In 1984, I had been a ham for just 3 years. My antenna was an energized downspout and I had just bought a used Ten Tec Omni to energize my Heathkit 2080a antenna tuner. We were at a great point in the sunspot cycle. Working DX on CB radios converted to 10 meter from the parking lot at work during lunch hour was not uncommon.

It was a time before DX clusters were on line, when we’d call one another on a special two meter frequency when we heard a rare one. We depended on the beacons to tell us when the circuit was open to the far East, and we calculated the grey line with our trusty ARRL tools.

I was president of the Oak Park Amateur Radio Club and then, as now, was responsible for coming up with an interesting program each month. The highlight of that year for me was a presentation by Jim Sansotera – K8JRK.

Jim was the quintessential DXer in Detroit. His country count was the envy of everybody in our group and when he agreed to be our speaker on August 13, 1984, we knew we were in for a treat.

From today’s perspective, many of the tools he recommends are outdated, but his tips of how to snag the rare ones are timeless.

Here’s an MP3 of that presentation. 25 years later, we can still learn from him.