Display Items used at the IARU Stand
at TELECOM Asia 2000
Prepared by ZL2AMJ BACK to the TELECOM page
Prior to the event, the IARU Region 3 Secretary sent a letter to all member societies of IARU Region 3 seeking material for display at TELECOM Asia 2000 at Hong Kong to support the promotion of Amateur Radio and of IARU. Some material was received, shipped where necessary to the work address in Hong Kong of the President of HARTS.
HARTS, through the kindness of Stephen VR2ZST, provided a lap-top computer with a separate monitor. The monitor screen was positioned to face one walkway and the lap-top screen to the other. The display was a POWERPOINT display developed for this TELECOM.
This computer display is covered in other notes at: The IARU Slide-Show This file is available for downloading and viewing.
HARTS, again by Stephen VR2ZST, provided two transceivers for display, one for HF and one for VHF, and an active antenna.
The VHF transceiver operated on a local 2 metre repeater and was useful for communicating with HARTS members arriving at the entrance to the TELECOM. A free-entry voucher, made available to HARTS by ITU for assistants and visitors to the stand, could then be delivered to the person at the entrance! Cellphones were used for this purpose too.
CRSA provided three items of ARDF equipment with their handbooks. There was a pamphlet in Chinese about the recent ARDF event in China. There was great interest in these items.
The items are:
FR80-E 3.5 MHz band Amateur Radio Direction Finder with English manual.
PJ-80 Short-distance ARDF unit as used by juniors, with Chinese manual.
CX-2M 144 MHz Amateur Radio Direction Finder with English manual. This is a Yagi with a receiver-built-in-the-boom.
Two picture frames from KARL about ARDF were on display. One gave photographs with explantions in English about ARDF events. The other showed the construction of a VHF direction-finder unit including the making of its printed-circuit board. These panels complemented the hardware on display from CRSA.
Six pictures from JARL were on display. There were dramatic photographs of earthquake damage to buildings. These pictures drew considerable comment from visitors.
Two displays showed that amateur radio operators in two countries were active in providing communications for two similar events and received favourable comment:
Photos sent electronically from SARTS to HARTS about the Singapore International Marathon and the SARTS' role in that event were printed in Hong Kong and displayed.
HARTS provided some pictures about the similar Hong Kong Trailwalker event. You can read about this event at the HARTS web site:
NZART provided a sample home-built ALIVO-ZL receiver with its construction booklet and sundry other journals. Several visitors took note of the web address where further information about this receiver can be found:
ARRL provided a sample copy of several recent publications including the ARRL Antenna Book and the latest ARRL Handbook. These were closely inspected by many visitors. One visitor was insistent on buying the Handbook there and then, but was referred to the web page to make the purchase.
The IARU International Secretariat provided hand-out brochures, The Case for Amateur Radio, and IARU 75-year and WRC-2000 pins. It is estimated that about 400 to 500 pamphlets were given away.
There was no other immediate support from any other IARU or Region 3 society.
Overall, the equipment on display was adequate but a wider range may have been desirable. The furniture available and the limited wallspace resulting from the booth design, were limiting factors on the display possibilities.
A pot-plant with some green leaves and flowers would have been a useful decoration to add to the display.
With expensive equipment on public display, much of it privately owned, much of it small and pocketable, the question of appropriate insurance should be decided for future events.
A "visual stocktake" was made continuously at TELECOM Asia 2000 to check that all items were still at the stand. There was a fear that something could disappear. It was fortunate that nothing of major importance did.
Two journals (of three) brought for display could not be found on the second day (two copies of the NZART Journal "Break-In"). These were probably removed by a visitor who thought that they were give-aways. A sheet with a list of frequencies used by the new amateur P3-D/AO-40 satellite disappeared on the last day. These losses are of no consequence.
The security problem became of real concern when it was reported that a cellular telephone had disappeared from a neighbouring stand.
There were two lockable cupboards in the acquired furniture. Although not adequately secure, the attractive hardware items were locked "out of sight" overnight when the stand was not staffed.
Enquiries to: Fred ZL2AMJ Back to Top of This Page
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