[ILQSO] N9JF/M SAGA

[Jim Funk]

Taking another break from log processing....  I guess if I'm going to put together the story of last Sunday, I'd better do it while I can still remember the details...

I THOUGHT I had antennas behaving on the car for 20, 40 and 80 this year. Last year, I had nothing for 80 and left a bunch of QSO's on the table. I spent a good portion of a day working on them.  All three loaded well with the IC746Pro with good SWR in the CW bands, and the tuner was happy in the phone bands.  The 20 meter resonator (Hustler) was on the same mast with a 30 meter resonator (in case somebody needed the county on 30 outside of the party) on the roof of the Radio Car (Impala with 304,000 miles but a newer engine and transmission).   The 80 (Hustler) was on a new mast on the trunk with a new 40 resonator (NOT HUSTLER.....).  I worked several people on the County Hunter Net and decided to venture down to the Pike/Calhoun line to try erecting a dipole to compare it with the verticals.

At the county line, the verticals worked fine.  I then spent about 20 minutes trying to throw lines into trees so I could hoist the ends of the dipoles.  I don't throw like I did 20 years ago.  After narrowly missing putting a projectile through the windshield a couple of times, I concluded that "county line portable/rover with a dipole" was not gonna happen.  Back to Plan A.  At least the mobile antennas were working....

On Sunday after church, we headed south to Pike (only 2 miles from home) and were well into the county when the clock flipped over 1700Z.  Some years, it seems to take awhile (sometimes a couple of counties) to get a following. Not the case here.  I had an almost immediate pileup on 40 CW and then went to 20 for a few minutes before hitting Calhoun.  When I went back to 40, the array on the trunk became intermittent....

I lost track of how many times in the next three hours I had Melba pull over and stop so I could try tightening connections on the mast.  Forty would work for a few contacts and then quit.  When it quit, it was DEAD.  Shorted or open, couldn't tell.  Several times, I would get through sending a call and then couldn't send the county name.  WB5JID and N4VV probably thought I was an idiot.  Maybe I was.  After quite a few episodes, I finally figured out that the problem was not the mast.  It was the 40 meter resonator (NOT HUSTLER....).  I had no spare.  (dumb)  Sometimes, especially if we were stopped, I could make a few contacts before it would cut out.  Like the little girl with the curl, when it was good, it was very, very good.  In either Jersey or Greene, I made 10 contacts in 2 minutes. When it was bad...it was maddening.  Twenty wasn't all that great.   Eighty had no activity yet.  I could make a few contacts on 40 each time before the resonator opened (shorted?), including finding quite a few in-state mults on 40 SSB.  There was no point in CQing on SSB.  I spent too much time in some pileups, but the possibility of grabbing 3 or 4 mults in one contact was too alluring to walk away.

During one of the unscheduled egresses from the vehicle, the lap board (with paddles and notepad...notepad, not "Notepad") fell off the dash, re-breaking the dash lever on the paddles.  Oh well...it still worked.  Compared to the antennas, it was a minor aggravation.....

Every time the resonator quit called for a pull off and jumping up onto the trunk to mess with it (tall mast...couldn't reach from the ground).  "You should have brought a step stool..."  "Yes, dear...."  Just when I was ready to completely give up on 40, I would make three or four contacts and think, "Ah, now it's work....oh...DRAT!"

In the middle of Mason County, my phone rang. I ignored it. Then Melba's phone rang.  She answered.  Family crisis.  Next 30 minutes, she is dealing with that on the phone, I am listening to the proceedings with one ear and making contacts on 20 CW (40 not working) with the other.  Can't try phone (she is ON her phone, remember).  We are sitting.  Available band (20) dries up in this county.  We can't move (she is on the phone....). Finally decide we don't need to abort the mission. Drive on to the next county.  Resonator finally quits entirely, no longer responds to any combination of threats, tightening or application of magic feather and snake oil.   At least 80 is picking up.  We are two hours behind schedule, decide to forget McDonough, Knox, Mercer, Warren, Henderson, all of which should be covered by others, and move on through Fulton to Schuyler and Hancock.  Pileups are crazy on 80.  Average a hundred an hour in those counties.  Wind up in Adams at the end with about 20 in the last 9 minutes on 80 meters.

I cannot say very much good about the antenna system.  I cannot say enough good about my driver, KB9CES.  Anyone else would have throttled me or walked away.  What a gal!

I logged on paper all the way and typed the log into Excel when I got home.  That bites.  I need to figure out how to power my laptop with an inverter so I can log on N1MM and avoid that foolishness....

Best regards, 

Jim Funk
Customer Service Engineer

FOSS

800/547-6275 
option 1 for parts, option 3 for service
jfunk at fossna.com

Dedicated Analytical Solutions



"When confident, speak; when in doubt, obfuscate."