In 1983, a Singapore yacht operated by the owner and his wife transporting four German hams on a DX-pedition to Amboyna Cay was fired upon by Vietnamese forces. One of the hams, Diethelm Mueller, was hit by an artillery round and fell overboard. His body was never found. The yacht burned and the rest of the party drifted for 11 days on debris. Another ham, Gero Band, died of thirst the day before the survivors were rescued by a passing Japanese freighter which took them to Hong Kong.
The first shot fell short, but the next shot struck the captain and he threw himself on the floor, although bleeding badly, as he tried to keep the ship on course. Baldur was also hit in the arm, and was bleeding, as was Norbert. Gero was in contact with another station on 20 meters, and advised him that they were under attack. As Gero left his position, they noticed that Diethelm was missing. It was not actually known if he was shot or thrown overboard. Their dinghy had fallen into the water, and everyone climbed into it, while the boat burned. The shelling continued, as they drifted farther away from the island. They had hoped that the message Gero had sent out on 20 meters had been received okay, and they would be rescued by U.S. Air Force planes in a few days. They believed that the Vietcong had shelled them, and soon discovered their dinghy had also been hit, but they were able to plug the hole with cloth. The bad news was that they had no water, and nothing to eat, and all were only partially clothed with no shoes. They used a small basket to catch tiny fish, which they ate, along with a few mussels from the bottom of the dinghy, but still no water. After about eight days, Gero tried drinking some sea water during the night, and he was dead by morning. They buried him at sea. Since the Spratly Group consists of so many reefs, sandbars and shallow areas, there is very little shipping nearby, so they had to wait until they got close to the shipping lanes for any hope of rescue. Everyone was suffering terribly from thirst - there was little hunger. The skipper and Norbert were both in bad condition, and everyone’s hope centered on a vision Baldur had had a few nights before, when he believed he heard a voice calling through dense fog: ‘On the tenth day you will be rescued.” (which later became the title of Baldur’s book) After several ships passed, indeed on the tenth day (April 19) they were finally spotted by a Japanese ship, the freighter “Linden” under Captain Inose. On arriving in Hong Kong, they were taken to a hospital, where they recovered from their ordeal at sea.
.jpg)
RIP
3 German amateur radio was killed
IN 2026
January 25, 2026
The Belarusian government has issued death threats against three amateur radio operators, arrested at least seven people, and accused them of "intercepting state secrets," according to Belarusian state media, independent media outlets outside Belarus, and the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna.
The arrests represent an extreme attack on what is generally a harmless hobby, one that has historically been vilified by authoritarian regimes, in part because the technology is relatively resistant to censorship.
The arrests were announced last week on Belarusian state television. According to the channel, the men belonged to a network of more than 50 people practicing amateur radio and were accused of "espionage" and "treason." Authorities stated that they had seized more than 500 radio devices. The men were accused on state television of using radio to track the movements of government aircraft, although no evidence was presented.
State television claimed they were affiliated with the Belarusian Federation of Amateur Radio Operators and Sports Radio Operators (BFRR), a long-established amateur radio club and non-profit organization that organizes amateur radio competitions, meetings, training sessions, and forums.
On Reddit, Siarhei Besarab, a Belarusian amateur radio operator, issued a plea to fellow enthusiasts: “Emergency appeal from Belarus: Certified amateur radio operators face the death penalty.”
“I am writing this because my local community is being systematically exterminated in what I can only describe as targeted intellectual genocide,” Besarab wrote. “They arrested more than 50 licensed individuals, including those whose call signs were EW1ABT, EW1AEH, and EW1ACE. These men were presented on state television as war criminals and forced to publicly repent for the ‘crime’ of technical curiosity. Propagandists portrayed the Belarusian Federation of Amateur Radio Operators and Radio Sportsmen (BFRR) as a front for a ‘vast espionage network.’”
“State propaganda claims, without a hint of irony, that these men ‘uncovered state secrets out of thin air’ with simple $25 Baofeng handheld terminals and off-the-shelf SDR keys,” he added. “Any operator knows that this equipment is physically incapable of breaking the modern AES-256 digital encryption used by government security services. This is technical fraud, and yet they are being charged with high treason and espionage.” In Belarus, these charges carry a sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
The Belarusian human rights organization Viasna and its associated Telegram channel confirmed the arrest and reported speaking with a fellow inmate of Andrei Repetsi. The inmate explained that Repetsi was not allowed to discuss his case in prison: “The case is classified, so Andrei never divulged the details in his cell. He joked that his file was marked: ‘Top secret. Burn it before you read it,’” Viasna wrote.
Source REF 39
.jpg)
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire
Please indicate in your comment your amateur radio callsign, swl, or your email
Remarque : Seul un membre de ce blog est autorisé à enregistrer un commentaire.