We removed the SteppIR dipole for 40 meter from tower 6. This one will go to the 40 Meter tower. We also removed the 5 element Opdes yagi for maintenance.
Connecting the StepIR dipole to the crane.es yagi from tower 7 for maintenance.
Me in the tower connecting the Opdes yagi to the Crane.
On Sunday 22 September we lifted the 14 element C31XR on tower 6. The crew on the ground where: Jan PA0VAJ, Nap NA1NG, Thomas PA1M, and Peter PA4O. The crane I hired came from Drieborg.
C31XR ready for the lift.
On his way up.
The crane was just high enough.
Me up in the tower bolting the yagi on to the mast of the tower.
The 3 meter high EME tower
The Mooobounce array was mounted on a 3 meter tower. This is high enough for moonbounce. The problem was that when mowing the lawn you always have to take care when you are driving around the tower. Second reason for the upgrade was that we are using the eme system also in terrestrial contests.
So I decided to upgrade the tower with a 3 meter tower section that I had still around from the building of the HF towers.
With help from Thomas PA1M I took the tower down. I took the head unit of and mounted the tower section. After that I mounted the head unit back to its position.
Now a challenging part was coming. Lifting the tower a bit so I could mount the yagis back to its position. I had mounted a winch on of my Versatowers to lift the tower. Peter PA4O had welded me a bench on which the tower could rest when I was working on it.
Peter PA4O welding the bench
The winch would have to do a very hard job too put the tower on the bench so I had called a friend with a tractor to put it there.
Lifting the tower from the ground
The last part of the upgrade was to set the tower in the upright position.
Yagis o the tower
Thomas PA1M came to help to mount the yagis on the tower.
Tower on the bench
The next day I mounted the couplers and connected all the cables.
Final situation
I hired a hydraulic platform to repair the dipole of my lower 20m monoband yagi. The left part of the dipole became loose. I placed it back and secured it extra. Ofcourse I inspected also the other side of the dipole.
I started with the building of the 4 square for 160m. The four towers in the field will be the radiators. I have started to tune one tower. Swr is ok. But final tuning will be done after more radials are installed.
Tuned the tower with a coil.
Connection to the tower