"Dx Was" is a collection of satirical humor from the Kansas City DX Club Editor, Mike Crabtree, ABØX. Here's some background on the club and the origins for the humor that Mike has produced in the club's newsletter for over 20 years.
Kansas City DX Club - This club has a rich DX tradition that will match any DX organization in the world--trust me! Here's a good bar room bet for you--Who took Gus Browning on his first DXpedition? Lee Bergren, WØAR and Mac McAllister, WØCW, of the Kansas City DX Club took Gus along on one of their trips and introduced him to the rigors of travel. Lee has some priceless photos of Gus along with Robby, 5Z4ERR, from Gus's first of many overseas journeys. In the 60's Lee and Mac were involved in the Loudenboomer line of ham radio products and Lee, as WØAIW also developed a reputation as a "Quad Man"--his antenna known as the "death ray" if you have ever been in a DX pileup with him on 20 meters. The club was in limbo in the late 1970's, when a local radio personality, Mike Lonneke, WØYR, brought the local DXers together, who recalled some of the great times that were had when the original founder, the late Harold Suman, WØAAA ran the club. There was a good core group of people, the interest was high and the Kansas City DX Club entered a new era with enthusiasm..
The Usual Stuff - The club experienced some success in the contest arena with multiple world championships from (V3) Belize in the ARRL and WPX DX Contests in the early 1980's. Operators like Steve, WØMW dominated the regions Low Power SS for years, then CW gurus like Larry, KØRWL and Bill, KØVBU started making top ten finishes nationally in the SS. One club member Paul, KØXR, was one of the best CW operators in the world--able to send with his left hand, log with his right hand, at 60 wpm. His handwriting was better than a dot matrix printer--if you could keep his pencils sharpened! Station ABØI, became a club project, as members spent their summers helping John build a competitive DX Contest station. Lee, KØLW and his climbing assistant, "Big Mike", KDØFW, would both rappel down John's 200' towers! Tom, KØTLM slept on them! The winning DX Contest tradition was continued by Tim KBØG, Steve, KMØL, Bill, AKØA and Jerry, NXØI. A low band tradition was started with Woody, WØGNX, becoming the first member of the club to attain a 5BDXCC. The Kansas City DX Club has numerous DXCC Honor Roll Members, including the definitive Zero Land Low Band DXer, Fred, NØXA, who has 160 Meter WAZ, from Spring Hill, Kansas.
Dayton Roots - The Kansas City DX Club, has been a fixture at the Dayton Hamvention since 1982, where they introduced the club's first of three video spoofs, "Contest Night Live - from Kansas City" at the Contest Forum. This innovative project was financed by Bob, KØFYJ and Steve, WØMW--veteran club supporters.Rick, KBØU, the club's "Chief Party Animal" wanted the hospitality room to be special for all DXers and not project the typical elitism that is so prevalent at many gatherings of this type. This objective was achieved by having one room dedicated to running the humorous club videos, while another room was used for administering the grueling CW Pileup Tape developed by Tom, NØSS. Add in some Midwest Hospitality, particularly from the hard working wives (or ex wives) who manned the bar, financial contributions from SignalCrafters, Missouri Radio and Midland Electonics, leadership from guys like Tom, KØZM, Rick, KBØU and John, WØJLC and you a have fun environment that has become a Hamvention evening tradition.
Back Home - The KCDX Club's flair for fun on the road was great, but back in Kansas City, you still had to deal with the reality of being a DXer in Zero District. You get a real "attitude" about the hobby when you spot the East Coast 32 db to Europe and the West Coast 28db into Asia.To put it simply--you had to try a bit harder to achieve any level of DX success from the Zero District and sometimes the quest for success caused personal stress.
ABØX to the Rescue - Mike, ABØX's approach to dealing with the problems of being a DXer in the Zero District was with the subtle but effective use of humor.As editor of the KCDX Club's newsletter he was able to use humor as a entertainment vehicle for dealing with the realities of playing the DX game from a geographically disadvantaged area. Imaginary characters like Elmer, WDØSRI and Harvey, NØLID were created and used in typical DX scenarios to expose club members to better operating methods. Rather than chastise a club member about poor operating technique, the problem would usually show up as a philosphical musing, "Inevitable Truth", in the monthly newsletter. If a DXpedition failed to penetrate the Zero District Faithful, a cartoon might appear showing a disappointed WDØSRI sobbing in front of his transceiver.A big fan of Rod Newkirk, W9BRD, Mike periodically utilized verse to make his point--"The Kansas DX and Poetry Society" sessions represent some of his best work. The Cold War was on during most of this period and the use of the "Krenkel Quote" from RAEM was popular as most KCDX Club members waited the usual decade for the illusive UJ8 QSL card from Box 88--a microcosm of the communist system. The club's continuous quest for performance and excellence was portrayed with the famous Godzilla Products display ads. Godzilla Products was an imaginary but memorable, HF manufacturing company located in small Tonganoxie, Kansas that carried a full line of slightly bizarre amateur radio equipment. The "Flamethrower - 1" is probably the most well known item made by "Godzilla Products", as a mock up of this product was promoted by "Kilowatt Jim" KBØX, in a club video production.
The Book - Volume I of this ABØX collection is called DX Was and came from a 20 year run of Kansas City DX Club newsletters. The rather primitive dot matrix text was scanned using Omnipage Pro OCR software, converted to Microsoft Word and then laid out in a two column format using Adobe Pagemaker.This project was started in the Fall of 1998 and with the usual disruptions, went to the printer in April of 2000. DX Was - Volume I is an introduction to Elmer, WDØSRI, Harvey, NØLID, Godzilla Products, "Krenkel Quotes" and the "Kansas DX and Poetry Society" plus other unique themes that have entertained the club for over 20 years. I have been an ABØX fan since his first newsletter and I laughed like a hyena when rereading some of the material for a second time--it is that good! If you have not been exposed to the ABØX style you are in for a treat, as you have probably not seen DXing treated in this irreverent manner before. Mike, ABØX takes no prisoners and no one is spared! During the editing process for DX Was - Volume I we asked ourselves--"Have we offended everyone?" After proofing the material--I think that the answer is "Yes".
RETURN TO LOW BAND MONITOR MAIN PAGE