WHO Des Moines IA 1040 kHz QSL

WHO Des Moines IA on 1040 kHz was heard in Pinelands on the 28th August 1980 via the Siera receiver and 20 metre longwire antenna.

I was fortunate to receive the above QSL card in response to my reception report

CALLSIGN ORIGIN

George Kuhns, the president of the owning company Bankers Life, promoted the creation of the station. He chose the callsign WHO due to the fact that during the 1920s, people searching for stations on the radio dial would ask, "Who is it ?"

CFGO Ottawa ON 1440 kHz QSL

The 1980's proved to be an fascinating era for dxing in South Africa with many memorable highlights received for the first time.

Pinelands remained a good location for dx from North America during the early part of the decade. During the middle 1980's the "Sea Gain" effect at Sandbaai (Hermanus) provided sensational reception from Australia. The latter part of the decade will be remembered for some remarkable dxpeditions to Swartriet, situated on the West Coast of South Africa, where a 1 km beverage antenna was set up for the first time by dxer Vince Stevens.

I was fortunate to receive a few interesting QSL's during the 1980's. The verifications featured in the following posts will include highlights from North America, the Caribbean and Australia.

The first QSL card to arrive in my mailbox during the 1980's was from CFGO Ottawa ON on 1440 kHz. The Canadian station made a surprise appearance on the 19th August 1980 via the Siera receiver and 20 metre longwire antenna at Pinelands.


This CFGO sticker was included with the QSL card. Also included was a cool key chain which became a useful item for my car keys during the 1980's but has long since disintegrated !

WSJS Winston-Salem NC 600 kHz T-Shirt and Mug

It was a pleasant surprise to receive a WSJS T-shirt and mug from across the Atlantic this week !

Morning Show News Director Smith Patterson kindly sent through the items in response to my reception report to the station.

Thank you Smith for your kind gift which will certainly be put to good use during future dxpeditions !

The WSJS T-shirt, mug and Sony SRF-M37V receiver.

John Bryant

John Bryant (Photograph with kind permission from Guy Atkins c/o www.fivebelow.squarespace.com).

I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear of John Bryant's sudden passing this week.

On behalf of South African dxers John Plimmer, Graham Bell, Vince Stevens and myself, our deepest sympathy and condolences go out to John's wife Linda, daughter Mary Ellen and her family in addition to all the dxers who were fortunate to know John personally.

We are all still in a state of shock and disbelief at the moment and quite frankly, I'm still finding it hard to express the loss of such a valuable friend from the dxing world.

John Bryant's enthusiam, generosity and encouragement have been an inspiration to us in South Africa.

I would like to share John's recent thoughtful and meaningful comment from a post for the ULR group :

" ... It sure is nice to stop for a few minutes to think about the bigger picture. It is very nice to have you all around. It makes my life much richer. Yours, too, I hope! "

Our lives have certainly been enriched by the encouraging, engaging, informative and friendly correspondence with you John.

Rest In Peace.

Dxer Guy Atkins, a close friend of John Bryant for 24 years, has kindly invited dxers to leave any thoughts or memories in the comments section for an in-memoriam post, availalble at http://fivebelow.squarespace.com/posts/2010/2/10/in-memoriam.html .

Ultralight Centurian Awards From The U.S.A.

I was fortunate to receive two additional ultralight award certificates from John Bryant on behalf of the other ultralight awards commitee members Robert Ross and Gary DeBock. My humble thanks and appreciation for the acknowledgement guys !

The two Centurian Awards are for the reception of 104 mediumwave stations from Australia with the Sony SRF-M37V and 220 metre BOG (Beverage On Ground) during the second quarter of 2009.


The interesting graphic is taken from the front cover of Citizens Radio Callbook, Spring 1928 and is known as "Our Lady of the Globes" in some quarters.

Visit http://www.dxer.ca/ for an insight into the fascinating hobby of Ultralight Radio Dxing.

Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ultralightdx/ which is an interesting discussion area regarding ULR Dxing.