Does any one remember the one that QST pulled back in the 80s when they ran 
an article about the snake antenna?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Canazzi" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2006 1:08 AM
Subject: A Classic April Fool's Joke


> Hi List,
>
> Since people have been joining in on the April 1 fun, I thought I would =
> relate a story from the year of our lard 1971.
>
> Remember a few things:
>
> 1.  callsigns were strictly enforced as to district and region;
> 2.  vanity calls were only a gleam in some FCC bureaucrat's eyes;
> 3.  there were no double A prefixes, no 2 by 1 or 1 by 2 incentive =
> calls;
> 4.  in fact I believe all you had for prefixes at that time were w, K, =
> WA, and WB, (might have missed a few like wn or kn but you get the =
> picture; right?)
> 5.  and of course there were no Internet quick look-ups or readily =
> available DX charts other than those hard copied from such groups as =
> ARRL.
>
> So here it is April 1, 1971, and all up and down the East Coast on 20 =
> Meters, people are hearing the following (or something close to it):
>
> CQ CQ CQ DX this is station KD2UMP transmitting from Squaw Island.
>
> When stations would respond and ask for a more definite location, the =
> station would give them a 5/9 signal report and thank them and then =
> resume calling CQ.
> Many people didn't even ask for a more precise location, because (so I =
> was told by old timers) in those days, experienced hams didn't want to =
> appear stupid and so it was considered the sign of a newbie if you would =
> ask for a location.
>
> Well after a couple of hours, people were getting suspicious.  It turns =
> out that the whole thing was a hoax.  Squaw Island is/was a small island =
> in the Buffalo River just outside the city of Buffalo, NY--where of =
> course the city used to land fill much of it's garbage in those days.  I =
> am not totally clear on this, but I believe that the guys who pulled =
> this stunt had gotten a one day permission to run a special callsign =
> station and did not explain just why they wanted to use this precise =
> callsign.
>
> Boy was there a stink (as in garbage--poor pun definitely intended <g>) =
> over that within the local and regional amateur community.  I don't =
> think any FCC action was taken, but I suspect that the guys (2 of whom =
> are long since paying homage in that big DX chamber in the sky) were =
> probably not very welcome at local ham radio events for years to come.
>
>
> The Scourge Of Authoritarianism Is Intellectualism
>