Last time, in the 2m sprint, it was lighting. This
time it was "unenlightened" people!
I live in a basement apartment in a small town in a
valley. I can't do anything on VHF/UHF from home, so
I put together a modest portable setup that didn't
cost me a lot of money and would let me get out on
some of the local hilltops. See photo (taken this
evening) on my website:
http://www.ve3hls.com/70cm-portable.jpg
I was set up at my favourite hilltop site, parked well
off the road but within the road allowance. 37
minutes into the contest, a guy in a pickup truck
pulls over, gets out and demands to know what I'm
doing. I'd just gotten the works "I'm a ham radio
operator" out of my mouth when he shouts for me to
"pack my sh*t up and get the hell out of here", then
"we don't want you listening to our cellphone calls".
I was speechless, but tried to explain that I can't
receive cellphone signals. That precipitated some
additional shouting from my visitor, to the effect
that I was being careless with the truth and that I
should get out of there before he went and brought his
dogs to encourage me. This was punctuated by fist
pounding (on my car). My debating skills and distaste
for conflict being what they are, I was out of there
20 minutes later. Sigh....!
Luckily, the HF contesting season is gearing up. At
least I can do that from home, but I hate missing out
on this sprint. I'd been looking forward to it for
weeks...crap!!
Oh yeah, my score: 5 QSOs in 5 grids. What's that?
25 points?
Hope everyone else did better. I'm going to bed!
73 - Ken
VE3HLS
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