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[IRCA] Remembering John B.
Jim Renfrew, Holley NY
I first had opportunity to interact with John when he was editing
Proceedings, and he cajoled me into writing an article about Medium Wave DX
TA, Central and South American targets. Later, he would submit his reports
to International DX Digest of the NRC when I edited that column. Over the
years I've had much correspondence with him, one on one and through the
different threads on the lists. He was a Newfoundland DX vet, though I
never crossed beverages with him there. I was very sorry to hear the news
of his untimely death - good friends are never easy to come by, and he had
so much more to offer. Others have given eloquent testimonies about John,
and I endorse everything I've read during the last day.
However, I can't resist sharing something I wrote three years ago, my
imagined PBS documentary on John's Easter Island DXadventure. Here it is,
RIP John!
Morgan Freeman: After months of prepartion [video collage of John B throwing
red-faced tantrums as he begs his family to let him go, final meeting with
bank loan officer in which veiled reference to "a pound of flesh" is made,
large steamer trunks sitting on the pier, tearful send-off by friends and
family (including an awkward moment in which a Graylander is found stowed
away in one of the trunks), small plane bouncing through thunder and
lightening], John B faces some unanticipated obstacles when he reaches
Easter Island ...
[Video shot shows a big walrus sidling up to the beverage]
John B: Hey! Leggo that wire!
[Video shot shows John B with firm grip on wire in desperate tug-of-war with
walrus, as both teeter on cliff edge]
Morgan Freeman: But it's all in a day's work for the serious DXer ...
[Collage of video shots showing John B being strip-searched at airport, John
B passing through check point manned by hooded members of the Pascua
Liberation Front, John B being attacked by rabid penguins after unwittingly
stumbling into their mating area, John B (wearing ninja suit) hunting down
the offensive dimmer light in the bowels of the hotel while the security
guard is dozing, John B eating the local staple (raw squid with seaweed
garnish)
Morgan Freeman: And trying to explain it all to the skeptical local
citizenry ...
[video shot of John B in local pub]
John B: And then the big signal from Nibi-Nibi came blasting in just as my
batteries failed
Morgan Freeman: Next week, John B develops an ingenius antenna system making
use of the bars of his jail cell, using his prosthetic knee as a balun.
Check your local PBS listing for the scheduled broadcast of Part 2, "DXing
at the End of the World"
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