Since terminating my membership with Sugar Delta a few weeks ago, I’ve taken on the gargantuan task of having to revoke, replace and/or revamp a large number of effects; ranging from an SD email address used to communicate with DX comrades, to finding a use for hundreds of blank SD QSL cards I’ve accumulated over the years. On top of all that, obviously, is a change in callsign from 43SD054 to……well……who knows what!

[The only thing I can compare this massive upheaval in operating culture to is when my lovely YL Melissa had to change the last name on her driver’s license, bank accounts, bank cards and Medicare card after we walked down the aisle earlier in the year. Talk about drama and red tape!]

The truth is, changing your personal details and effects (property, belonging, possessions etc.) to accommodate a new callsign, or membership with another DX group, is more complicated than understanding the ins and outs of solar activity and its effects on propagation. After all, there’s just so many things to consider…

At the entrance to my radio shack, for instance, is a framed portrait of myself sitting by the rig with the callsign 43SD054 underneath — one which incidentally cost a couple of hundred dollars to have made. What happens with this fine piece of artwork now that the callsign has suffered the same fate as the dodo bird and Tasmanian tiger and disappeared into the nothingness of extinction? Should I take it down and hide it in the cupboard with other DX memorabilia (such as my Delta Tango and Tweed Radio membership certificates) since I am no longer a member of the group. Or instead should I leave it up as a celebration of my past achievements with SD?

In addition to possibly getting rid of some of the shack décor, another quandary I face after having returned to the DX world of mere mortals is what to do with the thousands of blank Sugar Delta QSL cards I have filed in my desk drawer. These include IOTA, LOTA and COTA DXpedition cards, Erotica cards, 43 Division DXCC cards, World Cards and SD sample cards. Do I sacrifice these in some sort of SD cleansing ritual or donate them to a mate in the SD group who could use them as his own or include them as samples in any QSL package?

Having been with Sugar Delta for the past 7 or so years and more often than not enjoyed the journey, one of the most unpleasant changes I have had to endure since my departure is that I can no longer use the SD callsign on the airwaves. ‘My choice’ I know but those who’ve changed their callsign in the past will agree that rolling different phonetics off the tongue and into the mic and then into the wide open expanse that is eleven metres can be a frightful thing. "Will people know who I am?" is one thought that races through the mind. “Will they know it’s Darren?” Like 26DX021 Matt says, though, “It’s not about the callsign — it’s about the person…and people soon work out who you are…”

Obviously it helps if you keep the same unit number but when you change the rest there’s the distinct possibility that you will forget the new phonetics mid QSO or worse still, use the old callsign phonetics by mistake. How embarrassing would that be mid QSO!

Leaving SD has also impacted on other communication mediums. On Microsoft Instant Messenger (MSN), for instance, friends have added me via the 43SD054Darren@msn.com email address which I have used for more than half a decade. If and when I change this address, I will also have to go through the nuisance of transferring all of my contacts over to a new one and then notifying them of the change. As you can imagine, this will be a time consuming task and one that I am not looking forward to undertaking.

Having said all this, walking away from one of the world’s most well known DX groups in Sugar Delta and having to endure a fleeting identity crisis of sorts has been worth every second. In fact, it seems like a great load has been lifted from my shoulders.

Sometimes, I think we need to reflect on what it is we actually ‘belong’ to; whether or not it is ‘worthwhile’ and ‘meaningful’ and such is the case with some DX groups, whether or not it actually exists. You see, to me the whole idea of DX group membership is more than “just having a callsign” as one of my great radio mates keeps telling me. In my opinion, it’s more about sharing your experiences with likeminded people and to me that means fellow DXers who are passionate about DX adventure among other things and actually making a contribution to the hobby by way of leadership rather than inactivity.

This is what I have to look forward to in the future with a new venture soon to be released.

73 de Darren
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