Would you be willing to devote your wintertime to studying Morse code and radio theory, and building your own transceiver, so that you could go on field trips in the summer? Young hams in Russia are willing and they do it.

Nine year old Boris, R3W_55, operating UE3WSF--a homemade transceiver.

In Russia, the territory of Kursk--just east of Ukraine--is remembered as the site of a significant battle that occurred in 1943, during the Second World War--a battle named Kursk's Arc. Numerous monuments around Kursk remind one of those tragic events and of the heroes of those eventful days. A new generation of Russians shows an interest in the history of those events. IOHHET--Youth Net--an Amateur Radio organization for the youth in the Kursk area, annually conducts field trips in the province and to battle sites around Kursk's Arc. Two such field trips took place in 1998.

On June 3, 1998, IOHHET sent 12 young radio amateurs on an Amateur Radio-oriented camping trip to the northern part of Kursk's Arc. Their portable radio stations were assigned the call sign UE3WSF, issued in memory of the people who died there. The 60-km tour ran from the small villages of upper Lubaj down to Poniri. On each occasion, moving from one village to the other and from one monument to the other, the boys placed bouquets of Russian field-daisywheels on the cool granite gravestones and paused for a moment of silence to remember the fallen warriors. While in transit we met a villager who was a boy during that war. The 67-year-old man could not restrain shedding tears when he narrated the terror of those days.

The strawberry glade at the northern part of Kursk's Arc.

At night the youth's tent became a radio shack and these young hams operated their memorial station. One night, despite a torrential downpour, we made camp in a huge, wild-strawberry field. We lit campfires, had hot tea and, accompanied by a guitar, sang songs. The boys will undoubtedly long remember what we saw and heard. The field trip ended on the sixth of July. During the trip we made 121 QSOs with 12 countries. Our young hams operated on 80 and 40-meters using a homemade transceiver with an output power of 6 W to an inverted-V antenna. We admire the patience and persistence of these young radio amateurs for having done such a fine job of communication using such simple radios.

The second field trip departed on the sixth of August. We toured the battlegrounds south of Kursk's Arc. Nineteen young amateurs from "IOHHET" arrived by minibus and camped in a village called the "Builder", about two-km west of Belgorod. This site would be our base station. We set up tents in a field called "the anonymous height", the site of a serious battle 55 years ago. The students erected inverted V antennas for the 80 and 40-meter bands. Telescopic masts supported 12-meter and 80-meter antennas. This time we attached a 200-W amplifier to the homemade transceiver, and that evening we operated under the call sign UE3WBW/3.

The next day, Nikolai Druzhinin, UA3WX, took ten young radio amateurs on a tour of the monuments of heroes of the battle. They brought the homemade 6-W transceiver, 80 and 40-meter antennas, a ten-meter folding mast, a 10 A DC power supply, camping equipment and enough food for one day. Our map indicated that the distance from base station to the monuments was eight-km. We later found out that the map was in error, the route was much longer. As a result, we were delayed in traffic for two hours. Those who stayed at the base station waited anxiously to hear from us. Finally they were able to copy UE3WWS/3, operating in memory of Valdemar Shalandin, hero of the battle. The first group reported great success with rare DX. Later, from our base station, UE3WBW/3, we worked--in the rain--through the night and into the following morning making nearly 100 QSOs.

The boys, under the direction of Vladimir Mamaev, RU3WM, operated their station from three memorial sites using a different call sign at each site. UE3WMK/3 honored hero of the Soviet Union, general of the tank army--Michael Katukov; UE3WAG/3honored hero of the Soviet Union, fearless pilot Alexander Gorovets; UE3WNNW/3 was operated in memory of the army commander of the southern warfront of Kursk's Arc, hero of the Soviet Union, general Nikolai Vatutin.

Tornado wind and heavy rainfall prevented us from setting up a station in Rikovskiy woodland, where, according to local inhabitants, trenches and other artifacts of war can be found. The boys managed to find some cartridge cases and a Soviet soldier's helmet, pierced by two bullet holes. The field trip ended on August 11. Our young hams, using their homemade rigs, conducted 1530 QSOs with 43 countries.

Young hams at the monastery of Korennayd Pustin. The monument is of saint Seraphim Sarovskii.

In addition to the battlefield tour, the children went to the village of Ditchner, near Kursk, to see the "Nightingale's Warble", a festival of amateur singers. During the three-day festival, the group operated their station, located in one of the tents, using the call sign UE3WST. Archbishop Iuvenaliy, the archbishop of Kursk and Rilsk, invited our young radio amateurs to visit the monastery of Korennaya Pustin in honor of the festival of saint Seraphim Sarovskii. Once again the students set up their station; this time operating from the monastery and with the call sign UE3WSS, in memory of saint Sarovskii.

The QSL card honoring Alexander Gorovets, a Russian pilot. [Photos by the author]

IOHHET attracts dozens of young radio amateurs from different schools in the Kursk area. In the winter the children construct radio equipment and study radio theory and Morse code. In the summer they are active in radiosport competitions and field trips.

In the future, IOHHET hopes to conduct several radio field trips, perhaps to the Solovetskii islands in the White Sea. [The Russian submarine that tragically sank on Aug 12, 2000 was the Kursk, named in honor of the battles mentioned in this story. For the Russians, the battle--a turning point in the war--was their equivalent of Gettysburg in historical significance--Ed] More information on this piece of Russian history is available.

Editor's note: Valery Pikkiev, RW3WW, is Chief of radio expeditions in Kursk. In an altruistic request, he asked ARRL to forgo its usual publication stipend and instead, send its equivalent in QST magazines for the enjoyment of his young hams. ARRL is happy to honor the request.