Another step forward.
Today I reconnected the cables witch are switching the gear in the field. I had to disconnect them a while ago because I have made them in a tube and buried the tube under the ground. I aIso buried the coax cables and the power line to the towers.
Two off the four 144 mhz contest systems had some issues during last contest. One tower had a blown up preamp and I was not sure what happened. I had the tower down and replaced the 4 wire witching cable. I also removed some old cables. I think the real switch trouble was in a split connector in in the barn. This part of the station is working again.
Second problem we had was with system two. We had bad swr and bad rx. I had already replaced the rx tx relays on the top of the tower. First we thought it was ok but during als contest it went bad again. I had the tower tilt over and measured it all step by step. This payed of. The power divider was broken. Maybe when I measured it before, it made contact but when the tower moved a bit it lost contact. I replaced the power divider and it is now fine again. During the week I will fire up all four systems and test it with high power before the contest starts.
It just fits with in the wall of the house.
Tower 1 144 mhz down for repair.
Tower 2 tilted over.
See the extra iron tube under the tower. Its for safety.
Chris PA2CHR and Jos PA3FYC have organized a DXpedition to Palestine E44.
So I had to fire up the eme station to get this rare one in the log. I first listened to see if they were active and if I could hear them. Due the fact I am busy with the HF station 2m moon bounce is a bit on the side at the moment. I turned the yagi in the right direction an started listening. I heard several stations of the moon and after I found out their calling frequency I could hear them every tx period. I went to the barn where the amps are and connected one of the bigger amps to the eme station. I fired the amp on and went back to the shack. Then I listened again and they were still there, I called and the next rx period they came back for me. I was surprised and happy at the same time because it was so busy.
Today Hilko PC1CP, Adriaan PD4AK, Thomas PA1M, and Jan PA0VAJ helped to lift de fourth tower. I had mounted the SteppIR in the tower when it was on the ground. I had mounted one side of the elements on the ground. We made a working platform from 4 meters high. Then we lifted the tower and when it was five meters from the ground Hilko went up the platform and mounted the other 4 fiberglass poles. After that we lifted the tower in his final position.
Crane arrives
Building the platform. SteppIR on the ground with elements up.
Mounting the tower on the rotary base.
Mounting the guy wires while the tower is hanging in the crane
Tower with Steppir in top is ready. Crane moves to other tower.
Mounting a dipole for 40m for temporary use.
The problem tower is repaired. The flanges did not fit. This was a mistake made by the tower builder.
Adriaan PD4AK cut a few flanges from the tower and welded them back in a correct way. Now everyone fits and I can mount the ring and the rotator and bearing plates. And off course the rotator itself. The tower can turn but the top yagi can also turn.
Repaired tower
Adriaan PD4AK (right) with the rapaired tower.