Topband: WAJA 160

[wa5pok]

Lots of different viewpoints on QSOs vs. QSLs vs. Wallpaper and 
each one is correct. It is only a matter of what drives a person to 
their own personal satisfaction and enjoyment of the hobby. 

Today I received 160 DXCC certificate # 1293. It will go into the 
drawer but the QSLs are going back on the wall. Before I finally got 
off dead center, to take down the cards to send them in, another 
DXer was visiting my shack for the first time and saw the cards.  He 
asked, "Your first hundred?" I proudly replied, "YUP!" He lost 
interest in them until I added, "On 160." His interest went from very 
acute to amazement and then envy towards those QSLs on my wall. 
Priceless I smiled to myself. 

Oh yeah, my station ... 600w max output with a near invisible 
inverted "L" on a 90' X 60' deed-restricted lot in suburban Houston. 
Lots of neighborhood noise, lots of Houston noise, and lots of Gulf 
of Mexico noise. 

This summer I'll post details to provide encouragement and ideas 
for others in the same position. Helpful information has come from 
Tom's page, five of ON4UN's books, and info posted on this 
reflector.

73, Mike WA5POK

On 31 Mar 2007 at 2:51, Dave Heil wrote:

> Bob Eldridge wrote:
> 
> > I fully agree with Bill's viewpoint, and with Tom's.
> > Bob VE7BS
> 
> I find myself leaning your way, Bob.  I chased countries for years
> from Cincinnati on Top Band.  I've worked loads of new ones during the
> past 6+ years from here in West Virginia but I've never gotten around
> to submitting for a 160m DXCC.
> 
> I have five or six all time new ones to submit for generic DXCC but
> I've not managed to find the time to do that either.
> 
> I've also never submitted DXCC applications from OH2, OH0, J5, 9L, A2
> or 5H and will likely never do so because of the time and expense.
> 
> I don't plan to have my DXCC totals chiseled into my headstone.
> 
> My late friend Howard Delp WA4GOF let his League membership lapse at
> one point.  He told me afterward that he knew what he'd worked and
> that he had the QSL cards.  He said that every time he worked ten new
> countries, he'd paste an S&H Green Stamp on his DXCC certificate.
> 
> I don't know whether certain certificates measure a man's operating
> prowess, technical excellence, wealth, persistence, blind luck or some
> combination of the aforementioned.  Some of us are driven.  Some
> aren't.
> 
> I'll get around to updating my DXCC and submitting my 160m DXCC 
> application 'cuz I like the competition (and realize that I'm not at
> the top of the heap based upon any of the criteria I outlined above).
> 
> I understand that Bill is driven and that the same things don't drive
> Tom.  I've been at the other end of the pile when working both on
> Topband and know what their respective stations can do.  I know that
> for each DX QSO that either has made, there is a stalwart chap on the
> other end, fighting QRN and QRM to give them a contact.
> 
> It is my understanding that I am not eligible for any award based on
> the three or four JA's I've worked over the past couple of winters.
> 
> Finally, if I continue to draw breath long enough, I may be able to
> equal the 160m achievements of my late friend Ike Price K8IP, who
> lived across the river from me.  For those of you without the antenna
> farms of Bill or Tom, keep breathing.
> 
> Dave Heil K8MN
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