Relation with France
From 1974, I lived in the south suburbs of Paris as a French government scholarship student for two years. After that, in 1990 I lived in Paris for my work this time for half a year. During my long stay, I was very much thankful to the amateur radio clubs. In particular, since 1994, an interoperability agreement has been set up between the French and Japanese governments, which enables operations in France with simple procedures. Now the amateur radio operation is possible without any documentation if you have Japanese license. I was able to enjoy communication by carrying a VHF/UHF handheld transceiver.
Radio Club d'Ivry F6KAW
Six months after I started living in France, I visited Réseau des Émetteur Française (REF), the French amateur radio federation in Paris at that time.
So I was introduced to the club in Ivry, which is adjacent to Paris. It was Radio Club d'Ivry. I visited on one Saturday in December because they had a meeting regularly on
Saturday. The club was on the rooftop of a 14-story apartment and had an antenna so it was not so difficult to look for.
I stayed here from Saturday night to Sunday morning once and operated the club station F6KAW . The propagation of 14 MHz to Japan opened via long-pass
(the radio waves travel through Southern Hemisphere) in the early morning. At that epoch, the telephone was not as developed as it is now and, of course,
internet did not existed yet. Listen after a long time Japanese was nostalgic. I was especially impressed when JA3ART, who I was with at the Kyoto DX Club, called me.
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The apartment where Radio Club d'Ivry F6KAW installed |
The line-up of Heathkit equipement |
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I received a lot of welcome from this club. They were invited me to a Christmas party as a special member. It was a time when I couldn't speak French very well, but I was able to have a very good time with the big French OMs. (17, December, 1974)
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AIR --- Association Internationale des Radioamateurs
I stayed in Paris again for half a year in work in 1990. I enjoyed communicating mainly using the repeaters by an UHF/VHF handheld transceiver from an apartment in the
5th arrondissement of Paris. I was introduced to AIR by one of the amateur radio station with whom I contacted by this way. I often attended meetings and had a good time.
Concerning the ham activity in Paris is published in CQ ham radio magazine (CQ publisher), September 1991, p.343.
In autumn, I went to see Fox Hunting of the club in the forest of Vincennes (Bois de Vincennes) in the west of Paris. The Fox Hunting is a ham event to look for hidden small
transmitter sending Morse code using radio receiver and directional antenna. The weather was nice and the forest of the castle was pretty crowded, and they watched the members
running around carrying the strange antenna curiously.
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Everyone gathered in front of the Castle |
Preparation of the equipment |
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Strange men carryng strange antenna routing the garbage can. Everyone looking at with curiosity. |
After the battle, toast with wine ! |
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Article on Japanese CQ Ham Radio Magazine about Ham in Paris
