Me , Rajesh - VU3FUN And Karan VU2IB (Ex. VU2YEP Ex. VU3GTF) became HAMs in the Year 1996, Our Journey started with very modest setup which included a Home brewed 2 meter VHF rig a.k.a "Desi Katta" or Country made weapon....... Hi.. the antenna was a simple 1/4 wave GP. On the HF front we had another Home brewed single band rig called ATS-1 and again the antenna was a simple Inverted V.. after using these radios for some years we got our first commercial rig for 2 meters and the model was from ICOM IC 2-SAT.... This was our main rig for a number of years and we used it for base as well as mobile communication.
Our entry into the commercial HF radio started with our first rig again from ICOM model IC-751 .... this was one of the best radios available and pushed almost 150 Whisky barefoot. With this radio we also laid our hands on a Three element TriBand Yagi antenna which was a Japanese make .... exact model not known as we bought both the radio and yagi as second hand one... and deal came with a 15 feet tower with a rotator to move the yagi in the desired direction.
We made several hundreds of contactS on all the major bands i.e. 40 meter, 20 meter, 15 meter and 10 meter bands and in almost all corners of the world.
This was just a beginning with no looking back... we both brothers were into the hobby like anything....
our shack included radios from YAESU, ICOM, KENWOOD, ADI, ALINCO, MOTOROLA, WOUXUN to name a few.
Further down the lane Karan got his HAM ticket upgraded to GRADE-1 category licence and his call changed from VU3GTF to VU2YEP and now VU2IB.....
Well there is a little reason why Karan had chosen his call as GOLF TANGO FOX.... this was inspired by comic series TINTIN - Flight 714.......
Where in the call-sign of the aircraft was GOLF TANGO FOX......
But he had leave this call due to the upgrade in the licence category.
I didnt get my licence upgraded deliberately as I didnt wanted to give up the Call VU3FUN.
Me and Karan , both have deep interest in the HAM hobby and we continued our journey with adding new HAM gear and and kept the HAM spirit alive, We were active on the new HAM radio technologies like the Digital Modes including PSK31, SSTV etc. We also had our Echolink node active on simplex as well as on the only VHF repeater in Delhi VU2DLR owned by Vigyan Prasar and handled by our good friend Sandeep Baruah VU2MUE(Ex.VU2MSY). There were regular NET conducted on VU2DLR repeater by various NET control stations and it was linked with Echolink in order to widen the the reach with internet being the back bone.
We both are active APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) Enthusiasts. APRS has been developed since the late 1980s by Bob Bruninga, call sign WB4APR.
Sandeep a.k.a MUE is by far the most knowledgeable person on APRS in India as far as I know, APRS is possible even with a mobile fone with various Apps which are easy to install and configure.
Karan is also QRV on WSPR (pronounced "whisper") stands for "Weak Signal Propagation Reporter". It is a computer program used for weak-signal radio communication between amateur radio operators. The program was initially written by Joe Taylor, K1JT, but is now open source and is developed by a small team. The program is designed for sending and receiving low-power transmissions to test propagation paths on the MF and HF bands.
Now we have all the family members as Amateur radio call-sign holders except the hormonics :
Our Dad Y. V. Bakshi - VU3CKG since 2009, Our Mom Raman Bakshi - VU3TEG since 2010, VU3FUN XYL Himani Bakshi - VU3BYL since 2016 and VU2IB (Ex. VU2YEP , Ex. VU3GTF) XYL Tanu Bakshi - VU3GTE since 2016.
Karan VU2IB(Ex.VU2YEP, Ex.VU3GTF had a dream to have a HAM repeater station of his own and his dream came true by only his own efforts by the formation of a repeater Club IHARRC - India HamS Amateur Radio Repeater Club in the year 2015. The entire project to come up with a VHF repeater station in New Delhi was visualised and funded by Karan - VU2IB (Ex. VU2YEP , Ex. VU3GTF).
The Second 2 meter VHF repeater in New Delhi was commissioned in the Year 2015 with the call-sign VU2FUN .... almost same as my Call-Sign VU3FUN...lucky to get this call for the repeater station.
Then Further Karan was instrumental in setting up a New 70 cm UHF Repeater , the first one in entire North , East or West India, The UHF repeater call-sign is VU2HUB. Infact New Delhi is the only City in Entire Northern , Eastern or Western India which is proud to have Three operational repeaters.
The Detailed information is there on the Repeaters page on the site.
IHARRC is dedicated towards enjoying the Amateur Radio in its true spirit.
Help All Mankind - HAM
and IndiaHamS.com where Ham Radio RoCkS !
---- Rajesh Bakshi - VU3FUN