November 3, 2004

County hunter captures elusive contest

TC resident contacts every county in the US with ham radio

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       The United States includes 3,077 counties, parishes and judicial districts.
      Undaunted by that number or the geography of a continent, Joe Novak has communicated with an amateur radio operator in every one of them.
      The city resident and veteran 'ham' has been a county hunter, as they are called, since 1998. Over the past six years, he has slowly colored in county after county on his state-by-state notebook - referred to among county hunters as "The Coloring Book." He meticulously compiled documentation of each contact.
      Novak's successful hunt, which includes the continental United States as well as Alaska and Hawaii, made him the 1,091st person to complete this quest in the 40 years of its existence.
      For his efforts, Novak received a CQ Magazine's USA Counties Award (USA-CA) in March of 2004.
      Novak described his county hunt effort Tuesday evening last week with members of the Cherryland Amateur Radio Club at their monthly meeting at the Governmental Center.
      "This country has lots of territory and I've been very fortunate to be able to work a station in every one of the counties," said Novak, a ham since he was 15. "I didn't realize how many there were until I started this."
      Each radio contact required written verification from the sender, which Novak tracked by state. A county hunter is nothing if not organized, monitoring multiple things simultaneously: upcoming potential contacts via a website, contacts made, requests for verification mailed out (SASE included) and verifications received.
      Early on, Novak realized one thing: this could be an expensive proposition. Projected postage for two mailings to each of the counties came to nearly $2,300, though he found ways to cut corners using mobile reply cards.
      Novak credits his wife, Jan, with extraordinary tolerance during this odyssey. He placed remote speakers at multiple locations around his home to track incoming calls and rush to his radio room when a county he was chasing came up. During an extended renovation effort of a family farmhouse in Omena, he used a baby monitor to monitor the base radio while tearing down walls or hanging drywall in other rooms.
      "The other half has to tolerate us, Jan has been very understanding, helpful and encouraging in my quest," he noted.
      Numerous fellow hams in the Cherryland club also helped out, including one who helped Novak harvest counties in Texas. That state has 254 counties and his friend helped him get the last one.
      Another helper was Ed Elkin of Traverse City and his son, Tim, who are both county hunters. The senior Elkin has 160 counties to go in his own quest and is a veteran of many other ham contests, both national and international.
      "County hunting is very fast-moving," said Elkin, who works for the Michigan Department of Corrections at the Pugsley Correctional Facility. "Once you get the contest bug, it is very hard to get away from it."
      Hams help each other by posting any travel plans on the county hunter website. As they drive their route, those with mobile units make contact with hunters county by county. They later sign and return requests for verification.
      Tim Elkin has the distinction of getting Novak's last county: Lawrence, Pa. Elkin, who lives in Grand Blanc, learned that Novak needed this elusive county and offered to drive there for him.
      Along the way, Tim Elkin used his mobile unit to make contact with other hunters at a rate of 30 words per minute Morse code - while driving. He also took a picture of his car at the county line to Lawrence, which Novak proudly hung in his home.
      "He drove 13 hours and 675 miles for little old me and he also ran through 19 counties and put those out there for other people, too," Novak said.
      Novak noted that afterward, Elkin sent him a joking invoice for gas costs and one extra expense: "Helping a fellow county hunter with the whole ball of wax: priceless!"
      Sometimes the memories that linger are the counties that got away. The pressure mounts as the numbers get down to 150 left, 100 left so missing a critical one is a blow. The last dozen are an eternity, Novak said, and lost opportunities rankle.
      "What really kills you is say you need Itasca County, Minn., and you come home and you just missed it by 15 minutes," Elkin noted.