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On
Friday May the 4th, I was driving down the expressway with my daughter
and noticed we were being followed by a large flatbed truck. As I was
entering the exit lane for highway 8 the truck started flashing its
lights and honking its horn.
Thinking that something was drastically wrong with my car, I pulled over
to the side of the road to get out and look and the truck pulled over
right behind us. I was just about to get out of the car when the truck
driver appears at the window of the car. I asked him what the problem
was taken aback when he said; "There's nothing wrong I just noticed
your licence plate and wanted to know if you could let me know what
amateur clubs are in the Toronto area?"
The gentleman introduced himself as Dave 9Y4??? from Trinidad - I'm
sorry but I did not write it down. Since I was taking my daughter to
work at Fairview Park mall I suggested he meet me in the parking lot. We
were sitting talking and found that Dave had just moved to the Toronto
area from Trinidad and was looking for information on repeaters in the
area.
As we talked I had my 440 radio on listening to the IRLP traffic on the
Denver reflector. I explained the setup to him and I don't think he
believed me so I put out a call to demonstrate the IRLP to him when Paul
VE3SY came back us. After I explained the situation to him he kindly
suggested he bring up the node in The Commonwealth of Dominica (not the
Dominican Republic but a small Caribbean Island near St. Lucia and
Guadeloupe) . When Dave heard the call from Cecile J79CS in Dominica his
eyes lit up so I put him on the radio and let him talk to the Cecile.
All in all, I was a very interesting time for all. Dave 9Y4??? (in
all the fun I forgot to get his full call sorry) has a 2metre radio
and I am sure we will find him on the local repeaters in the future.
Bill Riddell VE3WFR