Zipped, Zapped, Zonked out.
by Mike Brooks
There has to be a way to extend this antenna. Perhaps there is a roll of solder or something in the pack, I thought.
Ok, don't panic. Dump everything on the ground. Look through it all. Let's see, 2 meters, quarter wave about 19 and a quarter inches. Wire, solder, nothing... Rifle barrel! 26 inches including the lock! Duh! That's almost aviation band. Won't do it. Think, Why it so hard for Hulk to think??? That's right, keep up the sense of humor. Pick up the stuff and put it back into the pack, zip it shut and use it for a pillow. Check the rifle and make sure it's loaded, and ready. This could be a long night. Suddenly, I heard a dull rush over the radio.
"Station calling with emergency traffic, this is ARES. KB3ANG contacted me to listen for you. What is the nature of your emergency?"
With a weak battery, I didn't want to spend too much time trying to transmit, but I didn't want to spend the night on this mountain top either. "ARES! My battery is failing!" I quickly stated my location as the display on the radio went blank. That was when I thought I was a goner.
There had to be something to use for an extended antenna! It was really getting dark.
Wait a minute, metal, 19.25 inches. That and the original is a half wave.
"THE ZIPPER!!" I shouted out as I tried to get up and rememberd quite abruptly the broken leg. After calling myself every name in the book, and a few that hadn't been written yet, I figured out how to connect the existing antenna to the factory dummy load quarter wave and add enough to be a five eighths wave. After about an hour of finagling, I was ready to see if I could get a message out.
Now what? Will he