WA6RJN
I planned out some sites to hide various Ts in the valley south of Barstow. L St comes off I15 to the south of Barstow and east of Lenwood and winds its way up into the hills passing several radio sites. The hills are filled with several smaller roads covering the area. T1 was hidden among the hills in this area running 30W with an 11-element beam pointed toward the starting point.
T10 was off to the east of Hwy 247 on a power line road I had to reach using another road because the power line near the 247 was in not so good shape. T10 ran 4W into a whip and could be heard over a wide area but had failed by the next day due to the year-old lithium battery failing. It has been replaced and is ready for the next hide.
T8, running 4W into a 3-element beam, was west of 247 near the top of a pass in the hills on Stoddard Wells Rd and aimed down a northeast canyon. It could be heard at T1 and in Barstow and Lenwood.
T6 was the VW bug T running 50mW and was placed in a bush along 247. It could be heard in a surprising number of places.
T5, 50mW with a dipole, was hidden along Camp Rock Rd. It had a great view of the northwest. It could be heard at T6, T8, T1, and in Lenwood.
When hiding the southernmost T (T2), I originally chose a 6W T into a log periodic antenna pointed to the west. Unfortunately, it did not power up. After the hunt I found a switch in the wrong position. It wouldn’t have worked anyway because a part from the IDer circuit had fallen out. The 6W T was replaced with my reliable 3W T that has been used on many hides. What I didn’t know was that it put out a very weak signal, maybe a few mW. The T had fallen out of the truck a couple of times when opening the door due to load shifting. Later forensics revealed the power choke to the output stage had come loose. Unknowingly, I had replaced one bad T with another. I am not sure how the N6MI/AF6O team found it, but it could be heard at a couple of locations on Camp Rock Rd on the way to T5.
On Saturday night I found the Route 66 Pizza Palace. It is an old fashion place with good pizza. It’s located on Main St a little east of L St.
Results
N6MI/AF6O T6 T5 T2 T10 T8 T1
Winner 102 111 124 140 159 159?
1:35 2:13 3:25 4:27 5:30 6:36
RXX/JEI T1 T10 T6 T8
89 99 118 139
1:35 3:49 5:03 6:50
