No, not that kind, rather the tower work stuff…which has seemingly hit the madness quotient level recently. Booked through April at this point–the furthest point out I’ve yet experienced. Everyone I mention this to exclaims: “That’s a good thing!” “And while I suppose it is, from the point of view of the large number of unemployed workforce, it’s hard to have any time with the xyl or simply go to the movies when I’m spending so much time working or on the road.
But I digress…it could all be worse. So here is a recap of recent work.
Finally got W3PAL’s little 25G tower erected. Waiting in him to refurb his MOSLEY Pro-67 now.
Headed to High Rock Lake QTH of new client N5AHS, while he’s working in VK-land. A rather interesting (to say the least) install. Mark had 50-ft of free-standing 25G. He took my admonitions regarding un-guyed 25G tower quite well. And while his original idea was for us to take that down, then install a crank up, I ran the numbers, showing him we could likely save considerable expense if we simply used the 25G tower. Of course, the guying situation, needed to meet the confines of his lot and the wishes of his xyl, led to some interesting solutions. And then he wanted a separate free-standing tower for 6/2M beams. We got all the work done yesterday, other than installing the SteppIR vertical for 80M and running the Heliax. The real challenge of the day was hauling up the T-8 log periodic. With just Joe and myself, the logistics of simply getting the beam off the ground were considerable, but we managed it. And then, once aloft, we had to corkscrew it around the guy. Lots of juggling (as always with this process) up/down & turning, etc. But it’s up there…
Heading to VA tomorrow to hopefully get all the base prep work done for N4UP’s new crank up installation. WX issues may ruin those plans, but we shall see. Peter is a very understanding client, who’s patiently waited through some delays this winter already, so feel obliged to get his work completed.
Made a quick dash to Saluda today, to hook up K0COP’s Green Heron controller. The cap in the RT-21 was bad from the factory (a real first for me–have NEVER had a problem with any of their products, ever!), and trouble-shooting that took forever, as I refused to believe that could be the issue. Finally, with Jeff’s (W2FU, Mr. Green Heron) help, we isolated the problem. Hooked up today and it worked perfectly.
Got a saddening phone call from client AA4VV this morning while on road to Saluda. They suffered a serious ice storm last Thursday, up in Lexington (which also took down some trees on client K4MK’s 45G tower but it survived), and his newly-installed C-19 suffered a boom failure. The WARC beam bent nearly double with the load, but popped back to normal once the ice melted. Taking the broken beam down should prove interesting. Repairs or replacement to be determined, etc.
stay tuned…
