[MRCA] Angry 9 On the Road

[Christopher Bowne]

Although I could not get down to Gilbert, I did have some fun yesterday with the 
GRC-9 mobile in our new Tacoma pickup.  Finally got a bit of time to mount  and 
wire up the 9 yesterday morning.  Running power from the DY88 up to the battery 
took a bit longer than I expected, so I was not able to work any of the gang 
down at Gilbert.  The DY88 power cable was a bit too short to reach the battery 
directly, so I had to fabricate some extension wiring, along with in line 
fusing.  Strapped the 9 over on the right rear jump seat, and put the DY88 on 
the floor behind the driver seat.  The Tacoma access cab jump seat bottoms flip 
up to a vertical position when not in use, and the flat surface of the seat 
bottom is a perfect location to strap onto.  There is a small stowage beneath 
the seat that keeps the radio at a good height to get at the controls.  Using  
my 40 meter Hamstick mounted at the left rear corner of the pickup bed for the 
antenna.

Made quite a few QSOs while out and about yesterday afternoon.  With the radio 
set where it is, I had to set up a T/R frequency while stopped, but was able to 
make several QSOs underway. Obviously I could not make any adjustments  
underway, but did a lot of CQing and got several responses.  I used my little 
Elecraft K1 as a frequency meter/signal monitor to keep an ear on the transmit 
signal quality.  I was pretty impressed how stable the transmitter was on the 
road.  With the tuning dials locked down, the transmit frequency was very stable 
, and there were only slight hiccups from any road bumps.  There was only 
minimal ignition noise from the Tacoma, power line noise was actually more of a 
bother.  Chirp on 40 was  much less than what many of you have heard from it on 
3570, just a little "vintage character".  


Along with the QSOs, a check of reversebeacon.net showed that the CQs lit up 
quite a few hits, including a few over the pond from CQs early last night.

All in all, a lot of fun!  Going to head down to Stonington Point in a bit to 
try for some early morning  sunrise Qs  on the low end of 40, and take some 
photos of the setup to post.  Will get the 80 meter whip tuned up for checking 
into the OMRN CW net tonight as well.

Maybe I should throw out a challenge for some other GRC-9s  to go mobile for 
some 9 to 9 mobile QSOs?

BTW,  one of the first stations I heard Friday night  on 40 CW while setting up 
the Elecraft K1 in the truck was WW2LST, I assume it was Perry.  Did he work any 
of the gang at Gilbert?