[CQ-Contest] KL7RA SK - Thanks for the Memories

[W5GN]

I first met Rich Strand, KL7RA, at Dayton in the late '90s,

when I asked him where was the best place to see the aurora,

and he invited us to come to Fairbanks, claiming it to

be the very best viewing, but reminding me that beautiful 

auroras destroy propagation.  

 

Judy and I travelled to Fairbanks, and enjoyed Rich and Jyl's 

company (albeit we are polar opposites politically, with they 

being Palin fans, and we are friends with Hillary).

 

Not a single car horn was heard around town.

Rich noted that the likely hood of needing road help

at some time in the future on snowy roads motivated

Alaskans to an absence of anger and eliminated road

rage attitudes.

 

We stayed at Chena Hot Springs outside Fairbanks,

where we discovered their hilltop "solarium" pointed 

north and was named an "aurorium", and found that many

Japanese honeymooners travel there as they believe a

child conceived under the aurora to be a special child.

We saw this around 1 am when a husband with six cameras

and a wife with a different intent arrived, giving him

only a few minutes to photo before taking his cameras

away and leading him back to their room.

 

That weekend I joined Rich and his team for the 2000 CQ WW SSB.

In 24 hours we had over 9,000 Qs.  Then the red aurora came

and in the second 24 hours we made 900 Qs. 

And Rich pointed out this was more normal than not!

 

But during the Sunday lulls, I heard one AK ham sound out

how a hot cup of coffee sounds when thrown into the air at -10,

and a different sound at -30, and a reminder that heating oil

becomes jelly at -40, and that polar bears have adapted at

Point Barrow: they gather at 2am closing time outside the bars 

because they apparently like marinated Alaskans, and once or

twice a year, an Alaskan on a Snow Machine (no snowmobiles

are in Alaska) was careless and made their gathering worthwhile.

 

And at the 3pm contest end on Sunday, we had his standard 

fish sticks awards dinner.

 

And Rich ceremoniously added my QSL to his wall of honor - operators 

that had made at least 300 QSOs in a contest.  What a neat idea!

 

Rich had "complained" that I have a loud voice, suggesting

that when he was on 40 and I was on 15 and 40, I could call

on both bands if he held his mike in my direction, so when 

I returned for the 2001 WW, I brought an audio VU meter I 

had been using at home to try some visual feedback to remind

me of the correct volume. Chip, K7JA was there with the new 

Yaesu to use, and from time to time, he mildly glared when

my volume rose, in excitement, and sometimes he pointed to 

the VU meter. I moved from the 10 station to the 20 station

but forgot to move the VU meter. About 30 seconds later, 

Chip got up from 15, walked to the 10 station, grabbed the

VU meter, and slammed it down in front of me, and with such

effect that I really did pay attention to my meter the rest 

of the contest (and, I think - he stopped glaring!!).

 

On SSB (my second favorite mode) I always try to occasionally

throw in a positive comments (nice audio, etc.) or for humor

(like being from the REPUBLIC OF TEXAS when the exchange is 

the state), and apparently this style was to Rich's liking: 

he had had the other operators QRT for a couple of minutes 

to listen to my banter, suggesting that the cost of slowing

down with occasional comments would lead to a small reduction

in QSOs, maybe, but it was well worth it, because with that 

goodwill sent, they would go out of their way to work KL7RA

in the next contest.

 

>From 2001 thru last May, Rich was my Hamvention "Buddy",

providing local transport to/from the airport and to

and from Hara, saving seats for the sessions, and sharing

the joy of hams of the same age who recognize all of the

old equipment as we walked thru the flea market.

And I got to observe the 10-15 hams per hour who came up

to Rich to thank him for being their first (or ONLY) AK.

 

He was ALWAYS on the lookout for specific parts as he

continually added towers and antennas and rotators to

build the Fairbanks station, which he then tore down

and rebuilt south of Anchorage to get out from under 

that aurora.

 

And then in the evenings at the Crowne Plaza, those

greetings/shakes/smiles of the hundreds of the truly close

friends Rich had garnered in those many Dayton trips.

That's where one of his NASA friends reported that Rich

was personally responsible for a several week delay

in one of the early (maybe STS-4) space missions.

 

And I recall one midnight in the SMC suite, it was

down to Rich and I and KA9FOX and a couple others,

who had all been too lazy to go downstairs and get 

the great pizza, when N5RZ and another Texan came 

in with a pizza, walked to the far end of the room,

set it down for us, and left.  It really smelled good, 

but all of us were kinda waiting politely to not be 

the first to get up, when I finally ambled over to find

a great smelling empty box.

 

Gator later said they took the stairs rather than

the elevator in fear of possible retaliation!

 

While I had brought the CQ WW CW 160 record to North America

in 1971 as KG4CS at Gitmo, I had not attended a 160 dinner

until last year, at Rich's suggestion, where it happened

that we joined a table with Bob W3GH and Bob W4DR, only

to discover the three of us had all been to Navassa.

 

Sad to see you go, my good buddy, Rich.

 

Thanks for these and many other memories.

 

 

Merrilly yours,

 

Barry Merrill, W5GN