When I see a long list of countries I find it irresistible to check it off against my 200 + country QSL (station verification) list which I've collected over the past 45 years. And so it was with the Olympic Games ceremony on Friday night in London. Among the 201 countries filing past that aren't on my QSL list is the Bahamas. ZNS-1 from the Bahamas Broadcasting Corporation on 1540 AM has been audible in Cape Town for decades and I must have sent a dozen reports but with never a squeak back. I know some DXers have got one so there's always a hope. It struck me how many countries have attended the Games over the years without winning a single medal. It is a tribute to human striving that they keep coming back with athletes who have made the qualifying standard in the hope of one day breaking their duck. The South African team is targeting '12 medals in 2012' but the London bookies are putting the odds on quite a bit less than that. Most of the athletes are camped in the Olympic village with its thin walls and cramped conditions, not ideal for being at your best on race day, so anything can happen. One country at the Games that I do have on my QSL list is the low-profile Central African Republic. Like South Africa, this country tells you exactly where it is! It was heard on 60mb in French in Cape Town in 1971. The form letter apologises for not having a QSL card.
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