I don’t recall anything particularly interesting from my hamming youth; but
the most vivid memory of portable ops came in 1973 in a Fiat 124 where I had
mounted an HW-101 and its power supply in the already-cramped passenger
footwell. As part of the effort to squelch the awful ignition noise, I decided
I would put ordinary coax braid around all of the plug wires and ground it to
the engine block and the frame.
About a month in I had a chance to meet a prospective client – the senior VP of
a California bank -- and drive him to a meeting of his trade association.
He found the HW-101 hitting his legs somewhere between amusing and annoying.
And then the car stopped. In the center lane of the Hollywood Freeway where,
if I remember it right, it narrows and goes through Cahuenga pass. We alone
were keeping 300,000 other drivers from getting home to the Valley in time for
dinner. The prospective client sat in the car with his feet hitting the HW-101
as I tore all the braid off the plug wires trying to restore the shorted
distributor. He was no longer amused. He was, from a business point of view,
fatally annoyed.
A KX2 if available at the time could have effected a career-altering change.
Ted, KN1CBR
------------------------------
Message: 22
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2016 09:36:32 -0700
From: Wayne Burdick <[email protected]>
To: Elecraft <[email protected]>, KX3 <[email protected]>
Subject: [Elecraft] Camping radio ops: then and now
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
My first attempt to operate from a campsite was in 1972, when I was 14. My
dad chuckled as I hefted my box of gear into the camper. At the time I had no
battery powered radios. The receiver was a Heathkit HR-10B. The transmitter was
a 3-tube, 10-watt, WW2 CW monstrosity I borrowed from someone in the El Cajon
ARC. I also didn't have an antenna tuner, so I brought a full-size 40-m dipole
with #18 wire and 100' of RG58. Keyer was a Heath HD-10.
Our campsite in Utah didn't have an electrical outlet. Fortunately I had a
very long extension cord that I routed through the window of the men's room,
two campsites down. I had to apologize to hostile strangers as I wove the cord
through bushes and around cars.
Getting the heavy dipole up into the ponderosas required rope, rocks, and a
few swear words I hadn't used in front of my parents prior to that time.
Finally, I was on the air. Unfortunately the band wasn't particularly open
that day, and I think I ended up making three contacts. Still, I got The Bug.
These days, I use a KX2, two lengths of #26 wire, an earbud/mic, and a
KXPD2 paddle. Total station weight: 2 lbs, counting the CS40 bag. Setup time: 2
or 3 minutes, depending on how many times it takes to hit just the right branch
with a 1 ounce stainless steel weight. Or 1 minute if I'm using a whip.
It's been a wild journey that I suppose could be graphed in terms of miles
per watt per pound over 40 years.
I bet there a few other variations on this theme....
73,
Wayne
N6KR
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