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Re: [IRCA] 30 years of skywave DXing
- Subject: Re: [IRCA] 30 years of skywave DXing
- From: "Craig Healy" <bubba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:32:43 -0400
Nice stories about how some folks began DXing! Thanks!
I did a fair bit of it in the early 60's. Got a number of QSLs. But my
first DX was around 1955. As a kid I used to tune my grandmother's 5-tube
radio to find programs like Fibber McGee & Molly or Amos & Andy. One night
I heard a station say "And it's 7pm.." Our clock said 8pm. I thought he
made a mistake but he continued and said "...in Chicago". Chicago?? Well,
I knew where the grocery store was, and maybe the next town, but Chicago? I
asked later and they said it was many miles away. At that point radio
seemed like magic and I continued to tune around with a different attitude.
In the later 50's I used a radio in my room, another 5-tube GE type. Didn't
realize that the loop antenna on the back was directional. The local 1110
daytimer had Top-40 music I liked, but WBT in North Carolina would come in a
while before sunset and block it. Didn't realize all I had to do was turn
the radio a bit and stop nulling the local station...
And somewhat later I pulled a Stewart Warner radio out of a 1953 Studebaker
and figured out how to run it off a 6.3v filament transformer. Got all
sorts of things on that. Running antenna wires in the room used to drive my
mother mildly insane. I also used some thin stainless steel wire for a long
wire outside antenna that didn't work at all. If I only had realized
stainless steel was quite lossy.
Imagine if Doc Brown in "Back To The Future" had brought me a Drake R8B and
loop antenna in 1955. Or brought ME back to 1955. Imagine the DX with
today's experience!
Craig Healy
Providence, RI
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