During my tour of Spain I took a side trip to visit the amateurs of the island of Mallorca in the Balearic group.  Xavier EA3ALV the editor of the Spanish CQ Radio Amateur magazine, who translated and published several of my travelogues, called up Guillem EA6YG and set up a meeting for me.
   From Barcelona I took a ferryboat of the Buquebus company and in about three hours I arrived to Palma de Mallorca.  The round trip tickets were 16.300 pesetas, about $110.00 at the rate of exchange of 148 pesetas for a US dollar. There is another company, the Trasmediterranea, which is cheaper but the journey takes twice as long. They were several monitors on the board to show the itinerary but none of them worked properly.  One could buy some food on the board but it was expensive.
   A worried woman asks the captain:
   “Ferryboats like this do often sink?”
   “No Madame, just once!”
   Many hams go to Balearic Islands to work in contests or just operate during their vacation.  I heard of one who missed the boat on his return and stayed there an extra night.  His wife was worried when he did not come home and sent e-mails to five of his radio amateur friends living on five of those islands:
   “Was my husband with you last night?”
   She received five identical answers:
   “Yes, he was here!”
    Another wife was telling her DXpeditioner husband:
   “My dear, I am always worried when you leave on a trip.”
   “Don’t worry my dear, I’ll be home before you know it.”
   “That is exactly why I am worried my dear!” said the wife.
    I wanted to see as many hams as possible and return the next evening but I could get return tickets only after three days because it was during Semana Santa, a weeklong religious holiday, and vacationers were returning home by the thousands.
   As soon as I got off the boat I spotted Guillem with his cap showing his callsign EA6YG, and his friend Jose-Maria EA6DO.  Guillem took me to his house in Inca, northeast of Palma, where I stayed three days while he was driving me around to various cities to meet the local hams.  Guillem was licensed in 1983, nowadays is not as active as he used to be. He has several jobs like hotel receptionist six-month a year during the tourist season.  He looks like a captain of a pirate ship so he may have something to do when the hotel is closed.  His most important work is manufacturing telegraphic keys.  During the years he made about 40 different types: straight keys, iambic, semiautomatic, iambic with electronic memories, etc, under the name of Llaves Telegraficas Artesanas.
   Guillem has a vertical for 10-15-20 meters, a multiband dipole for 10 to 80 meters, and a discone for 30 to 1,300 MHz, used for 2 meters.  On the low bands he works only CW.  He is not connected to the city’s power line; he is using solar panels and a generator.  Also, instead of using the city’s water supply he has wells on his property.  Guillem EA6YG has QSL cards and his e-mail is: [email protected].
   We all went to Palma to see the station of Jose-Maria EA6DO, a retired air force communications major.  He started in amateur radio in 1949, the year when, after World War II, hamming was again authorized in Spain.  He has vertical for 10 to 40 meters from Butternut, a TH3-MK3 type 3 element Yagi for 10-15-20 meters, and a dual band vertical for 2 meters and 70 cm.  His rig is a Drake TR-7 and is running 150 W, mostly on CW.  The walls of his shack are covered with awards; I also noticed some military medals from his previous occupation, a framed photograph of His Majesty Juan Carlos, King of Spain, EA0JC, and his QSL card.  As virtually have all the hams I visited, Jose-Maria also has QSLs.
   In Mallorca I saw many windmills.  The mills were all in ruins; just the wind was still good.
   Guillem took us to his radio club in Inca with a station EA6URI. There we met Gabriel EA6JT, the club’s president, and Genis EB6WS, the secretary.  They run 100 W, use a computer, and have QSL cards.  Needless to say, the CW operators use keys made by Guillem EA6YG.  The club has 28 members and some of them come to meetings on Thursdays from 8 PM to sometimes midnight.
    Gabriel EA6JT, licensed in 1981, has a photo studio close to the club.  He works RTTY, color SSTV, and is on packet radio.  His brother Juan EA6JS lives in Inca, while his other brother Oswaldo EA6AUL is in Palma.
   Genis EB6WS, licensed in 1989, is a teacher of Catalan language.  Having a “B” license he can operate only on VHF and UHF, meaning from 2 meter up.
   Guillem organized a common dinner in a restaurant and a bunch of hams showed up:  Mari-Carmen EA6ADY from Porto Colom,  Gigi EA6HL and her husband Bernardo EA6HI from Palma,  Miguel EA6SK a chief electrician from Inca, Mateo EA6BH from Palma and Bahia Azul (has two residences), Gabriel EA6JT and Genis EB6WS, both from Inca, and others.  I was advised to order “Lomo con Col” (Pork Loin with Cabbage), I did and I regretted it.  I did not like it at all.  I even wrote the name in my notebook, to remember not to ever order it again in my life.  Using a moment of animated discussion and lack of general attention, I slipped my plate to a nearby table.
   After dinner we continued with the visits.  We went northeast from Inca to La Puebla, or Sa Pobla in local spelling.  There we saw Gabriel EA6HY, a teacher of electrical sciences, licensed in 1978.  Gabriel has a Hy-Gain Yagi for 10-15-20 meters, and a dipole for 40 and 80 meters. He uses a TS-520S with a remote VFO and antenna tuner, has various test instruments and homemade accessories like his power supply.  He works on SSB running 120 W, and for RTTY he is using an old Lorenz electromechanical teleprinter.  Gabriel EA6HY has a nice, colorful QSL card.
   On our way to another ham, in Manacor on the eastern part of the island, we met Roberto EA6ABI, a sergeant in the Guardia Civil traffic department, usually roaming the highways on his motorcycle.  Here I have to mention that the roads in Spain are in excellent condition. Roberto was licensed in 1964; he came from Madrid where he had an EA4 callsign.  He works SSB on 15 and 40 meters, and on 2 meters with his local friends.  I could not enter the Guardia Civil building where he has his station so I photographed him in front of it, showing his antenna in the background.  I also took his picture near his car having his callsign on the back window: EA6ABI.  In Spain the hams are not allowed to have license plates with radio amateur calls; some hams proud of the service they provide, place their callsigns on their cars, anyplace they can.  In case of Roberto, any place he wants; who will start an argument with a sergeant in the Guardia Civil?  Roberto has QSL cards with the emblem of the Guardia Civil: a sword and the fasces, which is a bundle of rods bound together about an ax with the blade projecting, suggesting their roughness.
   We stopped for a soft drink and Tony EB6HZ who happened to walk by joined us.
   A traffic cop stops a speeding car and starts to write a ticket.  The woman driver says:
   “I am the wife of the richest man in town and I am in a very big hurry!”
   “I am very impressed Madame – says the cop – and I am writing as fast as I can!”
   In a big European country one million people drive their car while are intoxicated.  Fortunately, this number is getting smaller every day.
   Finally we arrived to our destination in Porto Cristo and we visited Guillermo, or Billy, EA6ABN.  Licensed in 1984, Billy is a plumber who likes to make friends all over the world using ham radio.  He has a 3 element Yagi for 10-15-20-40 meters from Walmar of Argentina, and a double wire dipole for 12 and 17 meters.  Billy’s rig is TS-520S, he is running 100 W on SSB and CW.  He worked 232 DX entities, has QSL cards and I saw on the wall of his shack maps, charts and a framed QSL card from EA0JC.
   In Porto Colom, in the southeast corner of the island of Mallorca, we saw Mari-Carmen EA6ADY whom we met earlier at the common dinner.  She is handicapped and confined to a wheelchair but is quite active as a radio amateur.  She was licensed in 1996 after she saw her cousin Paco EA3AUL operating in Barcelona.   Mari-Carmen has an al band, 6 to 80 meters, Diamond vertical antenna, a dipole for 40 meters and another one for 80 meters.  She is using an IC-735 with an AL-811 Ameritron amplifier, works only SSB, and likes to talk with friends but speaks only Spanish.  She received more than 30 awards and has QSL cards.
   In Palma we visited Gig EA6HL, a secretary in a commercial company, and her husband Bernard EA6HI, a radio broadcaster, both licensed in 1979.  They operate mostly on 20 meter SSB; Gig worked 100 entities, Bernard is doing better with 150. They use a computer and have a common QSL card.
   Oh, the ladies of Spain!  I used to dream about them when I was younger.  Now I forgot what was I dreaming about.  I met several lady operators during my travels; some were attached to man operators, others were independent.
   A doctor calls up one of his patients with the results of a test.
   “Senora Virginia, I have very good news for you!”
   “Please doctor, don’t call me Senora, I am a Senorita”
   “In that case Senorita Virginia, I have some bad news!”
   From Mallorca I sent an E-mail to my wife:
   “I will not go back.  Please send me checkbook.  I’ll stay in Mirabella with Isabella.  What do you think of that?”  She answered:
   “I’ll send you the book after I close the account.  What is Isabella in Mirrabella think of that?”
   In Bahia Azul we saw the second home of Mateo, or Teo, EA6BH.  His main residence is in Palma.  Mateo, licensed in 1966, is a DXer; he needs only five entities to have them all.  In Palma he has a TH3-MK3 Yagi for 10-15-20 meters, and a dipole for 40 and 80 meters.  Rigs he has plenty: TS-850S, TR7, TL-922, IC-229, and TS-440S.  In Bahia Azul he has more room so on a tall tower Mateo installed a 4 element Quad antenna for 10-12-15-17-20 meters, and on another tower installed on to top of his building he has a 5 element monobander for 20 meters from KLM.  He also has a 4 element Hy-Gain Yagi for 6 meters, a dipole for 40 and 80 meters, and a vertical for 160 meters.  He uses a Kenwood transceiver and an AL-1200 amplifier.
   Mateo EA6BH operated several times from Equatorial Guinea as 3C1DX.   He also had a license and the assigned callsign of 3C0DX for Annobon but first he could not go because of transportation problems, and later because the Government cancelled the license.  Mateo has two types of nice QSL cards.
   I heard of a DXer who all excited calls up his friend asking:
   “Did you hear the station from North Korea?”
   “I certainly did!” assures him the friend.
   The DXer checks all the bands on all the modes on all the receivers he has, turns his 11 element log periodical in every which-way but he can not find the station from North Korea.  He calls his friend again:
   “When did you hear the station from North Korea?”
   “Oh, it could be a week ago!”
   In Manacor Guillem took me to the Majorica “pearl factory” which is nothing else than a huge showroom where busloads of tourists go to spend their money.  Without any doubt, the guides bringing them there get a percentage of the sale.  While the buyers never see the factory, they have to be sure that there is one because the pearls are man and machine made, and they never came even close to an oyster.  I knew all that but my wife did not, and she gave me strict instructions to bring home some pearls.  As I was not willing to go to South Pacific and dive for them, the only alternative was to get them in a “pearl factory.”  The only bright side for me was that when I left Barcelona returning home, at the airport I claimed and received the sale tax, called IVA, I was charged.  I got much less than I thought I will, but I had enough to pay a taxi in New York.  Otherwise I would have taken the bus.
   Everything one buys in Spain is subject to the 16% IVA tax, sometimes in included in the sale price, other times is added to it.  Many prices are quoted both in pesetas and in “Euros” which is the currency Spain and several West European countries will adopt in the year 2002.
   Visiting the amateurs of the island of Mallorca was fun and easy.  There was one single instance when we were not successful.  Guillem called up a ham in Manacor to arrange a visit.  The ham knew that we will be in his town on a Saturday and then it would be easy for us to see him but he insisted to come on Sunday at 12 noon.  We took the long ride and at the agreed day and time we arrived at his place.  Guillem rang the bell for about 10 minutes but was no answer.  We waited around another 20 minutes then Guillem called him on his mobile phone.  The ham answered saying that he just woke up and he will open the door in 10 minutes.  We waited another half an hour but the door was not opened so we left.  On our way back to Inca Guillem called the guy again, he said that he saw us from his terrace and if we want we can come back and he will open the door.  We declined the invitation wishing that he will go and suck on a big Majorica pearl.
   Talking about smart hams; one of them wanted to measure the height of his tower but could not figure it out how to do it.  Another ham said:
   “Let’s lay it on the ground and measure it.”
   “That is no good, I want its height, not its length!”
   On my last day in Mallorca Guillem EA6YG took me to the harbor in Palma, I boarded again the Buquebus ferryboat and about 3 and half-hours I was back in my homeport Barcelona.
   Talking about ferryboats; a tourist arrives at the pier when the boat was just leaving.  A man tells him to jump, the tourist hesitates, the man gives him a big push, and the tourist lands on the deck, hits himself and passes out.  A couple of minutes later he is revived, looks at the far away pier and exclaims:
   “Gee, if I may say so, that was a very good jump!”
   An editor once told me to write a good story one has to do three things: write a good beginning, a good ending, and make sure that the two are fairly close together.  As I recheck my article I realize that I failed in all three.  Well, there is always a next time.