ICASA is the governing body to regulate the airwaves.
ICASA has given SAHPA a blanket licence for South Africa to use the 141.600 and 141.625 frequencies.
But your radio is only allowed to operate those 2 frequencies.
What is not acceptable, is that we should be operate radios which
can be
manipulated from the keyboard. In other words, one is not allowed to
listen
in to the police or ham radio frequencies or anything in that line,
and our
radios should not be "open".
Radio equipment are supposed to be "type approved". The radios that
are
acceptable are those with only our frequencies on them (i.e. 2 or more
channel radios pre-programmed for the SAHPA allocated frequencies).
There is a way to get out of this problem for the type of radios we
are
using, and that is to get the Amateur Radio Licence. This seems to
be not
too big a deal, from enquiries. The only hassle is that exams are only
at specific times during the year. The next exam is in February 2003
(at
least here in Gauteng). The exam costs R250, and one has to get a book
(maybe R60, maybe more) which will enable one to pass the exam. The
licence
itself costs R27 per annum. Having that licence though, solves the
problem
of being allowed to use our amateur radios.
On the website www.sarl.org.za (South African Radio League) there are
test
questions which will assist the applicant to prepare for the exam.
Look
under 'licensing' and 'rae'. (Unfortunately this url was unavailable
when I
looked - hopefully it will be back on line soon - apparently it is
being
upgraded at present.)
The SARL office can be phoned on (011) 675-2393.
Whether ICASA is going to be more strict and going to check up on our
equipment in future, is not clear. What is clear is that to be safe,
no-one
should have the police (or other illegal) frequencies programmed into
their
radios - there should only be the two SAHPA frequencies on there. It
would
be advisable to get the amateur radio licence just in case.
SAHPA members with radios must have their licences from SAHPA for the
frequencies.
Another problem which was mentioned was the 12,5 kHz channel spacing
- many
radios, especially the older ones, may not have the correct spacing,
and can
cause interference with other frequencies close to the one in use.
Have it
checked out and fixed, if necessary.
The little rubber stubby aerial ona 2m band radio are not
optimal for good reception and transmission.
An aerial should be the quarter wavelength used, to work optimal.
For 141.600 MHz , that is 51 cm.
Speed of light 300.000 km/sec divided by 141.600 000 000 waves per
second gives roughly 2 meters.
That's why those radios are called 2 meter band.
And a quarter wavelength of 2 meters is around 50 cm.
Our radios operate an FM mode. while airband radions , which operate
from 118 - 136 MHz are in AM mode.
Means, we can not use our radios to talk to the aircrafts and air traffic
controllers.
One requires anither radio which is an airband radio to do this.
Plus and radio operators licence
More info on Radio Operations
Aviation Radiotelephony Base Operator Competency Course Syllabus
Aviation
Radiotelephony Base Operator Competency Course
Phonetic Alphabet
Letter Word Pronunciation
A Alpha AL FAH
B Bravo BRAH VOH
C Charlie CHAR LEE or SHAR LEE
D Delta DELL TAH
E Echo ECK OH
F Foxtrot FOKS TROT
G Golf GOLF
H Hotel HOH TELL
I India IN DEE AH
J Juliett JEW LEE ETT
K Kilo KEY LOH
L Lima LEE MAH
M Mike MIKE
N November NO VEM BER
O Oscar OSS CAH
P Papa PAH PAH
Q Quebec KEY BECK
R Romeo ROW ME OH
S Sierra SEE AIR RAH
T Tango TANG GO
U Uniform YOU NEE FORM
V Victor VIK TAH
W Whiskey WISS KEY
X X-ray ECKS RAY
Y Yankee YANG KEY
Z Zulu ZOO LOO
NOTE: Syllables to be emphasised are written in bold.
10 Transmission
of Numbers.
10.1 When the English language is used, numbers shall be transmitted using the following pronunciation.
Number Pronunciation
0 ZE-RO
1 WUN
2 TOO
3 TREE
4 FOW- er
5 FIFE
6 SIX
7 SEV - en
8 AIT
9 NIN - er
Decimal DAY-SEE-MAL
Hundred HUN - dred
Thousand TOU - SAND
10.2 All numbers except whole hundreds, whole thousands and combinations of thousands and whole hundreds shall be transmitted by pronouncing each digit separately. Whole thousands and whole hundreds shall be transmitted by pronouncing each digit in the number of hundreds or thousands followed by the word Hundred or Thousand as appropriate. Combinations of thousands and whole hundreds shall be transmitted by pronouncing each digit in the number of thousands followed by the word Thousand and the numbers of hundreds followed by the word Hundred.
Number Transmitted as Pronounced as
10 ONE ZERO WUN ZE-RO
75 SEVEN FIVE SEV-en FIFE
100 ONE HUNDRED WUN HUN-dred
583 FIVE EIGHT THREE FIFE AIT TREE
2 500 TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED TOO TOU-SAND FIFE HUN-dred
5 000 FIFE THOUSAND FIFE TOU-SAND
11 000 ONE ONE THOUSAND WUN WUN TOU-SAND
25 000 TWO FIVE THOUSAND TOO FIFE TOU-SAND
38 143 TREE EIGHT ONE FOUR THREE TREE AIT WUN FOW-er TREE
10.3 Numbers containing a decimal point shall be transmitted with the decimal point in appropriate sequence being indicated by the word DECIMAL.
Number Transmitted as Pronounced as
118,1 One One Eight Decimal One WUN WUN AIT DAY-SEE-MAL WUN
120,37 One Two Zero Decimal Three WUN TOO ZE-RO DAY-SEE-MAL TREE SEV- en.
10.4 When it is necessary to verify the accurate reception of numbers, the person transmitting the message shall request the person receiving the message to read back the numbers.
11 Transmission
of Time
11.1 When transmitting time, only the minutes of the hour are normally required. However, the hour should be included if there is any possibility of confusion.
Time Transmitted as Pronounced as
0803 Zero Three or ZE-RO TREE or
Zero Eight Zero Three ZE-RO AIT ZE-RO TREE
1300 One Three Zero Zero WUN TREE ZE-RO ZE-RO
2057 Five Seven or FIFE SEV-en or TOO ZE-RO FIFE
Two Zero Five Seven SEV -en
11.2 Time used in aviation is UTC (Universal Time Constant) or Co-ordinated Universal Time.
12 Standard Words
and Phrases
12.1 The following words and phrases shall be used in radio telephony communications as appropriate and shall have the following meaning given below:
Word/Phrase Meaning
Acknowledge Let me know that you have received and understood the message.
Affirm Yes.
Approved Permission for proposed action granted.
Break I hereby indicate the separation between portions of the message.
(To be used where there is no clear distinction between the instruction and other portion of the message).
Break Break I hereby indicate the separation between messages transmitted to different aircraft in a very busy environment.
Cancel Annul the previous transmitted clearance.
Check Examine a system or procedure.
Cleared Authorised to proceed under the conditions specified.
Confirm Have I correctly received the following........? or Did you correctly receive this message?
Contact Establish radio contact with..........
Correct That is correct.
Correction An error has been made in the transmission . The correct
version is...
Disregard Consider the transmission as not sent.
Expedite Hurry up/ Increase you speed while driving until you vacate the runway/ taxiway
Go Ahead Proceed with your message (only used for aircraft as per ICAO)
How do you read What is the readability of my transmission.
I say again I repeat for clarity or emphasis
Monitor Listen out on ( frequency).
Negative No, or permission not granted, or that is not correct.
Read Back Repeat all, or the specific part, of this message to me exactly as received.
Recleared A change has been made to you last clearance and this new
clearance supersedes your previous clearance or part thereof.
Report Pass me the following information.
Request I should like to know......, or I wish to obtain......
Say Again Repeat all, or the following part, of your last transmission.
Speak Slower Reduce your rate of speech.
Standby
Wait and I will call you back.