After New Year’s, I headed North to Ohio, with a stop-off in Athens to visit old college Professors who remain friends. Swell time chatting about a myriad of things. Confirms why we are still close after ‘lo these many years (I met Karen in 1969, her first year teaching at Ohio University, when she lived above my and my wife in Carriage Hill apartments…)
Then it was further Northward, to visit my Mother, as well as some planned tower work f0r old pals W8AV and K8MFO. The visit to AV’s showed the problem close up, but a repair was impossible (for me, at least). With a constant 30MPH wind at the top, I was just too reluctant to take the antenna off the mast (which the fix required). Plus my hands were literally freezing, So, I fixed things so Goose can actually use the beam, and climbed down. We’ve rescheduled the proper fix when the weather is better (besides, it’s a good excuse to visit my Mother again, too).
The next day’s visit to K8MFO went somewhat better. All the tower mods and fixes went off okay, but the 40M Mosley dipole remains a mystery. It shows perfect SWR. But it’s dead on receive! Very weird. Again, a proper fix in warmer conditions is warranted. (Besides, Don has worked everything on 40M except P5 and BS7. I think the dipole is doing a pretty good job as-is!)
The temperatures in Ohio are simply too cold for this adopted Southern boy. Lows in single digits when getting up, the wind, and snow flurries are just not my idea of a good time. To say nothing of lousy conditions for tower work. Heading home soon to warmer clime and hopefully better conditions, although the weather map shows a front heading Eastward.
I know winter only officially began on December 22nd, but I’m more-than-ready for spring anytime. The sooner the better, in fact.
stay tuned…
