Remember ham radio is not invented by your great grand father. It was a Western invention. 

One other observerd behaviour is that if  a person is incapable of something he does not want the others to proceed with it. He can't learn CW, he would disturb people working on CW. This is a sick behaviour. His state of mind lacks the enzyme of progressiveness. It is akin to mental sickness.

Earlier on RAE in Malaysia was in English and of essay type. No non-educated person could pass it.  Ham radio is international, not for people of kampung ulu. Hence you do it in English and you should be proficient in CW because million of hams still go CW. It can save life.

However if you don't like CW and English just keep it to yourself and should not cause problems to others.

9M2s ARE AGEING ? - Where are all the 9M2s ? The net is dead. A couple migrated to VK land. Many get old. Some are dying. It is not wrong to say that 9M2s are ageing, hence lost interest in ham radio. The new hams are more  on the DX band.

Once upon a time one 9W2 station passed remark that all the 9M2s are waiting to go 6  feet down below. Perhaps the remark is true. Old hams are not heard anymore. Eshee, 9M2FK, is the oldest ham to come on the band at times.

9M2GV, 9M2DW, 9M2AV, 9M2GL, 9M2SS, 9M2RJ, 9M2FK, 9M2MW, 9M2DJ, 9M2CF, 9M2GJ, 9M2BH and a few more others were on the local band almost every day for many years, until many went silent key. Now the remaining hams like 9M2SB, 9M2DS, 9M2FK, 9M2GJ, 9M2RI, 9M2RS, 9M2AR, 9M2AL and many more are above 60. A big majority has surpassed 75. It is true that 9m2s are ageing.

REQUIREMENTS FOR LEARNING CW - 1. You need to have patience. You can't learn CW in one week or one month. Many people took one year to learn and practise it. 2. Learning kit. Learning kit could be a casset, CD or the new hitech audio stuffs. If you don't have any of the item, you have to have a communication receiver which is quite expensive. Or one 9M2 ham who is well verse in CW. If you have a computer, there are so many free CW trainers you can download from the internet. 3. Time - Find or create time for you to listen to codes. 4. System - Create your own system the way you want to learn copying and later sending. 5. Tone oscillator - You can build a simple tone oscillator or use a cheap radio to use as tone oscillator by feedback the output to the input using a capacitor between them. If your rig has the CW facility use it.

below is an abstract from http://www.sarl.org.za/public/licences/operprac.asp

Many new Radio Amateurs start with telephony (Phone) yet use the Q-code which is meant for Morse Code (CW) use, and not for Phone. On phone there is little point in saying "there is some QRM on your signal" instead of simply saying "there is some interference on your signal". Many new Licensees seem to think that they should use the Q-Code simply because they are Radio Amateurs. However, there is a case for using Q-Codes on telephony if the operators do not share a common language. When they both converse in the same language, there is little point in using signals designed and intended for Morse Code (CW) use.

As a prelude to becoming a Ham, people should serve a basic training as a Short-wave Listener, both on the Broadcast bands and Amateur Radio bands, and have some knowledge which will help them considerably when going on the air for the first time. Today, there is a tendency for new Radio Amateurs to come straight into Amateur Radio, never having heard an Amateur contact being made before obtaining their Licences, and they are therefore unfamiliar with basic procedures.

HELLO WIFE, HELLO KID - There is no regulation that prevent us from talking to our wives or our kids who are licenced. But people began to talk about it saying the licenced wives and kids only talk to their fathers or husbands. The licences taken are mainly to save money. No need to use any mobile phone. Some hams termed it as 'the hijacking of the ham radio'. The purpose of the ham radio sways from its course. 

To avoid such an accusation, it is better for the wives and kids to also talk to other ham stations from time to time rather than staying inside the family boundry.

But there are wives who talk to all.

A 10% outside family talk is good enough. Below it is considered 'not a ham', only pass the ham exam and using the ham frequency. What more, ham frequency has a national link repeater. The profit is always there.

HAM RADIO ENHANCES YOUR KNOWLEDGE - A group of Malaysian hams once learn Thai language from a Thai ham. And the teacher on the other was learning Malay. 9M2ZA became well verse and he gave speech using Thai lingo at one SEANET convention.

I heard a conversation between one US station with an Australian. They were talking abouttheir homes the people and the environments. Here we learn geography and their culture.

Technical discussion is a bit obvious. The topics are unending, range from radio communication to microchips and space exploration. If your mind is rich with knowledge then the discussions would be very interesting.

Recently I learned alot about piloting a small aircraft and how to acquire a pilot licence from 9M2NAZ. I learn about lift, drag, thrust, and rpm etc. I learn about GPS, and how to use computer wifi.

Once, 9M2WT taught me about golf. I had never known what a birdie was and many other things pertaining to the sport.

On the other hand if nobody has anything to contribute owing to the lack of knowledge then the boundry of knowledges has ended. Some 9W2s admitted that they do not gain much from communication.

There are many things new hams can ask and find out from the old hams. But if the new comers think they already knew everything then they cannot compare and contrast ideas. One new ham, when asked about QSL card said "why worry we have electronic cards..". He put a fullstop for further discussions. In fact if he were to ask more about the philosophy, advantages, disadvantages and problems and cost he would be able to hear more.

The frontier of knowledge is far and wide. It has no end. GO AND LOOK FOR IT.

WORKING CW DX - Some new comers may not know how to work CW with DX stations. Usually we seldom ragchew but continue with the standard common procedures. Say it starts when we are answering the CQ call.

Some one calls. CQ CQ CQ DE YYB6LD YB6LD YB6LD K

Your reply: YB6LD DE 9M2MGL 9M2MGL K

His response: 9M2MGL DE YB6LD - GE OM - TKS FER UR CALL - UR RST 599 599 - OP IS DON DON - QTH IS MEDAN - HCPY ? 9M2MGL DE YB6LD K

Your reply: YB6LD DE 9M2MGL - GE DR DON - TKS FER MY RST - UR RST IS 599 5NN - NAME IS AZMAN AZMAN - QTH NIBONG TEBAL - RIG IS IC718 PWR 20 WTTS ANT DP ABT 10 M - WX CLOUDY - TEMP 30C - WHAT UR WKING CONDX ? YB6LD DE 9M2MGL

His response: 9M2MGL DE YB6LD - TKS FER INFO - MY RIG IC706 MK 2 G  40 WATTS ANT DP - WX IS ALSO CLOUNDY TEMP 28C - QRU - TKS QSO ES HPE CUAGN - GL GB 73 9M2MGL DE YB6LD K

Your final: YB6LD DE 9M2MGL  TKS DR DON FER NICE QSO - HPE CUAGN - GB 73 YB6LD DE 9M2MGL

GL stands for good luck, GB for good bye. GM and GE means good morning or good evening. TKS or TNX is for thank you. DR is not for doctor but dear.

Because you are new then keep your contact short. After working with 50 or 60 stations many of those terms used become more familiar. Even if they increase their speed you would still be able to read them. GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CW DXING.

LOGBOOK IS MANDATORY

Logbook is mandatory, meaning it is a must. May be more than 75% of 9Ws do not keep logbook and a few new 9M2s do not have a proper logging system. Besides logbook has been called to court before to be used as an evidence for an alibi. The lawyer argued of the GMT time which he said was not understood. But it can be further argued. The PP or any other lawyer can argue that the GMT is valid. I believe in case of life and death even the GMT time could be permissible. If you have court evidience in mind then you can enter both the GMT and local time. The GMT is to confirm the time of communication with the other station. 

There are some 9W2s and 9M2s who carry along the logbook while mobiling. This is a good practice.

SWLs can keep logbooks to log stations they heard. In some countries the SWLs have to produce a certain number of QSL cards before they are given ham licences. In Malaysia old hams were SWLSs before becoming the full pledge hams and they keep proper logbooks even at the SWL days. Old boy 9M2HC for instant recorded stations heard since 1962.  This article is just an opinion. But it is up to the MCMC whether to enforce it or not. But as a ham one can use one's own rationality without being forced by the authority.

BASIC CONCEPTS

Your name - It has been a tradition that your radio name is short. We don't use Abdul Rahim or mohamad Aswad. You can use Abdul,Dul,Wad or Him. If you work Russian stations you will find alot of Vlad, instead of using Vladimir Vostakov.

Can We Use Q-Code on SSB ? - Many articles ask us to refrain from using codes used for CW. However hams are of the habit of using QSO, QTH, QSL etc. Is it wrong ? It does not any harm if the usage is correct. Many Malaysians are using Q-code with their own meanings. So if we can remember try to refrain from using it.

Q5 or R5 ? - Read here for signal report.For telephony and CW the report is given differently. You can say Q5 meaning the readibility is 100%. For CW we used RST reporting.

PTT - Push To Talk. You push when you want to talk. When you pause or stop you release it. Any station can break in any time while you are talking. Once you pause between sentences, the breaker will join in by giving his callsign.

We usually pass the mic to the new person who join in. If he wants to talk to anybody somewhere else, he just mention that he is going to a certain frequency with the person.

Sometimes you may have something urgent. the usual practice we always do is to say 'break..break..' Then the person talking will say "breaker please." You mention your callsign and say why you break in.

SIGNING - A person can sign and he can monitor. If he wants people to know that he is still around, just say so "I will be listening." But it is not neccessary to tell people that you are around. Just say "I am signing...See you later/see you furher down the log.."

HOLD ON A MINUTE - Sometimes while talking you want to do something and will be back, you can just say "Hold on a minute or QRX". You may want to serach for something to tell your counterpart "QRX one...I am going to the other room to look for the article..."

ALFA OR AMERICA ? - Phonetics are standard, from alfa to zulu. But at times when you work a weak DX station, you can't hear him well and he can't hear you well too. You can spell your name saying ,"My name is Man Mike Alfa November...Mexico America Norway". As for the signal report you say 'fifty nine..one two..three..four..five. One two three four five six seven eight nine." The alternative phonetics using countries is easy to comprehend as compared to people's name like "Peter for P".

LOGBOOK - Keep your log well and let it be up to date. Use the zulu time to log.

QRM - Do not cause QRM 

          a- Don't tune right on frequency
                 used by others.
             b-If you don't want to speak English, 
                don't cause QRM or quarrel with
                people speaking English.
            c- If you don't know CW, don't tell
                the others not to work on CW
                or cause any QRM to them.

Don't lend your callsign to others then you pretend you don't know about it. What more if he is your neighbor and has a tall antenna at his home.

Dont talk to pirate.

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