posting started 3/20/09
OK! So, if you have been to either "N5AAA's Tower" page or the "Yuma Trip '09" page, you know that in early February of 2009 KA8ZBW (Bill) and WA8ZWJ (Keith) came to Tennessee on the first leg of their trip. While visiting N5AAA (John) and KA9VQS (Jan) they got to observe a lot of construction that was going on at the time including pouring the tower base. The gang then assembled the Glenn Martin 60' aluminum tower and Hazer unit and got it erected prior to ZBW and ZWJ continuing their trip to Yuma.
Step forward to March 19th, 2009. John already had a Mosley Classic 33 beam and he ordered add on kits for it. N8KXM (Lou), KA8ZBW (Bill) and WA8ZWJ (Keith) have come to Spring Hill, Tennessee to assemble the Old Classic 33 Beam along with a WARC Band add on kit and a Forty Meter add on kit. Once assembled the gang hopes to attach the beam to the rotor mounted on the Hazer unit and get the antenna in the air! At least, that is the plan. Har de har!
Prior to their departure, Keith took a picture of Bill in his ham radio room! Upon our arrival, we saw lotsa aluminum pieces that had been polished and were quite shiny! Also, there were boxes full of STUFF! The guys sampled some new "bottled" Bad Juan Margarita's from Elsa's! Delightful!
First thing Friday morning, the gang went to breakfast at Stan's Restaurant for breakfast. After all, the IOOK travels on it's stomach!
We got back from breakfast and imagine Jan's surprise when she saw KBob Peeking out of the back of the van!
The guys started work on the project. Lotsa pieces parts and poor and confusing directions.
Traps had to be pulled apart and checked to insure that they were installed in the proper direction.
The area identified above as the "Inner Sanctom" is actually a storage/work area underneath the deck. This is where the underground pipe from by the tower comes up and meets the PVC that comes inside.
Below John contemplates poor/confusing directions while trying to call Mosley on phone.
Below left Lou stretches out rotor cable and coax. Below right Lou is ready to push coax through the underground PVC towards the "Inner Sanctom". Some new holes have to be drilled to adapt the old portions of the beam to the new lengths needed. NN3V (Charlie) will be happy to see that a brand new Yaesu thrust bearing was used in this installation!
This thing is starting to take shape..
While Bill and John work on the final assembly of the beam, Keith and Lou work on installing the rotor, mast and dual band vertical that goes above beam.
As the sun was setting the guys ran out of steam and we decided that we were done for the day.
more to come...
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posted Saturday 3/21/09 - late....
Well, to borrow a phrase from KF8KK (Johnny), we had a VPD today! That means Very Productive Day! Top left shows Bill and John installing a new circuit in the rotor control box which is some kind of brake delay which prevents you from messing up the rotor. Then we moved outside to prepare to get the beam up. First off we installed the coax to the feed points and made a balun according to their specifications. Then we tested the antenna with the antenna analyzer just to get a feel for where we stood RF wise. Once we were satisfied that our coax and connectors were all talking to the antennas OK, we began making the final move into position to connect the antenna to the rotor and mast.
Lou had a bit of a problem getting the U-Bolts to line up with the holes on the plate, but, persistence and Yankee ingenuity paid off!
Once the beam was installed, we needed to set up the "Messenger Line" which is a static line between the Hazer and the bottom of the tower that keep the coax and rotor control cables from getting blown around and/or tangled up in the tower.
Below right we are wrapping zip ties to the coax and rotor control bundle along with the Messenger Line. Once the Messenger Line was set up it didn't take long to crank up the Hazer into position. Of course, we didn't have to hand crank much. John had rigged up a set up so that drill motors would supply the power to do the cranking. However, it took more power than planned, so, the last ten feet or so had to be hand cranked.
Below left, John and Bill continue work on the Messenger Line. Below right, the Hazer is in position! Yee haw! Below, middle left, ZWJ makes the final adjustments on the Messenger Line bottom control point. Below, middle right Jan looks things over from the deck.
Above left shows the erected beam from another vantage point. Above right shows the "dressed" cables going into the PVC pipe.
Man! What a great site! With the exception of 15 meters, all bands are even better now than they were when we checked in on the ground!
After lunch and a short rest period where ZWJ slept while the guys talked with WA5ZAI (Hoss) on 40 meters, John asked Lou to check out and make some suggestions about where he might install a radio in his Corvette.
They ended up deciding to just go ahead and install the radio and antenna. The antenna is a special antenna that requires no ground plane. It is very popular with Corvette owners as well as many boat enthusiasts. Lou has a knack for making great installations and hiding wires. It was decided that the control head would take the place of the ash tray and that the radio itself would be installed in the trunk.
Above right Lou looks into the trunk from behind the passenger seat....getting just a little too comfortable! Har!
Below left is the installed dual band antenna on a special license plate bracket. John and Bill work on installing the radio in a trunk compartment while Lou works on hiding and fishing wires.
Above Lou gets to drive the Corvette from the lower garage up to the main garage.
Below is a look at the final installation!
John is very happy with the installation!
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more to come
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OK, it's Sunday morning and time to play radio! First off, ZWJ kept his usual CW schedule with WB8NSL (Charlie) and KE8NK )Don, Da Bear) on 80 meters using the G5RV antenna. After the hour's CW QSO, John saw some things that just looked all wrong.
Then he discovered he was looking at the wrong rig and actually everything was A-OK. :-) The 20 meter sked was tough, even with the new beam. Band conditions just did not cooperate. The 40 meter net was a lot better and nearly everybody could hear everybody. John's new beam worked peachy dandy on 40 meters!
Later in the day, John had a nice chat with NN3V (Charlie) in California on 20 meters and they ran a number of tests and the beam seems to be working just dandy on 20 meters. However, 15 meters still has a problem on the beam.
The trio arrived in Dayton in time to take their wives out to Sunday evening dinner!
Monday morning John chatted with the Mosley folks and they decided that the ground strap that was installed between the driven element and the mast of the beam needs to be removed for the 15 meter portion to work properly. John made some kind of comment about the fact that the directions were not clear on that matter, as well as a lot of other confusing and conflicting directions and the technician agreed and offered a few lame excuses for why the directions are so poor.
You can see the strap in question in the photo below. Look for the red arrow...
John plans to lower the beam and remove the ground strap one day soon when the weather conditions and assistance permit it.
Bill, Lou and Keith thank John and Jan for their fantastic hospitality!
John and Jan thank the guys for all their efforts in making this dream come true! The Corvette radio installation was icing on the cake!
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John added this cover to keep rain out of the junction box
