I had a business trip to China at the end of January 2008. It was to Mianyang, Sichaun and Beijing. It was not bad to seek for spare time for some radio fun ! Licensing is not problem. It just took weeks for mailing and I received permit from CRSA Beijing for USD5 + postage. Next thing to do is to look for clubs to give me opportunities of radio operations.

Finding "hosts" in Mianyang was not  easy. I checked QRZ.com or other database, but no club station there. There are only a couple of clubs in Chengdo, the capital of Sicuan, but it was more than 100km away from Mianyang. I found some individuals in Mianyang on QRZ.com. I e-mailed them but no answer. I assume ham radio is not popular in inland area of China yet, like Beijing or Shanghai. OK, I forget to activate BY8, though BY8 sounds a bit rare.

QRV in Beijing is not big deal. I checked QRZ.com. There are handful clubs there. I sent an e-mail to them and most of them answered me. I found Martti OH2BH is a QSL manager of BY1DX. I also asked him the detail of it. It also worked.

Emailing to Beijing is not so easy like to Tokyo. Sometimes I did not get answered for days. Finally, I managed contacts with three clubs, BY1TT, BY1DX and BY1TT. I lost a contact with B1Z/BY1TX/BY1RX on the way.

It is interesting that three clubs are different style. In early years there were only clubs at schools and "youth activity centers". BY1QH is well-knownclub at Tsinhua University. BY1DX is  at a youth activity center. It is relatively new and was supported by Martti and others when it was opened. BY1TT is a club of individuals. It is completely independent from public organization.

Unfortunately I only have a weekend after my work for my private activities. It was not serious DXpedition, as I just had a couple of hours at each station . Thanks for my friends in BY1 land for their hospitality.

There are some photos of my operation showing how wonderful my visit looks.

Feb 2, 2008
BY1TT
BY1DX

Feb 3, 2008
BY1QH