Hello All,
Several people have sent me questions about my operation as XV7SW from Hanoi,
Vietnam. I thought that editing this into some kind of FAQ + Answer message
would be a good idea, so here we go:
WHEN QRV AGAIN? I am presently on leave in Sweden and I expect to be on the
air again from Hanoi some time in October.
LOW BAND ACTIVITY? I am a low band fan, so this winter I will give priority
to 160-80-40 meters. My antennas for 160 and 80 meters came down in a
hurricane recently, but I expect to be able to put them up again without any
problems. Besides heavy QRN most of the year, man-made noise is my main
headache, since I am located in the middle of Hanoi.
SKEDS? Due to my workload, I find it difficult to run skeds; my own schedule
is somewhat unpredictable at times. Because of the time difference with
Sweden, I often work late, which dampens my enthusiasm for sunrise hobbies
now and then.
RIG: Drake TR-7 + RV-7, Trio TL-922 Linear, kW on all bands.
ANTENNAS: Log-Periodic for 13-30 MHz, 24 meters up
40 M: inv Vee
80 M: GP with 4 elevated radials
160 M: Inv L with 3 elevated radials
FREQUENCIES, BANDS? I am restricted to operating only on certain fixed
frequencies (for which I pay a considerable annual fee). My CW FQs are:
1827, 3506, 7007, 14016, 14021, 21016, 21019, 28016 and 28019 kHz.
It is always appreciated if you don't call zero beat. I cannot operate WARC
bands and I do not owe a microphone (spelling correct?).
QSL CARDS? My address is:
Rolf T Salme
Embassy of Sweden
Box 9
Hanoi
VIETNAM
1 USD is sufficient for mailing up to 2 cards in an envelope. JA no minnasan:
Nihon de kattara, ichidoru wa IRC ichimai yori yasui to kikimashita. Sore de,
Nihonjin no bai wa, dorusatsu o tsukau hoo ga ichiban benri to omoimasu.
Kindly note that Vietnamese stamps are of rather low denominations and
quite big, so pse leave plenty of space on your return envelope. PLEASE use
reasonably fresh USD-bills, since the banks do not accept crumpled or dirty
bills. Pilfering happens, but not very often. A batch of envelopes I mailed
in September 95 seems to have disappeared altogether; I have since changed to
another post office.
I also have a QSL manager in Sweden, Joe, SM3CXS. We both have the DXBase Log
program, courtesy W8ZF, and I send my QSO file to Joe about once a month.
Buro cards should be sent to SM3CXS, since there is no buro in Vietnam.
STATIONS QRV FROM VIETNAM? To my knowledge, there are now 5 licensed
stations: 3W5FM, 3W5RS, 3W6AR, XV7SW and XV7TH.
XV1A is a pirate, most probably far from Vietnam.
LICENSING? Amateur radio in the sense we know it does not exist in Vietnam
and the above licensees should be seen as exceptions, pending the
introduction of a fresh set of Regulations for Amateur Radio. A draft has
been ready for some years but is still on ice. The licensing authority is the
Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications, the DGPT, which merely
deals with the technical aspects of an application. There are other
authorities involved as well. I am afraid that I cannot influence any of their
decisions.
The DGPT has a positive view on amateur radio. For example, they took very
quick action and removed the station VRQ from the 14 MHz amateur band as soon
as I brought this problem to their attention. If VRQ reappears, please let me
know.
73 & Cu on Low Bands!
de
Rolf
SM5MX, XV7SW
IARU Region 3 Correspondent for Vietnam
(presently on leave in Stockholm)
Msg to: dx@ve7tcp.ampr.org
topband@contesting.com
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