My wonderful visit to the F6KQV Radio Club in Strasbourg, (Alsace) France

Hi friends...

What a fantastic holiday, visiting the historic Alsace region of France!

Amateur Radio is alive and well at the F6KQV Radio Club in Strasbourg - Radioamaeturs Du Bas-Rhin.
I recently returned to the USA after visiting that region of France and deep into the Black Forest of Germany.

After doing my research, I found out that there was a major Amateur Radio club in Strasbourg where I was staying and contacted the President of the club, Mr. Jean-Claude Heim.
We went through a lengthy email exchange and he cheerfully invited me to come to their weekly club meeting, which I eagerly accepted!

Fortunately, the club was only 8 km from my Airbnb flat and was an easy drive in the late evening.
When I arrived, he was a bit surprised that this American actually showed up and was warmly greeted.

Here is the club's current QRZ profile, should you express interest: https://www.qrz.com/db/F6KQV

Interestingly enough, 2026 represents the 60th anniversary for this storied club and was worth the trip!



They produced a wonderful color booklet of their operation, technical demonstrations and member roster.

Picture of the club's QSL card:



The club is located in Strasbourg, which is situated in a very attractive and historic area of the Alsatian region.
Many people here are trilingual, speaking French, German, English and even the Alsatian dialect. Very cool!

I should also mention that the food is quite different than in other parts of France due to it's proximity to Germany.

So let's get back to the shack...

It's mostly a Kenwood operation combined with one smaller beam for testing and the other for TX/RX.
The two towers also have smaller antennae mounted for 2/440 operation with some microwave hardware installed.



Nearby is the majestic Voges mountain range, where the club brings their large 3cm dish (above) doing TX/RX to Paris.
They have experience with waveguides and transducers to accomplish this feat, with Paris being 550 km away.

Inside the shack house:



Yeah, that's me in the middle as an honorary "guest" operator. I didn't even try to disturb their equipment!

Here is the President of the club, Jean-Claude Heim and some of the other active members giving me the tour:



We spent 2+ hours together and you should see their fridge with anything you want to drink, the French way!

Interesting note, if you haven't noticed, that Jean-Claude has been blind since birth and has amazing CW skills.
It was a great experience and privilege for all of us on both sides of the pond and a great deal of fun to be with.

So to my friends at the club, I say, Merci Beaucoup for everything and most importantly, Vive la France!

73...

Brian de KF2ZZ in New York.

 

Very nice ! Looks like a good time !

 

It was! Now I have to work each of them, lol.

 

I worked the Clipperton DX club station in France today which is part of the 13 colonies special event.

 

Relevant comments and questions, if any, are always welcome.
Les commentaires et questions pertinents, le cas échéant, sont toujours les bienvenus.

 

My thanks for sharing the story and images.

 

What a journey! Such a wonderful experience find people with same haobby all around the world.

 

Footnote:

I met with all of them just prior to the heatwave.
It is my sincere hope that they are doing OK.

Waiting to hear back via email!

The shack is built for year round use but they close it for the winter since many members tend not to venture out.

Many people in Europe have died from the heat.
Probably all due to the result of climate change.

Anyone in Europe reading this please comment.

FWIW.

 

Fantastique! I used to live in Strasbourg. I attended the Université de Strasbourg, and I would walk through Petit France and the Cathedrales several times a day. I never knew they had a radio club.

 

The heatwave was no fun. It was thy typical heat from the Balearic islands. It came from North Africa and crossed Europe.

Yes, many had problems with the heat but that people died in a big mass is not right. And 40 degree Celsius isnt normal overall the continent. The heatdome didnt moved and the so called tropic nights over 20 degree didnt want to end. Thats the most problem. People cant get down and relax. When the nights are cooler, its better to standy the day especially in the afternoon.

And yes we have to change our normal life with this in the future. But I think its enough to doing like the people in Spain when this occures again.

Further this is not only weather, its the climate change. We reached the 1.5 degress Celsius heatup. The world agreed to stop this from here in 2015. Unfortunately more is now to await. Greenhouse gases got an aftercast period.

 

Update:

Good news!

I heard back from some of the club members.
All is well there after that deadly heatwave.

Will be working many of them very soon.

73…

 

There's another radio-club in Strasbourg which is located in the building of the Council of Europe. The call is TP2CE and used to be operated by Francis, F6FQK. I had the privilege to visit the place quite a few years ago. I don't know if the station is still active...

 

@F4GDC

Hmm...

He doesn't appear to be a established member of the Strasbourg club which I visited.

https://www.qrz.com/db/F6FQK



Maybe someone else from the club would have more information.

 

Hello Brian,
Thanks for your kind message about your visit at our radioclub !
I'm happy to read that you enjoyed it, so did our members that were present.

I did not managed to welcome you that night, but there was a good feedback via our mailing.
We are a quite important club with more than 100 members around Strasbourg.

We are all doing well, the temperatures are lower now.
The difference with you in the US or Canada is that air conditionning is not a standard equipment in our countries, especially in France, which explaines why the impact is high.

We are meeting every wednesday evening, 8pm local time from march to november and everyone is welcome.
We usually take part to some HF contest as F6KQV, hope to hear you there !

Best regards - 73
Philippe - F8CND

 

Hi Philippe -

Thanks for your very kind post.

Please let us know what the details are for the HF contests!

Merci,

Brian