German radio association
The German Radio Association (DFV) e. V. (also DFV) was founded as a counterpart to the DARC. Among other things, he was characterized by his liberal attitude towards CB radio. At the beginning of the 1980s his trail is lost. Authentic contemporary witnesses report that it was dissolved.
Emergence
The association was founded in December 1971, the registration as an association took place in March of the following year and the office was in Ottweiler. It came about because a small group of radio amateurs had fallen out with members of the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC). The reason was, among other things, the construction of the amateur radio center (AFZ) in Baunatal and the associated costs. From the beginning, the DFV was confronted with the fact that the DARC was recognized as the national German representative of radio amateurs at the International Telecommunication Union . Here, even with a not inconsiderable number of members, the DFV would never be able to gain influence and thus gain in importance. Incidentally, there were many well-known, influential radio amateurs (including from the Central Telecommunications Office (FTZ) in Darmstadt and the German Federal Post Office ) at the DARC, and he was in charge.
The DFV and the CB radio
The association benefited from the release of 12 radio channels in the 27 MHz range in the early autumn of 1975, called CB radio or Jedermannfunk. The booming expansion of this form of communication, which can now be used by everyone, could not be foreseen. In a Spiegel article at the time, the number of CB radio operators was estimated at one to three million. At certain times (mainly in the evening) the few channels were completely overloaded. This led to quarrels, coercion and other (sometimes criminal) offenses. Associations and other communities then emerged with the aim of achieving improvements compared to the (then state) Deutsche Bundespost . Many joined the German Radio Association. From there the moment was recognized and the CB radio operators were taken under their wing. The DFV was divided into local associations that received an OV code. The OV Nordenham had z. B. the number 147 (awarded around 1975). It is not known whether the listing began at 1 and continued (until at least 147). In addition, there were members who were not local associations. Their membership number was made up of the then four-digit (now no longer valid, old) postcode and a three-digit sequential number beginning with 1, e.g. B. 4370001.
The DFV's CB radio operators were recognizable by their callsign. It was made up of the first two digits of the (now no longer valid, old) postcode, followed by a distinguishing letter and then a sequential number. The distinctive letters were pronounced according to the so-called NATO alphabet . Example: The first call sign of a CB radio operator from the city of Bremerhaven and the surrounding area was 28 Foxtrot 1. Up to about 1978/79, 94 call signs were assigned to the right of the Lower Weser (inhabitants at that time approx. 130,000). The OV with the number 147 left of the Weser had 66 assigned call signs (= members) at the same time. These nicknames also began with 28, but were given the distinctive letter K (like kilo). How high the number of members of the DFV was at the time can be e.g. Not (any more) to determine at the moment. The mean value of the CB radio operators from the two aforementioned municipalities (= 904) would result in a membership of approx. 66,000 with around 60 million inhabitants in Germany. Obviously, this number is at least a power of ten too high. In the autumn of 1977, one of the previous annual general meetings took place in Frankfurt (am Main). The meeting was sponsored by the Neckermann mail order company. The board of directors and delegates met for a two-day conference in the social rooms of the mail order company.
resolution
When exactly the DFV was dissolved - probably in the early 1980s - can certainly still be determined. In a discussion on the IRC on October 8, 2006, it was claimed: "... the DFV was hit the wall by CB radio operators." This argument certainly does not get to the heart of the matter one hundred percent. As the figures from the Lower Weser area show, the large number of paying members (99% were CB radio operators) contributed to the longer survival of the DFV. Figures on licensed radio amateurs are not available. One can even say that the establishment of the DFV later added new members to the DARC. Efforts to make improvements in the DBP were doomed in the first few years. Serious CB radio operators therefore began to prepare for the amateur radio exam - and many passed the difficult exam. Many of them then left the DFV and became members of the real amateur radio association , the DARC.
Web links
- Amateur radio history Germany A collection of articles from the magazine Funk-Telegramm (link courtesy of OE1WHC, Dokufunk.org)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brief German amateur radio history (41), Funk-Telegramm 11/2007, 31ff
- ↑ http://dokufunk.org/amateur_radio/history_dl_alt/index.php?CID=3034&ID=3037#A3037
- ↑ Brief German amateur radio history (39), Funk-Telegramm 9/2007, 31 ff.