Topband: VK6HD SK

John Harden, D.M.D. jhdmd at bellsouth.net
Sat Apr 13 10:26:27 EDT 2013


Sitting here in the terminal at LAX having breakfast. Very sorry to hear abt Mike.

73,

John, W4NU

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

Jon Zaimes AA1K <jz73 at verizon.net> wrote:

>Very sad to hear of Mike's passing.
>
>Flipping back through my old logs, handwritten on something called 
>paper, it appears our first QSO with Mike was on 40 meter CW in January 
>of 1980. But it is the second QSO I recall most, on 80 CW on the last 
>day of that month. We had had several exchanges when Mike reported my 
>signal had suddenly dropped several S units but he still had solid copy. 
>Looking up, I realized my manual antenna switch had been left with my 
>new "Beverage" receiving antenna connected to the transmitter, and Mike 
>was still hearing me with my 25 watts going into a wire only a few feet 
>off the ground. We both had a laugh when I told him what happened and, 
>back on my real transmit antenna, we carried on at full strength for a 
>few minutes more.
>
>It was those golden ears of Mike's that gave us so many hundreds of 
>contacts on Topband -- the first in January of 1981 and the last 32 
>years later. He was there keeping the vigil, frequently the only DX 
>coming through. He'd drop in for a quick hello, just to let us know the 
>band was open -- halfway around the world -- when there was no other 
>sign it was open to anywhere. We'd swap notes on the weather, band 
>conditions and pass along tips on DX the other might need. Often he'd 
>stop back a half hour later with a new signal report. In the years 
>before packet and the Internet, and even after, he'd drop in quickly to 
>let me know one I needed in his part of the world was just a few kHz up 
>or down the band, and I'd do likewise.
>
>We will miss our dear friend. Mike helped keep this band alive for so many.
>
>73 and GL DX,
>
>Jon AA1K
>All good topband ops know fine whiskey is a daylight beverage.
>_________________
>Topband Reflector


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