As an amateur radio operator, you might need to upgrade your radio equipment from time to time. This might involve you having to import new radios from other country into Malaysia.
However any type of radio communication equipment is considered as control item by Malaysian Government so therefore you need an import permit in order to get the equipment into the country.
How to apply Approved Permit (AP) using JK 69 form
- First you need to obtain JK 69 form from government printer (Percetakan Nasional) branches or from local bookshop. Fill in the form.
- Make sure you have photocopies of your Apparatus Assignment, Identification documents (IC or Passport or Driving licence) and Brochure/catalog of the intended radio to be purchased/imported.
- Submit it to the nearest SIRIM office. You will be charged RM 30 for the processing fee. You will receive the AP on the same day or the next working day.
- You can use the AP to show to custom official in order to get your amateur radio equipment into the country.
Customs code for amateur radio transceiver: 852520200
Important Note on Importing Radio Equipment
The radio you are importing must be listed on the MCMC website on Approved Amateur Radio Equipment list. Otherwise you will be charged extra RM 150.00.
Acknowledgments
The material of this website has been taken from MARTS official website
Tags: amateur radio, authorities, authority, electronic, equipment, export, import, malaysia, radio, sales
Here are few photos that 9W2AZV and I have taken during the course of building our 6 element OWA yagi with 10dbi gain.
Materials used to contruct the antenna
- 8mm aluminium tube, 20 feet
- 6 feet length of 3/4″ PVC plumbing pipe
- Ordinary household plug box
We use a plan taken from LB Cebik (W4RNL) website, first covered in : 10dBi – 6 element OWA Yagi-Uda Antenna for 2 meter band
Here are the photos of the antenna in construction :
‘ Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: amateur radio, diy, hamradio, homebrew, photos, radio, tutorial, yagi
Some RAE Radio Amateur Exam Example Questions (Electronic)
Ham Radio April 20th, 2008
Here is a few electronic question that would be asked in the upcoming Radio Amateur Examination RAE Malaysia.
- Download : RAE Electronic Example Question
- Download : Contoh Soalan RAE penuh (100 Soalan)
- Download : Contoh Soalan RAE 2
Alternatively, you can take take the online Malaysian RAE web quiz and measure your profiency before taking the real examination
Tags: amateur radio hamradio, exam, malaysia, radio, rae
Radio Amateur Exam RAE 2008-1 Application form – MCMC
Announcement, Ham Radio April 8th, 2008
MCMC has released Radio Amateur Examination (RAE 2008-1) form and notice on its official website. Those who are interested to take the exam should download the form and submit it to the nearest MCMC office right away.
Details as follows :
Application closing date : 25 April 2008
Examination date : 24 June 2008
Venue : will be announced later
Please do not forget to enclose a copy of your identity card or passport together with application.
Download RAE 2008 documents here :
Finally, good luck to all candidates!
Original source : MCMC website
Tags: amateur radio, exam, examination, Ham Radio, hamradio, malaysia, radio
Hi there people! I think most of this blog readers are familiar with half-wave antenna such as the 2 meter dipole I’ve built as a side project (with height about 1 meter by itself).
But do you know the height of the tallest and biggest half-wave antenna ever built in the world? is it 30 meters? 50 meters? 100 meters? Nope.. the answer is 646.38 m or 2,120.67 feet high when measured from its base on the ground.
Unlike other ordinary radio tower which is build to ensure you can put the antenna at the highest point, the Warsaw radio mast acts as a half-wave antenna itself!
It height 646.38 meter is the exact length of the frequency it was transmitting which is 225kHz, most probably using this formula
half-wavelength = 300/freq * 0.5 * velocity factor
= 300/0.225 * 0.5 * 0.97
= 646 meter.
As comparison, my homebrew half-wave antenna is only 0.996 meter in length, and is drastically dwarf by the Warsaw radio mast radiator.
Completed in 1974, the Warsaw radio mast transmit public broadcast radio station using 2 megawatts on 225kHz frequency. It was also the tallest structure in the world (recorded on Guinness Book of Records) until it finally collapse on 1991 due to maintenance crew failure.
Despite its collapse and inoperability for more than a decade. The Warsaw radio mast still remained the tallest/biggest (and the only longwave LF ) half-wave antenna ever build in the world,
Impressive isn’t it? Take a look at the antenna site in Wikimapia.
Read more about Warsaw Radio Mast in Wikipedia.
How to measure SWR using Diamond SX SWR meter
Ham Radio March 22nd, 2008
Here’s a simple tutorial on how to measure Standing Wave Radio (SWR) for your stations setup using Diamond SX series (SX-200,SX-400,SX-600) SWR meter, commonly available in Malaysia and Singapore.
This guide assume that you are measuring SWR for a VHF antenna operating on 2 meter amateur radio band (144 MHz – 148 MHz), voice FM.
Step 1
Firstly ensure that you’ve connected your rig and antenna to SWR meter securely. Ensure that the “blue button” is not depressed.
Step 2
Find a frequency that is not in use. Ask first to ensure that nobody is using that frequency, never ever perform SWR testing on Repeater input or output frequency.
In northern part of Malaysia, 145.575MHz has been set aside as a testing frequency.
Step 3
Ensure that you set the SWR meter switch setting to CAL as in the photograph.
Make sure your rig is set to transmit on the lowest power level setting acceptable by the SWR meter (usually around 5watt), any interference should be minimized.
Press PTT button and id your station, example “9W2QRT testing…”, make sure you use your own callsign!
without releasing PTT, adjust the CAL knob on the SWR meter until the needle points to red arrow to “CAL”, refer to photographs below.
Step 4
Finally, without releasing PTT, turn the switch on the SWR meter to “SWR”, as shown in photograph :
The meter will display SWR for your antenna setup. In this case 1.5:1. Dont forget to release PTT button after the test. To ensure your antenna is useful accross the band, you can repeat the test on amateur band edge, that is on 144.000 MHz and 148.000MHz.
Final thought
Remember, all test should be brief, and accompanied by your callsign, never ever transmit on repeater inputs or on busy channel.
That’s all folks.
p/s: Please leave comments if you have any information or wish to correct mistakes in this tutorial.
The Bahasa Melayu version of this guide is available on Forum Ham Radio Anak Perlis
Tags: amateur radio, antenna, geek, guide, hamradio, howto, radio, rig, swr, tutorial
10dBi – 6 Element OWA Yagi Antenna for 2 Meter band plan
Ham Radio, Hobbies February 3rd, 2008
Here is a 6 element yagi my friend and I have built for experimenting with directional antenna. Theoritically the antenna has about 10dBi gain in its main lobe and a good Front-to-Back ratio, a perfect substitute if you don’t have means to get the popular V24 Silverthunder antenna.
Radiation Pattern Lobes
Dimensions (in inches)
Element, Length, Space from Reflector
Reflector – 40.52, —-
Driver – 39.96, 10.13
Director 1 – 37.38, 14.32
Director 2 – 36.31 25.93
Director 3 – 36.31, 37.28
Director 4 – 34.96 , 54.22
Calculated Center of gravity 23.87 inches
Dimensions (in cm)
Element, Length, Space from Reflector
Reflector – 102.92, —-
Driver – 101.50, 25.73
Director 1 – 94.95, 36.37
Director 2 – 92.23, 65.86
Director 3 – 92.23, 94.69
Director 4 – 88.80 , 137.72
Calculated Center of gravity :60.66 cm
The plan for the antenna has been taken from LB Cebik website. More article will follow that covers our construction of this Yagi antenna along with our reports of its improvement.
Tags: amateur radio, antenna, diy, hamradio, Hobbies, hobby, homebrew, radio, yagi
Am I Going to get TR-696M Citizen Band CB Radio?
Ham Radio, Hobbies January 30th, 2008
Since childhood, I’ve been dreaming to operate a CB radio just like what has been portrayed by TV in that era. Budget restriction and equipment availability however restricts me from getting involved in the radio communication hobby at that time.
Now few years later, I might just had the chance to get myself a type-approved (to be used in Malaysia) Texas Ranger (TR-696M) CB radio for home use.
Citizen Band (or Jalur Rakyat) does not require license in Malaysia so long as you use a type approved rig like TR-696M. The rig operates on 11 meter CB radio band and it can access frequency range from 26.965 Mhz to 27.555 MHz, divided in 40 channels.
The normal modulation for this type of radio is SSB (optinally FM), which makes it an attractive choice for DXing (international long distance communication).
However currently propagation for 10-11 meter band is not as good as few years ago, which means that I might not get as many contact as I would like to get using this radio. This, along with the cost of erecting an effective 11 meter antenna makes me think twice before obtaining this Citizen Band Base Station Rig.
So am i going to get Citizen Band Radio? An interesting dillema.. any thoughts?
Where to get CB Radio in Malaysia
Although MCMC mandated that we should use a type-approved CB radio set, surprisingly there are only one type of CB radio rig which is type-approved, that is Texas Ranger TRM-696. You currently you can get new set from 9M2DA, Deen Attan from CBMalaysia website.
Going for Amateur Radio Examination
Computers, Ham Radio, Hobbies November 28th, 2007
I haven’t attended paper based examination for quite some time now, especially when it involve me answering hundreds of objective questions. To be honest, I’m not that confident with this examination.
Don’t get me wrong. it is not that I doubt my electronic and radio communication skills, but its more to my self doubt when confronted with a bunch of objective questions, especially when I studied a lot of questions (but with confusing answers) regarding the examination tomorrow.
I’ve been preparing for a couple of weeks for this exam, it will be attended by a lot of candidates, and I suspect that the venue would be filled with amateur radio old-timers or ham radio rig sellers that would try to persuade candidates to buy them.
For those who are new to this, amateur radio examination is a must for those who are interested to operate an amateur radio station. The examination will determine if you are qualified to earn a license to communicate with other amateur radio operator (hams).
Although radio communication is considered an “old fashioned” way to communicate since we already have internet and mobile phones, ham radio is still favored by enthusiast as a way to meet new friends and organise activities over the radio. Currently, Malaysia has at least 4,000 licensed ham radio operator across the country.
Please refer to wikipedia page for more information about Amateur Radio in general, and MARTS website for Malaysian ham radio-specific information.
p/s: Ham radio operator is not a paid job, its a hobby. Any body can participate as long as they are licensed.
Tags: amateur radio, Ham Radio, hobby, malaysia, radio
About
