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Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

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wayne burdick

Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

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15 meters never fails to amaze me.

During a recent bout of paper log archaeology, I rediscovered a QSO I logged as a teen, in 1972. I was just minding my own business, tuning up using a Heath DX-20 driving 3 feet of coax to a 40 W incandescent bulb. Then a guy in Illinois called me....

Some years later I was using a home-brew rig (the “Safari 4”) while visiting my Mom in Arizona. The battery was nearly depleted, the rig putting out only 200 mW. The antenna: 8 feet of wire running directly from the rig through a window to a clothesline. Tuning slowly, I heard a CQ from Rwanda (9X5). I called him and got a “QRZ?” With a *lot* of patience on his end, we completed a basic QSO. No computer, no narrow filtering, no noise blanker.

I would’ve gone nuts for a KX2 back in those days.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

----
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David Gilbert

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

I've had my share of weird ones, but one that sticks in my mind was
during Field Day several years ago. I'm not sure, but I think I was
using my new K1 that year. Bob, K7ZB and I were operating up on the
Mogollon Rim of Arizona, and one of the antennas I was checking out the
night before the contest was a long, low vertically oriented rectangular
loop that EZNEC+ told me should give a decent match on both 40m and
20m. It was ten feet long on the vertical end sections, something like
40 or 50 feet long on the horizontal sections, fed in the middle of one
of the ten foot verticals, and the lower horizontal wire was about five
feet off the ground. The idea was to get low angle vertical radiation
with some broadside gain, which in retrospect was a dumb idea given the
horrible ground conductivity in that area. It turned out to be the very
worst antenna I've ever used for Field Day and we had our worst score
ever as a result ... and this is from two guys who in the year 2000
(with totally different antennas ... hi) set was was then the all time
record for 1B 2OP - Battery with 970 QSOs and an even 10,000 points.
The low rectangular loop was simply pure trash.

But ... that night before the contest while I was testing it out on 20m
CW I heard an FR5 (middle of the Indian Ocean) calling CQ. He was about
S5 and came back to me on my first call with only five watts from my
end. Propagation is a strange and fickle mistress.

73,
Dave AB7E

On 9/13/2018 5:45 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:

> 15 meters never fails to amaze me.
>
> During a recent bout of paper log archaeology, I rediscovered a QSO I logged as a teen, in 1972. I was just minding my own business, tuning up using a Heath DX-20 driving 3 feet of coax to a 40 W incandescent bulb. Then a guy in Illinois called me....
>
> Some years later I was using a home-brew rig (the “Safari 4”) while visiting my Mom in Arizona. The battery was nearly depleted, the rig putting out only 200 mW. The antenna: 8 feet of wire running directly from the rig through a window to a clothesline. Tuning slowly, I heard a CQ from Rwanda (9X5). I called him and got a “QRZ?” With a *lot* of patience on his end, we completed a basic QSO. No computer, no narrow filtering, no noise blanker.
>
> I would’ve gone nuts for a KX2 back in those days.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
>
> ----
> http://www.elecraft.com
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k6dgw

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

You should have been a teen in the run-up to Cycle 19 in the 50's,
Wayne. I can't imagine what a K<anything> could have done. Our
prehistoric gear was actually doing amazing things then. Other than
Field Day, field operations, SOTA, Parks, IOTA and the like hadn't been
invented. HF mobile was big, VHF FM and repeaters hadn't been invented
either. Unfortunately, I believed "This is just how it will always be."

73, Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 9/13/2018 5:45 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:

Nate Bargmann

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

Mine was rather recent, early 2014 to be exact and with the Amsterdam
Island expedition that year. I had worked them on some other bands and
then on Saturday morning, 08 Feb, I saw they were spotted on 80m. 80m?
That's half a world away and all I had was a doublet up about 20 feet
that measured barely 200 feet overall and fed with 450 ohm window lead.
Well, I heard him (CW was the mode) and I called and he came back! I
about fell over but completed the exchange.

From Amsterdam Is. is probably the closest entity to the antipode.
According to all of the antenna books and experts over the years, this
was not supposed to happen, but there it was.

When people ask me how I can talk, I can honestly answer, "Halfway
around the world."

73, Nate, N0NB

--

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true."

Web: http://www.n0nb.us GPG key: D55A8819 GitHub: N0NB
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Tony Estep

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by k6dgw

On Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 8:53 PM Fred Jensen <[hidden email]> wrote:

> You should have been a teen in the run-up to Cycle 19...

=================
Ain't that the truth. I had a homebrew Tx and a Hallicrafters SX-96 in 1957
and 1958 as a novice (KN0LTB). I had a pretty good antenna and 15 meters
was open nearly all the time. Signals were booming in from everywhere on
earth. I was one of a few novices who worked DXCC during the 1-year
allowable Novice term. Bill, KN4RID, now W4ZV, was the first. Great fun.
Short-wave radio was high tech in those days and guys all over the world
were eager to get in on the excitement. I assumed it was always going to be
like that.

Tony KT0NY
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Wes Stewart-2

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

A couple come to mind but one stands out. Without digging out dozens of old
paper logs I'll guess about 1982-83 I was on 2M EME pointed west to my setting
moon looking for JA or UA9. I heard a CQ and copied W5UN. I'd worked Dave many
times, even on 2XSSB so I continued to tune. A few hundred Hz from Dave's
frequency I heard another station, considerably weaker. It took some digging
but I finally copied W5UN again! I was taken aback until I realized that I was
hearing him off the moon and off the back of my antenna on tropo. The nearly
setting moon was imparting Doppler and a 2 second time delay, causing me to hear
two completely different signals. I worked him and I'm pretty sure it must have
been EME. BTW, Dave is 950 miles from me.

Wes N7WS

On 9/13/2018 5:45 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:

Bill Frantz

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

On March 27 this year, I heard V31VP on 20M RTTY. I was getting
ready to call him with my amp, but I heard him come back to my
test transmission at 1.4 watts. We completed the QSO. Indeed, as
David AB7E says, "Propagation is a strange and fickle mistress."

73 Bill AE6JV

On 9/13/18 at 5:45 PM, [hidden email] (Wayne Burdick) wrote:

>During a recent bout of paper log archaeology, I rediscovered a
>QSO I logged as a teen, in 1972. I was just minding my own
>business, tuning up using a Heath DX-20 driving 3 feet of coax
>to a 40 W incandescent bulb. Then a guy in Illinois called me....

--------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz | There are now so many exceptions to the
408-356-8506 | Fourth Amendment that it operates only by
www.pwpconsult.com | accident. - William Hugh Murray

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George Winship, NC5G

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

While there have been many interesting QSO's since I was licensed in 1968(age
16), the one that stands out was on a Saturday morning in 1969. I was
cleaning my bedroom, and since my radio was in there, I had it on tuned to
the 15 meter cw band while doing my chore. A weak station started calling cq
on the frequency I was tuned to. It was a German station, so I answered his
call. After exchanging names, RST, and QTH's, he told me that he had a
visitor in his shack from my hometown. I asked him if his visitor's name was
Hank. You could hear the excitement in his cw as he confirmed the name. You
see, Hank's daughter and her boyfriend had been at my house the evening
before for a visit and dinner and Hank was one of the topics of
conversation. After about a thirty minute QSO, mostly about Hank and his
family, I took my copy of the QSO to his daughter to share with her and her
family. Since Hank was in the Air Force, he was gone from home a lot and
this QSO was very special to them. And I can't even imagine the odds of
this coming together. And the room cleaning probably didn't get finished
that day.

BTW, the rig was a National NCX-5(loved that radio). Antenna was a dipole
about 15ft. up in a pine tree.

George NC5G (ex. WA5UIH)

--
Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/
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Joe K2UF

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by k6dgw

I remember working western Europe on six in the mid 50s. Using a homebrew
three element E.M.T. beam ( yes E.M.T. Could not afford aluminum!!) The
rcvr was an old BC radio with a six meter converter and a modified Globe
Scout transmitter (see my QRZ page.).

AHH the good old days.

73

Joe k2UF

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Fred Jensen
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2018 9:52 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

You should have been a teen in the run-up to Cycle 19 in the 50's, Wayne. I
can't imagine what a K<anything> could have done. Our prehistoric gear was
actually doing amazing things then. Other than Field Day, field operations,
SOTA, Parks, IOTA and the like hadn't been invented. HF mobile was big, VHF
FM and repeaters hadn't been invented either. Unfortunately, I believed
"This is just how it will always be."

73, Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 9/13/2018 5:45 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
> 15 meters never fails to amaze me.
>
> During a recent bout of paper log archaeology, I rediscovered a QSO I
logged as a teen, in 1972. I was just minding my own business, tuning up
using a Heath DX-20 driving 3 feet of coax to a 40 W incandescent bulb. Then
a guy in Illinois called me....
>
> Some years later I was using a home-brew rig (the Safari 4) while
visiting my Mom in Arizona. The battery was nearly depleted, the rig putting
out only 200 mW. The antenna: 8 feet of wire running directly from the rig
through a window to a clothesline. Tuning slowly, I heard a CQ from Rwanda
(9X5). I called him and got a QRZ? With a *lot* of patience on his end, we
completed a basic QSO. No computer, no narrow filtering, no noise blanker.
>
> I wouldve gone nuts for a KX2 back in those days.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>

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---
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Martin

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

In the 80's I held a license for VHF/UHF only, like a novice license.
I had just taken down my 21 element UHF and 10 element VHF antennas and
elevation rotator for satellite work and replaced them with a 4*10
element yagi array for 2m dx. Tuned around the ssb part of the 2m-band
and heard.... nothing. Humm..So i tuned to the satellite band and
clearly could copy DP0GVN , the german antarctic station, on amsat oscar
10 satellite. WHAAAT? I hooked up what was left from my UHF antenna, i
think it was 9 or 10 elements, reflector and radiator included. Held it
out the shack window and aimed roughly in the same direction where the
2m antenna was pointing....and made the contact. I recall the op on the
other end saying something like "Guys, you got to hear this. This weirdo
holds his antenna in his hand". Can i claim a /portable satellite contact?

--

Ohne CW ist es nur CB..

73, Martin DM4iM
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David Pratt-2

Re: [KX3] Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

I would love to go back to 1955, Wayne, using homebrew equipment, when I
was first licensed (as G3KEP) and we used condensers instead of
capacitors.

Even in 2000 when I built my first K2 MoJo, I only had to press the key
and got a pileup calling me.

Nowadays, with the advent of PLT, CFL & LED lamps and switched mode
PSUs, I have an S9 noise level. So signals have to be over S9 for me to
work them. Still, that should be OK for contests when every signal is
5NN ;-)

73 de David G4DMP

In a recent message, "Wayne Burdick [hidden email] [KX3]"
<[hidden email]> writes

>15 meters never fails to amaze me.
>
>During a recent bout of paper log archaeology, I rediscovered a QSO I
>logged as a teen, in 1972. I was just minding my own business, tuning
>up using a Heath DX-20 driving 3 feet of coax to a 40 W incandescent
>bulb. Then a guy in Illinois called me....
>
>Some years later I was using a home-brew rig (the “Safari 4”) while
>visiting my Mom in Arizona. The battery was nearly depleted, the rig
>putting out only 200 mW. The antenna: 8 feet of wire running directly
>from the rig through a window to a clothesline. Tuning slowly, I heard
>a CQ from Rwanda (9X5). I called him and got a “QRZ?” With a *lot* of
>patience on his end, we completed a basic QSO. No computer, no narrow
>filtering, no noise blanker.
>
>I would’ve gone nuts for a KX2 back in those days.

--
+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
| David M Pratt, Kippax, Leeds. |
| Website: http://www.g4dmp.co.uk |
+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +

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Vic Rosenthal

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by Nate Bargmann

About 4pm one afternoon in New Jersey, I heard an Egyptian station in
QSO with a W8 on 20 meters. I waited to pounce, because I had never even
heard Egypt before. But then the W8 asked him to "try 40," and the
Egyptian immediately QSYed. I despaired. Although I only had 40 watts, I
had a 2-element beam at 30 feet on 20, and only a low dipole for 40. But
I went to the 40m frequency that they had agreed upon. And there was the
W8 calling the SU.
The Egyptian station couldn't hear him. But he heard me!

73,
Victor, 4X6GP
Rehovot, Israel
Formerly K2VCO
CWops no. 5
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/
On 14/09/2018 5:07, Nate Bargmann wrote:

> Mine was rather recent, early 2014 to be exact and with the Amsterdam
> Island expedition that year. I had worked them on some other bands and
> then on Saturday morning, 08 Feb, I saw they were spotted on 80m. 80m?
> That's half a world away and all I had was a doublet up about 20 feet
> that measured barely 200 feet overall and fed with 450 ohm window lead.
> Well, I heard him (CW was the mode) and I called and he came back! I
> about fell over but completed the exchange.
>
> From Amsterdam Is. is probably the closest entity to the antipode.
> According to all of the antenna books and experts over the years, this
> was not supposed to happen, but there it was.
>
> When people ask me how I can talk, I can honestly answer, "Halfway
> around the world."
>
> 73, Nate, N0NB
>

Elecraft mailing list

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

Joe, my good 1958 memories include working a JA on 6M AM with my home-brew EMT ground plane, GlobeScout 680A, SX-99 and convertor. Like all the other comments I never considered conditions changing. I had a 10M AM rig in my first car, in 1959, and worked the world on 29.6 AM. In fact I met the father of my future bride on 10M AM.

Wayne will have to SQUISH this one for sure. Oh, wait a minute, Wayne started this one:)

73 - Mike - K9JRI

> On Sep 14, 2018, at 12:48 AM, Joe K2UF <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I remember working western Europe on six in the mid 50s. Using a homebrew
> three element E.M.T. beam ( yes E.M.T. Could not afford aluminum!!) The
> rcvr was an old BC radio with a six meter converter and a modified Globe
> Scout transmitter (see my QRZ page.).
>
> AHH the good old days.
>
> 73
>
> Joe k2UF
>

Elecraft mailing list

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by Vic Rosenthal

One of mine:

http://dokufunk.org/amateur_radio/dxcc_entities/index.php?CID=4728&lang=EN&ID=4758#A4758 <http://dokufunk.org/amateur_radio/dxcc_entities/index.php?CID=4728&lang=EN&ID=4758#A4758>

73 - Steve WB6RSE
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Elecraft mailing list

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

Rather apropos to the current season, I remember a particularly rewarding QSO that I had a couple of years ago during a severe linear windstorm (derecho?). Our mains power had been out for about 18 hours. I fired up my KX1 (on internal batteries, it reported a mighty 1.8 watts into my OCF up 15' on 20 m.) at about 20:00. My CQ call was answered by a gentlemen in Ohio who identified himself as a clergy person. After comforting me with compliments about how good my signal was, he ended the QSO by wishing me, "May God richly bless you and give you light." About 15 seconds, the lights came back on.

VY 73 de W3UEC (Steve Dubin)

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Peter Chamalian W1RM

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

My tale is not about one QSO but rather an amazing 24 hours of QSOs. It all started with the CQ WW CW DX Contest in November, 1979. I decided to do 15 meter single band entry with my basic 4 element monobander at 70 feet, a Drake TR-7 and a kw.

The band started off as usual, open to JA, a few SA and Carib stations. I had expected 15 to go dark by 01z but to my surprise it was still going. The log was slowly filling with JA, SA and Carib but now there started to appear goodies such as HL9, UA0, VK, ZL and some other Pacific station. So it sent, hour by hour with no let up in sight. By 08z the opening shifted and now there were eastern EU stations coming through! Yeah -- wow. By 09z the opening to EU closed and I thought I might get a little sleep but first I checked long path. I swung the beam to 220 degrees, the band noise came up and my tuning produced some amazing stuff -- a VK6 (who asked for my zone 3 times -- he couldn't believe it), 9V1 and a host of goodies from SE Asia and even stretching into UL7. Even a EU or two snuck through. By 10z the path closed but lo and behold 15 was now waking up as it normally would with Carib stations and ZS. Within a short time, it was open to EU and it was off to the races.

I had never experienced anything like this before or since. Truly an amazing 30 hours because the band didn't actually close until 03z the next night.

As for results, 1173 QSOs, 95 countries and 37 zones. Number 5 in the world, top US and a USA record score.

Pete, W1RM
[hidden email]

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Wayne Burdick
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2018 8:46 PM
To: Elecraft <[hidden email]>; KX3 <[hidden email]>
Subject: [Elecraft] Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

15 meters never fails to amaze me.

During a recent bout of paper log archaeology, I rediscovered a QSO I logged as a teen, in 1972. I was just minding my own business, tuning up using a Heath DX-20 driving 3 feet of coax to a 40 W incandescent bulb. Then a guy in Illinois called me....

Some years later I was using a home-brew rig (the “Safari 4”) while visiting my Mom in Arizona. The battery was nearly depleted, the rig putting out only 200 mW. The antenna: 8 feet of wire running directly from the rig through a window to a clothesline. Tuning slowly, I heard a CQ from Rwanda (9X5). I called him and got a “QRZ?” With a *lot* of patience on his end, we completed a basic QSO. No computer, no narrow filtering, no noise blanker.

I would’ve gone nuts for a KX2 back in those days.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

----
http://www.elecraft.com
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KEN-3

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

The one that comes to mind was via OSCAR III in 1970. Just married, we
lived in an apartment, not ideal for sat comms. My 2 meter rig was a
WW2 AM aircraft transmitter with an 832 (dual tetrode) push pull as the
final. Of course, not designed for CW. mode conversion did not look
easy. I broke the cathode lead and put the key in the line with 300
volts across the key (I'm sure the younger semiconductor generation
would be shocked!) It probably had a significant backwave from the
driver signal but OSCAR didn't hear that.

Antenna? I C-clamped a board to the outside window sill with a bracket,
a 10' piece of conduit, and a simple dipole on the top, all fed with
RG-174 which was thin enough to close the window on. I saw the
landlord looking at it one day, but he never said anything.

The setup worked! I had a QSO with a VE2 as well as a local friend.

Ken WA8JXM
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Tony Osman-2

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

The QSO that sticks in my mind was back in 1971, I was at college with
Cable and Wireless in Camborne, Cornwall and the main engineering
college was at Porthcurno. I was the social secretary for my group
(about 30) and my job was to coordinate with the college to get a bus to
take us to the monthly dance. I had not been able to contact the
college and was in qso with Paul, WB2OZW (SK) and mentioned this, he
then told me that he had just qsoed with one of the guys at the college
- he went off frequency, found him and brought him on my freq. I could
not hear the college guy, skip was too long but Paul could hear us both
and he relayed the messages back and forward.

I had a number of qsos with Paul after that and he always had a chuckle
at getting us to the dance!!

--
Tony
VE3RZ

www.tonysturnings.com <http://www.tonysturnings.com>
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Dan Presley

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by Peter Chamalian W1RM

Two bits- I was on 40 M CW one night and heard a rather loud CQ from ‘W7CQR’ (my call is N7CQR). So naturally I responded because it’s unusual to work anyone with your same suffix. It turned out that not only was he in my town, but that we were friends from many years past when we played music together (old time string music-‘pre bluegrass’) At the time we were playing somehow the subject of ham radio never came up! Moral is always talk about your hobbies!
On a more current note-I was reading a previous post where one of the folks was commenting on the high noise levels we experience today. A remedy of sorts is to escape the urban area if possible. Today was the HF campout (we do this every summer) for our local ARES group up in the Mt.Hood Nat’l forest of Oregon-near Timothy Lake if anyone knows where that is. I took the KX2 and a loop antenna (W4OP)about 6 feet high, which I use extensively on SOTA and other outings. Lightweight and goes up in about 3 minutes. Anyway, I set it up and a crowd gathered and someone commented that it didn’t seem to be working as there was no band noise (20M),and another ’the bands are dead'. I sat down,put out a CQ and in 5 minutes worked a slew of stations from Minnesota,Arizona, and other locations around the country. 5 W to a small antenna. Yes-there was almost no noise-just signals. Try it if you can…I’ve been licensed since 1966 and having more fun than ever and getting in shape hiking the SOTA summits.
Dan Presley N7CQR
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a45wg-2

Re: Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

In reply to this post by David Gilbert

Please ENOUGH of this !! - Go form a support group or something.

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