120514 - The third C Can - Summary of where the project is today.  We have two forty foot shipping containers that
are welded together, openedup inside, and finished with 2x4's, 1/2 inch plywood and Roxul wool insulation.  There is an
eight by eight foot porch, on the East side.  There is a six by eight foot washroom/coax transfer room (with a composting
toilet).  There is also an eight by eight foot power room, which will eventually become a 'bedroom' once we stop storing
tools there.  We just added a 34 foot shipping container for storage.

There is a space set aside for a kitchen - eight x twelve foot at the West end of the C cans, which is now about 90% built. 
The rest of the space is operating space - three workstations, a sitting area with a gas airtight heater and a work bench area. 
The floor has been insulated in the coax transfer and power rooms.  The rest of the floors are now in - 1 inch high density
insulation, and either laminate flooring or linoleum over 1/2 plywood and insulation.

We ran over 5,000 feet of core line (a strong plastic pipe) between the workstations and the coax transfer room, the
power room and as many other places as we could imagine we would need to run future cables.  We have miles of 120
 and 220 volt wiring home run back to the power room.  There are both 12 and 24 volt drops at each workstation. 
There are several battery banks.  1000 amp hours at 24 volts supporting a Xantrex Pro-Sine 3KW inverter/charger (this
provides pure sine wave, lab quality power to anything that needs 120 volt).  There is 900 amp hours of 12 volt liquid
ni-cad batteries, and 2 x 160 amp hours of 12 volt Sealed Lead Acid batteries.

There is a 2.5KW propane generator - used to recharge the batteries.  This whole environment is off of the grid - not
connected to mains power.  Futures include solar and maybe, wind turbines. 

Bill's workstation is a Flex 5000A software defined radio, with a SPE Expert 1.2KW solid state amplifier.  Jeff's
workstation is composed of a number of Icom radios.  Visitors can either use our equipment, or bring their own.

Antennas - we continue working on this.  We currently have  an A4S up about 32 feet (40 - 20 - 15 - 10 Meters). 
Above it is a 6 meter monobander.  We have three sixty foot telephone poles up in the field - about 55 metes apart. 
We have an eighty, forty and 20 meter dipole at 52 feet.  There is a multi-band dipole 40-20-15-10 meters.  We have a
small 32 foot tower  put up, and we added a 15 and a 10 meter monoband yagi.   In addition, we will have a monster
20 meter monoband yagi - with a 40 foot boom, ready to be installed.  We have two other Heavy Duty 48 foot towers
ready to be installed, when the weather gets better and the field dries out, I have the money and my buddies have the time.   
An A4S with the 40 meter option was also purchased and is now installed.

The compound is fenced, and the base is dry and solid.  There is a locked gate at the edge of the compound.  There are
a lot of locks on the C cans, with electronic security.  Futures include video cameras (remote controlled) and remote
operation of the station.

120514 - Big work party again this Saturday.  The big 20 Meter Mono Band Yagi was hoisted in the air.  We pulled
through 210 feet of control cables, hard line, thin line heliax, LMR 600, LMR 400 and what have you.  We used a Tug
Em machine - made easy work of it.

Long, long day - great friends, a few visitors and an awesome weekend to work outside.  Thanks all.  More pictures to come.

Here are some pictures.  They are thumbnails - so you can click on them for some high resolution pictures.

120428 - Big work party on Saturday - got started early, and things were looking to track to near end of day.  We
went long. We took down the A3S - it was having some challenges.  We changed the top mast that the six meter antenna
was on, to an aluminum mast, put the six meter antenna back up and added a 2 meter / 440 vertical antenna.  We got
the A4S antenna uplate on Saturday.

In addition - we prepared the Southwest telephone pole - we have pole pegs to the top, we got the rotator base and
rotator installed. The top bearing was installed, as was the mast.  We are a very short amount of effort away from
having the 20 metermono-bander being ready to put up.  Awesome effort guys - here are some pictures.

Jeff and Ben - removing the A3S and changing the mast to aluminium

A team member up the pole - 53 feet above ground level - getting ready for the mono-bander

Antennas - antennas - antennas

Gary - figuring out the A4S!

Bill has taken some ribbing about how 'vertical' the poles were - well I guess this proves it
- the 'thumb vertical' wasn't so vertical!

120331 - We had a work party at the project on Saturday.  Wild, wet weather and wind!  We did get a lot done, and I don't
have pictures of it all.  Here are some pictures of the deck - in but not finished yet.  Thanks Mike, Jeff, Al, and Gary.  And we
managed to work a bit of DX as well.  Mike (Mikhail) actually got to talk to someone from his club in Russia - big smile on
everyone's face!

120318 - We had a work party at the project yesterday.  Huge effort by Al, Jeff, and Ben.  A lot of stuff have been cleaned out of the
and placed in the new storage C Can.  What a difference.  Some more trenching was done, to improve the water table at the
Project.  Three more railroad ties were placed, in preparation for building a deck on the East side of the C Cans.  Here are
inside and outside pictures.

Antenna rotators between Bill and Jeff's station

Bill's workstation above

Front Porch - were did all that stuff go to?

120121 - We had an excellent work party at the project today.  Jeff was there first - opened the place up - heat was on.  Bill
got there next - after his usual Saturday a.m. breakie with his buddies.  Gary was next, followed by Al.  Ben arrived later. 
Jordon showed up to write his exam, with his dad Doug.  Dave E. was there and John M. showed up late in the afternoon for
an hour - after work.

We got the Cushcraft 5 bander off of the tower.  We tuned up the 10 meter antenna, and got it up on top of the tower.  The
new 15 meter antenna was built, and put up on the tower  as well.  Al 'McGuyvered' a mast - out of 21 feet of 1.5 inch
galvanized steel pipe.  He then put a piece of 2.0 inch pipe on the outside of it, with a flange attached to 10 inches of the
2.0 inch pipe.  A flange at the top of the pipe, with a swivel pulley, and we have a fantastic way to assemble and test
antennas.  The full plan is to bury another pipe in concrete, and have this pipe fit into it.  For now, we have it attached to a
fence post.  This really speeded up our ability to safely test antennas - and in most cases one person could do it alone.  In
addition, it gives us a safe place to store antennas before they find their final mounting point. 

The following are pictures - I've done them in reverse chronological order - so the newest are on the top.  Awesome day. 
Also remember that they are thumbnails - you can click on them to see the full size pictures.

Al's plan - and boy did this work out well as a prototype for testing Antennas and
temporarily storing them - one person was able to raise and lower the antenna by them self
and the antenna was at a comfortable height to work on it

The inside of the 32 foot container I just purchased for the project.  It came with floor to ceiling
steel shelving in it.  Will be an excellent addition to the project

Coax transfer station - More antennas!

The following are Gary's pictures of the day's events

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