My story tonight perhaps does not fit the mold of the current NLRS state of affairs, but it was once relevant to VHF in the Midwest.  I sure hope nobody minds about a silly story that happened a long time ago, but here goes.

     Back in the late 1980's or early 1990's Dick Hart and I decided to go to a Hamfest down in St. Louis, Missouri.  For those that don't recall, Dick, KØMQS was the first to work all states on 144mcs.  He ran a power-house station with 4 large yagis on a 200 foot tower and over a kilowatt.  He was from a small town in southeast Iowa called "Delta".   How fitting.   Now on to the story.

    I had worked the Friday the day we left.  I drove down to Delta, several hours away to ride with Dick to the Hamfest in Missouri. We ended up driving his vintage Volkswagen Van loaded with horizontal VHF antennas to the venue.

    He was still rather spry at that age, as he could still drive and use the key at the same time.  We ended up stopping at one of his favorite restaurants along the way, Kentucky Fried Chicken.  He insisted on driving and continued to eat fried chicken in one hand while driving with his knees.  Remember those days?

   We ended up pulling into St. Louis well after midnight.  I can still recall him talking with WØDQY on 144.200 about where to stay and what Motel was available at that time of night.

    When we finally arrived at the Motel, it was very late.  We went to the front desk and Dick bickered about the price, like it was a flea market.  When he finally decided on a price for our shared room, we had to pay the man in cash.  I don't quite recall, but it was like $36 dollars and some change.   There was Dick, paying in cash to the penny.   Next I had to pay my half.    Now finally off to the room. 

   I was dead tired, and just wanted to hit the sack.  Once we arrived at the door to the room, Dick got out the key and went to let us in.  There was great difficulty and he tried over and over again to get the key to work.  We were standing in the hallway in the middle of the night and could not get in. 

     The next thing I know, Dick stopped, looked at me and said, "Oh no, look!"

He then pointed at the room number on the door.  I looked up, and the placard read "144"!   That was his band!

How ironic. 

    

    So I do apologize for the bandwidth tonight.   Hopefully a few of you will get a kick out of this or even have a similar story.  We are all getting older and ain't none of us getting out of here alive.  Therefore, share your memoires of ham radio.

73, de KGØVL

Jeffrey

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