Posted: 4/5/2014 12:19:59 PM EDT
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I'll be traveling to Czech Republic for a couple of weeks. I'm thinking of bringing my FT817ND and a BuddiStick antenna with me. It looks like I can operate from there according to the CEPT agreement. According to CEPT document published on ARRL website I need to bring my US license, US passport and a copy of FCC Public notice in three languages. I guess I need to ID as OK/W3***.
I'm curious if anyone has done something like that? I hope I'm reading this document correctly. Link to ARRL CEPT article. |
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Since most of our work always resulted in us spending the most time with our machine vendors in Germany we would land in Frankfurt. It was a direct flight from Charlotte.
We would scatter across the Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Czech Republic. I spent most of my time in CZ in a small town called Zlin at a company called ZPS. Did get to go to Prague on the weekends. You will find that most of the middle aged and younger to be well educated and speak English. I did feel like I stepped back into the 1950s as it was always hazy and lack of color. Architecture outside the city of Prague was definite left over from the soviet era. Watch out for the electric buses. If you do take your rig carry it on do not pack it in check baggage. Tape a copy of your license to top of the radio so when TSA inspects your bag you will have no problem. Be prepared to answer a few questions about it. If someone from there offers you a ride in their Skoda DON'T! |
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Just ask for pivo and you'll be fine. Budvar Budweiser will never taste as good. Budvar is the original recipe for Budweiser. The Budvar recipe was sold to Busch. He renamed it Budweiser. The contract agreement was that the original Budvar could not be imported to the West. Try some Becherovka after dinner to help soothe your stomach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becherovka A traditional before dinner drink is Slivovitz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz A nice gift for the wife would be some Bohemian Crystal. Made sure it is certified Bohemian. |
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My Dad brought some of this back in a clear bottle with no label. It was like the devil trying to grab your ass from your inside your stomach. He got it from some distant kinfolk over there. He speaks Czech and described drinking as one of their national pastimes. No pickup trucks though. 
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I'll be staying in Teplice, flying into Dresden, Germany and then it's one hour drive to Teplice. I don't speak any Czech language but I'm hoping to get by with English, German and Russian. Way up there, I'm sure German will get you far where English lets you down Your Russian will make understanding basic currency transactions very easy - I was amazed the first time I stopped to by a Vignette at how much I understood the guy - from how much I owed him, to when it expired, to how much change he handed me back. Then he started talking about something else... and I have no idea what. |
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Way up there, I'm sure German will get you far where English lets you down Your Russian will make understanding basic currency transactions very easy - I was amazed the first time I stopped to by a Vignette at how much I understood the guy - from how much I owed him, to when it expired, to how much change he handed me back. Then he started talking about something else... and I have no idea what. Quoted:
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I'll be staying in Teplice, flying into Dresden, Germany and then it's one hour drive to Teplice. I don't speak any Czech language but I'm hoping to get by with English, German and Russian. Way up there, I'm sure German will get you far where English lets you down Your Russian will make understanding basic currency transactions very easy - I was amazed the first time I stopped to by a Vignette at how much I understood the guy - from how much I owed him, to when it expired, to how much change he handed me back. Then he started talking about something else... and I have no idea what. Thanks. I speak Russian fluently but my German is a bit rusty. I'm sure just English alone will be enough. Most Europeans speak several languages fluently. Where about in Austria do you live? |
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Thanks. I speak Russian fluently but my German is a bit rusty. I'm sure just English alone will be enough. Most Europeans speak several languages fluently. Where about in Austria do you live? Quoted:
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I'll be staying in Teplice, flying into Dresden, Germany and then it's one hour drive to Teplice. I don't speak any Czech language but I'm hoping to get by with English, German and Russian. Way up there, I'm sure German will get you far where English lets you down Your Russian will make understanding basic currency transactions very easy - I was amazed the first time I stopped to by a Vignette at how much I understood the guy - from how much I owed him, to when it expired, to how much change he handed me back. Then he started talking about something else... and I have no idea what. Thanks. I speak Russian fluently but my German is a bit rusty. I'm sure just English alone will be enough. Most Europeans speak several languages fluently. Where about in Austria do you live? Vienna |
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Well...I'm here. It's been a while since my last visit to Europe. It changed a lot for the worse. Its a culture shock for me again. This makes you appreciate how well we got it in the good ole US of A.
I got my ft817 set up in the hotel room with a Buddystick antenna clamped up on the balcony. 40 meters is booming with s9++ signals. Guys I need some help. I dont have wifi and dont want to abuse my cell phone data roaming too much. Could anyone look up a frequency Allocation for Czech hams? I forgot to do this at home and dont want to transmit before verifying this. I assume I need to follow their permitted tx freq and not ours (USA). Thanks in advance and God bless America. Gyprat. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_frequency_allocations#ITU_Region_1
I can copy and paste or email the info if needed Great Britain Band plan (ITU 1) http://thersgb.org/services/bandplans/html/rsgb_band_plan_jan_2014-1.htm Download 124kb pdf IARU Region 1 HF Bandplan 2011 http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=173&func=startdown&id=404 |
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I was just gonna post that 
How are you handling the counterpoise on 40m? This damn buddistick raised counterpoise is always a sore spot for me  I ran the wire into the room through the balcony door. It's about 6ft off the floor. The antenna is about 30 ft above ground. I had to trim it with a small portable manual tuner. FT 817 is performing above expectations. Im very happy with it. It's a perfect travel companion. thanks for the links Albino. |
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I managed to make a few contacts on 40m CW last night. CW rocks when operating QRP.
For some reason, I couldn't transmit on Digital with SignaLink. There is no tx audio and it doesn't trigger PTT. Any ideas? PS. Noone speaks English. Some people speak German. A few speak Spanish. Almost everyone speaks decent Russian. 
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Budvar Budweiser will never taste as good. Budvar is the original recipe for Budweiser. The Budvar recipe was sold to Busch. He renamed it Budweiser. The contract agreement was that the original Budvar could not be imported to the West. Try some Becherovka after dinner to help soothe your stomach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becherovka A traditional before dinner drink is Slivovitz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz A nice gift for the wife would be some Bohemian Crystal. Made sure it is certified Bohemian. Quoted:
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Just ask for pivo and you'll be fine. Budvar Budweiser will never taste as good. Budvar is the original recipe for Budweiser. The Budvar recipe was sold to Busch. He renamed it Budweiser. The contract agreement was that the original Budvar could not be imported to the West. Try some Becherovka after dinner to help soothe your stomach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becherovka A traditional before dinner drink is Slivovitz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz A nice gift for the wife would be some Bohemian Crystal. Made sure it is certified Bohemian. Radegast was my favorite when I was there. I stayed in Uherske Hradiste 4 weeks. It was amazing. 
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Budvar Budweiser will never taste as good. Budvar is the original recipe for Budweiser. The Budvar recipe was sold to Busch. He renamed it Budweiser. The contract agreement was that the original Budvar could not be imported to the West. Try some Becherovka after dinner to help soothe your stomach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becherovka A traditional before dinner drink is Slivovitz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz A nice gift for the wife would be some Bohemian Crystal. Made sure it is certified Bohemian. Quoted:
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Just ask for pivo and you'll be fine. Budvar Budweiser will never taste as good. Budvar is the original recipe for Budweiser. The Budvar recipe was sold to Busch. He renamed it Budweiser. The contract agreement was that the original Budvar could not be imported to the West. Try some Becherovka after dinner to help soothe your stomach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becherovka A traditional before dinner drink is Slivovitz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz A nice gift for the wife would be some Bohemian Crystal. Made sure it is certified Bohemian. mostly right. it'd imported as Czechvar 
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The beer does taste good but I had a heck of a headache after just one beer. It never happen to me with american beer.
Another observation- most cars have diesel engines and manual transmissions. I can hear a local 2m repeater. Of course they talk in Czech language. I called cq a few times but no one answered. I wish I knew some Czech language. |
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The beer does taste good but I had a heck of a headache after just one beer. It never happen to me with american beer. Another observation- most cars have diesel engines and manual transmissions. I can hear a local 2m repeater. Of course they talk in Czech language. I called cq a few times but no one answered. I wish I knew some Czech language. How about the food? Hope you love garlic. |
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Food is terrible. It has no taste and smells funky. I have not noticed much garlic in it though. I'm about to go looking for a Macdonald's. Try to fins an Italian, Greek, or Turkish place, in that order. Czech food is apparently the worst of German food and the worst of Slavic food. |
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Have you been to the CZ gun store yet ?  Great idea Derek! I'll have more free time on Saturday and will look for one. Most stores close early around here. Good and exciting news! I found KFC in a mall about a mile from the hotel. Lufthansa will charge me for two seats on the way back. Food costs 2-3times more here and selection is very limited.
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Try to fins an Italian, Greek, or Turkish place, in that order. Czech food is apparently the worst of German food and the worst of Slavic food. Quoted:
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Food is terrible. It has no taste and smells funky. I have not noticed much garlic in it though. I'm about to go looking for a Macdonald's. Try to fins an Italian, Greek, or Turkish place, in that order. Czech food is apparently the worst of German food and the worst of Slavic food. Blasphemy! |
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We visited a 15th century castle owned by the local radio club. I was speechless and very impressed. It's a huge structure built to last for centuries. The shack is in the top section of one of the castle towers. Amazing!
I had a blast operation from the club station again. I called CQ on 15 meters and a pileup started 5 minutes later. Got over 150 contacts, mostly with North American stations but there were a few nice ones from Indonesia, Australia etc. I'll post more pictures when i get home. We'll operate again tomorrow at around 11:00 AM ET on 21.240-21.250 (+/- QRM) if anyone wants a contact. Here are a few pictures of the castle and some of the antennas: 
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I'm back home and starting to get tons of QSL cards in the mail. I never got this many in such a short time. Do you guys think I need to order a special QSL card with OK/W3*** ? I made several hundred contacts with that call. How about the castle picture posted above for the QSL background?
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that would be cool Did you ever make it to any gun stores ? Quoted:
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How about the castle picture posted above for the QSL background?
that would be cool Did you ever make it to any gun stores ? I went looking for an address someone gave me but could not find it. Unfortunately I did not have too much time for that. |
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How about this picture? It's not mine though but I'll ask permission to use it. http://files.qrz.com/x/ok1jax/IMGP3467u.jpg That would make an awesome card. |