Beautiful piece. Thanks for sharing. On Tue, Jun 7, 2022 at 1:22 PM Wayne Burdick <n...@elecraft.com> wrote:
> During my childhood, I watched my dad indulge his hobby: collecting stamps. > > Most of the time his collection hibernated in two large photo albums on a > shelf in the family room, seemingly forgotten. > > Then once a month, by prior arrangement, he'd receive a package of > envelopes and postcards in the mail. Each item sported one or more > cancelled stamps. Dad would fill a bowl with water, soak the stamps until > they floated free, then lay them on a piece of wood by a window to dry in > the hot San Diego sunshine. Once they were dry enough to handle, he'd pull > out the albums and cement the stamps to blank pages in perfect rows and > columns. > > One album held foreign stamps, the other domestic. I'd admire their colors > and artwork. Sometimes I'd ask him questions about their monarchs, palaces, > and currency denominations. But Dad seemed most interested in the fact that > they were each slightly different -- their social, political, or > geographical nature was secondary. > > When I was six or seven I started collecting coins in binders, emulating > the lazy rhythm of my dad's pastime. This didn't last long, because I was > soon consumed by an obsession with seashells in all their varied species. > > I lived in the perfect place for it. San Diego is famous for its beaches > and coves, and I took full advantage of both. On summer weekends, my mother > would take my friend Jeff and me to La Jolla, then let us roam while she > stretched out on a lawn chair to read and tan. She was oblivious to the > risks we were taking. > > We found three effective ways to collect shells in their native > environment, with escalating levels of difficulty. > > First, you could arrive at the beach earlier than anyone else, at low > tide, and scavenge for shells among the piles of pebbles and seaweed. This > you would do barefoot, while dodging sharp stones, jellyfish, and rogue > waves. > > Second, you might wander far out onto the sandstone formations to find > tide pools that hadn't been raided. The substrate was slippery with moss; > pockmarked with littoral snails, mussels, and keyhole limpets; and > periodically doused by by breakers. Yet with luck you might reach deep into > a bucket-sized hollow and find a well-polished chestnut cowrie among the > anemones and hermit crabs. Indians used these egg-shaped cowries as wampum, > and considering their beauty and diversity of form, it's easy to see why. > > These two methods soon gave way to what Jeff and I really craved: > searching the ocean floor itself for living mollusks. Once we'd both > acquired masks, snorkels and fins, there was nothing to stop us, and no one > to teach us how to do it right. We learned the hard way, swallowing > seawater and popping our ear drums in pursuit of the deepest free dives we > dared attempt. This was probably no more than 15 or 20 feet. But when > you're ten years old, this made you the next Jacques Cousteau. We swam with > bright orange garibaldis, snapper, and the occasional bat ray as we scanned > the coral shelves for whelks, queen's tops, turrets, cones, and other > spectacular univalves. > > Now, we could have collected shells the easy way, by simply purchasing > them from the Cove Gift Shop, like everyone else. We considered this > cheating, though, taking pride in our arduous adventures. Our treasure was > hard-won. > > * * * > > A few years later, armed with a ham license, I began a new collection. I > worked stations all over the world first in CW mode, then SSB. Even as a > teen I drew a parallel between seashells and DX, not just in terms of > rarity or diversity, but in the visceral nature of the hunt. > > CW is not any easy skill to master. SSB also requires considerable skill > with equipment, on-air technique, timing, and etiquette. Both allow the > freedom to carry on short or long QSOs, over wide segments of spectrum, > while expressing your individual style. Both can be pursued at home or in > the field, even operating hand-held, no computer required. > > CW and SSB signals are there if you know where and when to look. They're > hidden within atmospheric noise, like colorful shells of all sizes hidden > by grains of sand. The hunt is still rewarding these days, but more > difficult thanks to other preoccupations. > > Speaking of which, if you get tired of collecting stamps, let's say with > your VFO parked at 14.074 MHz, wander up or down the band and take a crack > at doing things the hard way, using other modes. Listen. Search. Wade > knee-deep among the hazards, taking chances, employing new skills. > > Better yet, become a mollusk. Get outdoors and call CQ from a wild, windy > perch. Or from home, aim your beam in a new direction and pound some old > brass. > > Let everyone else collect you. > > 73, > Wayne > N6KR > > > > > > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to mervst...@gmail.com > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
