Published on
January 28, 2009 in
Blog.
Charlotte, NC–Wednesday
After a quick dash to the cardiologist (I’m fine for another six months), I found myself near the weekly CDXA luncheon site, so stopped in (since I’m hardly ever free at that tiem). The usual gang was there. Swell to chat about radio; enthusiasm is contagious, all right. Then home to the garage,where I dug out the tablesaw, & managed to make two little plywood boxes, to ship the Alpha 87A transformer to NR5M, and the 25G tower base insulator to AI0O.
Rained heavily this afternoon, & the forecast for the remainder of the week does not look promising for local tower work.
Published on
January 25, 2009 in
Blog.
Home from another trip to Texas, where W2GD & I continue the NR5M rebuilding efforts. This week we focused on two primary projects—refurbishing an older 45G tower (the first tower to be built at the station, in fact), which will hold the 13/13/13/13 6M stack when we’re done, & the re-assembly of the 80M 3L Yagi. Rich, K7ZV, came down to help with building the beam. Without his help, that project would probably still be unfinished! So, a big TU to Rich. Thursday the crane arrived & I spent much of the day hanging in the bosun’s chair at 165 feet, repairing two of the antennas in the 15M stack. Luckily (I guess, since most everyone on the ground thought I was nuts), everything went off without a hitch….Friday, a smaller crane moved over to the 80M tower & we raised & tested the Yagi. Perfect…more testimony to Rich’s experience w/the coil-conversion models. Without any helpers, we decided to have the crane operator come back on Saturday. But the high winds (25MPH steady, w/gusts up to 30-35) prevented us from hauling the beam into place.
It was also a treat to operate the 160M Test for a few hours on Friday night. Conditions were simply super, & the parasitic array really plays well. We were only a couple of mults behind the East Coast big guns.
The weather was weird this trip, too. Some days we were bundled up, but on Friday, it was shorts ‘n tee shirts time. Saturday found us freezing atop the tower as we worked, however. We did manage to get the old hunk of rusted Schedule 80 waterpipe hauled out the top of the 80M bam tower, rusted solidly to the thrust bearing. The new K0XG ring rotator is in place, ready for the beam. Perhaps next trip….??
Published on
January 18, 2009 in
Blog.
WordPress isn’t quite as intuitive as journalspace was, but it appears to be easy enough to use, once one gets going. Tnx to KA9FOX for help, of course. Here’s #2…
Published on
January 17, 2009 in
Blog.
Despite the temperature never getting above 30-degrees today, went ahead & moved the old Heliax & some of the antennas out to the Stanley QTH. N4HN drove out & picked up the LDF-7 and the 220 mHz Boomer. Still have some LDF-5 short ends, & all the EME arrays, but KI4TZ has purchased those.
Back to the garage workshop, where I finished up four boxes which hold the wiring for the KØXG orbital ring rotators, one of which we’ll be installing next Monday at NR5M, to hold the 80M Yagi! Missed FedEx, so one will have to go with me in the suitcase; the others will be shipped, 2nd day.
KA9FOX has done a super job in getting my new blog up ‘n running!
Published on
January 17, 2009 in
Blog.
W2GD and K4ZA at NR5M
Scott KA9FOX visited the NR5M super station being built near Houston, and took this photo. That is John W2GD on the left and me (K4ZA) on the right.
More info about the NR5M station at http://www.nr5m.com.
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