It’s been crazy around here in WB3GCK-land lately, so I’ve had very little time for ham radio. However, a mail delivery the other day brought a radio-related item that brightened up my day.
A while back, I was doing an activation in Evansburg State Park (US-1351, KFF-1351), while testing a new antenna I built. I was using my Elecraft KH1 running about five watts. As I was wrapping things up, I tuned around on the 15M band and heard DL4ISX calling CQ. I had worked a few other European stations that day, so I gave him a call. After a few tries, he got my callsign, and we proceeded to have a nice CW chat.
There was some fading on the band, but we carried on for over 15 minutes. During our QSO, Werner told me he was running five watts to a Windom antenna. This wasn’t my first two-way QRP QSO with a DX station over the course of 50+ years in ham radio, but I could probably count them all on one hand with some fingers to spare. Regardless, that was a great finish to a fun activation.
Fast forward about a month later… I went out to get the mail and found an envelope from Germany containing what appeared to be a QSL card. I couldn’t remember the last time I received a DX QSL that didn’t come through the QSL bureau.
Inside the envelope, I found a QSL card from DL4ISX confirming our two-way QRP QSO. That sure brought a smile to my face. The next day, my QSL card was sent on its way to Germany.
Many thanks to Werner for a fun QSO.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 