Holger Hannemann (left) and daughter Xenia Berger, of Hastings, ensured New Zealand also hit the frequency at the radiosport world champs in Germany last month. Photo/Carsten Dauer
Holger Hannemann (left) and daughter Xenia Berger, of Hastings, ensured New Zealand also hit the frequency at the radiosport world champs in Germany last month. Photo/Carsten Dauer
To know and understand Hastings teenager Xenia Berger and her band of people requires others to tap into her wavelength, so to speak.
Oh, and Berger impresses, it pays to have a licence to do that.
The year 12 Havelock North High School pupil should know because engaging in theart of radiosport got her in contact with King Juan Carlos I, of Spain, in April.
Berger, whose call sign is ZL4YL, suspects she had struck a frequency in California with the 80-year-old monarch who goes by the credentials of EA0JC. He reigned from 1975 until his abdication in 2014 when his son, Felipe, ascended to the throne.
"I don't think at the time I realised it was him but my dad told me afterwards so that was quite cool," she says of the competition contact.
Royalty aside, the teenager immensely enjoys the excitement that comes with establishing a lucky dip-type of contact with someone unsuspecting in a random part of the world without the use of internet.
"We do imagery radio, which is when we contact other people on a radio band, either through Morse code or speaking through the usual band," says the 17-year-old from Waimarama who has returned from the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) in Germany last month.
Berger and her father, Holger Hannemann (ZL3IO), a sales manager for electronic company ABB based next to the Hawke's Bay Regional Airport in Napier, had formed a team to compete at the championship in Wittenberg from July 11-16.
The father-daughter team mustered 3600 contacts from 80 different countries in the 24-hour time limit. They suspect their farthest rapport was from either Japan or Indonesia.
"The more countries you get, the more points you get," she explains, adding the farther a nation of contact the more bonus points a combination accrues.
Not New Zealand?
"We didn't make any contacts with New Zealand."
Xenia Berger, of Havelock North High School, was the second youngest and only one of three females at the radiosport team world championship in Germany last month. Photo/Ralf Siegel
Berger, who was one of only three female competitors and the second youngest, was mentally and physically spent after the champs.
"But it was a great experience for me. We were accepted among the world best radio contesters and we made many new friends."
Despite not making it on the podium with the European-dominated teams, the Kiwis got a lot of media attention at an event that lured rivals from 63 nations.
"So I had to give a number of interviews and join some live podcasts during those days."
What do competitors talk about once in touch with another party?
Berger elaborates that doesn't happen in a competition where they simply exchange control numbers because time is of essence in the numbers game.
However, outside the parameters of competition enthusiasts often strike a convivial chord.
"You make a lot of friends," she says where Morse code becomes an ideal bridge if language becomes a barrier.
Mother Birgit (ZL2YL), who also works at ABB, was at the world championship but helped out as a volunteer.
Berger's sister, Saskia (ZL2GQ), 22, is attending Victoria University, in Wellington, where she's pursuing a degree in public policy and political science, and engages in radiosport.
The family emigrated from an area not far from Berlin, Germany, to the Bay nine years ago when she was 8.
It was Hannemann, who has been engaging in it for 34 years as a hobby, who introduced Berger and her sister to the delights of amateur radio which saw her obtain an imagery licence three years ago.
He has won competitions but never a title at a world championship or their "Olympics" which is staged every four years with a qualifying phase over two years, via a series of 28 events, leading into it.
Xenia Berger sees the humour as father Holger Hannemann points out the finer points of radiosport jargon in Germany last month. Photo/Ralf Siegel
The Berger family went to a convention in April where radiosport enthusiasts mingle and find they put a face to others they have established contacts with but never met.
"We meet a lot of people we have contacted so it's really interesting to put a face to a name," she says.
Quite often they are people who are partial towards electronics and engineering.
And, yes, they have no qualms accepting they fall within the ambit of nerds, in a technical sense.
A member of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters (NZART), she is affiliated to the Hawke's Bay Radio Club and the East Cost Contest Club, which is New Zealand's most successful amateur radio contest club based here in the province.
The Bay has two centres in Hastings and Napier. The Bergers go to the former which has close to 50 members.
Xenia Berger, with dad Holger Hannemann (right), holds up the New Zealand banner at the World Radiosport Team Championship in in Germany last month. Photo/Ralf Siegel
