Vic Imamura JA5VQ / MM0JVQ (above) has been a member of the Lothians Radio Society for a number of years, spending about half of his year in Morningside and the other half in Japan. He was licensed in 1960 and is a very accomplished operator with a fine station and antenna system, and holding 9-Band DXCC (160 – 10 metres). Just before returning to Japan for the winter, Vic was the speaker at the first meeting of the new club year on 12th September 2012 at the Braid Hills Hotel, when he gave a most interesting Powerpoint presentation on Amateur Radio in Japan, including the response of Japanese amateurs to the catastrophic earthquake & tsunami in 2011, and information about a number of prominent Japanese Amateurs. A number of his slides are shown below, to cover the main points of his presentation. Photos by Peter GM4DTH and PPT slides by permission of Vic JA5VQ.
There was a good turnout for this very interesting presentation.
Summary of presentation.
There are four classes of Amateur Radio LIcence in Japan.
The fourth (lowest) class is the most popular by far, with 91% of the total number of licences.
Japanese Amateur Radio callsigns.
Japan has the second-largest Amateur population in the world.
Summary of the effects of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Map showing the area of Japan affected by the earthquake and tsunami.
These photographs reminded us of the news footage of the tsunami.
There was major disruption of communications, in which Japanerse Amateurs were able to help.
Vic played recordings of emergency communications.
Japanese Amateurs provided repeater services and large numbers of handheld transceivers for emergency communications.
Installation of one of the repeaters.
Repeaters in the affected area. They were all on 70cm.
Group shot of participants in Emergency Training in Yokohama.
Emergency Communication Manual provided by JARL – Japanese Amateur Radio League.
Message of sympathy from UK Amateurs sent to JARL by Dave Wilson, M0OBW, President of the RSGB.
Amateur Radio festival in Tokyo with 33,000 participants.
Vic JA5VQ with two Amateur friends at the festival.
Mako Mori JE3HHT is well-known worldwide for his freeware programs for digital modes including MMTTY, MMSSTV and MMVARI.
Kan 7J4AAL and his full-size 5-element beam for 80m. See him standing on top of it!
Okano JH4UYB has won more than 300 contests uisng this antenna farm at 500m asl.
Here is Vic’s own station in Japan which has enabled him to achieve 9-band DXCC (160 – 10m)
A selection of Japanese Amateur Radio magazines.
The Japanese version of CQ magazine is produced entirely in Japan.
Amateur Radio heaven in Japan – Akihabara – the street of electronics shops.