As most of you are aware, after 30 years of operation the WA4KJH repeater was silent last week. While a lot of us "85 gang"

were attending the 'big get together' at Panther Creek State Park on Saturday, Keith, WA4KJH, was traversing the "ruts" in route up Cove Mountain to the 4,000 foot level. He went to assess the problem of why such a faithful repeater was silent.

When he arrived at the scene, he was greeted by a most UNWELCOME creature at the repeater site. This was a thing that strikes fear, trembling and trepidation in the hearts of most men. It was a copperhead snake. As the question "flee? or fight?" came across Keith's mind he rationally decided what to do; pick up the biggest stick he could find and beat the tar out of the snake. Having lost some of his manual dexterity in his ripe old age, Keith missed the snake. The snake made a mad dash back into the building that Amos, K4EJP, built for the repeater so many years ago. Problem was that the metal door to the building has rusted at the bottom allowing any kind of a varmint to "slither under" the door.

Keith called me on the cell phone and described the situation with the copperhead. I only had two suggestions. First I ask Keith if he had his customary and trusty pistol with him. Now Keith was "a way ahead" of me. He said he did have his pistol but in light of the fact that the copperhead had disappeared inside the building, he didn't think it prudent to start blowing holes in the repeater, it might never work again, ever. My second suggestion was equally stupid. I said do you want me to call the old snake fighter, Charlie Fine, WB6TVW, who is always talking about "snake hissin' in some ole pit." (you would have had to been at our last "85 gang" get together to understand that one) Keith said absolutely not! He said Charlie's solution would be to take a stick of dynamite and blow the whole building up along with the 100 foot tower.

In a moment of "sheer genius" Keith said, "I'll get my waders out of the truck and wade in on that old snake... after I find a BIGGER stick." That being done, Keith c a r e f u l l y unlocked the door... shhhh.... To his surprise there was a HUGE diamond back rattlesnake staring him in the face. Now fellow amateur radio people, I don't know about you but I would see that as a BIG problem. (Wendy Bagwell ask, "where do you want another door")

Keith quoted that famous saying from George "dubbu" to wit, "Bring It On." The battle began. One copperhead latched on to Keith's waders. A second copperhead latched on the waders. There was slashing... there was moaning... there was groaning... and probably a few

choice words were spoken. But Keith, with his big stick, hit a home run. A mighty blow was dealt to the diamondback and it was now deceased. Several more licks to the attached copperheads rendered them helpless. A few good "stomps" and they were ready for the RIP stones to be erected. Then, as if in retaliation from behind the duplexer, came a bunch of baby copperheads. The battle of stomping continued until the premises were deemed safe and secure so the repeater could be worked on.

And now for the rest of the story. The PA (power amplifier) was 'cooked.' Keith removed the PA to bring down off the mountain to rebuild. The repeater is now running on the exciter. This means it is transmitting with about 1/4th of a watt of power. So if you hear someone complaining about the "power being down" on the 85 machine, just tell them that it's only temporary and it will return to full power when Keith can get a chance to rebuild the PA and go back up on the mountain. (with some "Snake Away")

I have attached some pictures that Keith took with his cell phone of before and after the "Battle at Cove Mountain." Feel free to forward this information to other ham friends who have an interest in the system.