Amphoe Mueang, Prachinburi 25230.

There was a good turnout for the November RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel with many new faces and a couple of returnees.
Attending a RAST meeting for the first time were Franz Langner, DJ9ZB and HS0ZLP, Somsak, HS7JPW, Worayot, E22QJZ, Kampanart, E25APP, Pakorn, HS1EFA, Attawit, HS0QNI, Noratigorn, E24YVI, Titigan, E24VRP and Capt Suriyan, HS5YSU of Thai Airways International.
In addition, returning to a RAST meeting after a long absence were Stig, HS0ZGD and LA7JO (pictured at right, with Sam, HS0ZDY and Franz, HS0ZLP) along with Naomichi Numatan, HS0/JK1GVN who previously had attended a RAST meeting 24 years ago.
After the buffet lunch, RAST President Jakkree (Jack) thanked the RAST members who had helped out at the HS0AC club station as net controllers to receive tributes over the air from Thai amateur radio operators to mark the royal cremation of His late Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, HS1A.
Jack, HS1FVL, also described the atmosphere during the CQWW SSB contest at the HS0AC club station, which had been relocated earlier this year to the campus of Rajapruk university in Nonthaburi.
It was also announced during the November meeting that there will be no RAST meeting in December since on the first weekend of next month the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will be hosting its annual "Amateur Radio Day" exhibition from December 1-3, with the highlight of the event being on December 2 with the exhibition on the grounds of the NBTC Secretariat on Phaholyothin Soi 8. RAST will have a booth there and all members are invited to attend.
The next meeting of RAST will be in January when it will take place on the second Sunday of the month with a New Year Party hosted at Rot Meu Mae restaurant in Nonthaburi. The party will be on January 14, 2018 and will begin at 3 p.m. To view the location in Google Maps please click here.
Directions: Head north from Bangkok along Vibhavadi Rangsit Highway and after the Ngarmwongwarn Road intersection take the frontage road. Turn left into the road signposted "North Park" (2.25 km beyond Ngarmwongwarn intersection). Follow this road for one and a half kilometers to a roundabout. Exit left and after 100 metres the Rot Meu Mae restaurant will be on your right.
Those attending should bring a gift-wrapped present valued at 500 baht or more for exchange during the party.
Among the guests at the November meeting was Franz, DJ9ZB who had accompanied Champ, E21EIC and Zorro, JH1AJT to Bhutan to put this rare DX country on the air from a special event station A5A which had been active from September 29 to October 8, 2017 and again from Oct 27 - November 3, including during the CQWW SSB contest. Franz, DJ9ZT and also HS0ZLP, is the president of the German DX Foundation (GDXF) and he was invited up to say a few words during the meeting.



Thanks to Champ, E21EIC for the update and the photos from the November meeting -- HS0ZDX.

An update about the RAST club station HS0AC at its new location at Rajapruk University in Nonthaburi headed the announcements made by RAST President Jakkree Hantongkom, HS1FVL at the October meeting at Sena Place Hotel.
He told the gathering of some 45 members and guests present that there were now three operating positions for HF and that three new transceivers had been donated to the station. Antennas had been erected and work on the new station was 80 percent complete, he added.
Dr Panit Chantrabhakdee, HS1AAZ had donated two Icom transceivers, an IC 7800 and an IC 7700, while G. Simon Radio had donated an Icom IC 910 to the station and members applauded the generosity of the donors for their contributions to the station.
Antennas erected will enable communications on the amateur bands from 1.8 MHz to the VHF bands, with satellite communications being possible. Work would be completed this month and Jack thanked RAST committee member Nikorn Deesai, HS5NMF for helping to co-ordinate the efforts.

The RAST meeting had begun, as usual, with newcomers and returnees introducing themselves to those present.
The RAST President then referred to the recent meeting of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) Secretariat at the beginning of September when it had been announced that the two-metre band allocation had been expanded to cover from 144-147 MHz. However, currently there were no transceivers on sale with the capability of transmitting above 146 MHz.
In addition, RAST has been assigned to endorse applications for amateur radio club stations with HF capabilities while it had also been announced that in future the NBTC will use computer terminals for candidates taking amateur radio examinations.
Jack also announced that the issuance of a 1-kilowatt station licence to holders of advanced class amateur radio licences had been suspended, with the limit remaining at 200 watts, based on advice from the Thai military. However, licences already issued would still be valid.
Those present at the meeting were also informed that the next FCC VEC examination to be conducted by RAST would take place on October 14 in Maha Sarakham Province in the Northeast.
RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC was not present at the October meeting since, at the time of the meeting, he was participating in a micro DXpedition to Bhutan, operating with the callsign A5A and he would be there until October 7, Jack explained.
Champ has been an active participant in many DXpeditions that include the recent DXpedition to Eritrea, operating as E31A. Indeed, Champ was honoured at the 2017 Japan International DX Meeting during the JARL Tokyo Ham Fair on September 2 by having been invited to give an account of that DXpedition to everyone there.

RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC (far left) and JC Goi, E20NKB (second from right) with IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH (second from left) and IARU Region 3 Chairman Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN (third from left) at the RAST booth at the JARL Tokyo Ham Fair.

RAST committee member Nukul, HS7BHK (left) related this after being invited to say a few words about the Tokyo Ham Fair which had been attended by a total of seven RAST members this year. In addition to the RAST booth at the event, there were also booths from the Malaysian Amateur Radio Society (MARTS) and the Indonesian society (ORARI) while new equipment had been launched during the event by Icom, he said.



After the announcements from the RAST President, the JAISAT-1 satellite pioneers Tanan, HS1JAN and Anant, HS1GAB (pictured above with some of the equipment they described) took the microphones to provide an update about progress of the work on the amateur radio satellite, while some of the components and circuit boards were on display during the October meeting.
The next RAST meeting will be held on Sunday, November 5, 2017 at Sena Place Hotel.

On August 22-23, 2017 RAST president Jakkree (Jack) led a team of RAST committee members and volunteers to help train young students at the Kasetsart University Laboratory School Center for Educational Research and Development, informally known as Satit Kaset, in Bang Khen where amateur radio equipment was set up along with a booth to honour His late Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, HS1A and VR009.
Demonstrations included sending Morse code and operating on both HF and VHF bands. - Thanks to Champ, E21EIC for these photographs