Come April I have been a member for 4 yrs. Couple yrs ago I posted some pics of the install of my old honda. I figured it's time to share some pics and info on my home setup. This is, as the title of thread suggests, a work in progress. It's been about 3 yrs in the making and not complete yet. Lots of hard work, time, $...ect.. I'm very thankful for the help of my radio friends both new guys and elmers.
Lots of digging by hand. Did it by my self over a couple weeks with limited time off work. My neighbors house is close so no room to leave a big dirt pile in my yard. Everything I shoveled out went into the bed of my truck and had to be hauled off. This pic is about 3/4 complete. Hole ended up at about 4x5 and 5ft deep. Bottom 6in was lined with gravel for tower leg drainage.
After all that I had my concrete pored from a truck. Wasn't about to mix that many bags of sack create!!
It turned out pretty well. I then ran out of warm weather and time off work so it sat till next spring. I then took the rest of the tower (rohn 45) and gave it a coat of paint. When I aquired the tower it was black so I decided to repaint it. I propped up the sections on saw horses and my fence, got a gallon of chain link fence paint, a wash mitt and went to town. Note: always wear a elbow length heavy duty rubber glove under the wash mitt unless you want a silver hand! Painted 4 sections and nose cone in under an hour.
I don't have any pics of the tower raising day probably because I was on the tower most of the time. 3 guys and a gin pole and it actually went pretty smoothly. Putting up the mast (24ft schedule 80) and ma5b was a different story. It was tricky and we had to be careful not to destroy the beam pulling it up between the two houses and around the cable line. It all came together but it was a really long couple of Saturdays. One weekend was spent building stand offs, running coax and other odds and ends. The next was spent putting up the stuff I couldn't do by myself. The finished product turned out great. All the hard work was definitely worth it. At the bottom working up I have a discone at around 30 ft for the scanner. Next up at 36ft a comet 333 tri band vertical for 2m/220/440. Next we have the stand off for the g5rv at about 45ft. Each leg runs down to about 15 ft above ground. On the mast is the cushcraft ma5b 20-10 beam, boom at about 48ft. Next up at about 58
ft is a cushcraft 13b2. At the top is a Imax 2000 at 61ft to the choke/feed point
Here is a pic of the desk. Consists of: Kenwood TS 2000 w sp 23 & mc 60. TYT 9000 220, tyt 7800 2m/440. Bearcat 9000. Comet hf-uhf meter. Control box for the G800 yaesu rotor. Emperor 5010, connex 4800, galaxy 2527 silver eagle D104 and the old 4 pill/power supply.
Future plans are to use the old tv antenna tower next to the house to hold a 6m beam. Also want to build/learn more wire antennas. Get my Extra!! General is great but I would like full privileges and eventually a shorter/vanity call. Was bored tonight and just thought I would share ....73 all
