Image: ZS Link OpenWebRx Radio Receiver Location. Click on image for larger view.
I recently exchanged some cash for a Raspberry Pi 4 and a RTL-SDR Blog Model V4 SDR Receiver plus a few odds and ends. I do have a few Raspberry Pi's and a RTL-SDR RTL2832U E4000 SDR Receiver. More info on the latter SDR is available HERE.
Now why the title "RAE Candidates and OpenWebRX+"
Please read on and you will find out!
I have always been a fan of WebSDR and decided that the time has arrived to play around and see if I can come up with something useful while using a Raspberry Pi and SDR Receiver. In my point a view it is good that you can "play" around with SDR Receivers but why not put them to good use by rendering a service to RAE Candidates and Members of the Public. I listen regularly to the QO-100 WebSDR available HERE.
One morning at 03h00 I came up with the following idea. Why not setting up an OpenWebRx Radio Receiver that can be used by RAE Candidates. I hear many say but are you stupid or what? Candidates can use real radio receivers to listen to licensed radio amateurs talking. In many cases some candidates possess a Amateur Radio Listeners License and the necessary equipment. Yes, I know this but I am talking about those that do not have such a license or any radio equipment at all. You might not know but there are also RAE Candidates that cannot afford to buy equipment after they received their license. This might be one of the reasons why some write the examination and just "vanish". Bear in mind that not every candidate are in the privileged position to have a club or radio amateur close by that he or she can visit. In my region the above mentioned has been experienced and I decided that something must be done for those RAE Candidates.
Another "problem" that we experience is that some RAE Candidates have to wait up to a month and longer before receiving their amateur radio licenses from ICASA. This prevents them for registering for Echolink / AllStar /DMR etc. To bridge that waiting time and to "keep the fires burning" and to prevent candidates from "vanishing", I decided to setup an experimental OpenWebRX+ Radio Receiver where these candidates can listen to the 145.625 Mhz Aasvoelkop Repeater in the Southern Cape. The receiver currently covers the following 2 Meter band section - 144.0 Mhz to 146.0 Mhz Band over a large period of the Southern Cape.
PLEASE NOTE: The WebSDR is not yet permanently in full time operation. It is currently still in an experimental phase. On Sunday, 15 September 2024 the receiver was activated to test the equipment during the broadcasting of several amateur radio bulletins. Several reports were received and clients observed utilizing the ZS Link OpenWebRx Radio Receiver.
Reports and comments were received from: ZS6CMO, ZS5KDK, ZR2GW, ZS1TBP, ZS1AAC, ZS1RP, ZS1IB, ZS1SSM, ZS1NS en ZS1KLO.
Many thanks to the above radio amateurs and also to the "unknown" clients that visited the site.
Is this the end of the road? No definitely not. Bear with me. I do have a few other surprises up my sleeve. As indicated the radio receiver will not yet be operational on a full time basis as I need to make several hardware changes. Once the changes have been made I will open the ZS Link OpenWebRx Radio Receiver for full time, general use.
Herewith the links to the radio receiver and also a short manual how to operate the radio receiver:
ZS Link SDR RX - Click HERE
ZS Link SDR RX - Aasvoelkop Repeater - Click HERE
ZS Link SDR RX Starting Manual - Click HERE
Finally: This project is still under construction. More information will be made available as the project progresses.
Images: (Click on images for larger view.)
