FOX TROUBLES!!

Here's a report from Marshall, N1FN, concerning
his attempts at staying on the air July 15, 2004!


Hi, Guys--
 
Didn't hear too many of you last night, but my "circumstances" might well have 
had something to do with it ... look at this log summary!
(Dick and Vince-- feel free to use this in LD [g])
 
0100-0128 Normal fox hunt, albeit with high noise level due to
thunderstorms in the area and poor propagation..
 
0129  The power goes off while I am sending  to N0JRN .  Shouldn't be a
problem, because I have a Plan B: about 120AH of backup battery power
which is available at the flip of a switch.  But the batteries are dead. 
OK, run upstairs to get a flashlight, back down to crawl under the table
and see if maybe the problem is in the home-brew charger/controller. 
Probably is, but the result has been dead flat batteries. Find my little
transparent kit telephone whose only virtue is that it doesn't need mains
power, and call the power company to see if they have an estimate for when
the AC will be back, and they do-- 0530Z. Thinking about giving up and
maybe asking for a re-run later, but I'd hate to have wasted evertbody's
time, and besides, this is a CHALLENGE, dammit.  Time for Plan C.
 
Plan C is simple in theory-- back the car out of the garage into the
driveway and continue "mobile."  One problem-- my ATAS100 antenna is
missing its whip, which got stolen while the car was parked downtown.  I
had been dragging my feet because this was the second time that had
happened.  Well, it's just a 36" piece of stiff wire, maybe I can come up
with a q&d replacement.  Need to open the garage door for some light, but
the button doesn't do anything.  Duh.  OK, hop in the car and try the
remote, which is battery operated....  double DUH.  Mildly embarrassing to
relate that, but evidence of how focused I was.  Got the garage door open
and stripped out a piece of 14ga wire from a piece of electrical cable. 
It fits-- car out of the garage, windows open, hit the tune button and
voila!  
 
0210 I'm back on the air, but signing /M and with a far inferior antenna
and receiver.  Figure I better operate simplex because the FT100D will do
split but I don't have time to figure out exactly how. Also sent it all by
hand because I didn't think I had time to figure out how to program the
keyer. Oddly, the log says I still managed to run about a Q a minute.  
 
0231  I see the motion sensor security lights come on in front of the
garage.  Hmmm... wonder if my little 5W of RF set them off.  Duh!  The
power is back on. Close up the car and get back to the basement and back
in action without the /M 
 
0236 back on the air for the last 25 minutes or so.  Rough count has 65
Q's in the log, the last of which was a surprising UU4JM. And boy am I
glad I decided not to log on the computer.  Won't be able to type up and
publish it till this weekend sometime, but at least there IS a log!
 
Have to say, this was the most interesting fox hunt I've ever done, and in
retrospect the most fun.   
 
So...  I hope it was fun for the hounds, and not too confusing.  And I'm
particularly sorry if anyone missed out on a pelt due to my equipment
problems. 
 
73 DE ET
 
 
 
 
73
Marshall Emm
N1FN/VK5FN
n1fn@MorseX.com
Morse Express and Oak Hills Research
"Everything for the Morse Enthusiast"
http://www.MorseX.com
http://www.ohr.com
(303)752-3382




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