In a Forum message the MARS President, Jean Marc 3B8DU, outlined future schedules and the overall vision for the Mauritius Amateur Radio Society. In the message the emphasis was on cooperation with the education sector with scheduled presentations in schools, namely;
At Westcoast International School on the 21st of July 2022 organized by the school and Vikram (3B8BBD), Secretary of MARS, agenda. Presentation will be about following:
a) What is HAM radio about ad how HAM radio benefit to the individual and society at large;
b) basics of radio and propagation;
c) HAM station radio equipment;
d) QO-100 demonstration by Francois (3B8BAN) and Patrice (3B8FA).
At Polytechnics Mauritius Ltd. (PML) Reduit campus on the 18th of July 2022 and at Montagne Blanche campus on the 25th of July 2022 organized by M. ZOUBEIR A. A. AUNGNOO, IT Lecturer, to officially launch the proposed ISS ARISS school contact with astronauts in space planned for next year. Other presentations maybe possible to cover the 5 PML campuses.
The 3B9 QO-100 DX-pedition team is also trying to arrange a school presentation on HAM radio in Rodrigues between the 5th – 9th of August. The Rodrigues authorities have been contacted, however, nothing has yet been confirmed.
As the MARS slogan suggests “Advancement of Amateur Radio”, the MARS vision is to promote the hobby. However, on a larger scope, the most important point would be to motivate students for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) to cope with the country’s need for skilled individuals for future challenges in order to be globally competitive and secure economic growth in the technology field.
MARS with the collaboration of MRIC on the MIR-SAT 1 project, already had much success, in the past year, at school level with around 18 institutions. For the future, it is desired to build on this success and further promote the hobby as well as STEM.
For many years it is thanks to good work done by our past and present leaders, spending their time coaching and carrying out exams for the HAM radio licence. The future now seems promising for the enlargement of the community with new blood. This is confirmed with newly licensed HAMs doing QSOs worldwide and on QO-100. This year is a great one with the first examination for Class-A licence in September and I wish success to all candidates, my thanks again to all who devoted a lot of their time and hard work to make this happen.
Finally, I wish to reiterate that at MARS level we are committed, with our limited resources, to carry as many future school level activities as possible to promote the hobby.
Jean Marc (3B8DU), President of MARS