Forward, step up the pace

Greetings ALL, 

[a] Happy New Year.  We are all pleased that 2020 is now behind us.

[b] Please excuse my treating this blog as a business document. I am of the view that we need to treat all that we do very seriously until the world is rid of this "pandemic". Ham radio is still our hobby, we still love doing what we do in our spare time, but I am just taking my ham radio more seriously than before. Everything around us are not like before. In our Caribbean there is an active volcano just miles down the street in Saint Vincent, J8 land. Things are not like before, and we need to be aware, and ready for any eventuality, anytime. We must know what we can do, what is expected of us, and how to do it effectively. I am getting the impression that we are just watching the movements. If that is true then that is bullshit, and every Caribbean ham radio organization should be on alert, even though nothing blows yet. Of course, this is my personal view,  and everyone is free to disagree.

[c] Let me express thanks to ham radio operators around the world for checking this Facebook page and sending us emails. I am not on the air until I can resolve a difficulty with my computer.  In October 2020 my windows 7 computer was irreplaceably damaged in a freak lightening storm. No problem, as I ordered a new windows 10 machine. Everything is working but the Flex radio cannot work on it. Why? Because the Flex1500 runs from a USB 1.0 port and all the new machine USB ports are 3.1. To date we have tried many things, and I am still looking for an old  computer with USB 1.0 ports. I am now researching new radios. One has to do that, because all the new radios are very good on paper, but they have bugs. All the big name radio have issues. When you live on an island [104 square miles] you have to get the best radio affordable, with perfect after sales service. So I am still looking. 

[d] A big Thank You to all ham radio operators from around the world for establishing contact with this Facebook page in V4, Saint Kitts and Nevis. First let me share the Facebook "fans" statistics with you so you can appreciate how we are doing.  

[1] Fans: WOMEN - 51%.  MEN - 48%, 

[2] Highest age range, WOMEN - 35 to 44 years.  MEN - 55 to 64 years.  (%) WOMEN - 13%.  MEN - 12%.

[3] COUNTRY:  Saint Kitts and Nevis, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands,  Anguilla, Sint Maarten, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Netherlands, Barbados, Taiwan, Russia, Finland, Japan, Bermuda, Saudi Arabia, The Bahamas, Algeria, Kenya, Indonesia, India, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Lebanon, Nigeria.

[4] LANGUAGE:  English (US), English (UK), French (France), Italian, Russian, Spanish, Indonesian, Dutch.

Thanks to all of YOU with an interest in amateur radio who make this possible.

[e] Ham radio took off last year because many ham radio operators were forced back into it, by the "stay home" protocols. But after a while people got comfortable and dropped the ball. But the real ham radio operators will always shine, with or without protocols. As we go forward we have to adapt, and find new ways to propagate amateur radio on the ground, and in the air. We all have to carry the ham radio message to everyone wherever we go. We cannot leave it to the amateur radio society, club or association, and their member outreach committee. Times have changed, and a new strategy is required. If we need to know more about ham radio, then we need to update and upgrade our knowledge of ham radio. We should know where to find at least three [3] great internet web sites on ham radio, to share with interested persons. My go to websites are the ARRL and the RSGB websites, and I follow that with RAC, Canada and WIA, Australia.  Different countries, regions, zones, etc., but the same ham radio. I hope that our own local SKNAARS can get over the covid19 quickly, and rise and shine again.

[f] Most ham radio operators are like me. I am here for the DX. Someone will attend to the Emergency, Disasters, and serious matters, but I am here for the DX. In peace times it is all about DX contacts. We are cognizant that there is an active volcano in our region, but that does not place a stop on the DX activity. I have a personal DX plan that cover the globe. I am willing to share my ideas with other V4 operators, if they are interested. It would be a tremendously help if more V4 station can get on the air. I am retired so I can be on the radio every day, all day, unlike other local hams radio operators who have to work.  Last year a few of us started talking about organizing DX activity but nobody seemed seriously interested. I have received a few internet messages from hams in various countries who need contacts with V4, I am just waiting to get my radio fixed, and on the air again. 

[g] How can we contact the world when we do not have the big antenna systems necessary? We all have radios, and all the other bits and pieces that come together to make big systems. Over the years some hams have frowned upon me for using RG59 coax cable for over 20 years. But in that 20 years, I have worked the world using arg-59 cable. If hams cannot use any other cable but RG8X or RG-213U, then so be it. Coax cable will not stop my DX. I once read of hams using empty beer cans to make a DX vertical antenna. End of that story. There is no shortage of wire in V4. My plan is  to invest in a few home brew wire beams. The bottom line is that we need to use whatever is available, and applicable to get our signals out to the other side of the planet. Wire beams can solves that problem. My chain link back fence is over 120 feet long, fortunately it's pointing at Japan, and if I place a 6 element wide spaced beam, 99-foot rope boom, above that fence I am home free. In this area I once mounted my 155CA HyGain 5 element 15 meter beam, before the storm damaged it. Also my 40-meter bobtail curtain. Still working on how to beam to Europe and the Pacific. 

[h] Working DX from V4 is never a problem, we just need to have the will to do it, and to get organized. Many of us need to get out of the covid19 mode.  I appreciate that everything is different now, but we [in SKN] are a resilient people, and we will get over this, quicker, by making the effort, and of course we can do that. Let us continue to express our empathy and sympathy as appropriate, while we keep our focus on our amateur radio, and keep it moving forward. Today, Saturday, I did some work on one of my antennas. I expect it to be in the air next week and ready for DX testing. I can't leave without informing that DX on the low bands will be extremely difficult, if at all, because the illegal RF interference caused by the smart meter system is still there, and the lawmakers, legal people and all concerned with Telecommunications and interference resolution, do not seem to be able to do anything about it. It is like anyone can just break the law in Saint Kitts and Nevis and get away with it. When you big, you large. But nothing lasts forever, and in the fulness of time, all the perpetrators will face justice, and the RF interference, noise and frequency jamming on the amateur radio frequencies will be gone for ever. 

Have a great ham radio day.

73

Keeth V44KF.

[since 1968]