26 July 2008

HISTORY OF HAM RADIO ACTIVITY FROM MYSORE:

After a long hiatus – due to restrictions at the office and due to certain changes in the home front, I had been off blogging. Now that things are stablilising a little bit, continuing the memoirs. Now back to where I had left off.

Along with the new language, I also learned about the history of HAM Radio activity in Mysore.

There was supposedly a bit of HAM radio activity from in and around Mysore with Mr. George – VU2TV (I never got to meet this elderly operator – he had reportedly shifted to the Gulf with family), Mr. Sampath (VU2YZ an entrepreneur with an electronics showroom in Mandya) and his wife Hemalatha (VU2TT – a teacher by profession – who passed on recently). In fact, the credit of putting Mysore on the HAM popularity map is due mainly to Sampath and his wife. He would travel daily to Mysore to conduct the HAM radio training to a group of enthusiasts. Such was the zeal of the youngsters that they used to practice the Morse code in their regular conversations.

The enthusiastic team was not just about students, there was an enthusiastic mother too. This team consisted of Ramanujam, Satish, Sriram, Shiva Kumar, Sukhbir Singh Jolly, Yogeesh, Mrs. Loveleen Kaur Jolly, to name a few (that I remember!). The exams for the first batch were conducted at PES College, Mandya and the candidates traveled for the exam. Last minute preparations and hospitality was organized at the residence of Sampath and Hema. The result of the exam was highly encouraging and the entire team came out with flying colours.

Mrs. Loveleen Kaur Jolly, a mother and a teacher by profession, came out highly successful, in fact even better than her son and secured a higher grade of license than him. In later years the entire family took to the hobby and all the family members including a son-in-law became HAMs.

With encouragement from the management of the SJCE college and with grants from the Mysore University, the Mysore University Amateur Radio Club was set up in 1983-84 with the call sign – VU2YSG – under the Electronics and Communication Department of SJCE. The College also procured a State of the Art – wireless equipment – a Japanese Make – transmitter – cum – receiver (Transceiver). This transceiver was capable of operating on all the allowed modes of transmission (AM – Amplitude Modulation- generally used by radio broadcasters, SSB – Single Side Band – a variation of the AM transmission but using lesser bandwidth, CW – Continuous Wave or Morse Code and FM – Frequency Modulation). In an earlier post, I had mentioned about listening to a few HAMs from SJCE before I got in touch with Mr. Muthanna. It was with this equipment that they were ON THE AIR when I listened to them.
This was the background of the Amateur Radio activity from Mysore when I made my entry into the hobby.

5 comments:

Anuj Valmiki said...

Yes Madhu! One additional mention is essential - Sateesh's elder brother, Suresh Nadabar, was an avid Ham from Suratkal Engg College.. He was instrumental in influencing Sateesh, who in turn got me, Yogesh, Sivakumar and others into the Ham gang. We found a great supporter in Sri Sampath, VU2YZ to fructify our dreams... Ham radio has made me a better person in more ways than one.. It is something that I aim to get back into during my retirement days! Cheers & keep blogging - Anuj (VU2JUN - operated VU2YSG & later VU2QQ in Kharagpur in the late 80's).

Anonymous said...

Wow! I am so surprised to see my name mentioned for something I did almost 25 years ago. I am honored. I hope one day I will get back to ham radio DXing from US or somewhere!

Suresh N

Madhukar - VU2MUD said...

Welcome Suresh
Although I have never met you, I thank Anuj for the update on the background story of Ham Radio activities from Mysore.

Do keep in touch and add your memories. Together we can put the history of Ham Radio from Mysore in order.

Anonymous said...

Dear Madhu

Very interesting to go through your blog and I could see the sincerity and passion in all your posts, that will keep you going to great heights.

I always had a minor HAM infection but now it has become a "Virus" and I am hopefully on the to graduate from an SWL to an licensed HAM shortly. I am now working with Chennai HAMS to imrpove the hobby in Chennai and have recently created the blog http://chennaihams.blogspot.com. Did see you have visited the site, do keep in touch

Sailin Gudhka said...

Wonderful write up dear friend Madhu, Nice to know that u r into blogging. Keep up the good work. All the best and god bless 73