We put up a beam and it was working great. It rained Saturday night and
the morning SWRs were terrible.
When we took it down, we discovered the beam was upside-down. The
trap's weep holes were facing up and the traps were full of water.
Buck, K4ia
Fredericksburg, VA
On 5/21/2026 4:03 PM, K9ZTV via Elecraft wrote:
Good one, Fred. The best yet.
73,
Kent
K9ZTV
On May 21, 2026, at 2:39 PM, Fred Jensen via Elecraft<[email protected]>
wrote:
A "One ham" QRP FD on a picnic bench at Washoe Lake State Park between Reno
and Carson City NV. K2 + Alexloop antenna, 25W solar panel, couple of LiFePO4 batteries.
All going well, about 0.5 Q's/min on CW. I had taken my license in its frame thinking
it might impress someone.
Two guys in cowboy ["CB"] hats with one guy -- CB1 -- packing a stubby revolver on
his belt approached: <see below>
CB1: "What's going on here?"
ME: "Amateur Radio Field Day. Take your radio to an outdoor location and contact as
many stations as you can"
CB1: "The radio sounds like a secret code"
ME: "It's Morse code but it's not secret."
CB2: "Is this safe?"
ME: "Yes, but" [with feeble attempt at humor] "move away from the loop to be
sure"
CB1: Starts to remove gun from holster. "What?"
ME: "Just kidding!"
CB2: "This is weird. You look like a foreign agent"
ME: "No, I'm not ... but if I was you must know I couldn't tell you."
CB2: "So you are CIA?" <see below>
CB1: "You need a permit to be here."
ME: [showing him my license] "This is my permit"
CB1 to CB2: "Call 911." To ME: You just sit still and don't touch anything."
~5 mins of silence followed by arrival of two state park rangers who suggested
CB1 reholster his gun, looked at my ID and license, wished me good luck, and
escorted the CB's away.
73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
CWops #142
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County
PS: I don't know why, but Nevada is an "open carry state." Both CB's seemed
to be a couple of French fries short of a Happy Meal. They didn't come back.
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home:http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help:http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post:mailto:[email protected]
This list hosted by:http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list:http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered [email protected]
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[email protected]
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to [email protected]
