[lb1lf]

Oooh, favourites, let's see...

9K2ZZ, Bob, in Kuwait City, methinks. To my untrained ear, he sounded like a Texan expat and he was always 20dB over S9 when I heard him on the bands c.2000.

Always kept the QSO rate up - a typical exchange would be 'LB1LF, 59, name is Bob. 9K2ZZ QRZ?' (where QRZ? means 'Anyone else?' and 59 is the signal report)

Anyway, late one night I heard him calling without the usual pile-up of radio amateurs trying to get in contact with him. No replies. I gave him a call, and we chatted for all of 45 seconds or so before he signed off and the band was quiet.

When I got the card, it had a handwritten note on the back - 'Thanks for the rag chew!' (Ham radio lingo for a very long contact)

Well, it sure was long by his usual standards, and I still get a chuckle every time I see it.

[zikduruqe]

My favorite was a station that was a sailboat off the coast of France. (PJ2HB if I remember correctly). Late one night he created a pile up. (A pile up is when a rare or unusual station is on the air and everyone is trying to contact him). I kept throwing my call in, over and over. And when he finally acknowledged, we exchanged info and when I said my QTH (my location), he stated, "oh yes, I stopped often by the restaurant in your town back when I was in school". We proceeded to have a conversation for a few minutes, while everyone was keying over us, throwing their callsigns in and just piling on. It was beautiful.

Another I was on 6 meters simplex during a band opening, talking a guy at with Cape Canaveral when he was on his lunch break.

I was the QSL manager for an Antarctic station once. That was fun.

Oh man, meteor scatter, ISS, satellite communications, SSTV, APRS... I forgot how much fun I used to have pre-internet days.