Special event station · Kozhikode, Keralam
Over the Republic Day weekend of 2020, the hams of Kozhikode took their radios to the sand at Kappad Beach for a two-day amateur radio field day — and put a rare special callsign, AT1RS, on the air to honour the 250th session of the Rajya Sabha and 70 years of the Indian Constitution.
For two days the hams set up their stations on the open beach and worked the bands from a temporary site — a hands-on rehearsal of emergency operating.
Throughout the weekend the field-day station signed with the commemorative callsign AT1RS — a prefix from India's allocation that is rarely heard on the bands.
The Rajya Sabha, or Council of States, is the upper house of India's Parliament. It can have up to 250 members — 238 representing the States and Union territories and 12 nominated by the President.
It is a permanent house that is never dissolved; instead, a third of its members retire every two years. Its 250th session in 2019 was the milestone the callsign celebrated.
India's Constitution was framed by the Constituent Assembly, with its Drafting Committee chaired by Dr B.R. Ambedkar. It came into force on 26 January 1950 — the day the country marks as Republic Day — so AT1RS went on air over Republic Day weekend, 70 years on.
Dedicated toBharat Ratna Dr B.R. Ambedkar, chair of the Constitution's Drafting CommitteeA field day takes amateur radio out of the shack. Operators put up antennas and complete stations in the open — at Kappad, right on the beach — power them from portable sources, and try to make as many contacts as they can.
It is part friendly contest and part rehearsal. Working from a temporary site is exactly what hams do when floods or storms take normal communication down, and a public setting lets anyone curious walk up and see how it works.
Organiser · VU2CSRA fellowship of licensed amateur radio operators in Kozhikode, and the go-to source for what is happening in ham radio around the city. It supports members and clubs with news, books and guidance, runs special events and training, and partners with the Bharat Scouts and Guides, Kozhikode District for Jamboree-On-The-Air (JOTA).
MARS brings hams across Malabar together, with a strong focus on emergency communication — the same skills a field day is built to practise.