Two hams safe following Kabul bomb blast

Two radio hams are safe after a bomb blast ripped through a crowded area in Kabul, Afghanastan. One of them is Steve Herman, T6AD, who is a news reporter on assignment in Kabul. He sent this report to Amateur Radio Newsline:

First off I can report that both Jim McLaughlin, T6AF, and this reporter are fine following the suicide car bombing here in Kabul at 08:30 local time on Saturday, August 15th. Sadly, that blast did kill at least seven people and injured nearly 100.

In my case I was at my hotel a few miles away when the explosion occurred. I'm a news correspondent by profession and as you might guess, I did what any newsman would do in a situation like this. I quickly began filing news reports, in my case for the Voice of America.

Jim McLaughlin, T6AF, lives a lot closer to the explosion than I do. He reports a couple of windows in his residence adjacent to the US Embassy, were blown out but his shack is fine. Thankfully, he was not there at the time.

Ironically Jim and I had held our first eyeball QSO only 24 hours earlier. In fact, we met very close to the spot where the bomb went off. That was near the front gate of NATO's military headquarters in the Afghan capital. As far as we know, we may be the only two hams who are actually on the air from this war torn nation.

Steve Herman, T6AD
Kabul, Afghanistan

Steve adds that like true hams, by the end of the day, both he and Jim were back on the air.

In Steve's case he operates using a Yaesu FT-897 at 100
watts into a G5RV antenna just above what he calls a hot tin roof. You can usually find him on 15, 20, 30 and 40 meters operating either CW and PSK. Steve adds that the noise level in Kabul is nearly always S9 and that most signals are very weak. Because of this he says that your patience in making a QSO happen is very much appreciated.

T6AD, ARNewsline™