Topband: Congratulations to W4DR!

[Bill Tippett]

        Congratulations to Topbander W4DR for winning ARRL's first
De Soto Cup per the attached announcement from the ARRL Newsletter.
Bob is one Topband country from achieving 300 countries on 9 bands as he
recently worked 9M2AX and A52GJ the same day for #298 and #299 on Topband!
Look for Bob to be active on Topband from YK9A very soon.  

                                                73,  Bill  W4ZV

==>W4DR IS 2000 CLINTON B. DESOTO CUP WINNER

Bob Eshleman, W4DR, of Midlothian, Virginia, is the winner of the Clinton B.
DeSoto Cup for 2000. The DeSoto Cup--a new ARRL award being presented for
the first time--recognizes the station that's on top of the DXCC Challenge
List as of September 30 each year. The Cup will be presented in May at
Dayton's "DX Dinner" sponsored by the Southwest Ohio DX Association.

Eshleman is practically a lifelong DXer and DXpeditioner. First licensed in
1950 as W4QCW at age 14, Eshleman says his first station was a
crystal-controlled 6L6 oscillator on 80 meters, a folded dipole made of
300-ohm TV twin lead and a BC-454 military surplus receiver. He subsequently
graduated to grander gear and much more effective antennas. By 1954, he had
DXCC in the bag (#2037).

After completing dental school and starting a family, he soon achieved DXCC
Honor Roll and the first-ever Five Band DXCC, among other DXCC honors,
including the first single-band DXCC awards on 40 and 10 meters. He credits
the 119 countries he worked in the 1980s and 1990s on 6 meters as being
"probably decisive in winning the first DeSoto Cup."

Now retired as a full-time dental school faculty member, he's used the
intervening years "to catch up on the WARC bands" he'd neglected while
chasing DX on 6 meters. He and his wife Rosalie, N4CFL, are headed for a
month's trip to Syria and Egypt, during which they will be operators as
YK9A. His sons Curtis and Lee both are licensed, KK4HJ and WA4CSG
respectively.


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