The RSGB IOTA 2026 Contest took place during the weekend 25 – 26 July, 2026. IOTA stands for Islands on the Air. SARTS members participated in the category DX expedition, multi-operator, low power, under the call sign 9V1IO. Many thanks to Haoyuan, 9V1HY, for the organization.
Operators: 9V1BX, 9V1HY, 9V1KG, 9V1RT, 9V1TC
The QSO Party is open to all licensed radio amateurs in Singapore and surrounding regions. For further details please see the attached manual below.
Propagation was good, noise level acceptable. We operated on 40, 20 and 15 m in mixed mode (SSB & CW). 175 QSO in total, highest qso rate at 8 pm, 12 mn and 7 am.
We just received the following message:
From 1962 until 1964 I was a member of SARTS. I held the calls VS1LU and 9M4LU.
It is so nice to see that the club is still alive and well. At the time that I was a member, I lived at 17 Ernani St., Opera Estate & operated mainly on 20 m CW.
With 73 to all present members from N.Z
de Mike, ZL1MH.
The annual general meeting and first quarterly meeting of SARTS in 2025 took place on Feb 21, 2025. Thanks everyone for your support.
Effective 14 February the incoming SARTS QSL bureau will be permanently closed. The outgoing QSL bureau will still be operational. Please contact Kurita, 9V1XX if you wish to send cards overseas. Singpost is terminating all PO Box services nationwide next month, so our SARTS mailing address for the last 60 years will also be closing. We will advise members of the new mailing address soon.
This year’s IOTA team on St. John’s Island: 9V1AZ, Gopal; 9V1AD, Chuck; 9V1AV, JT; 9V1GH, Sanjeev with son Kush; 9V1JO, Johari; 9V1KG, Klaus; 9V1RT, Roland; and Sanjeev. 9V1RB with friend joined as day visitors. Station call sign was 9V1IO.
Thanks to Gopal for the whole organisation; to Haoyuan for letting us use his 7300 with PSU and PAC-12 antenna, Klaus for the Computer, Buddistick, endfed and Keyer, and Roland for the pole and camping trolley.
Here are some books, webinars and long-form articles that our members have found useful. They are in no particular order at present but perhaps if they list grows we can brings some sense to it. All suggestions welcome to 9V1SA @ qsl.net
| Recommended Item | Recommender | Comments |
| Andrew D. Barron ZL3DW (2018) Amsats and Hamsats: Amateur Radio and Other Small Satellites | 9V1YP | Anyone interested in amateur radio satellite, this is a great book to read. |
| Robert R. Brown NM7M (1992) Long-Path Propagation: A Study of Long-Path Propagation in Solar Cycle 22 | 9V1SA | I was intrigued to understand why the paths change from Singapore through the year |
| Robert R. Brown NM7M (2002) On Ion Chemistry and Propagation | 9V1SA | What is actually going on up there to make our signals heard worldwide |
| Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA (2014) A Long Overdue Review of Gray Line Propagation on the Low Bands | 9V1YC | K9LA is a world-renowned expert on ionospheric propagation, and he knows the physics behind it. His webinar is really the best I’ve seen on how to describe low-band “gray line” propagation. |
This year’s IOTA Contest takes place on Saturday 27th – Sunday 28th July 2024 from 1200 – 1200 UTC. Haoyuan 9V1HY is coordinating the Singapore entry, which will likely happen from Pulau Ubin or St John’s Island, likely travelling out on the Saturday morning, getting set up ready to start our time afternoon, then operating through the night before wrapping up on Sunday morning.
Anyone interested contact 9V1HY via telegram. For background on the contest, check the RSGB as it coordinates the event. There is more information about IOTA’s long term year round role and activities on that organization’s website.
