First Confirmed Light House

Just a little fun 73 de Rob

Contests and Special Events

Yeah they are a pain but for a pissweaker it was nice to work from Eu to the left coast. I heard VE9AA for the first time in ten years but couldn't work him-Damn! I may have to use this e-mail thingie HI
73 Rob

A Tale Told by a Fool

This is for my friend Alisa, Bolshoi Droog link below. I learned the little Russian I understand as a sailor back in the days of the Cold War when we were conflicted with Asian agrarian reformers and the Russians gave them the stuff to fight. We occasionally interacted in various ports but they were hard to know as they had a army of Zampoliti (political officers/minders). This set the background with a story I told her a few years ago. I had been on liberty in Hong Kong, looking at the world with young man's eyes, seeking adventure but due to improvidence low on cash so I was staying at the Seaman's Club, a sort of YMCAish hostel for merchies and naval types. I met up with some Russian merchies and based on my five word Russian vocabulary struck up conversation that led to fetching of cheap beer and card games where I tried to tech them
F!#k Your Buddy and they me a game I think was called Stupid! The best English speaker was the Zampolit, a drunken one legged veteran of the Great Patriotic War that insisted Russia won the war for the Allies and the like until he passed out in a drunken stupor. At that point the sailors broke out the goodies they stole from their cargo. I was eating Black Sea Caviar like it was Skippy Peanut Butter and drinking top shelf vodka like water. Somehow we decided the Zampolit's wooden leg was oppressed and should defect to the west-the next day it was in the forward hold of a Navy oiler on its way to Hawaii. Or something like that-nutten to with radio 73 Rob

What is with Lithuania?

Back when I was on 6M a lot it seemed there was a pipeline from West Virginia to Cuba, If the band was open CO2OJ always seemed to be there. Now it is Lithuania, if EU is open I'm working Lithuania and I have the most confirms from there. Tis a puzzlement. 73 de Rob

Gooch's Paradox or Of Course Its Working

The Ham Radio corollary to Gooch's Paradox is "RF has to go somewhere." This is often invoked to explain why exotic, high dollar, mystery antennas work at all; Lord knows your correspondent has put up and used some pretty marginal antennas, what didn't add to the heat death if the universe was able to convey information, even to some impressive distances. Trouble was, that some of that heat ended up in the finals of the radio and could convert your rig to a very expensive night-lite.

Gooch's actual paradox states that for something to be believed it must be observed and, more importantly, for something to be observed it must be believed. Kinda sounds like the world wide bailouts the earners have had to fund, or mortgage their progeny to fund, doesn't it? "They" keep telling us its working and have the "Facts" to back it up. As RAH said, TANSTAAFL.

73 de Rob

How Ivan Denisovitch taught me to deal with bureaucracy

1) We have been prisoners longer than they have been guards.
2) Never loose your spoon.
3) Goodies from home are better bribes than treats.

73 Rob

Ja Bolshoi Kulturni

Completed QSO with a RU this am, he couldn't copy my call so I gave it the try in "Ham Russian" ie numbers and a "spasibo-dasvadanya" and got a confirmation-that felt good. Also Poland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Switzerland. Nobody told me to get a "real radio." 73 de Rob