Click this image > to visit our Thai-language site:
Please click to play to view photographs taken on Saturday morning at the Discovery Beach Hotel in Pattaya
Antenna tracking for satellites, contacting the ISS on the amateur radio bands and a brief history of SEANET in Thailand
Kicking off a morning of seminars in the Panorama Hall of the Discovery Beach Hotel at 9 a.m. was a presentation about building an automatic antenna tracking system for low earth orbit AMSAT satellites by Nimit Hongyim, K6XOX and HS1IFU.
After Nimit had finished and had answered some questions from the audience, Dr K.N. Singh, 9M2KN (Dr Ken) was invited to come up and say a few words about the plans for next year's SEANET Convention which will be in Siem Reap, Cambodia from November 16-19, 2017. Shortly after that Dr Ken invited Raja, VU2KKZ, who is one of the key organizers of next year's event, to provide some additional information.
The 2017 SEANET Convention will be held at the Sokhalay Angkor Resort and special early-bird rates will be available while there are representatives for this event in most countries in Southeast Asia, with Khun Ponwat, HS1XIM representing Thailand.
This will also be the first time that a SEANET convention is being organized from outside the country that will be hosting the event and it is hoped that the 2017 SEANET Convention will help to convey the significance of amateur radio to the Cambodian authorities.
Then Dr Ken suggested that this would be an appropriate time to see if there were any offers from anyone in the audience to host the 2018 SEANET Convention and, if so, for delegates to vote on this.
Wisnu, YB0AZ then came forward to say that Indonesia would like to propose to be the host of the convention to be staged in Jogjakarta in 2018 and this was the only proposal made. A vote with a show of hands was made and the proposal was unanimously approved and so the 46th SEANET Convention will indeed be hosted in Jogjakarta, Indonesia.
The next speaker was Mrs Mayuree Chotikul, HS1YL a former president of RAST and the wife of one of the cofounders of RAST, Kamchai Chotikul,
HS1WR-SK. She provided a brief history of SEANET in Thailand, along with recalling some of the significant achievements made by RAST. Her presentation was in Thai and providing an English-language version was RAST Vice-President Tony Waltham, HS0ZDX. A summary of her account in English pdf file format can be downloaded from this link while a printed English-language version of her address were handed out to delegates before she made her speech.
Finally, Sion Chow Qi Chao, 9M2CQC spoke about Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) and about how the contacts with the ISS were made from Malaysia.
After each address, RAST President Jack presented pennants to the speakers as tokens of appreciation.
Beside the stage in the seminar hall -- which was also the location of the gala dinner in the evening -- there was a table with a large picture of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, HS1A who had passed away on October 13 with a book of condolences which many delegates signed during the convention to express their grief at His Majesty's passing.
The story about the 44th annual SEANET Convention hosted in Pattaya on the Gulf of Thailand by the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand under the Patronage of His Majesty the King (RAST) is told on several web pages that are linked to each other.
We have also tried to present as many photographs as possible by including them in videos and coverage of the entire SEANET 2016 Convention can be found on the following pages: