Amateur Radio In Thailand

[cm-happy]

Can anyone provide me with information or point me in the right direction regarding amateur radio in TH. I held a general lic. (WB2REY) in US. some time ago, and am intressted in resuming the hobby here. I dont have a clue if this is possible, how to obtain lic. where to buy equipment. I'm mostly interested in CW. Would appreciate any help. Have looked at internet and nothing specific to Thailand.

[pumpuiman]

I have read that the King of Thailand has an interest, and that he occasionally will speak and listen to his subjects!!! No joke!!

HS1A Bhumiphol Adulayadej, King of Thailand

HS1LY Prince Titiphan of Thailand

the above are the King and Prince's call signs

Edited December 1, 2006 by pumpuiman

[pumpuiman]

Radio hams uniquely prepared

The Bangkok Post ^ | 23 FEB 05 | TONY WALTHAM

Posted on 02/24/2005 10:43:19 AM PST by Denver Ditdat

Amateur radio operators are frequently unsung heroes when disaster strikes, and the tsunami proved to be no exception with VoIP technology linked to VHF and shortwave radio playing a big role in relaying information from the South to concerned relatives and friends around the world.

The amateur radio service is uniquely prepared for emergency communications, explained President of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand Mayuree Chotikul. Radio amateurs have the operating and technical skills coupled with the ability to transmit from their homes or a mobile location and they are not dependent on vulnerable public communications networks, she said.

For international communications after the tsunami struck, amateurs here mostly used Echolink, a VoIP network used exclusively by radio amateurs around the world that also provides for text messages to be exchanged.

Bangkok businessman Phatandit Kulaphaichitra operates an Echolink gateway between the Internet and the 2-metre (VHF) amateur band as a hobby and he recalled starting to monitor emergency traffic on 144.725 MHz VHF on Dec 26, after learning of the disaster.

The next morning at 7 a.m., Phatanadit had announced that he was standing by for contacts, and immediately began receiving and responding to information requests from Europe and the USA.

Shortly after that, he said Alongkorn Porrapukkham, a regional executive for an international bank, joined the link and, without any preliminary discussion, stepped in to help handle the traffic in English.

Phatanadit, whose amateur radio call-sign is HS1WFK, later designated his Echolink node as a "News and Information update" and during the next six days handled over 3,800 connections from 57 countries, he said.

Email was also used while HF (short-wave) and VHF communications helped link people on the ground with each other and with the rest of the world, while Thai radio hams also flew aircraft to conduct aerial surveys and performed undersea dives to assess the damage to coral and other natural resources, reporting back by HF or VHF radio. Others helped by collecting dead bodies.

Communications were conducted on shortwave, VHF and over the Internet, often relaying communciations from one frequency band or mode to another. Radio amateurs in Bangkok could listen to amateur radio traffic in Phuket and keep abreast of events there.

Phatanadit, a director of Thailand's national amateur radio society, explained how many amateur radio operators had offered to help in any way they could, such as Damri Namphaya who provided air surveillance using a private plane.

What's next? Phatanadit says he is now helping to set up a Thailand Amateur Radio Emergency Service that will interoperate with other agencies and he and other directors of the radio society have met members of the National Telecommunications Commission to discuss this.

[pumpuiman]

http://www.qsl.net/rast/

The link for "Radio Amateur Society of Thailand"

[cm-happy]

Thank you very much for your help. Its greatly appreciated

[quadricorrelator]

I was also a Ham radio operator in "2" land ... 38 years ago (I was 12). I let my license expire a few years later. I prefer cw to phone.

I don't know anything about getting a license in Thailand. I don't know where you'd buy equipment or what equipment would be like now.

I used to have a Heathkit HW-16 and National NCX-3. They were all tube transceivers. I also had a Johnson Viking II transmitter and some equipment leftover from WWII (which still worked well). At that time, I never thought transistors would ever become popular, but later I became an analog microchip designer and made a career of using them.

There is another member on this forum who uses his called letters as his name, but I forget who it is.

-q

[simon43]

I hold a UK amateur radio licence, and have been intending to get a Thai licence. But my location is right opposite the comms antennas at Phuket Airport! So I think transmitting is out of the question.

I do a lot of listening and there is more info on my personal (non-commercial) website at www.dxphuket.com

Simon

[Sulaphat]

When I got a reciprocal license here many years ago, I had one of the RAST members help me with the paperwork and legwork, so I don't know the exact procedure. But if I remember correctly, reciprocal license applications are processed at the main post office in Bangkok. You'll need the usual photos, originals and copies of license, passport, etc. That's the easy part.

Unlike the US, where your operator's license is your station license, here in Thailand you will need a separate station license. When I looked into it over a decade ago, this meant:

1) choosing one of the HF rigs permitted by the Thai communications authorities.

2) getting permission to import the HF rig.

3) registering the legally imported HF rig with the communication authorities

4) formally getting permission from the holder of the house registration document at the station's proposed location to have an HF rig at the premises

Things may have changed in the intervening time, but I suspect they haven't.

73s

[Sulaphat]

delete of duplicate post.

Edited December 1, 2006 by Sulaphat

[cm-happy]

Thanks all for your input.

The RAST site has provided a wealth of info