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.
