Showing posts with label N0FMO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label N0FMO. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

I Love Interference Stories

Guest Contributor Claude Chafin, NØFMO

I love interference stories. I was Licensed in 1977...It was about 35 years ago I found myself in an interference problem I think it was on the 146.82 repeater...someone had left their mic keyed up for some reason. Who knew? The repeater was timing out constantly and was a big annoyance. I decided to do something about it.

So on the auto patch 146.91 repeater...I called my friend Al NØFOT (now Sk)..."Hey Al, turn your Stacked 16 element 2 meter beam around and get a bearing on this signal....."Due West" from his Northern Roeland Park Location He said.... Al was quite apathetic—"just let the radio burn up who cares" he said.

But, I took it as a challenge.

So, armed with just an Icom 2AT (2 meter HT) I decided to get another bearing....I traveled west out to Shawnee and stopped in a park near Shawnee City Hall, off Johnson Drive for my next bearing. Using my hand and arm as a shield to the rubber duck antenna, I picked up a null to the Northeast that made me think the signal was somewhere near the county line. So, I ventured into the Wyandotte County area in the Highland Crest area for another bearing. This time the bearing was due South. So, now I have it narrowed down to a few square blocks. As I moved into that area, the signal was really strong and my technique no longer worked, because I was getting saturation in the signal. At this point I removed the antenna and resorted back to the original technique. As I drove up and down a couple of blocks I realized the signal was not easy to pin down. Finally I turned down a dead end cul-de- sac… And there was this monster-sized tower. Looks like a ham to me, I thought.