Summer Fox Hunt Season

The 2010 Summer QRP Fox Hunt season commenced this evening. The two Foxes were Jim N0UR in Minnesota and Sam N4SAM in Alabama.

I managed to bag a pelt from Jim early on; but Sam proved to be pesky. I had to turn the AGC off to hear him (only with the vertical - the G5RV yielded nothing) and at BEST he was 339. I listened until close to the bitter end; but could tell he switched from working split to simplex only by the stations calling him on frequency. At this point he was at ESP levels (I think I hear him!!!!); so I called it quits for the night.

In the middle of listening for Sam, a W8 station came on frequency and sent a "QRL?" - I have to give him credit for that. But about a bajillion guys answered "YES" and this guy began calling CQ anyway! He had to have heard at least one "YES" out of the multitude - wouldn't you think?

Oh well, at least I was able to tack one pelt on the wall!

UPDATE - I was able to get the battery inserts soldered up properly after the power came back on. I "cheated" profusely, however. Since I know these tabs are difficult to solder (they warn you about this in the instructions) and the plastic insert melts quickly, I did two things. First, I scraped the surface of the tabs really well with my venerable Swiss Army knife. Then I really cheated and put some old, expired AA batteries into the inserts to act as heat sinks. It worked as I was rewarded with the display coming on as I switched to the internal batteries. However, my confidence in those battery holders is not 100%. I think when we go on vacation, I will bring along one of my small 12V SLAs as a precautionary backup. Also, I think I am going to place an order for better battery inserts with Mouser or Jameco.

72 de Larry W2LJ