[AMRadio] Maine visit

[Geoff]

On 03/18/2013 12:19 PM, Steve WA1QIX wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 10:39 AM, Geoff <w5omr at att.net> wrote:
>>
>> I don't know how you N'orEasteners do it!  New England ain't no place 
>> for a Texan! And there's another Foot of snow forecast? Nooo, not me. 
>> Not the kid! UhUh!!
>
> Hi Geoff, great talking with you when you were visiting, and of course 
> adding you to the official "Lonely Guys" roster when you checked into 
> the Lonely Guys net on Saturday morning.

I had an awesome time in the NE... I would love to have a rig on the air 
that I could operate remote from down here to join you guys on a regular 
basis.  Does anyone archive the audio of the net and make it available 
on-line?

>
> But, how DO we deal with the WX?  Sometimes I wonder...lived in New 
> England for just shy of 60 years.  One *good* thing about winter is 
> that it kills off all the bad stuff like alligators, really bad 
> insects, most poison snakes, etc. so it is fairly safe to go outside 
> and hike in the mountains (which I do all spring/summer/fall).

Everything down here that slithers, creeps or crawls, bites. ;-) 
Sometimes, if your mobile antenna installation hasn't been properly 
cared for (or a problem crops up you're not aware of) even the backs of 
microphones 'bite', Steve.  I was working on the mobile antenna to be on 
AM while I was up there, but never did figure it out, until I got back 
home.  I got -lucky- and temporarily abated an intermittent problem 
while motoring through Virginia (after the snow storm that later 
hammered the NE area), but it was in Larry's/NE1S's driveway where I got 
a singe on the palm of my hand, when checking SWR.  Still got that mark, 
too.  400w and RF Feedback ain't fun! (Ouch!)


> The worst weather * I've * ever seen personally was in Houston TX.  I 
> could NOT believe the humidity combined with the heat.  How do people 
> live there??  :-) (they say the same thing about New England during 
> the winter, I'm sure!).

Air conditioning... swimming pools (when it's above 85) swamp coolers 
(in arid SW locations) - many ways to stay cooler than melting here in 
the summer time...  including sitting in an air-conditioned shack, 
sipping sweet iced-tea and operating some 10m AM on a Saturday morning...

>
> Anyway, great talking with you Geoff - we'll catch up on the air, I'm 
> sure.


Went to a hamfester here, yesterday (Greater Houston area) and I found 
an old Heathkit oil-filled Cantenna Dummy Load.  For $5.00. Also got a 
pair of low-pass filters, for the same price.

I connected the mineral-oil filled cantenna up to the 250THx250TH rig 
and turned on a solid-state rx to monitor... wanted to hear the rig 
without RF Feedback... and 'whoa'... there's something seriously wrong 
with the audio.  I'll be working on it, soon!

Tried connecting one side of the B+ supply to one plate of the modulator 
to form an autoformer... I'll be taking that back out, and replacing 
that T-368 step-down transformer, with my old-buzzard RCA Liberty-ship 
1:1 @ 5500 Ohm mod xfrmr.  pull the link back a little in the final, 
crank up the B+ ... be back to making Angel Music in No time! ;-)

73 = Best Regards,
-Geoff/W5OMR