Submitted 7/12/04
Howdy all!
Well, we have been quite busy out here at the Hartman Hacienda and Dude Ranch in Ramona, CA! There seems like there has not been much chance for me to send very
substantial messages. So, I thought I would take the opportunity to give kind of a synopsis of our visit.
Friday (Jul 2nd) we arrived at the airport and John (N5AAA) picked us up. He then took us on a sight seeing spree on the way home. We visited the Cabrillo Memorial and scenic overlook of the bay as well as the Point Loma Lighthouse and the Tide Pools. We then stopped for a late lunch at the Fish Market and enjoyed a scenic drive the rest of the way home.
Above bottom right you see a rare photo of Marian, WD8CJD actually talking on the radio! This particular case was with Charlie, NN3V. As you can see, the weather was absolutely beautiful!
During our trip home we met "Marilyn", the Street Pilot III by
Garmin. She was our traveling companion for the next week or so. She
spoke to us and reminded us where to turn and so on. Delightful! Jan was
already home when we got here and after a delicious chicken dinner we spent the evening laying out plans for the July 4th weekend.
John was finally presented the IOOK hats he had ordered for HamVention '03 and
'04 - but the one from '03 has an '05 on it, so they are planning ahead! Har!
As you can see, John and Jan have a beautiful home there in Ramona.
Saturday after a hearty skunk breakfast, we began efforts to assemble and erect a vertical antenna. As it turns out this thing has 40 million pieces and a piece by piece assembly manual that reminded us of the old Heathkit days. After driving a pipe into the ground we set to driving a ground rod into the ground as well. To make a long story short, Jan took a turn an hammering the ground rod and managed to miss the rod and cut herself wide open on the ladder - three stitches worth! ARGH! The cut was deep enough that it was through all the levels of skin and partially severed a tendon. UGH! John and I finished the driving of the ground rod while Marian drove Jan to the outpatient clinic to get her stitches.
With so many pieces to assemble, John and I realized that we would not have time to finish the vertical, install it AND make our dinner plans with Charlie (NN3V) and Eli, so we decided to put the old G5RV antenna back up.
One leg of the G5RV goes to a telephone/power pole and the other goes to the house and the center support goes into a tree by the hot tub!
Alas, we were finally "on the air"!
We then went to Old Town and met Charlie and Eli. We had a delightful time looking in all the shops, museums and historic displays.
I especially enjoyed the cigar shop! We ate dinner at the "Old Town Mexican Restaurant"!
Fantastic! During dinner we were treated with wandering musicians who, at
Charlie's request, sung the Venezuelan National Anthem! As we walked along there were also street musicians peddling their tunes.
Upon returning to the "Hacienda" we rested and finalized our plans for Sunday.
Sunday morning at 6:30 AM found us on the air with Charlie (NN3V) as it seems that the band was so crazy that no one on the IOOK 20 meter sked could hear us or we them. Shucks! We headed out to brunch at the Hotel Del Coronado in the Crown Dining Room (all the chandeliers are shaped to look like a crown). Man! What an incredible buffet to choose from! I had an omelet with EVERYTHING on it as well as all those other breakfast type things along with shrimp and prime rib! And that is just the tip of the iceberg! Brunch only took a couple of hours and afterwards we walked through the shops at the hotel and on the beach as well.
From there we went to Balboa Park. Balboa Park is a beautiful historic and scenic part of town.
The architecture is incredible. Lots of flower gardens and so on. It is also the home of the worlds largest outdoor pipe
organ (over 4,000 pipes). After seeing a lot of the sites in the park, we attended the Sunday afternoon pipe organ concert.
Since it was July 4th, there were a number of patriotic pieces in addition to some more traditional organ pieces.
Great concert!
After the concert we headed back home and John and I finished the vertical antenna erector set and after some consternation got it mounted onto the pipe we had driven into the ground.
It turns out that the guy had sold us 2 inch ID pipe when we specifically asked for 2 inch OD pipe.
In the process of "modifying" the u-bolts so they would fit the pipe we must have knocked loose a couple of items in the "Black Box" matching network as it would not work.
We removed the "Black Box" and attempted to repair the items that had managed to dislodge themselves.
Monday morning, we replaced the pipe and u-bolts and upon applying RF to the antenna, we found that it was not resonant in the ham bands.
We are guessing that something is measured wrong or that the "Black Box" is still defective.
Shucks again!
We went to Charlie (NN3V) and Eli's about noon on Monday for a poolside visit and cookout.
They live in Poway about 20 to 30 minutes away from John and Jan's. What a delightful time we had.
Lots of food to eat and lots of visiting to do! The tour of Charlie's radio shack was really neat!
The items posted on the wall included his latest "Golden Ducky Award"! Yee Haw!
He has things laid out very organized and has plans for a new tower and beam that ought to really improve his signal from the currently ground mounted G5RV and the vertical out by the pool!
This beam sounds incredible - like one of Charlie's IOOK Technology Center stories.
We shall see! It is called a "SteppIR Beam Antenna" and it is supposed to automatically match the beam dimensions to the
frequency being used. Sounds like Star Trek stuff to me! (We
actually did find the web site - www.steppir.com)
After a while Mark (KF6WTN), Ted (KF6BFI) and Ted's wife, Menchie showed up and the eating and visiting continued.
What a fun time and all the IOOK'ers were in uniform! :-) Later Charlie served some of his recent catch (Shisumi I think) and a complete steak dinner with all the trimmings!
We also got to see an item that Mark is working on that will assist the first aid medical treatment for anyone who purchases it.
Pretty neat stuff! Top Left - Charlie shows where his new crank up tower
and SteppIR beam will go. Top Right - Eli, Jan and Marian join the guys in
the ham shack. Upper Middle Right - Menchie and Ted, KF6BFI, join the
fun. Lower Middle Right - Eli, Charlie and Mark, KF6WTN and the visit as
well! Lower Left - Marian serves Captain Charlie a beer while he is afloat
in his dingy. Bottom Right - Carrying on the Ducky tradition of KF8KK, the
pool sports a ducky topped water temperature gauge.
Below Top - Mark demonstrates his company's "Safety Mate" first aid device. Top Middle Left - The group tries to decide which has had more to drink - Charlie or his talking oven mitt! Top Middle Right - Charlie presents Ted with a check from the IOOK for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (Ted's pet project). Ted and Menchie are trained "Ambassadors" for the Society. This check was in lieu of flowers during Ted's period series of hospital stays. Bottom Left and Right - Charlie shows the true art of making every cigar count - even when the thing tries to self destruct!
