Topband: 160 nostalgia

[Johann Bruinier]

My 160-elmer was unforgettable Charlie W2EQS. After many (banana boat swing cw) 20m qsos and his help concerning my FF8CW/6W8CW expeditions in '60 and '61 my job allowed me to meet Charlie in NYC on a regular basis. I remember spending a wonderful Christmas with him and his family and dog "Obie" at his Westwood NJ qth. In fall '61 we drove to Sydney NS to snatch a DC3 over to FP8. But after being fogged in for 3 days (evening beer only available at the speak-easy of the local fire brigade) we proceeded on steam vessel "Miquelon" and were greeted by Gus FP8AP who helped to transport our gear to the Hotel Miller.We managed to string a wire from the hotel backyard to a dressmaker's house at maximum 30 ft. After tuning up on 160 I called CQ with my FP8BV call and was answered immediately by W1BB/1 for my first ever 160 qso. Line noise prevented any further 160 qsos, even with big gun DL1FF. Charlie was absolutely nuts about 160 and succeeded in indoctrinating me. After ending my appartment dweller's days I built an ECO/PA (6AG7, 2E26) plus up-converter into my KWM-1 and made my first 160 qso from home with G3RSD in Feb-63. QSO nr.4 was 5A3CJ. Steve was an excellent 160 op and provided many "transcontinental" contacts for the then 10-watt EU crowd. In '64 I bought a Drake-4-Line from Harrison Radio down-town NYC. Of course, the Drake stuff was too voluminous and heavy to pass as crew baggage. Therefore, I built a small transceiver (CO/PA 6AH6, 6JB6, xtals 1803 & 1827, 25 watts out plus single conv. superhet) for the upcoming trips to 6W, CE0 and CE. For 6W8CW, I strung a sloping half lambda from the hotel roof down to a beach hut near Cape Verde. QRN was hell. W1BB's qsl states DXCC nr.96 among his typical slant-written remarks. On Easter Island I was allowed to use the Chilean Air Force's rhombic during their off-duty hours. Moreover, their BC779 was better than my puny rx. I was surprised about K1PBW's beverage success story in Jeff's superb book. CE0PC was Stew's DXCC nr.97    . Back in Chile, the first ever 160 qso was made with Hercilio PY2BJH from a beach house in Santo Domingo. At CE3CZ's home qth we flew a balloon vertical from a Superconny lifeboat survival kit but high winds ended the effort. Instead the little 25-watter was connected to sort of an inverted L 30 ft up. CE3CZ was Stew's DXCC nr.100, though he remarked  that he possibly had to "rework" another 3. Naturally, I cherish those 3 Stew qsls. Later, I met Stew in person at Harrison Radio by coincidence and saw his water tower often on approach to BOS runway 22. -- From my various home qth's contacts with ZL3RB Mar-67, JA3AA Jan-71 and KH6AT lp Jan-86 are most prominent in my mind. Fond memories no end and much more to tell. 160 has changed (higher local noise,some super-kilowatts and lousy clix) but sure has kept its fascination. 73, Jan DL9KR.