Same old same old

What do you do when the people who you trust to make it happen for you, seem to conspire with those who set out to ensure that it does not happen for you? This is the case of Amateur Radio in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. October 7th 2021 will make another year that the NTRC seem to have proven that is cannot effectively enforce its duty of keeping the frequencies used for amateur radio telecommunication services in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, free and clear from RF interference, noise and frequency jamming. On October 7th 2019 a "cease and desist" order was given to the electric company for illegally generating RF interference on unauthorised frequiencies. To date I am not aware that the electric company has stopped generating the RF interference that jams the frequencies rendering them then unusable for amateur telecommunications services. 

Nothing more needs to be said about this illegal RF interference matter plaguing our amateur radio telecommunication services for a few years now. This is what the law abiding Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis has come to in 2021 and before. While many of us are working overtime to build our Nation, there are political elements also working overtime to mash it up and break it down. It is obvious that these  p[olitical elements are definitely NOT law abiding, nor do they have any idea whatever about amateur radio, nor the critical role amateur radio plays in the National Security of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. 

But we cannot let this spoil our amateur radio hobby. We may be prevented from offering our best services to our country for now, but we neeed to keep training and retraining ourselves, to be ready for any eventuality from tsunami to volcanic eruptions. These we have seen in recent times, and some of them on our doorstep, hence we need to be ready and able, fully prepared, to rise to these emergency and disaster situations. I suspect that plans are afoot to give all recently licensed amateur radio operators, and other ham radio operators, the opportunity to receive current trainng and updates on matters that would enable them to function effectively and efficiently in any emergency and disaster situation that may occur within our Federation.

That is the serious side of amateur radio, but there is the fun side of ham radio that occupy our times of peace. In ham radio there are some operators who focus solely on the serious side of the hobby, and there are those operators who focus solely on the fun side of amateur radio. And then there are those operators who want to be on both sides. Every man or woman to their own order, doing whatever makes them happy, and I respect them for that. Over the years I have seen other ham radio operators get upset because of the choices made by ham radio operators. It is high time that we show respect for all our ham radio operators, and respecrt them for whatever choice they elect to make.

In amateur radio I lean on the fun side, that of making contacts and speaking to people all over the world. Saint Kitts, V4 , is not as rare as it oncewas, but there are still many ham radio operators around the  world who have not contected an operator in V4.  Of the four hundred thousand plus ham radio operators in Japan, how many do you think have made contact with V4? Saint Kitts-Nevis and Japan are on the opposite sides of the world. This calls for a plan and a strategy for the ham radio operators to contact each other. This is where ham radio operators get serious. At the sunspot cycle continues to improve over the next few years, I suspect that more of our ham radio operators will display a seriousness to make contacts on the other side of our planet.

Now may be a good time for some of us to experiment with different antennas, favoring those that work better for making DX contacts. V4 is in the business of being a DX country, and the occupation of its ham radio operators seems to me, to to be in the business of makng DX contacts. It is only the vertical antenna that can place the lowest angle that is needed for real DX. My fave antenna is the vertical half wave dipole. Nothing can beat that. Nothing ever has, and nothing ever will. You have to try it to believe it. Not a trap vertical, a real half wave vertical, located at the right height above ground.  

[to be continued]