[HCRA] Get on the air now!

[Larry - WB1DBY]

I have been a ham for more than 33 years now. 

The thrill of making a contact with anyone, anywhere has not ended. I'm not a DX country chaser or any chaser, but I do like to ragchew.

My stations are modest but they work well enough for me and barefoot with 100 watts max. I often run 5 watts though when condtitions let me.

In the last 2 weeks I have started getting the "Get on the air" bug again. I started with my mobile HF last week during a ride between West Hartford and Ellington. I talked to a W4 station in Greenville, NC for over 25 minutes. I was thrilled. Just yesterday on a trip to a Simsbury customer, I chatted with "Ivan" in Vienna, Austria. It's the first time in a long time that a DX station wanted something other than my name, report and QTH. Another thrill and while mobile yet. Later that afternoon, I worked Rick in Salt Lake City, Utah. The bands were starting to get flaky so I pulled over and talked for a while until I had to get going again. Same thrill. These were made on 17m (18 Mhz) during the day with 100 watts. (Yaesu FT-100D w/Atas-100 antenna)

Today, Saturday I awoke much earlier than I usually am up (5:40am) and came downstairs and turned on the radio to 40 meters. I heard a super strong CQ, recognizing the call as someone I met a number of years ago at a HCRA meeting. It was Steve, WA1HFF. I lowered the power to 10 watts and chatted until my rig seemed to have some issues. Now Steve is what I would call "Super DX" as he lives here in town and just 2 streets away from me! 

For me, it's not the accomplisment of DX or some new country, it's just making the contact and learning something new about someone. I found out Steve likes to kayak as I do. We'll pair up and paddle somewhere soon.

So I'm suggesting to you, dust off that HF rig that you haven't used in a while. Listen on the bands often. Sometimes (frequenctly) you won't hear anything as the bands are just plain dead. But, you may hear someone calling CQ and go back to them and find that that THRILL of making a QSO is back and you'll be hooked again. As I am again.

Turn on your radio and make some new friends. You may find the excitement of ham radio still burns in your veins stronger than in a while.

73,

Larry, WB1DBY