Posted: 9/14/2015 12:33:46 PM EDT
|
I was with my local club out at a state park operating portable for the Ohio State Parks on the Air event.
We have done this event for years now and it is a lot of fun. At the state park we operate from, there is a really nice shelter house with a stone fire place. We get a nice fire going (it was in the 50s after being oppressively hot the previous day). We have a BBQ going, and we do a little operating. Since this is primarily a state/regional event that goes from noon to something like 8pm local time, this year we decided to only operate 40 meters using a PAR EndFedz antenna. We put the antenna up using a wrist rocket and supported it with masons line at about 30 feet. We operated 4-5 hours and contacts started to become scarce. It was getting late in the day, the band started going longer, and we were about ready to call it a day. I decided to try lowering the antenna down to about 10 feet and see what we could do with that configuration. I ended up working about 15-20 more stations with the antenna lowered (not that the antenna height probably mattered, but I was just playing around). So now we come to the point of the story: one guy had a date and decided it was time for him to leave. He backed out of where he had his car parked and started down the dirt road. I was on the air at the time. He got about 50 yards down the road (I am watching him drive away), when all of the sudden the mic is ripped from my hand, and the radio (Yeasu FT 897) smashes down on the stone floor of the shelter house; destroying the radio. 
When this guy backed out, somehow, the masons cord caught some part of his vehicle. As he drove away, the line played out from the spool until it came to the end. At which point he pulled the antenna, and coax with him. 
Obviously I felt terrible for the guy who owned the radio. I also felt a little bit guilty since it was my idea to lower the antenna and also because I was on the air at the time. As it was happening, I wasn't processing what was taking place. It was sorta fast and bizarre. After the fact, I realized that if I had punched in on what was happening, maybe I could have grabbed the radio and prevented the radio from being ruined. No real point to this story, it was just.............a story or as they say in GD...........Cool story Bro |
|
I don't know.
We haven't discussed it yet. I can tell you that I am the only one there that could afford to replace the radio. Everybody else there including the owner of the radio are not in good financial shape. The guy who lost the radio is laid off, in fact. I am willing to kick in on buying another radio if that is what ends up being decided we do. FWIW: there were only four people there when it happened, one of whom owned the radio. A couple considerations: the radio was probably close to 10 years old, if not 10 years old. Yeasu doesn't make this radio any more, so replacing it would mean buying a used one and hoping that it works. I know the guy who got the string caught on his car, emailed the club treasurer and asked if there was anything the club might be willing to do although the guy who's car pulled it over is the club president and I am the club vice president. If this happened, we would have to come up with some number as to what it might be worth. |