As I don't consider myself mechanically inclined, this is easily the most ambitious (and probably dangerous) thing I've ever attempted: raise a 20-foot-tall steel pipe off my balcony, to which is attached a rigid V dipole with traps for the 10 through 40 meter bands. I call it the MEGA BUNNY EARZ.
Long story short, I couldn't do it alone. Just raising the pipe itself, with nothing attached, from the ground to the second floor balcony, laying it back onto the roof, and then shimmying it down into a concrete base was a hair-raising three minutes. Bringing it back down to the ground again was even scarier. With the antenna attached, and the matching network box, and the control cable, and the coax, and the guy wires.... nah, I'd totally kill myself. I'm going to need a spotter. I'm not Arnold Schwarzenegger, or even Arnold Schwarzenegger's tax accountant's chihuahua.
This is as far as I got before I had to give up because of time (and rain). The steel pipe (which is far, far heavier than I first imagined it) is leaning against its balcony support. When raised it will be sitting in a concrete base on the balcony, anchored to this support, and further supported by guy wires.
I bought this at the recent hamfest event back in December. It comes with a tuner at the feedpoint that you control remotely via a switch near the radio side. I had to assemble the switch from instructions:
I'm sure my late grandfather, who knew me in my youth as a bumbling fool who could barely tie my own shoes, would have been impressed to see that finally learned how to a) solder and b) follow instructions:
POWER ON:
Here's the tuner side, with the 4 control wires all connected. I bought 15m (50 ft) of 6-wire cable, leaving two wires dormant:
And ready for mounting onto the mast pipe:
Lastly I have to make guy wires. This necessitated a whole other batch of gear:
But once I get this sucker into the air, then finally I'll have something more robust than a couple of wires that are always coupling with the aluminum siding and robbing me of power. I'll be sure to crow enthusiastically about it when I actually get it up there.
Or you will read my SK article "died like a chump trying to raise a mast". And as this is something I've never done before, I'm paralyzed with fear. I've planned it for months but am still wary I've forgotten something. What if I do it wrong and the whole thing collapses and caves in the neighbor's house and my wife divorces me and I end up living under an overpass in a refrigerator carton? Akljafhsldkfhalsdhfajklsdhfklf
Bonus: This is my new common mode filter. It was made by Diamond Antenna, who I hope makes antenna gear of higher quality than their spelling suggests. Spot the typos!
Submitted January 10, 2017 at 11:45AM by the2belo http://ift.tt/2jyWgrA amateurradio
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