Ravi and Pravin,
I sincerely appreciate your view points and empathize with you. However, there are a couple of things that I would like to mention in response. I am off the air for the last couple of months due to qth shift and work timings.
1. WPC is too busy to deal with 2000Rs worth lifetime licences in contrast with the huge opportunities in 2G licensing. I picked up a 1969 ARSI Magazine ( erstwhile Indian Radio Amateur), the editor then vu2op verma was saying similar things to WPC as Ravi was mentioning. So basically, the situation is pretty familiar.
2. At least people remember Hams during disasters ( so shall we say, lets have disasters more regularly and frequently!! God forbid.. Hi...). No one remembers the Tissue Roll except when they are in the loo...
3. Essentially, the pitch has been the same over all these years.... disaster, jamboree, Net check in.. and so on and on, there is nothing new to offer.. I am sure whether you have a crystal receiver or the latest SDR equipment we are always at the mercy of the band conditions on HF.
4. I feel sad when I hear guys with the latest rigs coming up on 40m and checking into every sundry net and parroting the same "QRU .. 73s" day after day and year after year. They do not even ragchew with other hams. Now, the question I have in my mind is whether one has to blow 70 thousand rupees of hard earned money ( or even more ) to do the net check-in. ( Probably you get better entertainment on Sunny Leone's website for free!!! No offence please.. I was Joking).
5. To build a functional and useful HF rig, I do not think you really need serious RF components. I have seen the EL84, 6L6, BD139, SL100, IRF5XX finals all through the 80s and 90s and it used to be a joy to operate any rig on HF those days. There were some clever chaps who rigged up even a CA3028 using discrete transistors and made those nice direct conversion receivers.
6. Yeah, you did not have the internet at least till the mid 90s in India and telecom was in real deep sh**t those days. I remember feeling like Roger more in "Spy who loved me" with a Motorola Flip phone on the belt in the mid 90s( when the morning qth picked up the phone bill). All of us had ample amount of time, endless zeal and enthusiasm those days. I read in news papers these days that most married couple do not even have kids as they are in DINK ( Double Income No Kids) mode essentially due to work pressures and timings.
7. Lastly, dwindling interest in the Ham family, forget the eagerness to follow the father, how many of our own kids give a weird look at us when they see us in a QSO with a headphone. May be, they did not read Phantom, Hardy boys or Tin Tin comics, I wish Harry potter series had a ham radio buff in it. !!!
Now we have the god send eBay, all the components we ever wanted in our lives and access to the best of online books and other construction articles of interest on the internet, let us read, build and enjoy whatever hamradio can still offer.
73s
vu2ttp
Pramod
On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 7:07 PM, <HamBrewers@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Messages In This Digest (2 Messages)
- 1a.
- Call to action ... Indian Hams From: ravimiranda
- 1b.
- Re: Call to action ... Indian Hams From: Pravinkumar Anandan
Messages
- 1a.
Call to action ... Indian Hams
Posted by: "ravimiranda" ravimiranda@yahoo.com ravimiranda
Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:27 pm (PDT)
Fellow Hams/Indians
Over the past several weeks we have debated this issue, there are several pertinent points raised and there has of course been some action from various groups over the past 60 years to talk to the Ministry/WPC/IB etc. which is all very nice. However, in a country such as India nothing moves unless there is some gain(financial) to be had from making the decision. The buck-passing is of course the best way to delay a decision and take no action, extremely useful by the ministers.
We have only a one point agenda which is the mis(use) of the hobby for disasters, and that's about it. There is so much more to talk about and achieve but many think that Ham Radio will come to the rescue during disasters. We have no storyboard!!
Licensing issues will persist in our country, and since the laws and regulations are so convoluted that making sense of them is a nightmare. The touts will charge a tidy amount for getting you the material legally in the country. I am no authority on the Indian Customs rules and regulations, and there have been a number of attempts by others to explain the regulations albeit in their own way. At least it is heartening ot note that there is good knowledge abd experts on the topic and some hams have also volunteered to assist with the import based on correct paperwork. Politicians do not care about the hobby and we all know why, so even trying to involve them is a useless venture and we can keep emailing them and writing to the Ministry etc., but will achieve nothing. Inviting them for events are also a waste of time. No technocrat ministers are there who would understand the value of an advanced hobby such as Ham Radio, Ministers do not even understand sports (besides cricket).
Of the interested ham population there are many who have imported rigs on their own and these do not count. In these VU2 e-groups ARSICOM- 749 members, CQ-VU- 642 members, Hambrewers - 308 members, vuhams - 922. This means that there are about 1500 hams on these e-groups. Of which 90% have good rigs and are not interested in importing anything more or building anything, which leaves us with 150 hams who are keen to get their hands on a kit and actually build it/use it. So these groups have been active in the last few weeks about doing something, but we are happy if someone else does it for us, I have asked for volunteers for a kit build in SDR (that's the future) but from 1500 active hams (online), I just got 6 people of which just 2 of us are doing some active thinking and we are NOT making a huge publicity and slowly but surely getting something done. Our target (sub INR 5000 RXTX), I will not mention who and how this is being achieved but I think by 20-12-2012 we will have made an entry. Maybe others will be spurred on by seeing a target :D
There was a mail earlier about PUMPING some money into making a kit, but NO-ONE came forward to say, well here is Rs. 1000 as a contribution go ahead lets make something happen. We love stories on how great INDIA was 5000 years ago and we love stories on how we achieved independence 60 years ago (that was because the British were broken due to the Second World War, that they decided to consolidate), but when there is a call to ACTION, there is no one. Oh yes, and we love the story of how our former President contributed in building missiles in the face of opposition from the United States, but, what have you done for the hobby? Parliament is ruled by factionalism and so are we.. Let's admit it.. we cannot get one proper rig out for use, despite our IITs, RECs, our so-called brains, India shining etc., and how VU2RG was a great ham, and another minister loved the hobby in his town.
Questions still open
1. How much activity is happening in all the alloted bands? Can we set up an automated reporting system to monitor the bands in the country? With reporting on the web so we can all see the activity?
2. Are we willing to contribute time and energy to get a kit ready in VU land?
3. Will the rich/settled/well-to-do hams make a donation to a club/ham/college who will then use the funding to get a kit out? I'm sure that if each of us contributes Rs. 500 (assuming 1500 hams)at the minimum we can create a corpus of INR750,000 enough to build a sophisticated rig. I'm sure we all spend a significant amount on other things :-)
4. How many hams will actually build a kit and use it? Do we need a poll on this?
Ratan Tata made the NANO, we achieved freedom, let's make things happen!!
73
Ravi
PS: If there are any brickbats, please write directly and I shall be happy to defend the views above, if you want to contribute constructively please do so.
Believe each human being has the potential to change, to transform one's own attitude, no matter how difficult the situation." - Dalai Lama
Fr
- 1b.
Re: Call to action ... Indian Hams
Posted by: "Pravinkumar Anandan" ab9xc@yahoo.com ab9xc
Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:03 am (PDT)
Hi Ravi,
I carefully went through your article . I completely agree with what you have told about India in general and VU hams in particular. I am a VU2 ham licensed for last 30 years. Most of my spare time was spent designing and assembling ham home brew rigs and test equipments using scarce resources available at that time (at least 20 years back). It was a vastly different scenario at that time . No ebay,no amazon, no internet or cellphone !! Not may RF components (especially active components and prime passive components like toroids etc) were available in VU land . One has to make multiple visits to the electronics shops (even in big cities) to get reasonable components . Finally I managed to assemble a simple HF receiver for 40 meters and 20 meters with components available readily at an affordable price even in small Indian cities. The same was also published in one of the most read ham radio magazine of
the time . I got so many letters requesting clarifications even 2 years after the initial publication of the article. I tried my best to clarify the doubts but I am sorry to tell that I haven't heard of anybody who seriously tried to assemble it. Many were willing to avail my services in assembling it (even offering a payment) ,but I was not interested in doing a business out of it . My aim was to infuse a home brew culture and there by improve the availability of ham rigs so that many people can at least listen to the ham QSOs and get interested in the hobby. But alas I failed so miserably for reasons still not understood . The receiver I designed was just a modification to the then popularly ( and cheaply) available "Delhi Board" semi assembled radio . Even with such an easy option many people were not willing to put there own efforts in assembling minimal circuits required to complete the receiver I think it has something to do with
our inherent culture of indifference and laziness. Everybody want an easy way out . Best way is to import one at a high price ( it was costing at least 6 months salary of an average person at that time). And remember it is only for a hobby and not for any productive use . So one can understand how many people can afford it and I think it is one of the reasons for the hobby not picking up in India for the given size of the population. The scenario is vastly different in developed countries like US ,UK, Japan etc. There are any number of home brew clubs and the price of an off the shelf rig is comparable to a month's salary only. Moreover quality components are all readily available from many in country mail in firms at a very affordable price even 50 years back . There were firms like Heatkit in US who were specialists in supplying kits for ham radio. With the off the shelf rigs now becoming so cheap (when compared to average salaries) it is sad to see
kit companies going out of business in US .
With the great generic shift in the attitudes of the new generation towards home brew I doubt whether it will be worth while attempting a SDR project by pooling money from general ham population. As you have mentioned I also propose a poll on home brewing topic with the VU hams before embarking on the SDR project. In the present day Indian scenario it is extremely difficult to control the spending in a transparent way especially a big amount like Rs 7.5L. I have the unfortunate experience of hearing many hams complaining about another fellow ham who collected a nominal amount ( 25 years back) in advance promising life membership in a ham organization he floated and not honoring the commitment . Such stories are widespread and in the prevailing culture in VU land today it is difficult to control . In the process many well meaning and honest people will get tainted because of the selfish motives of few
rotten people. So before somebody tries to raise a capital amount a complete transparent system should be put in place to oversee the utilization of the funds for the intended purpose. I think raising the amount will be easier than utilizing it for the intended project.
Nevertheless I am extremely interested in the SDR project and wondering how to go forward in the given scenario in VU land now.
73s
DE
(Pravinkumar P.A)
VU2 SHF
AB9XC
________________________________
From: ravimiranda <ravimiranda@yahoo.com>
To: HamBrewers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2012 3:26 PM
Subject: [HamBrewers] Call to action ... Indian Hams
Fellow Hams/Indians
Over the past several weeks we have debated this issue, there are several pertinent points raised and there has of course been some action from various groups over the past 60 years to talk to the Ministry/WPC/IB etc. which is all very nice. However, in a country such as India nothing moves unless there is some gain(financial) to be had from making the decision. The buck-passing is of course the best way to delay a decision and take no action, extremely useful by the ministers.
We have only a one point agenda which is the mis(use) of the hobby for disasters, and that's about it. There is so much more to talk about and achieve but many think that Ham Radio will come to the rescue during disasters. We have no storyboard!!
Licensing issues will persist in our country, and since the laws and regulations are so convoluted that making sense of them is a nightmare. The touts will charge a tidy amount for getting you the material legally in the country. I am no authority on the Indian Customs rules and regulations, and there have been a number of attempts by others to explain the regulations albeit in their own way. At least it is heartening ot note that there is good knowledge abd experts on the topic and some hams have also volunteered to assist with the import based on correct paperwork. Politicians do not care about the hobby and we all know why, so even trying to involve them is a useless venture and we can keep emailing them and writing to the Ministry etc., but will achieve nothing. Inviting them for events are also a waste of time. No technocrat ministers are there who would understand the value of an advanced hobby such as Ham Radio, Ministers do not even understand
sports (besides cricket).
Of the interested ham population there are many who have imported rigs on their own and these do not count. In these VU2 e-groups ARSICOM- 749 members, CQ-VU- 642 members, Hambrewers - 308 members, vuhams - 922. This means that there are about 1500 hams on these e-groups. Of which 90% have good rigs and are not interested in importing anything more or building anything, which leaves us with 150 hams who are keen to get their hands on a kit and actually build it/use it. So these groups have been active in the last few weeks about doing something, but we are happy if someone else does it for us, I have asked for volunteers for a kit build in SDR (that's the future) but from 1500 active hams (online), I just got 6 people of which just 2 of us are doing some active thinking and we are NOT making a huge publicity and slowly but surely getting something done. Our target (sub INR 5000 RXTX), I will not mention who and how this is being achieved but I think by
20-12-2012 we will have made an entry. Maybe others will be spurred on by seeing a target :D
There was a mail earlier about PUMPING some money into making a kit, but NO-ONE came forward to say, well here is Rs. 1000 as a contribution go ahead lets make something happen. We love stories on how great INDIA was 5000 years ago and we love stories on how we achieved independence 60 years ago (that was because the British were broken due to the Second World War, that they decided to consolidate), but when there is a call to ACTION, there is no one. Oh yes, and we love the story of how our former President contributed in building missiles in the face of opposition from the United States, but, what have you done for the hobby? Parliament is ruled by factionalism and so are we.. Let's admit it.. we cannot get one proper rig out for use, despite our IITs, RECs, our so-called brains, India shining etc., and how VU2RG was a great ham, and another minister loved the hobby in his town.
Questions still open
1. How much activity is happening in all the alloted bands? Can we set up an automated reporting system to monitor the bands in the country? With reporting on the web so we can all see the activity?
2. Are we willing to contribute time and energy to get a kit ready in VU land?
3. Will the rich/settled/well-to-do hams make a donation to a club/ham/college who will then use the funding to get a kit out? I'm sure that if each of us contributes Rs. 500 (assuming 1500 hams)at the minimum we can create a corpus of INR750,000 enough to build a sophisticated rig. I'm sure we all spend a significant amount on other things :-)
4. How many hams will actually build a kit and use it? Do we need a poll on this?
Ratan Tata made the NANO, we achieved freedom, let's make things happen!!
73
Ravi
PS: If there are any brickbats, please write directly and I shall be happy to defend the views above, if you want to contribute constructively please do so.
Believe each human being has the potential to change, to transform one's own attitude, no matter how difficult the situation." - Dalai Lama
Fr
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