In fact, when I was recently at the Charlotte Hamfest, I found myself inexplicably drawn to the Ameritron booth, where I had to wade through several rows of fellow hams salivating...er, I mean, examining the goods on display. In the process I heard hams arguing about which one was better and using words that I didn't even understand the meaning of, although a couple of times one of the fellows would look at me and I'd nod my head like I completely understood. I found the head-nodding technique very effective because those guys kept talking to me as if I was part of the 'in crowd'. Little did they know or suspect, (I'm making an admission right here and now) I have never operated an amateur radio station that has an amplifier. Or maybe once they discovered that I wasn't able to add anything to the conversation other than head-nodding...hmmmmm.
But, as time passes and I think about what part of my very modest station to improve next, naturally the idea of buying an amplifier crops up. And while I really enjoy contesting, I think I love DXing a little bit more, and either way, an amplifier would certainly help the total count. Oh I suspect that eventually I will buy one. But it seems like that every single time that I start to seriously think about it something happens on the air to make me put the idea on hold. Like today, for instance.
I'm home from work because I finally managed to catch the dreaded stomach bug that my daughter and wife both have already recovered from (thanks a lot, guys). And in between frantic visits to the bathroom, I have spent a good portion of the day camped out in front of the radio. The day started off with a real bang (no, not in the bathroom) when I turned on the rig and heard VK9LA calling CQ on 30 meters. Two calls later, they were in the log. I think what had happened was that they'd taken a break and then resumed operating and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I kind of deduced this from reading over the spots online. Oh well, I'll take it just the same! Anyway, later in the day I was listening on 20 meters sideband and heard a station on from Saudi Arabia. He was weak, but since I don't have them confirmed I gave a couple of calls anyway. No luck, but I heard a rather weak signal calling him off the side/back of my antenna. Now, normally I wouldn't have paid much attention, but this fellow was apparently operating vox and he must've had some company in the shack because in between calls I heard him say, "I'll turn the f-ing amplifier on and he's as good as our's".
So, not only did he spew profanity over the airwaves, but in the process I learned something else from him. A new technique for nabbing DX. It's called "bullying". Once this guy got his amplifier kicked in, he proceeded to call the DX station incessantly. EVEN when the DX station was transmitting (I haven't figured out the logic behind that one, but I'm slow). And, sure enough, just like he'd promised, in 4 or 5 more calls, he got the guy.
When I looked the cat up on Google I discovered that he had a personal webpage that touted that he had first been licensed in 1957, was #1 standing on the DX Honor Roll, 5 band DXCC, attained DXCC Honor Roll in '79, 367 countries...blah, blah, blah. Oh yeah. He had a picture on his homepage that showed fire shooting out of his callsign. Very impressive. Indeed.
You know what? I may NEVER make the Honor Roll. Heck, I may not even make it close. But 'his way' is not how I want to nab any of them. I don't want to do it by brute force. I don't want to do it by bullying my way through.
There's a happy ending to this story. After walking away from the radio for a few minutes, I returned to find that the Saudi station had come up a bit in signal strength. Three or four calls later I got him. And I didn't need an amplifier or fire shooting out of my callsign to do it.
