KØXB - Rick at
You
never forget certain QSOs, and looking at the QSL cards from those contacts always
brings back memories.
Here
are some of my favorites.
I
shut down my original station when I went away to college in 1964.
Unfortunately, the QSL cards from the few DX QSOs I had by then have been lost.
But in 1970, I finally got enough free time while I was still a graduate
student to get back on the air. Using a Heathkit HW-16 (which put out 20 Watts
on 15 meters on a good day), a windowsill vertical, a straight key and a box
full of crystals, I worked F8PA, OK3AS and HA8VM in September of that year. The
thrill of DX-ing came back to me, and I have been
chasing DX ever since.
TY
(Dahomey in 1971; now called Benin) is still an
extremely rare one, and I was amazed I was able to work him with my peanut
whistle HW-16. Until 2009, that was my only QSO with TY on 15 meters. Later
that same year, the famous ham Taroh Yagi JH1WIX (SK)
answered me. He was not the person who invented the Yagi antenna, but he was
well known nevertheless.
Katashi Nose KH6IJ (SK) was also a very
accomplished ham. I am pleased I have six QSOs with him in my log.
Here
is a card from another member of the “XB Club.” During the entire period of the
cold war, ham radio was permitted in East Germany as well as in most of the
other eastern bloc countries.
And,
here’s yet another member of the club. This QSO was in 2011, when memories of
East Germany were in the past.
Albania
had prohibited ham radio for many years, but ZA1A went on the air in 1991 as
the first ham radio operation from
I
am not sure what a “drifting station” is exactly, but I can imagine it is a
challenging and lonely place. I hope Vlad (UA1ADQ) and Mike (UA1AFM) were able
to stay warm and get home safely.
The
card from JT1BR is a favorite of mine.
SØRASD
was licensed by the Republica Arabe
Saharaui Democratica
(Saharan Arab Democratic Republic), and I worked them in October, 1987.
Politics
is seldom discussed on the ham radio bands, but it is part of our world. While
none of these stations were directly involved, they are reminders of the
Italian incursion into
In
1999 David OK1DTP was licensed by the Palestinian Authority as the first ham
radio station in
Here
is pair of cards which are only ten years apart, but they mark major changes in
our world. The card on the left is from 1992, and the card on the right is from
2002. Both stations were located in Kabul.
Sid
ST2SA and I had several AMTOR QSOs in the late-1980s. In fact, we even
exchanged mail messages using AMTOR automated mailboxes. Khartoum to
Minneapolis!
In
1998, I had a fascinating visit to Honeywell’s engineering operations in
Bangalore. I asked about ham radio, but unfortunately none of the engineers I
met was licensed. Several knew Lakshmanan VU2LX
however, and they had seen his station in operation. (“victor uniform two lima
x-ray!”) Then, I worked him in 1999, and I have talked with him seven more
times.
The
Ducie Island DX-pedition was on the air in March 2003. I needed VP6D on RTTY,
but I was in Santa Fe and all I had was my 20 Watt Argonaut V and a vertical.
The pileups were huge, but I hung in there and kept calling. I do not know how
I got through, but I did, and VP6D RTTY was in the bag.
This
was not a new one for me, but it was a lot of fun. I was operating my 20 Watt
Argonaut V and portable vertical from Coronado Island during the winter of
2006, and I heard a very faint RTTY signal on 17 meters. ZK1YAQ on Rarotonga, South Cook Islands was calling, and they heard
me the first time I called them. I continue to be amazed how well RTTY signals
get through in marginal conditions.
I
found Mohsen on 20 meter RTTY, simplex, with a huge pileup of course. I thought
I copied him saying he was going to QSY to Olivia. I had figured out how to use
Olivia only a week or two earlier, so I QSY-ed to one
of the Olivia frequencies, and there he was. There was no QRM, and I worked him
quickly.
The
card from ZS8MI on
As
soon as I contacted Peter (now ZL1CX) and sent him my card, he sent me his QSL
right away.
I
worked VK9AA on 30 meter CW from my portable station in
It
took more than nine years before the DXCC Desk approved this operation from
I
was operating my small portable station in March, 2007 when I heard 5V7SE from
“We
are not strangers but friends who have never met.” How true indeed.
Sadly,
Nelson passed away in 2017.
Here’s
another contact I made from California. I worked Alex early in the morning on
30 meters in March 2012. Later that day, my neighbor
asked
me about my ham radio setup and who I had worked. When I told him I had talked
to Laos earlier that day,
from
the look on his face I think he had expect me to say Nevada or Arizona.
RWØCN
is located in Asiatic Russia, but this picture could just as easily been
taken
in northern Minnesota. The love of fishing is universal.
LN1HQ
is a special Norwegian callsign for the IARU Championship Contest. They are
only on the air a short time every year,
but
I think their QSL card is a keeper.
Michael
PA5M was working for the United Nations World Food Programme
in Somalia. I’m glad he had a little time for ham radio. This contact was in
October 2011.
Here’s
another QSL from a contact I made with Somalia. Roger LA4GHA was working for
the United Nations and had a little time for ham radio. I worked him twice – in
July and August, 2013.
I
know Calgary, Alberta is not exactly a rare one. But I think this card from a
special event station at the 2012 Calgary Stampede is one of the most striking
QSLs I have seen in a long time.
I
received this card from the Bureau, and it really caught my eye. It’s for a QSO
on 20M SSB in June of 2012.
Using
only my 100W and vertical antenna setup from California, I worked 5T0JL in Mauritania
in March, 2015 on 12 meters. Since it was already 00:02 UTC, I’m pretty sure
this was a long-path QSO. If so, we were 18,500 miles apart.
Luck
was not with me at first when I set up my portable California station again in
November, 2015. My laptop failed, and my trusty motorized coil on my antenna
became intermittent. But I got things working again, and I went on the air as
KØXB/6 on November 19. My seventh contact, on the second day, was with VK9WA on
12m CW, on remote Willis Island. Things were good.
I
got a large envelope from the Zero QSL Bureau in December, 2016, and I found
this beautiful card included.
Valery
UA3QNS was on Baa Atoll in the Maldives Republic in October, 2014, and I was
lucky enough to work him three times.
I
received another envelope from the Zero Bureau in March, 2017, with over 200
cards. At the very end of sorting through them and entering them into my log,
there were these two striking cards. The one on the left is from a contact I had
in 2007 with SØ5A in the Western Sahara. It looks like the sand goes on
forever. The card on the right is from JA9KA in Japan for a contact in 2015. I
had to look at the back of the card to figure out the callsign. I like it a
lot.
Andy
DL3YM is another member of the “XB Club,” or at least an associate member I
suppose. He was located at Nkunba University in
Entebbe when Ii worked him in September, 2016 on 15m CW.
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