>"Must have been quite a guy. Wish I had known him."
He was quite a guy, and I knew him.
30 years ago, Jim White and I cooked up outrageous schemes that sure seemed
hilarious at the time. Like, "KH6IJ is using up all the dits in the universe
and there aren't going to be any left for the rest of us."
I think if Jim and I put our heads together now the talk would immediately turn
to an ARRL CW DX Contest memorial for him. He'd double over in laughter at
something like, for instance, having every station in the contest sign K4OJ.
(After Vic Clark, W4KFC, died the ARRL suggested that everybody in --I think it
was -- Straight Key Night sign off with "Vic".)
If everybody in the 2004 ARRL CW DX Contest signed K4OJ, there would be
thousands of operators making tens of thousands of contacts over 48 hours and
every station would post a score of Zero. Every contact would be a dupe. On the
other hand, there would be no busted call signs. Every line score, every Top
Ten box would be K4OJ. And the aggregate scoring for all stations in the
contest would be Zero, a (perhaps dubious) record that would stand forever.
There would be no need for computers, of course. At most, just one memory would
do -- K4OJ 5nnFLA. Paper dupe sheets would consist of one row (4), and one
column (O). And there'd be only one multiplier. Every slot on every band would
be signing K4OJ, 'round the clock. K4OJ would try to steal K4OJ's frequency.
Nobody would ask "What's your call?" Nobody would ask for a repeat. If you were
SO2R you could be working OJ on one band while OJ is in the queue on the other
band ... actually, OJ would be the queue.
Anybody saying "the OJ only" would be asking for trouble.
The Soapbox would be great:
"Ran a dozen OJs on 160."
"Worked OJ on all six bands."
"OJ was really loud (or weak) here."
"Never heard so many Florida stations active."
"Thanks to OJ for moving for us."
"OJ was everywhere."
"Worked OJ for a new one."
"OJ was my only contact on 10."
"Congrats to OJ for the great performance."
Jim, I'm sure that where you are now there is an unlimited supply of Nice New
Crayons. (Jim's original call sign was WA1NNC.)
R.I.P.
-- Jim Cain, K1TN
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