Early on (Tuesday), it didn’t appear I was actually IN the sunshine state–conditions were that bleary & dreary. But the day dawned bright ‘n sunny on Thursday, which found me at W1MBB’s West Palm Beach QTH. The task was to determine why the VSWR was high on the 40M portion of this four-band monster. A small crane with man-basket carried me up to the element tips, where the plan was to simply extend them. Alas, the supplied tips did NOT have six holes, but merely three, so no extending was possible. After coming to ground, I suggested to Matt that we try installing some small “tails” to the driven element tips, using #12 wire & a pair of hose clamps. Everyone was dubious, I think, but 4-inches of wire looped back on itself & secured to the tip proved perfect, bringing the VSWR to 1.5:1 at 7150, right where Matt wanted it. So, as the crane began packing up, we started on phase two of his work, which was to get a 105CA side-mounted on the PIROD tower. We were using the W9IIX swinging gate style mount, & once we had the beam next to the tower, it was very apparent that at the ends of rotation (either EU or VK/ZL), the DE or the first DIRECTOR was going to be touching the tower. In other words, no longer a working element. So….I talked Matt out of that plan, suggesting we utilize some Rohn 25G for a simple, short tower, carrying ONLY the 10M Yagi. He liked the idea, so we began laying out the locations for the base & anchors.
Somehow, during this same time period, Mike, KS7D, up in Tampa, was pouring the concrete for his base & anchors. So I can come back to Florida & do both installations at once, saving each of them some travel costs.
Managed to sneak off to the movies that night. Saw THE CALL. Classic thriller format, with terrific performances by
Halle Berry & Abigail Breslin. Two sides of the terror coin are in play by these actresses; both are truly truly good. A tad contrived at the end, but some swell ECU work, along with those two acting jobs, make this movie worth watching!
On the road 12 hours coming home. This morning was spent doing a site survey for a new project at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a quick 2 minutes from the house. It’ll be interesting to see if we can make the 34 day long deadline~!!
stay tuned….
