Story 96DX/1 Welcome to the story of 96DX/1 held in December 2002 / January 2003. We have received first part of the story from Fred and Walter. 29/12-2002: Hello dear radio-operators around the globe !! I am happy to anounce a new activation for the Delta Xray Radio Club. I arrived on Tonga the 27 th of December after a 2 hour flight from western Samoa. When we came from the airport at 11.10 am we had to hurry to buy 2 steel poles because we heard that the shops close at 12.00. We managed to buy 2 steel poles of 6.5 meter each. One of the poles was smaller in diameter so it could fit in the bigger pole. After some driving around we found a freestanding bungalow with airconditioning. But not freestanding enough to build the 7.9 meter long yagi. Bitten by musquitos and suffering from the heat I set up the heavy tower with a local. Setting up the tower was like a circus act. I was balancing on the roof while I also had to compete the strongwinds. And everywhere banana trees were the yagi get stuck in. This is what I call suffering during a DX expedition. Do not think it is only holidays going on a DX tour. It is always a lot of trouble to get things organised. But I am happy with the idea to make some operators happy with a new one. But probably we will not be able to make a lot of people happy in Europe. The progation is to bad to believe. I hope you understand we did all we can but without good propagation we are lost. At the moment it is 8.56 in the morning here in Tonga and I will say goodbye to all. We have 5 days to go so lets hope for the best.!!!! 19DX017 Fred We hope soon to receive next part of Fred and Walters story.... Back.