The dates of the 2008 AMSAT-UK Colloquium are Friday 25 July to Sunday 27 July, at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. This will be our 23rd Colloquium, and as usual, we hope to hope have an interesting and fun programme for all our visitors.
 
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AMSAT-UK Beginners Workshop a great success

AMSAT-UK has held Beginners Workshops at their Annual Colloquium in Guildford for 20 years. One of the first of the Beginners Sessions is mentioned in the June 1988 issue of RadCom.

These workshops aim to show newcomers how to get started in the exciting world of Amateur Satellite Communications. Many are amazed to discover that they can communicate through Amateur Satellites or speak to Astronauts onboard the International Space Station using little more that a handheld dual-band FM transceiver.

When the new Amateur Licence structure was introduced in 2002 neither Intermediate nor Foundation licence holders were allowed to use satellites. As a result, there was a significant drop in the numbers coming into this branch of the hobby.

AMSAT-UK campaigned to have access to the Amateur Satellite Service available to all Amateurs and the UK Regulator first agreed to give Intermediate holders access and then in December 2006 gave full access to Foundation holders as well.

The results of this liberalisation were clear to see at this year’s Beginners Workshop with a sharp increase in the numbers of Foundation and Intermediate licensees attending.

New Amateurs from EARS. From left to right are: Jon Phillips M3UJO, Nandan Patel M3UNP, Saleem Mohammed, Bea Smith, Victor Nikolaidis 2E0VNN, Ubong Ukommi M3UIU. Photo credit: Trevor M5AKA

Among the many new attendees were six members of the University of Surrey (UoS) Electronics and Amateur Radio Society (EARS) all Foundation or Intermediate holders.
The Society's Chair Bea Smith had only recently passed her Foundation and was still awaiting her call sign.

We look forward to hearing all those who took part in the workshop on the satellites.

University of Surrey Electronics and Amateur Radio Society (EARS) http://union.surrey.ac.uk/ears/doku.php

RSGB Article - Getting Started on Amateur Radio Satellites
http://www.uk.amsat.org/content/view/408/168/

AMSAT-UK publishes OSCAR News which is full of Amateur Satellite information. You can join online at https://secure.amsat.org.uk/subscription/ or contact the secretary Jim Heck G3WGM
Tel: + 44 (0)1258 453959
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© 2008 AMSAT-UK
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