Re: [IRCA] July 10 Rockwork 4 DXpedition-- Murphy's Law on Steroids

[Walter Salmaniw <canswl@xxxxxxxxx>]

I was shivering just watching!  Walt

On Sunday, July 10, 2016, <d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> It's probably safe to say that none of our DXpedition group has ever
> endured such a miserable DXing session. Severe rain and wind pounded the
> highly-exposed Rockwork 4 ocean cliff turnoff throughout our antenna setup
> and radio listening, providing a very stark welcome for our distinguished
> Japanese visitors (Hiroo Nakagawa and Satoshi Miyauchi).
>
> We all knew we were in trouble as soon as we drove up to the ocean cliff
> site at the bizarre hour of 0315 (local time). A toxic mixture of heavy
> rain and wind was hammering the cliff, making even our antenna setup a most
> miserable experience. Having been through this bad movie before (at Cape
> Perpetua in August of 2014) I came prepared with strong plastic tie wraps
> to anchor the FSL bases and waterproof covers for the antennas themselves,
> but unlike the smart Japanese visitors none of the North Americans had
> come with raincoats. As such, both Tom and I were thoroughly drenched and
> shivering while Hiroo-san and Satoshi-san seemed warm and comfy. Nick was
> only drenched from the knees down, apparently having escaped the worst by
> deploying a more modest antenna requiring less setup time. Tom's broadband
> loop supports absolutely refused to stay vertical in the stiff wind until I
> offered him several of the 175-lb. test plastic tie wraps, and of course in
> the predawn darkness (and foul weather) the loop wires had unintended
> foot traffic, at one time causing the loop to be tightly snagged in
> Satoshi-san's car trunk (really). Despite the challenges we all managed to
> deploy our antennas and receive DU-DX, although we were all in agreement
> that the session's propagation was somewhat "watered down." The single,
> thoroughly drenched 15" FSL managed to receive 657-Star, 702-2BL,
> 738-Tahiti and 1035-Newstalk ZB for both Satoshi-san and me, which is
> probably the first time in history that a single FSL was used to boost two
> Ultralight radios for simultaneous MP3 recordings. We have one more morning
> together at the wild ocean cliff site, which obviously can't be any worse
> than the one we just experienced. For those interested, an on-site video of
> the "Session from Hell" is posted  at
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw9k6E08eME&feature=youtu.be   ,
> featuring a sorry collection of soaked and shivering DXers wondering how
> they ever survived such a wacky experience.
>
> 73 and Good DX,
> Gary DeBock (drying out and warming up at the "Bunk House" in Nehalem, OR)
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Registration info:
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