Re: [IRCA] 30 years of skywave DXing

[mwdxer@xxxxxxxxx (Patrick Martin)]

I started DXing abut 1962 at 13 in Seward AK, but knew nothing about
what I was doing. I was on my way home from school
and was going through an alley about a block from my house and noticed a
wooden case on a garbage rack that was brown with a leather type
covering. Since it was on the rack, I fiqured I would bring it home. I
got to the house and on the porch opened it up and found it was indeed
a radio, which I saw the cord. It was a Zenith that the front cover
unsnapped and the round dial was underneith. I brought it into the house
and showed it to my mother and I was going to plug it in and try in out.
My mother said, wait until my father gets home. When Dad got home, I
showed him the radio. He looked at the cord and it looked okey, so he
plugged it in and I turned it on. It warmed up and it worked. As I
remember it was fairly sensitive and got all 4 of the Anchorage
stations, including the 1 KWer, KBYR on 1270. That was a feat as the
station did not get out all that well over the mountains. the other
stations, KFQD 730 khz (later 750) was 10 KW, KENI on 550 (5 KW) and
KHAR-590 (5 KW) all came in well without any outdoor antenna. I soon
hooked up a 30 or 40 foot outside antenna to the radio and I was hooked.
It had a couple SW bands if I remember correctly. Within a couple years
I started reporting DX to Popular Electronics and I got some letters
from DXers. One in 1964 was from a DXer, Dave Listort from Elmont NY who
asked me if I QSL'd? I had no idea wht he was talking about, but I asked
my father and he said, he did not know of AM stations QSLing, but Hams
did, but soon I found out about that and I got my first 2  MW QSLs,
KPAY-1060-Chico CA (Now gone) and the other was KFBK-1530-Sacramento CA.
If I was hooked on DXing, getting QSL's even made it better. I then
started writing SW stations or anything I could QSL including a CB
station at the Seward Boat Harbor! I still have all of those. But
looking back I would never have dreamed of being at it nearly 50 years
and have so many QSLs. That afternoon of noticing that radio on the
garbage rack changed my whole life.

73,

Patrick

Patrick Martin
Seaside OR 
KGED QSL Manager


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