[tcrc-fd] VHF station

[tosca005 at umn.edu]

It looked like everything was on track. Jeff and I got all the antennas up 
onto the rotator and was ready to start installing radios etc. inside the 
vehicle. Checked the antennas one more time on the antenna analyzer, and lo 
and behold, the 432 antenna's SWR was >5:1 ! It had tested perfectly fine 
while on the ground beforehand. Guess it shows the need for checking 
everything over and over again. I was able to replace the feedline from a 
ladder (without the scaffolding that we used to install the antennas in the 
first place), and it is now behaving, but that put me quite a bit behind 
schedule. Then came the rain. Then came the sunset. I think I will finish 
the assembly of the VHF station early Saturday AM, assuming it is not 
raining then. So I probably won't be there much before the 1 PM start time. 
I wonder why Murphy never takes a vacation from me...

I strongly suggest someone bring an antenna analyzer for the HF antennas, 
since I expect to be arriving pretty close to 1 PM as mentioned above so 
mine would not be of much help prior to the start.

I plan to bring (or my wife will drop off) some brats to share and some 
pasta salad for the pot luck. Will there be buns & condiments?

See y'all tomorrow!

73 de W0JT, John