At 06:25 AM 3/16/2005, K1ZM@aol.com wrote:
>If not too far afield, and if blessed by those who provide this facility, I
>would like to propose that we liven things up for a few weeks on this
>reflector
>- by each of us relating a story or two of what they enjoyed or remembered
>best from their time spent while operating at a contesting multi-multi or
>multi-single operation.
They say you always remember your first time. Well for me, my first
multi-multi was N5AU for the 1082 CQWW SSB contest. I was finishing my
last semester for my BsEE in Arkansas, and a couple weeks earlier K5GO and
I had driven down for the Houston Comvention and spent the night with K5ZD
and his parents. On the way back thru Dallas we met Bill, K5FUV at the old
AGL Electronics (N5AU's radio store). "Do you need any ops for CQ
SSB?" "Sure, come on down." Sometimes all you gotta do is ask.
1982 was pretty much during the heyday of N5AU. Twenty-plus towers with
every kind of antenna imaginable, plus top notch gear with two rigs per
band on 40-10 and more Alpha amps than I've ever seen in one room. A
purpose-built shack with a small operator dormitory to catch some
sleep. Pretty amazing the first time you encounter such a place.
But the thing I remember from that weekend were the operators. Gordon
himself was not there, but instead was on one of his many trips to VP2E so
K5FUV was in charge. Most of the ops were from TX, but there were two G
contesters from England (I can't remember their calls) who had come to
visit Dallas on vacation (recall this was also the heyday of the Dallas TV
series) and stayed for the contest.
On 160M was Gator/N5RZ who wrung out the band for everything it was
worth. 80M was captained by K5FUV. On 40M it was Conrad/N5CR and one of
the Gs. 20M was myself, Dale/K5MM and Don/K5AQ. 15M was Eric/NM5M and the
other G. 10M was Randy/K5ZD and Trey/WN4KKN (now N5KO). There were other
ops too who shifted around as needed - I apologize for not remembering
everyone.
Specific memories:
- Dale/K5MM regaling us with tales from his days in Iran, with his illicit
30L1 amp and getting called to the police station in Tehran for "stealing
electricity". Dale also taught me to call "CQ Concurso" in Spanish that
weekend.
- Sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the huge N5AU shack
with one of the Gs trying to fix the 75M Alpha 76 which would not turn on.
- Saturday afternoon on 15M, and one of the ops sitting down a young WB5VZL
(now K5TR) and telling George "Here's your frequency, now call CQ until we
tell you to stop". Four hours later he was still at it, and kept up a good
rate besides.
- Late Saturday night on 20M. The band is open to the Pacific but there is
not much going on, and the band sounds kind of "spooky" (you know what I
mean). I come across KH6GMP who is calling CQ with a computer generated
voice (remember this was 1982 where such hardware was not common). I
answered him and gave him a report using my best imitation ("fie-yev
nie-yen zee-roh fow-er").
- Later that evening on 20M working over 100 VKs and ZLs in 90 minutes with
the big 4L quad. The band was open their way and it's daytime there - all
you have to do is call CQ. A lesson learned...
Multi-ops are adventures, and you bring away the camaraderie as much as the
results. Thanks for K5FUV and the crew for letting me be part of it.
Dave/K8CC
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