While "on holiday" in Paris in July
2000, I was strolling along the street on the way to the rail station with
my niece and nephew and their mom, enjoying the beautiful summer scenery...
when out of the corner of my eye, behind a big window, I spotted antennas,
microphones, posters with Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu logos. It was the
local RADIO STORE! Well, I managed to keep on walking (the kids just
couldn't wait to board the train to Disneyland) but temptation finally
won out... so I came back a few days later and took a look around the local
"magasin de jouets"...
Here's the storefront of Radio Communications Systèmes at
4 boulevard Diderot
in the 12th Arrondissement of Paris.
It's conveniently located about a block from Gare de Lyon, the second-busiest
train station in Paris. (From there, you can catch a ride on the
original high-speed
TGV
- Train à Grande Vitesse - line to Lyon, Avignon and
other points in eastern and southern France, or hop on the Réseau
Express Régional [RER] commuter train to the eastern
suburbs.)
Inside the main showroom, new and
used transceivers are on display... mostly the same stuff sold in
the US... except that the VHF/UHF models are programmed to cover the European
amateur bands, and therefore, carry an "E" suffix. Diamond antennas
are stocked in the right corner, and the glass cases contain special
accessories.
Of course, I wanted to see something exotic that wasn't available in America.
There were a few such items and naturally, most were made in Europe.
Here's an automatic voice recorder called a Perroquet -- French
for parrot -- the kind of gadget you would use during a contest.
The knob on the left controls
REPETITION, while the one on the right
selects MEMOIRES, and the switch in the center toggles between
LECTURE and ENREGISTREMENT
modes, but the red buttons are simply
labeled START and STOP.
The store manager, Christian, shows me a noise-cancelling headset/mic,
which he explained is a best-seller among the local hang-gliders who operate
aero-mobile. In addition to the amateur gear, the store also sells
commercial land-mobile gear, shortwave radios and related products.
Here's the popular Kenwood "Data HT" in the sophisticated European
version. I asked Christian if there was much APRS activity in
the city, and he seemed to believe that it hadn't quite caught on yet.
In fact, during my stay in Paris, I heard very little action on ANY mode
on the 2 meter or 70 cm bands. Christian explained that amateur radio
is more popular in the rural areas, where the noise level is lower and
it's easier to put up antennas. However, I learned France has only 17,000
licensed amateurs, fewer than I expected for a country of its size.
This is a Taiwanese-made 50
watt power amplifier designed specifically for use with 2 meter HTs.
I don't recall ever seeing this model advertised in the US... perhaps it
lacks FCC type-acceptance?
Another
view of the RCS showroom with several used radios on display. The
store also offers a wide selection of metal detectors, a few of which you
see in the upper left corner.
REF
- Union Francaise Des Radioamateurs "the French ARRL"
France
APRS
JavAPRS
Map of Europe (en temps réel)
Club
APRS -France
AMSAT
France
MEGAHERTZ
Magazine - Ham Radio Page
AIR
-- Association Internationale des Radioamateurs
Real
Audio files of French Radioamateur Activity (check out "Les Aberrations")