The View From The Tower

As a contester, I’ve been known to do some crazy stuff/things. This weekend’s trip to the Jersey shore, to join the W2GD multi-of effort in the CQ 160M DX Test, may qualify. Not that contesting, per se, nor the 2-land FRC guys, are unworthy or qualify as crazy, but just that CONDITIONS, from the weather & the distance traveled & the time of year & so forth….just might qualify me a someone a tad obsessed (crazy) or otherwise devoted to too much zaniness. But I digress, a swell time was had by all, to just over 1M in points when the dits ‘n dahs had faded away. Traipsing around in the muck Friday was a hoot, as was wandering among the woods to check the Beverages & the vertical RX antenna. The K3s in full diversity mode truly made a difference. I had fun, although catnaps on a couch are not my choice for rest & relaxation. The whole experience was the closest thing to something I miight have done (heck, actually DID) once upon a time when I was in my 20s in college! The sense of that was very strong. Yet, the conversations (among the crew, when NOT operating) was decidely different. I spent offtime w/N2OO & K2SG having swell conversations. W2GD & I are a good team operating, having as much fun at that as tower climbing. N2NT came up with a couple of good funny lines in the midst of pileups and problem-solving. All in all, wouldn’t have missed it!

Drove home in terrible NC conditions. All the overpasses on I-85 carried warnings: STAY HOME, etc. No Southbound traffic. Charlotte is still essentially closed. Having grown up in the Midwest, all I can say is: What a hoot~!

Tower work up in MD cancelled, of course. That’ll all get rescheduled sometime next month.

stay tuned

Today’s date? A palindrome…neat~!

Home again at midnight, from another work week in Texas. More NR5M rebuilding. The focus this trip was to have been refurbishing the old 15M multiplier tower & the 10M stack tower. But that’s not how things turned out….

Spent considerable time fixing, fussing, & diagnosing problems with the 2M EME array. Turns out to have been a failed phasing harness line. Broke two power dividers dianosing the problem. They are, in a word. very poorly constructed IMHO….

Then, we took down the old 10M beam atop the Hy-Gain crank up tower, and put up the new 432/1296 Yagis. Those are temporary installs–just to see the ops through the VHF contest. Then, we’ll restring that tower w/new stainless aircraft cable & STACK two pairs of 432/1296 Yagis up there on some sort of non-metallic mast!

It rained for the final four day so the week, so work was never fun.

The old TA-25s were modified & installed on that old 15M mult tower, however, so it’s now star-guyed, like every other tower on the ranch. 25G looks very impressive star-guyed….no longer a baby tower, hi hi…

Got home to Charlotte in, what else, pouring rain! I’m truly, truly tired of rain.

stay tuned

Evening, dear Readers…

At home, getting ready for an apparently usual or ordinary “old folks” regimen tomorrow morning, a colonoscopy.
The process leading up to this examination is categorically unpleasant, let me assure you. It’s like a bad skit on Howard Stern, that’s about it.

We’re ready for the xyl’s son & wife & new grand-daughter to show up on Xmas day, with all the relatives from her side of the family showing up here the following day to see the newest family member. I’ll try to remain hidden.

No word from the cardiologist, so apparently I passed the stress test all right.

You reach a certain age, & it’s open season on medical procedures, bills, pills, doctor’s visits, health regimens, & assorted moments of foolishness in trying to cope with insurance, et cetera. Some small inkling of the future in Ohio, visiting my Mother, who was in the hospital with congestive heart failure, but is now home and fine once again. Ahhhh…getting old, but it beats the alternatives all to hell.  Managed to pick up the AM-6154 amplifiers while in Ohio. Managed a brief overnight in Athens to see old friends, while heading back home.

Tower Work? Hmmm, there’s work for locals K4MK, wA4GP, along with old pal AI0O out in MO, then some jobs pending in MD/VA. Three jobs in TN, three in FL, two new SC clients…all await action in the NEW YEAR.

Revised Tower Book MSS delivered to ARRL today. Hopefully that’s the last of the re-writing or additions. Now, to get going on picture needs for the book…

stay tuned…

And I’m still in Charlotte…still waiting & wondering when the rain & the lousy weather will cease & desist, et cetera~! If it’s not raining, it’s below freezing.

Fortunately, I have the tower book MSS to work on. Been revising & adding to that all week. Opened the laptop case in Texas last week, to find a hole punched in the screen.
Not good. No idea how or where THAT took place (there’s only the smallest mark on the briefcase I carried it in), but the laptop looks like it was hit by a forklift or something. K4DXA picked it up last night at the CDXA Xmas dinner, & has promised to try & recover the data off the HD for me, which will be great, since I’ve stupidly misplaced two of the memory sticks I used to write the book–juggling them around as I wrote the book on the laptop & downloaded info, etc. from the desktop computer upstairs, & so forth. Then, I’d download the finished chapters on to yet another memory stick, thinking this would truly function as a foolproof system. It would have, had I not been foolish.
Much progress this weeek, despite that….

IF/when the WX breaks, tower work will resume, as there’s local client jobs, & that earnest & patient guy out in 0-land, wanting a 160M vertical.

stay tuned…

Back home last night around midnight….from another dash down to Texas. Friday’s arrival found me (along w/the rest of Houston) in the midst of a weird winter snow storm. Sleet, high winds, & plunging temperatures brought some strange weather conditions. The snow would suddenly start, disappear, & be back five minutes later. The sky seemed to just drop to the ground, & visibility was probably less than 200 feet. I missed the Tollway exit, in fact, even though I’ve been making this trek for over two years! Lots of wrecks on briddges & overpasses. Lots of creeping motorists (beats driving too fast for conditions, I guess).

Anyway, the focus this trip (just me–W2GD did not come down) was to repair the top 10M Yagi on the four stack. Turns out, the rotation loop had somehow gotten snagged on the guy bracket, just enough for the jacket to tear off for about six inches. The ingress of water simply ruined the feedline. Luckily, that antenna is mounted on a PVRC mount, & while it was a tricky operation (it took some juggling & precise rotating to get everything aligned), but I was able to turn the elements vertical, then tilt the boom down & in to the tower, & by holding the boom somewhat steady with a sling, reach way out & get to the feedpoint. It was a stretch, & I admit that extending the positioning lanyard & lying nearly horizontal & attempting to work on 10-32 sized hardware is not my most favorite activity. Not only does the blood cease flowing to your head from the pressure exerted at your waist, but the ability to hold on to the tiny hardware goes way down as you reach ever further outward. Of course, the 30-degree temperatures didn’t contribute anything either. But all went off without a hitch (meaning I only dropped one machine screw), and the beam plays like it’s supposed to–once again, the station is ready for the 10M Test. George will be doing single op, phone only!

The remainder of the day & Sunday was spent (in misting rainfall) working on the M2 EME array. The eight big 41-ft boom Yagis are all up, the AZ-EL & prop pitch are working, so the focus was on getting the power dividers installed & phasing lines routed. The manual leaves a lot to be desired (there are no photographs, merely line drawings, & literally no text or narrative). Luckily, the manlift on site made getting up, down, in & out around the beams relatively easy. The rain made any attempts at WX-proofing connections next-to-impossible. I tried clearing everything w/the heatgun as I went, but soon reached a point where even it could not keep ahead of the wetness. After a short break, we were able to resume that work, while N5YA installed SuperFlex & hardlines connectors on the runs into the shack. Finished up w/everything run & cable-tied in place, then it was time to drive back to IAH & catch the Continental Express puddle-jumper home.

If the WX holds, local NC/SC jobs this coming week, then a leisurely drive to MO, for AI0O’s install….

stay tuned

Home from the road.

A quick dash to Maryland. Spent the weekend trying to stay awake & working 160M at the W3LPL CQ WW M-M station. A near three way tie for first place–the first time that’s ever happened in the history of the test!
Us at 18.5M, K3LR & KC1XX just back at 18.3M…less than 1% difference & way too close to call. Simply amazing. Despite less than good conditions, we had fun & managed to snag 22 zones & 83 countries on Top Band. A disappointment, as we hoping for another 5BDXCC in one weekend, like we managed a few years back, but ’twas not to be….

Monday found me at N3EON’s, trying to figure out why his SWR is jumping around. Conclusion? It’s the damn meter. The BIRD is/was smooth ‘n steady, so we shall see. I’m sending him the high power slug just to confirm things. Otherwise, it means something is arcing on the KT-34 & that means a manlift to get up & at the beam, etc.

Tuesday’s planned rotator repair at W4RM was cancelled. The rotator “fixed” itself, oddly enough.

Wednesday’s work at N3KS cancelled due to, of all things, rain. We’ve had more rain this season than any time in recent memory. More cancellations of work/jobs than any other year, simply amazing. The NC draught is definitely over, although the water rationing is still in place. It’ll probably remain that way now forever.

Plans to get work done for locals K4MK et al are probably on hold, since the forecast is for, ahem, rain, rain, rain.

Off to Texas for emergency repair on Friday morning.

stay tuned…

T-day, as in Turkey Day, not Tower Day.

It’s drizzling & cold, & so foggy we can’t see across the street.

So, a slow day here at home. Leaving tomorrow for Maryland.  Doing the CQ WW @W3LPL’s once again, then tower work up in MD. Booked through Wednesday at this point, then a late night drive home, and then off to Texas again, for an emergency repair on the topmost 10M Yagi in the four stack—-so George can fire all four toward EU for the 10M Contest. Then back home & hopefully catching up with AI0O’s install, along with some of the NC/SC client work which has been piling up. Yes, Larry, this means you!

Yesterday, up in the NC mountains, where the simple replacement of the existing (old!) rotator cable solved the weird problems w/K2SD’s install. While everything appeared to be okay, & Scott assured me the old rotator was okay, the newly lubed & new terminal strip equipped  Ham IV refused to turn.  One of those mysteries of life, as far as I’m concerned. (There were three splices in the line, so I’m taking it on faith that was the failure point, somewhere!) His new T-12 appears to work fb, although I think he’ll have to have some tree work done before too much longer.

stay tuned

Work plans, which included finished the install for K2SD, up  in the NC mountains, slid to a halt today, with rain here, there, & apparently everywhere. Tomorrow’s forecast is more of the same, so we’re hoping for Friday now, to finish the job. Other work is also on hold from the weather.

Fall…it’s a lovely time of the year. Yeah, right, not if you’re trying to do tower work & is constantly raining.

Gathering photographs for the tower book–leastwise that’s indoor work.

stay tuned

stay tun

Home once again….
Another trip to Texas, where the intended focus was some HF repairs & then the ARRL’s CW Sweepstakes, which W2GD & I were primed to do. KU5B was added to the team, & we were suprised to find NX5M thrown in the mix by George, NR5M, at the last minute. The repairs were ready & we managed a slightly-below last year’s score effort, which is again 2nd to W6YI’s multi-op effort. Their six man team was better than us four! For some reason, we could not achieve the hoped for high rates on 40 & 80.

Anyway, after SS, we went back to work on the big M2 2M EME array. George came out on Wednesday & wondered what the huge boom was laying in the yard! He was surprised to discover it was 55 feet long…& it truly is an inspiring assembly. I’m still not convinced putting it atop the LM-470 crankup is a good idea, but so it goes. All my work on converting the tower to handle the small prop pitch AZ rotator went off w/o a hitch, & we were able to fabricate a new top for the tower using pieces & parts okay. The local machine shop did yeoman service machining the needed parts overnight. As always, the K7NV motor turns smoothly, using the Green Heron controller.

Yesterday afternoon, we managed to tram back up the 2M & 6M Yagis atop the 15M stack tower, so George will have some high beams for the upcoming VHF contest. It took us 3.5 hours, not too bad considering all the work involved.

More work remains at the Round Mountain Radio Ranch.

Hereabouts, the WX is pretty wet & soggy–remnants from the Hurricane, off the coast. Local work hangs in the balance. Hope to get to the AI0O job in MO asap….then back to MD/VA at the end of the month for work & CQ WW.

stay tuned….

Well, once again, the best efforts (my own) went West, or in some wayward direction, anyhow. I was not able to post while on the road–either while down in Texas, working at NR5M, nor more recently, while up in MD/VA. Here’s a brief recap:

I went to Texas alone this trip. W2GD was heading to VP5, to ready the station there for some FRC friends, in classic multi-op fashion. I spent considerable time getting the “new” crank up tower installed, where it’s intended that we mount the new M2 2M EME array. I am resisting this rather strongly–the tower is simply too small for such an array, but George is adamant, since Mike Stahl suggests that’s the way to go. But with an H-frame support of 3-inch and 4-inch aluminum, and eight (8) 41-ft boom Yagis, it’s just too much moment up there in my humble opinion. But once that was out of the way, work shifted to getting the station ready for CQ WW Phone. I managed to get the needed simple repairs done all right, but the topmost Heliax connector for the new 80M beam apparently failed on Thursday, sometime after I left. They were able to convince someone to climb up and install a new Leoni connector, replacing the troublesome Andrew ones purchased on eBay. I was home only a few hours, then on the road to W3LPL. Did 15M this time out, as in days of old. K3LR and KC1XX topped the M-M pile this year, with 20M and 18M scores; we had 17M. Then N3KS asked if I could replace his rotator before the ARRL SS, and it only made sense to stay over and do the work, instead of trying to come back. Monday’s work got cancelled (don’t ask), and then Tuesday was just rain, rain, and more rain. On Wednesday, we decided (or I did), to press ahead regardless, and so I spent three hours atop Kam’s tower, swapping a 61-D for a larger 71-D Prosistel. Soaked by the end of the day, but successful.
Quick work trips to Annapolis and Warsaw, VA were successful, and then headed home. A speeding ticket in VA ruined the ride….

As did the dismal Yankee performance in Game ONE of the World Series (finally found it on Sirius).

Playing the usual game of catch up with myself once again.

stay tuned…