Rapid Deployment Amateur radio
04 April 2010
Yesterday saw a succesfull nation wide RaDAR ops!
Much fun was had by all. Logs and station photos are being accumulated and a detailed statistical report will be issued in due course.
A RaDAR group has been started on Facebook. It can be accessed on The RaDAR Facebook group Many photos and video's can be seen here.
06 February 2010
Radio amateurs are getting ready for the First SARL RaDAR Contest on the 3rd of April 2010. The contest rules can be seen here.
Refer to Eddie , ZS6BNE's WebLog for additional RaDAR / Satellite information here.
13 February 2010
During the SARL Field day , Allen ZR1AAH and Dennis ZS1TC certainly set the standards for RaDAR operations in the field , in this case on the mountain!
Allen wrote , "ZS1TC and I hiked up to a cave on the Steenberg Ridge, directly above the Silvermine Naval Base, to operate a field station. This was a 'shake-down' operation to sharpen our wilderness emergency comms.
A 2.5 hour hike to the cave with our kit for a thirty hour
operation.
Equipment included a B25, FT817 ND, batteries, a 20m/40m maypole
and a 40m/80m linked dipole."
Dennis , ZS1TC standing in front of the cave
The beautiful view from the cave
Allen , ZR1AAH standing in front of one of the operating positions in the cave
There's more to RaDAR ops than radio communications , the radio operators need to sleep too!
ZS1ZL and ZR1AAH heading into Slangolie Ravine, Table Mountain (Photo ZS1TC)
Here is an excellent example of a RaDAR kit assembled by Rory ZR6RBJ. The list of equipment is as follows:
1. Cover sheet and sleeping bag
2. Icoms radio bag
3. Back pack/
Chair
4. Power cables, battery meter
5. IC 703
6. Antenna mount
7.
Gel cell 7Ah
8. Hand held radio for vhf/uhf
9. Mic
10. Mast and
poles
11. Vertical antenna
12. Guide ropes for mast, Compass, writing
material
13. Arrow anteena for sats
14. Coaxial cable with PL 259's
04 October 2009
The satellite working group in South Africa are presently organising a contest for the year 2010. This is an ideal opportunity for RaDAR operators to get involved and ready to operate via the FM and SSB satellites while in the field. An empasis is placed on working to and from rare grid squares.
02 October 2009
Hennie, ZS1HR sent me these two pictures of his trailer and rig. A really great idea. He will let us know a little more detail as the project continues.
Hennie , ZS1HR active on Kanonkop
Hennie's Trailer
26 September 2009
Shaun ZS5WX
Shaun commented, "The RaDAR Heritage Day operation was a disaster for me - bands were up and down with lots of noise and with bad weather threatening, I didn't feel like traveling for miles to set up a portable station. I did make a couple of contacts on the mobile setup though. But on Saturday 26th September I took out the kit and set up everything where we were staying - and promptly made contact with ZS6CAR who was mobile between Potch and Klerksdorp. The small backpack containing 28Ah gel battery, Kenwood TS-50S transceiver, Kenwood tuner and SWR meter, Spare mics and leads and VHF antenna, Piece of marine ply about 350mm x 350mm for 'table top', plus BuddiPole antenna in a bag with two camping stools attached."
Howard Green ZS1JHG on the left, Deon ZS1AFU on the right. Deon's XYL Retia ZS1AFV took the pic.
Deon commented , "It was great fun - except the wind got the better of us! The antenna always works really well, it is basically two Hustler mobiles mounted onto a voltage balun and takes 3 minutes to unpack and erect. SWR never needs retuning from one site to the next. One of the best antennas I've owned! "
John ZS5J
John commented, "I operated from a village called Southbroom, just south of Margate, at our beach house. Grid locator KF59DB. I ran QRP, from an Icom IC-703, and Black and Decker 12v 17ah vehicle starter. The antenna was a vertical antenna, called an MP-1 from Super Antenna's in the USA. Using a longer MFJ 12ft telescopic whip on top, to reduce the losses, and use less of the coil for loading. "
Eddie ZS6BNE
Eddie commented, "Conditions were not all that good but I'm happy with the contacts I made using only 5 Watts into a portable 40M Inverted Vee. Pictures of the RaDAR ops from Wondergat , a popular diving area in the Northwest Province , can be seen here."
RaDAR Logo's and history
RaDAR Subdivisions, "On foot", "Mobile" and "Fixed"
RaDAR operators took part in the 40M Mobile sprint in 2008 and 2009. Also a special spring event was organized for 24 September 2009.
RaDAR Public relations
A RaDAR station can carry a "Business card" with his callsign and RaDAR subdivision logo. Good for Amateur Radio PR. Hand out to inqusitive onlookers!
