ZS3OBE

P.O. Box 113

Springbok

8240

Republic of South Africa

My Road to becoming a Radio Amateur!

 Becoming a radio amateur has always been a dream of mine since my dad bought the Yaesu FRG7000 HF all band receiver during the 70’s. The noise of a slightly distorted SSB signal had some sort of fascination to me that I cannot describe! Growing up in a small town, Springbok in the Northern Cape , no radio amateurs were present in town to boost my curiosity.

 I was still at school in the 70’s and I regularly joined him to listen to the radio amateurs talking to far-away DX stations and making QSO’s (Still a foreign term to me then) with amateurs all over the world. I learnt a lot during this period and after I left school in 1981 I continued the hobby of HF Listening. I then changed to monitoring the utility bands and listened to all the aircraft and ships crossing the oceans all over the world.

During this period I also joined “The SADX Club” and “The South African Radio League”. My listeners’ call sign is ZS6-0194. I started to earn some money, after I joined the South African Air Force as a pilot in 1982. New Icom receivers were bought and the experimenting with decent receiving antennas started. I also acquired an old Telereader CWR-685 and started monitoring RTTY stations. Those were the days before digital communication and Reuters and various other press organizations were still using RTTY on a regular basis. At that stage I was quite satisfied with HF monitoring and the RAE had not entered my mind.

 With HF monitoring I was lucky enough to pick up some scoops of my own (Bertie Read withdrew from an around the world yacht race and I picked it up first on HF, the Oceanos disaster and a doctor giving instructions and monitoring the amputation of a seaman’s leg on an ocean going freighter over the radio) and found it fascinating and exciting. (I missed the Helderberg disaster)  

 I left the Air Force in 1990 to join an old family concern back in Springbok. I then also started to venture into the field of monitoring the VHF and UHF bands. Most satellites were still transmitting analogue signals and monitoring FLEETSATCOM and Inmarsat was a challenge.  

 I also started with VHF and HF weather fax decoding, building my own quadrafilar helix antennas, and decoding colour weatherfax pictures.

 We rapidly moved into the digital and computer age and very nice “free to download” computer programs became available for decoding RTTY, weatherfax, CW and many other modes. This kept me busy for a while.

 Digital satellite TV came on line and I acquired a 3.5m and 1.5 m dish antenna with satellite decoder and started to monitor all the satellites transmitting “free to air” TV programs that were receivable with a 3.5 meter dish in South Africa. Most of this was in C-band and Ku-band from the satellites NSS7, Panamsat 7 and some other. One could also find some direct feeds to CNN which made for interesting viewing during the Gulf War.  

All this while reading Satellite times (Now no more) Monitoring Times, Tele-Satellite, Sky&Telescope (We watch the stars as well) Flying, African Pilot, SA-Flyer and some other magazines kept me out of mischief.

 Old man Pieter Bosman, ZS3AOR, moved into Springbok two years ago and saw my antennas. He visited my shack, surprised that I was not an amateur, and set the ball rolling. It took him a while to set up his shack and once it was completed he showed me the wonders of Amateur Radio again.

 In January 2005 we made a collective decision for me to start studying for the RAE and I have to admit, the fact that the regulations were in the process of changing, was quite a motivational factor. I believed I had studied hard and wrote the RAE on the 19^th May 2005 . Disheartened wasn’t the word to describe myself when I walked out of the examination room. I thought I had failed!  

I cannot described my joy when Old Man Barney Fourie, ZS4U, (we were in the air force together) phoned me and asked if I had seen the results on the SARL web site. I was too scared to look but looked any way and found my name and a brand new call sign  -  can you believe it!

 I purchased an Icom IC-706MkIIG as an interim arrangement and ordered an Icom IC756ProIII immediately. (I like my Icoms) I am running the Icom706 through a MFJ1798 vertical antenna or a Webb Industries FSR400-4R antenna. Some communication with the SARL changed my issued call sign from ZR1OBE to ZR3OBE and I was on the air. I felt as though I had joined an elite group and am really proud to call myself a Radio Amateur.

 I have already made quite a few friends on the air and have also joined HAMNET. I am still interested in disaster management and search and rescue and believe that we can make a contribution to HAMNET in this sparsely populated area of the country.

 I am currently chasing my 100 QSL cards and hope to have achieved that when the policy and politics for upgrading from ZR to ZS are in place - Now completed!

 I cannot thank the SARL enough for an informative website and old man Pieter Bosman, ZS3AOR, for teaching me the idiosyncrasies of electronics. Obviously all those who took the trouble in sending me a QSL card after a contact, thank you! Much appreciated!

 The future will probably see some other modes of operation and a nice beam antenna in my back yard. I am also keen on installing a mobile set in a vehicle for mobile operations and am looking forward to it!  I recently upgraded my licence to ZS and can now expand my shack at leisure!