[Lowfer] Slow antenna work at " XR "

[Andy - KU4XR]

Hi all:

An interesting day today. I took the antenna down to add 
pipe at the top to get it up to 30 feet AGL. I put a 
small 3/4 inch piece of PVC pipe thru the top section at 
a 90* angle to offset the vertical by about 9 inches from
the PVC mast.one thing I did a little different this time, 
I have been taking pictures of the project as it comes along.
Once finished; I'll post them online. The most frightening 
part of the day was when I tried to raise the antenna into 
the air and return it to service. I did a couple of changes
to the new antenna setup. adding the extra 5 feet of height,
and I changed from an 18 guage vertical wire to a 10 guage
wire for the vertical. Add all this to the 9 inch offset at 
the top, and some serious extra top load is now a factor
when trying to raise the antenna. I am a one man operation,
and the extra weight was quickly evident when I started to
hand walk the mast back up. That wasn't the frightening 
part though; about half way up, and not being able to see
what was happening behind me, the mast became very heavy,
and one of the wires in the top-hat was caught on a yard 
decoration. Before I had realized that I gave a big heave
and then " SNAP !!! " PVC pipe falling around me, wires 
going in all directions, and my mast suddenly got a lot
lighter. A video of the event would have been funny,
especially the look of surprise on my face at the time
when I realized that it had broke in the middle.
Nearly 3 hours worth of work demolished in a matter of
seconds. OH WELL !! all is not lost. A quick trip to the
local home depot, pick up a 10 foot piece of 1-1/2 inch 
PVC pipe, a new hacksaw blade, some wirenuts, and soon 
I'm back home splicing the pipe back together. 
Job finished, every thing looks OK from the ground, lets 
raise it back up again, and this time make sure the
top-hat wires don't snag. No problem this time. A little
extra top weight, but easy raising. Up in the air now,
and then I discover the absolute mess created when the
mast broke. The top-hat wire were all tangled up, and
no amount of pulling on the tie off wires would untangle
them. Best solution; disconnect all 13 wires in the
top-hat assembly and perimeter wire. SO !! down comes
the antenna again, and the top-hat mess is untangled.
I am going to try something to try to keep the wires 
from tangling when I raise it again. I cut plastic coat
hangers to use as spacers, and placed them a short 
distance from the connection point to keep the wires
spaced apart from one another when I raise it back up.
It's looking OK on the ground. I measured, and cut all 
the top-hat wires to the same length, Now I have to figure
out just how much perimeter wire I need. Darkness sets in
and work stops for the day. I will pick up on Sunday.
I will probably just lay the antenna on the ground, spread 
out the radials, and run the wire to each one. Then connect 
the pull-up twine to raise the top-hat into the air after 
raising the antenna up. Most likely it will be a full day
of work, hopefully I can get it back in the air Sunday.
Then comes turning the beacon back on and seeing what 
changes have occured with the new changes to the antenna 
setup, retuning the system, and HOPE !! for an improvement
in RF output.

73 to all :::


Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN.
LOWfer Beacon " XR " @ 185.29866 KHz ( QRSS-60 )
Coordinates:  N:  35* 43' 54" - W:  84* 3' 16"
http://www.myspace.com/beaconxr