Deryl's

I got a room at a Motel 6 in Ventura for Friday night. I had the Jimmy all loaded by 10:00 am so decided to go up early. I needed to stop by a Ranger station and pick up and Adventure pass before the hunt so I need some extra time anyway. There was one north of Ojai at Wheeler Springs.

When I arrived there was one ranger inside. He asked if he could help. I told him what I wanted. “Oh we are out of those.” He said.  Then he said to hold on and made a phone call. His partner, who was somewhere else near by I guess, might have them. But there was no answer. I asked if they had that many request for them that they would be out. He said, “Actually we aren't out. They are locked up in the safe and my partner is the only one with the combination. But you can go to the station in Ojai. They have them.” So back down to Ojai I go.

The Ojai station is on the main road through town, the way I came in. I walked in and said I would like an Adventure pass. The person behind the counter said “I am sorry, but the Passes are in the safe and the only one who knows the combo just left for lunch.” I  asked, if they require us to have them, why do they make them so hard to get. I guess he felt sorry for me, so he went to see if anyone in the back had some. They didn't. Then he asked how old I was. I told him and he said “I have a deal for you. You can get the Golden Age Passport. Its only $10.00 and its as good as the adventure pass and its Life Time.” So I paid $5 for the second car pass and save $20 over what I would have payed for the Adventure pass. Oh well.

Saturday morning I met Steve at Denny’s a little after 7:00 am. After breakfast we headed up to Reyes Peak. It was after 9:00 am before we found a good camp site to set up in.

Steve wanted to make sure they heard a signal at the start point so he put a 35 watt amp inline.  Cell phone signal looked good but the only place we could make a call from was by one of the Trees. Mike K6SNE and David N6IDF were filling the jeep up when they answered the phone. They could hear the 35 watts at the bottom of the hill. We should have no problem at the top.

10:00 am and Scott N6MI said the signal was to strong. They could also hear a second T that we had on at the table. The antenna was a mag mount stuck horizontally on a steel pipe supporting the table. 50 mw and they could hear it. The hunt was on.

While Steve was setting up his Big Spider and Rubber Baby  T, I went out and hid 2 of my other Ts.When I got back Steve went out to hide the rest of his and I stayed at the comp site to protect it. It seams lots of people wanted it. They kept looking longingly as they drove by. Then the bad news came. Steve called to say he was getting calls from the hunters and they were saying the main T was gone. I checked and sure enough, the 50 mw T was taking it out while I was standing beside the antenna.

Steve rushed back and we worked on it and found out zip was coming out of the radio. Steve went of to get one of the Ts he had put out so we could cannibalize it for the main T. In about 15 minutes we had it running with the new setup and now putting out 50 watts. Steve goes back to hiding Ts and I try to get away from the bugs flying around our head that were driving us crazy. 

Now I hear something new on the T frequency. It sounds like one of the Ts is stuck on. I call Steve to see if maybe its one of his Ts. No not his. Now I donut hear my T2 IDing anymore. When Steve gets back I go out and sure enough, my T2 is stuck on. I turn it off and now we are down to only 11 T. Should be enough.

Deryl N6AIN