On Mon, 24 May 2004 04:44:18 GMT, "Hellen Marsh"
wrote:

Am I missing something? Isn't Isle of Man a modern populous island right
by England and Scotland? I mean, isn't it a 'normal place'? What makes
this a DX-Pedition? Does that mean if I travel from Seattle to, say,
Ireland,
and set up a ham station that I'm a DX-pedition?? What am I missing
here? I thought DX peditions happened on little coral outcroppings and
remote islands with no resorts on them..... Hardly Isle of Man....

Helen

The importance of a DXpedition is the cumulative imagination of the
participants combined with the cumulative imagination of the post card
chasing, basement bound slobs (aka "the deserving") who need a new
card for their shoebox.....

The real world importance of ANY DXpedition, be it to Good Grief Reef
or Staton Island, is ZERO.

Since ham radio is but a game played by oversized children with
expensive toys, a DXpedition can be anywhere the participants desire
it to be - you can go on a DXpedition to your back yard if you'd like,
Helen. The word "DXpedition" was invented by the children who play
ham radio - it's not found in the dictionary, nor defined in Part 97,
so the definition is anything you want it to be.....

What these guys are doing deserves SPECIAL RECOGNITION - not
because of the local of the DXpedition, or the amount of equipment
they are taking along, but because they aren't begging for money to
pay for their trip, as do most groups of DXpeditioning children.

What a concept - some guys are gonna pack up their radio stuff and
go on vacation to an island for a week or so and have fun and are
going to pay for it themselves. Unheard of in the world of ham radio
DXpeditions.....

So anyway, Helen, the answer to your question is YES, you are
missing something - you are missing the concept of what a DXpedition
is, and why people go. You should plan one, and go see what it's like
first hand. When you decide to go on that DXpedition to your back
yard, be sure and invite that groucy old ******* from Singapore to
go along - sounds like he needs to get out of the house more often.

73, Jim KH2D