Nine or ten months, and the comments have been asking. The last uploads were Christmas week. A few days before, or maybe a week. He would have to look.
The procedure was a standard one. He has had it over and over. They sent him home with something he did not go in for. A couple of days later he was about an hour from not being here. Not a hiatus. Most of Christmas week he was in the hospital with a virus he says typically kills people. He waited through the day. A voice he describes as a small bird on the shoulder told him to go to the ER. The doctor said it was the right call. Organs had already started to shut down. Another hour and they would have been picking him up off the floor, and the destination would not have been the hospital. Christmas week, so the building was quiet. The room was isolated. What he had was contagious. The time went into a list he had been keeping.
South Korea for a year. Italy for two and a half. Travel he still sees in pieces. He had told himself he would go back and look at what he missed. Someday. The hospital moved someday to now. Somewhere warm for an upstate New York winter, if nothing else. Cost of living, climate. By the second week of January he had decided. Six months, starting in September. A short list of places. Da Nang. Tropical, beach, mountains. The reasons for leaving the United States are on the other channel, Roaming with Kevin. The link is in the description. Partway through the planning he called the six-month idea stupid and made it the move.
Paperwork, flights, visas, the passport, the bank. A lot of ham gear sold. He regrets a couple of pieces. He could not have gotten them into the country anyway. He ordered new equipment. Some of it is here.
The License, as of This Week
Vietnam is not an easy place for the license. He thinks he is close. Monday, if the approval is there, maybe a week. What is left is a translation of the U.S. license, a copy of the passport, and the final application. Restrictive, and a foreigner is a process even when they will honor a license from somewhere else. Part of that process was a club in Ho Chi Minh City and one man who signed. Nineties, poor health, hard to reach. Ten months. The site gained a few contacts. He emailed all of them and he called. Not even an acknowledgement.
He wanted to be on the air. There is no portable operation. Everything is a fixed station. In the U.S. the portable work was how he got out of the office. The last couple of weeks he has been on remote stations in the United States. You rent them. It gets expensive. A tutorial is coming. FT8. It made the itch worse.
About a month ago he wrote a ham who runs an SDR and reports into PSK Reporter, address from QRZ. That operator could not help. New, test passed, still no call. He did hand over another American in Da Nang. Eighteen years, here and Laos. If the license comes through, Kevin would be the third foreign ham in the city. The other one is farther out, toward the mountains. They talked. Most people, he says, look at you sideways when the subject is radio. The advice was to start at the frequency office and not wait on the club. The man who said it had already been through the club, years ago.
The license is tied to the visa. He waited for the last visa run, Bangkok, about two weeks ago, so the license would sit on a fresh 90 days. The next visa renewal is another 90 on the radio license, until a residence card, and then the license runs with the card. How you live here is the other channel.
The Office That Moved
The address matched the website. The building is in Vietnamese. Google Translate said frequency office and energy office. Past the guard shack, toward the main door. A guard came out. No. Down the street. Kevin pointed at the sign. The guard pointed at a paper in the window. Translate. As of July 1 they closed the frequency-management offices. Science and technology has it. An address on the same sheet. He mapped it.
The central administration building. A lobby, an information desk, laughter, almost no English on their side and very little Vietnamese on his. Translate. Amateur license, science and technology. She knew the department. Another room. Window 10.
One counter for a lot of government work. You pick the service at a kiosk and take a number. He compares it to a New York DMV. Nobody was waiting. The woman at the desk got the same translated note and laughed. The sign he had not read says she is the science and technology desk. She has never processed one of these.
She called someone else and started printing. Brand, frequencies, modes, power, serial number. The form is in Vietnamese. He can work it with Translate. Before he left the house he had gone through the fields with Claude so he knew what they were asking. A downloadable form would have been typed. Instead they are writing frequencies into small boxes. A band number is not enough. You write the frequencies.
The second woman wanted the club certificate. He does not have it. Ten months, nothing back. She laughed. They hear that. Phone calls. Did he know anyone in the hobby who could reach the club? He had just been told not to expect an answer. Then a person she reached said the regulation had changed. The club sign-off is off the application, because nobody has been able to get the man on the phone.
The replacement problem is paper. The U.S. license, translated. A passport photocopy that has been certified, so someone has said the copy is a copy. The application notarized, because he signed it. In the U.S. he would use a bank, a real-estate office, a lawyer. Here they sent him to another government office. He got out of the first building about 5:20. The second office closes at 5. Monday. Translate, bring the application back. They put it in the computer. A couple of days, they said. He would like to be on the air next week.
The Balcony
What he has up is a new FT-710 and an ATAS-120. The antenna is fussy. The ground is not good. He ordered grounding parts and will run the lead the whole way down. Third floor. The ATAS is on the balcony. The parts are coming from the United States because radio hardware is not sitting on a shelf here. An Ace Hardware had some of what a house needs and none of what a station needs. Amazon will not deliver. The package goes to an air-cargo company, then Ho Chi Minh City, then a private ride to Da Nang. He says it sounds worse than it is. Out of California, on the ground the same day or the next. Up from Ho Chi Minh in a day or two.
The supply was the annoying one. He needed 220 volt. He thinks the one he bought was from DX Engineering, and not many of theirs are. Ordering from Europe risked a customs return. Computer supplies were the fallback. He did not have to use them.
He mentions the weight because the camera is the first look in a long time. A little over 180 pounds since he started. About 100 of that before Vietnam. He thinks just under 100 since he has been here, and he calls it about half. He walked more in the apartment. The house is quieter. The neighborhood has streets you can walk.
More operating, some of it live, and he will try to say when. The call will not be the U.S. one. Vietnam is a contact people want, the way he groups it with Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. A lot of Southeast Asia is thin on operators. Portable is what he misses. He is just back from Bangkok. Thailand restricts radio gear at the border. So does Vietnam. The official path can take a couple of months, which does not fit a week of vacation if the radios are in the bag. He may still look for places outside the country. Parks on the air here would require portable, which the license does not allow. He may ask on Monday what happens if the station moves for a few days of camping. The life-in-Vietnam videos are on Roaming with Kevin. A thumbs-down, he says, needs a reason.
Transcript
Nine or ten months. The last videos were Christmas week, a few days or maybe a week before. A routine procedure. They sent him home with something extra. A couple of days later, about an hour from not surviving it. Most of Christmas week in the hospital, a virus he says usually kills. He waited all day. The ER doctor said the organs were already shutting down. Isolated, contagious, a quiet hospital. South Korea for a year, Italy for two and a half. The someday list. By the second week of January, six months away from an upstate winter, starting in September. Da Nang. The other channel, Roaming with Kevin, is why he left and why six months became the move.
Gear sold. He regrets a couple of pieces he could not have imported anyway. New equipment is here. The license is close. Translate the U.S. license and a passport copy, then file. Monday, maybe a week if it clears. A club in Ho Chi Minh City, one man in his nineties, ten months of silence. No portable operation. His U.S. operating was portable. Remote U.S. stations, expensive, a tutorial coming. FT8.
A PSK Reporter operator from QRZ was still waiting on his own license and introduced an American in Da Nang. Eighteen years, and time in Laos. Three foreign hams in the city if this one is approved. The third is toward the mountains. Start at the frequency office. The license follows the visa. He waited for a Bangkok run about two weeks ago. Ninety days, then another ninety, until a residence card.
The building says frequency and energy. A window notice: July 1, those offices closed, science and technology has it. Window 10. A kiosk, no line. She has never done the form. He had mapped the fields with Claude. Frequencies written out, not band numbers. The club certificate is off the form. A recent change, because nobody could reach the sign-off. Left to do: a translated U.S. license, a certified passport copy, a notarized application. Out at about 5:20. That office closes at 5. Monday. A couple of days in the computer. He hopes to be on next week.
A new FT-710 and an ATAS-120 on a third-floor balcony. Bad ground. Parts from the U.S. Ace Hardware, no radio stock. Amazon to a cargo company, Ho Chi Minh, then Da Nang. Same day or next out of California. The supply is 220 volt. He thinks DX Engineering. A little over 180 pounds, about 100 before he left. More live operating. He will try to post the times. Vietnam is a wanted contact. Portable is not allowed. Thailand and Vietnam both slow radio gear at the border, months if you do it officially. He may ask on Monday about a temporary move for camping. Roaming with Kevin is the rest of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened at Christmas?
A procedure he has had many times. They sent him home with something extra. A couple of days later he was in the hospital for most of Christmas week. He calls it a virus that typically kills, and he waited because he is stubborn. The ER doctor said the organs had started shutting down and that he had about an hour. The room was isolated. That is the reflection he credits with ending the someday list.
Where does the license stand?
Not issued in this video. Translate the U.S. license, certify a passport copy, notarize the application, bring it back Monday. They told him the computer step is usually a couple of days. He hopes to be on the air the following week. The club letter is no longer required. Someone the clerk called said the rule changed because the sign-off could not be reached. He had been trying for ten months. An American who has lived in Da Nang for 18 years told him a license would make three foreign operators in the city.
What is he actually on the air with?
Remote stations back in the United States, which he says get expensive, and a tutorial is planned. Locally, a new FT-710 and an ATAS-120 on a third-floor balcony. The ground is the problem. Supplies are coming from the U.S. because he cannot find radio hardware easily. An Ace Hardware had ordinary supplies and no radio parts. Amazon goes to an air-cargo company, then Ho Chi Minh City, then a private ride to Da Nang. California to Vietnam the same day or the next, then a day or two north. The power supply was the hard one. He thinks it came from DX Engineering, because few of theirs are 220 volt. A European order, he was afraid, might bounce at customs.