Turkmenistan: Political regression = ham-band rarity
Little did I know that my contact with UH8HBR in 1980 would be my only one with Turkmenistan so far.
Rare and becoming even more so, Turkmenistan is considered the 3rd most-censored country in the world. In fact, with recent developments in Burma, it may now be in the #2 position. North Korea, of course, holds First Place.
From the Commitee to Protect Journalists:
Turkmenistatn’s President Saparmurat Niyazov (now deceased – late 2006) isolated the country from the rest of the world and created a cult of personality declaring himself “Turkmenbashi”, father of the Turkmen. The state owns all domestic media and Niyazov’s administration controls them by appointing editors and censoring content. Niyazov personally approves the front-page content of the major dailies, which always include a prominent picture of him. In 2005, the state closed all libraries except for one that houses the president’s books, and banned the importation of foreign publications. The state media heaped fulsome praise on Niyazov as they ignore important stories on AIDS, prostitution, unemployment, poverty, crime, and drugs. A handful of local and foreign correspondents work for foreign–primarily Russian–news agencies, but their freedom to report is minimal.
Newscasters began each broadcast with a pledge that “their tongues will shrivel” if their reports ever slander the country, the flag, or the president.
Actually, the President’s official title is “President For Life”. Freud or Jung could probably devote an entire career to this guy!
Six months ago, a Radio Free Europe correspondent (Dovletmurad Yazguliyev) who often wrote articles critical of the country was arrested on charges of inciting his sister-in-law to commit suicide – efforts to silence and intimidate him, according to his family & colleagues.
Amateur radio in Turkmenistan was officially suspended in mid-2006 although EZ8BP and EZ7V are sometimes heard.
The QRZ.com pages for each station states that EZ7V is valid for DXCC credit and that EZ8BP is not (although he will send you a QSL) . EZ8BP also lists 60 former hams in Ashkhabad, all of whom are now QRT, silent keys or have left Turkmenistan altogether.
At the time, I thought I’d simply worked another Soviet republic with UH8HBR. Little could I have known what a prize Eugene’s QSL would become. Google offers no clue as to what became of him.
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Themocracy
I logged EZ2A on 15 cw on 16 Apr, the last day this year I operated from Iraq. No listing in QRZ.com and Google is of no help. If someone knows any info about this station and how I might get a QSL it would be appreciated. Nothing found referencing the QSL manager sites I located in GOOGLE search. :-( 73 Jerry
There are reports of 3 other stations operating discreetly from Turkmenistan, however their QSLs aren’t accepted by the ARRL for DXCC credit.
From Bernie W3UR (QST DX editor):
“Amateur Radio in Turkmenistan (EZ) has been banned since August 2006. QSL cards for QSOs from August 2006 to date are no good for DXCC.”
From EY8MM:
“Dear friends, colleagues!
Turkmenistan Radio Amateur League regrets to inform that: Starting from
2006, the Turkmenistan Ministry of Communications, without any official
explanations, refuses to give radio-amateur sportsmen of Turkmenistan
permission to use amateur radio stations. With deep regret, we inform that we have
no further opportunity to work on the air and to represent our country in different international
competitions.”
So it’s not just North Korea…
Bummer of major proportion! Jerry
John, always pay attention to EZ calls… EZ2A sounds just like E72A.
I think that 50% of wrong spots on clusters are EZ-E7 issue. 30% are “/P6″ instead of “portable 6″, and 20% goes to “FO3A” instead of 4O3A (I work CW 99% of the time, no FO errors, though) :)
Two QSOs here with EZ, both not valid (after 2006): EZ5AL in 2008, and EZ7V few days ago.
And I am sometimes “AE5TU” even after repeated corrections. One dot or one slight hesitation makes a world of difference in Morse!
Since 11.03.2011 ukrainian radioamateurs lost lot of frequencies on HF and UHF. Perhaps Ukraine not far from the Turkmenistan?
See http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?292206-The-new-Ukrainian-rules&p=2221632#post2221632
That’s amazing, Alexander. From the link you provided, I see that Ukrainian amateurs no longer have the 30m band – the last Ukrainian I worked on 30m was 31 Mar 2011. Seems you also lost a portion of 20m as well.
While I can understand the competition among various users/government agencies for UHF+ freqs, what is the purpose of taking 20 and 30m? Even the old international SW broadcasters are abandoning these freqs in favor of “internet broadcasting.”
Regarding to use of 30 and 20 meter bands – at present time it is not forbidden to use the specified frequencies before the expiry of the term of action of the individual license (but not for UHF frequencies). For example, for me it possible until 2013.
There are info that the Ukrainian government has made changes to the ranges of 30 and 20 meters in order to negotiate the use of these frequencies with the Russian military (similar restrictions were in Russia, see p. 2, 4 http://www.grfc.ru/grfc/norm_doc/verdict/005575).
Ukrainian government about a year ago, has promised to allow bands 30 and 20 meters and we continue to waiting for. Unfortunately there is no such optimism about the UHF frequencies.