Donna Furhman was an avid scanner listener and listened to the Cracker Barrel Net just about every night. She liked
the folks on the net so much that when we were talking about dues and donations she sent a very nice donation which was much
appreciated.
Some of the guys decided Donna needed to be a ham and here's the story as told by Graham Hicks W4PJS.
I learned Donna Fuhrman was eavesdropping on the Cracker Barrel net months ago, and started working on her to get
her Tech license. She was
absolutely certain she could never pass the test. But when we began taking reservations for a Technician
class, she and her hubby Lowell offered us the
use of the "Clubhouse" residence in the Rendezvous Park they manage for
a local attorney. I kept working on her; Neal bought her a Gordon West text book, and we finally won -- she
signed up. Along about the middle of the class term (late November or so), I told Donna not to even think about buying
a radio when she got her license; that I "knew where there was one she could have." What I didn't tell her was
that HRO had a super sale going on for the little Yaesu FT2800M, and I ordered two of them. When I learned that
she had indeed passed her test, Neal and I set up a lunch date at the local Chinese buffet and surprised her with the
radio, a new Hustler collinear antenna, and the beautiful custom wooden stand for the rig. The weather was
too bad to try to rig up an antenna yesterday, but this afternoon (1/28) I went over and put up a temporary magnet-topper
on her porch roof and hooked the rig up to an Astron power supply Neal had brought. It checked into Spout Springs full
quieting on 10 watts. There is a minor problem with it on my repeater, but I think I know where it is and I will
exchange rigs with her until I get it fixed. Anyway, she is anxiously waiting for her ticket to show up on the FCC ULS,
and I'm sure she will be on the net that night.
Graham
