I like UZBEKISTAN.
Can't say that I knew much about it before I got into amateur radio, but my experiences on the air have taught me more about world geography than I ever learned in school.
But my reasons for liking Uzbekistan in particular?
Story time.
My husband and I often operated on the air at the same time. Not that big a deal, really. He'd be on one side of the room, I'd be on the other, and we simply didn't operate on the same part of the radio spectrum at the same time.
HIS tower. Matter of fact, HIS antennas, too.
So, one day, I was at my station operating 20 meters, (great for worldwide contacts) and my hubby was on the other side of the room at his station operating 6 meters. (AKA "the magic band" because of its unpredictable behavior) I was chatting with a gentleman in Uzbekistan, and copying down his information, when all of a sudden, the signal disappeared. Just, BOOM! Now ya hear him, now ya don't.
You see, even though we were using two different antennas, they were both controlled by a single rotator. Which my husband happened to rotate. So, he was able to tune in the station he was chasing, but I lost mine.
But it was HIS tower. HIS antennas. HIS rotator.
So I was outta luck. Not happy about it, but I couldn't very well complain. (Did I mention it was HIS tower?)
AHEM...
This is MY tower, and MY antennas, which my sweet husband put up soon after that incident.
So, yes ... I'm rather fond of good ol' Uzbekistan.
