Re: [IRCA] 30 years of skywave DXing

["HASCALL, DAVID CIV DFAS" <DAVID.HASCALL@xxxxxxxx>]

Funny thing, John.  FIFTY years later, I get WXNT (ex WIRE) 1430 on 520
KHz TODAY on a MODERN receiver (Eton E-100).  Oddly interesting!

73,
Dave in Indy



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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:18:06 -0500
From: John Sampson <jnsampson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
	<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IRCA] 30 years of skywave DXing
Message-ID: <F28AA2A8-7E58-4FCA-8DFE-B8AF0C6DB707@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Fascinating thread and I have to add my 2? worth.  My DXing started
while at summer camp in Minoqua, Wisconsin, in 1951.  We lived in Des
Moines at that time, I was quite a baseball fan and our local minor
league club was a farm team of the Chicago Cubs.  I had a Silvertone
portable at camp and one of my cabin mates was from Chicago and also a
Cubs fan.  He suggested we try to get the Cubs broadcasts over WIND.  We
were quite successful at night.  There wasn't much to hear there during
the day, all I remember is WLIN, Merrill, WLBL, Auberndale and WOBT,
Rhinelander.

 When I returned to Des Moines, I decided to see what I could hear and
found that I could hear stations from all over the midwest and south.
The Silvertone radio had an interesting IF (for instance, one of my
early loggings was WIRE, 1430, Indianapolis, which I heard on 520 kcs.,
also, local KSO dominated 550 kcs on that receiver) so I was finally
able to graduate to a Stewart-Warner table model, which was an excellent
DX radio.  In 1953, just before moving to Omaha, I was given a
Hallicrafters S-53A for Christmas.  I can still remember hearing KULA
from Honolulu on it one morning about 7 AM before going to school.  I
heard some 1200 stations from Des Moines and also started verifying
about the time we moved (have a grand total of eight from Des Moines).  


After moving to Omaha in early 1954 the DXing continued.  One of my
first veries there was from KCNI, Broken Bow; the signer was one of
officers in the NNRC and he suggested I join them, which I did.  Around
1955, Marv Robbins moved to Omaha, contacted me and I now had a good
DXing buddy.  Marv also introduced me to the NRC, which, after seeing
his bulletins, I immediately joined and been in the club ever since.
(When the IRCA formed in the mid-1960s, I also joined it.  I've also
been a member since that time except, perhaps, for a brief hiatus when I
forgot to renew membership).  The Omaha DXing was, of course, curtailed
in the winters by College but I still managed to verify over 900
stations while living there.  

After graduation from College in 1960 we moved around the country for
the next twenty years, so I was able to DX from both coasts, the
southeast and, finally, again, the mid-west.  One of my favorite
memories was taking the early morning feeding time for our children when
they were babies in the '60s and then staying up for a while after they
went back to sleep to enjoy DXing.

I did make it to Ernie Cooper's for one of his Thanksgiving
get-togethers, I think it was while I was in school in Cambridge, Mass,
in the late 50s.  I also hosted a couple of get-togethers while living
in Freehold in the early '60s and had a great time entertaining a number
of well known DXers.  

The primary DX spot is now Grand Rapids in Northern Minnesota, we're
generally there from May thru November.  The rest of the year, we're in
the Phoenix metro area, unfortunately, during the prime DX season, as
this is probably the worst DX location I've had .  I still verify
occasionally and have some 3600 to date.  Enough for now. - John S.


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