QSL Bureau - a big shame?
[DXNL 1821 - February 27th, 2013]: Changes in the USKA QSL bureau:
QSL cards for non-members of the Swiss IARU society USKA will no longer be returned with a "Not Member" stamp, but silently discarded, to save work and money.
What a shame! This is known problem for many years: the QSL Bureau is roughly abused by a national Ham Radio Society (mostly IARU member) to force hams in the country to join. On the other hand, the Ham radio society officers whining about declining ham-spirit and operating skils. Isn't something rotten there with the IARU and ham radio generally? Why a QSL Bureau can't serve at non-profit basis for an acceptably small fee to ALL HAMS IN THE COUTRY, regardless of membership?
A particular ham may have a half dozen of reasons to NOT be A MEMBER of the local Ham Radio Society but such ham is excluded from the common QSL exchange. This is an usual practice in many countries for years.
Anyway, my QSL card is MY PROPERTY until delivery to the recipient. I pay for a QSL card (printing, labels, my postal or QSL Bureau expenses etc.) in good belief that it will be delivered to the recipient. The Ham Radio Society decides to silently discard my property without informing me about my waste money.
How much QSL cards discarded do I need to initiate a lawsuit to get a compensation? Where should I get a proof that they actually made such nasty act?
WE NEED A CHANGE!
First Class CW Operators’ Club 75th Anniversary On-Air Celebration
To commemorate our 75th anniversary in May FOC is holding a month-long on-air event featuring more than 30 special "FOC" suffix calls. These will include GB75FOC, a special anniversary call for our club station. (GP4FOC will be used when operating from Guernsey, GS4FOC from Scotland and GT4FOC from Isle of Man). There will be many other FOC calls from the USA and VE and from more exotic locations such as VQ9, HZ1 and 5T.
Stations will gain points for contacting any FOC member and a beautiful certificate will be presented to stations who reach certain point levels.
Read more: First Class CW Operators’ Club 75th Anniversary On-Air Celebration
W4RNL Antenna Site back!
While surfing over the internet I found the original version of W4RNL's (L. B. Cebik) site at http://w4rnl.net46.net/. The site seems to be complete (including downloads) although some external links are broken (probably obsolete). The W4RNL site is a prime source of antenna info. A must see!
Winkey USB works in Linux
It is an UDP server allowing operation of the Winkey USB by K1EL with any Linux program with UDP keyer capability. It works in the same way as the popular cwdaemon. With Winkeyer USB server expands the useability of this excellent product to all Linux program with UDP keyer capability (TLF by PA0R etc.).
Downloads:
Just for the case of problems with your current distribution, the older version may work for you.
Niue changes prefix from ZK2 to E6
On 2012, August 3, the ITU updated its Table of International Call Sign Series to reflect a call sign change for Niue Island. The island will now have the entire E6 prefix block. Niue, an island approximately 1700 miles northeast of New Zealand, is a self-governing island nation that has been in free association with New Zealand since 1974.
Prior to the change, the island used ZK2. Niue, which is about 1.5 times the size of Washington, DC, has a population of almost 600 people.
Heathkit closing again
For those of us who grew up building Heathkits and hoped that the company would rebuild itself successfully, it looks as though there is no longer any hope.
The Heath Co. was founded in 1926 as an aircraft company but shifted its focus several times to remain competitive. After World War II the company switched to the electronics industry and bought a large surplus of wartime electronic parts to build kits. The company once employed as many as 1,800 people in the Twin Cities.
The article (link below) explains the bankruptcy and mentions how Steve Jobs was one of the thousands that were inspired by Heathkit. The two comments echo how many of us feel about the loss of the company.
[from the MorseCode mailing list]
CW Academy
The CW Operators' Club announces its CW Academy, a program aimed at increasing the fun of using CW in the world of Ham Radio. The program addresses all levels of enthusiasts; from those aspiring to become licensed operators with a desire to learn Morse Code, all the way to veteran operators wanting to increase their CW activity, skills, and code speed.
Those wishing to participate will register here. A CWops member/advisor will be assigned to each registrant as a mentor and on-air contact. We will use "sub-bands" similar to the Novice bands of yesteryear for all Academy students, CWops advisors, and CWops members to communicate with one another worldwide (e.g. 3.550-3.570, 7.050-7.070, 14.050-14.070, 21.050-21.070 and 28.050-28.070).
So, if you've always wanted to join the fun of using Morse Code over the air, or want to become a better CW operator, we welcome you to the CW Academy. Just sign up here and we'll contact you, shortly.