Our new race radio antenna

It sort of works.

So we’ve had a pit radio, exactly the same as what’s in 1107. But it’s been worthless because we’ve never been able to use it to talk to whomever is in the car. That is until I got schooled on how radios work, when, couple of weeks ago, I asked my mentor, 90-year-old Frank Adamson, “How do radios work?”

Frank, who’s led such an amazing life I can’t even talk about it, said “I’m taking this on as a project.”  This was Saturday. Sunday he calls and says “I have an antenna for you.” So I go over and he hands me something that looks like a pointer you use in a PowerPoint presentation.

“Don’t you have something bigger, like a satellite dish?” Thankfully, Frank appreciates me for what’s on the inside.

End result, he hands me this antenna, which Skid immediate recognizes as something that will allow us to communicate with race teams on other planets – an ANLI AL-800. He procures a mast from Ham Radio Shack and cable that is coated with five years of playa dust and we have all the makings of a long distance UHF radio.

Richard delivers an 80-lb. base, which we can drive the support truck on to, and we are ready to broadcast.

Last night I put it all together and had Richard put his helmet on across town at his place (where 1107 is now). End result – I can hear him, but he can’t hear me. I’m confident we’ll get it sorted out in time for the Hawthorne 250 Labor Day weekend.