[Fwd: Re: [PVRCNC] NC QSO PARTY (& HRO)]

[Jim Price WW4M]

Fwd on behalf of AD4L de WW4M


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [PVRCNC] NC QSO PARTY (& HRO)
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 22:16:57 -0500
From: Pete Soper <ad4l@portbridge.com>
To: ww4m@ipass.net
References: <126.b6e3a17.29941ac2@aol.com>

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I promise to exercise my DVK for at least four hours and be super
friendly for this party.  I could lash my IC735 into a car but only have
a 15m mobile antenna that is dimmer than an N6BT lightbulb, so working
from home would be better for supporting this QSO party.

After endless trips out west I finally visited the Sunnyvale, California
Ham Radio Outlet after work today. It was disappointing. I confess I
paid no attention to their prices and only went in with a "bird in the
hand" motivation. Here was my shopping list:

  120' 5 conductor rotor cable
  100' coax with loss similar to Davis RF Bury Flex
  200' stranded copperweld
  25' RG11 for transmission line transformers

They had 100' coils of coax with connectors in place but I never got to
the point of finding out the price. I couldn't get them to tell me the
specs for this coax, despite it being Beldon. Does it seem unreasonable
that I expected them to be able tell me the db loss per 100' for this
cable? I guess it was, as the guy resisted any temptation to look for a
spec and instead asked me what band I wanted to use it for, preparing to
deem it OK or not OK for that band, etc like I was a doofus appliance
operator. I asked him various questions to try to establish how close to
9914F it was, etc and that went nowhere. When I asked about rotor cable
I found they sell exactly two types (the usual 8 conductor stuff for
Hygain rotors) and the smaller gauge was 49 cents a foot. My thoughts
turned to a Davis RF order as I wondered if they might at least have
RG11 as I need to make a transformer for a 3/4wl 15m wire I want to use
as a third antenna for the ARRL DX test. The sales guy reacted as if I
was asking for an ounce of plutonium. I made small talk and paid for
some copperweld and left.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where Southeastern Electronics in Raleigh earned
a 1 for quality of customer experience, I'd give HRO a 3. 

But there are some very cool places out here. Some of you may have dealt
with HSC (Halted) if you read "Nuts and Volts" or the like, and that's
like a good hamfest's electronics component layout that's always
available. I got some Molex connectors that might fit the MFJ 434 DVK
for 42 cents each. If you guys need something I'd be happy to look for
it when I'm out here.

Sorry I missed the meeting, and especially sorry to not be able to meet
K4JA.

Regards,
Pete AD4L (Mountain View, CA)