Twenty
years have passed since the fatal demise of CW was mention (at least in
my little world). Some said not to worry about CW, that the
sooner is was gone the better. I wrote a letter to the editor of
the local newspaper. One of the underlings sat on the letter for
a few weeks and then sent it back. That was when I decided Lane
County Oregon a CW Journal.
Leo, KB7LOC (SK) and I decided to
put a few things together in time for the Rickreal, Oregon February Ham
Fest and called it QNC, the CW Journal. It was a lousy
failure.
Internet, as we know it today, did not yet exist.
I'd discovered a way to log into the telephone BBSs used by the staff
at colleges and universities throughout Oregon. It would have
served me well, but using it for my own personal gain would have caused
a firestorm.
Somehow editors and publishers heard of this
tiny venture. Letters arrived from the UK, Germany, Norway,
Canada, and Australia assuring me that CW was alive and
well. A ham from the Republic of South Africa sent me a
story and photos of his experience in the early 1960s, and asked me to
publish it in six parts. In his letter he explained the reasoning
behind his request.
The international governing body that
oversees who owns the existing land masses around the world informed
the Republic of South Africa that they needed to populate Marion Island
for one year if they wanted to keep it as their own. The ham in
question was 19 when he was selected as the radio operator.
During this year he'd hoped to conduct a QSO with his father during
that year, but every time he sent out his Marion Island call sign there
was a fierce pileup and he was never able to contact his father.
The
purpose of this story was to call out those amateur radio operators
with whom he'd chatted during that year, but had failed to acknowledge
with a QSL card.
Publishing QNC was a hoot, but I was also a
member of Oregon Army MARS and held the office of Publicity
Coordinator. That required time. Then there was the Gulf
War. Those of us in Oregon passed nearly 10,000 messages between
troops and their families. Oh, and I had a job and a wife, too.
It was the forty or fifty dollars I had to pitch in each
quarter to cover the postage and printing that took its toll.
After a decade I brought it to a close.
Now, after a decade,
I've decided to introduce QNC, the CW Journal with its own website
living at http://www.qsl.net/n7net/. As before, I'll be relying
on you, the reader, to help me keep this thing afloat. Email your
radio related stories and photos to: [email protected].
Many 73 de Scott/n7net