Hide and seek

For almost three weeks Elvira was playing hard to get. Not intentionally, of course – she had absolutely no reason to hide; on the contrary. It was the fickly ionosphere, the lack of power and rather simple antennas on both her and my end to be blamed. Senegal is not just far away; sneaking through a wall of Japanese and European callers with only 100 Watts and a wire vertical is a true challenge.

Yet yesterday, on Sunday afternoon, on the very last of her operation, I finally managed to get into Elvira’s log: 6W/IV3FSG worked!

If you are new to DXing then you should rightly ask: who is Elvira and what is she doing in Senegal, playing radios?

Elvira Simoncini is a world traveller and DXpeditioner. A mother of two, married to an amateur operator, highly proficient in Morse Code, but equally efficient on digital modes and phone.

Since obtaining an amateur radio licence in 1987, she visited and operated from too many countries to list: Pakistan, China, Willis Island, Mongolia, Eritrea, Togo, Burkina Faso, Albania, Lord Howe, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Djibouti, Cameroon, Centrafrique, Chad, Zanzibar, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Palestine, DR-Congo, Panama, Uganda, Mozambique, Madagascar, Burundi. And for the past 3 weeks – from Senegal.

Yes, I have already made a contact with Senegal before, but not ‘working’ Elvira would be just annoying. Her colourful QSL cards are eye-candy and a highly regarded prize amongst DX chasers and QSL card collectors.

And this is what DXing is really all about: paying attention, listening, tuning up and down the band, or simply waiting for the band to open in a certain direction, calling patiently, trying to break the pileup of other callers, waiting for DX to return call, trembling while exchange is completed. Adrenalin rush; a feeling impossible to describe even to fellow amateurs.

Thank you Elvira, you’ve made my day.