[Elecraft] PS on The Complete DX'r

[Wallace, Andy]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Julian (G4ILO) [mailto:g4ilo@qsl.net]
>=20
> It never ceases to amaze me that my signal, using barely enough=20
> power to light a torch bulb, energizing a loop of wire in my loft, =
manages=20
> to make it to the other side of Europe, never mind half way round the =
world=20
> as it does when conditions are right.=20

That is really it, Julian. That's what got me into radio in the
first place, listening to the BBC fade in and out and watching
the magic eye tube on my grandfather's Air Castle table radio.
Microvolts of signal were making it from "over there" to "over here."

I was into QRP even as a Novice. I'd turn my dad's rig down to
4W and have a blast, back in the early 80s when 15 and 10 were
open most of the day.

Now, with the Elecraft, it's still a thrill, and I am still amazed
when the signal makes it so far on a simple antenna.

My "best" or most memorable DX was last Fall. I was staying
at a shorefront cottage in Maine and had strung a 75' randomwire
about 7' above ground along the shore. I had the K1 and found that
the SWLs who were there could still listen to SWBC DX while I was
operating. They had strung 500-1000' beverages along the rocks.

Anyway, that evening I answered a 20M CQ from R1ANZ. He got me
without too much trouble. I don't even remember a pileup. In my
rush to pack I didn't bring the countries list and I only knew
that R1 was a Russian territory - perhaps one of those things near
the Arctic Circle. Neat!

It was only the next day when telephoning my dad that I heard it
was Antarctica! Mirnyy Base, just about as far from Maine as you
can get.=20

THAT's the QRP thrill. Not the totals, which are still nice, but=20
the fact that you can cross thousands of miles with an on-off
pulse of a few watts and a humble antenna.

Andy