No. 21 July 20. 1997
L.I.V.E. DX
(Low Impact,
Vegetarian, Environmentally Safe DX)
The high school swimming pool had a
balcony to accommodate the crowds at swim meets. That day, we
lined up to dive backwards off the balcony railing, falling about
fifteen feet vertically and six feet horizontally to the deep end
of the pool. It was "close your eyes and jump." Just
before my turn, a languid wisecracker I knew only as
"Skip" emerged from the pool with a badly split
forehead. He had fallen like a lumpy sack of flour and glanced
off the coping before landing flat on his back with a hollow
"thud." I couldn’t stop my legs from shaking and
an icicle of fear slid down my back. I held my breath and…
"one… two…"
On our solemn march to the locker
room, our "coach," an arrogant blowhard who kept a pack
of Luckies in the waistband of his trunks, held a greasy rag to
Skip’s forehead and told him that this experience would
"build his character."
So why do we struggle to log that DX
station when radio conditions are nearly impossible? It builds
character. We shiver, balanced on that railing, the knife-edge of
propagation about to drop from under us. We are poised to fall
through the atmosphere thick with strong and well-positioned
competition.
What better way to repair weak
character than to win a QSO with Libya in September? A group of
Austrians will be waltzing in the streets of Tripoli on the 28th
anniversary of the Libyan Revolution. They are expecting to
operate on all bands, 160 through 2 meters. Our propagation
promises to be dismal, but this is the farthest west of rare zone
34, and equinox conditions are generally better than sunspot
numbers allow.
Sanya, HA7VK with the tenaciousness
of the Gabor sisters, operates YI9VK from Baghdad, Iraq. Try him
on the weekends because during the weekdays he’s serving
goulash at the bazaar. For some reason, Saddam won’t let
Sanya set up his Ten-Tec at the Hungarian Embassy, he has to get
the key so that he can operate from the Baghdad U. club station
(it’s in the flower pot).
Usually, the privilege of a radio
license goes to the royal family in the United Arab Emirates.
Occasionally, a foreigner may obtain an "A6" license.
Abdullah, A61AQ is activating from Sharjah, and he’s got an
Alpha amplifier and six elements on 20. Wow! How can he afford
it? Send him a salaam on 14.240 around 0000Z. I think this
is the "Arabian Knights" net, hosted by Dr. Selim,
OE6EEG. This is a particularly polite and courtly group, so if
you must get on a net, it’s a good one.
Zenek, SP5INQ will again be
delivering a load of vegetarian Polish sausage to Iran. Perhaps
he’ll be able to get an EP ticket and give Sanya some
righteous QRM in September.
The
Rogaine Rangers Meet
The
Retrohippie Pirates
Have you listened to commercial radio
lately? Pretty dismal. Most commercial radio stations are owned
by a few conglomerates. Infinity (Westinghouse) owns an
astounding number of stations in the Los Angeles area. They are
all busy catering to the age 15-24 market. Howard Stern and Rush
Limbaugh bookend the "talk" format. The all-news
stations present a mind-bending irony: Sensational teasing,
"Water supply poisoned!!!" followed by the story which
refers to some innocuous event. It gets weird when you hear the
same teaser after you’ve been "had" by the story,
and you hear it again, and again, and again. You wear down the
push buttons seeking decent music or meaningful, unrepetitious
commentary.
It takes a lot of money, clout and
attorneys to get a commercial radio license. There have always
been unlicensed "pirates" and "clandestine"
stations operating from homes, offshore boats and other colorful
locations. Many of these stations used ancient amateur AM
transmitters, showing up around 7.400 Mhz. With the advent of
easy to build kits operating in the AM or FM bands, the
"pirate" only needs to find an unoccupied channel and
he/she is "on the air." Can’t say that these
"pirate" stations provide better programming –
many have obscure "axes" to grind, or suffer from
terminal "over-hipness." But this may be an alternative
to homogenized, ratings-driven radio.
The LA Weekly reported on the
"West Coast Micro Power Radio Conference," attended by
over 100 potential "pirates." In an interview with
"Radio Clandestina," a staff member bemoans the fact
that their passionate message is unheard by many who "lose
the signal just walking from the living room to the
kitchen." A photo, captioned "…low voltage, high
impact" shows a VSWR between 5:1 and infinity. Apparently,
these highly committed and angry upstarts are not aware that this
problem could be resolved by another group of equally passionate,
single-minded individuals.
Imagine the symbiosis: Craggy,
grouchy, retroverted radioheads living in the 30’s and
bearded, tie-died retrohip revolutionaries living in the
60’s. It’s a societal smorgasbord! What more can a
person ask than to be needed? Here’s a chance to put those
years of amplifier overdrive and antenna pruning and tuning to
work. This is why you stayed up late, forgot to eat and fell off
the roof. Your significant other complained that she/he was
ignored and mistreated. Now you have a big reason, a cause.
He/she will feel the rush of your passion. Politically Correct
pashas will suddenly see DX’ing in its rightful place,
facilitator of popular justice. We’re not collecting those
cards for awards, bragging rights and twisted obsessions, no.
It’s ongoing education to further our knowledge to be
applied for humane purposes.
Those tall antennas, why, those are
our testing ranges and… well, we can’t say. Our right
to communicate could never be denied. Eventually, we’d have
"axes" and programs of our own: "The Frugal
Gourmet Cooks Hamfest Nachos." "Living With a Beer
Belly." "Everyone Needs Morse Code." "Ham
Radio Songs Only." "DX Contests to be National
Holidays."
You can bet these shows will be
heard. Right now, the FCC seems to be stymied by freedom of
speech issues, but should we have to dive in and fight it out,
perhaps landing in jail, it’s okay, because it builds
character.
Eugene Shoemaker
…wasn’t a DX’er in the
normal sense. Eugene was an Astrogeologist studying the results
of meteor impacts. He taught at Caltech for twenty years. His
arcane pursuit has recently come into common knowledge with the
publicity surrounding certain meteorites from Mars. He and his
spouse, Carolyn, discovered many comets and near-earth asteroids
as well as the notorious comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (with David
Levy).
Shoemaker was a pleasant, engaging
gentleman who carefully tended the Meteor Crater near Flagstaff,
Arizona. His Astrogeological Institute is located nearby.
Shoemaker died on Friday, June 18, in an auto accident while
searching for meteor impact sites in the Australian outback.
Eugene Shoemaker’s life was
spent in a quiet quest for obscure knowledge. He won’t be
around to be warmed by the fires he ignited. There’s an
affinity here between Eugene Shoemaker and those of us who are
inspired by the arcane and obscure. He gives us hope that someday
there may be some use for all the superfluous knowledge we
collect, little gems, like meteors strewn on an Antarctic ice field.
…Harvey, N6HL
*Photo courtesy LA Weekly.
(The LA Weekly failed to respond to many attempts to obtain
permission to use the photo.)
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