Yeah that sucks! I wasn't alive back then either. It's good to be reborn. I
wish I could pass it on.
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: Wild DX Contact
you don't need google anymore for that, it's right on QRZ I believe. These
days, I'm not so sure that is a good thing. Sometimes I think I missed out
not being a ham, or even alive back then.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 4:42 PM
Subject: Wild DX Contact
> My Famous Japanese 10 Meter sideband Contact
>
> I don't think I've told this story before.
>
>
> This was back in 1970 when I was a senior in a public high school. I =
> went to school half days because I only needed one credit to graduate so =
> I took three classes just in case but left at 11:30 since my first class =
> was at 7:30 in the morning. So I spent my afternoons working 10 meter =
> DX with a 3 element triband yagi up about 25 feet and had a blast. =
> Japan, back then, had 4 levels of ham tickets and the novice version of =
> their listen was 10 watts on 10 meters only. I worked hundreds of =
> Japanese stations over the years, probably thousands, and after 40 years =
> plus of DX operations, I wouldn?t be surprised if I had close to a =
> million DX contacts if you add up all the DX contests and all that I =
> worked. Anyhow, 10 meters had tons of Japanese operators since that was =
> the low powered novice band. It wasn?t unusual to work a 10 over S9 =
> signal from Japan, running 10 watts, and a 10 element, wide spaced, huge =
> 10 meter mono band beam. So keep that in mind as I tell this humorous =
> story. You had to be there.
>
> So it is mid afternoon. I drop down to about the bottom 10 KHz of the =
> 10 meter phone band, swing the beam around to the northwest, and call CQ =
> on side band. A Japanese station calls and I answer. Now, keep in mind =
> that I have never been very good with foreign accents. That?s probably =
> why I like CW DX more than side band. Anyhow, this guy is running 10 =
> watts and a big beam and is S9 into Denver. He starts asking me =
> questions, which I can?t seem to understand, but not wishing to be rude, =
> I ask him to repeat and repeat and repeat. First, he asks what city. I =
> tell him Denver but had to make him repeat his question about 10 times. =
> Then he gets it across, after several repeats, do I really live in =
> Denver or a suburb. I got it so I said, Lakewood, which I had to spell =
> a couple of times using phonetics, of course. Then he asked another =
> question which I didn?t understand so he repeated it a half a dozen =
> times until I realize he was asking for my address. Oh, good, I think. =
> He wants to QSL direct. I give him my address. Fortunately, it is all =
> numbers except for the word West 6Th Avenue. Then he asks another =
> question which takes several times before I figure it out. His question =
> was, what is your cross street. Boy, that was a difficult one to =
> understand for me, too. I told him the cross street was Car, spelling =
> it, like you drive. You understand? He comes back, happy as he can be, =
> and says, Oh, so good. I have map. I see exactly where you live on =
> map. Is this ok, and he repeats my address and cross street. Wow, what =
> a dedicated ham. Of course, now, guys just pull up google and focus on =
> your house from the sky. Sort of takes the fun out of getting to know =
> someone from another country.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX
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