Ham Magic in the Air

Ham Magic in the Air
By Suellene Petersen, K6CPA

A magical thing happened to Steve Petersen, AC6P, that can only be appreciated by someone who is a licensed Amateur Radio operator. It is even more exciting for the guys and gals who have many years of operating behind them.

In 1970, Steve was a very young man who was in the U.S Navy and was stationed at Futema, Okinawa. He was a communication technician and he worked at the communications station and transmitter site that was located at Awase. At that time, his stateside call was WB6FYX and his Okinawa call was KR6PT, a special call.

On November 11, 2015, Steve was very surprised to receive an email from a ham named Sumio Miura, JH1HGC, who calls himself “Jim.” It seems that Jim and Steve had a QSO on January 11, 1970, at 0202 UTC on 10 meters SSB, and Jim would like to confirm the contact and exchange QSL cards because he wants to get DXCC.

Forty five years after the contact, two old hams have reconnected. What a marvelous and unexpected experience it was for Steve to receive this request from Jim. This is like magic in the air and it is the kind of the experience that glues hams together.