My career started as a
wireless
officer. I have done that
from 1965 - 1974, serving on board freighters and passenger liners
like the s/s Statendam and the (old) s/s Nieuw Amsterdam. So 'wireless'
is rather familiar.
I did my N exam in 2011. My call sign then was PD3TRU. The
first QSO with my legacy and vintage YAESU FT-7 was on april 23rd
2011 at 09:15 UTC with
F8CSL. A memorable day to
reach the middle of France with only 10 Watts in the antenna. It was
my first QSO after I stopped being a 'sparks' 37 years ago. A true
adrenaline boost. On
March 5th 2014 I successfully passed my F exam. From here on
my call sign is
PC4Y. I have chosen PC4Y for a reason: my first ship I
worked on as an independent R/O was the KNSM
m/v
ATTIS with call sign PCVY. For nostalgia reasons I
just added one dot to the V and made it a 4 in CW
language. The button below gives access to the F study I did with
the help of the VERON ham radio club and the very useful help from
PA0WV.
Some four or five spots in the above map are incorrect, like the one
in Alaska and the one in the Gulf of Guinea. Apparently these guys
have their coordinates incorrect in their profile. It didn't help to
adjust their locator coordinates afterwards.
Clicking on the above button gives access to a series of
interesting
HAM Radio topics and answers from Dave Kesler KE0OG
My logbook is updated in HamRadioDeLuxe with daily updates to LoTW,
QRZ.com, eQSL, HRDlog.net and QRZCQ. LoTW clearly gives the most
QSL's but no QSL cards. eQSL gives nice electronic QSL cards
and QRZ.com is giving disappointing results w.r.t. QSL's. Some
figures: On 1 March 2017 I have made 5169 QSO's from
both the PD3TRU and PC4Y call signs. I received 1692 QSL's
from LoTW (32,7%),
1465 eQSL cards (28,4%) and 966 confirmed QSO's
from QRZ.com (18%).
Latest
days now on top as per request from many visitors
☺ And
only the last 12 months or so are published. Older data is
removed.
Weekend 28/2-1/3 2026. Joined The UBA CW DX conest
and made 75 QSO's across all the bands except 160 meters. It was
great fun again.
Weekend 21/22 February 2026: ARRL CW DX contest.
See map below. Worked all bands except 80 and 160 meters. Made only
36 QSO's, mostly East coast USA. Conditions were great and the bands
were very crowded. See map below.
Weekend 14/15 February 2026.PACC
contest. Made 159 QSO's using all bands except 160 meter. Was fun
again. See the map below:
Weekend 7/8 February 2026: Joined the EU DX
contest. CW only for me. Made 41 QSO's in about one hour. See map
below.
1 February 2026: Achieved the Silver WWA award! It
was nice. Next year I go for gold.
January 2026. Participated in the WWA event. On Jan
16 I had 1400 points with 146 QSO's, mostly CW. Great fun. See also:
https://hamaward.cloud/wwa/award
Saturday 3 January 2026. Joined the PMC contest as
peace message exchanges are essential in these cumbersome times of
wars and conflicts worldwide. Only 17 QSO's. Unfortunately the PMC
contest and the MCD contest were causing some conflicts here and
there. See map below for the visual:
Weekend 20/21 December 2025. Joined the 9A Croatian
CW contest and worked all the bands except 80 and 160 meter. See map
below. Amazingly no QSO's to the West. Total of 64 QSO's.
Wednesday 17 December 2925, A QSL card from the
past:
Saturday 13 December 2025. Joined the ARRL 10 meter
CW contest for a brief moment and made only 4 QSO's with the
US east coast. Busy in the band. In the previous days I made some
casual QSO's with random stations in the various bands. I have not
been doing that for some time for some reason.
Weekend 22/23 November 2025: The LZ DX contest!
Busy on the bands. I worked the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands and made
47 QSO's in about 60 minutes and then I called it quits. But it was
great fun! See map below. Mostly within Europe. Don't know why that
is. Click on the map for details.
Saturday 8 November 2025. Joined the PA Beker CW
contest for 1.5 hrs and made 33 QSO's in de 40 meter band only.
Covered most of The Netherlands except South Limburg and the
northern islands. See map below.
The Worked All Germany (WAG) contest in October 2025:
Callsign
QSOs
QSO-Pts
Multi
Result
PC4Y
10
30
9
270
Weekend 27/28 September 2025. The Serbian YUDXCW
contest was nice to participate. Busy and fun. Made 30 QSO's only as
time was limited.
Weekend 23/24 August 2025. The YODXCW contest was a
busy event again. I joined and made 40 QSO's. Only one in de US, the
rest was mainly Europe. Worked the 40, 20 and 15 meter bands.
Thursday 21 August 2025. Joined the NTCQP (QSO
Party) at 1900 zulu. Only made 6 QSO's in de 40 meter band. Heard no
one in the 80 meter band.
aturday 2 August 2025: Joined the EUHFCW contest
between other activities. Made 33 QSO's. It was busy in the bands.
Weekend 12/13 July 2025. Joined the IARU HF CW
contest. Made 44 QSO's. Only Europe and some Asia. Nothing in the
West.
Weekend 5/6 July. The infamous MMC contest. In CW.
Worked for some time and made 30 QSO's. My first contest in 6 months
time. Worked Europe only. Heard Canada and the US nonetheless.
Sunday 29 June 2025. Contacted PA80PEUJ as they
were celebrating the 80th anniversary of the first QSO with
Scheveningen Radio / PCH after the end of WWII. So obviously
we exchanged the good old-fashioned QTC's (telegrams). It was fun.
Monday 26 May 2025. It has been a while. My
recovery from a total hip replacement and the bacterial infections
thereafter is taking much longer than I had thought. This resulted
in a lack of interest or energy to work the radio. But yesterday I
worked PA25BOTA in
both VHF and HF. And also
PA75OTC on HF. So I guess it is gradually coming back. I sure
hope so.
Wednesday 2 April 2025. Received a nice QSL card
from the past:
The following frequencies are currently used for Amateur Radio ISS
contacts (QSOs): Voice and SSTV
Downlink: 145.800 (Worldwide)
Voice Uplink: 144.490 for ITU
Regions 2 and 3 (The Americas, and the Pacific and Southern Asia)
Voice Uplink: 145.200 for ITU Region 1 (Europe, Russia and Africa)
VHF Packet Uplink and Downlink:
145.825 (Worldwide)
UHF Packet Uplink and Downlink:
437.550
UHF/VHF Repeater Uplink: 437.800
UHF/VHF Repeater Downlink: 145.800
Radioshack information:
Registration number at Dutch
Administration: 6629107. Above pictures are from May 2011 onwards.
Antenna: G5RV junior, best suitable for 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and
10
meter bands with an external ATU and ATU extender, sloping dipole. Highest point apporox.
10 meters. Lowest point: 4 meters. Diamond V-2000 vertical for VHF/UHF (6 m, 2 m and 70 cm)
usage. Height of the antenna: approx. 10 meters. Diamond X30N VHF/UHF (2 meter and 70 centimeter) antenna for
field work.
MFJ-1768 Yagi for the 2 meter and 70 cm bands, also for field
work. MFJ1022, active indoor antenna for receive only.
ATU
and other auxilliary equipment: MFJ 925 autotuner, MFJ 914 auto tuner extender.
Tigertronics SignaLInk USB to connect the
audio from FT-450 to PC and vice versa. For
digi modes.
SWR meter
TNC-X modem for Winlink usage
SignaLink USB for Digi modes
Dummy HF antenna
K-PO power unit
13.8 Volt distribution panel MFJ-1128
West Mountain Radio PWRgate PG40S, allowing
automatic battery backup when regular power
fails.
90Ah GEL battery system with USB, Neutrik and
Anderson Powerpole connectors.
Software: Ham Radio de Luxe with DM780 software for transceiver
control (CAT), logging and digimodes version 6.5.0.199
N1MM for contests
Winlink 2000
RMS (Radio Mail Server)
Transceiver
(RIG): YAESU FT 991A
YAESU FT-450AT max. output: 100 Watt All amateur bands, incl WARC and (modified for) all maritime bands CW, SSB, PSK31, FM
and C4FM on VHF and UHF incl. 28 MHz and 50 MHz.
and: YAESU FT-60E
output: 5 Watt VHF/UHF, 144 MHZ and 430 MHz amateur bands. FM
and: BAOFENG UV82-HP
hand held for 2 meter maritime, 2 meter amateur
and 70 cm amateur bands.
Output 8 Watt
FM and FM Radio bands.
and: YAESU FT-7900 dualband (2m and 70 cm) transceiver
modes: FM and AM. Output 50 Watts (2 meter) and 45 Watt (70 cm)
Attached to my TNC-X packet modem to work
with Winlink (Paclink) thru the PI8HGL RMS
on 144.850 MHz. Try me on
PC4Y@winlink.org
and: vintage YAESU FT-7 max. output: 10 Watt bands: 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters CW, USB and LSB only.
Extra receiver: Vintage SAILOR R-104 MW, LW and SW 80 and 160 meter bands AM, A1, A2 and USB only.
Straight CW keys (Junker and Kent), a Begali paddle and a HAM Gadgets Master Keyer
MK-1 complete the ability to use Morse during the QSO's.
Click here for the CQ serenade
I am a member of the
PI4HAL
association and work the on board
radio-station mostly one day
per week, using a Yaesu FT-897, an ICOM-271, ICOM-765, a Skanti and/or a Yaesu FT-1000. The station is on board the former cruise ship s/s
Rotterdam and is now a hotel/museum ship operated by
WestCord hotels.We
have a team of about 10 operators and 5 technicians. We are
still looking for more operators as it is our ultimate goal to
operate the shack every day of the week. So if you are
interested please don't hesitate to visit the PI4HAL site (click
on the logo at the left) and send an email.
Or you can send me an e-mail.
HERE you get
access to the PI4HAL newsletters (in Dutch). Every Wednesday at
09.00 UTC we have a VHF round thru either the PI3RTD or the
PI3RAZ repeater (2 meter band). The PI3RAZ repeater can also be
accessed thru echolink. So one week is thru PI3RTD and the next
week is thru PI3RAZ visa versa.
I joined the NTC in November 2021. They have a QSO party every
third Thursday of the month from 19.00 - 20.00 zulu, in the 80,
40 and 20 meter bands on frequencies around the official NTC
frequencies, 3.568, 7.038 and 14.068 kHz. Any HAM operator can
apply for membership.
https://www.qsl.net/ntc/
I also joined the DARES foundation in 2011 and
have already done quite a few field tests. I
am part of a so called SIGCO team.
Why is a
ship called she ? A ship is called a "she'' because there is
always a great deal of bustle around her. There is usually a gang of
men about, she has a waist and stays. It takes a lot of paint to
keep her good looking. It is not the initial expense that breaks
you, it is the upkeep. She can be all decked out. It takes an
experienced man to handle her correctly. Without a man at the wheel,
she is absolutely uncontrollable. She shows her topsides, hides her
bottom and, when coming into port, always heads for the buoys. When
you see her lying at the berth, you are proud of her like she is
your attractive girlfriend.
Extra proof:
Why she is a ship, or
a ship is she:
We always call a ship a She, And not without
a reason, For she displays a well-shaped knee Regardless of the
season. She corns the man whose heart is faint And does not show
him pity And like a girl she needs the paint To keep her looking
pretty. For love she’ll brave the oceans vast, Be she a gig or
cruiser, But if you fail to tie her fast You’re almost sure to
lose her.
me in the shack
| Gerard in the museum | Wil and Karel at the antenna's
Announcement from Agentschap Telecom:
As
per
1
April
2017
significant
limitations
have
become
effective
though.
F
15 watt e.i.r.p.
5,351.5
–
5,366.5
s
So
the
usage
of
the
band
is
now
limited
to
between
5,351.5
MHz
and
5,366.5
MHz
with
a
max
power
of
15
Watt
EIRP.
We
used
to
have
the
band
from
5,350
MHz
to
5,450
MHz
with
100
Watt
PEP.
So I
don't
think
this
band
is
still
very
attractive
for
DX.
The
full
legislation
can
be
read
HERE
(in
Dutch).
Want
to
know
how
much
EIRP
is
in
relation
to
PEP?
HERE
you
can
find
the
calculator.
On
Tuesday
24
November
2015
I
saw
Andorra
station
C37N
had
confirmed
our
QSO
in
LoTW
completing
my
100
DX
count
in
my
DXCC
Award
tally
from
ARRL
LoTW.
So I
have
applied
for
'the
Certificate'.
See
below.
At the beginning of this year 2015 I had hoped to achieve this goal
this year and so I did even well before the end of the year. Of
course most of the credit goes to the hams who have confirmed our
QSO's in LoTW. Thanks YL's and OM's.
My chances of getting a 200 DXCC credit Award are small as I have
worked most of the DX's I can reach with my current station set up.
But who knows? Writing 1 March 2021, I have 121 DXCC's though
as a few QSO's from quite some time ago have recently been confirmed, like Bermuda,
Cuba, Albania, Ceuta and Melilla, Uruguay and San
Marino. So I am still adding to my list. Like the one from ITU HQ.
In addition to the 100 DX list, the latest 31 additions as per
January 2025 are:
On the top of the list is
4X4DK who has worked
394 DX entities! I wonder though how that can be as ARRL says
they have listed 'only' 340 DX entities. Wim PA0WV explained me
how: in time quite a few entities have disappeared (like e.g.
the DDR) and others emerged.
Lesson to learn and use Morse code:
Much to my surprise I received a 'worked 100
grid squares' award on my old call sign: PD3TRU, which I have
not been using since March 2014. The big black dot in the lower
left corner is in fact a golden 'Certified QRZ authentic'
stamp that my scanner wasn't able to reproduce apparently
J.
Here under is an interesting page for CW lovers.
You can select the morse speed and the news items you wish to
hear (in morse). Beautifully built!
Click on this picture about the engine room fire
on board the m/s Prinsendam/PJTA and the rescue of well over 500
passengers and crew on 4 October 1980 in the stormy Gulf of Alaska. It
still took a week for the ship to sink beyond salvage. Listen to
the
MP3 audio file with the SOS transmissions starting with the
transmission of 12 long dashes of 4 seconds each (twice) to activate the Automatic
Alarm Systems which ships had installed those days giving an
alarming chime in both the radio room and the bridge during
times the R/O was off duty.
See
also this article. I remember to have sailed under captain
Wabeke when he was a first officer on the s/s Nieuw Amsterdam/PGGF
(/PJRS when under the Antillian flag).
PC4Y as a rookie R/O on board s/s Nieuw Amsterdam (1969)
Click
HERE for ancient Morse transmissions from various coastal
stations
CW Forever
You must have at
times,
Thought into the past,
Where some things go out
While others last
What comes to my mind is
The old Morse code,
That has weathered the storms
From any abode.
To talk with ones
fingers
Is surely an art,
Of any info you
Care to impart,
In most conditions
The signals get through,
While the same about phone
Is simply not true.
Those dits and
dahs
Cut through the trash,
Of near by noise or
Lightning's crash.
To the sensitive ears
Of the hams receiver,
Who records this data
With ardent fever.
He knows he's
doing
Something unique,
(in such poor conditions,
That's quite a feat)
To roger the message
That came off the air,
These brass pounders
Sure do have that flair
They say Morse ops
Are a dying breed,
But don't despair,
There's always that need,
That when conditions get rough
for the new automation,
Be rest assured,
There'll be need for your station.
CW is dying?
Believe it never,
This mode will be 'round
Forever and ever.
But one thing is sure,
What we really need,
Is to relay our knowledge
To the younger breed.
To carry the torch,
Long after we're gone,
To send Morse code
Through the air like a song.
When at last,
Silent keys pull that lever,
We can rest in peace,
It's CW forever.
Written by:
Jim Hatherley, WA1TBY (SK)
A promo video about HAM radio. Made in 2014 by VERON. In
Dutch. But pictures speak for themselves.
Every now and then I get
the question: 'what is the fun of a contest ?' 'It is often not much
more then a quick exchange of some data and then on to the next
one'. Well to be honest, this is what I thought in the beginning
as well. But let me try to summarize the fun:
There is a lot more activity in the air than usual. If you
ever doubt if there are still hams around: listen to the radio
during a contest.
It is an art to distinguish the various stations from one
another when they are tumbling over each other. They cannot help
it really because when you participate in a contest and pick a
frequency say in the 20 meter band, you cannot hear your fellow
hams in the same region in that band.
It is a nice addition to your logbook. In one weekend or one
day you can easily add a hundred (or a thousand) QSO's in your
log and receive many eQSL cards (and/or hard copies).
You hear stations you have never worked before.
It is nice to notice so many stations actually hear you!
It proves your setup is working fine.
Often a plaque is provided that can decorate your shack.
A multi operator contest in e.g. a club station is adding to
the fun as you meet fellow hams.
Of course there are also some reasons why NOT to join the
contest:
Lack of time. A contest often runs a whole weekend (48
hours) or a whole day (24 hours). If you cannot join the contest
during a couple or hours, you are missing some of the fun, like
# stations worked or # increasing exchange number. This is the
main reason for me NOT to join a given contest.
Lack of experience. Well this is not really an excuse as you
can only build up experience by doing it.
Contests that require a serial number (exchange number). It
can be de-motivating to hear a station giving a serial number up
in the hundreds, where you just fired up your system and starts
with 001.
Bad conditions, like an Asian contest or Oceanic contest,
where the stations can hardly be heard (in my region).
Nobody hears you. Can be due to poor conditions or your own
system setup. Remember: the antenna is much more important than
the transmit power.
In addition there is a major choice one has to make: do you wish
to send out the CQ, or do you wish to respond to the CQ's. Of course
you can also decide to do both. But the operating practise differs
somewhat between the two options. The option to respond to a CQ is
far more relaxed than the option to send the CQ as many stations
will then try to make contact with you, often causing lots of QRM.
If you want to go for the highest scores you'd better send out the
CQ yourself. The advantage to send out the CQ yourself is you can
remain on the same frequency or have to change frequency only a few
times, whereas if you respond to a CQ you will have to work the
whole band in every band. When you send out the CQ there is yet
another consequence: you will have to take and send the call sign of
the one who responds to your CQ. If you only respond to a CQ all you
most often will do is send out your own call only once, where upon
the contester will answer you by sending your call and RST and
additional info that is required by the contest rules.
Form my own experience: you can make far more QSO's when
sending the CQ than when you only respond to a CQ within the
same time frame.
It would be interesting to hear other reactions. So don't
hesitate to contact me: pc4y@veron.nl
# 16 of the 25 participating Dutchmen (PA). I made 100 QSO's in the
2024 HA contest
