[CQ-Contest] Amazing PJ2T Corrosion Photo

[Geoff Howard]

Contesters,

I though you might get a kick out of this photo. This is a 3Com 
Network Interface Card that I removed yesterday from one of our inop 
PCs at PJ2T. This card has been inside the PC case since it has been 
on the island, never exposed directly to salt air. The other side of 
the card was nearly perfect.

Clever troubleshooter that I am, I detected that this card might no 
longer want to work right, put in a replacement NIC, installed new 
drivers, did some other minor maintenance, and this computer came 
back to life. Amazing.

This is The Battle of the Corrosion that we fight day in and out here 
in Curacao. Anything metal is in jeopardy. Even some grades of 
stainless and aluminum are not immune.The insides of all of our 
FT-1000s are brown, for example, after about a year on the island.

So whenever you hear PJ2T pop up on the air for a contest, it's a new 
miracle all over again that we have been able to get enough gear 
working to put even one signal on the air. (This past two weeks I 
have repaired four croaked linears and six dead PCs.) Fun and games.

See you in ARRL CW, and thanks for all the QSOs.

        73,

            - Geoff, W0CG, PJ2DX,The PJ2T Maintenance Man and Chief Janitor