I’m going to start as simple as I can: the W8DFL QSL card.
You might ask “what’s a QSL card?” Well, I’m glad you asked.
A QSL card confirms the communication between two stations. Why? You just talked to the other station, why would you need to confirm it?
Well, I think it’s mostly an excuse to collect things from around the world — a physical artifact of the ephemeral thing that is radio communication.
That and you can get awards! Ok, so they’re kinda silly awards. Like talking to a hundred countries or something. But it’s something to hang on your wall. It’s a target. The cards confirm that you talked to someone. You send them yours and they send you theirs.
I don’t think that Vic ever got an award… but it would be cool to see if he qualified for a DXCC, but it’s going to be cool to check! We have almost 800 cards in the box that En got for Christmas from her uncle. I have them all scanned in and I’ll be posting batches of them as I scan them in.
It might seem boring, but wait until you see some of them. They’re cool. They’re old. They’re from another era and it’s interesting to imagine what things were back then. Before things like communism for instance. More on that later.
Like a one cent stamp for a post card.
But I’m going to start with the beginning.
W8DFL
He told En’s mom that you can remember it with “Dog Food Love.” Whatever that means. 
In case you didn’t catch it, Ennie is now W8DFL! She has her grandpa’s old sign!
To the old, to the new — cheers!
Random side note: I’m still working on how to arrange all this between WordPress and SmugMug. One thing I do know is that all of the cards will be posted with 600 dpi images of all of them in SmugMug. I want to post them with as much detail as I can in case anyone wants to de some research on relatives and wants a momento or something. If someone wants one in even higher resolution I’ll gladly oblige. Likewise if you really want one taken down (and have a good reason) I’ll respect your wishes. Note though that things like addresses of amateur radio stations are a matter of public record so I’m not giving anything away in that regard.
Vic used to say “Willie Ate Dogs For Lunch” – W8DFL. He was my neighbor and Mentor right across the street in Parma, Ohio. Great guy, really helped me along in Ham Radio (which after 37 years I still love). Took me to Hamfests, Radio Club meetings and there wasn’t too many nights I wasn’t in his shack as a snot-nosed kid. I can still remember peeking into the basement window watching the BIG tubes glow where he’d always wave me in. He enjoyed teaching, I enjoyed learning.
It must be Enne’s Grandmother I believe – I remember when “Cee” put the Ford Granada right through the back of the garage! hahahahaha. I’m ROTFLMAO remembering that. Oh, the stories I have for you! A brief snapshot:
Mr. Robot on Halloween.
Vic’s next door neighbor and their feud. (Vic electrocuted him once after the neighbor kept cutting his twin lead feedline).
Me cutting their grass (push lawnmower).
Vic setting up my Ham Radio Station station and electrocuting me!
BIG, I mean BIG linear amplifiers.
Vic catching me smoking but never told my parents.
Bible thumpin’ Uncle Bill.
And much much more!
Good to see Vic’s call stay in the family, congratulations!
Hello Wayne! I can’t tell you how fun it is to read about someone’s memories of my grandparents! You know, Grandpa never did fix the scratches in that Granada…figured it would help Grandma remember which pedal was the break. Ha! It actually was Uncle Bill himself who gave us the cards
Though I was only about 7 I think when he passed away, my time spent with Grandpa has always been important to me. I used to spend a lot of time sitting with him at his tool bench with the radio, him trying in vain to teach me Morris Code. I remember being mystified to hear voices from other countries coming over the receiver. He would have LOVED the internet! And he also would have loved my husband George…they would have gotten along famously! Thanks for writing!!!
Your Grandfather and Grandmother were very special and “classy” people. The absolute best of the best.
Here’s a funny story. My son was just born and I brought him over to Vic and Cee’s. Vic cuddled him, then kept feeling around Jason’s lil’ bald head and appeared to be “inspecting” him. I asked Vic “what are you looking for Buddy?” and Vic replied something like this:
“I see his medulla is well formed, he’ll be smart in math, his cerebral blah blah blah is enlarged so he’s going a have good deductive reasoning capabilities” and on and on and on. I stood there smiling because that’s how your Grandfather was, he reverse engineered EVERYTHING, even a baby! I’d be willing to bet he had genius level IQ, he was that smart.
Good luck in all your endeavors Ennie, glad to see you and your husband are also Hams!
73,
Wayne, N0UN
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