Gang,
Was working lots of folks on 20M when I heard N6WG - 599 here in NC! Called
him, and as I started the exchange, my paddles started misbehaving. Acting
very quickly, grabbed a piece of paper and tried to clean the contacts. Of
course, while cleaning, I was sending gibberish over the air. Started the
exchange again, and still sent gibberish. I could send a few letters, then
"Dah"s would start appearing at inappropriate times.
Now, N6WG is still waiting patiently for the idiot he's contacted to begin
making sense. -- The idiot realizes it's a keyer problem, not a paddle
problem. That's it! - quick as a flash I grabbed the straight key and
plugged it in. Heard a solid tone as if it were locked down. Quicker than
a flash I unplug the faulty straight key. (no moss grows on my brain)
- Panic - (I'd plugged the mono plug into the stereo paddle jack, and
couldn't figure out why it didn't work) - Panic -
Maybe the keyer had a loose plug/jack (has happened) hook it back up,
wiggling each plug in its jack. Try again. Gibberish. N6WG says thanks
for the great "contact", but, he had other fish to fry.
Unhook the keyer. Check the 9V battery - it's 3.45 volts. Replace battery.
Now my keyer is a CMOS III that's in a Home Brew case with special switch
buttons. A thing of beauty, take my word for it. But when you take it
apart, the buttons tend to get screwed up if you're not very careful. So,
after reassembly, I pushed all six of the memory buttons several times to be
sure they were operating freely. Plugged everything back into the rig which
has been sitting there on N6WGs frequency. Relax a minute or two, double
check the connections and put on the phones.
WOW! There's a very loud signal right on N6WGs frequency. Wait!!?? Was
that my call he just sent??? How did he know I was listening here?? I've
been off of the air for 5 minutes, at least. There's my call again - what's
he saying?? (YOU IDIOT, IT'S YOUR KEYERS MEMORY, IT'S BEEN SPILLING IT'S
GUTS *ON THE AIR* BECAUSE YOU PUSHED ALL OF IT'S BUTTONS)
So, I managed to embarrass myself several times in a very short time. A
little later, I heard N6WG again, and completed the exchange. His 599 was
with 1 watt!! Bob was very kind. He said nothing about me QRMing his
frequency.
Is this FYBO fun or what?
CUL,
Bob Kellogg, AE4IC, Greensboro, NC
Prolably, but not nececelery. - Benny Hill
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