Lately, I have been thinking (very dangerous territory) about the “good old days“ of DXing. I got my license (WB2RJJ) in 1965 and was almost immediately immersed in the world of chasing DX. Back then, chasing DX was just a little bit different than today. Not better. Not worse. Just different. It was common to tune the bands for stations either calling CQ or running a pileup. I always tell the story about two “happen chance” DX contacts that I made back then.
While tuning around on 20-meter CW one night at 0130 UTC (8:30 PM EST) with my old HT-37 transmitter and Hammarlund HQ110AC receiver, I came across VU2DIA calling CQ. I thought “INDIA!” I‘d never worked India! I answered his CQ and he came right back, giving me a 349 report. I was truly excited that I worked my first INDIA station! 100 watts! I’m not sure which antenna I was using then, I think it was probably a Gotham (aluminum spreader) quad. But that worked too poorly, so it could have been the replacement W2AU quad which I put
