[Dx-qsl] KM6DQ/KH6

Sat Apr 26 15:51:42 EDT 2014

Some of you may find that this is an interesting story, others can press "delete"

I was active on SSB from 1966 until 1970 when my job took priority and I really didn't any free time for my hobby. Then, in 2004, I retired and decided to get back on-the-air. 

When I pulled out my logbook, which I had kept along with my radios, I saw the DX from the late 1960s and into 1970 that I never got around to QSLing or QSLed and never got a card in return ( mostly bureau in those days). 

These contacts included stations such as VS9ABL, 9L1KG, 5L2KG, VQ8CB/A, AP5HQ, XW8AX, 7P8AR, K4IA/KC4, ZF1CC and KM6DQ/KH6.
So I built a spreadsheet and tried to see if I could find a source for any of these very old QSOs. I was lucky because I got immediate help from a number of folks online, including Bob N2OO. Unfortunately, there were a lot of dead ends. A number of the operators and / or QSL Managers were SK and the logs that they held were either lost or tossed. Luckily, I was able to contact YASME and get confirmations for 9L1KG and 5L2KG. 
That was pretty much it and I gave up the hunt --- until over this past winter, when I was using some of the Club Log tools, and saw those old QSOs that were never confirmed. And, I checked out the old status of each QSL attempt. There wasn't much to do where I had confirmed that the logs were gone. But, I never really got a lead on the QSO from May 1970 with Kure. And, I remember checking the Kure Web site in 2005 when K7C was active. But even there, the list of former DXPeditions did not list KM6DQ/KH6. 
But, this time, something was posted and dated 13 February 2012 by Denny Carroll, K4BNV (ex KM6DT) that described in detail what had transpired on that DXPedition. Finally, a lead ! A quick check of the usual sources didn't turn up an email address for Denny, so I wrote to Denny at this K4BNV address. Weeks passed and I figured that it was another dead end. Then, an email from Denny saying that he was in Hawaii but word had reached him about my letter. 
Yes, Denny still had the logs and better yet, Denny still had some QSL blanks. 
My KM6DQ/KH6 QSL was received in the mail today, a couple of weeks short of 44 years since that QSO.
Moral of the story: Please help preserve all the logs that you can and don't wait too long to QSL those rare or semi-rare QSOs. 

73
Russ - WA3FRP
wa3frp at aol.com