I wrote this back in perhaps 2002 or 2003 and read it at one of the Rochester (MN) Amateur Radio Club’s holiday parties. I’ve lost it on my computer over the years, but thankfully, the Brainerd, Minn., club has immortalized it on their website, hi hi. Happy holidays to all my fellow radioaficionados.
A Ham’s Midwinter’s Night Scene
– or –
‘Twas the Flight Before Christmas
Written by Chuck Gysi, N2DUP, with extreme apologies to Major Henry Livingston Jr. (1748-1828) (previously believed to be by Clement Clarke Moore)
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the shack
Not a radio was on — anywhere on the rack;
The antennas were tuned by the op with care,
In hopes that DX soon would be there;
The harmonics were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of tropical isles danced in the op’s head;
And mamma with her logging pen, and I in my call-sign cap,
Just settled in for contesting after a short nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the shack to see what was the matter.
Away to the antenna farm I flew like a flash,
It looked like a scene right from TV’s “M*A*S*H.”
The moon on the breast of the slick coating of ice
Gave the appearance of what didn’t seem too nice,
When, what to my wondering ears should appear,
But the delightful sounds of DX, almost too near,
With a quick fix to the downed long wire,
I got back to the shack; but had a quagmire;
More rapid than pileups, the call signs came,
But the out-of-turn DXers called; much of the same;
“Now, second call district only, now third,” the DX station called;
“How about Europe only; now South America,” he apparently stalled.
To the top of the log, to the top of the pile,
Stations made it through the hash – with a flick of the dial.
Along the ladder line, the signals did fly,
When they met the inverted vee, they flew to the sky,
So up to the 20-meter band I tuned the dial,
Looking for DX and contesters to add to my log file.
And then, in a tweak, I heard the call –
The prefix didn’t match any I’ve ever heard.
As my XYL scribbled the call in the log – NP0LE,
We knew right away who this matched to a T.
He said he was air mobile, and he signed slant V02
His voice seemed to indicate he was in a hurry, too;
A bundle of toys he said he had in his sack,
Including some called Icom and Kenwood – with a power pack.
His signal increased as we chatted away,
The distance was lessening, not to our dismay.
As we exchanged our 5-9s as the morning neared,
He said those words that we had feared.
It was time to shut down; turn off the amp,
Finishing logging and turn out the shack’s lamp;
For soon in our town, a visitor would arrive,
And we were still too awake and alive.
We hurried out of the shack, flew up the stairs,
Headed straight to bed without any cares,
We knew the time was drawing quite near,
That some new toys would arrive – and we left him a beer.
On the scanner that sits right next to our bed,
“I’m entering RST’s air space,” we heard as he said;
It was time to fall asleep; think of the packages we would find,
But as I laid there, I couldn’t get it out of my mind …
I needed his QSL card, the one for aero mobile,
I’m sure this op’s card would be anything but dull.
And I heard as I started to drift into a daze,
“Good DX to all and to all Happy Holidays.”
Copyright 2002 and 2013 by SCAN Communications Co..
Permission granted for non-profit print or electronic reproduction only as long as this copyright notice is replicated word for word. Author’s e-mail is N2DUP@arrl.net
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