The View From The Tower

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…