supporting amateur radio friends in Ukraine
This is an „us“ thing, not a „me“ thing – thanks to all supporters
Thanks for electing me for Amateur of the year 2023
Please click here to see my Powerpoint file.
short summary: let this sink in, while you read:
10.000 € donations collected by DM9EE Paypal: carstendauer@carstendauer.de
32.000 USD donations collected by K1DG poisson d’avril
maybe 7000 kg of radios, powerbanks, solar pack, first aid shipped to Ukraine
countless hours spent in packing, helping with documents, going to authorities etc….
1.March 2022 I offered help to ukrainian ham families. the facebook post was shared over 100 times…
so I came back from the ukrainian border with 4 ukrainians and a cat ;-)….. Maryna, Katya, Alona, Valentyn and the cat: Sonja
First day, we made a small city tour, showing them how my hometown Holzminden is like.
13.3.2022 Lüchtringen
DL1QQ’s brass band performing Ukrainian Hymn… this performance was done by many, if not all, bands in Germany on that sunday at 5 PM
15.3.2022 Going to the town hall for registration….. I didn’t know, that we still had to do an online appointment beforehand, so, we succeded at the second attempt only….
funny, how digital my city was. The QR-Code to make an appointment was only ON the town hall door…you could not make an appointment on their website until I told them to change it.
I didn’t know yet, this will be just one of many visits at the town hall
registration authority
Also Sonja needed her own registration at the vet. got vaccination and chip and that for free…. great support by pet foundation and our neighbor doctor. tnx
talking and texting to ukrainian ham friends…. receiving many disturbing pictures….
we planted some trees in the garden……among a plum tree…which fruit is ? yellow and blue
I received the first radio donations
ham radio friends shipped or brought their old and new radios to me. I was collecting everything which is radio related and prepare them to ship them into Ukraine to hams that lost their radios and equipment with their houses or appartments. Some are new, some are old, some in working conditions, some broken. But the ham radio friends in Ukraine are very experienced since they are used to build their radios themself for many decades. buying expensive commercial radios wasn’t easy….so: everything we ship, they will repair.
Tatort ! (crime scene) : I am in a movie !!
A year ago, they made a prime time thriller in Holzminen. Most of the film crew stood at my Hotel in December 2020 and TODAY was premiere and we watched the movie together with my ukrainian guests… I AM IN A MOVIE !! very popular thriller in Germany… and YES…I have 2,7 seconds of fame, staying in the blurry background ….. wow… we celebrated with Pizza..who knows when Hollywood will call me ? btw: I am the forensic investigator in the white „paint suit“ 😉
22.3.2022
Weather is improving..cake on the terrace
26.03.2022
it is getting warmer, time for ice cream
we got 6 more guests. Also family from my daughters class mate.
cooking ukrainian food together
27.3.2022 Borschtsch, famous easter garlic bread, salad etc…. yummy
More radio donations arrive at DM9EE
being on the radio for the first time ! Ukrainian voices on the air as DN5HR
Valentyn, Valeria, DM9EE, Katja
More donations arrive in the now so-called „Amazon room“
sorting donations, looking who needs what, re-packing in stronger boxes for shipping
29.3.2022 now we have K3LR and DL1QQ as visitors in da house
29.3.2022 Going to Landkreis, another registration tour…..but they are up-to-date with their online appointments….website is tri-lingual !!!! But not the documents which are provided by the german government in Berlin…they have not realised how translated form can help the volunteer helpers
sometimes it must be a „happy meal“
now we get more and stronger boxes for shipping heavy radios
30.3.2022 More donations arrive at DM9EE
checking incoming radio equipment. sorting it to different recipients. Ordering spare parts, akkus, battery charger, solar panels etc…. a full time job…..
at Landkreis again… applications….
visiting foreigner department at Landkreis….. when documents are prepared, all goes „pretty“ easy…..but beleive me, german authorities work, but not fast……ok, it is a crisis….they and we all learn every day…
1.4.2022 we got 26+ refugees from an overcrowded, unorganized camp
how to explain, there was an unofficial camp in a city nearby. The authorities asked me if I can help them out until they have opened their official refugee camp in a local school. They said, it would be from friday to monday,…but it was until 25th April, and some other lived with us until 10th June 2022….. mothers with kids and grandmothers . carrying not more than a Rucksack and 2 bags
Buying medicine
it is difficult to explain. you really need to learn it yourself, how complicated or at least time consuming „help“ is.
Ukrainians have not enough money when they just fled to Germany. But also the applications are not accepted by Landkreis. But kids and are parents get sick. Cough, cold, flew, whatever……I went to the pharmacy to buy some medicine. btw: I finally got a 100€ refund from Government in February 2023 😉
German Red Cross came for Corona Test every day.
and yes, we had a positive case on the 2nd day, which later was a false positive case. but you can imagine the trouble ? seperation , masks, test, seperate breakfast buffet? etc…..
facebook request for women and kids cloth
on 2. April 2022 I made a faceboook post about asking for cloth donations for women and kids and maybe some toys. Holzminden people are great. within 15 minutes we had 5 cars on the parking lot , trunk full loads of requested things…really great friends around me.
Tim K3LR and Sandy DL1QQ came for Dinner with our ham radio related ukrainians. Talking about amateur radio…integrating the red cross guys…. Danke, dass Du da warst, Phillip et.al.
.
Tim and Sandy went to local shop and bought some nessecary items…..while one assume, that the table will be empty within a short moment, i learnt that the ukrainian community is really great. they share ! they do not take more than they need. mostly they take less than they need…..
we donated the donated cloth 🙂
after 3 days, we called a refugee camp director in Bodenwerder if they could use our cloth and stuff we got the last days. our guest found enough and we still had a FULL CAR of cloth to donate to others in need. just WOW.
Taking pictures for ID documents.
Local photo studio offered pictures for ukrainians at a very low price. thanks for that, Andreas Fischer ! great support !
I talked to red cross and they arranged the taxiing for the 26+ ukrainians….between Landkreis and Photostudio…btw. we spent more than 4 hours to translate and help to fill in the forms for all the families. taking copies of the passports, preparing everything for the Landkreis
WRTC is donating books for DM9EE Ukrainian fundraising
Michael DL6MHW gave mit a few dozen of books which i later „sold“ at the Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen…a total of nearly 500€ was made with this ….tnx WRTC comitee
Shipping Boxes to Dresden
100kg+ were shipped to Dresden. Thank you Schäfer Transport for giving us a free ride ! later theese boxes were taken into Ukraine by a doctor who works at a hospital in Lwiv. Very fast!
6.4.2022
We found an appartment for the first mother with two small kids in Boffzen. It should stay that easy and fast in future…. really not.
Other kids learnt riding a bike, playing with donated skateboards or painted some hearts
Wildpark Neuhaus
wild animals in the forrest
we could invite the kids and parents into our wildlife park. The owner of the park didn’t take money from the Ukrainians. THANK YOU !
Family Mönkemeyer from Eschershausen donated a bus with driver THANK YOU.
Red Cross joined and escorted us. Also because some received their booster vaccinations today…did you know that vaccination proof in Ukraine is digital via an app ? In Germany we still use paper IDs for that purpose……how modern we are…. NOT
Red cross still testing every day
Friends buy and bring toys for the kids
Danke Stefan und WIlli Ostermann!
More equipment is getting ready for shipping
Symotion & Spedition Zufall bring 4 pallets to Warszawa
Radio equipment, solar packs, power banks, medicine and first aid kits on the way to Warsaw..later volunteers bring the boxes to Zaporoshshe and Poltava.
studying in Kyiv – going home
Tatiana and Valeria going back to near Kyiv. their hometown is safe and it is important for Valeria to get that special place at the university. mixed emotions letting them go back into a country where rockets still fly into cities. The pick up bus came late at night.
Summer is approaching – makeing kids a good time
My daughters birthday party
ukrainian cake and bread
24.4.2022 More donations arrive and must be packed
Red cross still here for testing the 26 ukrainians
What to do with the kids ?
we have to make some good time for the kids….some paint, some play piano or guitar, some play soccer
some friends send me pictures from Ukraine
sometimes really disturbing pictures from nearby their house and radio towers
more donations = more shipping !
pickup by post car with volunteers, later you see the carts at the train platform in Zaporoshshe at UR6QV
30.4.2022 Red cross still testing 26+ guests, but in a 4 day interval now
the house on the left is the house of a ham friend. the rocket didn’t explode.
this one exploded nearer to his house
Ukrainians cooking Shashlik BBQ
I started a photoproject: ukrainian eyes
13.5.2022
more paperwork at Landkreis…
13.5.2022
one family is finally getting an appartment
15.5.2022 cooking Okonomiyaki
Long time, we didn’t know we have a world champion as a guest !VIKA !
She has a worldchampion title in hand-to-hand-fight / selfe defense…
but why not start again with kickboxing?
8.5.2022 Just another BBQ
This is our football family
Ilya (14 years) played professional soccer league in Kyiv (youth <16 years). He came here with his mother Antonina and his sister Jewa. Stefan and Willi take care and support him in his football carreer.
Going to USA to visit Dayton Hamvention
talking to many hams about the Ukraine-crisis and how we can help our amateur radio community with donations.
Doug K1DG collected 32000US$ which we use to support ham families in Ukraine.
We send them money so they can afford to rent an appartment or buy food. Rates for appartments increased dramatically after the war has started.
please contact me, when you hear about ham families who we can support! mail at dm9ee.de
27.5.2022 Natallia and Misha found an apartment
7.6.2022 upsss. DM9EE QHB !
more messages from ukrainian hams
14.6.2022
collecting used kids bike and donate them to the refugee camp „Campe“
23. – 26.6.2022 Ham Radio Friedrichshafen
meeting many friends at the hamfest……..
Collecting donations – giving a great book
gathered 500€ with „selling“ the book at RRDXA & BCC booth….one of the first donors was 4X6TT…even an over night booth at the Hotel Gerbe gained 80€ in donations by just standing there at the entrance…no thefts, ….. buying things at the flea market, like dynamic microphones, adaptors, some VHF and UHF radios, spare parts, receivers etc…….this was the busiest Ham Radio visit I ever had…..
good, I took the large car 😉
many boxes with donations, some shopping with donated money, car is pretty full
Supporting Rigexpert in buying some products
if you dont have one, go and get one from Nick UT8IO he is in Germany now and can help you.
more chat messages:
10.7.2022 more donations to pack and ship
2 more shipments to UW7LL and UR6QV, it arrived in Ukraine a week later . Even a donated washing maschine from our neighbors…. JH&HH 🙂
15.7.2022 smores or marshmallows ?
17.7.2022 typical saturday lunchtime thing
17.7.2022 bowling with 3 UR + 3 DL + 1 G4 kids
Message from UR0MC – total loss
shack and house is looted. even the beds are stolen…..all radio equipment is gone. He fled his house during heavy shelling. No time to pack things. no time to prepare…..now all is gone please check his QRZ.com page to support Roman via Paypal https://www.qrz.com/db/UR0MC
22.7.2022 Received this „TNX-plague“
on behalf of many ukrainian Ham radio friends, Yarik UW7LL sent me this
Vika during a contest as DN5HR
24.7.2022 cooking ukrainian food with Vika, Katya, Maryna, Alona and Valentin…good stuff, yummy
20.9.2022
more donated radios are prepared for shipping to Ukrainian amateur radio friends
Ham friends report that they receive the packages and they are back on air
volunters pick up more boxes. They are going directly to a ham friend in Zaporizhzhia, thats 2240km from DM9EE.
2018 I had 3 ukrainian hams in da shack for the Ukrainian DX-Contest….this year, the cancellation was cancelled…… UR5ECW, UT5EL, UR7EU,DM9EE
more donations from ham families DL8YED Sieglinde. She came with ukrainian mother and son who live with her.
DM5EE -DM9EE- DL9EE Uli and Holger came for the a contest and they also had equipment donations we sent to ukrainian hams
DM9EE, DK3EE, DK4EE visiting DM5EE and DL9EE during contest….many EE at the DX-Hotel……visit including donations
MM0NDX Col from DX-World wbeblog came with friends for the contest. Thank you for the donation you made for the ukrainians.
17.11.2022 „little“ Vika joined the contest. first time on the radio. she left us in December to start at Kiew University.
Donations are also used to buy connectors, plugs etc to repair donated radios. UR6QV has a good repair shop and takes care of that with his friends.
more donations received from hams and sent to hams.
some more disturbing messages from our friends
21.12.2022 buying 2 solar systems (panels and converters 12Volt -> 230Volt…..)
this will help to charge car batteries (many cars are destroyed but batteries can often still be used
22.12.2022 macabre souvenirs sent from ukraine….. sad to see this….. disturbing to us but new normal to them… remains from shells/grenades from the streets
thank you notes arrive at DM9EE
Some positive emotions from Ukrainian hams
24.12.2022 christmas eve as a big mixed family
26.12.2022 another christmas dinner with even more families… cooking together
DK3HV Hanno and DO8DX Kevin come for a weekendstay and got donations in the trailer from their local amateur radio club
29.1.2023 celebrating Vikas birthday with our mutual friends…….trying to have some life…..cooking together is a good way
17.2.2022 another transport left the DX_Hotel…..boxes are prepared to use Nova Poshta once they are in Ukraine to deliver the boxes to ham locations
another pick-up on 17.2.2023 –more boxes are prepared for pickup in our so called „Amazon room“…..we now have a courier that comes every two weeks. ……. radio donations received from all DL but also ON, PA, OE, F, ……..
RRDXA comes for their annual meeting. Emil DL8JJ talks about J28MD Dxpedition and the first-ever EME activation from Djibouti. Thanks for donations.
DF8DX Bodo visits for a short CQWW 160m SSB participation and donates for our project. tnx Bodo and happy bday 😉
We get note that our boxes arrive at our ham friends and they are happy about the support. these solar panels will help a hams wife to offer online school lessons even when power is down. The boxes were shipped last week. Solar panels, converter and inverter 12V to 230V….and some coffee, choclate, candy……
some more messenger notes to share
so, our boxes arrive at their destinations. they help to keep ukrainians on the air, they power their laptops for online school lessons and give a little light in the night. thanks for all helpers
March 18th 2023 we shipped a small generator to a Doctor who works for a hospital in Kramatorsk, near front line. Many power outtakes. of course, the generator is way to small for a hospital but we think everything can help. tnx DOK Q05 Völklingen
April 4th 2023: we shipped some boxes to Igor in Oster UR4RXJ.
He is doing great training sessions with the kids in the amateur radio youth club.
Dayton 2023
DM9EE – „helping hands“ is elected as Ham of the Year 2023
