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 Previous: ARRL's Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV, Accepts Executive Position with Yaesu |  Next: Ernesto Could Make Landfall as Hurricane; Carolinas, Virginia Get Ready |
By Lew King, W5LEW
w5lew@arrl.net
August 30, 2006
It's always fun to put a face to the voice and the call sign. But what if that "voice" lives several thousand miles away?
It all started in 1970. A lady in my church had a nephew in Czechoslovakia looking for someone to write to in the United States; he was also a ham radio operator. I was a new ham myself, after being a shortwave listener (SWL) for many years. I had a pen-pal in the Netherlands when I was a young child, so I jumped at the opportunity to have a new pen-pal who was also a ham.
Her nephew's name was Martin Kumpost, OK1MCW, a top-band enthusiast who was only 15 at the time we began to write. He was interested in electronics, and went on to electronics school after finishing his normal schooling.
I wrote my first letter to him in January 1970, and received a reply a few months later. As I recall, Martin's English was not as polished as he would like, so his father helped him with the composition of the letters.
 W5LEW and Martin, OK1MCW meet after 35 years. |
 Lew and Martin meet face to face for the first time. |
 Martin Kumpost, OK1MCW. |
 Martin played guitar and sang everything from Czech folk songs to American pop songs. |
 Martin chats with Burkhard, my granddaughter Lorien and Christa, Burkhard's mother. |
 Martin is ready to hit the road back to CZ. |
The Iron Curtain
I'll never forget one of his letters from Yugoslavia when he and his family were on vacation. Since his home country was occupied by what was then the Soviet Union, every letter coming from the West was opened and examined. But in Yugoslavia, the mail was not censored. Apparently, conditions were so bad in Czechoslovakia back in the mid '70s that Martin wrote, "If someone does not do something soon, we will all be eating grass." His letter really gripped me, almost like reading a spy novel and hearing some secret information. Some people he knew were considering immigrating to another country, but apparently Martin's father did not want to leave.
Martin later married and sent me pictures of the wedding and his new bride. Later, we swapped pictures of our children, and I remember sending him a picture of me with my prized Vega long-neck 5 string banjo. You should have seen my long sideburns!
We often talked about working each other on the air, but somehow things just never worked out. We continued our correspondence, although in the '80s and '90s it slowed down to an occasional Christmas card or postcard every few years.
Mississippi Calling!
A few years ago, I decided to send Martin a coffee mug with a Mississippi logo on the side for a Christmas gift. That resulted in Martin's looking up my old ham call on the internet, WA5YOD, and locating my e-mail address and new vanity call, W5LEW.
Imagine my surprise three years ago when I received a great e-mail from Martin. We were back in touch! And my "international situation" had changed: my oldest daughter had married a fine young man from Germany whom she had met when she was there as an exchange student, and they were living in Germany. So now, I had a European "base of operations."
Martin and I begin to dream in our e-mails about meeting in the European Union one day. Finally, in the fall of 2005, I wrote Martin that my wife and I were traveling to Germany to check out our new granddaughter and to spend Christmas with Laurel and Burkhard, my daughter and son-in-law, and his family. I wondered if it would be possible for us to "hook up" while we were on the continent.
Early in December, I received an e-mail from Martin saying that he had a few days of vacation after Christmas, and he could drive over from the Czech Republic to Germany! Wow, I started to get excited.
Eyeball QSO
The week after Christmas, Martin drove over 400 miles through snow to Germany and arrived at Burkhard's parents' home while we were out visiting some of Laurel and Burkhard's friends. We hurried home and were met by a tall, nice looking Czech man in a black vest who had a big smile and spoke wonderful English! Our first "eyeball" QSO at last! The 35 year old relationship finally culminated in the meeting of the two Amateur Radio operators. Quite a historic event! The next two days flew by with great meals prepared by Burkhard's mother and cool music jam sessions as we played instruments and sang American pop songs together. We got to talk some ham radio, too, and he gave me a copy of the Czech Republic national Amateur Radio magazine, Radio Amatér.
All too soon, the time came for Martin to leave and return to his work in the Czech Republic as a salesman for an international radio data company. We hugged goodbye and waved as he headed his station wagon down the snow-covered street. It took 35 years for us to finally meet, something we thought might never happen. God was so good to allow this to come about -- a truly special time in my life. Good friends are always special, and I've decided that there are no friends like old friends. I also pondered Martin's invitation to come to the Czech Republic sometime and see the many sights in his country.
Let's see now -- how can we work out that eyeball QSO?
Lew King, W5LEW, has been a ham since 1969, earning his
Novice license and then the General and Advanced the next year. DX and CW have
been his passions. After a 15 year lapse of activity, he became "radioactive"
again in 2000 after buying a 2 meter handheld radio at the Jackson hamfest. Lew
is a past president of the Jackson Amateur Radio Club in Jackson, Mississippi. He lives in Clinton, Mississippi.
| Previous: ARRL's Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV, Accepts Executive Position with Yaesu | Next: Ernesto Could Make Landfall as Hurricane; Carolinas, Virginia Get Ready |
