The date was May 20. The year was 2046. Four days earlier, the Forces of Evil had detonated a massive thermonuclear weapon high above the Kansas countryside, creating an Electromagentic Pulse which had immobilized the entire North American Continent, dependent as modern society had become on the semiconductor for carrying out even the most elemental tasks. Attempts to communicate with distant cities and states were useless. All systems were down. Few vehicles of any sort were running, what with the sophisticated semiconductor-based ignition systems of the day.
The QRP'er was out foraging for food, looking for rabbits in the bush, when he happened to pass by the hill on top of which could be found the shack of the Old Timer. Of course, all of the remaining practitioners of that quaint hobby, Amateur Radio, were QRP'ers these days, as the result of the events set in motion by the implementation, way back in 1997, of the Guidelines on RF Exposure by the Federal Communications Commission. Rather than subject themselves to constant legal action, most Radio Amateurs had long since thrown in the towel and ceased amateur radio operations, relying instead on the Internet to entertain themselves. After all, the Internet incorporated many of the same elements that had proved fascinating for earlier generations of amateurs.
In the vast silence the QRP'er detected the unmistakable put-put-put of a gasoline-driven generator coming from the direction of the Old Timer's shack, so he went up the hill to see what was happening. As he entered the Old Timer's shack, he could see the glow of dial lights from some of the ancient equipment that the Old Timer had regularly exhibited at county fairs around the area. He was surprised to see the equipment working; he thought all electronic equipment had been been rendered useless by the EMP. Looking carefully at the ancient transmitter he could make out the words "E. F. Johnson Co." and "Viking II". The receiver bore the inscriptions: "Hallicrafters" and "SX-100".
The QRP'er rudely interrupted the Old Timer: "What are you doing?" "I'm having a QSO with XT2AA in Burkina Faso," was the immediate reply, "Come on in." The QRP'er entered and sat down in awe. Here the whole country was immobilized, and the Old Timer was having a QSO with Africa, no less! There was no need to ask what band the Old Timer was on: it had to be 20 meters. The big LEOs and little LEOs had long since used their financial clout to wrest all of the VHF and UHF bands away from the Amateur Radio Service, and with the great drop in Amateur Radio activity created by implementation of Guidelines for RF Exposure in the major industrialized countries of the world, the ITU had reassigned all of the HF bands to other services. Before going out of existence, the ARRL and IARU had managed to convince the United Nations to declare the 20 meter band an "Amateur Radio Historical Zone" and preserve it for amateur use as a matter of historical interest. The only Amateur Radio organization still in operation was the Antique Wireless Association.
"What is that thing you're using?" the QRP'er asked, pointing to a strange object that the Old Timer was using his hand to manipulate. The Old Timer replied: "Oh this! This is known as a bug. They were widely in use before the IARU decided that the Morse Code was no longer important for Radio Amateurs to know and did away with the Morse Code examination requirement. With this old bucket of bolts, I didn't think I could get through on phone, so I decided to drag out the old bug and fire up on CW."
The Old Timer finished the QSO and said: "It's pretty hard to find a ham station on the air these days, but some of the Africans are still pretty active, since they never developed to the extent that they can easily obtain Internet access. He says that he has been trying to find out what is going on in the rest of the world after all the normal systems went down, but except for other African stations I was his first QSO in the last four days."
The Old Timer continued, "In earlier days in a situation like this, the other hams around here and I would have been busy on two meters handling emergency traffic, but after the little LEOs got two meters, the Amateur Radio emergency systems just sort of died on the vine. The little LEOs assured the world that no matter what sort of emergency came up, they would be able to handle it, and they have -- until now..."
"Well OM," the QRP'er said, "guess I better get going and find me some grub. Nice to have had the chance to see you."
"No problem," said the Old Timer. "If we manage to get through all of this, drop in again some time."
Very 73,
Fred Laun, K3ZO