[W2CRA] CRA: Back Up!

[William Powell]

All,

Thanks to Ed - N3MSK and Wes - N2VEK we are up and running on the new
tower and the old one came down today.  And both the old 375 and
444.85 antennas were saved.

At some point in time we'll need someone to lightly sand them and
apply a couple of coats of 50% thinned out PolyUrethane to renew
weather and UV protection.

375 is running on the backup transmitter in the old building - ~100W
and an extra 50' of 1/2" flex hardline, 444.85 on it's regular radio
in the old building also with ~50' of 1/2" flex hardline more than it
had.
Turns out that the connectors Ed "rescued" weren't intended to be
re-used so we had a grand battle getting them off and then back on
but, in the end, sweat, cursing and hammers prevailed.

We'll be good for 6 months at most but I'd rather get the move over
and done with ASAP.

This / next week I'll be making the mounting shelf for and mounting
and doing preliminary tuning of the 375 cavity filters and, if I get
time, getting a start on mounting the new MSF5000 444.85 radio in it's
new home and tuning it's duplexer.  
I could use someone to run the shop vac and suck up metal bits as I
cut the cabinet side rails to make clearance for the 444.85 MSF5000 -
they're in about 1/4" too close and the mounting brackets wind up too
close together for the radio to fit in between them.  Also need to
move and measure some stuff so figure 1 or 2 people for 2 to 3 hours
some afternoon this week.

Dave, LMW - If you want to do the cane metal front doors project let
me know when.  Bring ur truck and you can haul them home and work in
the warm.

More as it happens,
Bill - WB1GOT