But it has been too long since I posted any blog entry, & I apologize for that. It’s not for lack or work or activity, rather an excess of same. Herewith, a brief recap, starting way back in July…
When Joe was able to get back to NC & we were able to head to Ohio. Our first stop was a brief one at AE8I’s, where we simply “watched over” the installation of Ken’s new Rohn foldover tower. This was their new design, which utilizes 45GSR for the base & hinge, & 55G for the tower itself. Very robust, indeed. Obviously a crane job & we literally had it stood erect in 10 minutes. (I did the base installation work right after Dayton, since Ken lives nearby….)
After that, it was time to motor on up the road to Avon Lake, OH, to W1PDI’s QTH, where Tom wanted a garage-bracketed 45G stood up, to hold his new Navassa JK Yagi. Avon Lake is a pretty “nice” suburb, literally on the shore of Lake Erie, with lots of high dollar real estate. So…it was inevitable that several neighbors would wander out to watch this project. A few offered comments, my favorite being: “Is that even legal?” Tom & his XYL were superb hosts. And it’s a truly “cute” install, hardly visible from the street, but he’s working stuff he never did on his wire antenna, so all’s right with the world.
On a side note, on the trip up I-71, it was literally a 15-minute detour over to the family farm, which I had not seen in seemingly forever. I was surprised to see my very first tower installation still standing, although leaning a bit & quite rusty. Simply amazing, all things considered–that I was 15 years old when I put it up, had no idea (really) what I was doing, & certainly had no tools or safety gear, at all! (I pulled the sections up, then lifted them over my head & nested them, then climbed up, untied the rope, & repeated twice more. It’s a wonder I’m alive to write this!)
The final leg of our journey into the Buckeye State found us back at K8CX’s to finalize some repairs or modifications. It turned out that simply rotating the 20M Yagi 90-degrees to the XM-240’s boom caused the VSWR to fall into place on 40M. So there was no real need to lower any of the beams, a tremendous time saver.
I’ve already mentioned K4DGJ’s tower base repair work, & in early August, I went over to Dr. Sam’s to install his new Navassa beam. K4MQG came over to help, making things go much faster & easier. Used a Sunbelt Rentals manlift, as I could not get my size 11s inside the top section of 25G with the old water pipe mast in place. The lift worked perfectly for everything. Sam is certainly enjoying the new beam, claiming to be hearing & working stuff he never even heard on his old Mosley Classic 33! Even with present-day lousy conditions, that may be possible, as I’m feeding the Navassa with 1/2-inch Heliax, for lower VSWR as well as reduced interference.
Earlier this week, made a mad dash to the United States Military Academy–West Point, where I seem to be the only one to respond to this RFQ. Amazing or not, I dont’ know, but the RFQ was 40 pages long! It’s not a huge project, but it has some interesting aspects: a 45G tower (two secti0ns) bracketed to the roof of the building, a satellite array on a non-penetrating roof mount, everything fed with Heliax, & a surprisingly modern station, including a new Flex with Maestro, etc. That’ll likely happen later in October. West Point is quite lovely, of course, & undergoing some serious renovation work–every building being equipped with AC, for example.
Later this week, occupied with getting more sections of the re-galvanized N4ZC tower up for K4JUO. Tough sledding, with lots of slag issues, etc. One more trip should see me get the full 120-feet in place, then it’s on to antenna building.
stay tuned (I promise to try being a bit more pro-active here!)
