As usual…life’s vagaries interrupted some planned events, but..
Got NE3Z’s tower base hole completed, with a large pile of dirt remaining in his yard, still to be moved over to the woods. And of course, the weather has not cooperated. The backhoe cracked the drainpipe from the house gutter system, which (with all the rain today), caused the hole to fill up with water! Dan called to say he’s pumping that out.
Then we made the drive to Atlanta, where we assembled WA7QED’s new XR-4 Yagi. A bit disappointed to find F-12 had not yet come up with even the most rudimentary manual. Luckily I’d put an XR-5 together already. We managed to get his old TH-6 trammed to earth, but then ran out of daylight. And I was already committed to another job in VA, so we headed back home to NC, where I made a midnight jaunt to Gaston County to pick up the HDBX-48 tower’s top, for the WA4JUK job.
I got up bright & early & headed to VA. WA4JUK was waiting when I arrived, & we went right to work. The HDBX was a Silent Key takedown from up in MD, where I don’t believe it had stood for very long, as the sections were a true total PITA to re-assemble. It took me over an hour to get the first section mated, for instance. After driving all day, I decided better light, higher energy, & a calmer spirit should prevail, so Sunday morning brought all those things, & the next section went together basically with minimal struggle. Joe’s son arrived then, & since we’d gotten a manlift, he ran that & we lifted the remaining pre-assembled sections up in to place in one pick. Then we maneuvered the beam (a Mosley 20M monobander) up & on the mast. I know the Mosley is longer than 10-ft in boom length, but Joe’s property is heavily wooded, & he’s had zero issues with his tribander, so I’m gambling that the location will allow the 20M beam to withstand Mother Nature’s wrath. It was somewhat surprising to find the 2:1 VSWR points on the beam to go from 14.000 to 15.000 Mhz! By the time I got the truck loaded, Joe was in the shack working guys left & right, seemingly very pleased.
Rain all day today (Monday). Proposed trip to Atlanta tomorrow postponed, with very cold temps forecast. So we’re heading back there Wednesday, when the forecast is for the mid-40s.
stay tuned…
