GROAN.......
Got things partially set up, and realized I didn't have a power supply with me.
45 minute round trip to home and back, and then I found I didn't have a Rig Runner with me!
Luckily, one of the guys had a home made Power Pole pigtail with him, that gave me just enough connections to get going.
Then I found I didn't have the correct clamps to hold the cross-boom into the elevation rotor, so had to mickey mouse it with hose clamps.
Then calibrated the rotor, and had everything ready to go just as the Space Station went over the horizon.
They're active this year, so I'll try and get them on the next pass in about two hours.
A lot of this heartburn is MY fault, as I didn't set everything up to run this year, and as a result, I was missing items that I had cannibalized for my "Iowa Box".
BUT, everything is up and apparently running correctly, and since this is positively the LAST time I'm dragging it all out here, I can live with it.
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Merry Christmas - <i>He Is Born</i> -
I'd like to wish my friends here a very Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year. We'll be having our Christmas Dinner with family...
Lists. I make lists. Now my challenge is to remember to look at the list. :-(
ReplyDeleteOld age isn't for wimps.
Trying to make a few field day contacts from my vacation location in western North Carolina.
Terry
Fla.
Well, despite the frustrations, I suppose that Field Day did accomplish one of it's purposes, that of informing you of the things you might look at taking care of before the next disaster. I have no radio preps at all, other than having a AA pack for the HT. But I have list of things to do, which I'm not making much progress on. Just need to get my butt in gear and make some headway, so next year I'll at least have something worth playing with.
ReplyDeleteLessons learned, right? :-) And always remember Murphy was an OPTIMIST!!!
ReplyDelete99% of the problem was self-inflicted.
ReplyDeleteI didn't set things up to check them out this year, like I've always done, and so I didn't catch that the power supply, RigRunner DC distribution panel, and cross-boom to elevation rotor clamps were MIA, and that I had the wrong rotor control box, one for a G-5600 instead of a G-5400.
The first two items got cannabalized for the "Battleship Iowa" tote box, and never replaced.
That was taken care of as soon as I unloaded the Jeep today, and the correct rotor control box was also put in the "Satellite" tote box.
Lessons learned?
ALWAYS put your station together and run it before Field Day!