Paper CQ-QSO or not? (Was To UBA or not to UBA)

After my email and blogpost about the UBA and it’s paper magazine I received a reply from Rik ON7YD who said the board members of UBA are really aware of this problem and they are looking for a solution.

Because some people misuse all information about the UBA I will not get into the details of this in public.

As soon as the different possibilities have been studied the UBA will of course publish how it will react to this problem.

The least I can say is that I am happy with the emails I received from the UBA and that this matter is under study.

To UBA or not to UBA (2)

Today I received a very constructive reply from ON7YD ant ON7TK to my email concerning mainly the paper magazine of the uba.

Unfortunately some people seem to use my ‘open’ letter to stir up the war between the different radioamateur associations in Belgium.

For those who don’t agree with the things I write, you can always reply to me directly or on the blog. No need to only send emails to your friends about it.

And let me state this again: IF ALL THE ENERGY YOU GUYS HAVE PUT IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN BELGIUM DURING THE LAST TEN OR FIFTEEN YEARS HAD BEEN USED FOR PROMOTING AND PROTECTING HAM RADIO IN BELGIUM, TODAY IT WOULD BE A LOT EASIER FOR ALL OF US TO PUT UP TOWERS AND ANTENNAS WITHOUT ALL THE ADMINISTRATIVE HASSLE WE GET NOW.

I’ll probably comment on the reply from ON7YD and ON7TK in a few days, I will have to think about every word I write… “Everything you say will be misquoted and used against you”

To UBA or not to UBA?

A few days ago I received an e-mail from Rik ON7YD to ask me to pay the yearly membership fee for the UBA. Since a few years they send out these e-mails a few weeks before they send out letters to all members. For those who pay before the letters are sent out they can spare some postage.

After receiving this e-mail I sent this reply to Rik ON7YD (the dutch speaking vice-president of the uba) and to Claude ON7TK (the president of the uba):

(I sent the reply in dutch but translated it here for you, in italic you find some extra explanations to help you understand)

Dear Rik,

with all due respect to those putting a lot of work in it but I think CQ-QSO (the bi-monthly printed magazine of the uba) is a huge waste of money. Continue reading To UBA or not to UBA?

I am now a member of ARRL

At the recent Hamradio at Friedrichshafen I decided to become a member of ARRL. This is why:

  • It’s cheaper than UBA at least if you don’t need the printed QST (this doesn’t mean I will cancel my UBA membership yet)
  • QST is way better than CQ-QSO
  • My favorite contest is the ARRL RTTY Roundup and now at least I can see my Log Checking Report (more on that in a later post)
  • At Friedrichshafen I pretty much had the same feeling when approaching the UBA booth as in previous years (see my post from 2007), still no hugs and kisses 🙂

Message for the UBA: please get rid of the paper CQ-QSO, it is a HUGE waste of valuable money. All of your members have an internet connection so PDF is ok! With the money gained you could lower the membership fees and invest some more in promoting and defending HAM radio in Belgium!

Writer’s block?

A lot of things have happened since my last post here but I didn’t really feel like writing anything about them lately.

A small summary:

  • we did the Region 1 SSB fieldday with the club station ON6CK/p (and came in second behind the OQ8A/p team)
  • the belgian guys conquered Rockall, congrats to the team!
  • the british guys decided not to go to Rockall. I don’t really understand the reasons, if all those who wanted to climb the Everest would have cancelled their plans because someone was there before them then only a few people would have done it. Moreover the pileups from Rockall will not be less for the second team going there than for the first one. And I still need EU189!
  • I finally ordered a new transceiver!
  • I modified my RTTY setup to do FSK instead of AFSK (with the FT990)
  • I made a portable setup to take on holiday

The last 3 of the list will probably be the subjects of some future posts!

So what makes me write this in the last hours of CQ WW SSB? I’m at the qth of my girlfriend and to tired to set up the portable station. Wedding parties are probably more tiring than 24hrs of contesting 🙂 Moreover we have to leave for an other party in less than an hour.

My next contest is in 3 weeks from now… still some work to do (the 4 rotary switches problem, remember?)