One of the things people do not know about ham radio is the number of celebrities and public figures that get into it.

The late King Hussein of Jordan was a very active ham up to about the day he died. It was funny in a way. He used to unwind from the pressures of being king by getting on the air to just about anyone that would answer his CQ calls.

Everyone else called him 'Your Majesty' but hams called him by his callsign, JY1, even to his face.

His trips to the States found him amused when people would ask him, "Are you JY1?"

I can picture the Secretary of State doing a slow burn as some Montana sheepherder addresses the head of state of Jordan by his callsign while he/she has to call him 'Your Majesty". Hillary Clinton would probably have a conniption.

One ham that didn't know who he was once commented to him that with such a call sign, he must 'know someone'.
Hussien replied simply and in an unpompous manner that he was the king. That kind of explains things pretty quickly.

The King of Spain is a ham, EA9IE and is active. The former president of Argentina, LU1SM is a ham. So is the former president of Lebanon, OD5LE.

The Sultan of Oman, A41AA, is a ham but I'm not sure he's active these days. I read recently where he has ordered the Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society is to get a permanent home somewhere. 

The Prince of Kuwait is 9K2CS and there are a number of princes in the Arab world that are hams.

Incidentally, hams from the Arab countries are very squared away operators. Most of them are educated men. For the most part their English sounds unaccented and many of them sound like they grew up in Kansas or somewhere unless they learned the language from UK teachers. 

If that is the case, it's perfect British English.

Prime ministers have been hams and I would not be surprised to find that there are one or more Prime Ministers that are actively on the air.

Priscilla Presley was but she let her license lapse. Joe Walsh of the Eagles and the James Gang is still reportedly active as WB6ACU. Art Bell is W6OBB and Ronnie Milsap is WB4KCG.

KA2ORK (old callsign) was a ham that kept the world informed during the Grenada invasion. He transmitted from the second story of the building he was livng in. I believe he was a student at the time studying in Grenada.

Prince Albert of Monaco is supposedly licensed.

You never know who is on the air.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY