[Mldxcc] My Car Vandalized: Bold Move!

[John Miller]

So...........Yesterday about noon, I stopped by George's (K6GT) house  
(thanks, George) for some badly needed 51 ohm, 2 watt grid resistors  
-- for my ailing AL-811H.  Then I  headed to my favorite electronics  
supply house:  HSC Electronics on Central at Ryder in Santa Clara.   
Ran in to get $0.36 worth of 0.01 uF capacitors -- for my ailing  
AL-811H.  While at the cash register, someone yelled out "There's a  
Dodge Intrepid in the parking lot with a broken window."  Gee, I  
thought, too bad for that guy.

I headed back out to the parking lot 5 minutes later ----- and was  
stunned to find that the passenger side window in My Dodge Intrepid  
had disintegrated into pieces and my windshield-mounted GPS was no  
longer there.  This was at 1PM with a parking lot full of eager  
hobbyists coming and going, and I was only in the store for 10 minutes.

The helpful police officer who stopped by 20 minutes later said that  
there has been a rapid upswing in auto vandalism over the last few  
months -- $$ needed either to feed the family or a drug habit -- and  
my GPS unit was either at the local flea market or on Craigslist by  
now.  The latest break-in technique is not to use a tire iron, but the  
end of a spark plug, which scores the window, creating a devastating,  
but silent, blow to the glass.  Jeez.

After racing to get my window repaired before the heavy rain hit late  
yesterday (didn't quite make it), I headed home for some therapeutic  
soldering.  No go.  My ailing AL-811H is still ailing.  After  
replacing the 811As, grid resistors, capacitors, and a diode, I'm now  
getting negative grid current readings and still blowing fuses.  This  
amplifier is trying to tell me that it misses the Mother Ship and  
needs to visit Mississippi for some serious re-work.  Looks like I can  
borrow an amp from K9YC for this weekend, but I'm not sure if I'll  
need it, since after yesterday I'll be yelling "CQ SS" much louder  
than usual.  : >)

So -- word to the wise: TIWY.  Don't leave your GPS units, laptops,  
cell phones, iPods, or anything "flea market worthy" in your car --  
even for a short period of time.  Take It With You.

73, John K6MM