08/20/2007 | WD4NIT As has been my custom since 2000, I participated with my local
radio club at Carters Lake dam (nw GA) on Saturday afternoon. Since their site was a picnic area it was a day-use only area.
I reserved a camp site for Friday and Saturday nights at Doll
Mountain campground, about 3 miles upstream (east) from the dam. However it is close to ten miles by road. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers issued "special event permits" to both the club and to
me individually. I chose a camp site well away from others so as
to not disturb others and so violate the quiet hours park rule.
Also, I used my pickup 12V system for power. My Yeasu FT-100
will not run long, especially on transmit, on a battery that is not
being charged. So I ran the truck engine, which is quieter than
many portable engine-generator sets.
My struggles with Murphy began Friday. After setting up the
pop-up I found that the cord reel that held my wire dipole had
no 450 Ohm feedline. In a year I had forgotten that I cut loose
the feedline in 2006 and stored it separately. I needed to return home anyway Saturday morning, but could not find my 100 foot line. So I
did find 50 feet of 3 conductor flat rotator line. Lower unknown
impedance, but better than no line. (I used the outer two conductors.) So Saturday evening I put up my antenna using my fishing reel equipped slingshot and some convenient trees. But
then I discovered that my hood latch was jammed and spent 2 to 3
hours unsucessfully trying to open the hood. Finally I cut the
cigarette lighter plug off my compressor to get power for my rig.
Made a few contacts on 40 meter SSB and went home Sunday at mid-
day. Hope you had a smoother operation!! The other members
of the WD4NIT team were my wife and two granddaughters. Warren -- WD4NIT