(Ed. Note - What cobweb?)
started 4/23/11
The guys in the Calumet, Oklahoma area have been planning a tower erection and repeater move for some time. Recent activities by Mother Nature has hastened their plans for moving the repeater system. Joseph - WA5FLT has submitted the following:
"One of our spring storms with 90 mph gusts helped us decide to get off of our couch and go to work on the new site."
What is with this cobweb?
(Ed. Note - What cobweb?)
Who organized this construction site?
Has to be a seasoned construction crew.
Al cleaning out hole for tower section.
Is it spring yet?
Deadman with small eye bolt backup!
Looking South South West toward Calumet down in
valley.
Building to house repeater equipment.
Building to house battery bank to store solar energy.
Ed. Note - Yes, this will be a solar powered repeater system)
Thinking about forming the foundation.
The remainder of the pictures are of the horizontal DB-224 antenna at the present site.
73! Joseph, WA5FLT
Our thanks to Joseph for providing the IOOK with progress shots for the new tower for the repeater. Man, it really it too bad that the area is so hilly that it will block the signals from the repeater! We are looking forward to the next installment of photos.
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posted 4/26/11
On Monday, 4/25/11 the guys got together to pour the concrete.
Joseph - WA5FLT says "We got together today to pour the concrete for the tower base and foundation for the equipment building."
A look back toward Calumet in the misty morning
Man! Al - AE5CJ does nice concrete finishing work!
Congratulations to the guys for a successful completion of Part Two!
The IOOK looks forward to the next installment of photos from the repeater project!
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posted 4/26/11
According to Joseph - WA5FLT "We are moving right along with the RPT site. Today, we removed the forms from concrete pour number one and Al - AE5CJ laid the tile for the equipment building floor."
Here starts the tile job...
Al is cleaning up the tools.
Equipment building
The Equipment building is ready to be placed as soon as we grout the tile.
Battery bank building with tools used on site.
If we do not run out of gas, we might be in operation before the big Ohio hamfest!
73's for now, Joseph
You guys are keeping on task! We look forward to your next update!
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posted 4/29/11
Well, here in West Central Oklahoma we finally got some much needed rain. The day was not a total loss however as we had breakfast at the local Johnnies Grill.
Signage at eatery.
Al thru the rain splattered window - Notice that he waited
for us to order!
Work detail for the day.
L to R - WA5FLT, AE5CJ, N5KCO
Al did get the grout placed on the tile floor later in the day.
Hopefully tomorrow we will have the equipment building secured on the foundation.
Friday I will be visiting the Cancer Treatment Center to discuss more results of last months pokes and scans. I have a very good feeling things are getting better!
Joseph
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posted 4/29/11
We made some progress today! For three old Fart's, we did not feel that we did bad.
Setting the equipment building
Equipment Building set and getting ready to let Neal check
out the inside.
Neil entering building.
David Hoffman, a local farmer and very good friend stops by
to check on us.
Installing some hardware on the deadmen.
Picture of some of the hardware.
Dare Devil at the 6' level.
Looks like someone dropped their belt.
Al securing the building.
Al securing the building.
Do we really want to go up to 16 feet?
Neal getting ready to pull up section.
16 feet in place
Securing section
Where did all the workers go?
Ready for section 2? 26 feet...
Al placing section 2.
raising section 2
Al Securing section
Al Securing section
Neal trying to pull tower over...
Discussing a technical problem...
preparing for section 3...
pretty sky
36' in place...
well, almost...
Looks better now!
Al rolling up the rope - we got a call from Janice, Al's
wife that cheese cake and coffee was ready.
What a view - 36 feet in the air!
Enjoying the food and libation...
I will be at the cancer center tomorrow and then a trip to Springfield, MO. for Cathy's Aunts 90th BD which is Friday also.
We will be back to work Monday and hopefully move the 146.61 machine to the new site. If all works well, it will be operational
on a side mount DB-224 which will work it's way up as we stack the tower. Not that we are impatient!
73's for now,
Joseph
Ed Note: Keep up the good work guys!
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Al did some work at the site while I was gone.
He moved the power building into place and installed a small solar cell (a little smaller than the ones we will actually be using, but good for experimentation).
We will have to level the building a bit, but it looks good to us.
Al between power and equipment buildings.
View from South-West.
View from North-East.
Al also thought we should show the group the size of the eye bolt that we are backing up the dead man with. It is more than enough to hold the tower by itself.
Al With Eye-bolt. This is the anchors used to support
Oil work over rigs.
Ed. Note - DANG!
We are under a frost warning tonight, but should reach a high of 70 tomorrow afternoon. Might get some more work completed.
73's for now,
Joseph
Ed. Note - As usual in ham erections, a "bit" of over engineering is habit rather than chance.
Keep 'em coming Joseph!
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Today we started with coffee. Al helped Mr. Hoffman with a chore and missed coffee.
Coffee with Joe - WA5FLT, Hal - KB5MRV and Neal -N5KCO
Hal in front of the repeater at his barn
Repeater at WA5FLT's QTH - it needs program updated.
Conduit for power between Power Building and Equipment
Building.
Neal & Al playing in the dirt
Getting ready to run wiring between Power Building &
Equipment Building.
Unwinding guy wires
Unwinding guy wires
Attaching first guy wire to dead man
Lunch with Paul Stump
Guy wire hardware
Again working on guy wires
Dissasembly of Guy hardware.
Second Solar Cell
Tower hardware for guys
Al on tower
Joe on tower
Guy hardware on tower
So far the tower sections, hardware and guy wire has been salvaged from the original tower hit by the tornado and a tower that was donated to us as scrap by a local Calumet resident.
73's for now, Joseph
Ed. Note - I sure wish we could have some of that sunshine in Ohio - it continues to rain here and more rain is forecast! ARGH!
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Well, sometimes in Oklahoma we have some wind. It happened that today was much to windy to climb a tower.
we still have a set of guy wires on the ground. However, that did not stop the fearsome three from continuing with the construction of the RPT site.
Al and Joe carrying the Repeater rack into the building.
Ever try to put a 7' rack into a 6' building?
Technical snaffu
Temporary antenna since we had a wind problem and
wanted to get on the air
modifying the rack
Repeater on the air!
Al securing temporary feed line
Starting the dirt work
more dirt work
Al doing more dirt work. Can you spot the horses butt
in the picture?
more dirt work
The 146.61 machine is on the air, powered by a battery and solar cell.
It is however on a temporary antenna. A Ringo! At about 30 feet in the air, side mounted on the tower.
We also got some dirt work completed. No pictures of coffee/breakfast or lunch.
Hopefully tomorrow the wind will not be as strong and we can retrieve the DB-224 antenna and put up a couple of sections of tower.
73's for now, Joseph
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It was to be a good day with no wind! Mother nature always likes to make the weathermen look bad.
We pushed ahead anyway. We retrieved the antenna and heliax from the old site and proceeded from there.
Arrival at old site to retrieve antenna and Heliax.
Climbing elevator leg
Al on the way up to help
Al loading DB-224 on trailer for transportation
Antenna arrives at new site
Guy wire #1 in place at 36'
Who's the Guy?
Ed. Note - Me thinks it's Joe.
Guy wire #2
Guy wire #3
Tightening guy wires - check out the wind speed as
indicated by the yellow rope
Oops, the wind is getting stronger
Secured guy wire - North Side
Al is wondering what is taking so long
Ed. Note - Could it be that the top man is busy taking pictures instead of
working? Har!
Guy system bracket
Getting to raise DB-224 antenna
Gin Pole raised for some serious work
Update on the dirt work - Al did some extra work yesterday
evening
Hooking the heliax to the duplexer
who is the fat guy?
DB-224 at 36' - this is a temporary height - the wind is predicted to be a problem for three days and we did not want to be without communications
Overall picture of site at end of day
If the wind is as bad as predicted for the next three days, we might not make much progress.
73's for now, Joseph
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posted on Saturday, May 7th
Al is putting in ground rods and hooking them up today (Saturday) as well as keeping the lawn watered. We had lots of Bermuda grass sprigs in the dirt that we moved and hope for a green lawn soon.
Neal asked "What is that up there?"
Our grass eater and lawn care animal
Neal watering lawn - David not wanting picture taken
Joe taking dummy load off of tower
Ed. Note - Me thinks that Ringo might not appreciate that comment! Har!
Neal still watering lawn
More of Neal
Ed. Note - Looks like Joe is getting a cheap high!
and more of Neal
David supervising Neal
Freshly watered lawn
Al and Neal
Do not know if I will get out to take pictures of Al's progress today, need to catch up on some projects here at home.
73's for now, Joseph
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The wind prohibited us from doing tower work again today. We decided to clean up the construction clutter at the site.
The grass was watered and mowed. Work will be postponed until next Monday if weather permits.
Neal watering the lawn - Al starting the cleanup
Al performing repairs to one of the tractors
Neal running out of water
Determining location and height of tower base
Shot of site after cleanup and grass mowed
Getting excited about the Hamfest! See you soon.
73's for now, Joseph
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A couple of questions answered....
The battery building has a thick steel floor and underneath that are steel I beams running the length on each side. We were going to put cement around the building, but changed our minds. The battery building was used to run a pipeline thru with metering in the building. Very heavy construction.
We have discussed somewhere around 140'. However, we can key it from Canton Lake to the North West and the West side of OKC at the 36' height that we are at present. We are on a ridge that runs from Bethany (OKC) thru Watonga to the West. This is the same ridge we were on before the tornado took us out about 6 miles further to the East. I have not checked the topo maps, but I think we are about 10' higher than the original site.
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posted 5/24/11
Well, we could not wait to do more work at the Repeater site.
Getting ready to start the day -1
Getting ready to start the day -2
Removal of Antenna for some preventive maintenance
Neal replacing weathered tape
46' in place
56' in place
What is this stuff?
Preparing to place the antenna
Here comes the antenna
Attaching the Heliax to the Antenna
What a view!
Picture of site with the 56' tower
What a day!
Work will now be at a standstill until we get back from the Dayton HamVention!
73's for now, Joseph
(Ed. Note - I sure hope they bring some of that sunshine with them to Dayton!)
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(related to the HamVention) Al Snyder has breakfast with Al Snyder.
AE5CJ & KB8FJB
Well, we could not stand to sit back and not work at the RPT site.
We had a small problem to solve when the repeater's power dropped to almost nothing. Breaking down the box to the circuit pack level revealed that we had been invaded by some small creatures that resembled "Mealy Bugs" with the white webbing and their leftovers. The last few days have been humid and, of course, the moisture made the extra stuff conductive. After a bit of cleanup, we were back on the air.
Bugs on Xmitter board
Driving ground rods
Tweeking the repeater
Placing a ground rod
Neal supervising work
Preparing to check repeater output
Now where did I put that little Crescent wrench?
Must be a big Ant, Look at those antennae.
Closer inspection
We are waiting for a promise of some guy cable and we will attempt 86', or more.
We have hand-held coverage in El Reno!
Today, I talked thru the Repeater with a IC-92AD from downtown El Reno to a mobile going West on I-40!
Makes a dad proud!
73's, Joseph
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Tower Work continues...
De WA5FLT -
The donation of guy cable fell thru due to the tornado. The business that offered the cable had to use it to rebuild their own equipment.
We bit the bullet and purchased some new wire rope.
The weather finally gave us a break and we were able to continue the project.
Supervisor Neil - N5KCO arrives for the action
Al - AE5CJ prepares the dead men for the second set of guy
wires
Preparing tools for the climb
Hmm - looks to me like Joseph is tossing his cookies!
Start of climb, time for a break
Hey, You left your shadow on the ground!
Checking the first set of guys
Stacking another section
Placing a guy bracket at 66 feet
Stringing the first guy wire
Now the second guy
Time for a cool drink of water
73's for now, Joseph
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After another morning thunder storm we gathered for coffee. We decided the lighting was no longer a threat
and motored to the Repeater site.
We were successful in placing two more sections of tower before the Oklahoma Wind and temperature forced
an end of construction for the day.
Our excellent waitress, Beth, at the coffee meeting
place.
Waiting for the local storm to move out of the area
On site, a view of yesterdays work
Making the climb
Next section
Placing the section
Setting section number 2 for the day
Tower at 86 feet
Our structure is now 86 feet above the ground. Did not get to move the antenna today.
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Well, of Friday July 8th., 2011 we attacked the tower project again. The predicted temperature was 84 degrees, it hit 106 degrees.
Getting ready to pull up the guy bracket
Guy bracket in place at 96 feet for third set of guys
Preparing top section and mounting mast for the DB-224
The antenna is hanging at the 68 foot level and the heliax is hanging on a rope waiting for our next visit. Hopefully it will be this
coming Thursday or Friday if weather permits.
The tower is complete at about 107 feet including the mounting mast for the DB-224. The view is fantastic at that height.
We will have more pictures of the completion if you want to wait before updating the web site.
73's for now, Joseph
(Ed. Note - Sure sounds like hot weather to be doing tower work!)
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Hi IOOK,
Today we had a bit of cloud coverage and the wind had settled a bit. Good day to see the scenery from 106'.
Al and I were at coffee (Neal was absent as his van is in for repair on the lift). Al and I decided to finish the tower today.
(Ed. Note - because of Neal's absence, there are no photos of the guys on the tower doing the work.)
Beginning of the day... Gin Pole at top and the
DB-224 antenna secured at 56'
DB-224 in place at 106'
Close up of antenna. Notice the Internet repeater
above second guy wire down.
We still have a few house cleaning issues like grommets for the heliax and the like. After the house cleaning we will start
installation of the 440 machine. Hopefully the weather will be cooler at that time.
Ham Holliday will be this Friday and Saturday. Hope to see some of the fellas there.
We now have good HT capability in El Reno. After HH we will do some road trips to get an idea of our coverage area.
73's for now, Joseph, WA5FLT
(Ed. Note - Congratulations on completing this portion of the job! Thank you so much for sharing the photos and commentary!)
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