Hi Guys
By now, many of you know about the recent release of "Dx'ing On the
Edge....The Thrill of 160M!". It has been gratifying to see, thus far, that
the book is being well received.
While it can be said that this is "K1ZM's Book", I believe it is far more
than that. It is I think, more correctly, the telling of OUR STORY as 160M
operators and the story of W1BB. It explains just who we are (and were), how
we do what we do and just why we enjoy it so much. Hopefully, it will help
others learn about what goes on at 1.8Mhz in order for them to develop an
interest in Dx'ing on Topband.
Now that I have a few moments to catch my breath, I would like to share with
all of you a bit of insight into the project team responsible for pulling
this off. Yes, it was MY idea - but it was a dedicated team effort that made
this a reality. I know I will probably leave someone out - but here is a
brief look behind the ARRL HQ Diamond at who was involved:
1) Mark Wilson - K1RO
Mark, acting in his capacity as Business Manager, initially had to evaluate
the commercial viability of this project. Since 160M is clearly a relatively
SMALL segment of hamdom at large, the likelihood of a successful return on
HQ's investment in such a specialized "niche offering" had to be carefully
evaluated. Things like fixed costs, market sizing, price sensitivity,
breakeven analysis and, ultimately, profitability of the project had to be
considered. In the end, it was decided to take the project on - with a fair
amount of "cautious optimism" for its success.
2) Joel Kleinman, N1BKE - Joel is responsible for the ARRL book offerings and
was also intimately involved in evaluating the viability of the project. He
also served as General Manager of the project.
3) Dean Straw, N6BV - I don't think it is mentioned anywhere in the book, but
Dean Straw, N6BV, was the editor of Dx'ing on the Edge and was my principal
contact at ARRL HQ for the past year. Actually, he was more than an editor -
he was a silent partner. Dean helped refine the manuscript in many ways
including shortening my run-on sentences and by, at last count, removing at
least a hundred "numbing exclamation points" as he called them.
He is also the one who suggested the inclusion of the high performance
antenna arrays for 160M which were added at the last moment in August. (He
told me I had to reveal a few 160M antenna secrets and up the page count at
the same time. Thus I spent the 2nd week of August on Cape Cod writing those
pages on an old junker IBM PC-XT.) He also verified the true performance of
these systems and prepared the EZNEC azimuth and elevation charts which are a
wonderful addition to the transmit antenna chapter.
He also backstopped me on at least three occasions I can remember by
correcting a few key items that I would have been embarrassed to see later
make it into print!
In September, it was Dean and I who actually went together to a local sound
studio in Newington to cut the master for the audio CD entitled "Memorable
Moments on 160M!" Several comments have been made to me about how GOOD the
CD sounds. Actually, much of that credit goes quite properly to Dean who
suggested the appropriate filtering and mixing which improved the sound
quality materially.
Dean works only two days each week at ARRL HQ by the way and commutes from
southern New Hampshire to do so. This meant he really had to hustle to fit
this project into an already busy schedule. But, when all was said and
done, he helped ensure the Fall release of the book ON SCHEDULE, which was
one of our key objectives at the outset of the project. It was a pleasure
working with him.
4) Sue Fagan - Sue and her team were involved with the design of the cover.
While I offered a few suggestions, it was her team's creativity that came up
with the final design. It is "coffee table book" quality and really does
look professional.
5) Bill Kennamer and Bill Moore - These guys at the DXCC desk provided many
of the facts relating to the DXCC program which appear in the book. Some of
it was easy to extract from computer records - other stuff had to be
researched by hand - and they always were willing to assist.
6) Mike Tracy - Mike manages the technical library at the League and more
than once pointed me in the right direction when I needed help with research.
I am probably leaving someone out here but I hope not. "Dx'ing on the Edge"
was a collaborative team effort and I am pleased to be able to publicly
recognize on this reflector those who helped make this project a reality.
It was indeed my pleasure to be able to work with such a talented and
dedicated group.
See you all on "THE BAND"!
73 Jeff K1ZM
K1ZM@aol.com
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