-QSL Cards-

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January

Dear Rob:
A few weeks ago two great members of FARA: Julie Hoffer and Sumner Weismann worked for several hours putting up a new dipole for me at Heritage in Framingham. They did a great Job - for which I'm eternally grateful. I'm 97 and can no longer do such jobs for myself. Julie (W1DL) supplied all the material and would not let me pay for it.
I am hard of hearing but competent in the Morse code as I was a seagoing sparkgap pro in my early days. CW is therefore a real life saver for me. I have trouble understanding callers on LL, so when Julie phones me I tell him to fire up his rig on 7035 and we have FB copy. I think this is a good argument for keeping CW alive, at least for me -and I'm sure there are others who benefit in the same way.
Better late than never: Holiday Greetings to all -and a healthy and prosperous 1999!
73s and CW forever
Fred Rosebury -KA1GEN

Februarary

Submitted by Peter, KA1AXY

I worked these guys (not QRP) on CW.  They were celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the CIA.  A couple of my relatives have worked there, so I thought it would be neat to get a QSL.  I tried to get them on 40 from home, but they weren't operating when I was looking.  One night when I was down at the shack, I tuned around and found them.  I thought it was important to work them on CW, considering the history of agents huddled in attics with GRC-109 "spy sets" sending back their reports.

March

This month's card comes to us from our Director Dick, K1KTK, and formerly WA1KUG. Bob, W6VGQ, was the operator on the Queen Mary when he worked Dick on May 16, 1983.The QSO was on two meters when Dick was in the Los Angles area. The Queen Mary is permanently docked in Long Beach, California. This QSL was issued for contacting the station which was commemorating the opening of the Exhibition of the Howard Hughes Spruce Goose in May, 1983.
Amateur Radio operation aboard the RMS Queen Mary was requested by the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach and the City of Long Beach. GB5QM was the only amateur radio station ever licensed for operation aboard the Queen Mary. This was for the last voyage. It was the first time Americans were licensed to operate aboard a British Ship. W6RO, the club station, was operated aboard the ship on February 21, 1971 as the ship was moved from dockside to her present location at Pier J. Operation of the reconstructed wireless room by the ARA of Long Beach was officially started on April 22, 1979.

April

~No Card This Month~

May

This month's card comes to us from Leo, WA1HAM, formerly WA1ETX.  Leo worked Israel in June of 1996, as WA1ETX, and received a QSL promoting the Holyland Award. Leo did not get the Holyland Award but did get a  nice QSL card which promotes the award with a picture of the plaque.  The contest takes place in the month of April, although a Web search did not show any activity in the last two years so the contest may not longer exist.  To qualify for the plaque, North American stations must work 50 Holyland "areas" plus 13 regions.  "Areas" and "regions" are not defined  on the Web site which was last updated two years ago and with the  addition of the new DXCC Entity of Palestine, the "areas" and "regions" have probably been redefined.  The contest is sponsored by IARC, the  Israel Amateur Radio Club.

June

Submitted by Peter, KA1AXY

40th Anniversary of Sputnik
This isn't really a 2 way contact. The technical school on Reunion Island and the Russian Space Agency collaborated to orbit a replica of the original Sputnik.  I figured out the times it was going to be overhead and heard it on my FT-50 while on an overnight with Mike's Boy Scout troop in Plymouth.  It was neat, because the Scouts all got to hear it, too.

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