[SMCARA] Museum work party

[Clarke, Tom VX-20 OPS]

It was kind of a rainy, cold Saturday  Not the sort of day you would associate with "antenna parties"!  Some of us pressed on anyway and did some inside antenna work at the museum.  Walt, W3GYT; Ren, W3BNY; Tom, W4OKW were joined by Toby and Joe from the museum staff to assemble the new GAP HF antenna.  It was nice to work inside out of the weather!  We set up some folding tables and assembled the 26 foot tall antenna and it is ready to put in the air.

AJ, AJ3U stopped by to help and we all started brainstorming the actual installation.  We came up with a non invasive method of mounting the antenna that received the approval of Toby.  AJ will obtain two commercial antenna mounts that sit on the flat roof and are weighted with concrete blocks.  Additional concrete weight may be added in the form of bags of ready mix (sakcrete) concrete if needed.  The original plan of mounting brackets to the steel walls with stiffeners on the inside would require drilling holes, as would mounting the brackets to the concrete block walls in back.

Two ten foot lengths of thick wall steel conduit will serve as masts for the GAP and the VHF/UHF dual band antennas.  The Wireless network antenna will share the VHF/UHF mast. A straight run of heavy wire down the back wall of the building will provide grounding for the suppressors in the outside junction box.

Toby mentioned the possibility of a special event during the NAS Air show/Open House.  He mentioned that the museum would have a table/display at the show and we
would be welcome to have something at their table.  This might be an opportunity to show our support for the museum and to attract attention to ham radio.

Bring your ideas to the next meeting on 27 January 2005 at the museum.

73 de Tom/W4OKW

ITEM									STATUS	
1. HF antenna			 				ready to install.
		
2. Dual band antenna 					ready to install.
		
3. Two runs of coax (for HF)				ready to install.
		
4. VHF/UHF coax with fittings			AJ3U to obtain.
		
5. Outside box with surge 
suppressors and coax fitting.	Feed
lines to inside box						W3BNY to install soon.

6. Inside conduit and disconnect
box for cables to console				Open

7. Blank panels for cabinet				Open

8. AC wiring for cabinet					Open

9. Machined panels for HF rig, VHF rig
antenna matcher, etc					Open	(HF-380, Kenwood VHF rig, LDG Ant matcher, TNC, computer monitor, etc)

10. Locks for Plexiglas covers			Open

FUTURE

1. Computer installation in console.

2. TNC/Sound card interface for digital modes

3. Display explanation signs

4. Interactive display

5. Pictures