[SOC] Unbelievable....

[Rob Matherly]

I was tuning around on 20m tonight and didn't hear much in the way of SSB DX (pretty
much limited to phone right now with the arm as it is), so figured I'd tune around
down in CW land and maybe snatch a quickie "name, qth, rst, tu, 73" DX contact.

I hear a somewhat weak station on 14.025.5, ok2pky.  So I drop my call in there,
expecting a quickie contact.  Nope, this guy's a ragchewer!  So I proceed to have a
nice 13 minute qso with this guy in the Czech Republic.  We sign and I think:  Thank
God it's over, the pain, the pain!

Then comes the good part of this little story... I hear a pretty strong signal:
"w0jrm w0jrm w0jrm de hb9bqr hb9bqr hb9bqr pse k".  I think, I can't have copied that
right.  A DX station is calling ME?  So I send, "QRZ?? de w0jrm k".  Again, I hear
"w0jrm w0jrm w0jrm de hb9bqr hb9bqr hb9bqr pse k".

Well it's not everyday that a station in Switzerland calls yours truly, so I gladly
reply.  I send the usual "tnx fer call, name hr rob rob rob, rst 559 559 559, qth
yadda yadda...", and throw it back to him hoping he's a quickie contact.  Nope, he's
a ragchewer too!  So I have a nice 17 minute qso with him (the high point being
trying to send "Appanoose" when he asked for my county...).

Thankfully, nobody else called me :^)  The part I can't believe isn't that a station
in Switzerland called ME (although that is pretty hard to swallow), but that my arm
still works, lol :^)

All of this didn't go unnoticed though... on my way out the door to take a much
needed "break" (ahem) I snagged my shirt sleeve on a plant and knocked it on the
floor, breaking the pot and spilling the dirt everywhere (and of course I just
vacuumed this morning...).  I get downstairs, and I manage to knock a decoration off
the wall.  I take the dog out, and it starts raining.  I get back upstairs with my
drink, set down, and realize:  I forgot to go to the bathroom.

72/73/oo
Rob, W�JRM
ARRL; FP QRP -330; IA QRP #143; SOC #497; QRPp-I #19; Live-Wire #442;

Visit my website! http://www.qsl.net/w0jrm

"Dad's kinda into ham radio..."
"People with good sense retain their anger; they earn esteem by overlooking wrongs"
     -- Proverbs 19:11 NLT