K4che's M151A1 on display Thursday Afternoon.
Aberdeen
Rally 2012
Aberdeen, nothing like 2 or 3 days of military surplus flea markets and playing radio. This year the WX was much better than CAVOK except for high winds. During the meet I personally did not experience any radio equipment failures but when I drove up from Chickenland in the M151A1 but did experience a maintenance problem and I was forced to pull over as a bolt had backed out on one of the engine manifold clamps, at first I thought the fan blade was hitting something as the clack,klick , klick, clack,clack,klickety,clack click,clack sound was very loud, (sounds like a "Walter Mitty" explanation), anyway a closer inspection in the engine compartment revealed a loose manifold clamp and a small hole where the bolt was missing and exhaust was escaping. Tools in hand and after a careful search in the engine compartment - - - I found the bolt, "a gift", and inserted it and tightened and we were fully operational again. . . Its great driving down the road in the Mutt and watching the civilian cars zip by and kids with their faces pressed to the windows and you could make out the words "jeep" by watching their lips.
I arrived late Thursday and most of the event was in full progress. Dave Kormanicki - KB3ELD and Mark Weidmayer, KD3ZK were all ready set up as well as the "Phantom of Smyrna", Bernie W3OWE and W2OBR Ole Buzzard Rich, and Joe Meagher W3KJT were in place and I thought to myself that they probably had all ready gone around the flea market Thursday morning and found all the good deals, hard to beat em.
I arrived before
Jeff Ciccone KG2BZ pulled in with a trailer loaded with his restored M151A2
with a fresh CARC paint job. It was an interesting off load. See Video
below. My personal radio goals for the Rally was to check in to USAF MARS
nets using the "field antenna and emergency power category" and to check
in Saturday into the "Moose and Squirrel" net and then later
work WAR and AIR during the cross band event. I did do all of my nets
but was unable to work WAR and AIR, too much QRM and just was not radiating
enough RF to break through. I tired the SGC-715 and then reverted to the
PRC-47 using the AT1011 30 foot whip with a 60 foot ground radial but
failed. It was interesting during the WAR and AIR attempts to hear the
hams transmitting on the "military frequencie"s which were out
of band I guess that is what you get when you loosen the license requirements.
My display
set up on the bonnet was a PRC-71 and a GRC-109 receiver, the GRC-109
is a great Rally and Event receiver as it allows visitors to play with
the set's knobs and tune in some "short wave". In the vehicle I used the
SGC-715 on the rear facing FAC seat and utilized the PRC-47 which is permanently
mounted on the left side of the vehicle. Aux transportation was a 20 inch
bike which was equipped with the PRT-4 and PRR-9 for local commo.
Personnel in attendance
in addition to the above were: Mr. Pat Lombardi KC2RNN, Steve Finelli
N3NNG, Tom Bryan N3AJA, Ray Fantini KA3EKH(Both Ray and Tom brought Ruski
sets) and a special surprise was Mr. John Kidd VK3FPRC from Austrialia,
W9NWQ stopped by to say hello as well as Logan Mitchell Sr, KC6UZF, Dean
KK1K and Jim W1JHM(hope I got that call correct). Jeff's Dad, Emido WA2FSX
- - I am sorry to say passed away a week after the event 20 September
2012 after a hospital stay.
During the meet we monitored 29.6
using the Red Flag portion of the 524 and the usual push of 51.0. Jeff
used his 442 to monitor 51.0 and the Maryland State Police, the State
of Maryland used a little common sense and retained their low band system
which is not digital etc. etc. 29.6 Mcs FM is becoming a very popular
frequency for meets here on the East Coast and may become as popular as
51.0. Overall a great event. with plenty of radio gear for sale my biggest
purchase was finding legs to utilize for my BC-654 so now I will not have
to take steel conduit and fabricate them like I did with the BC-474(photo)
Important Note: The East Coast collectors group the Military Radio Collectors Association (MRCA) which is having its annual meet in conjunction with the the MVPA at Gilbert, PA this September 21 and 22th. More information can be found at http://www.mrca.ar88.net/2005_flyer/flyer2005.html. The groups activities include field exercises, displays, lectures, and of course a flea market and access to the MVPA's flea market, so you actually you get two shows in one.
It has been interesing to watch the increased cooperation between
the Military Vehicle Groups and our Militlary Radio Group (MRCA).
In my opinion it is a perfect union, each group enhances the other.
Half way from Dover Delaware to Aberdeen I had to pull
over for repairs.
On the Jeep the side mounted "water can"
is the secret tool box.
A bolt that holds on of the manifold brackets
had backed out and since I stopped right away the bolt was still in the
engine compartment, I inserted the bolt,tightened it, and continued to
Aberdeen. No more klicky,clickey, Klack clack.
Emergency Transportion.
John Murray
and his Dad
http://www.tnjmurray.com/militaryvehicles/
Jeff, KG2BZ
and Jason arrived towing a trailer loaded with his M151A2.
Offload was fairly easy. Jeff drives
and Jason does all the work.
My Rally transportion.
PRT-4 and PRR-9 on the standard East Coast Push
of 51.0
On the copilot side
of the jeep. My copilot who who sat up front with me in the yellow turboprop
that I was flying SP and put in those magic "numbers"
I
love my wife.
I want the matching plane but will keep my wife
instead. :-)
Wireless
phone.
Great
for playing Bumper Cars.
Gets attention when you pull into Wawa for milk.
http://www.wawa.com/WawaWeb/
"I don't think this does anything for me".
Jeff KG2BZ
"Does night vision work
during the day ?"