http://k4za.com The workaday world of antenna & tower projects. Posted by K4ZA, Tower Works, Charlotte NC. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:47:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en spent down in Darlington, SC, with Buddy, N4BY, installing a temporary base on 190-ft of 25G we'll soon be taking down. As often happens, the tower was installed with the base "below grade," and after 20 years, the siderails had simply lost enough steel that mostly the Z-bracing was holding ... http://k4za.com/blog/another-hump-day/ like the proverbial lion, apparently, at least according to the local weather folks. But the forecast was changed (the storm is travelling slower than expected), so we are in the grips of something more akin to a truly pissed off house cat, rather than the king of beasts.  But I digress...such ... http://k4za.com/blog/march-comes-in/ Home from the trip to Gran Canaria....& what a trip it was! This is that oft-wished-for magical radio location---a mountain top surrounded by salt water! The focus of our trip (W2GD & I) was to determine how to make this a world-class contest station. Pekka, OH1RY/EA8AH, who found the site, ... http://k4za.com/blog/fun-in-ea8/ ...was right. There will be six more weeks of winter! And we seemed to experience most of them this past week, where once again we found ourselves (W2GD & I) at the NR5M radio ranch, getting the station ready for the up-coming ARRL DX Test. There were two high priority items: ... http://k4za.com/blog/that-damn-groundhog/ 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 ... http://k4za.com/blog/cq-test/ 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 ... http://k4za.com/blog/sunday-011110/ 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 ... http://k4za.com/blog/the-eve-of-xmas-eve/ 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 ... http://k4za.com/blog/the-week-winds-down/ 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 ... http://k4za.com/blog/here-we-go-again/ 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 ... http://k4za.com/blog/its-tuesday-this-must-be-nc/