Re: [IRCA] 30 years of skywave DXing

[Bill Whitacre <bw@xxxxxxx>]

I don't usually go in for the 'look back' stuff ... I must be 'getting old' as this thread has 'sucked me in.'

I got 'hooked' on DXing one night in 1968 when my dad brought home the Nems-Clarke field strength meter he used at the radio station he was CE for, WILS in Lansing, MI.

Not only could we HEAR DX but we could measure its 'field strength.'

As we stood in the basement, him showing me how it worked, we heard an ID on 640 for KFI ... and the ever-present interference from Cuba co-channel.  I got pretty excited and wrote for a QSL.  Some time later one arrived -- a typed letter from KFI's CE with a DX-stamp attached explaining about the Cuban station and international radio agreements, etc.

My interest grew from there -- begging my dad to do a 'proof of performance' test so I could stay up and watch [not realizing that he didn't arrange those, the FCC did and they were never welcomed], letting me push 'the button' to change from day to night power/pattern or reading any request for QSLs they received at the station.

Years later, as I stood in a field in Belize with a Potomac Instruments FIM-41 trying to get a reading on a Guatemala City AM station via ground wave I thought about by dad.  The 'radio gene' had been safely and securely passed on.

Unfortunately, I am the last generation of 'radiomen' in my family.  Times have changed and I gather so has the commercial radio industry - probably several times since the 'family owned', 'top 40' station my dad worked for got sold to new owners more than once over the years.

I don't regret the experience or time spent 'at the dials.'  I never have to worry about having a hobby when I retire as long as someone is still broadcasting.
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