V44KF

  Greetings Amateur Radio Operators All A couple weeks ago I was pleased to hear from an unofficial source that the RF interference, noise and frequency jamming, caused by the smart meters of the Electricity Company, SKELEC, had been shut down. This shutting down should have come well over five [5] years ago when the RF interference matter was raised by the Amateur Radio Society members who were directly and adversely affected. The interference matter was escalated to the NTRC, who is responsible for keeping the frequencies clean, and free from any RF interference under International member country agreements. But SKELEC refused to hear from the NTRC, and the RF interference continued to plague the Amateur Radio Operators. Fast forward to 2022, and the Government then in office lost the general elections of August 5th 2022. New Ministers were assigned to the Ministries responsible for Telecommunications and for Electricity, and within seven [7] months of being in office the RF inte...

  Another pile up on 17-meters in the late afternoon, after 17.00 local, 21.00 GMT.  That is the nature of DX. I could not hear the DX station, but I could hear  the stations calling, piling up. I did not have propagation to the DX station, only to the callers. A few minutes later the frequency went dead. I suspect that the DX station went QRT. Recently I have heard many DX stations going QRT because the XYL had called them for supper. That is very good in times like these. I guess that many of us wish that we had an XYL to call us away from the radio because it was suppertime. It is a cultural thing. I know that some of us in times past had supper, and other meals and snacks served in the shack while we were on the radio. We only ate when we got a break, when the propagation changed, and allowed us to take a bite. Those were the days when we dried out the list, we worked everyone who could hear us. The callers did not know when the next opportunity to work V4 would come,...

  wow!! The plane landed, the boat docked, and my radio station components are on the island. This is a difficulty that we learn to live with. No hardware store around the corner, or on the next street, that sell over the counter aluminum tubing which we can use to build antennas, and the cord is not rated at 500 pounds or more to hold up our expensive antennas, but we improvise and live with that. After a while you get accustomed to making decisions in faith. I still do not understand why a 100 pound test cord can be used to guy an antenna costing over a thousand dollars. Some things you just close your eyes and whisper. These things and more add to the exciting quality of LIFE in the Caribbean, and it works for us. Countdown to the start of the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season continues. Now is the time to get prepared for anything and everything. Do not wait until the people who think that they know, make their predictions. They are doing their best with what they have, and I do n...

  Happy New Year. Welcome. Wow!! Four days gone already, there is no time to lose. In this year, what we need to do, we need to do quickly. Gone are the days when it would be tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes, is a wise saying. Something always takes it place, so with the best intentions, it never gets done. Be smart, be wise DO IT NOW. "DOIT NOW" has been a "success motivation" strategy for some of us, it always work, and helps us to be ahead of every game, all the time. Not doing it now is what keeps many of us out of the game. In hind sight many of us, if we are honest with ourselves, will recognise that we are the ones responsible for "us" not being at the head of the class. We need to adopt a "DO IT NOW" mentality if we do not yet have it. For those of us who are already there, if we rest now, we shall be overtaken and fall behind. No overtaken by our brothers and sisters, but by the negative mentality that now exists in our world today...

  Greetings. Happy New Year. Congratulations and Welcome. Let us take a moment to observe the "silent keys", our ham radio brothers and sisters who left us in 2022. Just a few days ago we lost V44KO, Lawson, a senior ham radio operator. We will all miss him for the invaluable contributions he made to ham radio and the Saint Kitts Nevis Amateur Radio Society in V4. He will always be remembered by the ham radio brothers and sisters. I am certain that much will be written about his ham radio life and style in the days to come.  A new wave of ham radio begins now. Many ham radio operators will make the usual resolutions to do more about their ham radio this year, but truth be told for many of us only the spirit is willing. I have been there so I know. Take action on your ham radio, do something because talk is cheap. Make an investment in your ham radio if you can. Show yourself that you are serious. Only practical ham radio will get us anywhere, resolutions and talk do not. For ...

We are into a new season as the official hurricane season ends with November. For those of us who favour DX, the winter months are our friend. This winter season the  V44KF radio station plans to be active. We are in the process of building and testing a few antennas to cover the ham radio bands from 40 meters to 6 meters. Before the pandemic we had 80 meter requests, but the smart meter interference blocked and jammed  transmissions of 80 meters and 40 meters. Nothing has changed for the last 5 years or so, and the smart meter RF interference is still blocking and jamming the ham radio signals. We were hopeful that this would change with the new political administration, after the general elections, but nothing so far. Anyway next month, is my time to talk directly with the Minister of Electricity and the Minister of Telecommunications and to see what is the plan to resolve these illegal and lawless violations of the the International Telecommunications Regulations. The smart...

  It is that time of year again, the seasonal changes which affects ham radio propagation in the north hemisphere. I am looking forward to see what will make my days. This year should be different because we are rolling up towards another peak of the sunspot cycle. Hams are reporting making DX contacts with low power. This is cycle 25 and it is looking good so far, and expected to get better. This is a contact making opportunity that no young hams should let pass. Young is in reference to the length of time being a ham radio operator. This is the season when some folks treat themselves to gifts, that they have done without for the last year or years. Some folks were saving to buy that dream radio, the one that you looked at everyday. I go a step further and make a poster print of the radio I need and stick it on the wall next to my computer. When the radio finally drops into the radio room, the picture on the wall is replaced by a new picture of some much needed ham gear. This is h...