HF Amateur Radio Seminars Hosted by RAST and NBTC

Figure 1. A group photo from all the lecturers and participants “Understanding the HF Frequency Usage for the Development of Amateur Radio Operators” seminars, co-hosted by the NBTC and RAST, on 17th December 2022

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Thailand’s regulator, together with the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King (RAST) co-hosted the HF-101 seminar to further enhance the understanding of amateur radio on the HF bands on Saturday 17th December 2022 at the NBTC Meeting Room, in downtown Bangkok.

The project titled “Understanding the HF Frequency Usage for the Development of Amateur Radio Operators” was aimed at HAM operators who have recently passed the Intermediate or Advanced Amateur Radio License examinations. Lecturers are all members of RAST. A total of 120 HAM operators as well as 30 staff from the NBTC Office joined the event.

The list of topics and their lecturers included:

All the topics provide an extremely important groundwork for ham operators looking to start their journey on the HF bands aside from the theoretical aspect already covered in their examination course. In addition, the NBTC Officers had the opportunity to learn more about what amateur radio is and the value that it can bring in terms of education and emergency communication.

Outside the conference room, various stands were put up to show case the APRS system, portable antennas, morse keys, oscillators, DXCC Awards including DXCC Challenge and DXCC Honor Roll, plaques from major contests such as CQ WPX and CQ WW, QSL cards from 350+ DXCC entities, and DXpedition photo books compiled by Franz Langner DJ9ZB. All these were viewed with great interest by the participants.

Figure 9. The final slide from Champ E21EIC presentation with reference to Uncle Franz DJ9ZB who always remind him that “HAM radio makes friends”.

We would like to thank NBTC and RAST for hosting such good activity for the amateur radio community.

BW/E25KAE, The First Thai HAM Operator in Taiwan

Figure 10. Bun Vichitcheep (E25KAE) at BV2Y Club Station in Taipei on 6th December 2022

From 30th November - 10th December 2022, Bun E25KAE, Chairman of the 19th IARU Region 3 Conference, travelled to Taiwan for a family holiday. The afternoon and evening of 6th December was solely dedicated to amateur radio. With the help of David Kao BV2FP, the Secretary General of CTARL, Bun E25KAE became the first Thai amateur radio operator to gain a temporary license to operate in Taiwan under the callsign BW/E25KAE.

At 1pm on Tuesday 6th December, Bun E25KAE together with David BV2FP visited BV2Y CTARL Headquarter Club Station in Wugu which is located on the top floor of Mintron Enterprise Co., Ltd. This same building is also used to hold the US FCC examination in Taipei where two Thai candidates had previously flown here to take part in the exam in 2019. Bun E25KAE was welcomed by Mickey Yang BV2LB, President of Mintron Enterprise Co., Ltd. as well as Ken Hoshino BW2/JP1RIW the BV2Y Station and QSL Manager. Bun E25KAE operated from 0600-0800z on 15m band SSB and logged over 130 QSOs from JA, EU, Asia, and one station from South America, LU9HAT.

After the visit to CTARL HQ, Bun E25KAE enjoyed a delicious Hakka cuisine hosted by Bill Lo BX3AC with her father and David BV2FP. Some of the dishes include omelets with holy basil, steamed chicken with Yuzu orange sauce, stir-fried chitlins with ginger, stir fried lotus stems, fried fish with tofu, and hog maws with pickled cabbage soup.

Figure 15. Weekly gathering of CTARL Northern Region at Huazhong Riverside Park on 6th December 2022 including BU2DM, BX2AN, BU2DC, BO2AB, BO2YA, BX2AM, BM2INK, BM2JRO, BV2NT, BX2AB, BV2BJ, BV2GC, BX3AC, and BV2FP. Everybody had the chance to operate some SSB and CW with Champ E21EIC and Mew E29TGW in Thailand from BX2AN portable station and his 40m EFHW.

At 8pm Bun E25KAE joined the weekly gathering of CTARL Northern Region at Huazhong Riverside Park with 14 CTARL members including BU2DM, BX2AN, BU2DC, BO2AB, BO2YA, BX2AM, BM2INK, BM2JRO, BV2NT, BX2AB, BV2BJ, BV2GC, BX3AC, and BV2FP. She received a very warm welcome from everybody particularly Mr Sam Young BV2GC, President of CTARL Northern Region. The group was working on setting up personal MMDVM hotspots that enable HAMs to connect to an array of digital radio networks (D-STAR, DMR, Yaesu Fusion etc) with their handheld device. Afterwards, Bun E25KAE took the opportunity to try out BX2AN portable station on 40m band. The crowd got very excited when the contacts with HS stations were established with “59” signal using just a simple EFHW at 8mH, and everybody took turn to work Champ E21EIC and Mew E29TGW on SSB and CW. Particular mention to Mr Lee BX2AB, a Taiwanese Marine CW operator for over 50 years, who displayed his incredible skill on the paddles.

Bun E25KAE would like to thank everybody for giving her the warmest welcome, especially to Bill BX3AC and David BV2FP for being an excellent host. And special thanks to Champ E21EIC for his behind-the-scene effort and making sure this trip was a success.