Mike ZS6MSW wrote, We have discussed this before, superficially but perhaps worth taking another look into it as a family of CW operators. It has got to do with past converts to CW who simply disappear without reason. May I also add, they like CW a lot, but their fruit doesn’t last very long, they get the jitters and move on. Being a naturally kind and caring person, I’ve always seen it as a positive way to try mend past hurts that people may have incurred whilst part of this group, by reaching out. How unnecessary it is for them to feel this way. Is it attention seeking why people choose to ..read more

The concept of online QSO evaluation is ideal for contests too. An algorithm can be written to evaluate different contests according to the particular contest rules. Some contests however have way over complicated methods of evaluation. An accurate log (Made by both parties) and a suitable exchange is basically all that is required. Results avalaiable immediately after the contest but a time period can be allowed for the upload of logs from other loggers into The COOL. See http://www.radarops.co.za ..read more

I belong to the ZS WhatsApp CW group that is passionately driven by my friend Mike ZS6MSW. We have a good few members there that are mainly CW operators and a few wannabe CW operators. All welcome of course. There are other groups like SOTA / POTA and the satellite groups but we all split up a long time ago because one thing irritates another and I think anything RaDAR related irritated most. However on the CW group the RaDAR Rally has been promoted for some weeks now, irritating a few more. In the same time frame Mike introduced Mega QRS week to accommodate novice CW operators. I made a sugge ..read more

The COOL stands for “Community Online Open Logbook” a unique concept in logging QSO’s. COOL Flags are almost like a “Spot” but relates to registered COOL users only. The COOL supports small groups of like minded radio amateurs and promotes a fun way of communicating with each other. Certainly the roots of the COOL come from RaDAR, an activity referred to as Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio. COOL Flags is a list of call signs that are active on particular “Flagged” frequencies. A registered COOL user will specify the frequency he or she is presently active on, within the nearest kilohertz, channe ..read more

I have this fifteen year old HP 210 Netbook that only has 1 GB of Ram, a 100 GB hard disk and maximum display of 1024 x 768 which by today’s standards is pretty useless. It has been well looked after though and is still in immaculate condition. All I need it now is for a simple way of entering basic information on the RaDAR Sport Online Community Logbook. BionicPub32 is a 32 bit version of Linux that runs quite satisfactorily on this little netbook. Note the URL designating a 1024 pixel variation of the online logbook and only caters for entering the very basic QSO information. No editing or ..read more

The army was full of little gods ….. It’s all political, it’s how you grow up, in which country. My grandson sometimes says, “Oupa, why do you talk so much about the army if you hated it?” My answer to him was that learning the survival skills was good, politics NOT. We all live and die for the “cause” and sometime the cause is defined by an ideology or belief driven often by religion ….. or the madness of men ..read more

My friend Mike, ZS6MSW posted a running pic from 1996 and that sparked my attention to search my own archives. What a trip down memory lane!!! Considering I mostly came last in army 2.4km time trials …… From Klerksdorp to Potchefstroom 56 km – almost at the finish line I did the bush hat proud A few weeks later, my running buddy and I crossed the line in Pietermaritzburg ten minutes before the cutoff. Earlier that morning as we left Durban there were only three runners behind us the rest of the field were way up ahead …… Within the ten hours and fifty minutes we had passed an odd 1300 runn ..read more

“One point per log submitted”. These are the stations that logged their QSO’s on the OCL. Much like RaDAR, points can only be counted if the QSO details and exchange have been correctly matched. Yes if no log is submitted then no points can be allocated to the other station. Every participant should log, but we’re not there yet. Now this is an eye opener. Jan ZS4JAN is an excellent contester. Arthur worked him as his ninth QSO and Jan had already worked twenty six stations by then, CW stations! Now if Jan had submitted his log we could all learn from him to see where we fell short and who t ..read more

The CW group all decided to log the contest QSO’s on the RaDAR Sport online log (OCL) to prove a point. An open log for all to see with automatic QSO and exchange checks. Basically if a QSO does not have a green “Y” at the end no points can really be awarded. Can they? Sure, not all contestants took part in the “survey” and probably aren’t even aware of the possibilities the online log offers. It is rather futuristic. Call it artificial intelligence if you wish, no need for any human intervention other that submitting your logs correctly. It would seem that all the logs are not yet in as some ..read more

I don’t often take part in contests but thought I’d give this one a go. The first leg a half hour on 20m. I called and called with no answers then made mention of the zero activity on Facebook. The band appeared to be skip and all of a sudden the ZS1’s could be heard. I was running 100W into an inverted vee. I manage only three QSO’s. A few strong stations made their appearance but didn’t come back to my call. Most unusual, there was a half hour break before switching to 40m Things appeared relatively normal here. This leg was an hour before another half hour break and before switching to 80m ..read more