HAGAL                         INTERNATIONAL 
       

        Israel                       Ham  News

3

     by Ahron Kirschner 4X1AT                                    and Ron Gang 4X1MK

 

 

                               August 2005

 

 

The Maccabiah Games Special Operation                            


The big event in Israel at the time of writing is the 17th annual Maccabiah Games.  Sportspeople from over 50 countries have gathered to compete in a huge variety of sporting events.

 

Miriam 4X6KT cutting the 4X17MG ribbon

 

Before the editorial deadline for this issue in mid-July, Tsachy 4Z4TL, co-ordinator of the special amateur radio operation  to mark the games wrote (our loose translation):

   At the time of writing we are in the 20th day of the operation that started on June 21st with a transmission on 145 MHz the day after the opening of the 17th Maccabiah in Ramat Gan.  This inaugurated the transmissions from 4X17MG with a ceremony at the IARC headquarters with some of the operators present. Miriam Stessel 4X6KT representing the Ministry of Communications and Maya, spokeswoman and public relations officer from the Maccabiah commission were on hand, Miriam cutting the ribbon on the station, with Maya presenting us with the Maccabiah flag, who received in turn an IARC pennant.  The first transmission was on VHF due to a malfunction  in the HF station which was later repaired.  There are 36 operators from Nazareth to Eilat responsible for 14 special callsigns.  About 2000 QSOs a day are being made on CW, SSB and the digital modes.  There are about 220 daily entries to the activities’ web site: www.iarc.org/~4z4tl/Maccabiah17_main.htm

   To this date 42,000 contacts have been made with about 18,000 different stations.  Over 100 stations have been identified as eligible for the special certificate as of the first week of the operation.  One station in Holland has made to this date 42 contacts with each station and a number of times.  On 50 MHz a pleasant surprise of 200 contacts, 100 of them on the first day.  Ever day logs are uploaded online on the site and a statistical graph updated and displayed.

 

left to right:  4Z4TL, Maya (Maccabiah representative) and Miriam 4X6KT at the 4X17MG inauguration.  4Z4JT: photos.   Note:  We expect about 100,000 QSOs in this operation…  final results in our next issue.  Stations have to contact  the 14 special event callsigns for the certificate. Callsigns for the participating stations are: 4X17M 4X17A 4X17C 4X17B 4X17I 4X17H 4Z17M 4Z17A 4Z17C 4Z17B 4Z17I 4Z17H 4X17MG and 4Z17MG.

 

The 4X6KJ Report

Ham Radio 2005

The yearly Ham Radio Exhibition in Friedrichshafen (Germany) is again behind us.  It was for the 15th time that your scribe was there to represent IARC and the country. left to right at the IARC booth: Alina, a Belgian friend of IARC, Judy 4X6SJ, and Ruth 4X4CM

Being that after so many years everything becomes a routine, all went according to plan, without any problems, which in the heat of this year summer heat wave that engulfed Europe was certainly a welcome break.

 

 

The famous dates and wine

 

  Barkan Wineries donated this year’s delicious liquid, red & white wine.   The accompanying “dates”, grown in the Jordan Valley were, as every year graciously donated by Aaron Suleima 4X6AS.

    Despite the heat, the IARC booth was crowded as usual, many visitors to the fair passing by, inquiring about friends, country and tasting the goodies.

    Of course, a word of thanks has been mentioned to the help in and around the booth.  (In order of call sign):

Amnon  4X1DF ; Yuval  4X1FN – AA2KD ; Michael  4X4KF ; Shalom  4Z4BS and YL Judith ; Mark 4Z4KX ; and last but not least Jacques PA3AJW.

    Saturday morning saw a burst of activity as the winners of the 2004 Holyland Contest received their prizes.

    Many IARC members came by, some as a real surprise it seems that every year a good number of members travel around Europe during the end of June, and take the opportunity of visiting this Ham Radio event.

 

7 MHz. Band

   Some seventeen (17) countries in IARU Region 1, have received or are about to receive permission from their communication ministries to operate HF on the new segment of the 7.100 -7.200 MHz. band.

   This “early access” is of course on a non-interfering basis with other services. With other words, if a certain frequency is free it may be used for HF communications.  Europeans are now in the position to contact IARU Region 2 (North & South America) amateurs without having to operate on split frequencies.

 

WRC Conference.

The conference originally set for 2007 will most likely be postponed a year later than planned, it seems that the ITU has a problem with its budget, so at the Ham Radio talk circulated that the conference might be held in 2008.

 

Michael Barak 4X4KF, illustrious editor of HaGAK and Yuval Zeira 4X1FN-AA2KD

 

Emergency Conference Tampere (Finland)

A  IARU Conference has taken place in June devoted to “Emergency Communications”; Amnon 4X1DF represented IARC & Israel at that meeting, and showed a power point presentation of “emergency communication” as is practiced in Israel.

The presentation made & arranged by Moshe 4X1PF.

 

The IARC booth being set up at Friedrichshafen.  Note that the Japanese booth next down the aisle.

 

Amnon told upon his return, that this presentation made a real impact on all present.  A further meeting will be held later in the year in Tunis, to legalize the decisions taken, for better cooperation, transfer of equipment and licensing in case of disastrous emergencies.

                                             73 de Joe 4X6KJ

 

HOLYLAND CONTEST NEWS

      Mark 4Z4KX reports that over 350  logs have been received from overseas for the 2005 Holyland contest, with another 112 from within Israel, a new record.  Mark laments that there were quite a few more active Israeli stations that still did not send in their log sheets.

 

 

IARU Region 1 Conference  (Davos 2005)  

This tri-annual conference will be held from 11 – 19 of September.  Expectations are that most Region 1 countries will attend and send a representative to Davos. Many non-European countries will need visas in order to enter Switzerland, because of strict security rules.  Conference papers have been received by IARC and are being studied.

 

TWO METER MADNESS

   This July has seen some amazing 2 sporadic E openings on two meters.  One such phenomena was witnessed by your reporter 4X1MK around 6 PM on the 4th… LZ1ZX was heard making an FM contact with a mobile station on the Tel-Aviv repeater… yet the Bulgarian station was operating SIMPLEX on the output frequency of the R7 machine, and the mobiles were hearing his signal directly!

  I QSYed with him to a simplex frequency where he implored me to come on 144.300 MHz SSB and CW, even tho’ I had only a miniscule 5 watts on those modes… and we established initial contact there while I was still on half a watt, albeit it with a good 16 element array.  Further contacts were made with many Bulgarian stations, a Romanian and a Hungarian station was heard.  I would have continued, yet the supper call came on this end.

  Shalom 4X1UN, also operating 5 watts on 2 meters has reported many interesting sporadic E DX VHF contacts…  great fun!

  As usual in the summer we are enjoying the great VHF and UHF tropo ducting working all over the eastern Mediterranean including 500 Km contacts up to the new R5 repeater near Adana, Turkey (please see the article elsewhere in this magazine by Ilhan TA5A).

 

MORE STUFF….

    With the lowering of requirements for the Grade B license, there have been some requests to make the Grade A (Advanced-Extra) class easier to obtain, essentially lessening the code speed required.  The Ministry of Communications has decided to wait and see what recommendations will come out of the USA, apparently in 2006.  4Z4TL reports that there is a feeling against “cheapening” the Grade A, especially in the light of bitter lessons learned by a number of national radio societies with regard to lowering the license requirements in general, that were reported to have caused more problems than done good. It was decided by the IARC council not crystallize a position on this matter.

left to right,  Joshua Berger 4Z5CE - IK2OIU

Yuval 4X1FN, Morel 4X1AD

 

At Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen there were fewer exhibitors than in past years,. Yet 230 signed our guest book, with an apparently greater interest in the Israeli booth.  The flea market was bigger than ever, this aspect really gaining popularity.  A crew will be formed to examine our aims at this fair and what to do next year.

_…_

Shlomo 4X1AS has requested to step down as Israel’s representative at AMSAT (The Amateur Satellite Organization), and has warmly recommended Tidhar 4Z5CA as our new rep.

 

A LETTER FROM TURKEY

   It has come to my attention that a pirate station in Turkey, by the name of Ali, has been using my callsign and operating CW (sometimes SSB) on HF bands for a number of years. The numerous QSL cards that I have recently received prove this. He has been telling people that his QTH is Izmir in western Turkey. Please verify your future QSOs with TA5A by sending an Email ta5a@yahoo.com or ta5a@ttnet.net.tr before sending me a QSL card. My license number is 103 which, most probably, he does not know. The next time you have a QSO with this dummy TA5A, please ask him the license number to verify his identity. Please do not divulge my license number to him. He will not be able to give you the correct number. But, still, the most reliable way to confirm a QSO with TA5A would be by sending an Email to one of my above e-mail addresses. 

   73s de TA5A, Ilhan Arikan, Adana, TURKEY

 

And to close this issue… the harmonic of Moshe Nataf 4Z5AN in Afula gives some youthful  QRM on the weekly 40 meter roundtable!

                                       73 de Ahron and Ron