2015 Intrepid Spirit Award Recepient - JH1AJT

Zorro - JH1AJT

I just saw a post on N6PSE's Blog titled "The 2015 Intrepid Spirit Award goes to Zorro-JH1AJT." It was posted on April 17, 2016.  You can see the photo of Zorro with his award on the right.  The Blog post states:

"This year’s award goes to a notable Dxer and Dxpeditioner that we have come to respect and admire greatly, Mr. Yasuo “Zorro” Miyazawa-JH1AJT.

This award is to recognize Zorro’s outstanding efforts to activate Eritrea, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Zorro is largely responsible for fulfilling the need for Eritrea, Myanmar and Bangladesh contacts. We recognize Zorro’s unselfish acts to activate these challenging and much needed entities.

We acknowledge Zorro’s pursuit of operating excellence and his quest to activate the rare and often difficult entities. It is for these reasons that we honored him with our Intrepid Spirit Award, presented at the International DX Convention, Visalia, California on April 16th, 2016."

That name rang a big bell in my head.  I remembered having a most intriguing conversation on 10-M SSB while I was driving North on Interstate 77 in Jackson County, WV, with a Japanese ham who had that same name.  I pulled out my Mobile Log and quickly found that QSO.  His QSL was right on top in my Mobile QSL file!  I was correct, I did have a QSO with this same individual way back in 1980!

Below you can see my Mobile Log and the QSL.  The QSO is the last one on this page of my log.  Click on any image to see it larger.

I have told dozens and dozens of folks over the years about how much I enjoyed that particular QSO.  According to my log it lasted just 13 minutes but it left a lasting impression on me.  Signals were fantastic and I had absolutely no problem copying or understanding anything Zorro said.

This QSO took place from 4:32 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. local time here in WV.  That would have meant it was between 5:32 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. in Japan.  For the middle of September, that was just about 7 minutes past his sunrise.

JH1AJT and W8TN

If only 10-M would come back to the conditions that were in effect at the time I made this QSO!  Still, I will always have this wonderful memory of a really fantastic QSO made nearly 36 years ago.  Thanks, Zorro!

UPDATE - - - - - 

For the 49th consecutive year I traveled to the Dayton Hamvention (now in Xenia, Ohio) and attended the DX Dinner on May 18, 2018.  To my GREAT SURPRISE, Zorro, JH1AJT, was in attendance.  After the dinner, I introduced myself to him and showed him this Blog Post on my cell phone.  He was very interested in seeing his QSL from 38 years ago and hearing about my memories of this QSO.  He gave me his business card and asked that I email him with a link to this Blog Post.

On the right is a photo taken at the 2018 DX dinner showing JH1AJT and myself.  WHEEEEE!  I was so excited to actually meet up with Zorro 38 years after our QSO and to get a chance to congratulate him on the 2015 Intrepid Spirit Award.  This chance encounter was definitely the highlight of the 2018 Dayton Hamvention for me.