J9N@PSUVM.BITNET (03/22/86)
Several years ago, when I was living on Staten Island, N.Y., I used the rain gutter as an antenna. I ran a piece of #22 wire under the weather- stripping of my window to a sheet metal screw on the downspout. I loaded it up through my Dentron Super Tuner, and it worked rather well on 80 meter CW with minimal TVI. My only problem with it was one day and it was raining very lightly; Moisture on the downspout and a nearby, grounded metal rod formed a 'capacitor' which blew up (very loudly) when I hit the thing with 100 watts. An excitable neighbor saw it happen (sparks and all) and notified management. Naturally I disconnected the thing before anybody could get there to inspect the thing...... Any traffic handlers out there? Catch me on EPAEPTN (3.917, 6 P.M. EST) --Jeff N2BSS /* The only dangerous thing in this world is an open mouth and a closed mind */ psuvm.bitnet!J9N long live vm!