[CQ-Contest] Radio as Carry-On Luggage?

[Eric Hilding]

Yes, there were some typo & other errors on the Cargo Manifest, and the 
Farallon Special list was duplicated.  Items were split out into two 
separate carry cases at the last minute, but I ran out of time to modify 
the lists.  It was "close enough for Gov't work at the time...which had run 
out...I had to leave.

There was only one item that I hadn't considered as "essential", and 
subsequently also learned something about the contraction of aluminum 
tubing during this trip that may be helpful to someone else here...before 
you leave.

It was cold & windy on SouthEast Farallon Island.  We got Mike QRV on one 
band while I set about to install the Farallon Special.  When I went to 
insert the (male) swaged legs of the Force 12 X-Base into the (female) "X" 
parts, they wouldn't fit.  But they did in my driveway/test range before 
the trip!  My heart sunk to my feet, because duct tape would not solve the 
problem with the high winds we had there.

In the cold, it turned out that the non-swaged (female) aluminum sections 
on the X-Base shrunk more than the swaged (male) ends of the legs to be 
inserted...just enough to not allow a coupling.   I shudder to think how 
much more difficult a problem this would have been if we were in much 
colder WX.

As I stood there with the wind pounding me, and realizing I had not thought 
about the need for any metal files (I did have a small piece of sandpaper, 
but that wouldn't do the job), I realized that our rigs were set up in the 
small "Carpenter Shop" building.  I ran back inside to see if there were 
any metal files there.  WOW...right in the shop tool bins above the 
workbench (our "operating table"), were two metal files sticking out.

So I "borrowed" one and went back out in the wind and filed away on the 
swaged ends enough to get them to finally slide inside the female tubes on 
the X-Base.  Talk about a "Miracle" !!!

Yes, I bought two different sizes of metal files at ACE Hardware when we 
got back, and these are now deemed "critical" items for any future trips.

FYI & 73...

RIck, K6VVA