[PPRAANet] CMRG Tower work on Saturday with links to Pictures

[DESloan at aol.com]

Below are three links to pictures from  Saturday’s tower work for the 
Cheyenne Mountain Repeater Group on Cheyenne  Mountain (CMRG). The top of the 
mountain is a little over 9,500 ft. The tower  itself is 120 feet. The pictures 
are AWSOME! The tower is 120 feet high and the  CMRG’s antennas are located 
on the Rohn 45 cross section at the 100 foot level.  All of the antennas 
and equipment in the building belong to Amateur Radio  Groups. Most of the 
pictures were taken either looking up or down from the  tower. There are a 
couple of pictures of Pikes Peak which is located just to the  NW of Cheyenne 
Mountain. Several pictures are of the view to the East; of  Colorado Springs, 
Ft. Carson, and points further east.

The work party met  at McDonalds’ at 7:30 am Saturday 31 Oct.  Instructions 
for the work party  were: “Be sure to bring plenty of warm clothes.  An 
extra set of dry socks  would be good in case your first pair gets wet.  Don't 
forget gloves, hats,  and face protection.  The road will be plowed today, 
Thursday, but be  prepared.  Old Stage road may be very icy.  Drivers, if you 
have  chains, it might be a good idea to bring them.” The trip up to the 
top of the  mountain was uneventful (the road had been well plowed the day 
before). A total  of 9 vehicles made the trip with 12 people and all the 
equipment to the top of  the mountain. One of the draw backs to having your 
repeater located on a 9,500  foot mountain top is that if you forget something the 
trip to get retrieve the  forgotten item is a LONG one. 

When the work party arrived the first job  was to remove some snow from the 
work site. They reported about 18 inches of  snow at the base of the tower. 
The reason for this move of the CMRG’s repeaters  to a new location is the 
folks that manage the top of the mountain for all the  towers an antennas 
you see (All of the local TV, radio, El Paso Sheriff, fire  departments, cell 
towers, federal, military, ham radio, etc.) wanted to tear  down our old 
building and tower (they were the oldest on the mountain) an so  they provided 
the CMRG with a “new” building and tower. CMRG had a total of nine  
antennas that they wanted to get installed and the coax (hard line) ran. All of  
the work done did not get done. But, got the majority of the work finished (7  
antennas installed and most of the hard line ran). None of the antennas are 
 connected to the radios. The CMRG is installing a new receiver/transmitter 
and  controller for the 147.345 system. The current repeater system for 
147.345 will  be installed for the 146.760 system. The CMRG has 2 VHF (1 with 
IRLP which  requires a link back down to Colorado Springs for connection to 
the Internet)  repeaters, 2 UHF (one linked permanently to one of the VHF 
repeaters) repeaters,  1 D-Star UHF repeater, 1 Six meter repeater, and several 
link radios that  interconnect Cheyenne Mountain to four other repeater 
sites that are located  west and south of Colorado Springs. The propane 
generator has been moved. The  CMRG will need to poor a concrete pad to install the 
generator on. Also need to  have the propane tank moved.

Many many thanks to the 12 folks (9 vehicles  full) that donated their 
Saturday to work on the tower (list of those that were  able to make the work 
party is below). Don Johnson K0DRJ from Woodland Park  (Teller SAR, ARES) and 
Rick McMorran W6ANF did an amazing job on the tower. The  tower monkeys were 
on the tower from 9:00AM until 5:00PM with only 30 minutes  for lunch on 
the ground. The wind was very calm which made it easier to get  everything 
from ground level to the 100 foot level of the tower. The temperature  allowed 
for wearing only a long sleeve shirt to keep warm. Glad that mother  nature 
was not invited. Several of the pictures show Don and Rick out on the  cross 
arm working. The ground crews were kept busy sending tools up and down and  
antennas up. Nothing dropped from the tower to the ground. Except for being 
 tired and in awe of the scenery the work party returned home without even 
a  scratch. 

The CMRG provided food for a hot lunch (THANKS to Jason Taylor  K0WTF and 
XYL Davia) for the entire work party. They say that the grilled Brats  and 
Hamburgers were to kill for! Again THANKS to all that made the trip. If you  
have not made the trip up to the mountain top with the CMRG, please try to 
make  a future work party (It is well worth the trip!). The next work party is 
 tentatively planned for 3 weeks from now (weather permitting).

Photo’s on  the CMRG web  site:

http://www.qsl.net/cmrg/cmrgpictures.html


Photo Gallery:  Don Johnson’s, K0DRJ   pics

http://drj826.smugmug.com/Other/2009-10-31-Cheyenne-Mountain/10158529_JbNsX/
1/698872491_arx6H  


Rick McMorran’s W6ANF  pics

[Comment fro Rick] Was a  great day playing tower monkey.  I've uploaded 
pics I took  to
http://picasaweb.google.com/RadioW6ANF/AntennaParty

Don Johnson,  K0DRJ
Jason Taylor K0WTF and XYL Davia
Dan Scott W0RO
Christopher  Marsden, KD0FKC
Dave Novotny, WA6IFI
Joe Southworth, KR0MAG
Rick  McMorran, W6ANF
Jim Voige, W0KOZ
Stephen Mitchell, K7CB
Perry Jager,  N0WMZ
Ed Hoepner KC0FIC

Again I (and the CMRG board) thank all of you  for your hard work!

Dave N0EOP
CMRG Board Member