My Experience with Cyclone Fani

The extremely severe cyclonic storm #Fani recently visited Odisha. It is Peculiar to have a Cyclone in this time of year. Though history says earlier there are some cyclones hit Odisha coast during this summer season.
This Cyclone traveled a very long distance to destroy Odisha. This Cyclone originate near equator in Indian Ocean. it crossed east of Srilanka and gradually headed towards Tamilnadu. Without entering into Tamilnadu coast it headed northwards in Bay of Bengal. .

[Path Of Cyclone Fani]

It touched Land in the morning of 3rd May 2019 near Puri( rather On Lake Chilika). It devastated the surrounding. and proceed further to destroy Khurda, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

The Major damage it done is to the Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri. Several Stone carvings fell off from the temple The Age old banyan tree KalpaBata is severely damaged. Water sipped into the inner sanctum and deities were not worshiped.

I have seen several Cyclones including #1999SuperCyclone . Though Super cyclone has done a lot of damage, this one is no less. Wind speed of 200kmph with gust 220 to 250 kmph ripped everything in its path. major damages to infrastructures like power grids, cell towers under construction buildings are name a few.

In case of 1999SuperCyclone, Most of the trees are uprooted including several banyan trees. bent most of the electric poles. But this one ripped branches from trunks at some places trees are uprooted. in case of 1999SuperCyclone wind speed reached more than 300 kmph, but Fani reached upto 220 kmph maximum.

At Cuttack Wind started at 9am gradually intensified. Wind blew from North East direction till 1.30pm. Wind Direction suddenly changed due West. This wind caused major damage. 

My Preparedness

See this SWLING article

I was runner-up in that challenge. My preparation for Cyclone Fani was as per I have described. Well Not all. I have charged emergency light, arranged candles and lantern. Stocked Biscuits and Flat rice. Stored around 15Liters of drinking water. Emergency medicines and fully Charged 3 Baofeng Walkie Talkies. The GP5SSB I got as a gift from SWLINGPost, put new battery in it.   I have downed external antennae for HF and VHF. Baofeng handys are quite good as scanner. I monitored HAM band so I could know the situation in surrounding area and also if situation arises I could give a distress call to Nearby monitoring person. But that situation didn't arise. 

HAM volunteers from WBRC started their communication service since 5th May. They Have setup a VHF in state control room at Bhubaneswar, ADM office Puri and Khurda.

Since 5th may onward I was monitoring and in QSO with VU2IPL(Suresh). VU2FTP VU2XRY VU3YDA and VU3OXI are handling the communication between Puri, Khurda and Bhubaneswar. 

Going ahead

Gradually Normalcy return to Cuttack. water supply was restored from 6th may. And Electricity supply resumed in my locality on 8th May evening. 

Lessons Learnt 

"How much you be prepared for any natural calamity it is less."

My preparation was good no doubt. But the season is summer season. Every season have there advantage and disadvantages. Cyclone in summer brings very uncomfortable climate. Hot and Humid climate makes sweating like hell and dehydrates. So water stock should be more for a family of 8. 

Power backup is not sufficient. Hence a Solar power system or Genset is required to survive after effects of summer cyclones.

#FaniCyclone

#HAM

#HAMRescue

A 30 years Dream

Today I got my HAM license. My call sign is VU3VFU( Viktor Uniform number 3 Viktor Foxtrot Uniform).

It was 1986 june. My Matric Exam(10th Board exam) was over. So no study pressure no mathematics no algebra no geometry no trigonometry... Initially it was enjoying but after 2 weeks it was horribly boring. While I was roaming in the market I saw EFY(Electronics For You). Got tempted and bought it. Those days it was costing Rs.5/- yes Five Rupees. I found it interesting but somany topics are over my head ( You know What I mean Hi Hi Hi).
In that issue they have published about HAM radio. when I read it I was thrilled. Can I really keep a Transmitter at home??? intrigued me.

I read that article repeatedly and convinced yes it is possible to have transmitters at home. Next is gathering information. Those days there were no internet, no mobile phone nothing. So ultimate part is going to electronics department and asking them. But I never find any answer from them.

Fortunately there was a Marine Radio Communication training institute in my college (Ravenshaw college).I  approached the chief instructor Mr.Choudhury. He gave me a good and convincing answer. I collected monitoring station's address in Gopalpur,Sarkarpul, Chabis praganas,WB. Wrote mail but they never gave inspiring or detailed procedure. Next my research found "ABC of Amateur Radio". I read that from begin to end.

Then time flew by and I joined Engineering college(UCE Burla.) in Civil Engineering. My interest gone dormant. But some fine day my younger brother(now K14DDY) informed me there are few hams at Sambalpur. I tried to meet them but unfortunately i could not. Then Course work pressure, then after completion JOB hunt from during 1993... I could not look towards HAM radio.

Then comes 2011. I came back to Odisha and Got to know about VU3PLP( now VU2FRD) called him up and his assurance kindled new hope in me and gradually we formed an association ARSO(Amateur Radio Society Odisha). Arranged Exam and Now we have 18 more HAMs in odisha...

This is my story it may not inpire you or not interest you, but I felt I should share this 30years of wait.
Any ways please share your story and comments.

Thanks 
de VU3VFU.

My Experience with GP-5/SSB

Countycomm's GP-5/SSB is the prime radio for me now. Earlier I used RTL SDR and Kchibo.

Kchibo is not for HAM use. It is suitable for Broadcast(MW/SW/FM) listening. Where as RTL SDR is good for 5MHz to 1.7 GHz. I used it for BC,HAM band in 40m and 2m reception. 20m reception using modified driver under linux was not possible( I don't know Windows performance though).

After I got this GP-5/SSB receiver, my evening time pass is to listen to HAM QSOs on 20m mostly and sometimes on 40m too. This radio is a cute radio as you might have seen from my previous write-up or elsewhere. My friends here are envious about its performance and size.
With this GP-5 SSB I have received stations as far as Australia, Siberia, Srilanka, Oman and my latest reception of Netherlands (PD9Z). So also i have received local (VU) stations from Mangalore,Bangalore, Chennai, Vishaka Pattanam, Kolkata, Berhampore(Murshidabad), Patna, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Ahmedabad, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Bramhapur and Delhi.

QRP and homebrew stations VU3JOJ from Murshidabad, VU3PLP from Bhubaneswar are my regular favourite.
QRO stations such as VU2DPI, VU2YK and VU2KD are received like broad cast station clarity.

To emphasize the sensitivity of this receiver, i can say I have received a portable mobile HF station(VK6HCF) from VK land.

Power consumption is higher ( As i observed). In the beginning  I used AA alkaline cells made by Panasonic India (Golden colour). Those cells are drained out in 3 to 4 days if I use for 2 hours in the evening and one hour in the morning. To eliminate the battery issue i started using 2100mAh NIMH cells. The same thing happened as I have to recharge the cells every 3 to 4 days. I consulted the manual. There it says "if NIMH cells are used then the set must be set for NIMH cells". I changed the setting to my surprise after even 7 days cells are showing full power and there is no issues.

Bottom line:
Cute small Radio for radio lovers.
 

CountyComm GP-5/SSB receiver.

Yesterday I received a GP-5/SSB receiver from CountyComm with some other goodies as a prize for "Virtual Radio Challenge IV" at Swling.com. After a long time I am receiving a prize.. Hi Hi Hi...

This radio is not for those who listens music on FM bands. It is for the Radio Fans and Radio Enthusiasts. Besides normal AM and FM demodulation it has SSB capability too.

Tuning range 550KHz -1710KHz can be changed to 150KHz-1620KHz
SW tuning is 1711KHz to 29999KHz continuous. This is a bit problem as one has
to rotate the wheel ... But to ease these there is preset BC bands and HAM bands too. Simultaneously there is scanning feature and Manual Memory feature for station surfing. 
FM tuning 76MHz-108MHz or 87MHz-108MHz

FM audio quality is very good
AM audio quality is very good
SW audio is good but noise (though SW bands are noisy except night time)
SSB is good One has to change BFO shift for clarity and lesser noise.

Overall it is a Good to have radio.

ARSO info and my Winning of Virtual radio Challenge IV

Greetings for the Festive Season
Merry Christmas to all.

ARSO:
For the past few months I was busy. During these days some enthusiast HAMs and SWLs of Odisha,India came closer and unanimously decided to meet every Sunday afternoon. I am one of them.

As days passed few veteran HAMs suggested to start an association which will bring all the active inactive HAMs and SWLs Radio enthusiasts together. currently this association has a name "Amateur Radio Society of Odisha (ARSO)".

Recently ARSO Organised ASOL exam on 20th December 2015. Good number of candidates shown interest in appearing the exam. to be precise 21 candidates have filled up the form but 20 candidates could manage to come to the exam venue on specified date and time. out of these 20 candidates 12 candidates appeared for Restricted grade and 8 candidates for General grade.

ARSO has conducted extensive classes for aspirants at ARSO office for exam preparation. ARSO been instrumental for Theory(Technical and Procedure) and also for Morse practice.  I am thankful to ARSO to organize the Exam at Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The exam was conducted at OMC Auditorium, bhubaneswar. Examiner Mr. Panja from WPC conducted the Exam with supervision of Mr. Mallik, the Monitoring Officer stationed at Bhubaneswar. Senior HAMs OM Dilip Padhi(VU2DPI), OM Sameer Ranjan Panda (VU2AOR),  OM Priti Ranjan Mekap (VU3UFX), OM Rajesh Kumar(VU3PLP) and OM Gurudutta Panda(VU3GDP) encouraged the aspirants. At the end ARSO member Mr. Pankaj Bag sponsored a grand lunch to all who are present.

In future ARSO has promised to conduct more such events. Thanks ARSO for your effort.

SWLing:
In the mean time I also have participated in a contest organised by Thomas of Swling post. Besides his Nice informative reviews on radio related subjects, he also conducts some interesting challenges. Recently he posted such a challenge, Virtual Radio challenge IV. 
The good news is that I am runner-up in this event and Mehdi's entry was the winner. For details please read the result page.