FAIRS Newsletter
Volume 13 -- Fall 1995
FAIRS Director David Larsen and wife Gaynell visited China during in early summer and operated from BY1QH. They were on a FAIRS trip and also asisting James Littlefield professor of marketing on a study abroad tour with 15 marketing studentsfrom Virginia Tech. The 3 week trip started in Singapore and included Hong Kong, ---- Beijing, Shinyang, Shanghi, and Tengin. David and Gaynell were guest of the BY1QH Amateur Radio Club at Tsinghau University in Beijing. They were invited to gave a lecture at Tsingau University by Rick Niu BZ1QL Club Public Relations Officer at BY1QH. Rick was in the process of graduating and we were help by Rick and Sean Tao BZ1UV. David, Sean, and Gaynell gave a 2 hour lecture about ham radio and FAIRS. A two way contact was demonstrated by Rick and Sean. There were about 200 attending the lecture and a great interest was expressed about amateur radio. Mr. Chin Pin BZ1HAM and many other locat hams also attend to learn about FAIRS. Mr. Chin Pin is the Liason Officer for the Chinese Amateur Radio Sport Association and is responsible for expanding amateur radio in China. We had met Mr. Chin Pin in Dayton and also received our Chinese amateur operating permits from him about a week earlier.
The BY1QH Clubstation is located on the 4th floor of a mens dormitor with a 4 element 20 meter monoband antenna and a multiband Quad made by the club members. The hf transciever is a Yaesu 757 runing about 80 watts. We made several hundred contacts and some with FAIRS friends in Ukraine and USA. The conditions were not very good and an amplifier would have been a help. FAIRS headquarters is in the process of obtaining an hf amplifier to send to the BY1QH.
There are only 125 club stations in China and less than 200 hams in the whole country. Amateur radio has great possibilites in China. FAIRS will be some part of it with BY!QH being an offical FAIRS club station . There are about 15 members in the club and there are all very fluent in english. It was a great pleasure for Gaynell and I to be guest ot the Tsinghau University Amateur Radio Club BY1QH.
The day after we arrived in Beijing Gaynell and I received an invitation to join Ambassador Mohamad and his wife at the Bangladesh Embassy. It was a very injoyable evning. Ambassador Mohamad was able to give us brief history of China and the current state of affiars. It was a great opportunity to discuss amateur radio and how amatuer radio and FAIRS are helping in Bangladesh.
The trip was a great success for the students and us radio amateurs and FAIRS members. We also enjoyed some wonderful sightseeing of the Great Wall of China, The Forbin City, Tinimen Square, The Summere Palace and lots of excellent chinese food.
Victor Goncharsky US5WE Director of European FAIRS Operations and his FAIRS colleagues have been very busy designing the node to connect Ukraine with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The European fullduplex packet backbone is more complex than most the simplex links the USA. We only have one opportunity to purchase the equipment therefor a lot of study is taken needed to do the very best we can and have the network as modern as possible. Bob Bruce DJ0XC in Berlin has been a big help with information and design ideas for the digital network.
The purchase of equipment has started with a 2 meter repeater, vhf transceiver, Ten-Tec hf transceiver and Sommer hf beam antenna for the APLINK station. The return to the Ukraine of Helen Goncharsky UR5WE and daughter Julia was a great opportunity to send the vhf and hf transceiver to the Ukraine as part of their luggage. I understand the customs in Warsaw were a problem but Helens persistence was able to get the equipment in for transport to Ukraine with out extra cost.
Donations for grant project excellent
The response to our request for donations to help with the Ukraine digital project has been excellent. Nearly two thousand dollars has been received. This will be a tremendous help to the project as the grant has no funds for overhead cost or extras. There are always expenses that can't be planned for in advance and these funds will be a great help.
To all who have donated funds and support the Ukraine project please accept a our thank you and gratitude for your kindness and assistance from all of us building this important digital network.
FAIRS member Helen Goncharsky UR5WA and her 9 year old daughter Julia visited the USA in July and were hosted by David and Gaynell Larsen of Floyd, VA. Helen and Julia had the opportunity to visit many of their amateur radio and FAIRS friends during the one month stay.
Very early in the visit Helen upgraded her American license to Advanced class KD4WLT. Some of the other amateur activities included attending the Roanoke Amateur Radio Club Meeting and an open house at the Larsen's attended by many amateurs and friends who wanted to know more about life in the Ukraine. Helen was invited to speak with several groups during the month about the life of women in the Ukraine.
A highlight of the stay for Julia was a trip to Florida with Gaynell Larsen KD4GMV, Debbie Kavitz KE4SBZ and her daughter Beth, and Helen. The first night of the trip was spent in Jacksonville Florida and the home of Cathy Cavenaugh, a friend who had spent several years in Helens hometown of Lvov as a Peace Corps representative. A trip to the Jacksonville Beach on the Atlantic was the first time visit to the ocean for both the Goncharsky's.
Julia had the opportunity to spend several days with her pen pals Missy Garrett ---------and Beth Kavitz These visits were a great influence on Julia's English. As always the month in the USA was over to quickly. However all Helens ham friends can keep in contact every Sunday during the FAIRS radio gathering at 1200z on 14,185 kz.
By Sohel M Awrangzeb - KE4AEU - Dhaka, Bangladesh
I feel Amateur Radio to heart. When FAIRS team came to Bangladesh and
invites me to join in their Training Program, I was glad to accept that.
The program ended with success. We 17 individuals from Bangladesh got FCC
license. And this is the story of the earlier part of the year 1993.
From then FAIRS Bangladesh was in the sleeping mode. But we few people
here, always hoped and pray that someday we can do the works we like to
do (being active HAMs promoting Amateur Radio to other interested and
dedicated people).
WARM Ups:
In the mid of May 1994 a group of students from the Bangladesh University for
Engineering and Technology (BUET) met the most active HAM operator in
Bangladesh -- guess who? He is Manju S21AM/KE4AEV. They invited him
to give a live demonstration of Amateur Radio. That group of students
formed a Amateur Radio Club named "Engineering University Amateur Radio
Club" (EUARC). EUARC arranged a day long exhibition on 2nd June in the
campus. "Alfa Mike" discussed it with me, and asked me if I can assist
him. I was pleased enough to co-operate him.
Preparations:
Manju insisted EUARC group to invite him as a FAIRS body, not as an
individual. Then came the tough part -- getting the permission out from
the T&T to operate a station from EUARC venue. "Alfa Mike" sweeping out
the permission from the authority (a terrific guy!).
The program was scheduled to open at 10:00. In due time Vice Chancellor
of the BUET inaugurated the show. The VC recognized FAIRS and David G.
Larsen. On behalf of FAIRS Bangladesh, I presented FAIRS cap and QSL
cards to the VC. Official transmissions started after that.
My role there was to answer technical questions relating Amateur Radio
and of course familiarizing FAIRS International and FAIRS Bangladesh
to the visitors. Several pressmen talked with Manju and me, next day
they published the activities.
Conclusion:
The show was an overwhelming exposure of FAIRS. Visitors were mainly
attracted to the FAIRS portion of the show. "Alfa Mike" gave an
extraordinary demonstration on Amateur Radio all day long flawlessly.
ALL FAIRS members should have the courage to be active like anything.
We should pick interested and active and dedicated new HAMs through
Training Programs, Promotional Activities and Amour.
Our Target is to . . .
- establish the Club Station very soon.
- bringing as many as possible HAMs on the Air.
- establish a very efficient, active and motivated well equipped
team capable of going anywhere in the event of emergency
situation on short notice.
The celebration of the 4 anniversary of FAIRS founding by special event stations proved to be popular with many radio amateurs. Special event stations were in operation during the period May 6-9 at the Guyana embassy in Washington DC, FAIRS Headquarters in Floyd, VA. and FAIRS groups in Lvov, Ukraine and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Nearly one thousand contact were made by the USA stations. Operating from the Guyana embassy was Jack Kavitz KS4FK, Peter Denny 8R1WD, David Larsen KK4WW and ambassador Ismael talking on the radio from his embassy. Operators from FAIRS headquarters were -------------------. Jack KS4FK has done an excellent job senfinh out the special event cirtificates to everyone sending a QSL and 8x11 SASE to Floyd VA.
QST Magazine --- Great follow up publicity for the event has been obtained with the pubication of photo in the Up Front section of the September 95 issue of QST. The photo has 8R1WD operating the station with ambassador Ismail and KK4WW observing. 8R1WD has reported a pile up as a result of the photo everytime he is operating.
We would like as many FAIRS members as possible to operate during the 5th founders day celebration by operation call-sign\FAIRS during May 9-12,1996.
Peter Denny 8R1WD visited Dayton Hamvention in late April and returned to FAIRS Headquarters in Floyd Virginia for a two week visit with David and Gaynell Larsen. During the visit Peter meet many of his on the air ham friends from SW Virginia and gave very informitive talk about ham radio in Guyana at the Southwest Virginia Wireless Association on May 1st. The meeting was preceded by many of the members gathering for dinner at a local restrurant in Roanoke.
One of 8R1WD's purposes for comming to the US was to participate in the special events operation celabrating the 4th anaversary of the founding of FAIRS. Peter help arrange, set up and operate the special event station at the Guyana Embassy in Washington DC during the week end of May 6th and 7th.
Repeater on the air in Guyana for the first time.
During the Dayton weekend FAIRS Purchased a two meter Duplexer and several hundred feet of coax two meter repeater in Guyana. The repeater was donated by a friend of 8R1CJ's and a few more componients were needed to put it into operation. The duplexer was tested and tuned to the Gayana frequency by FAIRS members Henry Henderson KD4ZB owner of Professional Communications in Blacksburg, VA. The duplexer, coax and some other equipment was sent to Guyana by FAIRS Headquarters and when it arrive the repeater was put on the air by 8R1WD, 8R1CJ and other friends and hams. The test was made on August 15th with the antenna at 85 feet and the results were excellent. The antenna will be mounted in its final location at 185 feet and should give coverage of the coastal area for many miles. This is a big boost in the amateur radio activity in Guyana and will give the Guyana Amatuer Radio Association (GARA) the ability to provide public service and emergency communications for the Georgetown area. Many thanks to everyone that helped make this very import work a success.
David Larsen Director of FAIRS was selected to receive the first Virginia Tech award for University outreach. David has been a faculty member teaching electrionic instrumentation and automation in the Chemistry Department for the past 28 years. He has also been assisting the university in arranging memorandum of understandings with universities in Ukriane, Russia, and Lithuania. David has also arranged unversity exchange programs and taught his specialty of Instrument Automation in Bangladesh, Guyana, China, Itlay and Switzerland during the past 25 years. This award was a great honor for David and he credits amateur radio with allowing him to meet of the international people who were interested interested in these programs. Most of Davids international travels allowed him to accomplish both FAIRS and university projects during the same trip. Most of his university colleauges who work in internatioal work give credit to Davids amateur radio work for opening the door for many Virginia Tech projects.
FAIRS has received some good publicity during the past several months in addition to the QST color photo mentioned in the special event write up. The June 95 issue of QST page 77 had a nice write up about the Ukraine Digital Network grant with a photo of FAIRS members Fred K3ZO, Vlad U5WF, Larry N4VA, Victor US5WE and David KK4WW. The special event was announced the in April in QST, 73 Magazine and CQ Magazine so a lot of hams were ready for the operation.
The newsletter for "Disaster Emergency Response Association" did a full page profile about FAIRS in the July issue. We appreciate all the publicity for FAIRS because it gives us visibility, new members and more recognition when we are requesting donations. It all helps so please do your part by telling others about FAIRS and please send us the names of anyone you would like to have us furnish information and it will be mailed to them.