Ham Dismayed Rig Hasn’t Needed Repairs
by K5KAC, on the scene
LONG PINE, NEBRASKA – “I guess I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into,” said Trey Arend, blankly staring at his transceiver as it perfectly received an 80m roundtable.
Arend bought his first Boat Anchor five years ago imagining long evenings aligning oscillators and testing tubes. “It was going to be a labor of love,” he said, spinning the precision-calibrated VFO. He leans down and checks into the net, asking for a signal report. He is met with “59s” and “20 overs.” He regularly hears “great audio, old man” blasting from the speaker. “Armchair copy!”
”I don’t know what I am doing wrong,” Arend says as he flicks off the well-grounded and regulated power supply. “I have tried everything. Bumping the desk hard enough to knock it out of alignment; occasional coffee spills. I am at a loss.”
“I bought this oscilloscope, tube tester, and digital multimeter expecting to use it,” he says. Arend wipes a layer of dust from the pristine boxes. “I guess I’ll mark them up a bit and try to offload them at the next hamfest.”
As of press time Arend was searching classifieds for a “worked-the-last-time-I-turned-it-on” Swan 350A.
### HamHijinks.com
photo credit: Shankland (surprised!) via photopin (license)