SORRY I AM  CHOOSY

You are as choosy as I am. Animals tend to choose their own kind and specie. It is just natural for many people to choose friends, companions for travel and chat, and persons they just like. At times I choose base on my principle like I do talk to 9Ws on VHF and normal eyeball but I would not talk to them on HF except on CW. It is not a matter of taste but as a matter of Principle.

Principles can be silly or stupid but I believe a person should have at least one.

As you judge me and other people, I too judge you and the others. Judgment can can always be wrong. When I read a person's article, I would judge that person by the manner and contents of his writing. Then I would put him in a certain category base on his intellectuality. If I think he is not suitable as a friend then I will not want to see his face at all.

I believe, right or wrong, I can meet a high class ham on CW because these people took pain to enhance themselves and had succeeded in fighting challenges. Many rich people work very hard to earn big money. Yet there are others who want to get rich by begging or demanding for money, cheating or robbing. Some ethnic group live in poverty because they are lazy.

If the government draft or execute any policy which is driving the people to laziness, uncompetitive and low class citizens, I have no choice but has to sneer at the government and the policy. That's why I am against abolishing UPSR,PMR and in the radio world against the policy in helping lazy people.

In my previous experience, I have been facing difficulty with many incompetent officers as in Celcom for example. We do have workers in big company who are suppose to help the customers failed to carry out the job because they don't have ample knowledge.

Choosy people may end up with no friend. But there are many good people around whom we can respect and help each other. We don't have to pick up any Dick, Tom and Harry.

When the 9Ws comes on HF, I hope they won't cause any problem to people who want to work on CW. Surely I may come on phone talking to the other 9M2s or YBs or any DX stations. I hope no one will join in when I am there or causing deliberate QRM. At the moment we have enough of rude people and even hams. Let the number stop there. It is your right and mine to be choosy.

Even on the DX band, I can't tolerate international hams using CB lingos. So I just move to the CW portion to monitor and enjoy listening. To my judgment ham radio is even spoiled by a few CB-Ham.

Top 08/07/2010 - Abdul Rahman

WHAT I HEARD AT FUNERAL TODAY

I was informed of a funeral at my kampong. My neighbor was a poor man. Kids would go and sleep at my sister's house. I didn't find many people because they do not inform people about the death. I arrived early morning. The funeral would be after the prayer.

While waiting someone brought out the topic on the dilemma of the future Malays. He was talking about the Education system and the disadvantage of the Malays for the lack of proficiency in English. Probably his son was rejected in the job interview because he can't speak English. I just listened, nodded my head, just refused to add comments because if I did it would be a long story.

They were talking about the dark future of the next generations starting from the drug addiction to the decline in morality and poverty. I just guessed most of them do not agree with the government policy.

In fact I have written about the use of English in my blog expressing my regret on what has happened to the International Hobby of Ham Radio. The tug-of- war on language issue still continue today. Whatever the outcome private companies prefer English speaking graduates.

When my students were chosen to go to Korean colleges they had to undergo the language course. Within a short period they were qualified, joined the college and a few proudly entered Korean university. They studied English since standard one to form 5, almost 11 years. Yet they are lack of proficiency. But they could master the new language within a short duration.

This is what we call attitudes. The struggle for survival, do or die. Never look for excuses. Nobody can demand the Korean government to find the Malay talking lecturers to teach the Malaysians in Korea. If it is here people might demand and command the government to enact a policy to spoon feed them, bring everything in front of them.

At the funeral home the son told of a story about what his father told him before he died. The father was good in school but he followed his friend's way and neglect his study."Son, if I have not followed my friend, I would already be a teacher." The poor man's ambition was just wanting to be a teacher.

Then I remember parents who worried about their kids following their friends. Smoking and drug addictions were could be influenced by friends. When my student asked me about putting her son in the hostel, I said it could be a risky step as it all depends on the warden. Even with the strict wardens they would still jumped over the fence to go to town after midnight and watch movie. I asked her to keep the son at home because the school is near the house.

Friends who ask us to do good job, study and make money by honest business are not easy to find. But we can find friends who want us to follow him so that we won't be above him.

All what I herd at the funeral house had been addressed before and you can notice the response on the web site. The small issue can reflect the whole make up of a certain ethnic group.

I notice that some of us were having a locked mind. I gave one example; you open an e-mail and found a mail from me with a certain advertisement. When I say I do not send any mail to you, you would insist on saying it was me who do it, nothing else. This is what I mean by the locked mind which is typical among the people who lack of knowledge, though he is the smartest, and refused to venture other possibilities. People with a deep knowledge on computing and the internet might be able do describe the possibilities of such happening, understanding the mail server, hacking into it using some DOS commands. It may or may not be a virus.

Open mindedness, positive attitudes, educational level, analytical and knowledge are correlated and of the same category. We do have many Malays of this category. They don't beg and make noise. They would work hard for success. Close mindedness, negative attitudes and laziness actually are not owned by the Malays only. Malaysians as a whole do share identical characters though the numbers may be lesser.

Top - 07/08/2010 (Abdul Rahman)

MEE MASAK SATU

I don't feel well since yesterday, getting fever and cough. The cough is more serious at night. Finally I decide to go to pharmacy and look for some flu medicines. On the way home I stopped at a Pasar Malam to buy Tahir Mee. Tahir Mee suit my taste and you have to queue. If you are unlucky it may take you 60 minutes. But people would go somewhere else befoe picking up the order. One bungkus costs RM3.00 but enough for a normal person. Mummy, Tahir's wife, would fry the order. Some time Tahir was there and sometime you can't find him. Tahir is about 75 years old.

If you ask me to grade the mee by my taste I would give it 9 out of 10. Today I ordered Bihun instead of mee goreng. While waiting one Chinese lady came. She looked very beautiful to me, taller than me by a few inches. "Kasi say satu mee masak," she ordered.

I was wondering what is 'mee masak'. This is the first time I heard the word mee masak. Tahir's son seemed to understand what it meant. I did not ask because the Chinese lady was there. But I would have just guessed that mee masak is mee kuah or mee rebus. But people identified mee kuah as different from mee rebus.

Even my wife was puzzled about mee masak. She too was thinking it could have been as mee rebus. If I am still around, next week I will ask Tahir's son what Mee Masak is.

One good thing about Mee Tahir or Mee Pak Chop is they make sure thee goreng stuffs are well done. There can be many people waiting but there will be no rush for Mummy. Unlike a boy near my house who can goreng 10 bungkus within one or two minutes. Yet almost every night his mee will be sold out. Now I stopped buying mee from this boy except for Nasi Goreng.

The fastest order from Mee Tahir is the Pasembor. Second is Mee Rebus.

If you want to know how the taste is probably you can go to the Pasar Malam on Tuesday and Wednesday after 5 pm. Call me up. You can also can try Mee Masak once.

Top - 13/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman)

RUNNING UBUNTU ALMOST ON FULL MODE

My Windows is almost closed to the internet. My Kapersky may be updated once in a while with full of risks while updating it. I will have to observe whether I will be running Ubuntu for the whole month without the anti-virus updating.

Firefox does not seem to be 100% compatible with some of my web page coding as I discovered. For those Firefox users, they will have difficulty in navigating my web page. The Internet Explorer will have no problem.

The logbook written in Visual Basic is running well on Ubuntu after some  modification from the old one. It is not attractive with less facilities. It is just like the Skype program which has no video facility. But I feel save running Ubuntu rather than Windows. I believe some sick guys will be experimenting with virus on Linux.

Opening e-mail, browsing web sites, skype chat, and  ham logging are all that I need. Writing codes is on Windows. This just serve me and it is enough. Nevertheless I am experimenting with Php-Msql and intend to write codes for data entry, deletion, updating and a few other common features with php on linus. My localhost experiment works very fine and am enjoying playing around with it.

Today, we can learn things ourselves. All that we require is the 'want to do it'. The will to learn.

There is nothing much that I can say about those who want to learn and can't learn yet want everything in the world. I just have to feel sorry for them. Even if they passed remarks, shouted and condemned the world, there is nothing that we can do. Just show no response otherwise we will be one of them. If it happened that they come into our world just by the stupidity of others, then we still can say and do nothing.

I don't ask any other person to go to Ubuntu if you are comfortable with Windows. I am just talking about learning other things to achieve what the others have. I just don't respect beggars.

Telling about Ubuntu is telling about the will to learn. Remember I am almost at the burial ground as compared to those people below 40. When the government are designing policies to drive the citizens into laziness, I am always against them.

Top - 15/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman)

DEMOCRACY AND MAJORITY FIT ?

Democracy, majority and human rights are symbols of progress and enlightenment. And Malaysians are moving hard towards it. Here I would like to look at them thru my own perspective.

Recently I viewed a real video on issues on pornography in the United States, the battle between court and the proponent of pornography. The Western value has changed very much on several matters with a total divorce from the old tradition and religion. Religion is used as merely a political and monetary tools. Child pornography, public sex and nudity, free group sex in shows and clubs are opened up in great numbers in the name of public demand and majority need. The pressure of human right pushed many states to allow lesbians, gays and same sex marriage.

To many of us it is an alarming phenomena. To the people of the changed value it is nothing, natural and nothing to be fussy about.

The Malaysians and the Malaysian policy makers have been looking at the West for guidance and fond of adopting the beliefs and the policies believing it would put it in the map of progressive nations together with the Western brothers. Talk on human right by the Sisters of Islam, by Rais Yatim and a few others are running well with huge supporters. The government agencies too are following the Western education system and the radio communication policy of those nations.

We have been seeing that the proponent of democracies are using force on the others to follow them. The Americans have been dictating democracy and human right to the Malaysian administration in return for some policies. The number of prisons and prisoners, death of innocent humans in Afghanistan and other land where the Western military operates do not fit with the belief in human right and democracy. Counting the number by minority and democracy the Israelis are always less than the Arabs. Yet the Americans go for the minority.

The MCA women encroached the Islamic religion on many women issues as it sees as undemocratic and unfair to woman. The right to practice freedom is for all. Not only for MCA, Americans or any other nations. If I chose to ask my wife to wear a veil and she chooses to wear it, then the MCA woman should respect my right too.

At the spare of the copy and paste operations by the Malaysians, I believe that we are moving towards a immoral country. We don't have our own thinking. Our culture is sinking. Our country is being invaded by foreigners.

Top - 18/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman)

THE REAL MAD GUY

The other day I was talking to 9M2SW about money. Thomas said that money is god. The Chinese saying had long said that you can pay the satan to pull the bullock cart for you. Thomas went on saying that if we take the money to persons whom we recognize as mad they would recognize it. And they were not mad looking at it.

So I concluded one way to test a person's mental condition is to give a few fifty dollar bills. If he throws the money away, he is really a mad guy. This has not been put to the test yet and it would be interesting to do so.

There are various category of mentally sick persons; from a person who talks to himself to a person who cannot assess the world value. You read about people who claim that they are prophets and ascending from the sky kingdom. You read about preachers with too little or no knowledge.

What is a world value ? You can define it in anyway. It is something that belongs to the world, own by the world with the world value. A sick person would want to use what belongs to the world as if it is his and belongs to his mother. International rules belongs to the world. If we disregard it and try to breach the rule then there could be a grave consequence. That's why the world decide Pulau Batu Puteh belongs to Singapore.

International rules and regulations are world value. The world expect us to abide by them. When a group of persons use the radio band as they like and further using 'Salam and other Islamic connotations' they have to be very sick. They disgrace their race and the religion. The world would see Islam in a very bad perspective in addition to the pre-conceive idea that Muslims are taught to be terrorists.

Even our government is more scared of Jemaah Islamiah than the drug pushers.

Articles like this open myself to attack and criticism. The wise readers would know my mentality, emotional state, educational level and the degree of my mental sickness. So is everybody's article which also carries his other attributes and characters. People can see how you think and have been wondering who you are. We can be dub as moron, stupid, fool or crazy. But certainly could  not be mad enough because we do hunt for money.

What we can warned people is that 'do not fight or shout at mad person'. Neither should we respond to their insults. No need to test them with money. But we can know the disease will be inherited. We hope so that the world will not use the 'BIG broom' to sweep all clean ( quote from 9m2lc )

The story of terrorism is only a recent phenomena invented in the Middle East and exported to USA. It is up to us to prove that we are not.

I would like to touch on some sensitive issue, sensitive but a real historical issue ie the historical perspective of the Malays in the eyes of the others. Munshi Abdullah had been despising the Malay Culture and since his period until very many years later, the Malays was perceived as 'the brown skin people who are lazy, no ability to study, cannot excel in Sciences and Mathematics.....'. In the later years there was a concept of 'subsidy mentality'. And today they are suspicious of being a Jemaah Islamiah.

We can deny by words and show our emotion and anger. Yet we don't prove by our behavior and words and the idea. We want to show we are different from others, think we are great. And finally feared of being squeeze by the others. The word 'seow' means mad of the lowest connotation. A person being branded as 'seow' should not be approached.

Proving we are not mentally sick, mad or deficient in learning ability is not something we can or want to do. The chromosome of laziness or inheritance factor enclosed our will to be progressive. We hope the others to do for us. And the others hope we do for them. When we see we are really deficient, we want to do  away with tests and examinations, so that we won't we dub as failures and stupid, and even can't learn skill.

Those are our mental state. We are just arrogance and refused to look and ponder at ourselves. We don't hope the others to prove that the Malays are smart. It is up to everyone to behave smartly, think wisely, do things others don't do which we can be branded as sick, crazy or mad.

If you have been traveling to some countries, you may encounter big problem on how you are treated. Some guys narrated how they are being interrogated and detain for a few hours by the immigration. Some were barred from entering the country and had to fly back. These are Malaysians, not the Arabs.

Top - 18/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman)

RE-UNION 1989/90 STUDENTS

There were several student's reunion of different year near each other. I could not attend the one in Kuala Lumpur and choose the one held at Bukit Merah. The organization was of the ad hoc basic and they have very difficult time in getting friends together. They only depended on the facebook.

The turnout was quite great. There were more people arriving during the night of event coming from Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang. Even there were arrivals from Kuala Lumpur at 1 am. I was lucky the two school soccer heros were there. Names like Yob and Osman were always in my mind whenever I went to watch any soccer game.

There were many taokeys running big and successful businesses. A few working with the government envied saying that 'we can't move far...we are at we are...those are loaded guys...' They were talking about our vocational school with pride. "Cikgu during my time there were 10 out of 15 guys were from our school who were sent to Japan and Korea.."He was one of them. There were shoe designer and owned a shoe and bag factory of his own design, air-hostess working with MAS and even an CEO of a foreign firm.

One student said to me,"Cikgu, our schools were for unwanted students, public and other schools despise us...but look where we are now..."

I was the only teacher present. The rest could not make it.

This is the 4th reunion I attended. Though the number was less than those previous three where a few hundred of people attended, I think it is just beautiful, a very beautiful and memorable student's reunion so far. I got to who see the people I want and there was one person who had wanted to see me rushing from Penang with the husband after fetching her kid from a tuition class finally was able to meet me.

Really I am a wealthy guy. Though I don't get a 100% perfect life, I got the very good and successful students who earned 10 time more than most of us.

Top - 25/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman)

RAIN

Only after more than 30 years later I began to learn that rain is not only rain. When it is small they called it drizzle and the heavy one is termed downpour. For many centuries since the beginning of the world rain has been a blessing to us and animals. It provides us with food and we owe so much to it.

Many says rain is provided by nature. I say it is a gift from God to mankind. But if you really observed mankind a few knows the meaning and practice what what is termed 'syukran'. Syukran means thankful to God or even to people who help them. When there is rain we do hear people scolding it for various reasons.

When we were kids we like to play with rain. We sort of celebrate it. And when we went home our mothers would be waiting with rotan. We got the rotan but that would not deter us when the next downpour came. I remember well one day during the Koran class when the rain came we stopped reading the verse. Instead we sang the famous 'Oh Bangau Oh Bangau' song. Our religious teacher came up with a rotan and we jumped down to the ground thru the windows. The next day we each got the canning.

In this modern world there still exist the rain magician and those who can control rain cloud. Magicians were called to call for rain by the  rain dance and the magic chants. If the draught continues people would move somewhere else for food and many would die of starvation.

During the wedding day it has been a tradition to throw the bride's shirt on the roof to call the rain cloud to meve somewhere else or else some ulama would be requested to recite a surah praying for the cloud to move away.

The continuation of draught would group people to pray for the rain otherwise the earth will crack, plants begins to die, people will be asked to ration water and government began to make policies to bring water from states with water to the area of water depletion.

Scientists and engineers realized the importance of rain water storage and identified areas which they called water catchment  . Here forests are vital. Water catchment areas are usually the hill tops and the mountains.

Mankind especially the greedy businessmen and the idiotic politicians only want to clear as much forests as they can for money. They called it for development and rhetorically talked so much about progress. Lawyers and some law makers follow suit with their ideas. So trees were cut. Water catchment area were attacked. People were asked to seek water from rivers which were  polluted.

Rain drops. It flows fast. It carved holes and creates underground water channels where ever the rocks are soft. Because of the lack of trees the rate of flows become rapid and it causes flash flood. Rich people on hill top are happy because they are just above the valley. The poor people have to suffer.

Rain is a blessing and a great gift of God.

Today thanks God that we have drizzle. I only realized about it when I went out. The ground was wet. It keeps the weather down, a little cooling and only 28 C in the closed shack. Today I fear of acid rain. It can make us sick and head ache. Mother used to ask us to take a bath immediately after playing under the rain.

Top - 25/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman)

MALAYSIAN HAMFEST

Hamfest and Hamvention has been built into the Ham Radio tradition since a long time ago. It is an occasion of hams getting together to eyeball, hear talks, buy and sell and have fun. One of the basics is the business transactions of ham equipments. People can get what they are looking for.

One of the greatest Hamfest is the Indonesian fest though it is not blown out as much as the Dayton festival. The Indonesian have more than mere sale and talks. They have the cultural show , various interesting competition like the fox hunts, project making, CW and a few others.

Now there are Malaysian hams who want to have a hamfest. I say it is a good start and we have to start somewhere. Good or bad, successful or not we have to do it. Unfortunately criticism already begins even before it take off. True the planning is short but it is part of the process and experience. The second one will learn much from the first and will have much improvement for certain.

I foresee a little difficulty but it must continue. Malaysian Hams and  Radio Societies should give support instead of sneering at the effort. But the launching committee should have first consulted Radio Societies as a courtesy step. After all the Hamvention at Dayton was not run by ARRL. ARRL participated in selling tons of books.

After the Hamvention, it is imperative for the committee members to do a post mortem and gather as much criticism as possible to correct it in future. There should be someone in charge of collecting comments and note any remark or suggestion heard in a book for the three days. It is for the better.

I don't expect perfection at all. I don't want the group launcher to regret or feel bad either. Take it as a learning process. When it is successful there shall be no pomposity, bragging and a show of a champion. Every success is due to public and member support. The maxim 'If others can do, why can't I...' should be there.

There are thousand of hams in and around Kuala Lumpur whom I think should go and support in anyway they can. A visit is good enough.

 Top - 26/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman) 

WHAT IS KL COMPARED TO AS

I have always feared driving  in KL. I only know the area around Bangsar and Damansara. Before I came I browse thru the hotels around KL tower though I knew driving around the area is almost hell. The hotel rate shown was reasonable but on pressing 'Check The Price' button the total cost shown for a couple of nights is more than RM1500. I told my wife about the price and you what her response was ? She OKed it like a wealthy tycoon. In my mind was the Wisma Belia which would cost me about RM160 for two nights. And I know the area quite well.

So at about 9.30 am we pushed off, driving at the speed of 80 Km/H. At Jejantas Restaurant I pulled off to recheck the hotel. I found Nikko would cost me RM800 for two nights. I asked my wife again. She said OK again. But I forgot to note down where Nikko is. I programmed KLCC in my GPS. From Retaurant Jejantas to Ampang the traffic was at ease. I was quite puzzle thinking people are at work. But soon after I realized it was a paid road.

What is KL compared to AS ? KL is a city of paid roads for short cuts. Government like to privatized toll road instead of using the Road Tax to provide service to the rakyat. I wish the people running Alor Setar are human enough, not to be too greedy like the lions hunting the poor deers. Profit...profit...profit.

On reaching the hotel I went to the reception asking for the availability of room. "One thousand for two nights," the lady said. I said in the Internet it shows lower price. "It's online price. You have to book online." I rang up my son to book using his card. He was busy with his work at that time. I decide to go to Wisma Belia. This was another problem because I did not know how to go there. I decided not to use GPS but to drive following 'as the wind blows'.

On the way I saw one hotel. We went in the hotel parking. While my wife waited in the car I went to ask for the price. It was more than RM500 per night. I f My mind went dirty. I stared to think it expensive and went back to my car. I was charge RM6 for the entry which was less than 4 minutes. My mind ran wild, start to blame the people in KL as throat cutter and said to myself that the Kedahkian must discrimately charge KL people differently for everything. Let buyers show their ID. Some states in the UNited States gave special prices for the residence of the state. We should do the same.

I start to recognize places and areas. I asked my wife to be on the lookout for Jalan Tun Sambanthan. She saw it and alerted me. Finally we arrived at Wisma Belia. I saw school a few hundred of school kids there. I went to ask for the room. She said they have a double bed air condition room for RM78 per night. I told them to hold on. When I went to the car my wife informed me that my kid did the booking. I have to drive back to Nikko. This time I knew my way. Still I seek the help of the GPS.

I have to pay RM400 deposit. Four Hundred Ringgit, more than the Wisma Belia.

Then I was told the parking was RM8.00 a day, the total of RM24 for the 3 days.   I glanced thru the food price. Lamb chop is cjeap, onlt RM72. I told my wife that I would want to go and look for food. I asked the reception where Mamak stall was. He described the way. I could not find it but on asking a Nepalese worker he told me there was one on the third floor of the Ampang Park in front of the hotel. I had a nice dinner of rice with a big Ikan Kembong. I bought back some Kentucky stuffs for my wife. It was much more less than the seventy two ringgit lamb chop.

What is KL as compared to AS ? KL is a place where people can spend 72 ringgit for a lamb chop. AS people spend 72 ringgit for 3 weeks of home made cooking.

The room is nice. One staff was trying to make my wife feel comfortable by providing facilities for make things easier for her to take a bath. The services were really 5 Star. Tomorrow morning I will be having a breakfast and will tell you how good or bad the food is.

Top - 29/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman) 

ASK......THINK...

I remember when I was a student that many teachers reminded us to ASK when we don't understand. "Always ask." Kids like to ask the parents the questions of "WHY....WHAT..."And as a parent try to give the honest reply and the truth as you know. "Mummy, why birds fly ?" is not a silly question. Many mothers would answer, "God makes the birds fly...." "What is God mummy ?" These lines of questionings are not confined to kids.

"Malu berkayuh perahu hanyut, malu bertanya sesat jalan..." Who said that ? My wife always said that to me when I just refuse to ask people when I lost my way. I would say, "Let the GPS guided us." I asked a teacher a question which many would feel shy or ashame to voice, "What prayer people do after the normal periodical solat ?" And I know of people who go and learn how to pray at the old age. I would cry with joy to see such people.

But do not be disappointed when a person asked said he does not know about it. Not everybody knows everything. People might not know even a simple stuff. Then ask another person.

When I was in university Professor Khoo Kay Kim always say, "THINK". He asked the student to think at least once a day. When we hear a speech we have to think and analyzed as we hear it. Is it true or false ? Is it sensible or not ? Is he consistence ? We think about the repercussion if SPM or STPM is abolished and we have to think far and deep. Calculating events and foresee the consequences is also thinking.

Thinking is involved in problem solving. It makes our brain work and active. It also helps us from being cheated by people and politicians. As far as politicians are concerned it will be very difficult for us to stop some of them from robbing us because they can create law to protect them. But at least we know the way they go about.

Scientists study the brain structure and provide us with many information about the thinking process. They try to explain the imaginary concept of the left and the right brain and equate them with the left and the right hander. Please do read on what the left and right brain think.

Wide knowledge helps us in better thinking. It opens up a wider world. We see more relationships and able to adjust and filter before coming to conclusions.

But thinking does not guarantee truth and facts. There are things that we need to see, experiment and tested. We don't think whether the knife is sharp or not. But we have to look at it and use it to cut something. Logical flow with sensible sequences seem to bear some truth yet we have to test and run it.

Subjectivity is much base on historical experiences, the results of repetitive actions. Yet an unexpected outcome can happen.

Last but not least I would like to retract my statement about the politicians; not all politicians are bad and robbing people. A few rob a million and give away a few thousand. Some are honest and fear God. Some talk much and marry several wives.

Top - 31/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman) 

KATAK BAWAH TEMPURUNG

Katak Bawah Tempurung means a person with limited knowledge. He knows whatever is around him only. It is an unfavorable connotation.

A person with little or limited knowledge and with his worldview may not be a loser. I am a sort of such a person. The Penan is East Malaysia is another. Is the more we know the better ? To many the more they know the better. To a few other the less they know the better.

A person having a steady income may not read newspapers, do not watch TV nor mix with too many people. When he does not know the happenings he has less problem. I don't know the Ministers if I met with one. Of course I know Najib and the Deputy. I met with one in a Mamak restaurant whom I felt I had seen him before. Only many months later I realized that he was YB Johari Baharom from the local paper. I went to Australia with another Minister and he talked so much on Vocational School. I asked him whether he is an officer at the Technical Division. He said NO. Only later when I came back I knew he is a Deputy Education Minister Fuad Akashi.

The Penan did not worry about the long traffic jam which would take hours to arrive the destination. He did not worry about income tax, road tax, parking fees and PKR crosses to BN. He only feel worry after seeing people coming in with bull dozers pushing down trees and tear the land apart.

I really praise some people. My late uncle who was a fisherman at Kuala Kedah would come to the city not wearing shoes or sleepers because he never wore one at home. A Chinese man with a short pant, a cheap sleeper and a singlet carries a gunny sack of money to a bank. I saw an old Apek with as a singlet and a black short pen being kotowed by a few ladies when he entered a traveling agency.

I observe some people who want to go up fast and quickly when he just join a political party. Example of a person who just join UMNO and did not know much about the philosophy and struggle of the party ( which I called Katak Bawah Tempurung ) shoving the people around him is the kind of Katak which is not suitable. A person with a limited knowledge but wanting to be leaders and looking for popularities are not suitable at all.

If I formed a Club I would set a very strict rule for the membership requirement. The filter will be rigid. We would not accept any Dick, Tom and Harry even base on recommendation. We have to ensure the club has an excellent name and the members are well informed. In this case we have to put the Katak Di Bawah Tempurung aside.

But human being always tend to think that he is the best, the smartest and the cleverest. At time he would exploit people to move up and then later causing problems to the people. I am not an exception. When I encountered with people then I realized there are million of others out there who are superior to me. Am I not Katak Bawah Tempurung ?

Top - 01/08/2010 (Abdul Rahman) 

MORE CONFUSION ?

Terms like pulling the big switch which means closing down the station, Clear ( Clearing from frequency ) are seldom used today by the new hams. There are terms used which had never been used before by the old hams. And the codes which are being used at the wrong place. Some stations only mentioned a character to break in. The last is a very irritating practice when he can use his full call sign to avoid being repeated question of his identity.

The most recent I heard 'returning' to pass the transmission to the others. Mistakes for new hams are common and they are excusable. But a habit and later becoming a practice would be very painful to the hearing.

One more basic of communication is not to be 'kelam kabut' or hasty. When ever name or location is given, one need to speak slowly and clearly, not pushing off like a jet plane. This is more important when we go DXing because our slang might be difficult to understand. Even my slow 'Alfa Romeo' was heard as 'Lima Romeo' on many occasions. That's the reason why we have to replace the normal phonetics with the other like 'America' instead of 'Alfa'. Recently on two meter I heard an unknown station broke in saying 'How do you get a 9M when your SOP is wrong'. In my listening, the 9W2 was using the wrong word for sending the transmission because he is a new ham. The other station, a new 9M, was not traced to operate with a wrong SOP but he was 'hasty or kelam kabut' for lack of communication on local HF band. If he were to have several communication sessions say on 7.043 he might be able to learn many new tricks.

So far I remember coaching only a few stations on the tricks and art of handling microphone because I knew they were willing to learn. New stations which I think already know stuffs and may not like to learn things will not be informed of the tricks.

New hams seem to learn from the Indonesians which the old Indonesian hams do not agree too. Some Indonesian hams can count the number one and two for almost the whole day. I have not used 'ganti berganti' or 'over..over..' since the beginning because I did not encounter with one before though I had had a few hundred or even thousand of contact with Indonesia.

A long time ago borrowing Q-Codes for telephony did not create problems because everyone knows the generic meanings. Today I am trying to avoid using it so that I would not show examples to the new hams. I only use them in CW. My hardest is to train myself ending the contact with 73 or QRT. Though I never used QRT to sign off, I still use 73. I have stopped giving my station as QTH instead using Location. But many CW stations heard even change QSL with CNF, name with OP.

QRX which has been used to say 'Hold On A Minute' is taking the place of QRT, A long time ago we never use it during the signing off. The generic meaning is 'I will call you again....' which needs the time or days. Because we are not sure whether we can come on again tomorrow or next week, we replace it using 'See you further down the log'.

I do at time meet new hams who insert their own beliefs and philosophy. To these people I just bid them good luck and would not want to tell them anything.

Some old hams say that it is all right for piracy and wrong SOPs. But they never come on the band but only monitoring. They should be talking to the new hams too. But prefer to only monitor and be on Yahoo Messenger. Why they must be so ?

As I have said earlier fall back on IARU or MCMC guideline. I would recommend IARU's guideline. When you download it from my web page, please put it in yours.

 Top - 02/07/2010 (Abdul Rahman) 

NEVER HEARD AN INDIAN

When I was in Kuala Lumpur recently one 9W from Subang Jaya asked me, "Cik Rahman, we have almost 90% of Malay hams, a few Chinese and where are the Indians ? Are there any Indian ?" It was in interesting question. Before that I asked a lady ham whether she knew 9M2SZ or 9M2SS, she said NO.

When I was a SWL I knew almost every active ham in the country. When I got a ticket and went on DX band I was asked to convey my best regard to 9M2DW, 9M2SS, 9M2FK, 9M2AV and many others. I would be able to tell them who had gone silent key. I remember a story about a man who created an atom bomb who went to visit the site again after long retired and chased away for being near a secret location like a 9W2 who shouted at 9M2RS or 9M2SS.

There are Indian hams around, good and very knowledgeable. 9M2PV is one and still active both on 2 meter and 80 meter band. He is our walking dictionary on radio stuffs. Asked him anything and he will explain to the nearest pico and micro second. 9M2DY is a great man in home brewing antenna, rigs and repair ham equipments. 9M2ZD is a DIY man also expert in antenna technology. Two others are expert in Morse codes. 9W2NB is a doctor, busy with his work. Dr Bala found it was disturbing for some people who hid themselves when passing remarks on ham band.

As for the Chinese hams the number is not small either. But many choose to listen and monitor the band. One or two probably gave up after listening to the new standard of SOP and some discouraged comments on language used. The most active is 9M2HC.

That man who asked me question expressed his problem to learn Morse. I told him the 9W2s are against Morse and why should he learn it. He said he wants to know CW at whatever outcome. Then I narrated to him how I learn it even before passing RAE, and guided him to download Morse trainer.

I did not point out to him the need to be a SWL because it would be a very long story and would involve the authority too, and all other funny staffs that our country can do. It would also involve our morality which would be connected to other political happenings as seen bad by the foreign countries. The Malaysia Boleh slogan has been applied to everything else.

At least Thailand has more control and tightened it. No UHF is allowed. 2 meter band has limitation. Probably because it has traced the misused and the abuse when freedom was given. Not here yet.

If Malaysian hams living in Kuala Lumpur do not know 9M2RS saying that it is not in the RAE then what do we expect ? 9M2RS and 9M2ZA finalized the license B ticket after several years of fighting.

The issue of SWLs and SWLings as a mean to eradicate ignorance is not something simple and can be solved within a few sessions of discussions. It has to discuss the availability of receivers for HF and VHF, the constructions or purchase of them, the ownership of equipments carried by non-licensees and the enforcement of regulations. It would be awkward to make laws without any enforcement.

We can already seen a few results of the MCMC's policy today which will accumulate if it allows political behavior and it being politicized.

Those little questions on the Indian hams, and those quick answer of not knowing 9M2SS actually an image of the result of the policy. It is small and little but it is something serious. I see the future of ham radio in those and even in a simple statement like "I don't even go on 28 meter...".

Top - 02/08/2010 (Abdul Rahman)