Bills hill - Lost radio 7/22

[davidtheamazing1]

I seem to be missing my radio. The last I remember having it was after my last flight at the breakdown area at Bills on 7/22. I just did a comprehensive search and concluded that it never ended up back in my car. If anyone encounters or has stumbled upon a vertex radio there, I am hoping that I might be able to salvage at least the attached earpiece and PTT button. thanks

[davidtheamazing1]

After helping a few folks off at the Pulpit flyin and deciding that conditions weren't at all suitable for me, I wandered on over to Bills hill to see if I might find the remains of the brand new radio that I lost there 56 days ago. Unfortunately the field has been recently hayed so I worried that perhaps my radio found its way into a hay bale.

After pattern searching the breakdown area for nearly an hour, defeated, I went back to the car... and then decided that I had to take one more look. I wandered around where I thought I might have previously been, and finally spotted a corner of the radio sticking from a clump of grass.

My PTT cable was tangled nearby, but the connector had been chopped off by the hay machine. I figured I would check if the radio knobs still worked, and amazingly after 56 days of being outside and totally exposed, my vertex VX150 turned right on. I'll have to recharge the battery and rub the dirt off, and I remain confused by all of the modes and buttons, I now have a new respect for the ruggedness of the design.

For anyone else that was wondering, the afternoon air at Bills was coming down the valley from the north, approximately at a 90 degree cross.