The Radio Fates are Against me

It has been too long since I've even turned on my radio. The fates seemed aligned against me getting on the air. We had a humdinger of a storm come through a couple of days ago, and I had to detach and de-plug my rig so it wouldn't get fried by lightning. We needed the rain desperately and the relief from the heat. Last week it was 112 degrees here. We have had storms all around the city in the last couple of days, but none have rolled over us. I've seen storms in a line split as they approach the city and even reform after passing us without us getting a drop. Other storms disappear when they get withing  a few mile of us. My completely unscientific opinion is that the heat absorbed from the sun by the city has an effect on weather conditions when they approach. We don't have a big population here, but the city is spread out. We don't build up in Kansas, we build out. I think this heat effects the weather and the weaker the storm the more it is effected by city's heating effect. Again, I can't prove this theory, but at least it explains a common phenomenon.

One of the most aggravating things about not getting on the rig is I can't make my one QSO-a-day on CW. I do not think that there is any training aid out there that is better than just firing up the rig and sending a CQ and working someone else on CW.

I missed the QRP Foxhunt again this week, as I had to have some reports done for a client the next day. Sunday I played guard dog at a grain mill that was being fumigated from 6am til 5pm. Nothing like slow broiling in your car for 11 hours straight in triple digit heat. At least it wasn't as bad as the last time, because I had shade most of the day Sunday.

I was really, really wishing I had an HF rig in the car. I thought about the feasibility of hauling my 38lb Kenwood and a mast to hold up my homebrew 40 meter dipole out to the site, but decided against it. Having thought about it, a QRP rig that could be run off my Suburban's battery or solar with a vehicle mounted antenna would be just the trick. I really wanted one of those HB-1A stations, or PFR3, but I got married two years ago, and with the stepkids and a wife, it is just not in the budget. I think 20m and 40m would be my major bands of operation, but maybe 30m as well. I am not WARC capable, so I've never used 30m.

If the storm clouds north of city go away, I might get to fire the rig up tonight and make a few contacts.

Wish me luck!
Sam
KC0KSV