Galapagos Island will be activated March 1 – March 11 2023.
Team: WB2REM – Jim, KE2D – Robert and K4LT – John
They will operate 160-6M on SSB, CW and FT8 (Fox Hound)/FT4. QSL via WB2REM. HD8M will also be participating in the ARRL International DX Contest SSB (March 5-6, 2023).
See HD8M website for more details.
Finally got the Shack the way I want it. Still more work to do though.
Aluma T-75XHD tower install:
The tower finally came in, and I didn’t waste any time before starting to dig.
The 6″ hole was dug using a 1 ft bit with two extensions. It got heavy after a while, so used the tractor to lift it up after the bit filled up.
Nice and smooth all the way down.
Again, used the tractor to lift the massive MP2 pole into the hole, and proceeded to level it up.
Nice and level.
A couple of weeks later, and the pole is set completely back-filled and hard-packed all the way up to the surface.Tower carefully strapped underneath the bucket using plenty of wood for support. Yaesu 1000 DXA rotator and mast already installed.
Beautiful…
Cabinet in place, containing coax poly-phasers, roter control arrestor, and other equipment.
Fully extended to 70 ft.
This was an easy two person job, with the help from my lovely wife. She was doing the supervising. This install was a long time coming. Now for the next stop, getting the Optibeam OB 12-4 yagi installed on top, using a crane. More to come.
9/16/2022: Finally got the crane in to lift the Optibeam up in the air, and bolted onto the nested tower. What a beautiful sight.
Yours truly bolting the antenna to the mast plate.
Now on to digging a trench for pvc, and pull cables.
Business end
Trenched in a few minutes, about a foot deep.
Started working in the tower cabinet. Connected up the Poly Phasers and the rotor control lightning arrester. Plenty of space in there to add a 4-position coax switch a little later. I added a 120 V feed into the cabinet to enable the use of a 120 V electric winch. Cranking this thing up using a manual worm gear winch that was supplied by Aluma, gets old pretty fast.
Almost done. Need a RatPak antenna switch in there.
All Done….
Finally got the Optibeam OB 12-4 HF antenna assembled and ready to be installed on a tower. This thing is built like a tank, weighing in at about 140 lbs. 40, 20,15 and 10 meter bands. Can not wait to get this beast installed and up to 75 feet.
25 ft boom, Longest elements are the 40 meter elements at about 50 ft.
I few of us hams got together for a 2022 spring get-together, held at the club house at Everetts Lake, south of Rockingham, NC. Great friendship, and great food that was provided by Mark, N4CMD. Absolutely excellent food. I got to meet some old ham friends, as well as a few new ones. Great to put a face to a call sign.
We really had a great time together.
The hams that were present (as far as I could tell), were:
N4ATG – James
KM4HPN – Ed
KK4NCF – Tom
NF4Z – Mike
N4CMD – Mark, Master Of Ceremonies, and Chief Chef
KG4CJN – Terry
W4YDX – Jim
K4TOR – Tor
If I left anyone out, I apologize.
If you don’t want a slide show, just click on “Show Picture List” under the slideshow, and it will separate out the images.
Friday’s supper at Granny’s Kitchen, Rockingham, NC
Oh man……good stuff
Until next time, 73’s de K4TOR
