Since it sat on a shelf for three or four year, I took my Kenwood TH-78A in to Bytown Marine to have it checked out. It seems that it survived and only needed to have the antenna’s BNC connector tightened. At the same time, I bought a new antenna for it since the rubber resister it came with isn’t a very good antenna. I paid the man and off I went.

I was driving away from a geocache in the west end when I heard something thudding and clattering around on the roof. Stopping to check it out, I found the 2m/70cm dual-band antenna for my mobile radio in two pieces. It seems that the threaded connector on the magnetic base had corroded through. (It had seen the better part of ten Ottawa winters.)� So, back to Bytown Marine I went for yet more anntena-related components. At least, the antenna (the expensive bit) was ok and I just had to replace the magnetic base.