Originally published in the March 1986 issue of the C&E.
LONDON — Q. R. Zedd, A5A, world’s greatest DXer, became the first member of Great Britain’s Order of the Yagi today.
The presentation, which included a tap on the shoulder with a piece of RG8U by the Queen and a night at the nearest disco with Princess Di, was in recognition of the Sooner ace’s great exploits in amateur radio.
The new award was created for Zedd.
As she swatted Zedd with the coax, the queen specifically mentioned his activation of the lost continent of Atlantis on all bands, all modes, a month ago.
“Sweetheart,” said the queen, “when I turned on my KWM2 and heard you QRZ from under the sea, it really turned me on.”
Zedd said he was glad to have worked the queen on three bands during the expedition. The queen handed him her QSL cards on the spot and asked when the Atlantis QSLs would be going on.
“Soon,” Zedd told her. “Say, queen, where are your IRCs? I don’t see your IRCs in this envelope.”
The disco scene with Princess Di was a glamorous event, attended also by Jacques Cousteau, who danced a lot with N5IAA, and such luminaries as Elton John and W5NUT. Zedd taught Di a few new steps and she was thrilled.
Tondelayo Schwartz, Zedd’s blonde, nubile, QSL secretary and constant companion, may have been jealous.
“I think Tondelayo may be jealous,” a reporter for the Times of London keenly observed right after Tondelayo tore Princess Di’s hair out and dumped a 40-gallon punch bowl over her newly bald head.
As to worldwide reaction in the aftermath of Zedd’s historic DXpedition, there were already 15,000 QSL cards in Box 1, Norman, Okla., the proper route for those who worked the great one’s team.
In Russia, Soviet DX ace Boris Badenov issued a statement congratulating Zedd on his latest feat, but saying that Russians had first worked amateur radio from Atlantis in 1355 B.C., when it was still above the water.
“Is like everything else, great Russian radio sportsmen did it first and best,” Badenov added, ‘But as greatest in world, I congratulate crummy capitalist pig, my good friend, that swine, Zepp, Zipp, what is his name.”
Zedd’s underwater team worked 66 K on 12 or 13 bands, using battery power for exciters and nuclear power supplied via cable for the linears from the USS Yagi, the nuclear submarine floating above. Rigs were sealed in plastic trash bags with capacitive feed to the antennas, waterproof coax going up to buoy-supported beams on the sea surface. Special Twinkle and Coors dispensers were used.
Now that first things have been done first, it was reported that 14 nations are planning investigations at the site of the lost continent, a subject of myth since the time of the ancient Greeks. National Geographic and Disneyworld are also planning visits. As a special mark of distinction, Zedd and his party left their coax connectors on the site of the expedition, so that future visitors can touch them and get a thrill.
At presstime, the first worldwide sensation over Zedd®s latest and greatest exploit had begun to subside only a bit. But biomes Zedd, a member of the team, had already jetted back to her home in Mena, Arkansas, and Zedd himself, with Tondelayo at his side after their post-disco reconciliation, was reported preparing to spend a few well-earned days of rest on the French Riviera.
The good news for hams everywhere was that the great man was seen packing a Kenwood 430 for the trip to the beach. The bad news was that the only antenna anyone saw was a little six-element Yagi.
Tondelayo had her keyer.