Steve VY1SK - Burnaby, near Vancouver, BC
Steve is a very interesting guy. This is a picture he zapped to me during a QSO on the evening of December 3, 2002. He works with the blind and cuts books for the blind with some of the equipment. He publishes the 20,000 Leagues Journal. He's sending me some back issues. He uses a Palm Pilot to take pictures. He has seven marine batteries in his mini-van which has a major control console.
I'll post some more later, I'm getting a large packet from Steve so I'll buff up this page some
VY1SK
Lookups:
1160
Email: VY1SK@RAC.CA
| The little van that
thinks it's a 4x4! (It really isn't!)
This is the little van that travels with my wife and I, as we journey to remote regions of Southeast Asia. We plan to depart for the Philippines shortly and will spend Christmas there. We work with student amateur radio candidates for licensing in the Philippines for 8 weeks and depart the Philippines for Taiwan, as the minivan is shipped via steamship to Southwest Africa. Pending recent developments in our very disturbed world, our plans in Africa are being reviewed very carefully. Our scheduled travel to the Philippines and other places in Asia will not be affected, though precise timing will vary. We fly from Manila (Ninoy Aquino Airport) to Kao Hsiung on the south west coast of Taiwan. We will spend several weeks in Kao Hsiung, and Tainan, slightly up the coast and many other cities on the west coast of Taiwan. Finally arriving in Taipei, our schedule is a visit with many Amateurs there and a bit of relaxation. Next, is a short trip to an artificial island called Kansai, in Osaka Harbour as we again board a train into Kobayashi ku. Again visiting with Hams we have known for many years but may never have actually met. We leave Osaka, on to Seoul Korea, and a few weeks engineering work there, then a 5 hour motor coach to Pusan and a visit with the parents of an exchange student who lived with us in Canada. After this visit, we are away to Je ju Island on the south coast of Korea, for a few days soaking in the hot springs there. A hydrofoil back to the mainland and again a motorcoach to Seoul, then off to Mumbai (Bombay) India. A change of airline, then to the Malagasy Republic (the Island Nation of Madagascar) an immediate departure to Either Johannesburg or Capetown, South Africa, to pick up the minivan and continue with this great adventure. We travel to the countries of South Africa (ZS2), Namibia (V5A), Angola, Zaire, Congo (90A), Gabon (TR), Cameroon (TJ), Maybe Nigeria, then Benin (T4), Togo, Ghana, then north to Burkina Faso (XTA), turning back south to L'Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)(TU), Liberia (6ZA), Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea (3CA), Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, and 9 others depending on radio licensing. If the Radios don't happen, due to failed propogation, or licensing, look for us on echolink or eQSO, when we can find the bandwidth. Our Home base is Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (VE7), but we also maintain a home in Manila, Philippines. (DU1) So near the Ninoy Aquino Airport, I can throw a stone over the perimeter fence. This gives us ease of access to Taiwan, Republic of China, and The Peoples Democratic Republic of China. (Mainland China) You will find us on 14.305 Mhz. most of the time. The HF station is a remote link using VoIP techniques, similar in nature to Echolink or Hamlink or ilink. We use commercial software on the HF link, so don't expect a fully ham oriented method to access the HF. Be patient! You will find your way around in the system. In addition, some countries do not allow 'Third Party' control, or access to HF transmitters in their jurisdiction. As guests, we must comply with local laws. Our primary mission is the coordination of radio frequency usage in accordance with ITU Conventions and WARC usage, as much as possible. Very difficult in time when the various parties don't even talk to the other, but rather conduct violent hostilities. Open warfare in some areas. Our secondary mission is to demonstrate Amateur Radio to as many as we can find with an interest in gaining more knowledge of our hobby. The desire to learn in areas where there is no support, or the economy is such as to prevent the aquisition of radio technology at any level is where we try to assist. Our tertiary mission is to try to try to find ways and means to assist local people in finding gainful employment. Re-planning,or re-farming ideas which will result in meaningful work, allowing men to feed their families without turning to crime or violence to survive. Our fourth activity is the enjoyment of different cultures and a continuing education of ourselves. (Don't Forget The Food!) Pix of these expeditions are available free of charge from VY1SK@RAC.CA Each month we publish a Ham journal or diary called "20 000 Leagues, to somewhere!" If you get a copy, please pass it along to any interested in our 'craft'. We call the publication "copy-left", not copy-right. It is free and available to all at no charge. Pass it along in the same manner. This is a 'free journal' to any interested in Ham Radio, or in following our adventures as we roam the world. Travel with us, via Email, as we generate and issue the "20 000 Leagues, to somewhere!" journal of our adventures, each month. Make requests for back issue or new to VY1SK@RAC.CA Make lots of room in your email box, some of the files are large due to lots of pictures in JPG format. Steve Hemenway VY1SK@RAC.CA |
20
000 Leagues, to Somewhere!
FAQ’s about
the Hemenway’s
A diary of VY1SK, in our continuing adventures
Continually portable, or mobile, in DU1, DU6, VE7, W7, Republic of China (Taiwan),
The Peoples Democratic Republic of China, (mainland China) JA land, Osaka, Tokyo, occasionally to Seoul, Pusan, JeJu, and wherever the spirit (or the boss) moves us!
2002, in Vancouver, British Columbia
This is a short writ to
our many friends, often contacted through the media of Elink.
I am not really sure
this mode (echolink) is Amateur Radio, but will hold my opinions for the moment.
The only redeeming grace
is the quality of the audio.
I will try to put this together with the aid of some voice recognition
software.
This assists me in
preparing the inevitable 100 to 250 emails each day, which I have to deal with.
The “20 000 League”
cover is part of the adventure
My wife (Imelda) and I enjoy each and every day of our life.
As
we continue to work out the bugs of the elink through the Inet, I will begin to
send more and more of the Pix and other documents relevant to ham radio, which
fill our every day!
Our
life is a continual adventurer of meeting new people, dealing with new ideas,
and expanding the limits of the activities of all of these.
We
know NO limits, other than the physical restraints of our age.
This does indeed slow us down somewhat.
I
am now close to 70, the wife close to 60.
Having such a young wife keeps me forging forward, as we try to make new
opportunities for the emerging generation.
Most especially in areas where there is an economic problem. Hence, the
regions we travel in.
We have so far been successful in generating more than 760 jobs in areas
where even the local government said there were none to be had.
Kind
of funny! There is always some venue for giving a man a sense of pride, even in
a so-called disaster zone!
The Americans had a
phase for this.
It
was “to think outside the box” That
seems to be the trap we all fall into from time to time.
We all seem to be
trapped ‘inside’ the ‘Box!’
20 000 Leagues
As we travel in a rural area of one country, we saw
hundreds of people unemployed.
The reason!
The price of sugar was
too low for the farmer to make a living in the harvest of sugar cane!
Our plan was to digest
the cane, make low grade alcohol as an additive for motor fuel, (to reduce the
cost of gasoline) then compress the residue fibrous content, add vitamins and
other minerals, and use this new product as fodder for the pig farms!
Guess what? Every body
made a profit and the man on the street could now feed his family and walk the
street with pride as the ‘bread winner!’ What a pleasure it was for us as we
observed these now self sufficient people going to bank to put ‘money in’,
rather than to go to the bank, hat in hand, to borrow the very substance to feed
their families.
Contained with the 20
000 Leagues Journal, are some of the hundreds of pictures, culled from thousands
more, taken with a Palm Pilot and a small Kodak adaptor to make pictures. The
quality is sometimes poor due to lighting but the results are a major page in
our life as we attempt to grow old together, for as long a time as the Almighty
gives us.
The Old Man at the
Station at home.
20 000 Leagues
Here is the old fat man
at a local repeater site in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The radios are Tait UHF
repeaters, from New Zealand.. The upper units are for data to a courier company,
and the lower two (one not in photo) are for the voice traffic as used by this
courier.
As you can tell we really enjoy our adventures.
We will continue to write here, each of these adventures as we engage in them.
At the moment we are limited only by the bandwidth available to us as we travel on to far destinations
And when we have a few new destinations on the horizon as
being suggested by others with whom we counsel. Presently there are eleven
countries on the new list along the West Coast of Africa, beginning with the
capital city of Accra, in Ghana.
20 000 Leagues
For those who haven’t
seen the two old ‘whalies’, here we are, last Christmas in Canada.
Steve and Imelda
Hemenway
Somewhere on the way to
more adventures, as we pursue the 20 000 Leagues, which is an adventure in
itself!
