The chase for a Uganda amateur radio license continues. A friend of mine, Tom, who is a Ugandan and a resident of Kampala, began the license application process on my visit here in June of this year. I was, at that time, required to present a completed application which asks for radio and antenna details along with personal contact info, a cover letter to the Executive Director, and a copy of my US license. I did that in June.

It is now mid-November and I discovered two days ago I must begin the process again because I neglected to fill in the map coordinates of the station and they need more details about the antenna. So here is a step by step of what we did on Tuesday:

1. Tom made a visit to the Communications Office without me to determine the status of my application.

2. Tom learns we have to start again.

3. Tom brings the application back to me saying I need to complete the application and write a new cover letter.

4. I fill in the details - antenna information, approximate distance in meters above ground at which the antenna will be installed (this is a guess since I won't measure and in reality they just want numbers in a blank), and the map coordinates.

5. I write a letter to the Executive Director peppered with lots of flowery phrases. It is customary here to introduce yourself in a letter with many expressions we would consider to be over-the-top, gratitude for the fine work the commissioner is doing, supplication for permission to operate, and the like.

6. The printer won't work. So we have to find another plan.

7. The internet connection in my quarters is too slow to load a map page to determine the map coordinates.

8. The Aidchild (www.aidchild.org) gallery at the Sheraton has broadband internet and a printer, so we will go there to print out a letter, find map coordinates, go to the FCC website and print out a copy of my US license, then make photocopies of everything.

9. Traffic is a killer on the way to the Sheraton, then because of security clearing at the entrance we wait in line to get the car in. When we make our way to the head of the line, guards inspect underneath the vehicle with mirrors, look in the trunk and the glove box for weapons, then process us through.

10. We park, go through a metal detector to get inside the lobby and process the papers at the shop. Finding map coordinates for a smaller community in Uganda is not as easy as finding them for a city in North America. Nonetheless we persevere and locate coordinates for Masaka town in general. We cannot find specific coordinates for the exact location of the radio shack but make a guess that the general ones will be good enough. At the FCC website my license has "Reference Copy" watermarked over it which will probably cause questions here but it is all we can find. My original license is safely displayed in my house in Florida.

11. Now to the business center for photocopies and back to the car for the trip to the Uganda Communications building. Parking in the downtown area is always a bear but Tom is able to squeeze the car between two others and park. The car is about three feet from the curb and partially in traffic, but is no worse than other cars on the street so we leave it where it is. We grab the application, the letter, the license and pass through another metal detector. The lift lets us off on the 4th floor where we press an intercom to get a guard to let us in those offices.

12. We find Alex, the officer in charge of processing new applications. He reviews everything but, as we suspected, he is not sure of the copy of my FCC license. I open my wallet and retrieve the wallet size license given to me by the FCC when I first got my license last February. When I hand it to him, he appears relieved, asks if he can make a photocopy, to which I gladly comply.

13. He assembles the documents and asks me what call sign I want? I am surprised. I thought they were randomly assigned like in the US. I suggest I will take anything they have available. He suggests the use of my initials which is ok with me.

14. I am informed that an inspector will be out in the next two weeks to inspect the station - radios, antenna, and installation. This is a new wrinkle. I guess this is an opportunity for the inspector to earn a little cash off the books, so to speak. A processing fee will likely be assessed over which we will bargain until we get to an acceptable amount. It will likely have little to do with codes or standards of installation.

14. Then he sends Tom and me to the 12th floor to the office of the Executive Director who has to approve the application. Only one lift is working. When it arrives on our floor, the doors open to reveal a jamb-packed interior. We wait for another lift. It is full too, as is the next one and the next. Finally, when we have let several lifts come and go, a voice from the intercom asks what we are doing? Apparently, security has seen on camera we are not getting on a lift. We tell them the lifts are full and we are waiting for one with space. Another one arrives, it is full too, but we figure we should get off this floor. So we squeeze in and head for the top floor.

15. We process through another intercom and security door up there and enter into a small but well-decorated office. A very professional-acting receptionist greets us. We hand her the stack of papers and tell her what we are doing. She asks us if we paid the fee. We had not. So she calls Alex who apparently tells her we do not pay anything until after the application is approved. She seems satisfied. The receptionist staples everything together, says it is in order, and gives me Alex's private phone number. "You can check with him," we are told, "as to the progress of this."

16. We walk out and down to the car.

Now we wait. Alex has said two weeks, I guess a month. I'll go back to Masaka, finish installation of the antenna, and wait for the inspector. I must be sure to have small unmarked bills.