Any day now

It is the middle of October, Christmas and Carnival are shaping up nicely. People are pleased to have the return of the customary Christmas and Carnival activities and festivities which the last government had stopped. Of course that only stopped people from going onto the street, but everyone had their own personal Christmas and Carnival. Long story short, things have changed, and we are back to normal. It is expected that we will act responsibly in everything that we do, and institute and maintain our own protocols, because we are a serious people.

I am still awaiting the official announcement from the regulating authority of amateur radio, with respect to the interference generated by the electricity company, which blocks and jams transmissions in some of the HF amateur radio bands. I see that the Minister of Telecommunications, and of Electricity was quite busy overseas attending conferences. He has returned but still conducting his familiarization exercises within his various ministries. I suspect that in time the interference issue will reach his desk for action. I had decided that I would take it upon myself to raise the matter with him if nothing transpired in a certain timeframe. That I still plan to do.

I am told by amateur radio operators that [a] the interference does not exist in their area, and [b] it seems to be intermittent. I am also told that the electricity equipment fails but spare parts are unavailable. I could understand the predicament of the equipment supplier, and hope that they can encourage the service provider [the electricity company] to upgrade their equipment soonest, like immediately. We want to have a real smart meter system working in Saint Kitts, that is modern and does not generate interference, noise and radio frequency jamming signals. This interference does not happen in any of the OECS islands with  smart meter systems equipment from the same supplier / manufacturer. So why does interference only happen in Saint Kitts?

Amateur Radio is alive in V4, as far as I can tell. Indications from hams in North America, as the sunspot cycle continues towards the peak in the next couple years, are band openings, and DX contacts made with low power. This is the time for all local amateur radio operators in V4 to become active, as they will be able to make DX contacts relatively easy to almost every place in the world. Of course  a good antenna is still necessary. The better the antenna, the better the DX contact. It is felt that even a drooping dipole will make a good contact, but I cannot endorse that. I am not a favorite of drooping wire dipoles.

In my view it is better to have a properly installed vertical antenna with elevated radials, or a vertical dipole. These are two different types of vertical antennas with guaranteed performance. There are no restrictions on installing vertical antennas in our yard or on our house anywhere in the Caribbean, but in other countries there are zones and restrictions. If you are serious about ham radio get a home on a Caribbean Island and operate all year round. A summer home is workable, look up a timeshare manager. Be advised that all islands are not the same, and I leave that there. Look at countries that are serious about sport tourism, amateur radio sport  tourism. V4 is a good starting point.

Amateur radio got a variety of hard knocks in the pandemic. Everybody got a hard knock of one sort or another. But everyone is making a comeback and establishing their new normal. There are now many new amateur radio operators, and it is interesting to hear their stories. Most of them are interested in ham radio because they have access to ham radio equipment left by their relative, friend or neighbour. Ham radio is the attraction, because when you have to stay at home, you can speak to many peole around the world, and you do not catch or spread anything. One does not get bored staying at home, so amateur radio is one global solution to being safe and sane. And as more people catch on to this, amateur radio will continue to increase in numbers. The pandemic does not seem to be going away in some countries.

I suspect that all radio manufacturers were hit by the pandemic and the loss of staff. Some had to relocate some of their plants and reorganize to stay in business. Some have quit the ham radio business, some sold out, others are just hanging in there. The big names in amateur radio are still in the marketplace, but all are now doing things differently. Yaesu has been able to market new radios in recent times, they have also been able to improve specifications to get all their recent radios to be in the tops five [5] doing better than radios at twice their price and more. This is seen in the Sherwood  receiver test data table below.

http://www.sherweng.com/table.html

It is interesting to see where all the radio are positioned, and to pay particular attention. Money these days are not as before and one has be cognizant of the investment, given threats of famine and more. But irrespectively a man or woman,  has to do what a man or woman must do with their ham radio hobby, and the toys of the hobby. Having said that, I am of the view that Yaesu is the way to go for all ham radio transceivers right now. I was NEVER a Yaesu  fan until now. I never saw Yaesu in the #1 spot on the Sherwood list until now. I was always interested in the top  five[5] and had my eyes set on the Elecraft K3 and Flex 6700. But the pandemic has rocked the boat and things have changed.

I am rather interested in the latest Yaesu radio just out in July 2022, the FT-710. I suspect that it will eventually be hailed as a better portable radio than the popular Icom IC-7300. I believe that the IC-7300 has another year, and then it will be on the obsolete list of radios. Going forward, the FT-710 is the new radio on the block and all other radios in that price range must be left far behind in the dust.

Yaesu, this is the radio for today

The FT-710 radio will thrust you into real ham radio activity. You do not have to buy another radio for another seven [7] years. That is the magic number, and let me know if you know why.  This radio also comes with a free copy of the Yaesu world map, which you should have wall mounted in your amateur radio station. Help to make the amateur radio station look and feel like a real amateur radio station. You now have a real tool for making DX contacts. Pay attention to installing real DX antennas for all the ham radio bands. I am not into dipoles, unless it is a real aluminum ready made half wave dipole and it is up forty [40]feet, and you have real coax cable on it like RG213/U. RG8X is cheaper, but remember you get what you pay for, and I leave that there.

Let me just leave another link with you. I was surprised to learn that a ham radio friend of mine did not know about this site. There are a few website that you just should know.  https://www.rigpix.com/

It is helpful to know about the radios of yesteryear., and more.

We continue to watch everything that is going on around us, and hope that people will do the right thing, as expected, and not bring any unsavory elements into the equation, making it more difficult to solve. I hope that the Amateur Radio Society is still pushing for all the rights of their members and by extension, the rights of all ham radio operators in V4. We move into the area where people fete and drink rum, and forget everything until next year, but this interference issue is five [5] years overdue, illegal, and should be dealt with ASAP. I hope I do not rock the boat to hard.

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