Mike's passing is very sad news indeed. I had many contacts with
Mike over the years, both on topband and elsewhere.
Mike helped inspire me to become the topband DXer I am today. I had
been chasing DX on topband briefly in the mid 1980s. I was
relatively new to the hobby then, and lacked practical knowledge of
topband. Having listened to other stations working Japan, VK6, and
other far off places and never hearing so much as a whisper of the
DX, I thought it beyond my reach. Surely that must be the exclusive
privilege of super-stations or else I was just a little too far and
had no propagation at all.
Having left HF for several years to work EME on VHF, I returned in
2004 still hanging onto the belief that VK3 would likely be my best
DX. Then one morning I heard and easily worked Mike in VK6! I was
shocked, but an even bigger shock would come two weeks later when I
worked him again - this time the other way around at my sunset.
Subsequent email exchange with Mike revealed he was not using a
super-station but instead had simple antennas such as mine. In the
months that followed I worked Mike several more times on topband,
including at least one contact well before my sunset and well after
his sunrise (both of us in daylight). Clearly I had much to learn
about topband - and it had more to offer than I had previously thought.
I soon learned that working VK6, which is near my antipode, is very
much easier than working, for example, southeast Asia. Nevertheless,
the contacts with Mike and his email exchanges prompted me to learn
more about topband and to fully appreciate it. Topband DXing has
become one of the most exciting and rewarding facets of our hobby I
have experienced. Thank you, Mike! Rest in peace, my friend.
73,
Paul N1BUG
All good topband ops know fine whiskey is a daylight beverage.
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Topband Reflector
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