Dear Radio Friend,

Here's some background on VO1GO. My family moved from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia when I was young. I became interested in shortwave listening in the mid-1950's in Trenton, N.S. I sent my SWL-VE1 cards to hams and SW broadcasters, and eagerly collected QSLs. I still have some of those cards to this day. My early listening was done on a typical 5 tube tabletop radio. When I was 14, I taught myself Morse Code on a device made up of a key, a battery, and a loud, raucous buzzer. I had much encouragement from several local hams. I was up to about 8 wpm when we moved again, this time to Ontario. I became SWL-VE3. I also got hooked on Medium Wave DXing on my Hallicrafters SC38C radio (same as S38C). I later bought an SX110. I got on the air in 1977 as VE3JCV in Ottawa. Since I run 100 w. to a vertical or a multi-band dipole, much of my serious DXing and contesting is done on CW. I feel I have a better chance of breaking a pile-up on CW than on SSB. On HF bands, I have confirmed 307 DXCC countries/entities. On 6 mtrs., I have confirmed over 500 grid squares for VUCC.

In 1995 I retired to Newfoundland, re-discovered  my family roots and became VO1GO. I live in Elliott's Cove (pop. 107) on Random Island, across the bay from Clarenville. Newfoundland is a MW DXer's paradise, with European and Middle East stations often audible from dusk on into the evening. I can hear Saudi Arabia,1521 kHz, on my car radio. On 20 mtr. SSB, I usually work on or near 14.260, the island collectors' calling frequency. They can count me as NA-027 (Newfoundland island) for IOTA and also as NF-007 (Random Island) for the Canadian Islands Award.

If you need a QSL, please QSL direct with return postage ('green stamp' or SASE or IRC) for a fast reply, usually within a few days of when I receive your card. Perhaps we'll run into each other on the bands again. For now, 73, good DX and all the best.

Jerry, VO1GO