110715

110715 -

Heinz was down for a visit - guest operator - worked the Island of Crete on 17 meters (80 meter dipole and a tuner).

We have another small tower up - and it is ready to have the five band Cushcraft put on it. We also need to get the mono-band 20 meter yagi up a telephone pole - and soon. We have at least one 48 foot HD tower to put up this summer as well.

110515 - Update on the project - worked from there for half a day today - worked into Borneo, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Bit of a chat with Barb from California, and a great chat with Larry from Philadelphia - I'll push the logs up later. Here are some pictures:

Bill's workstation - cleaned up - believe it or not!

Jeff's workstation - Coax transfer station in the background

Bill's workstation in the background - workbench in the foreground

Station number three - loaner from Heinz

Looking toward the kitchen - still a pile of 'spare parts' stacked up - but the kitchen is coming - and that is an eight band vertical on the chair - looking for some love to get it up and running

Kitchen - sink cut in but not installed yet

Backsplash needs some work - we had to move the electrical

Still need to skin this part - and add the cupboard door. I will have to build some drawers for under the stove

Did you notice how clean the 'Project' was? Cat did an awesome job - thanks

Eight position rotary antenna switch - awesome! From the last swap meet

The front of the switch

20 Meter mono-band yagi - under construction

This is the 'front' door to the project. It is locked open when we are there, and the ladder is used to access the roof. There is a two x six insulated wall with a steel door and cipher lock just inside the steel door. When we aren't there, we lock the outer steel door

110501 - Major work party this weekend. Thanks all - it included Al, Ben, Bill, Chris, Dave, Gary, Grant, Heinz, Jay, Jeff, Jim, John, Kenny, and Paul. Bill was up at 4:00 to put breakfast on for the team. He was at the project by 5:30, and Jeff showed up 20 minutes later. Bill left at about 10:30 p.m., while Jeff toughed it out another hour or so. There were many other team members that gave up huge chunks of their Saturday - will post their full names and calls signs, once I get permission - here are some pictures

5:37 a.m. - Bill at the project - Saturday early a.m. - five deer in the field

Generator pod - wiring pulled in to charge the Liquid Ni-Cad battery bank. The charger is in the Power Room below the pods. In addition, this 2.5 Kw propane generator is now using the Ni-Cad battery bank as it's starting battery

900 Amp hours at 12 volts - Liquid Ni-Cads - tied into a multi-stage 40 amp hour charger. 300 Amp fuses. When the team was done, all of the distilled water had been put into the cells. End of the day - the batteries were completely recharged

Parking lot was full! All of the above pictures are thumbnails - click on them for a bigger image

Here is a little movie that Gary Skett put together - he set up a digital camera to take a picture every 30 minutes. This shows the assembly of a 20 meter mono-band Yagi - the boom was 40 feet long. Click here

Al - putting together the 'list' - on the edge of the kitchen countertop

Gary - heading up the 20 meter mono-bander antenna reconstruction

John - installing the U vents - with the anti-bug screens - awesome idea Al

Batteries were charged and then topped up with distilled water

900 amp hours - nasty liquid Ni-Cad batteries - solid steel connectors - you don't want to drop a metal tool on these. These are now wired into the project - 12 volts to each work station

Beginning of the 20 meter mono-band assembly

Wiring the 12 volt bank in - through the generator pod - Yellow 160 amp hour deep cycle battery was removed - it is no longer being used as the starting battery

Breakfast - work hard, play hard - eat good food

Gary's rocket - caught in the tank trap

And there were parts missing

Sunday - Happy hour at the 'Project' - few friends, some sunshine and nibblies and sodas. Chris, Al and I mucked the place out before our guests arrived - it was pretty filthy. On the Saturday, a huge thundershower came in, and the guys at the project had to rush everything inside, and continue working inside - mud, muck and water - looked pretty good when it was cleaned. More pictures later - you can see the monster 20 meter mono-bander - still under construction in the background