AMATEUR RADIO
Old-school? No..very cool !
We have grown accustomed and reliant upon mobile phones, WiFi and satellite communication in our society and surely amateur radio passed it sell by date long ago? What could it possibly offer and what does it entail? Suffice to say Andre showed us amateur of ham radio is till the gateway to affordable dependable communication, an introduction to electronic and mechanical engineering principles but above all a self-sufficient lifeline when disaster strikes and conventional communication networks are compromised.
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| Ham Radio's |
About Andre du Plessis
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| Andre du Plessis |
Andre is an Amateur Radio Operator with 33 years experience in this hobby. With some family and friends of his parents being radio amateur operators, he was aware of the hobby and relevant electronics and started playing with electronics while in elementary school. He started with crystal set receivers and then transistor receivers and amplifiers. He built an FM wireless microphone with some of the first integrated circuits available in South Africa.
Andre studied electronics at Tuks until A lack of funds halted his studies. Thereafter Andre started working at the Department of Post and Telecommunications in 1976 and obtained his Higher National Diploma in Telecommunications, operating as a “Jack of all Trades”. He retired as specialist from Telkom SA after nearly 39 years. Early during 1981 a colleague urged him to write the Radio Amateur exams. His operating callsign has been ZR6AGA since ever since contacts include NASA Space Shuttle Columbia and South African Mark Shuttleworth on board the Russian space station.
He was member of the South African Radio League and served in Centurion Amateur Radio Club for many years as member of the technical team and Chairman. He was the owner of a computer and electronics company for 10 years in his private time during his tenure at Telkom. Other hobbies include travelling, electronics, photography and genealogy. He has been married to Petro for 40 years and has two sons in the IT industry.
