Spent the last couple weeks getting ready for the January contest, on schedule,
antennas tuned, cables tested. Everything rock solid and looking good then....
Friday I improperly rigged my winch for lowering the fold over mast and dropped
it from 45 degrees into the cradle. Bent the mast, pretzeled the 6m beam, bent
the other three booms and a bunch of elements along with crushing cables.
Amazed that the guys and mast didnt hit me as I stood on the Jeep roof as it
sliced past me inches away. God protects the stupid.
A few seconds lapse in focus and it was looking FUBAR for January.
Its been 18hr days ever since. Not sure it's perfect yet but getting close.
Finally got back on the air tonight. Everything works. Ran the four low bands
FM simplex and SSB on 6, 2 and 70cm. Need to do more testing with weak stations
to be sure but I will get a good night's sleep tonight.
Big shout out to Gerry at SSB who walked me through test procdures for the mast
mounted pre amps. They took a big shock but came through undamaged. Great
product and even greater support. Thank you Gerry for your patience.
Contest ops info in a couple days.
Good luck to all.
73
John
KM4KMU
Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
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