[AK-VHF] NET: Aug. 14 - 144.200 USB

[Ed Cole]

Well - Missed the net, again.

Tried to get some things done on the tower so left at (9:45am to return 
the man-lift which meant I did not get home until 11:30am.

Some success and some not:

I installed longer 10mm bolts with locking nuts (8) in place of the 
bolts supplied with the Alfa-Spid RAK rotator.  Also drilled a 3/8-inch 
hole thru the rotator and mast to prevent slippage (broke 7/16-inch 
drill bit so ended up with 3/8-inch so hoping its strong enough).  I 
applied non-permanent hardening  loctite to the new hardware, so hope it 
holds up with the huge wind area of the dual 6m yagi array.

I found the two LMR-400UF coax jumpers broken (pulled apart) and also 
the cat5-e elevation encoder cable when free-rotation by wind wrapped 
cables tight to the mast (looks lie 4 or 5 full rotations). Removed 
remnants and found one 6m yagi has a discontinuity in either the 
25-fooot LMR-600 phasing line or the antenna (the antenna normally 
presents a dc short on the center wire and that is not present plus 
infinite SWR.  I taped the connector and connected only one antenna, 
bypassing the 2-way splitter by using a couple ten-foot LMR-400 cables 
using N "barrels" for connections.  Seems I have some bad barrels.  A 
lot of time lost finding the problem because my MFJ-269D antenna 
analyzer decided to stop making good measurements (when battery voltage 
sagged below 9v - duh).  I charged it the night before for over 4 hours 
(so guess its time to buy new batteries -rechargeable AA).

Also the new RJ-12 cables I bought from e-bay were no good (only after 
spending time to install in the elevation encoder box (which has to be 
hack-sawed to remove two machine screws which had seized).  More time 
lost "spinning wheels".

I also installed a bolt to hold the plastic covered mast that supports 
the 1296 and 900 MHz loop-yagis.  Dressed all new lines, nicely to find 
the 6m SWR on the good antenna was infinite at ground level.  Back up 
the tower to isolate by which darkness arrived (long day at 40-foot).

Afterward it occurred to me that I had a good LMR-400 cable of 17-foot 
which would reach directly to the N-female connector of the 1-/58 inch 
hardline running up the tower to base of 2-way splitter. Also I hand 
installed RJ12 connectors on a 13-foot run of  cat5e (not fun).

Saturday morning I went back up to do the changeover and forgot to bring 
the 17-foot jumper (argh).  I installed the cat5e into the elevations 
encoder box and secured wiring by 9:30am.  I called the man-lift rental 
to see if I could extend my rental for Saturday but they had it rented, 
so I quickly prepared the man-lift for 45-minute drive back (and missed 
the Net).

Reaching the level of the KLM11 cable to install new coax connector was 
out of reach of the man-lift (to do next time with a lot of other stuff).

73, Ed - KL7UW

On 8/13/2021 6:53 AM, Ed Cole wrote:
> NET will be delayed until 10:30am-11am because I will be driving to 
> Sterling to return a man-lift at 9am.  With time to unhitch and settle 
> paperwork with 45-minuted drive home its likely to be near 10:30.  Net 
> - 144.200 USB
>
> Winds are calm today at 6:45am and hopefully I will accomplish all my 
> tower maintenance tasks.  At minimum have slipping rotator fixed and 
> 6m SWR solved.  I will also try to figure out why elevation encoder 
> stopped working (unplugged?).  I will get the 432/900/1296 antenna 
> repointed to Anchorage and check SWR on all. Might even install coax 
> connector on second KLM11 (2m) yagi. We'll see.
>
> See you tomorrow at 10:30(ish).
>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>
>
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