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I finally ordered the new tower today.

Canon 18 mm. Optex circular polarizer and Marumi Super DHG lens protector.

The pix may not be perfectly level in the first place as well. Notice the road? It's not curved like the pix shows either but it does slope downhill from left to right. In any event the plumb bob shows the tower to be plumb and any deviation from plumb in the pix is minor.
 
This will be the last update for sometime. The wind was a problem again today and I fear with it being mid/late November that it will be the very rare day that the wind is not blowing as is the case here on the coast at this time of year. The fall has been incredible, almost unbelievable, as for the temperatures but my luck has finally run out I think. Temperatures hovered around the freezing point all day. I spent the day today finishing up some PL-259 to type N cables I need to connect to the heliax and then turned my thoughts towards the approaching winter storm. Yep, a winter storm is supposed to hit us tomorrow bringing up to a foot of wet heavy snow followed by freezing rain and ice pellets. That was the death blow to any further work on this project until the spring. Between my work schedule and the uncertainty of the weather and the fact that it will take me two full days of tower work to install the HF antennas and rig the feedlines etc. I decided to take the Explorer-14 apart as well as the partially assembled A3WS and stored them in the barn for the winter. I just could not run the risk of having the Explorer-14 with the 40m add-on kit parked on the tower and not have a functional rotator in the event a heavy wind and snow storm came up like what is predicted for tomorrow. That antenna must be turned broadside to the wind in order to reduce wind drag on the driven element which is over 42 feet long. By delaying any further work on this project it will allow me to further fine tune some aspects such as cable entry and possible additional control line installation as well as the installation of terminal blocks in the basement and possibly at the tower base to allow better cable management. I can also work on my ground system bonding. This was all part of the “grand plan” since the beginning however time was short and it looked like it would have to happen after things were installed and on the air. This will also allow me to remove the 2m and 6m antennas and heliax cable from the old tower before installing it all on the new tower. If I had gone ahead and installed just the HF antennas now I would have to take them down in the spring in order to install the 2m and 6m yagis on the top of the mast. In the end it will work out better from a logistics point of view but it means I have at least another six months to wait before I get it all together as planned. Oh well, I have waited two years with just an 80m doublet fed with ladder line and crappy conditions so maybe now that we have better conditions it will make things a bit more tolerable. This decision did not come easy but I feel it is the best given the overall circumstances of everything considered. It is with great regret that there will be no further updates until the spring when work will continue.
 
Captain Kilowatt said:
This will be the last update for sometime. The wind was a problem again today and I fear with it being mid/late November that it will be the very rare day that the wind is not blowing as is the case here on the coast at this time of year. The fall has been incredible, almost unbelievable, as for the temperatures but my luck has finally run out I think. Temperatures hovered around the freezing point all day. I spent the day today finishing up some PL-259 to type N cables I need to connect to the heliax and then turned my thoughts towards the approaching winter storm. Yep, a winter storm is supposed to hit us tomorrow bringing up to a foot of wet heavy snow followed by freezing rain and ice pellets. That was the death blow to any further work on this project until the spring. Between my work schedule and the uncertainty of the weather and the fact that it will take me two full days of tower work to install the HF antennas and rig the feedlines etc. I decided to take the Explorer-14 apart as well as the partially assembled A3WS and stored them in the barn for the winter. I just could not run the risk of having the Explorer-14 with the 40m add-on kit parked on the tower and not have a functional rotator in the event a heavy wind and snow storm came up like what is predicted for tomorrow. That antenna must be turned broadside to the wind in order to reduce wind drag on the driven element which is over 42 feet long. By delaying any further work on this project it will allow me to further fine tune some aspects such as cable entry and possible additional control line installation as well as the installation of terminal blocks in the basement and possibly at the tower base to allow better cable management. I can also work on my ground system bonding. This was all part of the “grand plan” since the beginning however time was short and it looked like it would have to happen after things were installed and on the air. This will also allow me to remove the 2m and 6m antennas and heliax cable from the old tower before installing it all on the new tower. If I had gone ahead and installed just the HF antennas now I would have to take them down in the spring in order to install the 2m and 6m yagis on the top of the mast. In the end it will work out better from a logistics point of view but it means I have at least another six months to wait before I get it all together as planned. Oh well, I have waited two years with just an 80m doublet fed with ladder line and crappy conditions so maybe now that we have better conditions it will make things a bit more tolerable. This decision did not come easy but I feel it is the best given the overall circumstances of everything considered. It is with great regret that there will be no further updates until the spring when work will continue.
Click to expand...

Better safe than sorry, you gave it a hell of an attempt but mother nature waits for no man.

Your wire will get you through the winter months with many contacts as the solar cycle is on the upswing.
 
I just thought I would dig this thread back up as things are looking good for getting back into the antenna rebuild again. I just took my only antenna down yesterday while the wx was nice and had planned to remove the 2m and 6m yagis from the old small tower today but last night the wife reminded me I had to take our son to an orthodontist appointment today at 11:30. What poor timing as it just screwed the entire day and what a day it is. Beautiful sunshine and low 70's here today.Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer so I am planning to do it then as long as the wind holds off. I need those antennas up on the new tower first before the HF stuff goes on and I need to build new mounting brackets for them first to accommodate the larger mast size. Well I am now off to the building supplies dealer to look for ground rods and other assorted grounding accessories as well as something to use as conduit to run all the cables in underground to the tower. Hopefully good weather will stay around and allow me to get this installation completed before spring changes into summer. (y)
 
it's a very (to me) intimidating project you've got going , but you're being smart and safe about it . your sensible patience is admired ..... takes time to do some things right .
 
that's for sure

we have gone from winter right into spring here in the midwest...rain all week!

antenna's and tower on hold, working on the 4 wheel drive in the garage in the meantime.

best of luck.
 
I'm waiting to get the rebuild on my uncle's boat done...floors etc. Once that's done and i get my garage back it's time to maybe start building a couple of LFAs
has been like summer here...25C today
 
Thats good to hear capt KW. Good luck and keep us posted.
For me, its a year of dismantling the shack and hopefully moving to a different qth. Then building a whole new shack / antenna system.
 
Well today was a bust, both figuratively and literally. The weather was beautiful, in fact new records were set at 84 degrees. Never before has it ever been that warm in any day in March or even April here. We were actually warmer than most places in the Caribbean today. The problem however was the wind. I headed out doors this morning with my arms loaded with climbing gear and noted a light breeze. As I was getting all the gear on the wind picked up and started making some pretty wild gust that actually made the top of the old tower move. I thought no way in hell am I going up there today.I have often said that I do not mind climbing but I won't climb in the wind. Tomorrow is much cooler and wet so my window of opportunity to get the old antennas off the old tower slammed shut on me today for a while. I then decided to reassemble the A3WS yagi as it would be the next antenna to go up after he 2m and 6m yagis come down off the old tower. I had a temporary mount made up to hold the antenna and had modified the boom/mast mounting plate to accept the larger mast on the new tower and was assembling the elements. After a fashion I thought it was strange that there was no toothed bracket on the boom/mast mount while I was mounting the driver element. I needed to get some more hardware from the box and that was when I noticed the missing toothed bracket.I went back and removed the driver element to make it easier to remove the boom from the mast and install the bracket I had omitted the first time. I should point out at this time that I had replaced the stock U-bolts with stainless hardware BTW which is both good and bad. God as it will not rust and will come apart easier if it ever has too but bad as stainless is bad for galling and seizing. Yep, one U-bolt nut was seized on. in my attempt to remove it I broke the U-bolt and since the boom was not stable with just one U-bolt I took it all apart again and packed it back in the shop until the next spell of good weather when I am off. The worst part is that it was my pwn fault for just "snugging" up the hardware and not using the stainless anti-seize spray I have somewhere. I figured it was not tight enough to seize up but I was wrong. I swear that someone somewhere has place a hex on me and this project with all the stupid little things that have prevented me from getting things done in an orderly fashion. I think it may be my wife.:glare:
 
Tnx Warren. I go back on Saturday for two days and two nights before I am off again. I was going to get dad to untie stuff on the ground etc.or another fellow that owes me a favor. He got 40 feet of Delhi MXD tower from me two weeks ago for the low price of asking so I am covered but thanks for the offer.now it is just a wait an see game with thw wx and my days off coming together.
 

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