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lot more mechanical.

    The air injection manifold for the Chevy 454 cid engine developed a crack at one port and started leaking exhaust into our house so I replaced that. Not a difficult job--except for getting the old one off. After much WD40 and wrench effort, all but one exhaust port flare nuts came loose. That last one caused a little bluing of the air and managed to extract my right index fingernail when it suddenly released--ouch! Oh well, six months and I'll have a complete new one back, I hope.

    RV's usually have plastic toilets for lightness but they do deteriorate with time. Ours started leaking a bit of fresh water around the base so off I went with another honey-do project for the portable honey bucket. The new one went on in ten minutes but, of course, the flush water line didn't line up. Always something it seems. I spent the rest of the day rounding up a new piece of plastic pipe and proper fittings. It sits well, doesn't smell and looks really good.

    Of course, that didn't end it. RV toilets, not having a water tank, use the two step process of pushing a lever part way to let a bit of water in the bowl. When finished, one pushes the lever all the way open a shutter and dump the whole mess into the holding tank. Well, the pedal on the new one was quite shiny and new (read that as slippery). After having our feet slip off it a few times and slamming the valve shut, our

old friend "water hammer" caused a couple plastic supply lines to crack and start seeping water on the ground outside. Another trip to the hardware store for pipe and clamps and all is well now. I added some non-slip tread to the pedal.

    The moral of this story is: the RV life is great but you can never get away from home repairs. Buy a new RV? Naah! I like no debt and money in the bank better.

See you all at Field Day!


       73,
           Steve and Jodie Crouch


Steve and Jodie Crouch can be reached at:
E-mail Address
  Crouchs2@Compuserve.com


    Drop them a line from time to time! Also send in an article your self for the sPARCgap.
    It's a good way to let old friends know how you are doing and how to get in touch with you.
   
Snail-mail or Email your articles to the editor.

    Chuck Parker
KC7PDI@ARRL.NET

    Also Sign up for the ARRL Email forwarding, then all we need to know is your Call-Sign.
Chuck P.

     CROUCH TRAVELS

                            2 FEB 2001

odie and I are still enjoying the central California coast and we are glad we didn't go to the desert this year. That may come later but we haven't finished exploring the Pismo Beach area yet. It was sunny and 70 degrees here today and we volunteered for a couple hours at the Dune Center in Guadalupe then had an early dinner at one of the many Mexican restaurants--delicious!

    I put the 160 Meter coil on my screwdriver antenna for the contest last weekend and heard W7LT at 20 db over S9 on Friday night but didn't manage
to be heard. My SWR was about 2:1 though so it is not surprising. I cleaned things up and got it down to 1.2:1 for Saturday night but didn't hear W7LT. Ah well, my site at Redwood City, CA by the salt evaporation ponds for the early December 160 Contest was ideal and it would take a world of radials to duplicate that.

    The RV life is great fun but it really isn't a complete escape from responsibility since our wheeled home still needs maintenance. Not much carpentry but a