Today is October 10th, which is a special day for me - it's 10-10 Sprint Day! On October 10th each year, from 0001UTC - 2400UTC, hams around the world are encouraged to operate on 10 meters. It has extra special meaning to me, because back in 1997, I suggested to the Board of Directors of
10-10 International Net (I serve as Treasurer), that we recognize 10-10 as a special day, and the Sprint was born. In fact, in that first year, I actually won 1st place world-wide.
This year, October 10th was on a Monday, and my work schedule was extremely hectic. But, I thought perhaps I'd be able to squeeze out a few QSO's and at least submit a participation log. Unfortunately, my rig had other plans...this error message was on the front panel of my Flex, and there was no way it was going to operate for me.
I thought perhaps I could fix it myself, being just a simple fan problem. But no go, the Flex people told me that I'd void the warranty, and that replacing the fan would not solve it since it also has a software tie-in which required additional work. Much to my dismay, I had to box it up and ship it back to Flex. And, my dreams of playing in the Sprint were dashed before I even had a chance to try. Even though I have other HF radios that could have been put into service, my work commitments meant that I just didn't have time to change things out.
