World Amateur Radio Day Seminar 2015

Amateur Radio Convention and Conference Samity is organising the World Amateur Radio Day Seminar 2015 entitled ‘The Progress of Amateur Radio – From Spark to Space’ , at the main auditorium of Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Kolkata on Saturday, 17 April 2015, to mark the 90th Anniversary of the foundation of the International Amateur Radio Union. This year it is being 1 day in advance because of Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections on 18 April 2015.

Special Call Sign of AU2ARD for the occasion has been allotted by the Government of India.

The Seminar will be attended by 150 participants, about 50 HAMs and rest representatives from 30 invited schools and Scouts & Guides which includes Principals, Headmasters and Science Teachers. This effort is to catch them young and introduce them to this hobby.

The Seminar will be addressed by Dr. M. Nuruzzaman, MBBS, MD, Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly as Chief Guest and conducted by HAMs of prominence which includes Shri Sandeep Baruah, VU2MUE, Scientist with Vigyan Prasar, Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, Shri Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN – President of Amateur Radio Society of India and Chairman of Director of IARU Region 3, Shri Jayant Shankar Rao Bhide, VU2JAU – National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India, Chairman of Gwalior Amateur Radio Society and recipient of Rashtriya Ekta Samman, Shri Dinesh Chandra Sharma, VU2DCT, Secretary of Hindusthan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Scouts Group Amateur Radio Club etc.

The event is live at http://www.amateurradioday.com and it is free to participate, but prior online delegate registration is necessary.

The event will be covered by media.

During this event, discussion will be held with all stake holders for formation of a National Level Organization similar to ARES in the USA.

HAM Radio Demo at Eastern India Science and Technology Fair 2015 (Spl Call Sign ATESF15)

This gallery contains 57 photos.

and 3 videos…..

Upcoming Amateur Radio Demonstration at Eastern India Science Fair 2015

VU3ARF with other HAMs will be conducting Amateur Radio Demonstrations, Activations and Experimentations at the Eastern India Science Fair 2015 at Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, (National Council of Science Museums, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India), 19A, Gurusaday Road, Kolkata – 700019, between 6th January 2015 to 10 January 2015.

ATESF15 or AU2ESF Special Call Sign will be used on allocation by the Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing.

HAM Radio Demonstration

Frequencies which will be used are:
HF:
40 Meter Band: 7035, 7070 and 7150 KHz
20 Meter Band: 14150 and 14220 KHz
15 Meter Band: 21280 and 21310 KHz
10 Meter Band: 28550 KHz
VHF:
2 Meter Band: 144100, 144300 and 145500                                                                 KHz
UHF:
70 Centimeter Band:  435500 and 436500
KHz
SHF:
9 Centimeter Band:    3350500 KHz

The pic is from the Science and Technology Fair 2014.

10th Asia Pacific Regional Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) – 2nd August 2014

I conducted the 10^th Asia Pacific Regional Jamboree On The Air held on 2^nd August 2014 at the Bharat Scouts and Guides Headquarters in Kolkata. There was participation of about 100 scouts and guides in the event.

This was the second time I conducted the JOTA/JOTI, the 1^st time being last year at the same venue. The only difference being that last year I did it in my personal capacity and this year under the banner of Amateur Radio Convention and Conference Samity (ARCCS)

The event was divided into four parts. The first part of the event started with launch of Messengers of Peace Project in West Bengal. There was a short film followed by an interactive participation of all the scouts and guides in a song drama.

Throughout its history, Scouting has inspired its millions of members to make a difference by applying their leadership to creating a better world.

Scouts do some amazing things, from simple community actions to large-scale projects such as preventing bullying in schools in the UK, helping street gangs in El Salvador to reduce violence, cleaning up a playground in Texas and planting millions of trees all over Africa. In some of the most difficult conflict areas in the world – Kashmir, Israel/Palestine, Rwanda/Burundi and Northern Ireland, to name a few –Scouts are coming together in local communities to make a difference. Adding all this together Scouts, as part of a global Movement, are making the world a more peaceful place.

Observing this excellent work, the King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah and the King of Sweden, King Carl Gustaf came together to recognise Scouts as “Messengers of Peace”. They believe that the work Scouts are doing is so impressive, and that Scouting needs to be recognised for its contribution to worldpeace, and be supported to do even more.

World Scouting’s Messengers of Peace Initiative, launched by the World Scout Committee in 2011, aims to inspire the millions of Scouts who are doing amazing things in their local communities to tell the world about it, and thus inspire other Scouts to do even more. Any Scout project that brings a positive change in a community – its health, environment, social circumstances, safety or addresses conflict – is a Messengers of Peace project.

All the scouts and guides present registered for the MOP Project on the website http://www.scouts.org

The other three parts being SIT AND DRAW, JAMBOREE ON THE AIR (JOTA) and JAMBOREE ON THE INTERNET (JOTI).

The call sign of our HAM Station was VU2BSG and was being operated by me-VU3ARF, VU3WNN Bhaskar, VU3BRW Santu and VU2JFA Raju alternatively. The scouts and guides had conversations, exchanged greeting and sing songs for their counterparts who were at other JOTA groups around India and abroad. We had QSOs with a groups of scouts from Bangalore (VU2VLF), Hebbal (VU2VLK), Bangladesh (S21RT), Mumbai (VU2BSG), New Delhi (VU2BLT) and Muscat, Oman (A41KL).

The youngest participant, my son Haris Daniyel, a CUB of 8 years participated in all the events.

Overall the experience was EXHILARATING.

Miss K. Avari having a QSO

Haris Daniyel having QSO

Explaining JOTA to Guides

Receiving a momento

Messengers of Peace

Certificate of Participation

World Amateur Radio Day Seminar – ‘The Benefits of Amateur Radio in the Modern Age’

World Amateur Radio Day Seminar

Amateur Radio Convention and Conference Committee (ARCCC) in collaboration with Birla Industrial & Technological Museum (BITM), Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India conducted the World Amateur Radio Day Seminar entitled ‘The Benefits of Amateur Radio in the Modern Age’ on 18 April 2014 to mark the 89th foundation day of International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).

The State Chief Commissioner of Bharat Scouts & Guides, West Bengal, Shri Bhaswar Goswami was the Chief Guest at the event. The District Commissioner of First Kolkata District of Bharat Scouts & Guides Shri Errol M. Colaco and the State Training Commissioner (Guides) of Bharat Scouts & Guides Srimati Kumkum Mazumdar were the Guests of Honour.

Vu3arf – Mohammad Ariff and BU3BGI – Jyoti P. Chakravartty  presenter the Keynote Lectures.

The event was attended by 96 Scouts & Guides, 20 HAMs and 36 Civilians.

The full event report and the photographs are available online at the event website at http://amateurradioday.com

HAMs at World Amateur Radio Day Seminar

 

Amateur Radio Demonstration, Science & Technology Fair, BITM, 7 – 11 January 2014

The Science & Technology Fair 2014, organised by the Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, between 7 and 11 January 2014 was a grand success. VU3ARF, VU2GMT – Dr. Asish Biswas, VU2LNA – Shankar Mallick, VU3WNN – Bhaskar Mallick, SWL Sumit Dey and SWL Mohammad Faisal Mallick put up the Amateur Radio Demonstration Stall at the event. A few of the pictures are given below and the full album can be accessed HERE

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

HAM Radio Demonstration

DPD Memorial DXpedition to Sundarbans National Park.

DPD Memorial Sundarbans National Park DXpedition 2013

Venue: Sundarbans National Park.
Dates: 28 – 31 December 2013 (5D 4N)

This unique HAM Radio Expedition was carried out in the Sundarbans National Park which is in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. The meaning of the Bengali word sundarban is “beautiful forest”.

The Sundarbans are the largest littoral mangrove belt in the world, stretching 80 km (50mi) into the Bangladeshi and Indian hinterland from the coast. The Sundarbans has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The part of the forest within Indian territory is called Sundarbans National Park. The forests aren’t just mangrove swamps though — they include some of the last remaining stands of the mighty jungles which once covered the Gangetic plain. The Sundarbans cover an area of 3,850 sq km, of which about one-third is covered in water/marsh areas. Since 1966 the Sundarbans have been a wildlife sanctuary, and it is estimated that there are now 400 Royal Bengal tigers and about 30,000 spotted deer in the area. The forest is called ‘Sunderban’due to the rich growth of Sundari trees.

A team of licenced HAM operators from India carried out the unique ‘HAM Radio Expedition’ with the special Callsign AU3SNP from 0000 hrs of 28th to 2400 hrs of 31st December 2013. They told tales of Sundarbans to the world through Amateur Radio.

Bands of Operation:
HF:
10M, 15M, 20M, 40M, Mode of operation: LSB, USB, CW,etc.

VHF:  2M

QSL:
1. There will be 100% issuance of QSL Cards as per our logbook.
2. All DX and VU Stations will get QSL Cards for their contacts free of cost.
3. DX Stations are requested to send their postal address through email at cq@vu3arf.org
This expedition is dedicated to the memory of VU2DPD, OM Dipuda, who went silent key on 16 February 2012 at an age of 76. An avid DXer and DXCC holder he was a CW bug. He received his ticket sometime in the mid 80s. He was a great homebrewer and his home made CW peddles were simple yet marvelous. He had a great understanding of antennas and antenna systems and experimented with several types of yagis,quads and loop antennas. (his favourite was the cubical quad which he ran and made huge pileups with during his stay in Haldia port when he was a rare DX on VHF for us in Kolkata). He excelled in every aspect of this wonderful hobby and his friendly yet expert handling of the All India Net on 14.150 warmed our hearts for many many years. He was also the QSL manager of the ARSI QSL bureau for a very long time, a job he performed with utmost dedication and competence. He was off the air because his radio an Icom IC706MKII had developed some critical faults a few years back which he had tried very hard to repair without success. His last dream was to return on HF with a new radio which he was in the process of importing. VU2DPD was a veteran radio ham, one of the very best in this hobby in which currently true radio hams are becoming an extinct community. He will be remembered as the wily, lanky, witty Dipuda smoking his favourite pipe, always in good humour, eager to lend his helping hand. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Participation:

1. Shri Mohammad Ariff – VU3ARF
2. Dr. Ashish Biswas – VU2GMT
3. Shri Mantosh Dasgupta – VU2MDG
4. Shri Bhaskar Mallick – VU3WNN
5. Shri Swapan Kumar Dhara – VU3SJR
6. Shri Sumit Sh. De – SWL
7. Smt. Ayesha Nuzba – SWL
8. Smt. Ramsha Tuba – SWL
9. Shri Haris Daniyel – SWL

The call log is available at QRZ.com under the Special Call Sign: AU3SNP. A few photographs are given below. However, a complete album is available HERE:

 

ARES at 221st Chandipuja, 9-18 December 2013

‘The 221st year celebration of Sri Sri Chandi Puja Fair 2013′ at Sokherbazar area of Kolkata, was held from 9th till 18th December 2013. The puja and the associated fair was attended by over 80,000 pilgrims everyday. There were other cultural and social activities associated with this event. 

The following team of HAMs provided Amateur Radio Emergency Services at this event:

1. VU3ARF – OM Mohammad Ariff,
2. VU2GMT – OM Dr. Ashish Biswas,
3. VU3WNN – OM Bhaskar Mallick,
4. VU2LMW – OM Subrata Mallick,
5. VU3NCP – OM Subimal Bawali.

 

The First Point Contact Transistor

 

KG7FUY – My USA Call Sign

Yesterday I got my USA Call Sign KG7FUY. I also have an Australian Call Sign VK6ARF since 2001.