I clearly remember working an HS0 on 20 CW for an all time new one, late, when the band was closing. He was so faint, and no one answered his CQ. I threw in my call and heard it come back, not in tones but in barely detectable changes in the noise level. For a minute I thought I imagined it, but no, there it was again, and the card came in the mail. Happy Dance time. Over the years, my wife has grown used to, let’s say, “interesting behaviors” on my part and no longer even blinks, no matter what I do.
This is a cool article, and very funny! True, most of it looks like alphabet soup, but I’ll try to straighten it out for you.
CW – morse code (continuous wave)
CQ – shorthand for ‘anyone out there?’
HSO – gotta look that one up.
QSO – on the air contacts
PL-259 – the round doohickey at the end of the cable, just like the one that most likely goes into your cable box
FCC – Federal Communications Commission