Originally published in the October 1985 issue of the C&E.
Back during the spring, the South Canadian Amateur Radio Society had a licensing class that was really dynamite, and as a result a number of enthusiastic newcomers to our beloved hobby appeared on the scene.
Naturally, after learning how to use the patch on the 06 machine, and which end of the table to sit at during the Tuesday morning coffee drinking, they yearned for new challenges and excitement. Some went back to the code tapes with an idea of upgrading further, so they could join the DX pileups on 20. Others petitioned W5SQJ for a a guided tour of his garage. One even managed a trip through W5OU’s driveway lake, and a subsequent view of his big beam, the one in the weedpatch at the foot of the tower.
A few, however, using N5HZU as a spokesperson, sought an audience with A5A.
A5A, Q. R. Zedd, world’s greatest DXer and all around wonderful guy, responded recently by working each of the newcomers on 2 meters and sending each one of his gorgeous and coveted QSL cards, the ones with the picture of him and Tondelayo Schwartz, his blond, nubile, 20-year-old QSL secretary and constant companion, on the topless beach at St. Tropez, where Zedd last summer worked 21,200 contacts, including three on the ham bands.
In true wonderful fashion, Zedd magnanimously also invited the group out to Honor Roll Ranch, just a hoot and a holler south of town, for an eyeball QSO and some lemonade or something.
Tondelayo served the lemonade, which distracted some of the younger boys (those under 85) from the conversation. Your intrepid reporter was on hand, however, with his trusty tape recorder, and in Boswellian fashion put down highlights of the talk for posterity.
Here for the record are some of the questions and answers:
QUESTION: With the sunspot cycle at a low ebb, should I go ahead and chase some DX now, or just cool it for a year or two?
ZEDD: Son, there’s no use waiting. If you develop good operating habits, there’s no reason why you can’t work two, three hundred DX contacts this weekend.
QUESTION: Could you give us some hints on good DXing habits?
ZEDD: Sure, boy. No problem. First, you got to listen, listen, listen. You don’t work no DX unless you listen a lot. Second, you got to keep the rf in the air. You hear one- you want, get right in there and scream and holler, and if you work him, be sure you keep right on calling the next day and the day after that, to get in the log several times.
Third, you need a good tower and beam. Nothing elaborate. Four or five elements at a couple hundred feet ought to be a good starter arrangement.
Fourth, have a good outboard receiver, so you can listen split with your transceiver, and have some memory channels in there, and wheel around with your other receiver as well. Even if you never use some of the equipment you have in the shack, it’s real nice to be able to talk about it when you make the contact. The other person is almost always-impressed.
Fifth, run enough power to make the contact, and no more. On 20 meters, that’s maybe a kilowatt.
Sixth, be sure you get a valid QSL for every DX contact. It don’t count unless you get that. card to send to Don Search or whoever they got handling that stuff up in Newington these days. If you need to send IRC’s, send IRC’s. If you need to send a green stamp, send a green stamp. You new fellers need more leverage than us big dogs do, but you can get that valued card if you’re just persistent enough.
Seventh, see if you can’t get two or three other fellers to work DX with you. That way, even if you sleep in once in a while, there’s a chance one of your pals will be listening, and call you and let you know somebody is on, right after he’s worked the guy and heard him go QRT. Also, if you’re in a pileup together, sometimes you can be listening to your pal on one of your extra receivers, and the minute the DX comes back to him, you can jump in there on top of your friend and not only obliterate his chances of making the contact, but make one of your own. Which builds competition and friendship.
Eighth, never tell anybody at the Tuesday or Saturday coffee drinking about anything that’s still on; no sense making a rare one easier to catch. But once you hear somebody bemoaning the fact they missed Clipperton, or whatever, and you’re sure the expedition is safely QRT, why, you just say you ‘worked them on phone and CW on four or five bands. Include a claimed contact on 75, even if you didn’t make one there. It’s good for your image.
Ninth — well, there’s no sense telling you boys everything all at once. Come back another day and I’ll talk to you about tail-ending and good stuff like that.
QUESTION: Sir —
ZEDD: Boy, I like you. You can call me Mr. Zedd.
QUESTION: Mr. Zedd, sir, how can I get my code. speed up to a reasonable level?
ZEDD: By “reasonable level,” I figger you mean 50 words per minute or so. There’s nothing to it. I’ve known old boys that could send at 50 after just a few weeks in the hobby. All you got to do is listen to your own self sending, and learn to copy as fast as you send. This is known as the “The ear is faster than the hand” theory of learning CW.
QUESTION: Mr. Zedd, what was the most thrilling DX contact you ever made?
ZEDD: I would have to say it was when I was a very small child, and my momma, Constance Wilhemina Zedd, of Mena, Arkansas, took me with her to Africa on my first DXpedition. Well, I was very young at the time, and one of the first contacts I made was Winston Churchill.
QUESTION: You mean the famous Winston Churchill?
ZEDD: Yep. Winnie, as we used to call him, had an eye for the future. He happened to hear I was on, and knowing how wonderful I was going to be, went right down and got himself licensed. I was his first contact.
QUESTION: But I never heard of Mr. Churchill being on the airwaves.
ZEDD: Of course not, son. After he worked me, he sold his rig and never worked anybody again, and finally let his license expire a few years later, during his Blood, Sweat and Tears period. I mean, why would anybody want to work anyone else after they’re worked me?
The interview concluded on this note. The youngsters left with tears of gratitude in their eyes. Those of us who could remember our own youth, and imagine their overwhelming joy, smiled.