This afternoon made my ham radio year complete.

First I had a really nice chat with Angelo W8ERN from Michigan USA. Angelo is a real ragchewer with a deep voice, taking his time to get acquainted and very interested and courteous. Really the opposite of most ham operators I have met (no offense). Angelo is an outstanding operator, really, very nice to work with. We chatted for some time and after clearing the frequency I heard some distant voice calling something like “the Dutch station 5 up”, so I upped 5 where I heard another “5 up” and after that a “2 down”. Whats happening?

After landing on 28.428 I had an exceptionally nice chat with Stanley VA3AAA operating from HIS OWN ISLAND somewhere in Ontario Canada. He heard my QSO with Angelo and lured me to a free spot on 10m.  The Island is dubbed “Stanley Island” (you can’t make up stuff like this really). Just. Wonderful. Stanley is retired for 25 years and lives on the Island with his family. They are completely self supporting. Power from solar cells and windmills, electricity stored in special batteries. Internet via satellite, used only in emergency situations. Just awesome. I’m really jealous of this guy. Living in a permanent DXpedition without the daily internet news media madness, can you imagine that? I’m floored.