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September 2016 RAST meeting
Tanan, HS1JAN and Anant, HS1GAB (right) display the satellite transponder that was awarded to the JAISAT team by JAMSAT, the Japanese AMSAT association.
Two upcoming events in November dominated the announcements made during the September RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel, namely the
44th annual SEANET Convention and the
2016 ARDF Championships which RAST is hosting this year.
Both events will be staged in or close to Pattaya and involve a lot of planning and RAST President Jakkree Hantongkom, HS1FVL provided an update about both events, along with making a special offer of a discount to expat members of RAST who were present at the meeting.
During the buffet lunch, there was a slide show and videos were on display that had been taken at the JARL Ham Fair in Tokyo, Japan. The event had been attended by almost 30 RAST members, including a team of 10 led by the RAST President who had helped to man the RAST booth at Asia's largest amateur radio convention and exhibition.
During the event, Jakkree took the opportunity to meet with Yaesu Musen CEO Jun Hasegawa when he sought Yaesu's sponsorship of the SEANET Convention with the donation of a transceiver to be the first prize in the lucky draw.
Jakkree said that Mr Hasegawa had approved this and had offered other items of equipment as part of the sponsorship and we will have more details on this website after they are finalised.
Introducing themselves to those present were three visitors who were attending a RAST meeting for the first time, Rolf, HB9MUQ and HS0ZMS, along with Gunther, DF2ZT and HS4YGV, Thishi.
The RAST President also said that during the Tokyo ham fair the Japanese AMSAT association (JAMSAT) had presented a satellite transponder to the JAISAT team, their counterparts in Thailand -- JAISAT being the abbreviation for "the Joint Academy for Intelligent Satellites for Amateur Radio of Thailand".
Following this announcement, Jakkree made a presentation of the transponder to JAISAT team leader Tanan, HS1JAN along with Anant, HS1GAB.
Looking ahead to November, there will be two major events beginning with the ARDF Championships on the weekend of November 5-6 when the highlight will be that the winning team will receive Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's trophy. There will be many other trophies and awards and response from amateur radio association across the country has been very good and more information can be found
here.
A view of the Nong Prue municipality. GPS co-ordinates: Latitude 12° 55.366' N 100° 56.256' E. -- Picture courtesy Google Street View.
The event will take place in Nong Prue, Bang Lamung in Chon Buri, on the outskirts of Pattaya at the Nong Prue Municipality and the RAST meeting that month will also be held there.
Meanwhile, some two weeks later, from November 18 onwards RAST will be hosting the 44th annual SEANET Convention at the Discovery Beach Hotel in Pattaya for three days.
During the meeting Jakkree offered expatriate members of RAST an opportunity to register for the convention at a discounted rate with three options:
-- to stay at the convention hotel and participate in all the SEANET events and tours for 12,000 baht;
-- to participate in all activities but without staying in the convention hotel for 8,000 baht;
-- or to just attend the SEANET gala dinner on Saturday evening for 2,400 baht.
Several members present signed up for one of these options.
Sakol, HS1JNB receives a DXCC award from Mayuree Chotikul, HS1YL. -- photo by Champ
Then Jakkree invited RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC to make an announcement and there were two ARRL DXCC awards that were presented to Sakol Nakin, HS1JNB for working 100 or more amateur radio stations on CW and separately on the 15-metre band.
Tony, HS0ZDX then took advantage of Champ's presence in front of members at the meeting to announce that during the JARL Ham Fair Champ had received an award from the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) that recognises "excellent Single Operator achievement within IARU Region 3 in the IARU HF Championship contest." The trophy was in the name of Michael Owen, VK3KI-SK and presented at the RAST booth by Peter Young, VK3MV and a picture of the presentation can be seen below.
Champ also announced that he would be participating in a DXpedition to Bhutan with Zorro, JH1AJT and Franz, DJ9ZB where they would operate as A5A from September 8 - 17.
Following these announcements JAISAT team members Tanan and Anant made a illustrated presentation about developments in developing the JAISAT CubeSAT which included technical advances in developing components of the satellite as well as approvals from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and work on the HS0AJ satellite ground station at Bangkok University's Rangsit campus.
IARU contest trophy awarded to Champ, E21EIC
The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) has introduced a new award that recognises "excellent Single Operator achievement within IARU Region 3 in the IARU HF Championship" contest and the honour of being awarded the first trophy goes to Chalermphol Muangamphun (Champ), E21EIC for his performance in the 2015 contest.
The trophy is issued in honour of the late Michael Owen, VK3KI-SK, a former IARU Director. Presenting the trophy to Champ at the RAST booth at the Tokyo Ham Fair is Peter Young, VK3MV representing the WIA and the IARU Region 3.
Congratulations to Champ!
Large RAST team attends the JARL Ham Fair in Tokyo
A large team of RAST officers and members attended the JARL Ham Fair at Tokyo Big Sight in Ariake, Tokyo Japan over the weekend of August 20-21 led by RAST President Jakkree (Jack) Hantongkom where the society had a booth that promoted the upcoming
SEANET Convention in Pattaya.
The Tokyo Ham Fair is Asia's largest amateur radio event which last year was attended by some 36,000 visitors.
RAST has participated in this event for several years now which provides a unique opportunity for officers of the society to meet the President of the IARU Tim Ellam, VE6SH and IARU Region 3 Chairman Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN as well as the leaders of the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) and top executives of Japanese amateur radio equipment manufacturers.
RAST President Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL (seated at right) led a team totalling 27 RAST respresentatives to the Tokyo Ham Fair. This is one view of the RAST booth in the exhibition.
RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC can be seen standing at the RAST booth (left picture) while Noppadol (Tong), HS5IGY is seen here with a Japanese YL at the Kenwood booth in the picture at right.
RAST President Jakkree has an informal meeting with the President and CEO of Yaesu Musen Co Ltd, Jun Hasegawa.
IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH visits the RAST booth and is seen here with RAST Registrar JC Goi, E20NKB (left) and Secretary Champ, E21EIC while below Champ and Goi are joined by IARU Region 3 Chairman Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN.
August RAST meeting
The RAST committee led by Jakkree (Jack), seated at left in the foreground, meets as the dining hall at the Sena Place Hotel fills up with members on the morning of August 7, 2016. Photo by Wanlop Tadsri, HS6MYW.
Advanced Class exam results
announced at August meeting
With August 7 being the day of the vote on Thailand's draft constitution, the turnout at the RAST meeting at Sena Place Hotel was somewhat lower than usual with slightly more than 30 members and guests attending.
After the buffet lunch, Bob, HS0ZCG, who had not attended a meeting for several months, along with Chong, E23HSW, and Denis, HB9TWK, introduced themselves to everyone before RAST President Jakkree (Jack), HS1FVL provided an update, beginning with the results of the recent Advanced Class amateur radio examination.
A total of 155 candidates passed the exam, he announced, and while certificates were already available they would soon receive an upgrade of their licences that will permit output power on the HF bands to be up to 1 kilowatt of power, rather than the 200 watts permitted for Intermediate Class licence holders.
RAST team of 27 to attend JARL Ham Fair
As for upcoming events, Jack also said that a team of over 20 RAST officers and members would be attending the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) Ham Fair in Tokyo, Japan later this month where RAST will have a booth in the exhibition.
In all 27 RAST representatives will be travelling to Tokyo to attend the event on August 20-21 and he said the RAST booth would emphasise the upcoming
SEANET Convention in Pattaya -- and hopefully RAST will be able to sign up a few more delegates to the convention during the event.
Jack also mentioned the upcoming
ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding) Contest that the society will be hosting in Bang Lamung, just to the north of Pattaya, in Chon Buri province on the weekend of November 5-6, 2016. That month RAST's monthly meeting will also be held there (with full details to be posted here in advance of the meeting).
Champ also summarized the RAST team effort in the IARU HF Championships contest held on the weekend of July 9-10 using the special callsign E2HQ with the participation of official RAST stations located in the north, northeast, the central region and the southern part of Thailand.
All together, the participating stations made a total of 2330 QSOs for a total score of 2,235,962 points.
Champ added that special T-shirts designed for this event were still available from RAST for 250 baht (some examples can be seen in the photos of the contest below with a souvenir T-shirt on sale at right during the meeting).
After that, Jack asked for donations to support an Internet connection for the HS0AC club station at AIT before concluding the meeting by inviting everyone present to the September meeting of RAST on Sunday, September 4.
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RAST President Jakkree asks for donations to help fund an Internet link for the club station HS0AC.
RAST marks Thailand's National Telecommunications Day
Officers from RAST attended a formal ceremony on the morning of August 4, 2016 to mark National Telecommunications Day at the secretariat of the National Telecommunications and Broadcasting Commission (NBTC) on Soi Sailom, Phaholyothin Road.
From left, Apinant Kaeo-yu HS1JZT, RAST President Jakkree Hantongkom, HS1FVL, Wanlop Tadsri, HS6MYW and Pomchanok Palakawongse na Ayudhaya, E23PKO. Also present was Watcharapong Sangon, HS8JSA.
155 candidates pass the first Advanced Class exam
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has announced the results of the first Advanced Class amateur radio examination supervised by RAST and conducted on June 18 at the NBTC Secretariat Office.
A total of 155 candidates passed the two-hour exam, out of 171 Intermediate Class operators who participated, and they will be able to upgrade their amateur radio licences to Advanced Class which, among other things, allows output power on the HF bands to be up to 1 Kw.
Contratulations to all who passed. The full list of the successful candidates (in the Thai language) can be found
here.
Excellent openings on six-metres during the CQWW VHF contest
Thanks to special permission from the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) amateur radio stations in Thailand had the opportunity to operate on the six-metre band during the CQWW VHF contest over the weekend of July 16-17, 2016.
Operators, who had to register with RAST before the contest began, were rewarded with excellent DX openings to Asia and Europe when they were able to demonstrate the reach of the 50-54 MHz spectrum by working stations in over 30 countries.
There should be a report about these conditions during the August RAST meeting at Sena Place hotel by some of the operators but a glance at the spots on the DX clusters DX Summit and DX Watch provides plenty of evidence of the good conditions.
Thai stations were spotted during the contest on these clusters by radio amateurs based in a total of over 30 countries ranging from Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan in Asia, from across Russia and throughout Europe down to northern Africa with spots being made from the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain.
Within Europe itself there were spots of Thai stations on six metres from Ireland, England, France, Germany, the Ukraine, Italy and Greece, along with many other countries.
In all there were over 240 spots of Thai stations on the DX Summit cluster and most of these were made from outside Thailand on Saturday, when the opening to Europe lasted for around five hours from 03.23z to 08.54z. Propagation to Europe on Sunday was not so good with reports from stations located there spanning slightly over three hours between 06.38z and 09.50z. The majority of the spots were on CW, but there were many Thai stations worked using phone as well.
Around 20 Thai stations were spotted on these clusters with the credit for the most spots going to Champ, E21EIC who had a total of 52 spots. Next was the E2X contest station with 42 spots and third was RAST's HS0AC contest station with 36 spots on DX Summit. The next three Thai stations that were getting out well were E20QVD (25 spots), E20WXA (15 spots) and HS3ANP with 10 spots.
Congratulations to everyone in the contest and especially those stations that took advantage of the rare opportunity to put HS on six metres and demonstrate the potential for DX propagation on that band. -- summary by Tony, HS0ZDX
RAST had a booth at the Friedrichshafen Ham Fair in Germany from June 24-26 which was well attended with more than 17,000 visitors. As in previous years, RAST had a booth in the main hall and the society is most grateful to its members in Germany who supported the society by setting up and manning the booth at Europe's largest amateur radio convention.
These included Koess, HS0ZLA, Gerd, HS0ZKF and Benjamas, HS6SSE (seen at the centre of both pictures here).
According to Koess, many radio amateurs visited the booth and there were many asking how to operate amateur radio from Thailand. Staff at the booth provided them with information about this and explained the situation since Thailand is not a member of the CEPT. In addition, several visitors also decided to attend the upcoming SEANET Convention in Pattaya this coming November. More than 350 visitors signed the RAST guestbook at Friedrichshafen.
In the picture below, Benjamas is seen with Fred Laun, K3ZO and HS0ZAR (left) and John Gagen, W2YR and HS0ZDJ. Thanks to Benjamas for the photo above and to John Gagen for the picture below.
Foreigners with a Thai licence need to send an information update to RAST
During the June RAST meeting, the RAST President made an important announcement regarding the society's need to comply with a request made to it by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) regarding information about its members.
He explained that, according to an NBTC announcement made in 2014, all amateur radio operators in Thailand are required to be a member of an amateur radio society that is approved by the NBTC.
Jakkree said that NBTC Secretariat has asked the registrars of all amateur radio societies to provide them with a summary of their members so that the NBTC will be able to provide a searchable database online and to comply with this request and ensure that its information is up-to-date RAST would like all its expatriate members who hold callsigns in the HS0Zxx range to provide the following information and to send it in an email to
[email protected] or
[email protected]
-- a scan or copy of their passport or ID card;
-- a scan or copy of their HS0Zxx amateur radio licence;
-- a scan or copy of their RAST membership card.
RAST would appreciate it if all expat members can comply with this request as soon as possible and an email has been sent notifying all members of this request.
But, if your licence has expired, this is what you must do
In addition, for any foreign amateur radio operator with an HS0Zxx callsign whose licence has expired for a period exceeding two years but who wishes to renew their licence, they must complete this licence renewal before December 31, 2016 or else their licence will be revoked and their amateur radio equipment will immediately become illegal to own or to possess.
To renew their licence they must take the following steps:
1. Fill out a
Chor.Gor.2 form and a proxy form which can be downloaded from
here;
2. Provide their original licence;
3. Provide a one- or two-inch recent photograph of themselves;
4. Provide a copy of their passport;
5. Provide a fee of 500 baht to cover expenses including for a new licence, excise duties and the cost of processing this;
6 Provide a 50 baht additional payment which is the fine for allowing the licence to expire.
These documents and fees should be provided to RAST Secretary Chalermphol Muangamphan (Champ), E21EIC or the RAST Registrar, Acting 2nd Lt Neeranuch Muangamphan (JC Goi) E20NKB. Again, the deadline for this is the end of this year but the sooner action can be taken, the better.
Candidates line up before the Advanced Class exam on June 18
Over 100 candidates who are about to take the first advanced class amateur radio examination pose before the exam at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission Secretariat on Saturday, June 18, 2016.
NBTC conducts the first Advanced Class exam supervised by RAST
Thailand's regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), conducted its first Advanced Class amateur radio examination on the morning of Saturday June 18 at its secretariat office on Phaholyothin Soi 8. A total of 171 candidates who hold Intermediate Class licences had applied to take the exam.
RAST helped to supervise the examination and the RAST President, Jakree Hantongkom, HS1FVL, and most of the society's committee members were among the candidates who, if they pass the exam, will receive additional privileges including an increase in the power limit for their HF transmissions of up to 1 kilowatt.
The following photographs capture the atmosphere and camardarie at the event and the pictures were taken by Champ Muangamphan, Pranee Nertrattana, Wanlop Tadsri, Thida Denpruektham and Ray T. Moonton and posted to Facebook.
Some of the YLs taking the exam, from left: 100 Watts Magazine Editor Thida, HS1ASC, RAST Treasurer Nong Ee, HS0VDX and RAST Registrar J.C. Goi, E20NKB.
RAST President Jakkree, HS1FVL demonstrates the society's support for the event shortly before the two-hour examination began at 10 a.m.
The photo at left shows RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC, while the photo at right shows Pranee, E21DKD and Part, E20PFE.
Heads down, the exam is under way. In the front row at right is Wanlop Tadsri, HS6MYW.
Champ, E21EIC, J.C. Goi, E20NKB and Ray, HS4RAY with others at the event.
From left: Damrongsak, HS8GLR, Thiradej (Dave), HS1LCI, and, far right, Pornchai, HS2JFW.
At the exam table, at left, Tony, E21IZC who is seated next to Pornchai, E20GJW.
After attending the exam to sit for an advanced class amateur radio licence, RAST President Jakkree, HS1FVL visited the HS0AC club station at the campus of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) where he made presentations of plaques for the CQWW VHF contest for 2015.
Presentations were made to RAST Secretary Champ, E21EIC, (seen above with Jakkree, HS1FVL) the Siam DX Group award as the winner in the Thailand Single Operator category for 50 MHz.
Jakkree makes a presentation to Damrongsak, HS8GLR who was the winner in the Thailand Single Operator in the all band category of the 2015 CQ WW VHF Contest.
Damrongsak, HS8GLR also accepted a plaque on behalf of HS3NBR/R, the winner in the Thailand Rover category. The awards were sponsored by E21EIC and E20NKB and the Siam DX Group.
A large group joined the excursion to the HS0AC club station at AIT since the All Asia DX CW Contest was taking place that weekend and RAST intended to take part. Here Wanlop, HS6MYW (in the foreground) and Choon, E20HHK are operating in the contest while others are taking it easy in the background.
For more news of RAST activities earlier this year please click
here
