YA1LM 1972 Afghanistan

Member of Camel Drivers Radio Club

CAMEL  DRIVER'S  RADIO  CLUB:  A strange sub-heading, but actually true, such a club did exist, it was formed in Afghanistan, where there was no licensing authority  in the  1970's. At that time, there was  no telecommunication  office,  monitor  station  and  many  foreigners  were  without  communication  except  for those that  had access to telecommunications  from  the  telegraph office and  airport.  Members  of the CDRC, which included many of  the  commercial   operators   and   several   high    ranking    government officials, chose ITU designated prefixes for Afghanistan  and  then  added  their  own  alloted  suffix.  Should  any  member  of  the  group  receive   "special"   attention from the authorities for their amateur activities, all the other members would rally to assist and prevent any unfortunate ending up in an Afghani prison, a place to be avoided at any  cost.  The  club  had a constitution,  which placed its  members ultimately under "un-official" governmental control and they  were allowed to  issue operating  permits.  Eventually,  the  country  gained  its  first  monitoring  station, the police became active and eventually closed down all amateur  operations.  It was felt that the Club had served its members well for the purpose that it was intended and had provided a necessary service for many "amateurs"  and non amateurs  alike.  "Extracted and adapted from an article by VE7IG in Long Skip".
--Mentioned in Ken  McLachlan,  VK3AH's How's DX column of  AMATEUR  RADIO (Australia),  October 1984, p. 30

QSL G4UZN Collection
Info courtesy of W5KNE