Dream big

Radio amateurs are technically minded people. Most of the books written by hams are technical manuals. Storytellers are rare; a novel written by amateurs for amateurs could be counted on the fingers of Captain Hook’s hand.

The closest to a real book you’ll ever find are diaries and expedition reports. While they lack masterful story telling, such books offer first hand, authentic, powerful testimonies of expeditions to rare places and remote islands by those brave enough to push the boundaries of human endurance for nothing more than the glory and prestige that comes from setting up a station on a rock no normal person would put a foot on.

“Dream big and dare to fail” is one of those rare books that easily fires up the imagination of a devoted chaser. Written by a devoted expeditioner, Cezar Tifu VE3LYC, it is a chronological report that offers a rare insight into the world of a traveller on a mission.  

To those lucky enough who made it into Cezar’s log, the book will reveal the obvious truth: the reason you’ve made it is because he has done all the hard work. You didn’t really work a new one – the new one worked you. Being at the right place at the right time means that it was VE3LYC who invested his time, resources, and all his strength, often risking his life so you can be awarded with a most precious QSL trophy.

Expeditioners of his calibre are so rare that they appear on the ham scene once in a decade, and only a few will remain travelling, operating, and chasing the dream. To have them in our logbook is a very special privilege, reserved only to the most deserving.

If you are new to amateur radio, I strongly suggest that before you even start chasing DX, you read Cezar’s book. Actually, you should read it on the day you put your first antenna up before you put out that first CQ call. Cezar’s enthusiasm will set you on the right path and provide you with a massive bold blueprint of what DXing is all about. And if you’ve been around for a while but never really experienced the adrenaline rush of cracking a pileup to a truly rare one, then ‘Dream big and dare to fail’ is simply long overdue.

The “Islands on the air” programme is probably the most challenging adventure an activator or a chaser could commit to. It is a journey where each and every ‘new one’  means that you are better tuned into the mystical intricacies of a world well hidden to those yet to be enlightened. Exactly as the Zen Master has said: DX is…