Sunday - October 17th

Mounting all the new antennas on the Tower

Today we spent the day mounting all the new antennas in the final locations.

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Each antenna was mounted in the final position and then we would measure for the next antenna.

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Everything had been planed out mounts in advance so we just had to follow the plan, assemble all the new mounts, stand-off arms, and antennas.

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Eventually all ten of the new antennas were secured on the tower and were ready for the hard-line.

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Now we just have to run all the hard-line...

 

Monday - Hard-Line Install Phase One - October 18th

My last day of vacation, we started installing the hard-line

Dad and I started early in the morning setting up all the tools and then spent the day installing the connectors and dragging the hard-line up the length of the tower to each of the antennas. Each run of cable was carefully labeled with colored tape with corresponding labels on the antennas as well.

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Saturday - Hard-Line Install Phase Two - October 23rd

Today was the day that I got hurt.

I have been beating the odds for months now and my luck finally ran out this afternoon. While installing the second run of LDF4 for the 927.6125 repeater I sliced a nasty 1 1/2" gash through the knuckle of index finger right down to the bone on my left hand. While trimming back the vinyl covering on the hard-line the razor knife slipped and sliced right through my hand before I even knew what happened.

These photos are the last run of FSJ4 for the JAG Yagi.

 

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n this group of photos you can see the prep tool that I picked up that goes into a drill and makes all the cuts in the LDF4 hard-line. Once the hard-line is prepared and the connector has been installed I weatherproofed each line before running them up through the tower. 

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Today we were able to finish the last run of FSJ4 super-flex going the the JAG 144-148 "Thunder Boomer" and three runs of LDF4 hard-line for the 447.775, 927.6125, and GMRS repeaters. 

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If my hand is ok, and the weather holds, we can hopefully get the last two runs of LDF4 hard-line run up the tower.

 

Sunday - October 24rd

 Hard-Line Install Phase Three

We only competed one more run of LDF4 to the very top of the tower, which is the run for the G7-220 on the 224.040 repeater. It was cold, overcast, and my hand was really bothering me. As we finished the first shot of LDF4 it started to drizzle so I called it quits and we packed everything up.

 

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We also started to secure the runs of hard-line starting at the very top heading down the tower towards the base.

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There is not much left to finish now, one last run of LDF4 hard-line, install the G7-144 & G7-220 antennas, then we can crank the tower back up...

 

Saturday - The tower goes back Up - October 30th

Saturday morning October 30th Dad & I got started early, we checked all the U-Bolts on all the antennas and mounts, setup the screw-drive on the hinged base, and configured a 2 ton (7:1 ratio) block & tackle to help with the lift, then we started cranking...

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As I checked all the bolts I walked around the tower one last time and took a few more close up photos of all the antennas and mounts. If I am lucky, this will be the last time I am this close to any of these antennas for the next 20 years or so...

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Each antenna was secured, hard-lines all connected and weather proofed.

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With my final inspection complete we started cranking up the tower at 10:45 AM.

 

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What a beautiful morning we had, cool and clear, with a light breeze. The wind picked up a few times making me a little nervous during the lift however there were no problems.  

 

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With the last group of trees cleared out of the way cranking up the tower was foliage free! None of the new antennas even came close to any trees... I was very pleased. 

 

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After a brief interruption from work (I have to join a triage bridge for about 40 minutes) and leaving Dad holding the line for the block & tackle, we got the screw drive removed and the locking plates bolted onto the hinged base section making the tower secure in the full vertical position by 1:15 PM in the afternoon.

 

 

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After I was finished with my work responsibilities Dad and I packed up for the day and I ran the new flags up the halyard for a few quick photos... 

 

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Then as the day ended, and we started to loose the light, I took down the flags and took two more photos.

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The next steps will be to install the ice bridge, install all the hard-line clips on the tower and repeater shed, and run the hard-line across the ice bridge over to the repeater shed.

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