The CQ WPX Contest is one of the big international contests during the year. In 2021 the SSB part took place on the weekend March 27 – 28. This year we had a record in participation of Singapore hams.
Call Sign
Category
Band
Power
Overlay
9V1BC
Single OP
All
Low
Rookie
9V1BD
Single OP
20 m
Low
Rookie
9V1CD
Single OP
40 m
High
9V1DE
Single OP
All
Low
9V1KB
Single OP
All
Low
Classic
9V1KG
Single OP
All
Low
Classic
9V1HY
Single OP
20 m
Low
9V1PL
Single OP
All
Low
9V1YC
Single OP
All
High
9V1ZV
Single OP
All
Low
Singapore participation CQ WPX SSB `2021
Raw scores will be published in about 2 weeks. Thanks to all for your active participation!
We will have our SARTS Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Jan, 28th, 2021. Due to the pandemic the meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. Members already received the meeting id and passcode via email.
Nominations
The following have been nominated by the council to serve for the 2021 work year:
President : James Brooks 9V1YC
Vice President: Benjamin Koe 9V1KB
Hon. Secretary: Jeff Yeo Nai Kwang 9V1AS
Asst Secretary : Aaron Wong 9V1AW
Hon. Treasurer: Harish Pillay 9V1HP
Council Member: Roland Turner 9V1RT
Council Member: Chu Haoyuan 9V1HY
Council Member: Arnold Cabahug 9V1CD
Agenda
Confirmation of the Minutes of the 50th AGM held on 24th Sep 2020 2.
Matters Arising from the Minutes of the 50th AGM 3.
To consider and accept the Council’s Annual Report for 2020
To consider and accept the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 Dec 2020
Election of Council Members and Office Bearers for 2021.
Welcome address by new council members
Election of Hon. Auditor for 2021
To consider the matter of monthly meetings by Zoom until such time when eyeball meetings may be resumed.
The K-index quantifies disturbances in the horizontal component of earth’s magnetic field with an integer in the range 0–9, with 1 being calm and 5 or more indicating a geomagnetic storm. Rising K-index results in a higher noise level, mainly below 10 MHz. A high noise level on 40 m does not imply a high noise level on 20 m.
The Solar Flux Index (SFI) is an indication of the degree of ionization in the higher stratospheric regions. Higher SFI values favor good propagation conditions on the amateur radio bands 20 m and above.
A special case is the 30 m band: both, SFI and K-index can have an impact on the propagation on this band. It is actually a good band in times of the solar minimum as well as the solar maximum.
Best time to operate on HF is after a solar flare eruption. As soon as the solar storm declines, the noise on the bands decreases, combined with an increase of the maximum usable frequency MUF. This often last until sunset. Propagation conditions on 40 and 80 m in the following night could be excellent. On the following day the MUF still can be raised, good for propagation on the higher HF bands.
In addition – after a solar storm – the magnetic disturbance is often very low, a good opportunity to work on 40, 80 and 160 m with low noise.
In order to improve the coverage of our SARTS VHF repeater and sort out technical problems, it is very helpful to have a list of practical issues experienced during operation. Therefore, please help and report any problem using either this Github link, or our contact form.
Please state your call sign, the power and antenna used with the description of the issue and date/time, when it appeared.
On Sunday, 15 November SARTS will be conducting a test of a potential new VHF and UHF repeater site. We are looking for volunteers in all parts of Singapore to assist us with signal reports and two-way contacts. If you are available, please meet us on 145.550 MHz between 3:00 pm and 3:15 pm, and on 433.625 MHz from 3:15 pm – 3:30 pm local time.
To promote social distancing in the global battle against COVID-19, IMDA has granted SARTS the shared use of the special callsign 9V1STAYHOME from 6 May through 30 June 2020.
update May 6update May 6
Licensed radio amateurs in Singapore who wish to use this callsign on a shared basis please sign up at this website:
From Saturday, October 26, 00:00 UTC (08:00 SGT) to Sunday, October 27, 23:59 UTC (Mon, 08:00 SGT) the 2019 CQ World-Wide DX Contest took place. It is one of the biggest international contests during the year.
The objective for amateurs around the world is to contact as many CQ zones and countries as possible. Contest exchange is RS report plus CQ Zone number (28 for Singapore).
Following SARTS members participated in the contest:
Call
Entry
OPs
QTH
QSOs
CQ-Z
DXCC
Raw
9V1YC
M-1
9V1YC 9V1BH 9V1HY
9V1YC
1461
68
174
750,445
9V1CD
SOL40
Arnold
9V1CD
133
8,505
9V1KG
SOLA
Klaus
4E1A
852
71
120
436,817
M-1: Multi OP High power, Single transmitter, SOL40: Single OP Low power 40m, SOLA: Single OP Low power, all bands.
Raw scores will be published on the CQWW web site. Thanks to all OPs for the activity!
The first hams in Singapore came from Britain and they arrive in the 1930s. They were assigned the callsign prefix VS1. Hams in the Federated Malaya States were assigned VS2.
1994 – Teens can now apply for ham radio license
After World War II, several Radio Societies were formed in Malaya. The state of Perak had a society, Selangor had a society and there was the Malayan Amateur Radio Transmitters Society or MARTS.
In 1949, while under the administration of the Federation of Malaya (1948 to 1957), the Singapore Amateur Radio Transmitting Society (SARTS) was formed and registered. SARTS and the other smaller societies were later absorbed into MARTS which was the largest of the radio societies in Malaya.
On 31 August 1957, the Federation of Malaya gained independence from Britain and being a new country, new entity, they were assigned the 9M prefix.
In 1963, Singapore, together with Sarawak and Sabah, became part of the Federation of Malaya, which then became Malaysia. Singapore, being part of Malaysia, was assigned the 9M4 prefix. Sarawak and Sabah were assigned 9M6.
On 9 August 1965, Singapore separated from Malaysia, and we became an independent country. Being another new country, new entity, we were assigned the 9V prefix which is in use till today.
Singapore Hams continued to be part of MARTS until it was decided that it was better for Singapore Hams and Malaysia Hams to have separate societies. The separation was an amicable one.
On 26 August 1968, the present day SARTS was formed. The first president of SARTS was Livin de Souza. The Society continues on till today.
Coming weekend the Oceania DX Contest CW will take place. Contest period on Oct 12th, 08:00 UTC to Oct 13th, 08:00 UTC on all HF bands except WARC bands.
The object is for Oceania transmitting stations to contact as many stations as possible inside and outside the Oceania region.
Non-Oceania transmitting stations to contact as many stations as possible inside the Oceania region.
Exchange: RST report plus a progressive contact serial number starting at 001 for each band. Multiplier is the number of different valid prefixes worked (may be counted once on each band.
