By Dale Holloway, K4EQ
This story has little to do with QRP, but Keith is always looking for new articles, so I decided to write a brief account about how I got my 300th DXCC confirmation.
First of all, I’ve never been a big time DXer. Like most hams, I’ve always enjoyed working new DXCC entities, especially using QRP, but I’ve never had a station like the big guns have. The most output I’ve ever used is 100 watts and my antennas have been mostly wire or multi-band verticals (Cushcraft R7 and R8 for many years). Currently, I use a multiband end fed half wave. Despite these somewhat limiting factors, I’ve been able to work a good amount of DX through the years. Longevity helps!
When my DXCC mixed total reached 296, I realized it might actually be possible to achieve my many-years-long dream of reaching the magical 300 number. However, there was one huge obstacle to achieving that goal. There was a deleted DXCC entity I had worked several times, but from which I had never received a QSL: the Canal Zone (KZ5), which was removed from the DXCC active list when it became part of Panama in 1979.
So, in 2014, I got out my old logbooks and found every KZ5 I’d worked through the years. Then, hoping for some luck, I went to QRZ.com and did a search to see if perchance someone had their old KZ5 call listed as a former call sign. Fortunately, there was one: KZ5DO, which I had worked on June 9, 1978. He is now N5GGG. I quickly sent an email to David to see if he still had his KZ5 logs and if he would send me a QSL card. Not long afterward, he wrote back. He said he still had the logs, but they were packed away in a box somewhere and it was likely to be quite a while before he would be able to find them.
Months passed by and I heard nothing. We were into 2015 and I was stuck at 296 entities. I was about to lose hope for KZ5, when one day I received a letter from David with the needed confirmation. He said he no longer had any of his KZ5 QSL cards, but he included a signed paper with all the necessary DXCC information for our 1978 contact.
To say the absolute least, I was incredibly thrilled! I quickly filled out a DXCC application and sent it, David’s letter, and three other cards to the ARRL DXCC desk. Fortunately, it was accepted and a short time later I received a 300 sticker for my DXCC certificate.
This experience was a poignant reminder that many goals in life take a long time to achieve. Actually, it turned out to be a double achievement for me. I received the KZ5 confirmation after 37 years of waiting and, to top it off, at the same time I got my 300th entity—55 years after I got my Novice license. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely!