August 05, 2020

Licence for the Supply of Transmitting Equipment to NZ

August 05, 2020/ Colin Butler

RSM has released details of how to apply for a licence to supply Radio Transmitters and obligations for a permitted person to supply unrestricted two-way radios

Amateur radio operators or suppliers that want to supply radios transmitters in NZ must apply for a Licence to Supply Radio Transmitters either as an individual or organisation. Suppliers are defined as – persons in NZ that import, manufacture, distribute, sell or install.

If the supplier also wants to supply unrestricted two-way radios as described under the Prohibition Notice, then they too must apply to become a permitted person. Unrestricted radios can only be sold to qualified radio amateurs. Applying for a Licence to Supply and a permitted person is a two-step process.

June 21, 2020

Raspberry Pi FUNcube Satellite Telemetry Decoder Now Available

June 21, 2020/ Colin Butler

The FUNcube Team has announced the availability of FUNcube CubeSat satellite telemetry decoder software for the popular Raspberry Pi computer board.

The original FUNcube telemetry decoder and Dashboard was designed to run on Windows devices and the FUNcube team did publish the telemetry format in accordance with the Amateur Satellite Service traditions and requirements. The Team had planned to opensource the Telemetry Decoder and provide an implementation on Linux, but several new missions after the original FUNcube-1 delayed their plans somewhat.

Late 2019, the Team had the opportunity to develop a low power/low impact ground station, based on Docker containers, for use at the Neumayer III Antarctic base at DP0GVN. This led us to evolve the code such that it would run on a Raspberry Pi. Duncan, 2E0GTV, has been able to produce this variant of the code and allow us to fully realize our Open Source commitment to the FUNcube project.

January 12, 2020

New 2 Metre Filter Stops Interference

January 12, 2020/ Colin Butler

Many handie-talky radios suffer from severe interference from nearby transmitters, particularly on hilltop sites. Blocking is a reduction in sensitivity that can be hard to detect. When a radio is being blocked all callers (even strong ones) can appear weak or may even be undetectable.

The SOTABEAMS bandpass filter is a small, rugged and lightweight filter that eliminates virtually all interference problems. The filter is a helical design that is made especially for SOTABEAMS. It is simply attached between the radio and antenna.