[RTTY] RTTY Contesters Nightmare, Or how not to treat radios!

[Gordon LaPoint]

The BARTG sprint is/was one of my favorite contests, until this last
one.  I knew that I would only be able to operate a few hours, not the
entire contest. I got started at about 16:20, got the computer booted up
the contest setup entered in writelog, checked the antennas, and was
good to go, I thought.  The wind was about 25 to 30 mph, 8 degrees F,
and snowing about 2 inches an hour!!  Good time to stay in and work
radio!  The first contact came about 16:28 or so, VE1OP, on 20meters.
Thanks!  I went along nicely for a while, working 20, 15 and trying some
10meters, not much on 10.  Had the IC-756 pro2 working hard at 100 watts
out, the amp never used during contests!  Had the 706 in the shack for a
change, hooked it up to the 40 meter loop (notice LOOP) and thought I
would setup for SO2R for a change, never done it before so thought I
would try, got two rttyright windows, two mmtty windows, both working
and decoding signals fine, the 706 on 40 and the 756 on 20, or 15. Break
for family obligations at 1700z, don't get back until 19:30, back on the
air at 19:40z. Still only using one radio, but tuning and listening with
the other one, new experience, never had two radios hooked up before!! 
Lots of fun, but confusing to one that has run rtty for years with wf1b
then writlog software.
Things go good until I hear a JA station on 20meters at about 22:30z,
First JA I have heard during this contest. Medium pileup, does not hear
me so I bandmap him and go to work others, still doing S&P, find a
strong station that normally hears me fine, no response, he just keeps
CQ'ing, I'm being ignored!!!  Find another strong one, again I get
ignored!!  Time to look, OOPS, no power out on the watt meter, PANIC!!
Check setup, looks good, manually key the 756, no power, go to dummy
load, change modes, change bands, NO POWER OUT, does show some current
draw when key down, but not enough, Finals must be gone!!! Done for the
evening, so shutdown, tell xyl radio broke, go to bed.

Next morning, move the 706 to the operating position, hookup to the G5RV
so I can do the 60mtr emergency net at 08:00 local.  Still SNOWING and
BLOWING outside, now about 20 inches of snow, 4 degrees F and 20 MPH
wind, still blizzard conditions!  Talk to KT1I on 60mtr, chan.1, just
before the net, then NO POWER OUT of the 706, Shades of last night,
panic again!!  Get the MFJ259B analyzer and hook it up to the G5RV, it
shows normal, then goes wild and quits working!!!  Now have 2 dead
radios, and a borrowed analyzer, all dead!  Looks like the polyphaser I
WAS going to install, is too late. 

Dropped off the 756 at the local repair shop this morning, hope to hear
by the end of the week what the damage is. The 706 they wont touch, so 
calling other service providers, the MFJ is off to Starksvill MS for
repair.

The xyl wonders why I'm crying in my coffee on Monday morning, I tell
her it is withdrawal, no hf radio in the house that works :(

Lessons learned, use the Polyphaser, When it is very high static
conditions, SHUTDOWN the station and ground the coax's.  
NOTE: it is the TX that took the hits NOT the RX, rx still working!!
antenna tests good after the storm passes!

-- 
Gordon - N1MGO  new rtty contester for the past 7 or so years
n1mgo at arrl.net