[MRCA] Gilbert AAR

[MilComm Guy]

Left Wednesday night at 11pm, arrived at Gilbert 15 hours later, normally a
12 hour trip but I had to detour to Army Jeep Parts to pick up some tires
for my M151 restoration project.  We hit the heavy rain just as we crossed
into PA.  When we arrived at the Howell building a pond had formed in front
of the garage door, Dale found out just how deep it was when the water ran
over and into his boots, field expedient boot drying by placing them on the
warm M886 ambulance engine was necessary.

The rain stopped early in the evening and Friday was a nice day, vendor
activity was down this year, so was foot traffic, I suspect factors we all
know about.  Commo gear could be had but I did not see anything too rare or
interesting, others may have, the "Radio Bunker" van was missing,
Baranowski was there.  The afternoon radio exercise went well, I operated
as net control at the Howell building along with help from Walt who was in
the field operating Ray's SP 106, great signals from those in the field as
well as some stations checking in from surrounding states.

Saturday was the usual heavy fog early on, vendors were in no hurry to
uncover and get going, it was 9 am or later.  I only noticed about 4 new
vendors showing up Saturday morning, some from Friday were already packed
up and gone.

W2HX had a very nice LR packed with Harris gear in just about every band
you could ask for, also remoted to the driver compartment, made for a very
capable mobile rig.  I had severe ignition noise in my M886 and HF was very
difficult on the trip, luckily Jeff W1AEA had a very strong signal from his
home base and was able to relay my location, thanks Jeff.  My purchases at
the show, PRC-74B, AT-271, jeep parts and a spare tire for my M715.

I left just after 11am Saturday and arrived home at midnight, no issues
with the M886, and encountered some light rain about an hour from home.  I
would like to thank Dale and the rest of the MRCA crew for making the event
a success, very much appreciated.  Hope to see you at the Nearfest event
next month.

73
Mark
K1HF
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