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32nd Seanet 2004 @ Bangkok
| The Seanet Convention began on a sad note as
arriving delegates learned that vice president of the host society and the
chairman of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand's working group for
SEANET, Ray Gerrard, (HS0ZDZ, G3NOM) had suffered a major heart attack a
week before the convention and was still in a coma in a Bangkok hospital as
of today. Ray's presence was sorely missed and books were placed at the
convention hotel for delegates to record "get well" greetings to Ray and his
wife, Lawan (E21UHL), who was at his side. |
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The convention this year was blessed with fine
warm weather, and the weekend's program started at 10 a.m. on the Friday
morning where a welcoming committee had set up registration which took place
throughout the day. By early evening the Convention's special event ham
radio station with the callsign “HS72B” was operating from room 2215, where
contacts were made throughout the convention period and several hundred
QSO's were made during the event. |
| Seanet controller stalwart and a delegate to
Seanet 2004, Roy Charlesworth (DU9/G4UNL), were invited to take the net on
behalf of the convention at 7 p.m. (12.00z). The audio of the HS72B net
control and of Seanet check-ins was piped through the ballroom and reception
area of the Arnoma Hotel, as well as being relayed on two metres, thus
lending an appropriate atmosphere as delegates arrived for the welcome
dinner and began to take their seats. |
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The welcome dinner began shortly after 7.30
p.m., once all delegates and conventioneers had assembled in the Arnoma
Grand Room, along with VIP Guests, headed by a senior advisor to the
Governor of Bangkok, Mr Kiat Sitthi-amorn, who is also the Chairman of the
International Chamber of Commerce.
Welcome speeches where made by RAST
president Mrs Mayuree Chotikul, HS1YL, being translated into English by RAST
Vice President Chaiyong Wongwuticomjon (HS1QVD), and this was followed by a
lively opening address by Mr Kiat Sitthi-amorn. While the10-course Chinese
banquet was served, a fine cultural show of Thai classical dancing was put
on for the benefit of all. |
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A video presentation also recapped the 41-year history of
the Seanet host society, and later on the Indian delegation presented a
promotional video for an insight into the next Seanet Convention in 2005 in
Bangalore, India. A very informative sights and sounds of the host city were
shown with the hosts' hope that more delegates would head to that
magnificent city in 2005. |
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Door prizes were drawn for a variety of gifts, including
return air tickets on Thai Airways International to Chiang Mai and Phuket, as
well as for log books, Yaesu caps and useful zone maps provided courtesy of the
Ham Radio Outlet stores in the USA. |
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Early on Saturday morning, at 8.30 a.m., all delegates
assembled in the Arnoma Grand Room for the Convention's Group photograph. This
photograph is now available to view on the www.seanet2004.com web site if you
have not obtained a copy for yourself. |
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During the day, from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., all guests
were invited to day of sight-seeing which took in the beautiful sights of the
Temple of the Emerald Buddha and Vimanmek palace. |
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In between the Tours, lunch was at the riverside floating
restaurant, buffet style serving all kinds of mouth watering fare. The
air-conditioned floating ship restaurant was actually wobbling, caused by wakes
from tourists laden speed boats zipping up and down the river. Luckily nobody
got seasick that day. Hi Hi |
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After returning to the hotel, those keen on testing their
CW operating skills were able to compete by trying to copy as many calls as
possible out of a total of 100 in a six-minute period. The tape was composed by
N0SS, who does the same exercise during the Dayton Hamvention, and administered
at SEANET by contest veteran K3ZO and HS0ZAR, Fred Laun. The winner, with 43 out
of 100 calls correct, was DXpeditioner DL3DXX, Dietmar, who was attending SEANET
before taking part in a major DXpedition to operate on the low bands to coincide
with Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand's 72nd birthday. Fred sponsored the
first prize of an international subscription for one year to the ARRL and also
the second prize of an annual subscription to CQ Magazine which was awarded to
Champ, E21EIC, who was just one point behind Dietmar, with 42 callsigns
correctly copied.
All the other runners-up received prizes generously donated
by Shin-ichi, JA0DAI, while Fred also offered SEANET delegates the possibility
to have their DXCC cards checked with several hams took advantage of this
opportunity.
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At 7.30 p.m., all delegates and their guests assembled once
more in the Arnoma Grand Room for the Grand Banquet Dinner. Some 200 guests and
delegates sat down to dinner and entertainment, many dressed in the national
costume of their country of origin. The dinner was a buffet style, enabling all
those to circulate and decide what they wanted to eat.
During the dinner the
Master of Ceremonies, Thida HS1ASC, and Tony, HS0ZDX, drew the raffle tickets
for the variety of door prizes, the highlights including air tickets and free
accommodation and operating privileges at Hillview Gardens, 9M6AAC, courtesy of
Doris, 9M6MU, and Alfons, 9M6DU, and also from Sweden's King Chulalongkorn University Memorial Amateur Radio Station in Ragunda,
SI9AM, thanks to the generosity of Lars, SM3CVM.
On completion of the dinner
service, each country's delegates were invited to the stage to give a
presentation of local folk songs or some other type of typical entertainment
from their country. Australia started the ball rolling with a fine rendition of
"Waltzing Matilda," while a strong Japanese contingent did a
well-choreographed rendering of "Sukiyaki". The 9M contingent showcased their
version of the "Joget" dance. Everyone had a fulfilling night with plenty of
eyeball, QSOs , food and free flow of beverages.
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| On Sunday morning the show got under way shortly after 9
a.m. with technical and other presentations, the first being a very interesting
talk by Professor Kunchit, HS1JC, on "Amateur Radio Development in Thailand".
This was followed by the RAST / HSDXA group with a fine video presentation on
"Thailand Contesting and DXPeditions". |
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After the coffee break at 11 a.m. the plenary session
began, being chaired by Phil, HS0/G4JMB, 9M6CT and helped along by Tony HS0ZDX.
During this session the matters covered were the day-to-day problems associated
with finding Seanet Controllers for every day of the week. Existing controllers
were requested to liaise with one another, as usual, to ensure that there was a
controller for every night of the week and India was requested to try and ensure
that, at least for one night of the week, they would provide a controller. |
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In respect to the Seanet contest, due to all the results
being in Ray Gerrard's computer an announcement of the winners was not possible,
while it was announced by Tony that when the results had been cleared, they
would be presented on both the www.seanet2004.com site and the RAST site at
www.qsl.net/rast. In due course also the prizes would be sent to the winners. |
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As for the bid for the 2006 Seanet convention, Taizo-san
JA3AER submitted a proposal for Osaka, Japan to be the next host with the date
to be announced. Since Japan was the only bidder, their bid was accepted by
acclamation. |
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The only other outstanding matter was the handing over of
the Seanet Flag to the Indian delegation of the 2005 Seanet convention, but this
was unavailable since it was still at the home of Ray Gerrard. All members were
notified that details for the 2005 are already available to be seen at
www.seanet2005.com
The plenary session finished at 11.50 a.m. with a special
thank you to Godfrey Yin 9M6GY, who has been the web master for the Seanet
convention web site now for four years.
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Finally a special vote of thanks to both Thida HS1ASC and
Tony HS0ZDX for a wonderful job of being the Masters of Ceremonies for both
evenings' events. The Convention
ended with a farewell lunch buffet style serving the best of Thai's and
Western Cuisines. 73. |
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![[Company Logo Image]](images/Seanet%20logo.jpg)
SEANET 2004 Bangkok
Convention
