"From Fishing to Farmers Markets" ....news & events, issues & ideas

Monday, January 29, 2007

 
Marco on Easter Island...CE0YFL

It is true that one's hobbies will help make friends in every country. Our ham hobby introduced us to Brian and Kari on Pitcairn Island, and now we were to meet the legendary CE0DFL from Easter Island. He was an active ham in many DX contests Steve had participated in during the height of the sun cycle in the seventies. Two explanations...firstly, "DX" is the name for ham radio contacts with a foreign country. Some "DX" countries are rare and hams launch expeditions to a distant island such as Bouvet in order to satisfy the hams who need this "DX" country for their contest awards. That's another story. Secondly, the sun cycle lasts eleven years. At its peak, the sun cycle provides conditions for excellent radio propagation around the world. "DX" contacts are possible from North to South such as Seattle to Antarctica or from East to West such as Seattle to India and Seattle to Morocco. With this ham vocabulary, it will be easier to understand the albacore tuna trolling expedition about to unfold here.

After a DX contact, we record it in our log book...the contact's call sign, CE0DFL, the time of the call in Zulu time which was previously known as Greenwich Mean Time, the signal strength , a 5-9 for example is best, and the ham's name, call sign, and location. Then, when you have time, you mail him a QSL card which is proof of the contact. He will also mail you a card, or if he is famous, his manager will mail out the QSL cards. In our case, Marco handed us an eyeball QSO card because we met him in person. More about that later.....

Labels: QSL card to me "N7LHJ" from Marco Meza

- posted by Holly @ 6:59 AM