[SCCC] W6VSS K6UA Dale Hoppe

[Tom Rauch]

It was a real bummer to hear about Dale's passing a few 
weeks ago.

Dale was my first west coast contact on 160 meters. This is 
all by memory...

I remember reading a CQ magazine back in the early 60's. 
They had a blurb about W6YY. W6YY was going to be on in the 
CQWW 160 running two half-waves in phase on top of a 450 ft 
tower on Mt. Wilson.

Back at that time stations in Ohio were allowed 25 watts 
plate INPUT power at night on 1800-1825kcs.
Stations in California were allowed the same on 
1975-2000kcs. That limit varied over the years, eventually 
increasing to what we have today.

It was a local joke about working California on 160. Local 
Hams would laugh and poke fun, and sometimes call CQ 
California from their mobiles running 25 watts of AM on 
1812kcs. After reading CQ I wondered if the locals were 
wrong, and it was possible to work California.

I tuned in late at night to the frequency promoted for W6YY 
and copied their weak CQ quite well. Then I tuned just a few 
kc further and heard a very strong signal. It was sending 
W6VSS over and over again, with a QSX on the low end of 160. 
I called and W6VSS came right back for my first California 
QSO ever, something most locals swore could never be done.

That signal of Dale's was forever etched in my brain. I 
still have the receiver, VFO, and transmitter I used to work 
Dale. When I walk out to my storage building and look at the 
receiver I can still hear Dale's strong signal. Somehow 
looking at that old gear keeps a little bit of the wonderful 
people I met over the years alive forever.

http://www.w8ji.com/boatanchors.htm

http://www.w8ji.com/160_history.htm

I'm wondering if anyone has a CQ from back then?? I'd like 
to know the CQWW contest scores for 160. As I recall the 
W6YY thing was in the text with a picture of the tower.

73 Tom