Gilbert George (J73GPG) and his wife Maggie (J72MAG) are fellow hams living on the west coast of Dominica with their young son Conrad. Gilbert shares the benefits of amateur radio and his latest projects with the club.
Amateur radio increases my knowledge of electronics and radio technology. It fosters community spirit not only in the sense of the people living close to you but also by creating a network with individuals around the Caribbean through morning and afternoon nets.
It encourages volunteerism through club activities or individual contributions whether it be emergency communication, education, or building and installation of repeater stations.
What I enjoy most about amateur radio is the ability to communicate with individuals using the numerous methods available and building equipment to do so. I enjoy using the various advancements in the hobby. One of the latest club projects was the restoration of our repeater network to include a digipeater for packet and a Winlink RMS station for sending email via radio. This enables operators to experiment with analog and digital voice communication plus APPS, Winlink and other data applications to our Winlink RMS and I-gate.
I practice renewable energy technology design and installation as a profession. This includes solar PV system design and installation. This is also used at all of our repeater and club sites. I volunteer my service to develop the PV system for all of our sites. Most of our repeater sites are in remote mountain areas, as Dominica is very mountainous.
David Larsen J79WW & Joseph Guiste J73JT
Joseph Guiste saw a FAIRS advertisement in 1994 describing how the organization helped set up emergency communication systems. He knew his country, Dominica, could benefit from this type of help, as it is located in the hurricane-prone Eastern Caribbean and has suffered severe storm devastation throughout history. Joseph wrote a letter to David Larsen asking him to come to Dominica and to see if FAIRS could help. David and his wife Gaynell made their first trip to Dominica in 1997, where Joseph met them at the airport in Roseau to tour the country. This began a wonderful friendship and a decades-long FAIRS partnership with Dominica that will last a lifetime.
