There are always Grey areas in any walk of life and Amateur Radio was no
exception. When it was announced that 500 khz would be released to Radio
Amateurs in the Uk some already had Transmitters and were testing and
communicating with others before the due date, discretely of course.
The same applied to /MM and /AM activities before such licences were
authorised. Some Radio Officers also Radio Amateurs would operate on the amateur
bands from aircraft and ships. Likewise on LF and MF not every communication by
Radio Amateurs was strictly authorised because of licence variations and
restrictions, however communications did take place.
At a later date when Licences for the above activities were issued and
official attitudes were more relaxed we were all claiming a First for a contact
with another Amateur or new Country etc when in fact it all took place before
and it was old hat.
Perhaps we should have two historical tables of past activities one
Authorised and the other Unauthorised to cover the grey areas but who would
admit to such activities.
I do remember working the odd Russian station in the 1950’s but QSO’S were
brief ie CQ DE UB6XXX and I would reply de G3KEV 599 and get 599 reply but no
exchange of callsigns. On my radio licence I do not recall any restrictions
forbidding me to QSO with others, the restrictions always seemed to be the other
end.
Amateur radio is not an exact science be prepared for surprises
I think the subject is now exhausted.
G3KEV/YI2DX/VS6HI/9V1OY/VS9MB/VR4MH/ZC4DX/5A4MH/9M2CC/EI2AE/GI3KEV
i still have some QSL cards if anyone worked me and is desperate for a
First
Sent: Sunday, April 1, 2018 7:52 AM
Subject: Re: LF: CORRECTION regarding 2E0ILY-N1BUG
QSO
As
has been pointed out, there seems to be some uncertainty about what was and what
was not authorised in the early 2000s. In my first full-time job I shared a
bench with a trade union branch secretary who said he much preferred written
agreements because he could then argue about interpretation.
There is also the question of whether the authorities were aware of what
was going on and whether they chose to ignore it. It is possible they were too
busy with something else.
John F5VLF
Hi Alex yes I am sure we all had our bouts of 'unlicenced
experimentation' The LF community was so small that anything like a T/A
qso would probably not go unnoticed. RU6LAs collection of events was an
interesting read. I must remember to consult it before ''mis-remembering'' in
future:-)) it corrected several silly errors in my first
post.
It seems a long time ago now . If you have contact with Ed
(?) RU6LA could you advise that the URL, behind the button to my propagation
report in the toolbar at the top, no longer exists.
Best Wishes
Alan
G3NYK
-----
Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2018 8:01
PM
Subject: Re: LF: CORRECTION regarding
2E0ILY-N1BUG QSO
Alan,
ie it was US pirate or unlis with a good experience of RX and TX on LF
in the early 2000s.
I know such cases on 160m band in the USSR. In the early 1960s Vlad
UB5WF (pirate) made 2way legendary Stew W1BB and Jack VE1ZZ in particular :)
I gave part of his 160m log in Top-band reflector with Vlad consent in
2004
I even know the current LF enthusiast from Russia on pirated 50mc
:)
In any case, congratulations to Chris and Paul on the first official
2way QSO USA<>EU and USA<>G !
