[AMRadio] Shocking Stories (was: amazed...)

[sbjohnston at aol.com]

> Someday I'll tell the story of the 300-watt guitar amp and the metal
> screwdriver...    it went to 11, alright...

Listen to the substain, man...


Steve WD8DAS

sbjohnston at aol.com
http://www.wd8das.net/
-----------------------------------------------------
Radio is your best entertainment value.
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-----Original Message-----
From: John Lawson <jpl15 at panix.com>
To: Discussion of AM Radio in the Amateur Service 
<amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:53 pm
Subject: [AMRadio] Shocking Stories (was: amazed...)












    I lived in a coastal canyon for many years. Right after I got my 
ticket,
I amassed the typical 'impossible dream of electronic childhood' - a 
nice
Collins S-Line set-up.

   Before I had any antenna smarts, I stretched an enormous long-wire 
down
to one end of my property, very nearly 500 feet of copper. And, I 
end-fed
it, with coax. (Well, I used RG8 - what could go wrong???)  No
counterpoise, no grounds (three-story house perched on a 50-degree 
slope).

    This mess was matched to the transmitter with a horrible home-brew 
tuner
I got at a ham-fest - a huge butterfly variable cap and a 4-inch tapped
coil and switch on an open aluminum chassis.


    One afternoon, I tuned 'er up, made a few contacts, chewed a rag or 
two
- then it was Dinner Time.  After relaxing a bit, I returned to the 
shack
to see what Night would bring....   one of the things Night brought was 
a
15-degree drop in outside temperature.  And the 500 feet of copper 
reacted
accordingly.

    I had a footswitch attached to the PTT line, and, after checking 
that
the transmitter was still in tune, listened for a bit and called CQ - 
got
a station right back.

   When it was again my turn, I hit the footswitch and leaned into the
microphone, whereupon a nice fat little 1-inch RF arc leapt from the 
mic
to the side of my lip.  Seems a voltage node had 'backed' back into the
shack with the change in length/tuning...


    "Okay, Station X, FB on the..." zzzZZAAp!  "*&{}#&*$*!!!$*(*@~!!!!"


  What I screamed into the open mike cannot be reproduced here, and
certainly has no place on the ham bands...   HIHI!!


    For months after that I cringed every time I opened the mailbox,
expecting a nice little note from the FCC inviting me to explain 
myself...
but, I'm still here, as is my ticket.


     Someday I'll tell the story of the 300-watt guitar amp and the 
metal
screwdriver...    it went to 11, alright...



   Cheers

John KB6SCO
DM09fg
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