Finally, after what seemed interminable delays, managed to geto to WB4YDL’s, to fix some problems and install his new, 120-ft 45G tower. Things started badly, with no amount of logic or simple solutions solving the riddle of his non-functioning Orion on the crank up tower. Finally, in desperation, we swapped Green Heron control boxes and everything worked fine! Murphy prevails again…
Once that was resolved, I was able to fix the other crank up issues, but could still not reach the topmost 432 Yagi from the 50-ft manlift. Wewere about eight feet too low (not sure Jamie had considered how far out the other Yagi elements extended toward the lift’s boom). So, it was on to the new tower install. Stacked four sections in an hour, then WB4SQC arrived. to help. By midweek, I’d convinced him raising the 3L 40/6L 20 by hand was not a truly wise decision, so arrangements for a crane install were completed. The operator was convinced we could not do it, but it went off without incident. Then we simple slung the lower (slightly smaller version of this same Yagi) on the tower at 60 ft. It awaited our building the TIC ring on the tower. That went okay, & we lowered the beam into the cradle with the Lug-All. The remainder of the week was spent building Heliax feedlines, control cables, & working on his extensive grounding system. The control cable for the ComTek phasing boxes did not arrive in time, so I’ll have to come back to install those–probably on the return leg of the trip to mid-MO and AI0O’s installation, in a couple weeks.
Another highlight of the trip was talking to his local radio club, K4RFT, the Reelfoot ARC, Thursday evening.
Trip home (10 hours) uneventful, through rain much of the way. And still raining here this morning.
stay tuned
