posted 10/15/07
Last Saturday afternoon was a delightful fall day here in Northwest Lower Michigan. John, KF8KK took advantage of both the beautiful weather and some free labor to finish installing a tower up at the house. The idea here is when the new ham shack in the house is completed, on those cold northern Michigan mornings he won't have to run to the pole barn and work to get a fire going in the stove, but, he will be able to join the IOOK nets from the warmth and comfort of the house!
Johnny had made many preparations prior to Saturday's activity which included digging the hole for the base, inserting the base for the tower, cementing the base in place, grounding the tower, adding the house bracket and two sections of tower. The gin pole was already in place when the ground crew consisting of Charlie, WB8NSL and Keith, WA8ZWJ arrived.
Keith controlled the gin pole rope while Charlie manned the tag line and Johnny controlled the ascent of the tower section into place. Even though the tower looks new from a fairly fresh coat of paint, it is used tower and took a fair amount of persuasion to get the sections to match up properly.
It wasn't too long and both sections were up and in place. John usually does tower work alone, so, he was quite grateful to have a ground crew on this occasion! In the lower right panel above, John shows his first attempt at table building and finish carpentry. This will be the center for his new Ham Shack come next spring.
Congratulations John! It all looks great!
