Last night, even though it was Flying Pigs Run For the Bacon night; I hit the hay at 9:00 PM. I had to get up at 5:00 AM this morning so I could be at work by 6:00 AM. Every Monday morning I have to put together a 2000 line spreadsheet from scratch and the process takes me about 3 or 4 hours depending on how much I get interrupted.
Anyway, around 11:30 or so last night, I was rudely awakened by what could only be described as the sound of a stick of dynamite going off underneath my bed. We were having a good ol' fashioned heat wave thunderstorm. Problem is that the lightning was striking close ...... very close. The thunder was lound enough to wake me from my slumber, which surprised my wife (who once told me that I could sleep through an atom bomb going off).
It's a good thing that I keep the antennas disconnected from the radio and shunted to ground when not in use. I've seen blue static sparks jump the gap from center pin to ground on PL-259 coax connectors during Field Day thunderstorms. I definitely wouldn't like that kind of arc playing havoc with my gear.
I placed an order Friday night with Universal Radio for a Diamond dual band magmount mobile antenna. I went a little on the cheap side and got one of their less expensive numbers. I'm still trying to save up for that Kenwood tri-band HT - the TH6FA or whatever the model is? Once again, I digress. Hopefully the antenna will make it here this week - Ohio to New Jersey isn't THAT far; and hopefully I'll get to install my Hamfest Doorprize in the Explorer next weekend.
73 de Larry W2LJ
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