Local QRPer on Scarborough

    One of the Local QRPers was by the other day, this one quite upset. "Those guys at the ARRL don't seem to have a lot on the ball these days," the QRPer said, "not a lot at all." We were a bit confused for this same QRPer had been here only a few weeks ago singing accolades of praise for the DXAC. We recalled he had been quite happy when it looked like they weren't going to count BS7H. "What are they up to now?", we asked. "It's their policy on BS7H!", he exclaimed, sweat glistening on his furrowed brow and a glare in his beady little eyes. We were completely confused now because of the sudden change in attitude. "We though you agreed with the rumours", we said carefully, "Didn't you tell us it was ridiculous to count Scarborough because of its size?" The QRPer just glared at us with his fists clenched. What could we say? It was clear this QRPer was in need of enlightenment, so we hauled him up the hill to the Old Timer.

    The Old Timer listened to all the QRPer's arguments why the league should have counted Scarborough. He was silent for a few seconds. Then he asked, "Didn't Red-Eyed Louie have a list of all the locals who worked the BS7H crowd? Wasn't he in there listening and keeping track of all the calls he recognized? And aren't you on the list of stations he posted at the club meeting last Thursday night?" "Yes on all counts!", the QRPer said, "and it was a good clean contact too." The Old Timer turned back to his rig and began tuning 20-metres. It was clear that he wasn't going to say anything else.

    We were thoroughly confused now. "We thought you hadn't worked them?", we asked the QRPer. "That's what I thought too", retorted the QRPer, "until I saw Red-Eyed Louie's list." He began to sweat and sputter a bit more as he explained. "So I went back to my log and cross checked the spots on the Packet Cluster. I was calling BV2A on 14.030 at that time . . . he was tranceive and we did exchange signal reports in spite of all the QRM. I was curious why all those other guys were calling Tim . . . he's not that rare. Then, when I checked the cluster spot, I found out that the BV7H crew were on 14.025 listening up. Why I worked them instead of BV2A! Louie heard them send my call clear as a bell!"

    Son of a Gun! It took us all this time to figure out what the Old Timer extracted in less than a minute! We knew better, but we had to ask the questions. "Didn't you argue against it counting when you though you'd missed them? And now that you find out you're in the log, you want it to count?" We expected an explosion of thunder, but it was not forthcoming. "That's not what caused me to change my mind," the QRPer responded, careful to avoid eye contact with us, "it's the integrity of the DXCC program that I'm concerned about. I'm afraid they'll lose credibility if they don't count it. I don't care about myself. It's the league I'm worried about." And with that he was off down the hill, determined to write his league director and get the DXCC program back on track.

   What could we say? This was a clear case of not having and not wanting that had quickly turned into a case of having and wanting! As Albert had so often said, "All things are relative, some things more so." The Great Days of DXing are near! Be a Believer! DX IS!


This story is in the public domain and may be reproduced in any format. - VE1DX

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Last updated 15 December 2020