Opening up countries to ham radio

This month's CQ Magazine leads off with an article by John Kountz, KE6GFF/T6EE, on finding "The Responsible Person: Bringing Amateur Radio Back to Afghanistan."

The story, a good one, chronicles the continuing effort by John and others to reactivate ham radio in this country ravaged by more things than I want to see in my life time.

One of the great things about our hobby is our persistence at bringing ham radio to more parts of the world, regardless of the circumstances that the country has at the time. In my ham radio career, off the top my head, we've had hams work with governments in China, North Korea, Albania, Libya, Palestine, Nepal and other countries to enable ham radio operations.

Sure, the efforts are somewhat self-serving in that these people want to operate from rarified DX locations -- but the seeds of these efforts often grow into much more that ham radio brings to the table.

Public service, emergency communications, and good will across countries are often built from these (Herculean) efforts of individuals.

Without the efforts of these people, these individuals, the world wouldn't be as small as it is today.

Here's a tip of the hat and a sip of wine to those that promote the hobby to others. I certainly appreciate their work.

Scot, K9JY