Gaining support for Myanmar activities

[IK0ZCW]

Following his recent update on any potential Myanmar activities, Simon HS0ZIB informs readers of his tribulations:

“”I’m sure many readers of this web-site know about my efforts to reactivate XZ-land (Myanmar-Burma), which saw it’s last permanent radio ham some 49 years ago.

Since 1964, there have been several short-term DXpeditions by foreign amateur teams, but these also ‘died out’ in the early years of this century.

Last year, I relocated from my family home on the ‘paradise’ island of Phucket, Thailand to Yangon (Rangoon), where I hoped that living and working in credible employment would increase my chances of obtaining this sought-after radio licence.

I’ve been in touch with the licencing authority on several occasions, but with a neutral response so far.

My latest efforts sought the support of the various radio societies and national organisations in member countries of the IARU.

I reasoned that if I could show the PTT minister support for my licence application from radio societies throughout the world, this would increase my chances of getting the licence.

Whilst some might argue that a single letter of support from the IARU would suffice, the simple truth is that the Myanmar licencing authority has no idea who the IARU is, nor are they even aware of what ham radio is…. So a strong show of support from both the IARU and individual radio clubs was my goal.

I composed an explanatory email and sent it to my region IARU representative, and copied it also to every national radio club throughout the world where I could locate a valid email address.

Several days later, I followed up my initial email with a second that made the requested task even more easy by providing a example letter of support that simply needed to be signed and printed on the radio club’s headed notepaper.

So how many letters of support did I get?

My initial letter to the IARU was not replied to, but after some further email correspondence, I received a letter of support. Thank-you to IARU region 3!

How about the national radio societies?

The ARRL? – Nada!

The RSGB? – Nada!

Radio clubs from Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Russia? – Nada, nada, nada, nada, nada!

And so the list of non-replies goes on and on and on. In fact, out of 70 national radio clubs and organisations, only 1 chose to reply to my email, and they declined to provide a letter of support!

This was not a case of invalid email addresses – all my emails were delivered successfully.

This was not a case of my email being overlooked – I sent a follow-up email a few days later.

I have to say that after this pitiful response from the national radio clubs, I begin to wonder why I am putting myself through all this hardship :)

The last time that I saw my wife and kids and sat on the sunny beach in Phuket was 9 months ago. I can quite honestly say that living full-time in a damp and squalid apartment in Yangon is not an enjoyable experience, (It was recently voted the most unsanitary city in Asia…).

On the other hand, I have received many wonderful letters of support for my efforts from radio hams throughout the world. Thank-you!

So come on radio clubs! I’m neither asking for financial donation nor equipment for this project. I’m financing it all out of my own pocket and the least that I can expect is for these clubs to spend 10 minutes in signing a letter of support for my efforts and emailing it back to me.”"