This is a postcard from a fellow human who is uniquely identify as RK4FD. I talked to him via Morse Code on 7,030 Kilohertz. at 00:18 Coordinated Universal Time on 19 February 2022. I told him I am in New Jersey and he told me he was transmitting 1,000 watts. That’s all I know about him other than that we are both humans and he was alive at that moment in time.
Five days later Russia invaded Ukraine.
“War is what happens when language fails.”
– Margaret Atwood
I am an amateur radio operator, N2BA, first licensed in 1966.
I am an avid contester meaning that I like entering competitions where hams try to see how many different people they can talk to all over the world.
The marvelous thing about radio contests is that although fiercely competitive, you win by helping your competitors win.
For example, imagine it is mid-February 2022 and you are competing in the ARRL DX CONTEST with Paul Bogachev, RK4FD, 9 hours drive south-east of Moscow. He has an amazing shortwave station that has logged 156,007 contacts between December 21, 1987 and February 1, 2022. You won’t be able to win that contest by refusing to talk to him because the winner is the person who talks to the greatest number of people who could possibly beat them.
The information we exchange with each other in a contest is trivial. For example, in the ARRL DX Contest that I did last weekend, I told RK4FD that I was in New Jersey and he told me his transmitter generated a kilowatt of power.
There was a poignancy in our communications this time because it was on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I talked to 53 stations in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It didn’t matter the particulars of what information we exchanged. What we were saying underneath it all is:
“We’re still alive and we’re still talking.”
It makes me cry to think that that might not be true for some of us, this time next year.
The problem isn’t that some of us stop talking because we die. That happens every year. That’s when a ham becomes a silent key.
What makes me cry is that this time some of us might die because we’ve stopped talking.
73,
P. S. Last weekend I made a total of 780 contacts in 98 countries over 12 hours. Below are are the contacts from my log who were in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Click on the call letters to see their station.
If you want to see who else has participated you can go here. If you see call letters of someone who interests you, you can find them at QRZ.com. If you create an account, you can find their email address. If you email them, perhaps you could ask them to read this article, translate it into their native language and pass it along.
That’s my idea of a contest for 2022. I call it: Let’s Keep Talking.
| QSO: 3528 CW | 2022-02-19 0001 N2BA 599 NJ | EU4E | 599 500 |
| QSO: 7030 CW | 2022-02-19 0018 N2BA 599 NJ | RK4FD | 599 KW |
| QSO: 7015 CW | 2022-02-19 0038 N2BA 599 NJ | UW1M | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1543 N2BA 599 NJ | RA3AN | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1544 N2BA 599 NJ | UR8RF | 599 200 |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1546 N2BA 599 NJ | UW1M | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1547 N2BA 599 NJ | UR5QU | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1548 N2BA 599 NJ | EW8AX | 599 80 |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1548 N2BA 599 NJ | RL6C | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1548 N2BA 599 NJ | UA6CC | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1549 N2BA 599 NJ | R4KO | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14040 CW | 2022-02-19 1549 N2BA 599 NJ | RM2E | 599 KW |
| QSO: 21047 CW | 2022-02-19 1556 N2BA 599 NJ | UB7K | 599 KW |
| QSO: 21047 CW | 2022-02-19 1602 N2BA 599 NJ | UW0K | 599 KW |
| QSO: 21047 CW | 2022-02-19 1604 N2BA 599 NJ | UX0FF | 599 200 |
| QSO: 14038 CW | 2022-02-19 1641 N2BA 599 NJ | UY7NR | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1643 N2BA 599 NJ | R5AJ | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1643 N2BA 599 NJ | RU3A | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1643 N2BA 599 NJ | UW1M | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1644 N2BA 599 NJ | UX1BZ | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1645 N2BA 599 NJ | RM6Y | 599 500 |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1646 N2BA 599 NJ | EV1R | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1646 N2BA 599 NJ | R6DJM | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1649 N2BA 599 NJ | RC3W | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1650 N2BA 599 NJ | EU1DX | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1650 N2BA 599 NJ | RT4G | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1653 N2BA 599 NJ | UR7MZ | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1654 N2BA 599 NJ | UV5U | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1655 N2BA 599 NJ | UT4U | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1655 N2BA 599 NJ | UT5VX | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1658 N2BA 599 NJ | EW1I | 599 K |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1659 N2BA 599 NJ | UW0K | 599 D |
| QSO: 14033 CW | 2022-02-19 1701 N2BA 599 NJ | UY1HY | 599 KW |
| QSO: 3516 CW | 2022-02-19 2350 N2BA 599 NJ | RW7K | 599 KW |
| QSO: 3520 CW | 2022-02-19 2351 N2BA 599 NJ | UW1M | 599 KW |
| QSO: 1834 CW | 2022-02-20 0133 N2BA 599 NJ | UT6UD | 599 KW |
| QSO: 1836 CW | 2022-02-20 0208 N2BA 599 NJ | RT4G | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14030 CW | 2022-02-20 1600 N2BA 599 NJ | R8TT | 599 K |
| QSO: 14023 CW | 2022-02-20 1603 N2BA 599 NJ | RA2F | 599 500 |
| QSO: 21047 CW | 2022-02-20 1609 N2BA 599 NJ | EU1A | 599 KW |
| QSO: 21095 CW | 2022-02-20 1609 N2BA 599 NJ | UA2FZ | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14084 CW | 2022-02-20 1616 N2BA 599 NJ | RC7A | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14084 CW | 2022-02-20 1620 N2BA 599 NJ | UC7A | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14084 CW | 2022-02-20 1622 N2BA 599 NJ | RN6MA | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14084 CW | 2022-02-20 1623 N2BA 599 NJ | R5DT | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14084 CW | 2022-02-20 1625 N2BA 599 NJ | EU3A | 599 500 |
| QSO: 14049 CW | 2022-02-20 1645 N2BA 599 NJ | RN3P | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14049 CW | 2022-02-20 1647 N2BA 599 NJ | US7UK | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14049 CW | 2022-02-20 1645 N2BA 599 NJ | RN3P | 599 100 |
| QSO: 14049 CW | 2022-02-20 1655 N2BA 599 NJ | RC6U | 599 K |
| QSO: 7059 CW | 2022-02-20 2218 N2BA 599 NJ | EU1A | 599 KW |
| QSO: 14020 CW | 2022-02-20 2245 N2BA 599 NJ | UA0DX | 599 KW |
| QSO: 7002 CW | 2022-02-20 2321 N2BA 599 NJ | RW1A | 599 KW |
| QSO: 7027 CW | 2022-02-20 2325 N2BA 599 NJ | RM2U | 599 KW |
Brooke Allen 