[Vwdiesel] Limping, cold and ham radio

[Val Christian]

Back in the early 80's, when Jet Fuel powered VWs were pretty common, and
also got a bad rap, there were select groups of smarter and handsomer folks 
who sought after these cars.  Included in that population were ham radio
folks.  Without any ignition noise, and able to idle a full weekend on 
a tank of fuel, the diesel Rabbit was rather popular.

In Western NY there were about a dozen of us, spread between Glens Falls 
and Buffalo, who would meet on various repeaters and other bands and 
swap car stories.  I got parts, gave parts, and sometimes lended a hand
to some of the locals.  Waxing at 6am on a Saturday was not a beauty
procedure.  Rather it would get a couple of other hams out of bed,
heating up a load of fuel, and running out to meet you.  After several
look-alike cars with antennas convened where the failed one was struggling,
the group would wander to a greasy spoon to park and idle.  (These days
they'd probably feed more than their stomachs at a greasy spoon.)

One of my cars had a bad fuel guage, and more than once, a local ham,
W2XG left the girls at his dairy operation to run me a gallon or two 
of fuel.  There was a time when a transient ham, traveling I-90 ran out
just a couple of miles short of the rest area where there was diesel.
I jumped the fence, and gave him a gallon, and made sure he made it
to the rest area, following him on the radio.

Cellphones have cut the ranks of ham radio, and it seems like we
all have less spare time to yack.  The networks were great.  I had a 
press, gas welding equipment and compression guages.  Carl, in Rose,
had an injector tester made from a 2 ton bottle jack.  Otto, in 
Chili, was a shop instructor, and was great at making special fixtures
and tools.  Have a problem on the road?  It was better than AAA will
ever be.

Val

ps: Still cold here.  Right now, 6:40PM, it's -4F outside.  According to 
my E6B (anyone know that computer?) it's -20C.